Trash in the Apocalypse

Chapter 318: Another Trading Partner

"You have a lord?"

Jun's question attracted a series of serious gaze around the area. The fighters, the snipers, and Edson himself were shocked to hear him speak about it.

Only a few people were selected to become a lord, and anyone who becomes a lord was unique to their own professions.

For Jun to know what a lord means, there are only a few reasons available; he encountered one or he is one himself!

Edson already took many side trips and he chose to be direct this time. "My grandfather is a lord. He retired from military service and happened to create a safe territory where zombies can't respawn in."

"Oh..." Jun didn't speak much about the topic since it was quite sensitive.

The lord reigns over a territory and from his experience, lords can kill other lords for their territories. It would become dangerous the more people knows about your status unless everyone was loyal to you. Having strangers get this knowledge could be really troublesome.

Jun didn't know what to do. He doesn't understand what Edson was doing, revealing such important information to him. Or is the information even true?

As if sensing Jun's doubts, Edson spoke up.

"We just want an ally. Most of the survivors on the next town have already adjusted to this world. They fight for every resources they need and would kill anyone who gets in their way."

"That's also one of the reasons why we moved out of the town center. Most of the people lurking around here are vultures. I don't recommend staying for long."

Jun listened attentively. The way he understood it, the town south of here was filled with slaughter and there are more bad people lurking this town. 

Is the sidequest his luck or a curse?

Several minutes passed and Erick returned at the plaza with a blinding light. He narrated how joyous everyone was of contributing on repairing the Teleport Portal at the forest camp. With the ability to repair the portal in their hands, everyone should be able to freely use it now.

Erick brought several unidentified seeds with varying colors. Next, he laid several materials on the ground. 

Jun doesn't really know much about beastiary and crafting, however, people back at home love to thinker with stuff. He would leave everything to them and just do what he does best; asserting dominance and fighting.

Still, he picked a few seeds and asked Edson about them. 

Edson honestly replied, "I don't know anything about them. To be honest, barely anyone from the camp knows what they are. They just drop from mutated squirrels and we can't grow them."

"So, they're trash?"

"Well, they're not treasures. Besides, you're the one who wanted strange stuffs."

Jun shrugged. "Fair enough. So, let's see. What do you want me to answer first?"

The entire afternoon was used up in this exchange.

Most of Edson's questions were about the outside world, the current affairs, and the state of the nation. Apparently, they have cut off communications with the outside world since they don't have much electricity inside the forest. The generators they found uses a lot of gas for fuel and it isn't efficient to always keep it on.

Jun narrated the catastrophic events that happened and described in great detail the towns and cities he passed by. He tried his best to speak factual and neutral while describing the state of the province. 

In general, it was a mess. A lot of people died and restoring civilization should still be far in the future. Unless the government takes the initiative, there was no chance to rally everyone under a single banner.

People were born free and raised to want more. It was the sad reality about life. The moment a child wanted something, they would learn that they need something else to get it. It was ingrained the moment we entered society and no one else could change it until a reset.

Could this be a great social reset? Or a lucky way for opportunistic b*stards to rule the world?

After getting the answers he wanted about the outside world, Edson chose to trade for new world information. As a possible neighbor, Jun wanted this forest survivor camp to survive. 

He gave them the basic booklet containing information about the new world. The skills, the levels, developments, etc. The Forest Survivor Camp would serve as a neutral wall that would filter good and bad people before they could enter Black Haven territory. Whether they like it or not, they would be forced to deal with hordes due to their location, so Black Haven doesn't have to deal with them.

To welcome a great cooperation between the two survivor groups, Jun allowed trade to happen between Black Haven and the Forest Basecamp. Traders have to either apply for a visa or become a resident through citizenship. The latter was unlikely, so visa should be the way to go. 

Jun can already see Evo's scrounge face as work piled over his desk.

'Let's hope he's not doing anything important these days...'

Back at Black Haven compound...

Evo ran back and forth breathing roughly as he waterered rows after rows of plants with green budding sprouts. All of a sudden, he felt strange, so he looked around but didn't see anyone. 

After confirming that it was probably nothing. he continued sprinkling water for another round. 

Jun bade farewell with Edson's group after both parties were satisfied with their gains.

For Edson's group, catching up with the outside world and gaining new knowledge would be extremely beneficial. It could even rapidly increase the development of the Forest Basecamp. There were tons of people there, and not everyone has leveled up. Some of the civilians were rescued on the first few days, and refrained from getting close with any zombies due to fear of turning into one.

Jun took several swords and throwing bone spears and handed them to Edson. "Take this. You can use this to hunt game and kill carriers. Consider this as free samples of products you could trade with us. Just remember that I want uncommon items, okay?"

"I'll keep that in mind, Sir Jun. I hope that I'll be able to visit your town as soon as possible."

The two leaders didn't speak much detail about their town, but both of them know that they were striving. With no particular danger in the way, betrayal and deceptions shouldn't come in their way.