Chapter 301: Chapter 301: Special Feature -3

Ivy’s eyes sparkled, and a thought she never had before flashed in her mind.

What if she starts to hoard properties and gold now? Won’t she turn into a rich tycoon after the apocalypse ends?

Heck! She might even earn enough to become the richest person in the world!

With a clear picture in her mind, Ivy looked at the old man with a grim expression and stated, "Old sir, this property is located in one of the well-to-do areas. I can’t scam you and only hand over just 5 kg of rice."

The old man’s eyes flashed with surprise. He had thought Ivy would ask for more or just reject his request.

Who doesn’t know? In an apocalypse, the most valuable asset was food, not property.

Even when he offered 3 different properties to others, they weren’t ready to exchange them for 2 kg of rice, let alone 5 kg of rice.

Some of the greedy ones even asked for more than 10 properties just for 1 kg of rice.

But now... Ivy was actually insisting she couldn’t scam him?

The old man’s throat tightened. For the first time in days, something warm flickered in his chest... Hope, maybe gratitude, or the simple shock that humanity wasn’t entirely gone.

He trembled slightly. "Then... what do you propose, child?"

Ivy took a deep breath, her expression calm yet serious, like someone signing a million-dollar contract... except here, the currency was rice grains and survival.

"Here is the deal: I will go back to Moonjewel base and return with more supplies to repay you the full amount. How about that? For now, I will give you 5 kg of rice as the down payment." Ivy’s sincere tone made the old man grin.

The old man’s eyes moistened, and his heart throbbed with joy.

’May god bless this girl with good luck, and may she never have to worry about anything.’

"Alright! Thank you! Thank you!" His joyous voice and glistening eyes filled the crowd’s heart with hope and pity.

Hope for the future that doesn’t seem bleak anymore, and pity... because of the old man’s struggles.

The old man happily left with the rice. He wasn’t worried that Ivy would default on her debt. If she wanted to... she would have never revealed the property’s real value.

Ivy counted seriously, and once she reached 2000 kg of rice, she raised her hand. "I am sorry; I have run out of food supplies."

Her words made the people in line worry, and they were about to protest when Ivy’s gentle, radiant smile calmed their inner anger.

"As I said before, you can go to Moonjewel base to buy supplies. Also..." She drawled, "... And if anyone has gold or properties, they can exchange it with me for grains. I will offer you the market value of 6 months before."

In an instant, the dread in the crowd’s heart vanished into thin air, and all of them started to cheer.

Thunk!

The next second, a figure threw four humans in front of everyone, attracting their attention.

Silence.

The four figures groaned and rolled on the ground, while Silas’s cold voice echoed in the suffocating silence, "These are human traffickers helping your base leader. Take care of them."

"Right! I almost forgot about the base leader being the trafficking leader!"

"Don’t call him base leader anymore! He doesn’t deserve it!"

"Exactly! We should find and kill him!"

This time the crowd believed Ivy and Silas’s words. Partially because of Ivy’s action of selling grains and partially because of their own doubt.

The four individuals lying on the ground were the exact same people who had spread the news about the black market. Now... Silas had presented them as the subordinates of evil, and they have no reason to think otherwise.

The crowd marched up to Austin’s house, who was still busy with his wife. In fact, it was Felix, Kael, and Ember’s work. They had made sure that none of Austin’s subordinates left to inform him about the storm brewing.

Austin didn’t know that Felix, Kael, and Ember had already dealt with the guards stationed outside his house. For now, he was checking the new batch of women and girls delivered to him.

A dark smile appeared on his face, and the cold words tumbling down his mouth made the women and girls break out in a cold sweat.

"Hm... a good batch... I see. I shall begin with the inspection then."

With that, he motioned one of his subordinates to bring the first woman in.

Austin was very familiar with the series of actions involved. He had done it countless times before. When he first dabbled in the human trafficking industry, he was paranoid all the time.

Guilt occasionally surged in his chest. However, he was forced by the circumstances to do it. As a politician, he needed money, but due to his poor background, he struggled to raise funds.

That was when he stumbled upon the concept of human trafficking. From then on, till now, Austin continued, and his motivation gradually changed over time.

His motivation shifted from a need for money to a greed for money.

His inner greed even made him inspect the ’goods’ before handing them over.

A thunder of feet and voices crashed through the house like a storm.

Austin looked up from his inspection, laughter dying in his throat as the door to the basement splintered inward and a tide of citizens poured through, faces set and eyes bright with fury.

For a beat, the world narrowed to the heavy scent of sweat and the thud of many hearts.

The women and girls pressed back against the far wall, trembling, wide-eyed, as if sunlight itself had burst into their long night. Someone screamed... then another... and the scream was swallowed by the roar of the crowd.

Felix, Kael, and Ember moved like predators who had been waiting for the kill.

They were at Austin’s flanks before he could wet his lips with the lies he’d always used to smooth the edges of cruelty.

Felix’s hand clamped on the politician’s collar and shoved him forward; Kael pinned his shoulder while Ember sweetly asked the citizens to maintain the distance.

"Oh my god! They were indeed telling the truth!"