Surviving the Apocalypse with my Multiplier System - Chapter 105

Chapter 105: Cans of Tuna
Ella grabbed the bag of clothing items that she and her mother had sorted out to sell at the market and set off.

“I’m heading to the market; I’ll be back soon!” she announced as she left the room.

“Okay, be careful! Love you!” replied her mother from the living room.

Ella carried the bag, skipping excitedly to the market. When she arrived, she noticed that a few people were slowly trickling in, and she quickly walked up to the counter.

“Hello! I’d like to sell a few items!” said Ella cheerfully.

The shopkeeper returned her greeting and took the bag of items to inspect. Nodding her head in approval, she said, “Good, these clothes seem to be in good shape, and we can accept them. We’ve had a few cases already of people trying to sell used, ripped clothing, who got angry when we turned them away.”

Ella smiled. All of the items they picked out were extras from the cheap clothing store that she looted with her father back when they lived in the countryside. All of the clothing was new, not worn, and in good shape.

“I can give you 75 points for these items. Does that work for you?” asked the shopkeeper. Ella quickly calculated the cost per item and nodded.

“Sure, that sounds about right,” she said and handed over her resident card. The shopkeeper swiped the card and handed it back to Ella.

“Feel free to look around before leaving. We just got a generous shipment earlier this morning from someone who sold a lot of canned meat and tuna,” said the shopkeeper excitedly.

Ella walked over to the chain-link fence wall and peered inside, noticing the neat stack of canned food the shopkeeper was talking about.

Her eyes landed on the shiny can of tuna, and her mouth watered. It had been over a week since they’d had meat at home, and tuna was one of Ella’s favorites. She recognized the brand on the can as one of the high-end ones and decided to ask for the price.

“How much is one can of the tuna?” she called out.

“One can will cost 6 points,” answered the shopkeeper.

Ella nodded. While the price was a tiny bit high, it was cheaper than she thought it would be. “I’ll take two cans, please,” she called out again and walked over to the counter.

“That will be 12 points, please,” said the shopkeeper.

Ella quickly took out her resident card and handed it over so the shopkeeper could charge her card. Once the points were deducted, the shopkeeper handed Ella her card back along with the two cans of tuna.

“Thank you,” said Ella and turned to hurry back home so that she could treat her parents to her newly purchased tuna!

“I’m back!” she announced, walking inside.

“Welcome back, how did it go? Did they buy the items?” asked her mother.

Ella walked over to stand beside her. “Yes! They said the items were new and of decent quality. They bought them all.”

“How much did they give you?” asked Reginald as he walked over.

“75 points! I calculated it, and felt it was an acceptable price,” answered Ella. She waited for her father to make it over before she surprised them with her purchase.

“And look what I bought for us!” she exclaimed happily, pulling the two shiny cans of tuna out of her coat pocket.

“Oh my! I know this brand; it’s a high-quality one!” said her mother, looking at the can of tuna in her hands.

“How much did this cost?” asked Reginald quickly, worried that his daughter had spent all of her newly earned points.

“It was 6 points a can, so I paid 12 for both,” said Ella. She knew what her father was worried about, so she quickly explained.

“The shopkeeper said that these cans had just been sold to the market earlier today. I didn’t think they’d last long, so I snagged two cans for us to enjoy!” she continued.

Reginald smiled at his daughter’s thoughtfulness. He felt even more blessed to have such a loving family after witnessing other families fall apart and abandon each other.

He felt the fire of desire to provide for his family light up inside. His wife and daughter deserved the best, and he wanted them to live a comfortable, happy life.

“I’m going to head over to the job office and ask about some of these scavenging jobs,” he announced.

“Are you sure, honey? I feel like it could be dangerous,” said his wife with a worried expression.

“I’m only going to go and ask for now. You know me, I’ve always been cautious,” he replied, patting her gently on the head.

Ella smiled at him. “Don’t worry, Dad, we won’t eat these without you,” she said, waving the cans of tuna around.

“Haha, okay. I’ll be back soon,” he said and set off.

When he arrived at the job office, he noticed many people crowding around the counters set up around the room. Each counter had a sign above it stating whether it was an “on-base” or “off-base” job recruiter.

Reginald was most interested in the scavenging missions, so he queued up in the appropriate line, waiting for his turn to speak with the mission recruiter.

He didn’t have to wait too long, as most people were more interested in the “on-base” jobs.

“Hello, which job are you interested in?” asked the recruiter quickly.

“Hi. I’d like to get some more information on the scouting mission jobs,” he asked, getting straight to the point.

The recruiter looked him up and down and replied, “There are two types of scouting missions: independent and group. In the independent missions, we will assign you a resource, say gas, and give you a general location where it could be found.

You go out on your own, or with your own group, and find that resource and bring it back. The base will pay you for anything you find, with bonuses if you deliver a certain amount.”

Reginald nodded and waited for him to continue.

“The group missions involve an organized group of members from the base, led by an experienced guard. You will go out to a designated area and scavenge as much as you can. The base will buy any of the items you wish to sell at a better price,” he explained.

Reginald listened carefully, weighing the pros and cons of each type. They both sounded good, but for his situation, the group option was a lot more appealing since he didn’t have a private group to go with.

He looked up at the recruiter. “When is the next organized group planning to set off?”

The recruiter looked down at the schedule in front of him. “The next one with available space is at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning. Would you like to sign up?”

Reginald closed his eyes for a few more minutes and thought about it.