About one ton of meat could be exchanged for twenty Mysterious Cores, which, no matter how you look at it, seems like a fair exchange.

Although the difficulty of Mysterious Realms on small Mysterious Boats is not that great, finding a Mysterious Boat can still be troublesome. With more and more survivors starting to take the initiative, the number of medium and small Mysterious Boats on the open water has sharply decreased, and even some Hunting Teams have begun to actively target Large-Sized Boats.

For this reason, the once high-priced Mysterious Cores have gradually decreased in price. Although they have not dropped to the point where everyone can afford them, Lakeside Base can now ensure the distribution of Mysterious Core benefits to all survivors with Lakeside residency.

At this moment, Ethan Harris looked at Dong Tianyu with hopeful eyes, wondering how much meat Dong Tianyu had in his backpack, and if his own stock of Mysterious Cores would be enough to take it all.

If it came to being just a bit short of taking everything, he could ask friends to chip in too, better that than letting Dong Tianyu deal with other departments.

Although everyone knew that those staff who dealt directly with Hunting Groups sometimes made under-the-table deals for some items,

such situations were, after all, unwritten rules that weren’t supposed to be made public, especially at a time when any type of meat in quantities over a hundred pounds would attract the attention of the higher-ups. So, if there was a chance for a private deal, it was always better to keep it private.

"Bro, what kind of meat are you offering? The prices do vary a bit depending on the type, though the difference isn’t too big. Still, let’s trade each type of meat at its highest price,"

Although he knew Ethan Harris was saying this to arrange a private deal, Dong Tianyu still felt somewhat comforted upon hearing it.

"Bro, I won’t hide it from you, I can offer a substantial amount of meat. Let’s make a deal between the two of us first, I’ll release your portion first, and then sell the rest at the trading center,"

Hearing Dong Tianyu’s generous offer, Ethan Harris was somewhat incredulous, but he immediately began to calculate how many Mysterious Cores he could leverage.

Thinking that Dong Tianyu could make such a boastful claim, Ethan Harris not only calculated his own Mysterious Cores but also considered those of his colleagues he could contact for a joint purchase.

Surprising as it was, if he really gritted his teeth, even slightly affecting his future living conditions, he could come up with over a hundred Mysterious Cores at once. Adding in the cores from some other colleagues who had good relationships with him, they could together muster up to about five hundred Mysterious Cores.

Even trading at the highest ratio, those five hundred Mysterious Cores could at least be exchanged for nearly four and a half tons of meat.

He was startled by the result himself – Ethan Harris had not anticipated that they, who seemed to be low-level front-line personnel, could actually pull together so many Mysterious Cores.

It is known that to evolve a Companion Spiritual Treasure from its initial form of a Raft to a small wooden boat, if only the lowest-grade Mysterious Cores are used, it would only require around one thousand Mysterious Cores.

What seemed like a substantial number of Mysterious Cores could be amassed by them if they really persevered.

Of course, although they had the capacity to gather that many Mysterious Cores, they would definitely not concentrate them into the hands of one person. After all, while they maintained good relations with one another, no one would make an unpaid contribution to another without dire necessity.

However, Ethan Harris did not hide his intention to unite with others for the purchase from Dong Tianyu but asked Dong Tianyu’s thoughts quite frankly:

"Bro, since you’ve mentioned that you have a considerable stockpile of meat, I’m thinking of uniting with some colleagues on good terms with me to see if we can take it all.

I won’t conceal it from you, bro. The other people in the department are aware that us front-liners sometimes make private trades, and they tacitly consent to our actions.

But ever since the flood disaster struck, the reserves of meat stored in the base have been diminishing with each consumption, even though many people would declare themselves vegetarians before the disaster.

However, the clever ones all knew that those individuals were merely shouting slogans; on the surface, they refused to eat meat, but everyone knew what went on behind closed doors.

As for others, I can’t speak, but if I go a month without meat, I become so weak I can barely stand at the sight of it, and I reckon others aren’t much different from me, or else the meat in the cold storage wouldn’t be disappearing so rapidly.

That’s why trading in meat has become somewhat conspicuous. I’m thinking, if my colleagues and I could just take all that meat you have and gobble it up, we’d prefer not to go through the official channels.

I won’t lie to you, there are certain things that the officials have explicitly regulated, but after all, they need someone to enforce them, and there are some things that are difficult to say out loud, but you probably understand what I mean.

All I want is for us to make a smooth transaction that won’t cause any trouble because the traded item is meat." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Hearing Ethan Harris’s earnest words, Zachary understood what was going on in Ethan’s heart, but knowing that he could directly exchange for Mysterious Cores here, Zachary wanted to obtain more in one go, so it was highly unlikely that Ethan could provide that many Mysterious Cores.

However, with Ethan having already lowered his stance so much, Zachary couldn’t outright refuse him, so he just asked, "How many Mysterious Cores can you and your colleagues come up with?"

Hearing Zachary’s question, Ethan didn’t hide anything and directly stated the maximum figure he had calculated: "Around five hundred or so, the majority of which should be low-level Mysterious Cores, with a small amount of mid-level Mysterious Cores."

The low-level Mysterious Cores Ethan mentioned correspond to those obtained from destroying small-sized Mysterious Ships, while naturally, the mid-level Mysterious Cores come from taking down medium-sized Mysterious Ships.

Zachary, of course, wasn’t satisfied with this number, so without deceiving Ethan, he straightforwardly said, "That’s too few, my goods are definitely more than you can swallow."

Ethan Harris, though he didn’t show any doubt on his face, was convinced in his heart that Zachary was bluffing, knowing that five hundred Mysterious Cores would be equivalent to four to five tons of meat.

This amount of meat, while not significant before the disaster, was notable given that the flood had been raging for quite some time, and even the Water Platforms constructed under the aegis of the Imperial Court were only running small-scale livestock breeding.

The primary purpose of the livestock raised in the Water Base’s breeding area was not for consumption but to preserve species, with the hope that once the flood subsided and the land reappeared, these animals could breed anew.

But regardless of his internal disbelief, Ethan couldn’t openly question Zachary’s claim, especially since he still wanted to get meat from him.

"Since you put it that way, bro, I won’t insist any further. Let’s do as you say and sell me some first."

"No problem, what kind of meat do you want? I have all the common livestock available, and besides livestock meat, I also have fruit.

The fruits I’ve prepared are of high quality and won’t be sold at the prices shown on the monitor above. I can give you a few to try, but if you want to buy, then we’ll have to discuss the price separately."

Upon hearing what Zachary had to say, Ethan Harris’s eyes lit up. While meat was available through the Cold Storage and survivors in the base could still buy it with coupons,

fruit had become a genuine luxury. Although Lakeside Base had planted many types of fruits, the majority of varieties had only two or three plants each, with the same goal of preserving seeds.