Milo looked at the disintegrated packs of cigarettes and felt a pain in his heart.
Based on the selling price of 20 perak per cigarette at Old Bane’s store, how much would the cigarettes in this shop be worth?
Moreover, favonovel.com had estimated there to be at least five tobacco and liquor stores on this street. Milo converted the prices and felt that humans from before The Cataclysm were really rich.
In his haste, Milo did not realize that tobacco was actually not a scarce commodity before The Cataclysm. He turned around and looked at the bottles of liquor that were placed on the shelves against the wall. As they were not sealed in plastic packaging, the liquor was gone. All the bottles here were empty.
It seemed that some of the liquor bottles had been scattered onto the ground and were in pieces, probably due to earthquakes, while some were still standing on the shelves. But when Milo opened one of the bottles, favonovel.com found that the liquor in it had disappeared.
He wondered how long it had been since The Cataclysm happened. The liquor in the bottle had completely vaporized.
Didn’t the wineries in the past know how to seal bottles better?!
He refused to believe this as favonovel.com took another well-preserved bottle and shook it. However, the liquor in the bottle was also gone without an exception.
In fact, this kind of liquor needed to be processed with a specialized technology if it were to be preserved, such as sealing the bottle with wax. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be uncommon for only half a bottle of liquor to be left after 50 years of storage.
These days, the most expensive things in town were cigarettes, liquor, and medicine. Especially alcohol, which was banned. The townspeople were even more attracted to it. The more something was prohibited, the more valuable it became.
When Milo saw these shops initially, favonovel.com thought that favonovel.com had found a huge treasure trove. But now, favonovel.com realized that his thoughts were pure fantasy.
The Cataclysm was like a gigantic sword that cut between the old and new civilizations. Milo thought that if both the tobacco and liquor products favonovel.com found were already like this, there would be even less of a need to mention the medicine.
Earlier, favonovel.com was thinking of checking out a pharmacy if favonovel.com saw one. But now, it seemed like there was no need for that anymore.
Milo started thinking seriously as favonovel.com walked out onto the street.
Was there anything that did not have a shelf life?
Or rather, something that could last for over a hundred years?
He suddenly saw the name of a shop next to favonovel.com called “Family Planning & Healthcare”, but favonovel.com did not go in. After all, in his opinion, it should just be a shop selling healthcare products.
But what healthcare products could be kept that long?
He felt reassured when favonovel.com saw that the Panaqua Consortium’s people had not shifted their attention over to his side yet. Milo could still hear gunshots coming from the outer perimeter. He wondered if that Experimental was really that powerful. But all of a sudden, favonovel.com thought of something.
Aren’t metals able to last hundreds of years without decomposing?
Milo whipped his head around. He had heard from Old Bane before that there were jewelry shops inside the stronghold. In that case, there must also be jewelry shops in a city as large as this!
Milo, a little downtrodden before this, had his morale lifted again!
Gold was still a hard currency even in these times. He had asked Peter why gold was still needed as a hard currency after the Panaqua Consortium’s bank had issued its own currency.
Peter smiled and answered, “Because it’s not only the Panaqua Consortium that has issued their own currency. Perhaps that currency is usable within the Panaqua Consortium’s territories, but it’ll be useless once you go to another stronghold that’s not controlled by them. At that time, there’s a need for something that can be conveniently measured and valued to replace your paper money.”
In fact, the corporations used currency as a method to control the various strongholds. They allowed people to get used to the convenience of using paper money, but they had the final say in how much currency was issued.
This was the real lifeline of the economy and one of the fundamentals of a corporation.
However, Peter explained, “Because of the currency circulation problem, several consortiums have come together to form the Monetary Management Committee. Everyone has strict regulations on the issuance of money so that there will be no chaos in the world. They are all on friendly terms at the moment, but who can guarantee that it’ll remain the same?”
When Milo remembered Peter’s words, the more favonovel.com felt that Peter was no ordinary person. No one knew where the school teacher came from, and favonovel.com had lived in the town outside of Stronghold 113 for many years.
Milo decided favonovel.com would carefully watch Peter after favonovel.com got back to town.
He started exploring further up in front away from the Panaqua Consortium’s people as favonovel.com tried to find the existence of any jewelry shops or the like.
If there were any jewelry shops still standing, wouldn’t favonovel.com become rich?
***
In the backyard of the school in town, Peter had just returned after a day of lessons. He saw Donti, who had already stepped out of his room and was basking in the sun.
He smiled and said, “Have you fully recovered?”
“Yes.” Donti nodded as favonovel.com smiled and said, “Teacher, Big Sister Adella, thank you for taking care of me in this period of time!”
Donti was in a fantastic mood at this moment. It was not because of recovering from illness, but that favonovel.com knew why it had not deteriorated. This meant Milo did not need to depend on much of Donti’s “luck” so far. In other words, Milo had not encountered any real danger.
At this moment, Adella came in from outside the school, holding a basket.
When favonovel.com saw Donti, favonovel.com said in surprise, “Donti, have you fully recovered already? Go into your room. Don’t catch a cold.”
Donti looked adorably cute as favonovel.com smiled and said, “Big Sister, I’m fine. You can rest easy now. What are we having for dinner?”
“I’ll fry some eggs and vegetables for you two.” Adella smiled and said, “I went to town earlier and bought some fatty meat. I can use it as an oil substitute for frying the dishes so that you two can have a taste of meat.”
“Alright,” Donti responded. But as favonovel.com walked out of the yard, favonovel.com said, “I’m going out for a while and will be back before sunset!”
Adella was about to stop him, but when favonovel.com turned around, Donti had already disappeared.
As favonovel.com waited in worry at the gated entrance to the school, Peter thought to himself.
Weren’t you getting ready to cook just now?
How much longer are you going to wait there?
However, favonovel.com was too embarrassed to say anything.
To Peter, the two brothers were not people who would easily end up on the losing side. When they were out on the streets, it should be other people who had to worry.
Just a moment ago, Peter clearly saw Donti taking a kitchen knife and hiding it within his bosom.
Whose child would bring a kitchen knife with them when they went out? Would this be the behavior of a decent kid?
But Donti really did return before dark. Both Peter and Adella did not know where favonovel.com had gone. When they asked him, favonovel.com did not say anything and smiled before changing the subject.
There were three rooms in the backyard of the school, but one of them was used as the kitchen. Of the remaining two, one was Peter’s room while the other was occupied by Donti and Adella.
In the evening, Adella would make the bed for Donti while favonovel.com laid on the bedroll and slept on the floor. As it was almost winter now, the floor was freezing. However, Adella never said anything about it.
After turning off the kerosene lamp, Adella suddenly asked Donti, “Do you think your brother is safe?”
Donti said with a smile, “Don’t worry, he’s definitely safe!”
Adella was stunned. She did not understand why Donti was so confident.
