Chapter 58: Extraordinary Strange Materials

Chu Che naturally knew about Chen Ye going to help Iron Lion repair the school bus.

With Captain Chu possessing the Eavesdropping Radio, nothing in the convoy could escape his ears.

Like that perpetually restless Xu Jiaojiao.

However, Captain Chu didn't take Xu Jiaojiao seriously at all.

If he took action against this woman without reason, it would violate the convoy's principle of Fairness.

As the captain, he definitely wouldn't easily break the rules he himself had established.

And... this woman actually thought Chen Ye was the weakest one in the entire convoy.

Hahaha... interesting.

"Sss..."

He truly missed the days when he could drink tea freely.

In his previous home, he had a dedicated tea room.

The apocalypse had its perks, but this tea—once you drank a little, there was less left, and it wasn't easy to collect more.

Remembering the scene last time when Nana drank it like a cow chewing peonies, Captain Chu felt a bit heartache.

As the captain, Chu Che didn't care for beautiful women; he didn't even have the slightest desire to glance at those women in the convoy with decent figures.

Not even beauties like the Zhou Lan and Zhou Xiaoxiao sisters interested Captain Chu.

The only thing he loved was this cup of tea broth.

It was simply the ultimate earthly pleasure...

"Sss..."

He savored another sip.

Captain Chu felt his soul had been elevated, and the day's fatigue was completely eliminated at this moment.

"Captain, Captain Chu!"

A familiar voice suddenly sounded outside the tent.

Captain Chu's heart jumped in surprise.

He hurriedly prepared to stuff the tea set into the box beside him.

Just as Captain Chu picked up the teapot to hide it in the nearby box, the tent flap was lifted from the outside.

A handsome, somewhat stubbly face appeared at the entrance.

It was Chen Ye!

Chen Ye also didn't expect to see this scene when he lifted the tent flap.

Captain Chu was sneakily stuffing something into the box beside him.

Chen Ye's gaze shifted to what Captain Chu was trying to hide, and his eyes lit up slightly.

"Captain, that's not very fair of you, drinking tea alone without calling me!"

"Sss... come to think of it, I haven't had tea in many days either."

Chen Ye walked into the tent, rubbing his hands together like a fly.

Originally planning to exchange for the solar charging panel with Captain Chu, he happened to catch Captain Chu drinking tea.

You have to understand, this was the desert.

Water resources in the desert were extremely precious.

Even Chen Ye controlled his daily water intake.

Let alone drinking tea.

To conserve water resources, Chen Ye hadn't brushed his teeth for several months.

The last time he bathed was that rainy night when they left Longevity Village.

Thinking back on that night's rain still felt somewhat regrettable.

If only he had collected some in bottles back then.

"Captain, you're really stingy!"

Chen Ye chuckled and pulled over a moon chair by himself, sitting directly opposite Captain Chu.

Chu Che's mouth twitched violently.

"You... forget it..."

Seeing that he'd been caught red-handed, Captain Chu had no choice but to share this pot of Pu'er with Chen Ye.

Captain Chu added hot water to the teapot, then poured the tea broth into the fairness cup. The orange-red tea broth emitted an invigorating fragrance.

Chen Ye was also examining Captain Chu's tent.

You had to admit Captain Chu knew how to enjoy life.

The tent even had a single army cot and camping lights.

The solar charging panel that Chen Ye wanted was just casually thrown on the ground.

Much better conditions than what Chen Ye had.

"So, how did it go? Iron Lion's vehicle fixed?"

"Fixed, no major issues!"

"Truly worthy of the Mechanic Sequence, but you're too ruthless—earning a whole carton of cigarettes from Iron Lion in just a few minutes!"

"Can't be helped, Iron Lion and I have a good relationship. Just a carton of cigarettes—even if he didn't give them, I would still have helped him check it out."

This wasn't false. When Chen Ye previously asked Iron Lion for help pulling his vehicle from the desert, Iron Lion agreed without hesitation.

As long as it didn't affect himself, Chen Ye was willing to lend Iron Lion a hand.

But if Iron Lion was willing to give cigarettes, Chen Ye wouldn't refuse either.

"The Mechanic Sequence is truly impressive, but the Support Sequence is easily underestimated too. You're keeping too low a profile."

Captain Chu looked at Chen Ye with a smiling expression, his words seeming to carry some hidden meaning.

Chen Ye picked up his cup, drank it all in one gulp, and savored the lingering aroma of the tea.

"Chen Ye, you're someone who never visits without a reason. Coming to find me in the middle of the night—what's it really about? Just say it directly!"

Chen Ye pointed at the solar charging panel behind Captain Chu.

"I want that. I'm wondering how Captain plans to exchange for it?"

Captain Chu glanced at the solar charging panel. He had long guessed Chen Ye would come to exchange for this thing, just didn't expect it would take this long.

"If you want this, it's not impossible to exchange, but this thing isn't cheap!"

"Name your price!"

"One ten-kilogram bag of flour, plus one ten-kilogram bag of rice!"

"You're crazy!"

Chen Ye didn't expect Captain Chu to be so ruthless—even more cutthroat than himself.

Chu Che slowly took a sip of tea before saying, "Expensive? You can go find Old Zhangtou. He has more solar charging panels."

"However, he's much more ruthless than me!"

"If you want to exchange for a solar charging panel from him, the price would at least double!"

Chen Ye gritted his teeth. He believed Captain Chu's words.

That wretched old man driving the low-speed electric vehicle only gave a small piece of bread each time after finishing transactions with that voluptuous woman.

A whole night, and only one small piece of bread.

Given that level of stinginess, obtaining that solar charging panel would definitely require a huge price.

And Chen Ye wasn't very willing to deal with that old man.

For some reason, Chen Ye always felt there might be something off about that old man.

Before figuring out that old man's background.

Chen Ye thought it better to keep a respectful distance.

Sometimes learning from Old Devil Han helped you live longer.

"Captain, that's just too expensive!"

"Not expensive at all, Chen Ye. You have so many supplies, only feeding yourself, while I have to support this many people."

"My supplies are even tighter than yours!"

"How about exchanging with me!"

"Oh right, you still owe me a fifteen-liter bucket of gasoline!"

"When are you planning to return it?"

Chen Ye currently only had about sixty liters of gasoline left. If he returned it to Chu Che, he'd only have forty-five liters left.

"Ahem... Captain, since you're not short on gasoline anyway, let's talk about it later, let's talk about it later..."

"Let's discuss the solar charging panel first."

"Ten kilograms of rice, ten kilograms of flour—non-negotiable!"

"You black-hearted Scrooge!"

"Say whatever you want!"

Captain Chu was quite satisfied seeing Chen Ye's frustrated expression, happily raising his teacup to drink.

"However, if you really think it's too expensive, I do have another set of solar charging panels."

"Although they're broken, for you, that shouldn't be a problem."

"If you want them, I can give you a cheaper price. Just half of the previous offer!"

"Alright then, please show them to me, Captain!"

Hearing that he could get them for only half the supplies, Chen Ye's heart became active.

"Wait a moment, let me look for them!"

After saying this, Chu Che got up and went to a travel suitcase at least thirty inches large nearby.

Captain Chu had obtained this travel suitcase during previous supply gathering.

Finding it very useful, he used it to store supplies.

Chen Ye's gaze also turned toward that box.

Anything Captain Chu kept in this box must be somewhat useful.

Suddenly, Chen Ye's eyes narrowed slightly.

A red piece of leather was taken out by Chu Che from the box and placed to the side.

He had seen this leather piece before during the convoy trading session.

At the time, he just thought this leather was quite strange.

Now it seemed this leather might possibly be some kind of Wonder material.

Chen Ye's eyes narrowed slightly.

"System, what is this leather?"

Holy crap?

It actually required spending Slaughter Points for appraisal?

This kind of thing had never happened before.

Could it be some incredible Wonder material?