Chapter 27: Take My Wallet Away
This was a Wasteland Society that Denison Henry had never seen before.
He couldn’t have imagined that after just one month of absence, such a drastic transformation could occur.
He came from Garbage Town, working as a traveling merchant.
He used to purchase ores produced by the Wasteland Society and then sell them to Garbage Town for initial processing, turning them into usable pig iron for resale.
Previously, he had heard that a group of raiders had set their sights on the Wasteland Society.
He thought the Wasteland Society was doomed and had silently prayed for those poor people, regretting that he would lose a cheap source of raw materials and make less money.
But to his surprise, the Wasteland Society not only survived but also received help from the Planetary Governor.
Wasn’t this a blessing in disguise?
In the Wasteland Society, Henry saw rows of factories and erected smelting furnaces belching white smoke, representing the power of industry.
He saw newly built residential areas where smoke rose from cooking fires, and the residents’ food quality even surpassed that of his hometown, Garbage Town.
He also saw soldiers on duty, wearing combat uniforms with bulletproof vests and mechanized left eyes gleaming with cold blue light, indicating their elite status.
His astonishment was fully noted by Patel beside him.
Patel’s heart was filled with immense satisfaction seeing his ‘old friend’ so surprised.
He loved seeing others’ astonishment; it made him affirm from the bottom of his heart how right it was to fully embrace the Governor and become the Governor’s subject.
Patel patted Henry’s shoulder and said, “Stop daydreaming, come on, there’s more good stuff to see.”
Retracting his gaze, Henry turned to Patel: “You… Is the Governor really this generous?”
Patel’s expression was devout: “Yes, and this is just the beginning. I firmly believe that under the Governor’s rule, we will live better and better than ever! Honestly, why don’t you go back and talk to your bosses, let them join the Governor’s ranks as soon as possible.”
At this, Henry calmed down a bit: “We are already under the Governor’s rule, we are also members of the Alliance.”
Patel could hear the perfunctory tone.
He was somewhat disappointed.
He genuinely thought Garbage Town could join in and contribute to the Governor’s cause.
Of course, he knew that his old friend Henry was just an ordinary traveling merchant in Garbage Town, with a rather low status.
Garbage Town had a population of over 100,000, making it a large settlement.
The ones who called the shots there were people known as ‘Agents.’ Large and small agents determined the entire direction of Garbage Town.
Henry was just a traveling merchant, still striving for the qualification of the smallest agent, and his words didn’t carry much weight in Garbage Town.
Patel merely wished, in all simplicity, that Henry would go back and persuade those Agents.
But it seemed he was indeed naive.
The Agents, fattening their wallets with money from raw materials and energy, from scavengers and adventurers, how could they easily let go?
Unless they witnessed the majesty of the Governor themselves.
Putting that thought aside, Patel’s face once again broke into a smile.
He pulled Henry along to show him some more of the good stuff.
It was the Alloy and Plastic Steel products made by the Wasteland Society.
Seeing the neatly stacked plastic steel, Henry was stunned once again.
“This… is Alloy and Plastic Steel? You can produce this kind of thing?”
He truly hadn’t expected this.
Previously, looking at those smelting furnaces, he thought at best they could only produce steel and that would have been impressive enough.
He had already been calculating in his mind: if raw materials were transported from Garbage Town to the Wasteland Society for production, and then sold to Revival City, this route would be much more profitable than trading mineral resources.
Unexpectedly, the Wasteland Society was not producing mere steel but Alloy and Plastic Steel!
This material was far superior in performance to steel!
With different formulations, it could exhibit strong compression and tensile strength, as well as excellent plasticity.
From a merchant’s perspective, its selling price would certainly be higher than steel, but only to a limited extent.
Mainly because those manufacturers, whether using Alloy and Plastic Steel for munitions, machinery, or construction materials, many large-demand, low-end product lines are very sensitive to costs.
If the cost of Alloy and Plastic Steel is much higher than steel, they would rather continue using cheaper steel.
Of course, if there were some Alloy and Plastic Steel materials with very special properties, then on certain special tools, such as making better gun barrels, more robust mechanical structures, used in high-value-added production, they are definitely valuable and can fetch a particularly high price.
But even though ordinary Alloy and Plastic Steel materials can’t be sold at particularly high prices, with a reasonable pricing strategy, there is no worry about their marketability.
At the same time, looking at the entire wasteland, there are very few forces with the capability to produce Alloy and Plastic Steel.
Perhaps Blackbird Heavy Industries has this capability, but their production capacity is not even sufficient for their own consumption, so it’s rare to see them selling such materials.
From this perspective, the Alloy and Plastic Steel produced by the Wasteland Society could almost be considered a unique business.
Besides making money, this represents tremendous influence.
Denison Henry could hardly wait!
“How much are these? Sell them to me!” he said, rubbing his hands together.
“Hold on,” Patel laughed heartily, leading Henry to another place.
Here, there were some finished products made from Alloy and Plastic Steel—individual armor vests and helmets.
Patel proudly introduced, “Look at these items. A pipe gun shot at them would at most leave a mark!”
After saying that, fearing Henry might not believe him, Patel actually took out a pipe gun.
This thing looked crude but was a very common firearm in the wasteland.
A simple iron pipe tied to a wooden handle, with the most basic firing mechanism, capable of shooting powder bullets.
Due to the lack of craftsmanship, its power was quite unpredictable, and its accuracy even more so.
A well-made one might be passable, while a poorly-made one was just a noisy fire stick, hitting the target purely by chance.
The Wasteland Society had hundreds of such guns, seized from bandits after the “Prisoners of the Void” were annihilated.
The Governor didn’t care for such junk and gave them to the society as self-defense weapons.
An armor vest was placed on a target dummy, and Patel pulled the bolt of the gun, firing dozens of rounds from a distance of several meters.
Afterward, Henry stepped closer to take a look.
There were bullet marks, but none had penetrated the individual vest.
The target dummy behind it was slightly jolted but otherwise undamaged.
This level of protection was sufficient.
Henry even tried on the vest himself, finding the weight entirely within an acceptable range.
Alloy and Plastic Steel could maintain sufficient strength and toughness while ensuring lightweight properties.
This thing was a game-changer in the wasteland.
With such a set of gear, the most common pipe guns in the wasteland would truly become mere fire sticks.
He could already imagine how these individual vests would be enthusiastically received by scavengers and adventurers in Garbage Town.
This all meant money!
“Say no more! I’ll buy them! Take my wallet away!”