The town as a whole is relatively well - preserved, but the shops on both sides of the street are covered with bullet holes, which are the marks left when the zombies were cleared out. Now the streets are deserted, and most of the shops are closed, with only a few still open.

Oliver is very curious that there are still people running shops in the apocalypse. He looks back and sees that Victoria and the other nine people are all closely following him. This makes him very satisfied, thinking that he already has the foundation of his team.

He walks into a shop without a billboard and with its door half - closed. It's dim inside because there is no electricity, and it's piled high with all kinds of parts. A thin man is sitting on the sofa in a daze, not even noticing when Oliver comes in.

Among the piles of parts, Oliver sees car parts, firearm parts, and even a gun barrel over two meters long. He can't help but be a bit surprised.

When he turns to leave, the man notices him. He quickly puts down his water cup and greets him with a big smile on his face, "What would you like? I've got parts for transportation vehicles and accessories for controlled weapons here, and they're all very cheap."

Oliver is interested and stops in his tracks. He asks, "The vehicles have all been taken over. What's the use of these parts?"

The man gives him a glance and says, "You must be new here, right?" Seeing Oliver nod, he then smiles and says, "The vehicles have been taken over, but the parts are useful. When it's time for the hunt, you'd better hope your car doesn't break down."

Oliver presses on, asking, "What hunt?" But the man doesn't answer directly. He just says vaguely, "A strong man like you will surely be told about it when the time comes."

Then he leans in and whispers, "I guess your guns have been confiscated too, right? In this chaotic world, having a gun means having the right to speak."

Oliver knows that there is more to what he said. He knocks on the counter and asks, "What do you have?" Seeing that he's interested, the man's face lights up. "I've got both long and short ones," he says.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Oliver asks again, "Where's the goods?"

The man immediately rummages through the piles of parts. He skillfully picks out dozens of pieces from thousands of parts, assembles a pistol in just over thirty seconds, and then spends a little over a minute assembling a submachine gun, and places them on the counter.

The man says proudly, "Although guns are controlled here, everyone has a trick up their sleeve. Even if it's discovered, at most the gun will be confiscated. As long as you want, I can even get you an infantry gun, provided you have enough food and the guts."

Oliver picks up the submachine gun and the pistol and plays with them. He asks, "What about the bullets?"

The man smiles and says, "The Blasting Star pistol comes with 50 standard bullets and 5 explosive bullets. The Whirling Horse submachine gun comes with 150 bullets. Cash on delivery."

Oliver asks, "How much do these two cost?" The man sneers, "Money? Banknotes are useless in the apocalypse. We only trade with standard gold or food."

Oliver then remembers that paper money has been invalidated in the apocalypse. He doesn't have much gold, so he says, "I'll trade with rice. How can I trade for the pistol and the submachine gun?"

As soon as the man hears the word "rice", his eyes light up. He stares at Oliver and swallows his saliva, saying, "Just five kilograms of rice, and both the pistol and the submachine gun are yours."

Oliver sneers, "Five kilograms of rice? That's equivalent to over two hundred grams of gold."

The man is a bit flustered, "I'll also give you 20 explosive bullets and 100 submachine gun bullets. If it weren't for the rice, I wouldn't make this deal."

After estimating, Oliver thinks the price is reasonable and agrees to the deal.

He goes to the door and waves at James.

James runs over carrying a snake skin bag filled with rice. Oliver says he wants to trade rice for guns. James gets anxious, "What do we need guns for? Staying in the base, food is more useful than guns. We don't have much rice left..."

Oliver pats him on the shoulder, "With guns, we'll naturally have food."

There is less than ten kilograms of rice in the rice bag. Oliver weighs out five kilograms and throws the rest to James, who looks heartbroken. He says, "This is enough for us to eat for two meals. Trust me, we'll get more rice."

The man squints his eyes and puts away the rice. He takes out a pile of magazines from under the floor, selects the promised amount and puts them in a bag, then hands it to Oliver. He also says, "If you have more rice, I've got a lot of good stuff here."

Oliver takes the magazines. He keeps the pistol for himself and throws the submachine gun with the magazine loaded to James. He smiles at the man and says, "You're really good at doing business." The man happily carries the rice and goes upstairs.

Looking at James, who is still feeling heartbroken, Oliver smiles and says, "Jim, in this apocalypse, food is important, but weapons are even more important. With weapons, we can snatch food from the mouths of zombies. Trust me..."