Trash in the Apocalypse

Jay tried several times to have his group spread out but was stopped every time. Left with no choice, he led his group around and found the supermarket. 

"Use the items you have with you and buy useful things. We want weapons, armor, accessories, anything unique. I'll take care of food and healing, I heard they have good stuff around here and I hope they don't disappoint."

Before anyone could move from their spot, a surveillance monitor stepped forward and said, "I already told you multiple times that you can't split up."

"Bro, I know that you need to keep the act up, but come on! We're inside the market, inside the square! Where are we going to run? You guys can stand at every corner and you could see us from miles away."

The surveillance monitor pondered over the matter.

The square wasn't that big and there were not many stalls. Most people who want to earn big money sell their goods either at the Auction House or at the Marketplace. Selling at those places could earn double or triple depending on the quality and the number of interested buyers.

The stall owners here were merchants who were trying to make a name by wholesaling. They buy goods directly from producers and sell them with a slight margin. They rely on daily necessities and forced habits hidden inside everyone's body.

Due to Black Haven's monopoly on a lot of things, some of the citizens submitted several proposals to get things balanced. Merchant groups could now be registered in the Trade and Commerce Department for operating licenses.

"Alright, but don't try anything. You go by two's and a monitor will follow each group."

"Thank you, that will speed up our shopping."

The Golden Piglet members did as they were told and spread out to cover more ground. They shopped and found stalls to their liking and bought several second-hand equipments.

Not knowing the real market price of things, the two sides benefitted from one another. 

Jay focused on acquiring healing salves since medicine was the most expensive goods he could profit by reselling. Food was the second option, but not as important since huge factions from other cities had a monopoly over food. The market would be for small groups that have little purchasing power. 

To his surprise, he encountered a problem while wanting to buy tons of fish. The stall owner wasn't willing to sell a bulk of his stocks to him, so he had to invest more money just to convince the owner.

After giving a soft-bribe of several essence stones, the stall owner felt his sincerity and even granted his request to personally pick the goods himself. For the owner, fishes were fishes, it doesn't matter if the latter chooses a fat one or a skinny one.

Once done picking, he requested for the goods to be delivered directly to the eatern gate after getting packed into gray plastic sacks. He even jokingly said that he would take everything else as compensation if they were packed in other sacks.

Since Jay was still having a tour of the place, the stall owner agreed for the little favor. He felt strange about him jesting about the sacks, but the thought of getting a recurring client if things went well brought him to cloud nine to nitpick on the client's attitude. 

Jay bought two hundred fifty milk fishes and paid dozens of essence stones for this trade. The stall owner benefitted a lot and instead of feeling scammed, he had a satisfied smile on his face. 

There was nothing much to explore in the town and further exploration of other towns was prohibited. However, during this short trip, they were able to gather information through chatting with other people.

The territory was a blessing for the people and considered the safest place in the whole region. The government moved to the north headed somewhere safer. The next town has a dungeon that can give an infinite amount of food.

With this knowledge in mind, everyone readily left the territory. 

On the east gate, a young man was waiting impatiently for Jay to arrive. Once the group approached near, the annoyance in the man's face disappeared and turned into a warm smile. 

The young man took two pink plastic sacks from his inventory, and lay them down on the ground. "Here are your orders. Thank you for trading with us."

Jay kept silent, then sighed. "I really like gray colors though."

The young man became confused as to what he was talking about. 

"Tch. Let's leave this place." Jay took the sacks of fishes and led everyone out of the gate filled with disappointment.

The surveillance monitor transferred them to the garrison soldiers and moved on with their day. 

The garrison unit escorted them out of the territory and waited until the Golden Piglets were out of sight before returning to town.

Everyone kept their distance from Jay since he was having a foul mood. Unbeknownst to everyone, despite the disappointment he was showing, he was actually elated deep within.

"As expected of people, they don't pay attention to small details! Hahaha!"

In his inventory, two pink sacks lay next to three gray sacks of fishes.

On the other hand, the stall owner was idling on the stall when he saw a slight radiance from the side. He turned to investigate and found out that the tub of fishes next to him suddenly disappeared.

He started shouting, causing a commotion in the peaceful marketplace.

"Thief, thief! Someone stole from me! There's a thief with invisibility!"

The man requested help from the nearby monitors, but it was already too late and the thief couldn't be found after searching the nearby area.

The stall owner couldn't blame anyone since it was a common rule to protect yourself and your belongings when in Black Haven. He started to sweat when the idea of reporting the matter to the boss entered his head.

Igme learned of the story and joined the hunt since he was the Head Monitor of this town. Showing that he was doing his work would help him get a higher position.

—

—

One of the community milestones of Black Haven has finally been achieved.

Restoring the power of cell towers all over the region.

It was one of the top requested wishes that the citizens have. After converting a lot of gas generators into energy-types, restoring powers to various cell towers became a walk in the park. People just have to maintain a daily recharge to make sure that the towers continue to work. 

Since it was a request from the people, incentives were not given out, and recharging the generators is considered volunteer work.

Still, getting the cell towers to work wasn't what the people expected. It didn't give them the internet they were expecting and only allowed signals to be strengthened. Even calls couldn't go through since other places don't have signals and the receiver couldn't receive the call.

The project was deemed a failure, but it helped open another source of entertainment for the people. Radio programs. 

Radio still works and the reactivated cell towers managed to catch the signal coming from a radio studio in the capital city. A lone channel continued operating despite the situation to help alleviate stress and give hope to people who were listening.

In his own words, "I don't know if people are still listening, but I'll continue operating as long as I'm alive."

The DJ was a lone man trapped in his apartment studio and can't get out of the capital. He doesn't reveal his real name and only uses his stage name, FattyGen. Instead of risking his life leaving the city, he chose to continue running the station.

His regular routine was to scavenge early in the morning and return before high noon comes. Thanks to his skills, which he wasn't willing to divulge, he was able to navigate through the city. 

As time passed by, he met survivors and learned that he actually had listeners. These people relied on his encouragement to keep moving forward and survive these harsh times.

Every afternoon, he would narrate various stories and established a fanbase. Survivors would leave written stories of their adventure and requests for help at his doorstep, together with a little bit of supplies. 

Though he repeatedly told his listeners not to do that, he was obviously elated receiving food supplies. 

The channel immediately became popular in the territory since it spoke one thing that everyone wanted to hear; hope.

Hope was something taken by everyone by an invisible hand that no one sees. The dread and slaughter presented to everyone dull everyone's sense of hope for the future.

Learning that other people were struggling to survive in other places, everyone was reminded that they weren't the only ones fighting for their life. Everyone was the same and giving up would never end well for anyone.

With the emergence of the radio channel, a sudden surge in gadget usage occurred. The demand for recharging stations suddenly spiked up.

Survivors near the cell towers took advantage of the generators and charged their electronics there. It didn't take long for the information to spread and everyone learned that gadgets don't get damaged if they were charged using generators.

Since generators at cell towers were community property, it became quickly populated with people wanting to charge them. With more people charging, the faster the energy gets consumed.

Generators suddenly became a hot commodity and individuals who own a private generator suddenly found themselves in the center of a troublesome problem.

Generators were getting stolen left and right!

In times of unknowingness, pubs and eateries that have radios became popular and gained more customers. People would gather at these places in the afternoon to listen to the same person, recounting stories that happened today.