Chapter 933: Sh.e.l.lac Record
Zhang Heng remained unbothered by the old man’s reaction. When he opened the shotgun’s barrel, he found out that there were no bullets in it. So, he returned the shotgun to the old man. After that, he picked up the things he placed on the ground earlier and followed the old man into his shop.
“Where do I put these?”
“Well, you place them anywhere you like. I’ll clean it up later.” The old man’s att.i.tude seemed to have improved a lot after Zhang Heng pointed at him with his shotgun.
So, Zhang Heng put the pile of old things on the table and started to look around. The House of Old Objects was a concentration camp of paraphanelia from the past century. The goods here were ancient, with old routers, old teapots, stamps, commemorative coins, and even a cooker hood. Among all those old things, the items that filled up the shop were books. There were all kinds of books and old newspapers and each one was carefully preserved.
At first glance, the shop actually looked like a library.
In the end, Zhang Heng’s attention landed on a car model. “How much for the car model?”
The old man looked in the direction that Zhang Heng pointed and said, “Oh, this is a building block toy from the past. It was produced by the first toy company that produced building blocks. The people were once crazy about it. At that time, the building blocks were nothing more than building blocks. Later, some other companies started to produce smarter toys. And that building block company started to follow suit. Unfortunately, it eventually shut its doors due to poor management. It’s wasn’t easy for me to acquire this treasure. It is undeniably a commemorative piece of toy. I have to sell it at 800 credits.”
“That’s far too expensive.” Zhang Heng walked toward the car model while bargaining. He found the familiar Lego logo on the building block. After picking it and giving it a careful look, he felt instantly relieved. Initially, he thought the timeline change would’ve caused the Lego company to cease to exist.
If that was true, the Infinite Building Block that he brought with him would be rendered useless. With this Lego car model, he would be able to use his Infinite Building Block to deal with some of the complicated situations.
“Good things never come cheap,” the old man said. He then frowned. “Did you come to my shop just to buy Lego blocks?”
“No. I also want to inquire about the whereabouts of sh.e.l.lac records.” Zhang Heng said, “The owner of an audio equipment store told me that I could come to you to try my luck.”
“You have come to the right place,” the old man said. “There are very few who know about the sh.e.l.lac records. It is an audio medium that was born at the beginning of the last century. After the sh.e.l.lac ate the leaves, they would secrete purple resin. Combine the purple resin with clay, cotton fiber, and other mixtures and you will get a sh.e.l.lac record. It dominated the market until the end of World War II. Later, j.a.pan invaded the birthplace of its main raw material, and vinyl records were invented. The sh.e.l.lac record was then replaced by the vinyl record. Not long after that, vinyl records were replaced by CDs. And now, most audio is in digital format.”
“It is said that there are still some small factories producing CDs and vinyl records to satisfy a small part of the demand. As for sh.e.l.lac records… No one produces them anymore, which makes them very rare. To be honest, the sh.e.l.lac record is not very suitable for storing audio. A single sh.e.l.lac record can only store a few minutes of audio. And the sound is not well preserved too. Why are you interested in sh.e.l.lac records anyway?”
“Well, we have to find new hobbies for ourselves from time to time,” answered Zhang Heng. “So, do you have sh.e.l.lac records here?”
“Hah!” the old man snorted, but he didn’t answer Zhang Heng’s question immediately, folding his arms and staring at him. “You have to bargain with the building block’s price with me. I don’t think you can afford the sh.e.l.lac records. How would I know if you are not going to grab the records and run away like those two little b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.”
“Because I need a lot of them. I’d like our business to be long-term, and robbing you will do me no good,” Zhang Heng said. “You seem to have many ways to collect these old things. I want to buy every single sh.e.l.lac record in this city.”
“It’s impossible. Do you know how much they will cost you? Besides, you can’t buy all the sh.e.l.lac records with only money.” The old man scoffed and shook his head as if he just heard a joke.
“It doesn’t matter. I have time. We can take it slow.”
“Oh, if I were you, I wouldn’t be so sure, but for the sake of you helping me retrieve the stolen goods, I can indeed sell you a few sh.e.l.lac records.” The old man did not blink. He then told Zhang Heng its price. “Three thousand. Three thousand credits for one sh.e.l.lac record.”
“One hundred.” Zhang Heng did not blink as well.
“Are you here to mess with me?” the old man growled angrily.
“You started it first,” Zhang Heng said. “You’re the one who said not many know about sh.e.l.lac records these days. And there are even fewer collectors. If I’m not mistaken, you have a difficult time selling your sh.e.l.lac records. It’ll do you better to sell them to me at a lower price.”
“You know nothing about sh.e.l.lac records! You don’t even know their value. I might as well take them to the grave and listen to them myself.”
“Do you really want me to wait for your death and dig your grave?” Zhang Heng asked.
The old man was so enraged that he started to laugh. However, something else seemed to cross his mind, and the anger on his face faded a little. “You are right. Other than you, no one else will be interested in buying sh.e.l.lac records. I can sell them to you at a low price, or I can even give them to you for free.”
“But?” Zhang Heng raised his eyebrows.
“But you have to provide me with something I need in exchange.”
“What do you need?”
“Although your outfits are a little exaggerated and over-the-top, I have to admit that you look like you can fight well. I want you to be my bodyguard and accompany me to meet someone. He lives at the bottom level of this city. That place is not that safe, especially if I go alone.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible because I’ve just taken a job as a bodyguard for someone else. You will need to wait two weeks before I can protect you,” Zhang Heng said.
“No, I don’t need you to protect me all the time. I just need you to accompany me to meet someone. Can you spare some time for me? It will only take four to five hours.”
“If that’s the case, I can do that for you.”
Xu Qian would stream every day, especially in the evening, which usually lasted until midnight. According to the previous agreement between the two, Zhang Heng only needed to get back to her before midnight.
“Wait here.” After Zhang Heng replied to him, the old man turned around and walked to the side of a bookshelf. He pulled out an iron box from the side, opened it, took out a paper bag, and handed it to Zhang Heng.
Zhang Heng knew the contents of the paper bag without even opening it. The system had just informed him that he had found a sh.e.l.lac record and it earned ten game points.