Chapter 64: Iridium’s Location
Translator: Liu_Kaixuan Editor: Valvrave
Zhang Hai kept talking nonstop for a while, but finally gave up.
Jiang Zhuying and others had entered the hall to exchange supplies. Jiang Zhuying could finally exchange her supplies for the weapon she was yearning for, for a long time, she was in a good mood and couldn’t wait any more.
The rest of them were the same. They had gone there to replenish ammunition or exchange supplies for things that they needed. In addition to exchanging goods, that was a place where many humans had been gathered, so it felt like they were shopping as in the past. They lived in places surrounded by zombies and had to always to fight with their lives on the line, in order to survive one more day. So being able to relax for a bit, surrounded by other people, could ease their minds and soothe the loneliness in their hearts.
Seeing everyone being busy in exchanging, Jiang Lius.h.i.+ walked into the hall. The hall’s facilities were simple.
The counters were made up by desks that had been combined, and behind the counters there were one or two soldiers. Some survivors were arguing with a soldier. Jiang Lius.h.i.+ guessed that they may have been arguing about the amount of goods they had exchanged.
Jiang Lius.h.i.+ approached near a table in the corner, and asked, "I want to exchange. But I don’t know whether you have the things I need?"
A young soldier, sitting behind the table, looked at Jiang Lius.h.i.+ and asked casually, "What do you want?"
People who had been going there frequently, were already familiar to him, while that young man in his twenties was a stranger. But the soldier had observed that he had come with Jiang Zhuying.
"100kg of t.i.tanium, and..." Jiang Lius.h.i.+’s list surprised the soldier. The more the soldier heard, the more surprised he bacame.
Although survivors would go there to exchange materials, he was the first one who wanted so many metals. What survivors needed were supplies for survival, or weapons. Why did he need those metals?
The soldier looked at Jiang Lius.h.i.+ again. It seemed that Jiang Lius.h.i.+ was not joking. The soldier’s look was odd, and he answered, "Give me a moment. I’ll go and check."
[Maybe they’ve created a Local Area Network (LAN) here.] Jiang Lius.h.i.+ pondered, as he was observing the soldier who was searching on his computer.
Jiang Lius.h.i.+ waited patiently, if the military had reserves, it would be fine. If not, they could help him to post a list to collect from other survivors. After a few minutes, the soldier looked up and told, "No, we don’t have any of those metals."
Naturally, everyone would focus on collecting food, medicine or ammunition in order to exchange for other necessary things. As the military had never posted something involving metals, the no one would voluntarily sacrifice their time to collect them.
"Then…" Jiang Lius.h.i.+ was about to inquire about the list, but suddenly a voice interrupted him.
"Iridium? What do you want this for? It can be found in our university."
Jiang Lius.h.i.+ turned around in surprise. The voice came from a man in his sixties and didn’t seem like he had come to exchange like the other survivors. His clothes were dirty, like an old peasant, and had mud on his hands.
"Your university?" Jiang Lius.h.i.+ asked. Most of those metals were not easy to find, but not rare, except for iridium. He didn’t need much, but it was the most difficult to find.
Iridium was commonly used to make the pen nibs, but pen nibs were tiny, and 1kg was a large amount to gather just from pen nibs.
"Really? I need 1kg of Iridium," Jiang Lius.h.i.+ added.
If that old man told him to pull out pen nibs, he would go mad.
The old man clearly heard the doubts in Jiang Lius.h.i.+’s voice, so he said, "1kg is no problem. Our university"s lab has several iridium crucibles."
Iridium crucibles, which were used for chemical experiments, were usually only available in key laboratories of inst.i.tutions of higher education. This was not related to his major, so he could not have thought of that in the beginning, but now listening to the old man, he was enlightened.
"You mean Jinling University?" If it was Jinling University then he would be really lucky, it was near to where they lived.
"Yes." The old man nodded.
"Thank you!" Jiang Lius.h.i.+ was overjoyed, he could collect the most difficult material.
"Could you please tell me where the lab is?" Jiang Lius.h.i.+ asked. Jinling University was s.p.a.cious. As for that laboratory, even Jiang Zhuying may not know where it was.
The old man licked his lips, then wiped his hands on his clothes and asked, "Do you have a pen and paper? I"ll draw you a simple map."
"That would be for the best!" Jiang Lius.h.i.+ asked the soldier to borrow a pen and a piece of paper. The soldier hesitated for a moment, but glancing at Jiang Zhuying, he unwillingly gave them a pen and paper. A look of disgust appeared on the soldier"s face, when he saw the old man"s dirty hand holding his pen.
"I"ll draw..." The old man spoke slowly, leaving an impression that he had not much energy, and his hands were trembling, but while he was drawing, Jiang Lius.h.i.+ was surprised.
That "simple map" was pretty thorough, neat and smooth in lines.
The old man drew it very carefully. Four minutes later, he finished and handed it to Jiang Lius.h.i.+. "Here you are. You go straight along this road. It"s the shortest way."
"OK," Jiang Lius.h.i.+ took the map and thanked him, "Thank you! By the way, what did you do at Jinling University?"
"Teaching. I was a professor," the old man said.
[A professor…] Jiang Lius.h.i.+ was stunned. He was under the impression that a professor should have a high status in military. But looking at the old man, Jiang Lius.h.i.+ guessed that he was too old to do things, so he was arranged to farm.
He was in a bad condition, and always took his time of rest to stroll into the hall. From the unabashed disgust from the soldiers, such old man of little value was very unpopular.
"I taught astronomy," The old man added.
[So it’s like this…] Jiang Lius.h.i.+ understood. If he taught physics, chemistry, or engineering, he would have been treated respectfully. But astronomy, nowadays, was "useless". Everyone only cared about how to survive. No one would pay attention to planets’ positions, etc. The old professor was really unfortunate.
"Be careful," he warned, "Alas! At this time what these stuff could do..." The old man wiped the pen on the cleaner part of his clothes and put it back on the table. Then he was about to leave.
"Wait, professor." Jiang Lius.h.i.+ stopped him. The old man looked at him confusedly. Jiang Lius.h.i.+ watched him and felt that the old man was too weak to walk, and that sooner or later he’d die.
Jiang Lius.h.i.+ thought for a moment, and took a bag out of his pocket. He handed it to the old man, "Take this."
It was a bag with mutant meat, which had been given to him by Jiang Zhuying, and its amount exceeded much than Yang Qingqing and others’ portion. But for Jiang Lius.h.i.+ who had taken a huge part of the mutant dog’s carca.s.s, it was nothing.
The soldier had lost interest in their conversation, so he had taken out a book to read. But when he casually glanced around, he found Jiang Lius.h.i.+ taking out a bag of meat and intended to give it to the old man!
The old man looked at the meat, he couldn’t help swallowing his saliva, it was too enticing.
In the camp, except for special talents, the distribution of food was given according labor. He was a useless old man, so they had been giving him little food, even some terrible food.
As for the soldier, he hadn’t eaten meat for a long time...
At that moment, he could not help it but meddle...