Bring out something to trade with!

All of this was heard by Xue Feng, who was rather keen to figure out the exact situation.

[Ding!]
[Congratulations to the host for successfully verifying the intelligence.]
[The host is rewarded with two industrial robots.]
[Industrial robots are highly intelligent futuristic products, proficient in human industrial skills of this era.]
[No charging required; they feature a built-in power source, with an efficiency equivalent to 5 to 8 humans.]

What?
What kind of reward is this!
Industrial robots?
Proficient in the industrial skills of this human era.
Doesn't this mean that industrial robots can act as heavy laborers?
This reward left Xue Feng extremely excited.
Because the headache for him right now was that, despite his base currently thriving, it was actually at a very low level of human society—namely, an agricultural society!
There were zero achievements in industrialization.
The only thing he could manage to do was farming.
However, how could farming alone suffice?
If the base wanted to develop in the future, it had to embark on industrialization.
Before the apocalypse broke out, there were actually over two hundred countries.
The vast majority of them had no capacity for modern industrialization whatsoever.
They either survived by selling resources or lived in abject poverty.
How easy was industrialization to achieve!
Only now the circumstances were different; Xue Feng was not starting from scratch.
His base had electricity.
This was the most difficult problem of industrialization, as many countries lacked electricity.
Next were things like large-scale equipment.
The industrial park did not lack such items, and power could be laid out directly there.
Ironically, the most difficult issue was the workers.
Without skilled workers, one could not even dream of operating machinery.
All of these required taking things step by step.
The original skilled workers had probably all turned into zombies by now.
Yet now, Xue Feng possessed industrial robots, which was equivalent to having a free labor force.
It was tantamount to having dozens of workers.
With this, any industrial product could be manufactured.
Only, Xue Feng had not yet figured out what exact items would be best to produce.
This required further discussion.
He would just leave it to Shen Ruyan.
Since she was the strategist by his side, he might as well put her to use.

Meanwhile, inside the van, the argument among those few people was still ongoing.
However, an agreement was reached very quickly.
"We must find medicine right now! Once we find it, we're leaving immediately, and we must not provoke anyone else again."
Among the six individuals, a bearded man said in a deep voice.
Hearing this, the others all nodded.
The van started up again and headed toward a certain street.
Xue Feng also heard their conversation.
Although he did not know what was going on with these people, he could tell they were extremely vigilant.
Had they fled here from somewhere else?
And they were searching for medicine.
Xue Feng nodded silently, thinking this was quite possible.
By pure coincidence, that group of people headed straight for the street where he was located.
Soon, the bearded man and two others entered one of the pharmacies.
The remaining three stood guard at the entrance.
They did not carry firearms; their gazes merely swept the surroundings with vigilance.
"There don't seem to be any zombies around."
"The number of zombies is relatively small, which probably means a faction has occupied this place."
"This isn't a good place either; we should leave quickly."
"Leave? Who knows how much longer we can live, and we don't even know if ordinary medicine will work. After all, this isn't an ordinary toxin."
The three of them chatted idly.
Toxin?
Were these people poisoned?
Xue Feng could not tell from their appearance.
Perhaps there was some hidden story behind it.
Hearing this, Xue Feng had already decided to make contact with these individuals.
At least they did not appear dangerous; they merely wanted to survive.
Thus, Xue Feng walked straight out.
Upon seeing a stranger accompanied by a dog, the three of them immediately tightened up with caution.
"Who goes there! What are you doing?"
The commotion made by these three also attracted the bearded man and the others inside the pharmacy.
The bearded man and his companions emerged as well, with two of them carrying a pile of medical supplies.
These were items like antidotes.
The most coveted items in the apocalypse were antibiotics and cold medicine, along with some painkillers.
Antivirals and antidotes were things nobody bothered to scavenge.
Everyone had limited backpack space, and no one wanted to stuff it with so much useless junk.
Even if they had extra space, they would fill it with vitamins or similar items.

"I'm just a survivor. Where are you people from?"
Xue Feng raised both hands to signal that he posed no threat.
Seeing that Xue Feng was alone with a dog and apparently devoid of weapons, the bearded man and the others breathed a sigh of relief.
However, they did not completely lower their guard against Xue Feng.
"How long have you been in Jiangcheng? Do you know this place well?" the bearded man asked directly.
"Want to fish for intelligence? You should at least bring something to trade with," Xue Feng said with a smile.
He did not answer the bearded man's question directly.
This was the apocalypse!
Trading intelligence required paying a price, because information was valuable.
"Refusing to talk? You're alone, but there are six of us!"
A woman standing next to the bearded man glared fiercely at Xue Feng.
This was clearly a threat to Xue Feng.
If he did not share the intelligence, the consequences would be severe.
"So what if there are?" Xue Feng shrugged, appearing entirely unconcerned.
"You're courting death!" The woman looked as though she was about to charge over, seemingly intending to teach Xue Feng a lesson.
However, she was intercepted by the bearded man beside her.
Clearly, the bearded man had already realized that the Xue Feng standing before him was not a simple character.
Otherwise, why would Xue Feng dare to show himself before them when they had six people?
A little bit of thinking made it obvious that Xue Feng simply did not fear them.
"My friend, let's talk this out peacefully. We don't have any food or anything like that right now—what is it that you want?" the bearded man asked.
"The six of you don't even have food?" Xue Feng was slightly surprised.
He had noticed that these people were not carrying backpacks or similar gear, and had assumed the food was kept inside the vehicle.
As it turned out, the bearded man and his group claimed they had none.
"Never mind, I don't need food anyway. We can just trade intelligence; where did you come from?" Xue Feng asked.
The bearded man hesitated for a moment, not expecting Xue Feng to turn the tables and question him first.
"We came from River Town."
Still, after considering it for a second, the bearded man spoke up.
Following that, the bearded man expected Xue Feng to answer his earlier question.
"I am a native of Jiangcheng, and I know this place quite well," Xue Feng nodded.
The bearded man and the others waited for Xue Feng to continue.
To their surprise, Xue Feng stopped abruptly, turned the tables on them, and asked why they had traveled from River Town to this place, and what had happened in River Town.
Only then did they realize that Xue Feng had already finished answering their question.