CHAPTER 890: CHAPTER 979: SENDING A SHIPLOAD OF OIL TO TEST THE WATERS

What is it?!

Everyone’s gaze shifted over.

They saw a massive cart on stage covered with a red silk cloth. When Mr. Maha swiftly removed the cloth, its true appearance was revealed.

It was an entire wall of glass containers, divided into dozens of compartments, containing many different colors of sparkling liquid, with ice floating inside.

Below each compartment, there was a crystal-clear faucet. When Mr. Maha filled a glass, the rich aroma of hops instantly filled the entire trading hall.

At that moment, Mr. Maha took a big gulp, belched out a beer burp, and then satisfied, showed everyone his empty glass.

All the men present started swallowing their saliva.

This rich, authentic beer taste — they hadn’t had it in a long time.

Before the apocalypse, people had wines in their collection that they were reluctant to drink, but beer, which doesn’t last long, was hard to come by.

Moreover, in this Middle East, where the wealthy are everywhere, there are actually special servants at home to plant hops and brew beer, but compared to the taste this one emits—

To put it simply, it’s like expired Sprite without carbonation: tasteless, yet regrettable to waste.

"Is this the beer brought by the Huaxia people?"

"I didn’t expect Mr. Maha’s news to actually be true."

"I heard about the beer, but thought it would be similar to our homemade brew. I never expected the craftsmanship to differ so much — they’re not even on the same level."

"This is the crème de la crème."

"I just wonder how much of this the Huaxia people actually brought. If there’s too little, there won’t be enough to go around!"

Some praised it, some inquired, while others squinted their eyes and instructed their subordinates to contact ’certain people’. The Huaxia people have too many good things on them.

Mr. Maha cleared his throat and continued, "Gentlemen, do not get excited. Mr. Zhou has brought several ships full of beer, and there’s even a plan to set up a factory here.

Allow me to introduce this beer, which is brewed using apocalypse dark energy. Everyone must have smelled the aroma; drinking this beer even has the effect of strengthening the body and restoring energy."

Someone then asked: "Dear Mr. Maha, can we first have a taste of this beer?"

Mr. Maha shook his head apologetically: "No." Because whatever is left after negotiation is my commission, and he comforted:

"The pricing for this beer is very fair; you can buy it by the barrel and try it. A regular barrel of 100 liters only requires 500 liters of petroleum."

If someone before the apocalypse exchanged a bottle of beer for five times its weight in petroleum, they might have gotten beaten to death, but in this apocalypse, where beer production has ceased, exchanging it for local specialties in the Middle East, these wealthy people actually feel it’s quite reasonable.

Of course, that’s the perspective of the legitimate ones.

The illegitimate are already considering how to snatch all the Huaxia people’s assets empty-handed, seizing everything in one go.

Mr. Maha pointed to the beer in the glass containers behind him, and said, "This is a collection of 24 flavors of beer, priced according to auction values. Everyone, please look, accompanying it are luxury cigarettes, also grown with apocalypse dark energy."

Saying so, he clapped once more, someone brought out delicately packaged luxury cigarettes, stacked high, but in fact, there were only three in each box.

Jing Shu saw the packaging and couldn’t help but curse, unscrupulous profiteers! Ugh!

Yet it only further highlighted their nobility.

"Cigarettes? The last thing lacking here is cigars."

"This stuff we also have at home, not considered scarce."

"I even have a plantation."

The rich shook their heads slightly but all fell silent when Mr. Maha took a drag from the limited edition cigarettes he pulled out.

This cigarette, mixed with dark energy and the essence of ticks, emitted an intoxicating aroma as it burned. Old smokers felt like they were ascending upon catching a whiff.

After Mr. Maha finished a cigarette, many wealthy individuals holding cigars instantly felt like the cigars in their hands were tasteless. When Mr. Maha pulled out another cigarette of a different color and flavor, the others’ eyes burned with desire.

For collectors, this was a must-have item; Erte, crazy with bids and his eyes red with envy, clearly a foolish person of nature. Jing Shu nodded, thinking he was a good sheep to fleece.

Sure enough, these two items fetched sky-high prices at the trading session.

The barrels of beer were being transported out, while Jing Shu here accepted several times the equivalent in petroleum.

Today, with the Mars official garrison’s presence, the initial trades were quite smooth.

"Currently, we’ve traded for roughly one ship of petroleum, while the rest of the goods are still in the process of exchange," Yang Yang quickly calculated, reporting to Jing Shu and Old Zhou.

Among this ship of petroleum, it had to be divided between Jing Shu and the higher-ups, as it involved Jing Shu’s own cigarette business and the joint beer business with everyone.

The other members of the bodyguard team looked enviously at Jing Shu. Having just arrived, she was already raking in coins; even a few virtual coins’ worth of beer had been traded for several times the petroleum! It’s ridiculous.

Jing Shu surely earned a lot to take back this time.

But quickly, they weren’t envious anymore; Jing Shu was exchanging goods for goods, different from them, since they would eventually snatch everything back empty-handed, making it effortless profit. After figuring it out, they raised their heads again, hoping some clueless individual would quickly make a move.

The rich present, having exchanged quite a lot of beer and cigarettes, stopped only when they couldn’t muster enough ’money’.

Still, many also held a ’test the waters’ mindset.

"Seems like over at Huaxia, they don’t refuse any offer, bringing out goods no matter the quantity."

"I just tried to order hundreds of tons of beer, and they agreed without hesitation, seems like they indeed brought dozens of shiploads of beer. We’ve struck gold this time."

"This batch is top quality; as Mr. Maha said, it’s top-grade goods cultivated in Huaxia for distribution. Alright, everyone stop buying, figure out how much there is, let’s seize everything."

The trade fair continued in a tense and orderly manner, while besides the Huaxia goodies showcased by Jing Shu, other wealthy individuals focused on trading also brought out some valuable items.

In such a legitimate trading event, Jing Shu didn’t mind exchanging real gold and silver for desired trinkets, while arranging the transfer of traded goods.

Petroleum isn’t easy to transport; taking advantage of the dark, Jing Shu handed a large portion over to Xiao Wei’s transport bugs to move it back to the official ship through the tunnels.