Director Wang suddenly wasn't sure anymore. He leaned in and whispered with the others for a long time before he looked back with an embarrassed yet polite smile. He hesitated as he asked, "May I ask, Miss Jing, what exactly is inside this box of yours?"
He'd lived this long and still never seen something like this.
No, scratch that. He'd lived all these years and somehow still never run into something like this. What a joke.
It wasn't that he'd never seen mushrooms, he just couldn't be sure by appearance alone. Fatty Wang quickly found an excuse for himself.
Jing Shu happily lifted one of the boxes. She had to thank Grandpa Jing's craftsmanship for this. Before leaving home, she'd been thinking about what valuable things she could bring to the capital. Whether she needed to pull strings, smooth over trouble, or make a sale, something valuable was always good to have on hand. It was like how the older generation used to sew a little gold or silver into their underwear before traveling, just in case.
She'd thought for ages before deciding to bring some professionally processed, dried blood mushrooms.
Grandpa Jing had said at the time, "There's a saying. Clothes make the man, and the saddle makes the horse. Good things need good packaging. Look at those farmed ginseng roots, they're all packed in boxes worth tens of thousands. Just looking at them feels impressive. We can't fall behind."
So he spent a few nights carving ten beautiful boxes out of top-grade sandalwood, then used gold thread to mount each blood mushroom inside.
The quality jumped straight to heaven. These dried blood mushrooms looked almost like dried shiitake mushrooms, but the color had turned a deep, blood-black. If she didn't know they were blood mushrooms, even Jing Shu wouldn't have recognized them.
"Yes, these are blood mushrooms, the kind that rival Lingzhi. I just gave them some special processing, but don't worry, all the nutrients are still intact," she said.
Director Wang suddenly understood. "I knew it. Fresh blood mushrooms are a hot commodity here. They only grow underwater, and ever since last year's earthquake, they've gotten even rarer. We haven't seen a single one this entire year. But we've also never seen dried blood mushrooms because…"
He gave an awkward laugh. "These things get snatched up the moment they're dug out. They're rare and impossible to store. No one would bother keeping them, let alone drying them."
Who the hell would leave them lying around till New Year, much less dry them?
"Director Wang, these dried blood mushrooms are huge. Bigger than anything we've ever seen."
"Yeah, the size is why I didn't dare believe it just now. I thought they were fake sea cucumbers made out of sweet potato starch."
Director Wang rubbed his hands awkwardly. "They're incredibly precious. How should we authenticate them…"
Before he finished, Jing Shu pulled a small remaining half-piece of a blood mushroom from her pocket. "Same rules as always. Slice the sample. We authenticate the rest when they're sold."
Tank blurted out in disbelief, "Damn, so the mushrooms we ate yesterday were blood mushrooms? No wonder they tasted so good."
Director Wang and the others almost coughed up blood. They stared at that blockhead with pure envy.
The dried blood mushrooms were quickly authenticated. They were confirmed to be one of the rarest top-tier ingredients in the entire apocalypse. From the moment they'd first appeared, their price had skyrocketed.
Back then, a single blood mushroom could be traded for a house, the kind you'd need three years of no-spending, full savings to afford.
But the deal always had to be done fast because blood mushrooms spoiled easily. No one could store them long. That was why they hadn't appeared for almost a year now. The waiting list on the trading house's request board stretched on forever, and each price bid was higher than the last. Now they'd reached ten million per mushroom.
Director Wang quickly finalized the grading and pricing.
"Based on quality, nutrition, and the blood mushrooms' signature benefits of longevity, immunity boost, and blood-replenishing properties, every data point surpasses the early evaluations. We're categorizing them as Special Grade Plus.
Based on size and weight, once rehydrated, these dried blood mushrooms will expand far beyond normal. So we'll convert their price by gram for standard sales.
As for shelf life, the dried form lasts much longer, which multiplies their collectible value.
So the tentative valuation for these blood mushrooms starts at over five million virtual coins each."
Even Fatty Wang had trouble believing what he'd just said. Their trading house moved tens of millions daily and had seen countless good things, but this time things were spiraling out of control. The woman in front of him gave him a strange illusion.
Who the hell sold luxury honey or top-grade blood mushrooms by the kilo? Who brought out whole kilograms and dozens of pieces at once?
"So, does my net worth pass the threshold? Can I go in now?" Jing Shu asked. She wasn't worried about revealing the blood mushrooms. Throwing Qian Duoduo forward as a shield was the perfect solution.
She'd already coordinated with Qian Duoduo earlier. If anyone wanted to get their hands on the blood mushrooms, he'd act as the middleman. This was actually a great opportunity.
From now on, she could lie back and count money in secret while Qian Duoduo took all the attention. He had money anyway and wasn't afraid of attracting more heat.
"No, no problem at all."
A moment later, she held an electronic token displaying ten million credits. With this, she could shop freely. She only needed to settle her balance before leaving the trading house. It worked like a credit system.
Director Wang rushed to complete the paperwork, then personally escorted her to the real eighth floor, practically trotting beside her.
They drew a wave of curious stares.
"Haven't seen Lao Wang kiss someone's boots this hard in ages."
"He must've found something good."
"I'm calling Lao Liu. He's gotta see this."
Inside the elevator, Jing Shu suddenly asked, "Director Wang, if I sell everything today for a huge amount of credits, will the price…"
"It definitely won't drop just because good items appear in bulk. Don't worry, Miss Jing. If the price is reasonable, our trading house will buy them too. In fact, half of what you'll see on the eighth floor is from our acquisitions.
Also, the eighth floor isn't just offline. It's connected to the big data platform. I've already sent a member alert. Even if they don't make it in time, they'll bid online with virtual coins. You can rest assured the price won't suffer." As he said this, he suddenly gave off the vibe of someone putting on sunglasses with dramatic BGM.
"Impressive. The older generation really knows their stuff," she said, giving him a thumbs up.
Which meant the trading house must have a ton of good items too. Expensive or not didn't matter. She had money now, and money was just a string of numbers to her.
She was brought to the very center of the eighth-floor trading hall. The place was brightly lit and bustling, the most lively place she'd seen since the apocalypse, almost like the world before everything collapsed.