Apocalypse Queen: My Space, My Rules Chapter 232: Tricky Situation

Mariella froze for a second. She had a vague guess about what was going on.

But she still acted like she didn't know. "What happened?"

Denton let out a sigh. "The authorities just issued an extreme cold warning. If the temperature drops far enough, the water could freeze. When that happens, boats won't be useful anymore. If water transport prices crash, it'll be hard to sell them. People just want to rent for a few days, not spend a lot to buy."

"Did they complain that they lost money on the deal you introduced?" Mariella asked.

"Not really." Denton paused, then continued, "I just helped them close a deal for 50 inflatable boats. They'll figure out what to do with the rest. But in the end, they still won't get the price they expected."

Their expected price had been one pound of gemstone for one pound of food. But with boats becoming harder to sell, the 48,000 pounds of gemstones they traded to Mariella might not even get them the same weight in food anymore.

Before all this, one pound of rice or pasta only cost about two to three dollars. Now, it could be exchanged for a pound of high-quality emerald. For gemstone dealers, this was a huge loss.

They had already slashed prices in desperation, but even then, they realized they couldn't even trade one pound of gemstones for one pound of food. It was enough to make them all break down.

Mariella felt like this situation was getting tricky.

She tested the waters. "If I trade with them again, how many pounds of gemstones could I get for a wooden boat that carries two tons?"

"What?" Denton thought he misheard. "You still have wooden boats to trade for emeralds?"

Mariella gritted her teeth and told the truth. "I still have six wooden boats that can carry two tons each. Help me negotiate and see how many pounds of gemstones I can get this time. You won't let me lose out, right?"

She had already made up her mind. If the price dropped too much, she wouldn't use the boats for trading.

After all, with rising waters flooding most of the land, boats would still be useful in the future. There was no need to sell them cheap.

Denton hung up and called back about ten minutes later. "Babe, I talked to them. They only want food now."

So, they had learned their lesson.

Mariella stayed calm. "Okay. Besides regular rice and pasta, I also have beans and mixed grains. Can we trade at a rate of one to one and a half?"

Beans and mixed grains were more expensive than regular rice and pasta, sometimes several times more. Denton agreed right away.

Mariella added, "Also, I have cooking oil. Can one pound of oil be traded for three and a half pounds of gemstones?"

Denton made the call for the others. "No need to ask them. I can decide this. Babe, bring as much as you have. I'll guarantee it for you."

Cooking oil had always been more expensive than grain, and after the disasters, the price gap only grew wider.

Normally, one pound of oil could be exchanged for about five pounds of rice or pasta. But Mariella was offering it at a lower rate. Even Denton felt a little jealous of the deal.

Mariella agreed right away. "We'll be there in about an hour."

"So fast?" Denton sounded thrilled. "Alright, no problem. I'll be there ahead of you!"

After hanging up, Mariella brought Chandler and the inflatable boat back into the storage space.

...

Once inside, they started checking their food supplies.

The first things Mariella took out were her spoils from past fights.

From Harvey, she had seized over 6,000 pounds of grain and more than 700 pounds of cooking oil. From Elmgrove Estates, she had taken over 10,000 pounds of grain and more than 1,000 pounds of oil. From Tigre's territory, she had gotten over 5,000 pounds of grain and more than 800 pounds of oil.

They also sorted out different kinds of beans—both packaged and loose—as well as mixed grains, and piled everything together.

Mariella and Chandler moved all the supplies onto the largest wooden boat.

Inside the storage space, moving things didn't take much physical effort, but handling such large quantities still drained their mental energy.

After almost half an hour of work, they finally loaded everything onto the boat.

Mariella used her mental energy to check outside the storage space. After confirming no one was around, she and Chandler appeared on the water with the inflatable boat.

Chandler then steered the wooden boat, following the navigation route toward the warehouse where the gemstones were stored.

...

Denton had already arrived at the warehouse ahead of them.

The middle-aged butler in charge of the deal usually stayed calm. But when he saw Mariella and Chandler approaching in a wooden boat loaded with food and oil, even he couldn't keep a straight face.

Isn't the next phase supposed to be extremely cold?