A strange phenomenon had appeared in the Sixth Street market lately, as to what it was…
“4 crystals for a kilogram? Why don’t you go rob the bank?” A mercenary with a piece of gold in his hand shouted beside the store.
The merchant yawned and then glanced at the survivor.
“Does the explosive to blow the vault open not cost money? Does it not cost money to transport it back? Gold is not that easy to find. I met a Death Claw still breathing in the basement. That’s enough. If you’re not going to buy it, just leave. You won’t be able to buy it later.”
After moments of hesitation, the mercenary still threw the crystals to the merchant and picked a few pieces of gold that weighed four kilograms. Although the gold had PAC’s specification on it, it was better to be safe.
The merchant picked up the crystal and confirmed it was 16 crystals on the detector before he put the crystals away.
The mercenary looked at the gold in his hand in pain, but he still covered it up before leaving in quick steps.
Four crystals per kilogram was cheap for gold. As to why? Canned food was worth ten crystals. One kilogram of gold was only enough to buy a pack of instant noodles.
But from the expression on the mercenary’s face, he was still displeased with the price.
He certainly had his reasons.
Since for the people on the wasteland, gold really didn’t serve a purpose. The amount used in the industrial process could be recycled through other electronic parts. When the apocalypse just arrived, people did indeed hoard a lot of gold, but those people pretty much all died out due to starvation.
The reason why gold was valuable was due to its rarity, anti-corrosive nature, and its agreed upon value. With a population of billions in the PAC, gold indeed possessed value. But in a world where it was questionable if there were a billion people, if the total amount of gold were divided among everyone, everyone would net at least a few kilograms if not more, did gold still possess value?
The answer was obviously no.
But even then, why did the mercenary still use his crystals to exchange for gold?
The reason being that there were too many crystals in the Sixth Street right now!
The NAC’s destruction of Wanghai did indeed frighten the survivors of the Sixth Street with its glorious scene. Half a city of zombies and mutants were wiped out was a scene as horrific as actual hell.
And then they were shocked by NAC’s generosity again.
The crystals belonged to whoever picked them up as long as they hand in 10% to the military government since the military government fired the rockets. It was hard to execute the task as it was mostly done at the gate. But since the tax amount was not high, the survivors were all cooperative. And with the existence of banks, it made auditing this much simpler.
But even then, the survivors in the Sixth Street all won the lottery.
The diligent could make 700 a day, and the lazy could easily make 400. Mutant bodies were everywhere. Without the need to fight, they only needed to use a knife to pick apart the burned charcoals.
It was not only the survivors that made bank, but the NAC soldiers also participated in the looting process. It was not until half a month later did the zombies and mutants from the east side of the city migrate over.
In just half a month, everyone had thousands, if not over ten thousand crystals in hand.
If the number of crystals defined wealth, there were no poor people in the Sixth Street anymore.
The Sixth Street survivors were never this rich before, and this type of wealth was dangerous. The average wealth already far exceeded the number of products available in the market. Even if the Sixth Street factories worked at full capacity for ten years, they could not consume all the crystals.
Subsequently, a period of hyperinflation occurred. The price of canned food rose from 10 crystals to 50 and continued to be sold out. The steel that depreciated due to the second expedition rose to its peak value of 100 crystals per ton, and that was when no steel was actually available.
Then, luxury goods regained its value.
Jewelry, gold, gems… all the things viewed as useless in the apocalypse reappeared on the market. A lot of soldiers, mercenaries, and soldiers with wealth in hand not only stored their crystals in the bank, but they all also chose to invest in gold and gems for future investment. Gold price skyrocketed from the initial price of 100 crystals per ton to four crystals per kilogram.
Investing in gold was betting on the future. If the wasteland could restore its order, gold would eventually regain its value.
It was just that when the World Alliance Organization launched the space colonization ships, it made most people’s hope falter. But with the emergence of NAC, it made the survivors in Wanghai regain the confidence of order returning. Therefore the future of gold’s value began to climb.
Naturally, gold became more valuable.
“It is not a good thing for everyone to become rich. Without enough products to meet the consumption of the survivors, a lot of people with abilities would spend the crystals elsewhere. Since crystal is a hard currency on the wasteland, while the life in Su or Hang might not be as good as here, ten thousand crystals would make you a wealthy man there.”
Inside the virtual conference room, Chu Nan stood in front of the table and reported the status quo of the Sixth Street.
“Your plan is?” Jiang Chen rubbed his chin and asked in an undertone.
“First, ensure the products are stably supplied.”
“Second, it is something we have to do regardless. Moderate inflation could stimulate economic growth, but hyperinflation could destroy the market. Inflation itself is not scary, but the scary thing is if we can’t control the inflation,” Chu Nan said.
“You mean, we should introduce a currency?” Jiang Chen tried to guess Chu Nan’s plan.
“That’s right. This is an urgent task.” Chu Nan nodded.
“Introduce a currency… What do we use as a guarantee?”
‘Gold? Too much. Not only among survivors, but there was too much in Wanghai. And although gold became valuable in the Sixth Street, outside of the province, it could not become a hard currency.’
‘The total global reserve was estimated to be 60 trillion tons and comparable to the iron reserve. Until 2005, a total of 8.9 trillion tons of reserve were identified, with 12.5 trillion tons extracted, god knows what the number was in 2171 before the war.’
Chu Nan smiled mysteriously at Jiang Chen’s question as he was clearly prepared.
“General, please think carefully. What is something that has a stable demand, and we have control over its quantity?”
Demand? Control?
Jiang Chen paused for a second before he suddenly realized.
“Is it… food?”
“That’s right! We can use food as a guarantee!”