Chapter 15: Compound Crossbow
With his current Strength stat, he could not fully utilize the weapon properly.
And he refused to believe that among the entire world’s population, there was not a single person selling weapons.
For example, foreign arms dealers, niche hobbyists who collected swords and polearms, or martial arts enthusiasts within the country probably all had some decent equipment at home.
Joo Joowon switched to the weapon section of the Marketplace.
An entire page was densely packed with all kinds of firearms.
The logic was simple.
Since the internet was still functioning and refrigerators still had electricity, firearms naturally had not been turned into useless scrap by the game either.
Unfortunately, firearms were heavily restricted domestically.
Police stations might have them, but under the current circumstances, very few people would dare risk going outside.
Even if he knew where the nearest police station was, he still could not go there.
However, Joo Joowon did not think highly of firearms anyway.
These were not weapons ordinary people without professional training could use effectively.
Handguns had limited firepower.
Against zombies, unless someone was an expert marksman capable of landing fatal shots instantly, using them would barely feel different from scratching the zombies.
More powerful firearms came with even greater recoil, making them even harder to use properly.
Overall, they were awkward and impractical weapons.
Joo Joowon’s ideal weapon was a cold weapon.
After flipping through several more pages, his eyes suddenly lit up.
The product image uploaded by the seller showed a compact compound crossbow.
It featured an easy draw mechanism, could be fired using one hand, and possessed respectable power.
The seller even included twenty crossbow bolts as a bonus, meaning he would not need to figure out how to buy ammunition separately after purchasing the crossbow.
Compound crossbows were known as the kings of modern cold weapons.
They had high accuracy and low usage requirements, making them one of the most beginner friendly weapons available.
[ @HighlyCultured: As shown in the picture, this is a brand new modern compound crossbow that has never been used. No bargaining. Stop privately messaging me already. If you are interested, trade me equipment that increases Agility stats and food. Highest bidder wins. And stop trying to privately flirt with me. Even naked video chats won’t help. ]
The seller did not set an instant purchase price and only opened it for bidding with a minimum requirement of equipment plus ten pounds of rice.
However, the price of the compound crossbow had already risen very high, making Joo Joowon hesitate somewhat.
It was not that he could not afford to bid.
The problem was that after making the purchase, the amount of food remaining for himself would probably only last a few more days.
Nobody was stupid.
Everyone clearly understood how important a ranged weapon was.
After all, most people did not dare fight zombies face to face.
But hiding far away and shooting cold arrows was a completely different matter.
Almost anyone would dare give that a try.
And for some players surviving in places like supermarkets or grain warehouses, food was the one thing they lacked the least.
As a result, the food bids had been pushed extremely high.
Meanwhile, the equipment offered in exchange remained stuck at only one item, with no one adding more.
After thinking for a while, Joo Joowon continued browsing further while searching with additional keywords.
In the end, this seller named "HighlyCultured" was actually one of the few genuinely trying to sell.
The others were either ridiculously greedy and asking for absurd prices, simply showing off their weapons, or selling items that did not suit him as well as the compound crossbow did.
After calculating today’s gains, Joo Joowon finally sent a private message.
[ Ashfall: One pair of Beginner Running Shoes with Agility bonus plus ten pounds of rice, salt, sugar, and medicine. Deal? ]
The price Joo Joowon offered was not especially high, but the value of medicine was far greater than food right now.
After all, the apocalypse had only just begun, so food was not yet extremely scarce.
Medicine, however, was something almost everyone kept hidden away.
Moreover, Joo Joowon had also seen the items listed on the seller’s homepage.
There were not only crossbow bolts, but also many bows, arrows, and other weapons.
That meant the seller was likely either inside an archery range or personally a cold weapon enthusiast, which explained why he possessed so many weapons for sale.
Because the Marketplace itself only stayed open for thirty minutes, the sellers were basically all monitoring their accounts closely.
There was almost no possibility of someone failing to notice a message.
Therefore, if there was no reply, it could only mean the seller was not interested in Joo Joowon’s offer.
Joo Joowon did not place all his hopes on a single person either.
After sending the private message, he continued searching for suitable weapons.
About one minute later, he finally received a response from the seller.
[ @HighlyCultured: What kinds of medicine do you have? ]
[ @Ashfall: Two boxes of ibuprofen, one box of acetaminophen, two bottles of iodine solution, one box of mupirocin ointment, one box of montmorillonite powder, ten packs of sterile gauze, one box of paracetamol, one box of aspirin, two boxes of Thrombogel, one box of pain relief patches for bruises and rheumatism... ]
For people trying to survive in the apocalypse, any illness could become fatal.
Therefore, whenever Joo Joowon scavenged supplies, the main thing he searched for was not food, but medicine.
Unfortunately, his gains had not been especially plentiful.
After all, many households had no habit of storing medicine in advance.
Most homes only had leftover medicine from previous colds or minor illnesses.
Families with women or children, however, usually kept a somewhat larger supply of common medicines.
Among everything Joo Joowon collected, painkillers were the most numerous.
He found them inside the apartment of a tenant.
The unlucky person who turned into a zombie apparently suffered from severe menstrual pain, so the apartment contained many different brands of painkillers.
There were even traditional herbal medicines, but unfortunately Joo Joowon did not recognize those, so he left them behind.
The amount of medicine Joo Joowon offered was not large, but the variety was extremely complete, covering many possible emergency situations.
As a result, HighlyCultured could not help feeling tempted.
Most importantly, HighlyCultured recognized this ID.
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