The Apocalypse: Everyone Wants My Bargaining Token

Maya placed five bottled waters, three tins of canned meat, a pack of AA batteries, a box of basic painkillers, and two heavy-duty flashlights onto the glass counter.

Just a few days ago, stacks of hundred-dollar bills bought luxury. Now, paper money was worthless garbage flapping through dirty streets.

Ordinary supplies, clean water, food, batteries, medicine, and flashlights, had suddenly become far more valuable than gold. Maya realized this shift faster than anyone else.

She set up her trading station near the entrance of the convenience store.

A bruised couple approached cautiously. "Do you really have medicine and flashlights?"

"I do," Maya said. "A flashlight for an iron crowbar. Painkillers for a portable solar panel."

"Deal!" the man said eagerly.

As they shook hands and exchanged items, a faint, imperceptible glow washed over them.

Maya's Contract Ability surged into motion.

The moment a contract was established, an absolute rule took effect: cheating became completely impossible.

The buyers felt an undeniable, supernatural assurance that the trade was honest. If someone tried to hand over defective goods or break the terms mid-trade, the contract power would instantly reject the exchange.

Because of this absolute fairness, people immediately trusted Maya's trading post.

Word spread quickly among nearby refugees. Maya traded bottle after bottle of water, tins of food, packs of batteries, medical supplies, and flashlights for useful survival tools and raw materials. Each completed deal sent warm waves through her body.

[Trade Successful. Life Credit +1.]

[Trade Successful. Life Credit +1.]

Her success, however, quickly drew greedy eyes.

A desperate family of three, a fierce-looking middle-aged man, his aggressive wife, and their adult son,.marched into the store. They looked dirty, hungry, and hostile.

"You have all this water and food?" the middle-aged man demanded, staring greedily at Maya's inventory. "Give us four bottles of water, all your canned meat, and those painkillers immediately!"

"What do you have to trade?" Maya asked calmly, her voice devoid of fear.

"Trade?" the wife sneered, stepping forward with her hands on her hips. "We are a desperate family! You're sitting on a mountain of supplies while people are starving! You should give them to us for free!"

"My rules are simple," Maya replied coldly. "No trade, no supplies. Bring items of equal value, or leave."

"You little brat! You think you can talk to us like that?" the adult son barked.

The father gave a dark look to his son. "She's alone. Take it all!"

The three of them lunged forward together. The son tried to shove Maya back, while the father and mother frantically grabbed the bottles of water, canned food, medicine, and flashlights, stuffing them into their heavy coats.

Maya didn't panic. She didn't scream or fight back physically. She simply stood straight, her eyes flashing.

Initiate Contract Enforcement, Maya commanded in her mind.

The moment they snatched her goods, her ability recognized the forcible acquisition as an illegal breach of trade. Maya calmly activated a contract force against them!

An invisible, terrifying weight slammed down onto the family of three.

The father froze mid-step. His legs trembled violently as if pressed down by a mountain. The mother shrieked as her arms involuntarily moved backward against her will. The son fell to his knees, gasping for air, his face turning red.

"What... what is happening?!" the father yelled, horror breaking through his aggressive face. "I can't move my body!"

"My hands! My hands are moving on their own!" the mother screamed in terror.

Under the irresistible force of the Contract Ability, the three of them were forced to turn around.

Step by agonizing step, their bodies moved like marionettes on strings.

The father's trembling hands reached into his coat, pulled out the stolen water bottles, and placed them back on Maya's counter.

The mother, weeping in humiliation, returned every single box of medicine and flashlight. The son's shaking fingers neatly aligned the canned food exactly where it had been before.

A violent shockwave of energetic pressure struck their minds as the contract force completed the forced return, sending all three crashing backward onto the hard floor, groaning in sheer terror.

"Get out," Maya said, her voice dropping to ice-cold temperatures. "Attempt to rob me again, and the penalty won't just be returning the items."

The family scrambled to their feet, pale as ghosts. Trembling uncontrollably, they backed out of the store and ran down the street as fast as their legs could carry them.

Maya wiped a smudge of dust off her counter. This was her first real face-slapping moment in this apocalypse. Nobody could take advantage of her ever again.

Meanwhile, across the district at the fortified school base, a very different situation was unfolding.

Inside the gymnasium, the large survivor group was consuming its food rapidly. Dozens of survivors, panicked and anxious, ate far more than their allocated rations out of fear.

"Where is the food?!" a man shouted, looking into the nearly empty supply crates. "We were promised supplies!"

"We're going to starve by tomorrow!" a woman wailed.

The group leader turned to Gregory, his face dark and demanding. "Wright! The emergency stock you brought is almost completely gone! What are we supposed to feed fifty people?"

Gregory felt a spike of panic, but he quickly puffed out his chest and slapped his hand against his heart, putting on a calm, authoritative facade.

"Don't worry, everyone!" Gregory claimed loudly, his voice full of supreme confidence. "I brought us out of the first disaster, and I know this city like the back of my hand. We will simply find another supermarket! The city is full of stores. I'll lead a team and bring back double the food!"

The crowd cheered, looking at Gregory like a savior once again. Ashley stood behind him, clutching her coat nervously, but saying nothing.

An hour later, Gregory led a group of five armed survivors out into the surrounding streets to scavenge.

"There's a mega-mart two blocks away," Gregory said smugly. "Follow me."

However, when they arrived, Gregory's confident smile instantly froze.

The front glass of the mega-mart was shattered to pieces. The entire interior was stripped completely bare. Not a single grain of rice or drop of water remained.

"Let's try the grocery store on Third Street!" Gregory said hastily, sweat breaking out on his forehead.

They ran to Third Street. It's empty.

They sprinted to a convenience chain on Fifth Avenue. Burned to the ground, its shelves looted down to the metal wire.

They checked a wholesale warehouse nearby. Broken boxes and trash littered the floor, completely ransacked.

They discovered that almost every nearby store had already been completely emptied by desperate mobs and fleeing survivors hours ago.

There was nothing left anywhere.

Gregory stood in the middle of an empty, barren store aisle, his knees shaking. His confident mask shattered completely, replaced by pure, terrifying dread.

He looked at his empty hands, realizing the grim truth:

They were running out of food.