Building My Empire in the Frozen Apocalypse (Riley Carter) novel Chapter 100

Chapter 100 Flea Market Treasures

Chapter 100 Flea Market Treasures

80

+20 Free Coins

The trading channel was buzzing with the usual posts about swapping materials when Riley decided to jump in.

She quickly typed up her offer and hit send.

“Seller: SpicyBurger

“Item for trade: High–grade Anthracite Coal–300 units total.

“Looking for: NO basic resources (keep your wood, stone, and steel to yourself)

“Only interested in: 1. Rare materials. 2. Special–function items or blueprints (weird is fine- actually, weird is better). 3. Strange objects with unknown uses (all sales final, no returns)

“Note: DM me with pictures. Serious offers only.”

The

post went live, and the channel exploded almost instantly.

“Holy shit–300 coal??”

“Did this person raid an entire mine?”

“That’s insane.”

“Only rare stuff? Man, I’m running low on rares… Can’t you take some steel instead, please?”

Riley ignored the pleas from players hoping to trade basic materials for her coal. A couple of days ago, she might’ve thrown them a bone–steel was in high demand after upgrading to a Level 4 camp. But now, with her own mine up and running, steel was the last thing she needed.

Before long, her private message inbox was flooded.

She started clicking through them, one by one.

“FrostWolf: Hey. I’ve got a Fine Axe Blueprint. Trade for one stack of coal?”

“SpicyBurger: No thanks. I’ve got better already.”

“MagicGirl: Unidentified Beast Egg (Special Item). No clue what’s inside. The info just says special. Want it for 20 coal?”

it’s

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12:27 Sat, May 16

Chapter 100 Flea Market Treasures

“SpicyBurger: You said it’s unidentified. That’s a gamble for me. 10 coal.”

“MagicGirl: Deal.”

80

+20 Free Coins

Just as Riley was sifting through what felt like a mountain of lowball offers and starting to zone out, a few interesting messages popped up.

“Anonymous: Item Card: One–time Disguise Mask. Use it to take on the appearance and ID of any player for 10 minutes. Yours for 30 coal.”

Riley’s eyes lit up.

A disguise? Now that was a perfect tool for stirring up trouble, setting an ambush, or framing someone. Especially with all the chaos after the server merge–this could come in very handy.

“SpicyBurger: Deal.”

The trade went through: 30 coal for one card. To some, it might seem like a bad trade–coal was a valuable consumable, after all. But in Riley’s eyes, it was a steal.

Right after, another message came in.

“Scavenger: Got something weird here, if you’re interested. Damaged Mechanical Core (Purple). Found it in what looked like some old ruins. No idea how to fix it, can’t use it as is. It’s purple–tier, though–how about 50 coal?”

Purple?

Riley sat up straight in her chair.

Purple meant epic quality.

She opened the attached image. It showed a cracked metallic sphere, badly damaged but still pulsing with a faint, rhythmic glow.

“Item: Damaged Mechanical Core (Type III)

“Quality: Epic (Purple/Damaged)

Description: Power source from an ancient guardian automaton. If restored, it could drive a powerful mechanical construct.”

“Restore…”

She probably couldn’t fix it right now. But down the line, with higher–tier mechanical

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12:27 Sat, May 16 ✦

Chapter 100 Flea Market Treasures

80

+20 Free Coins

blueprints or a proper repair station? This thing could be incredibly useful. Still, no reason not to haggle a little.

“SpicyBurger: I’ll take it. 40 coal.”

The other side clearly hadn’t expected her to agree so fast. They seemed more than happy with 40.

“Scavenger: Deal, deal, deal! Thanks, SpicyBurger!”

The trading continued.

Riley felt like she was browsing a post–apocalyptic flea market, digging through piles of junk in hopes of finding treasure.

“DeepFish: Strange Black Seeds x3. Description says “a plant that thrives in darkness.” Couldn’t get them to sprout. You want ‘em? 20 coal.”

“SpicyBurger: Deal.” She had those advanced planting beds and magic fertilizer anyway- worth a shot.

“LuckyGod: Blueprint: Automatic Feeder. Honestly, this thing’s useless to me. I’m about to starve–I don’t even have a pet to feed. How about 10 coal?”

“SpicyBurger: Deal.” Riley almost smiled. If she had to be away for a few days, Neeko and the plants wouldn’t go hungry.

“ToxicReaper: Poison Sacs x10. Harvested from snow scorpions. Highly toxic.”

“SpicyBurger: I’ll take them.” Great for the alchemy table. Maybe she could brew something nastier than those laxative potions.

By the time her shopping spree was over, Riley’s coal stash had dropped by more than half. She kept about 200 units in reserve—just in case.

But her inventory had grown by a full page, now packed with oddities and rare finds.

A disguise mask, a damaged mechanical core, unidentified seeds, an automatic feeder blueprint, poison sacs, a handful of curious trinkets, and even a Torn Ancient Tome.

Most of this stuff would be useless to the average survivor. They didn’t have the resources to experiment, or the room for error to take a gamble.

But for Riley–sitting on a surplus of materials and options–each item felt like a future ace up her sleeve.

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Chapter 100 Flea Market Treasures

Now this is what trading is all about.

80

+20 Free Coins

Satisfied, she closed the system interface. Outside, the sky had already darkened to a deep twilight.

In the center of her camp, the Basic Elemental Altar burned steadily, its gold–and–crimson flame pushing back the creeping cold.

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