Chapter 101
This was A’Lian’s second day of farming, and she was weeding in the field.
These weeds were very tough. Aside from barely being able to chew out a bit of juice from the leaves, no other parts were edible.
The guard who came to teach them how to plant had said that these inedible weeds would steal nutrients from the wild vegetables, so they needed to be pulled out for the vegetables to grow better.
Most people didn’t follow the guard’s instructions.
If they had the energy to pull weeds, they wouldn’t need to bother planting wild vegetables.
After all, wasn’t the point of growing wild vegetables to save time and effort, so they wouldn’t have to run all over the mountains looking for food?
A’Lian was one of the few who listened, though not because she believed the guard’s instructions. She just wanted to find something to do.
After those two young men brought her news of her daughter, she could no longer wallow in despair waiting for death like before. But she had also truly lost the motivation to live well.
It was at this time that she heard about the mountain lord’s new policy, so she signed up to participate.
Today she had only eaten one or two wild vegetables to stave off hunger, yet still had to do such heavy labor. Her body, still recovering from serious injuries, naturally couldn’t handle it.
But A’Lian couldn’t stop.
Whenever she had free time, she would think of her daughter, think of how she hadn’t treated her well before, rarely smiled at her, always looked at her with sorrow…
Thinking of this, she felt almost overwhelmed by regret and guilt.
Before, she had never realized how important her daughter was to her. She would often wonder if her life would have been better if she hadn’t given birth to this child.
Now A’Lian finally had an answer.
Without her daughter, her burden might not have been so heavy, but she wouldn’t have been happy at all. She would still be living in a daze like before.
It was her daughter who gave her drifting, rootless heart a place to rest.
That was her own flesh and blood, her closest person in this world… Yet she only realized this now, when it was too late.
A’Lian thought again of what those two young men had said.
Would she really have a chance to see her daughter again in the future? Would that person truly treat her daughter well?
“Thud—”
Exposed to high temperatures, plus hunger and exhaustion, A’Lian finally blacked out and collapsed.
Before losing consciousness, besides longing and regret for her daughter, there was also a sense of relief in her heart.
She had heard people say that humans have souls, and after death the soul leaves the body to become a ghost.
She hoped to be rid of this useless shell, to become a ghost and travel thousands of miles to her daughter’s side, to watch over her and protect her as she grew up…
A’Lian closed her eyes contentedly, a faint smile even appearing at the corners of her mouth.
She let herself sink into unconsciousness, facing the possibility of death without any struggle, even with anticipation.
What A’Lian didn’t expect was that she would have the chance to open her eyes again.
When she awoke from her faint, she found herself lying in a guard’s dormitory at the Jufeng Mountain outpost. She didn’t know how long she had been unconscious, or who had saved her…
Could it have been a guard?
As A’Lian was thinking this, she saw an unfamiliar tall figure walk in from outside. She was startled, curling up and shrinking back into the corner, trembling.
“Eat something,” said Tie Jin, glancing at her as he set down the bowl of mashed potatoes he was carrying by the bed.
The smell of food made A’Lian’s stomach growl, but she didn’t move. She stared blankly at this strange man before her, not understanding why he had saved her and was giving her precious food.
Seeing how she was nothing but skin and bones, and noticing the burn scars from the fire poison on her neck, Tie Jin pressed his lips together and said, “Will you eat on your own, or do I need to feed you?”
He had come all this way just to bring this woman back.
If she starved to death now, his trip would have been for nothing, and Lili would have no mother.
“I… I can manage on my own…” A’Lian said, waving her hands as Tie Jin approached. Her voice was hoarse and dry.
She took the bowl, at first eating only under pressure, but soon survival instinct took over and she began gulping it down.
Seeing her wolfing down the food, Tie Jin quickly poured her some water.
The potato mash was very filling, but he was also genuinely worried she might choke to death.
When A’Lian had finally finished half the bowl of mashed potatoes with water, Tie Jin got straight to the point: “Do you have a daughter?”
A’Lian suddenly raised her head to look at him.
Although they had never met before, and Tang Yu’an had never described Tie Jin’s appearance to her, as soon as Tie Jin asked this question, A’Lian immediately guessed his identity.
“You… took…” A’Lian paused, “You rescued my daughter?”
Though he had already confirmed it, Tie Jin still asked, “What’s your name?”
“A’Lian,” she said in a trembling voice. “My name is A’Lian…”
Tie Jin nodded, confirming that he had indeed not mistaken her identity, nor been deceived by an imposter.
“Mm,” he said. “I came here specifically to find you.”
“Find me? What for?” A’Lian looked at him, suddenly panicked and angry. “How is my daughter? What have you done to her?”
Clearly, she had thought of something very bad.
Tie Jin wasn’t angry though. After all, he knew firsthand what the Wasteland was like. It was normal to be misunderstood.
“She’s fine,” Tie Jin said. “I came to find you to ask if you want to come back with me.”
“Go back with you?”
“Yes. Lili is too young, I’m not comfortable leaving her alone at home, but I can’t always stay home with her either,” Tie Jin explained. “You’re her mother. If you’re there to take care of her, I can be at ease.”
Tie Jin spoke sincerely, but his appearance really didn’t make him look like a good person.
Moreover, A’Lian found his words absurd.
She was more inclined to believe that her daughter had likely met with misfortune, and this man was trying to trick her into going with him.
A’Lian’s thoughts were written all over her face, and Tie Jin naturally understood what she was thinking.
He couldn’t blame her. If he were in A’Lian’s position, he would probably be suspicious too.
At least this showed that Lili’s mother wasn’t stupid. If she believed everything he said, he would have to doubt her ability to take good care of Lili.
Fortunately, he had an ace up his sleeve.
Tie Jin reached into his coat and carefully took out a metal plate.
A’Lian watched him warily, while inwardly considering the possibility of avenging her daughter, but then…
“This is…”
A’Lian stared wide-eyed at what Tie Jin had taken out.
What Tie Jin produced was, of course, the photo of Jin Lili that Tang Yu’an had printed for him.
He had made two metal plates that could be fastened together, and kept the folded A4 paper inside them.
This way, no matter how dusty and tiring his journey was, he didn’t have to worry about wrinkling this precious piece of paper.
“This is Lili, my daughter,” Tie Jin said, carefully holding out the unfolded picture, gazing at his daughter in the image with eyes full of tenderness.
But he quickly thought of something and added, “Of course, she’s your daughter too.”
A’Lian stared blankly at the little girl in the picture, feeling both familiar and strange.
After all, this was the child she had carried for ten months and raised to this age. How could she, as a mother, not recognize her?
But… was this really her daughter?
Not only was her hair braided prettily and she wore clean clothes, but her face was clean too, and her cheeks seemed to have filled out a bit.
Was this girl really her child?
A’Lian reached out to touch the image, but seeing the dirt on her fingertips, she awkwardly withdrew her hand.
“I gave her a name, Jin Lili,” Tie Jin said.
A’Lian continued to stare blankly at the little girl in the photo. Hearing this, she nodded, “It’s… it’s a good name.”
Seeing that the moment had passed, Tie Jin folded the picture again, carefully putting it back into the metal case and into his coat.
Although A’Lian was reluctant to part with it, she didn’t dare try to snatch it away.
“Now do you believe me?” Tie Jin said. “She’s doing very well now. I came to find you only because I hope to have one more person to take care of her.”
A’Lian bit her lip. Although she still felt a sense of unreality, she gritted her teeth and nodded.
“Alright, I’ll go back with you!”
“I should tell you first, I live in Desolate City. It’s very dangerous there.”
“I’m not afraid!”
She wasn’t even afraid of death anymore, so what danger could possibly deter her?
Soon after, Tie Jin set out with A’Lian to return to Desolate City.
Looking in the direction of Desolate City, he couldn’t help feeling eager to return home at the thought of seeing his daughter again soon.
Lili would probably be very happy to see her mother, right?
Peace Grocery Store No. 1.
Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi had been staring at Jin Lili for a while now.
Although humans are animals too, in the system map humans are classified as customers and are not shown as light red dots.
“So Lili’s Ability is to mimic status?” Tang Yu’an guessed.
Yesterday she had played with Green Gem all afternoon, so she gained its status, becoming both a pet and a plant.
And now playing with Wang Cai and the others, she had become both a pet and an ordinary animal?
Zhou Qi nodded, “That seems to be the case so far.”
And from the looks of it, it seemed to be passively triggered, given that Jin Lili was still so young. But if this was her Ability…
“Why can’t I sense it? And her constitution is still very weak.”
Not only was she afraid of heat, but also of cold. She was a very fragile human cub.
Tang Yu’an thought for a moment, then said, “I remember Grandpa Li saying before that not all Ability users experience physical changes. Lili might be that kind of Ability user.”
Zhou Qi frowned in thought, then speculated, “If that’s the case, does it mean there are two ways for Abilities to awaken?”
One was through parasitism, and the other was… natural awakening?
If his guess wasn’t wrong, it would explain why he couldn’t sense any parasite in Jin Lili’s body.
Tang Yu’an didn’t understand much about Abilities either.
He scratched his head and said, “Well, let’s keep observing for now.”
But since Jin Lili’s status had changed, she could continue staying in the Grocery Store tonight.
Although she couldn’t use the teleportation array, they were going out to look for Green Gem later anyway, so they could just return to the Grocery Store directly then.
Now the Grocery Store was closed, so it was safe both day and night.
No matter what, her “Ability” was a good thing.
Tang Yu’an exchanged for the remaining purple-red carpet as well.
As for the remaining gray-blue refrigerator, emerald green cabinet and emerald green double bed, he felt a bit hesitant.
After spending 952 Points to exchange for the freezer and carpet, his Points balance became just over three thousand. If he exchanged for these six pieces of furniture, his Points would be reduced by half again.
Tang Yu’an suddenly felt so poor!
In the end, he discussed with Zhou Qi and decided to still exchange for the gray-blue refrigerator. As for the other two emerald green furniture items, they could wait and see later.
After all, the refrigerator wasn’t just a refrigerator, it was also an air conditioner that didn’t need electricity.
In hot weather, it was a rare and essential item. When Points were limited, they naturally had to be used where it mattered most.
“Anyway, there’s still time before the refresh. Let’s try to earn more Points in these two days,” Zhou Qi said.
They were still planning to open a branch store in Jufeng Town. If necessary, they could increase the value of traded items when playing the “trading game” with the two kids.
There were still many ways to earn Points.
Tang Yu’an agreed, then exchanged for the gray-blue refrigerator. He placed the two refrigerators in room 901, then pushed the two freezers out of the room and put them in room 1001 on the 10th floor.
Next, they sealed up the main doors and windows facing outside on the 10th floor, leaving only some small ventilation openings.
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh—”
The rapid transfer of heat formed winds that constantly converged into room 1001. After reaching saturation, it slowly weakened.
This turned room 1001 into a large furnace, so hot it felt like it could melt a person. Even Zhou Qi could barely stand being inside, let alone Tang Yu’an.
Because the stairwell wasn’t sealed, heat from the 9th floor and below was also converging to the 10th floor.
“Rumble rumble— Rumble rumble—”
The special effect of “the hotter the colder” had been triggered. The two gray-blue Refrigerators were running frantically, converting the converging heat into electrical energy and storing it.
Zhou Qi observed with some concern that the gray-blue Refrigerators might stop working after reaching their power storage limit.
Fortunately, even after they sealed up the main doors and windows facing outside on the 9th floor, the two gray-blue Refrigerators were still running very well, seemingly not having reached their limit.
“It would be great if we could utilize this electrical energy,” Zhou Qi said. “That way we might be able to use some electrical appliances in the branch store.”
Tang Yu’an nodded, “We can try using the seven-day special sale refresh card later.”
It wasn’t possible now, because their Points were too few. If they couldn’t exchange after refreshing, it would be both wasteful and painful.
Because no new heat was flowing in, and the heat from the 9th floor had been drawn to the 10th floor, the temperature on this floor had noticeably dropped.
On the 8th floor and below, heat was still surging up through the stairwell, but as long as one didn’t stand near the passageway, they basically wouldn’t be affected.
Of course, Zhou Qi still temporarily narrowed the stairwell opening on the 8th floor, leaving only enough space for one person to pass through, which could also reduce the influx of heat.
Then he began going down the stairs to continue reinforcing and repairing the 8th floor.
This was undoubtedly a big project, but if he didn’t reinforce and repair it, he felt uneasy living there.
Tang Yu’an couldn’t help much in this regard, so he returned to room 901 to keep Jin Lili company.
Because of the Freezers cooling the 10th floor, he simply left the room door open. The room temperature wouldn’t rise much, and it allowed for ventilation.
Moreover, with the purple-red carpet, he could feel a comfortable temperature just sitting on it, not feeling uncomfortable at all.
Tang Yu’an continued to study the system panel.
He was very interested in that 3D diagram.
When he opened this 3D diagram, he could see the structure of the entire building. He quickly discovered that besides the warehouse, he could also freely set up the teleportation array and protective barrier.
Yes, the range of the protective barrier could also be set, with the maximum range being the entire building, and the minimum range being a single floor.
This function seemed a bit useless…
Tang Yu’an thought for a moment, unless they lent the house to others to live in. This way, if they left a few floors empty, they wouldn’t have to worry about guests being sent out by the protective barrier at night.
Thinking of this, his eyes lit up.
“Yes, we can bring Granny Guo and Kang Kang over to live here!” Tang Yu’an thought excitedly.
They had so many sets of rooms here, he and Brother Qi couldn’t live in all of them, so why not lend them to guests?
The living conditions at Granny Guo’s place were too poor. It was really hard for an old lady like her to take care of Kang Kang, a young child.
If they let her and Kang Kang live in the branch store, they could look after each other.
The potatoes Granny Guo grew and Kang Kang’s mutant fruits would definitely attract a group of customers — of course, the individual value of potatoes was relatively high, so they’d need to think carefully about the specific profit model.
Moreover, some of their secrets were hidden in the branch store, at least the 9th and 10th floors weren’t very convenient to open to the public.
So they’d have to wait until Brother Qi finished reinforcing the 8th floor before considering bringing Granny Guo and Kang Kang to live here.
And whether they were willing to come, they’d have to ask to know.
However, Tang Yu’an was confident he could persuade Granny Guo. As for Grandpa Li and Sister Lin, he wasn’t so sure.
Grandpa Li’s place wasn’t bad, and as for Sister Lin’s place… thinking of her room full of venom and powdered drugs, and the poisonous plants and mushrooms she cultivated, he felt she probably wouldn’t want to come over.
Just thinking about moving all these things seemed very troublesome.
As for Tie Jin’s family, they didn’t need to consider them for now.
He had his own detached house, and the conditions weren’t bad. Unless absolutely necessary, they probably wouldn’t want to move.
“Let’s take it slow, deal with the 8th floor and the stairs above and below first!”
Tang Yu’an glanced at the location of the elevator shaft on the 3D diagram. Would there be a way to utilize the elevator in the future? Ten floors were really too high, it was very inconvenient without an elevator…
He shook his head, temporarily noting down this idea, then opened the teleportation array to set it up.
Because the 10th floor had already become a “big furnace”, it wasn’t very convenient to set up the teleportation array there anymore, so Tang Yu’an moved the teleportation array to room 901.
After all, this room was 170 square meters, there was plenty of space to place the teleportation array.
He looked at his merchant level again, Lv10 (90/300). Compared to before, the growth of Experience Points had clearly slowed down.
Xiao Cao seemed to have encountered a bottleneck. Today she only brought him 16 Experience Points and 52 Points. Compared to before, the business volume had decreased significantly. He didn’t know if it was because their haircutting business had been hindered.
Because he didn’t know the information on her side, he couldn’t send her guidance tasks.
He could only see if she could get through the difficulties on her own.
No matter what, her performance was much better than Chi Hao’s! Since he left Jufeng Mountain and started his journey, he hadn’t moved at all.
Considering that he had sent them another hunted animal through the Portable Warehouse today, Tang Yu’an decided not to say anything about him.
“Woof woof!”
After Tang Yu’an opened the room door, Wang Cai and Yin Bi sneakily ran out, then sniffed around the new branch store, leaving their scent.
The spacious environment was clearly more favored by them. The two dogs soon started chasing and playing with each other.
Tang Yu’an watched them happily for a while, then brought the super printing machine from the main store and started printing new salt tickets after putting in the materials.
After deduction and discussion, he and Brother Qi adjusted the exchange ratio between various salt tickets.
The current exchange ratio was 1:10:20.
1 white-gold salt ticket = 10 gray-gold salt tickets = 20 black-gold salt tickets, which meant 1g of fine salt = 10g of coarse salt = 20g of coarse sea salt.
According to the system’s judgment, 1g of fine salt was worth 0.1 Points, 10g of coarse salt was worth 0.06 Points, and 20g of coarse sea salt was worth 0.05 Points.
Assuming a customer used 1 white-gold salt ticket to exchange for 1g of fine salt, they could earn 0.9 Points; exchanging for 10g of coarse salt, they could earn 0.4 Points; exchanging for 20g of coarse sea salt, they would neither lose nor gain.
Because they had already earned Experience Points and Points when selling the salt tickets, as long as they ensured they didn’t lose money when reclaiming the salt tickets, there wouldn’t be any problems.
Tang Yu’an put enough black cotton cloth and mutant metal to make 1000 salt tickets into the super printing machine, then set it aside to wait.
Actually, this special metal fabric might be better used for making clothes. It was not only fireproof and waterproof but also wear-resistant. Wearing it would definitely make one bulletproof.
Unfortunately, the super printing machine could only make cards, with the largest specification supporting 20cm x 20cm.
Moreover, this metal fabric required making mutant metal scissors and mutant metal needles for cutting and sewing, which was very troublesome to process.
So Zhou Qi only made a small vest for Tang Yu’an, protecting his heart and abdomen.
As for mass production… it wasn’t possible for now.
After being busy until five in the afternoon, Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi finally took Jin Lili to the swimming pool.
Although they were late today, Green Gem wasn’t angry and still welcomed them happily.
The stench in the swimming pool had mostly dissipated, a world of difference compared to before. However, Tang Yu’an still used up the remaining purification uses.
*
Jufeng Town, Jade Pavillion Inn.
While Tang Yu’an and the others were busy, Xiao Cao sat in front of Jade Pavillion Inn, looking somewhat worried.
Her and her brother’s stall in the market was going smoothly and hadn’t been obstructed, but today they encountered a bigger problem—
Someone had replicated scissors and also set up a haircutting stall in the market, taking away many of their customers.
This was unavoidable. No matter how anxious or angry she and her brother were, it was useless. Anyone could do this business, and her trading conditions with the mountain owner didn’t say others couldn’t do this livelihood.
Her only advantage at present was probably that she could set up stalls at times other than the early market.
However, in the town, people are more likely to gather in the afternoon. During the day when it was so hot, it was hard to encounter a few people on the streets.
And the temperature in the evening was relatively cold. Shivering in the cold wind, customers’ willingness to get haircuts was actually lower, so her business wasn’t good either…
Wait, relatively cold?
Xiao Cao thought of something and suddenly stood up and ran into the house, startling Shi Tou who had organized his words and was about to comfort her.
“Xiao Cao, where are you going?” Shi Tou hurriedly followed her.
