Chapter 106
At the entrance of Store No. 1 stood a pair of men and women.
Both were dressed similarly to Jin Guang, in practical hunter attire, though the fabric was tattered and completely unrecognizable in color, a typical Wasteland style.
The man was slightly more robust, but he seemed rather timid; the moment he saw the two mutated giant dogs, he turned and ran.
“Wait!” Tang Yu’an instinctively called out.
Wang Cai, who was guarding beside him, immediately chased after the man.
Watching the man and the dog run off, Tang Yu’an paused and turned to the female hunter.
Her gaunt face was smeared with a black-green liquid, making her features hard to discern, but her pair of black eyes stood out prominently.
As Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi looked at her, she tightened her grip on the machete in her hand and unconsciously swallowed.
“Hello.”
Tang Yu’an offered a friendly smile, “Welcome to Desolate City Grocery Store, we are the owners here.”
As Tang Yu’an spoke, Cai Yu began to back away, her attention primarily on Yin Bi.
This place wasn’t her usual hunting ground; she had come here on a whim, drawn in by the building after wandering nearby.
Who would have thought that turning the corner would lead to such a terrifying scene!
Had she known, she definitely wouldn’t have impulsively come here.
Fortunately, another unfortunate soul had drawn away one of the mutated giant dogs, making it much easier for her to cope now, but…
“Do you need salt?” she heard the boy ask with a cheerful smile.
Cai Yu suddenly found herself unable to move.
“Salt?” She licked her dry lips; having not spoken for a long time, her voice sounded quite hoarse.
Tang Yu’an nodded, “Yes, salt.”
He took out two glass jars, one containing coarse salt and the other coarse sea salt.
“500 grams of meat can be exchanged for 10 scoops of salt, or three wild vegetables or ten mushrooms for one scoop.”
Meat was precious in the Wasteland; besides providing high-energy protein and fat, the blood also contained certain inorganic salts, which could temporarily serve as a substitute when salt was unavailable.
Even ordinary animals in the Wasteland had enhanced camouflage and survival skills, so only seasoned hunters like Old Li could catch them with ease.
For those with slightly less experience, even with abilities, it was still difficult to have meat every day, despite the abundance of animals in Desolate City.
Most hunters could barely manage one full meal every few days, often relying on wild vegetables to stave off hunger.
This led to high meat prices, and few would trade meat.
Wild vegetables and mushrooms, on the other hand, could be found with patience, requiring no reflexes, hunting experience, or judgment, thus their prices were relatively low.
So, hearing about such a large price difference, Cai Yu was not surprised.
Tang Yu’an raised the other jar of Coarse Sea Salt, “This one is cheaper.”
He briefly explained the exchange rates for both, then added, “But currently, we only accept salt tickets for exchange.”
Cai Yu listened to his explanation, feeling as if she were hearing a foreign language.
She could understand every word, but how they came together felt so unbelievable.
So, this means…
“You are Salt Merchants?” she asked, gripping her machete tightly, her eyes wide.
“You could say that,” Tang Yu’an nodded.
Although the Grocery Store would eventually sell other items, they were just starting out and wanted to establish a reputation with salt first.
“Sister, may I ask your name?” he asked with a smile.
The boy was truly polite, speaking softly, his fair and cute face always adorned with a smile, exuding a charm that seemed out of place in this Wasteland.
Hearing him call her sister, Cai Yu was momentarily taken aback, but as she glanced at the two giant dogs guarding him…
The four-eyed giant dog that had already scared off the intruder slowly walked out from inside the building.
A cold sweat trickled down Cai Yu’s forehead.
Okay, there are three of them!
These two boys had three mutated giant dogs! And one of them was a monstrous dog with four eyes.
Cai Yu quickly regained her composure; despite the boy’s pretty and petite appearance, he was definitely terrifyingly strong!
And the tall companion beside him also exuded a sense of intimidation; neither of them should be underestimated.
Noticing her tension, the boy reached out to stroke the fur of the four-eyed giant dog, still smiling, “Sister, there’s no need to be nervous. As long as you don’t do anything out of line, they won’t harm you.”
Cai Yu swallowed hard and asked, “What do you mean by ‘out of line’?”
The previously silent Zhou Qi answered her question.
“Robbery, theft, entering this store without invitation, and showing hostility towards us…”
After saying this, his gaze fell on the weapon tightly gripped in Cai Yu’s hand.
Cai Yu instinctively hid the machete behind her and shook her head, “I-I mean no harm, I was just passing by… My name is Cai Yu.”
“Cai Yu? The ‘rain’ in rainwater?” Tang Yu’an asked.
Cai Yu nodded.
“Then you are a water-type ability user?” Tang Yu’an speculated.
Cai Yu smiled but did not answer.
Only a fool would expose their abilities through their name.
Tang Yu’an didn’t mind and continued to ask, “So, do you need salt?”
Cai Yu looked at the two jars of salt in the boy’s hands, swallowing again; of course she needed it. Who in the Wasteland wouldn’t need salt?
“Really, three wild vegetables can be exchanged for one scoop?” she hesitated.
“Yes.”
Tang Yu’an nodded, his youthful face looking sincere and harmless.
Looking into the boy’s earnest eyes, Cai Yu finally gritted her teeth and agreed to the trade.
The temptation of salt was just too great.
And fortune favors the bold; with three giant dogs around, if they really wanted to harm her, they wouldn’t need to waste words, so she might as well give it a try.
[You have completed a profitable transaction with a new customer, Points +29, Experience Points +3]
A prompt appeared before Tang Yu’an.
It turned out that buying vegetables was indeed more profitable; trading with Jin Guang for a pound of meat only earned him single-digit Points.
Cai Yu looked at the coarse salt wrapped in large leaves in her hand and couldn’t help but pinch a bit to taste.
As soon as it touched her tongue, her eyes lit up.
It had a very pure salty flavor, unlike the bitterness she had tasted before.
She couldn’t help but look at the two jars of salt in the boy’s hands again, “So, the yellow salt, three wild vegetables can be exchanged for two scoops?”
“You can understand it that way, but this salt currently only accepts salt tickets for exchange.” Tang Yu’an pulled out a Black-Gold Salt Note and handed it to her.
“Sister, you just exchanged for one scoop of salt, as a store opening discount, this black-gold salt note is a gift for you.”
Cai Yu stared blankly as she accepted the salt note.
“The gifted salt note can only be exchanged the next day; ten can be exchanged for one scoop, and two can be exchanged at a minimum.”
After digesting Tang Yu’an’s explanation, Cai Yu asked, “What about the salt note I got for exchanging wild vegetables? Can I exchange it for salt today?”
Tang Yu’an was taken aback, then nodded.
His surprise was interpreted by Cai Yu as her successfully finding a loophole in the rules, and she couldn’t help but feel excited, though under the watchful gaze of the four-eyed giant dog, she quickly composed herself.
Now she was certain that these two boys were indeed preparing to open a store selling salt in Desolate City, and their prices were very reasonable.
Since that was the case, she couldn’t afford to offend them.
Her tone became respectful, “May I ask how to address you?”
“An.”
“My name is An.”
“Boss An, then I’ll exchange these three wild vegetables for salt tickets.” Saying this, Cai Yu rummaged through her backpack and pulled out three wild vegetables to hand to Tang Yu’an.
Tang Yu’an counted out 20 Black-Gold Salt Notes for her, earning 10 Points and 2 Experience Points.
“I want to exchange these salt notes for that salt.” Cai Yu pointed at the jar of Coarse Sea Salt.
Thus, Cai Yu exchanged the 20 salt tickets with Tang Yu’an for two scoops of Coarse Sea Salt, bringing him 19 Points and 1 Experience Point.
This back-and-forth exchange seemed a bit silly, but both parties accepted it well.
It was the first time a customer had cooperated with him so well to earn Experience Points, and Tang Yu’an found it quite novel.
He didn’t have to say much, which was nice.
Finally, Tang Yu’an gave Cai Yu two more Black-Gold Salt Notes and was about to let her go when Wang Cai returned, carrying the man who had just fled.
The man was bound tightly in spider silk, unable to move, his eyes closed and unconscious.
Seeing his miserable state, Cai Yu’s heart raced, and she couldn’t help but be glad she hadn’t chosen to run away earlier; otherwise, she might have met the same fate.
Tang Yu’an hadn’t expected Wang Cai to treat this potential customer like this.
Wait, spider silk?
So the spider carcass outside the Grocery Store was related to Wang Cai? It had turned into Spider-Man… no, Spider-Dog?
Of course, now wasn’t the time to discuss that.
Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi hurried to rescue the man; fortunately, he was only scared unconscious and quickly came to with some resuscitation—though he nearly fainted again upon seeing Yin Bi and Yuan Bao.
After some explanations and with Cai Yu as a witness, the man named Lie Huo finally believed that this was indeed a legitimate Grocery Store.
And they sold salt.
Unfortunately, the man had nothing on him to exchange for salt.
Seeing Tang Yu’an’s disappointed expression, the three giant dogs looked at him with oppressive eyes, and Lie Huo, pale-faced, said, “I-I’ll go find something to exchange!”
“Alright, we’ll wait for you.”
Tang Yu’an smiled and nodded, marking his name down, “Business hours last until evening; you can come anytime.”
Lie Huo hurriedly agreed, but whether he would return… depended on the situation.
Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi didn’t press the issue.
They had already witnessed the cruelty of the Wasteland, so the intimidation from Yuan Bao and the others was necessary.
After all, more customers would be attracted by the Traffic Boost Card, and once Store No. 1’s reputation spread, they wouldn’t need to actively recruit; customers in need would come knocking.
Soon, Cai Yu and Lie Huo were allowed to leave.
Watching their figures disappear into the ruins, Tang Yu’an fell into deep thought.
After the practical transaction just now, they confirmed that their exchange rate for salt notes was correct, but…
“Brother Qi, I think we need to print some salt notes of different values, like 5-gram and 10-gram salt notes.”
Otherwise, needing 10 salt notes for a scoop of salt felt like too much.
Zhou Qi agreed, “Let’s make some adjustments.”
According to the current ratio, if calculated based on the Black-Gold Salt Note, the gray-gold salt note would be equivalent to 2 grams of currency, and the white-gold salt note would be equivalent to 20 grams of currency.
It is indeed necessary to increase by 5 grams and 10 grams; in their world, paper currency is basically issued according to these values.
“Besides the colors, it’s better to write the numbers on the salt notes,” Tang Yu’an said again.
“Although the people in the Wasteland can’t read numbers, they will naturally recognize them after seeing them often; everyone is inherently sensitive to money.”
Like Tang Yu’an, he knew from a young age that one hundred was a huge number; the most valuable money was one hundred.
Zhou Qi nodded, “You’re right.”
The salt notes they were currently issuing were not many; basically, they only gave out the Black-Gold Salt Note representing 1 gram of currency, so adjustments were quite simple.
At that moment, Tang Yu’an noticed that the potential customer who had been scared away by Yuan Bao had returned.
He didn’t know if he had gotten lost, but when he reached the wall, he started running back, only to end up circling back again.
Tang Yu’an felt tired just watching him, so he had Wang Cai bring him over.
This was a middle-aged man, and when he was brought to the front door, he reacted similarly to Lie Huo, kneeling on the ground and repeatedly bowing his head in supplication.
Soon, Tang Yu’an learned that his name was Shu Gen, and he had a seven or eight-year-old son waiting for him to return home.
Although he didn’t know if what he said was true, Tang Yu’an didn’t make things difficult for him. After explaining everything, he made the trade and gave him the salt note before letting him leave.
“Having to explain the rule every time is so tiring!” Tang Yu’an plopped down on the purple-red carpet and took a big gulp of iced tea.
As the temperature rose, he was starting to feel overwhelmed and just wanted to stay on the purple-red carpet all the time.
Zhou Qi wiped the sweat off his forehead, “You should go back to the ninth floor; I can handle things here.”
Tang Yu’an shook his head, “I need to mark these customers.”
“Then just hide under the Shadow Umbrella.”
“But then you won’t be able to see me.”
Zhou Qi looked at him helplessly and could only place his hand on his shoulder, absorbing the heat around him.
Tang Yu’an comfortably squinted his eyes, looking at the crooked buildings and ruins outside Grocery Shop No. 1. He rested his chin on his hands and couldn’t help but say, “It’s nice to have opened a shop, but it’s also so tiring.”
The shop needed someone to be there at all times to prevent customers from coming in.
Tang Yu’an knew that opening a business was like this; it was unavoidable, but…
“If that’s the case, how are we going to open a branch in Jufeng Town?”
Originally, it wasn’t that urgent, but Granny Guo said that a flood was coming, and it would last at least a month.
The flood would block the roads, and they wouldn’t be able to get to Jufeng Mountain, so it was best to set up the teleportation point before the flood arrived.
Zhou Qi sat down beside him, took a sip of the iced tea from his hand, and said, “So I was thinking, should we hire an employee to help us run the shop?”
Opening a branch required Tang Yu’an to go in person, and Zhou Qi couldn’t let him go alone.
If they didn’t want to close the shop, the best solution was to hire a trustworthy employee.
“Who do you want to hire?” Tang Yu’an asked curiously.
“What about Grandpa Li?” Zhou Qi suggested.
“I thought you would want to hire Granny Guo,” Tang Yu’an blurted out.
He could tell that Brother Qi had a better relationship with Granny Guo; perhaps she reminded him of his grandmother.
Zhou Qi smiled slightly, “Grandma… has a bit of social anxiety.”
Upon hearing this, Tang Yu’an nodded in agreement.
Tie Jin had invited her many times, but they still hadn’t met.
In comparison, Grandpa Li was much better.
He was an old hunter, and usually, many people would trade meat with him. He also did carpentry, and Granny Guo’s fruits were consigned with him.
According to Granny Guo’s previous introduction, when Grandpa Li went to the market to buy supplies each month, he would also help others carry things.
Old Li was well-informed and experienced, familiar with most of the residents of Desolate City. With him managing the shop, there would be fewer people daring to cause trouble.
He might not even need Yuan Bao and the others; he could manage the branch store on his own.
After analyzing this, Grandpa Li was indeed a very suitable candidate!
Without further ado, Tang Yu’an immediately said, “Should I send him a job offer now?”
Taking advantage of the effect of the Traffic Boost Card, there would be quite a few customers coming today. First, let Grandpa Li make an appearance, and then have Yuan Bao and Wang Cai back him up to set the tone.
This way, future work would be easier to carry out.
Zhou Qi thought for a moment and nodded.
“Then let’s give it a try, but with Grandpa Li’s cautious nature, he might not agree right away.”
“Yeah, if he doesn’t agree, we can talk to him in person.”
Tang Yu’an thought carefully and felt that they could really try to persuade Grandpa Li; he had always been good to them, especially after their trip to Jufeng Mountain.
Even though Grandpa Li knew they had secrets, he had never actively probed into them.
Although he found their trading methods strange, he would prepare goods in advance every day, allowing them to complete three effective transactions.
It was also thanks to him that they were able to find a suitable location for Store No. 1 so quickly.
He had the ability and a good relationship with them, so why not trust him a little more?
Of course, Tang Yu’an wasn’t blinded by emotions.
“If he asks about it later, we’ll just use the explanation we gave to Chi Hao, and…” he said, “we can’t tell him the secrets of the teleportation array and the main store.”
Zhou Qi nodded, thought for a moment, then took out the Shadow Umbrella. The two of them hid under the umbrella and discussed the details of how to treat Old Li if the hiring was successful.
“He can stay on the ninth floor, but not in the same room as us.”
Besides the largest room 901, there were four other rooms on the ninth floor, which could easily serve as employee dormitories. As long as he didn’t enter the main bedroom of room 901, he wouldn’t discover the teleportation array.
“Aside from your identity and the main store needing to be kept secret… anything else that can be kept confidential should be, and if not, it’s fine,” Zhou Qi said.
As long as he moved into Store No. 1, the protective barrier would definitely be hard to hide, and they wouldn’t be able to conceal it when they upgraded the building later.
Fortunately, they already had certain self-defense measures in place, so they didn’t have to be as cautious as they were at the beginning.
After reaching a consensus, Tang Yu’an sent out the job offer.
As expected, just as Zhou Qi said, they waited for a while but didn’t see him accept the job.
“I’ll go find Lin Zhan to make a trade,” Zhou Qi said.
This morning, An An’s performance in front of Jin Guang allowed Zhou Qi to feel at ease leaving him in the shop to do business, and he… should also work on improving his own strength.
Tang Yu’an looked at Zhou Qi.
Although Brother Qi didn’t say it outright, he vaguely guessed his thoughts.
He felt a bit worried, but after thinking it over, he didn’t say anything to try to keep him back, only saying, “After you finish trading, go guide Grandpa Li, okay?”
“I’ll remotely remind you how to find him, alright?”
Seeing the boy’s pitiful expression, Zhou Qi smiled, reached out, and rubbed his head vigorously.
“Okay, then I’ll trouble you.”
Wanting to improve his strength quickly, finding a teacher was certainly a good way, and Zhou Qi wouldn’t refuse.
Tang Yu’an then smiled.
Zhou Qi left Store No. 1 alone, and before leaving, he specifically instructed Yuan Bao and Wang Cai to protect Tang Yu’an.
Yuan Bao wasn’t very interested in listening to him but still nodded. Wang Cai barked twice, while Yin Bi looked at him innocently.
Finally, under the watchful eyes of Tang Yu’an and his pets, Zhou Qi’s figure disappeared into the ruins.
Tang Yu’an couldn’t help but feel a bit lost.
But he knew that Brother Qi’s path was different from his; if he wanted to improve his strength, he couldn’t avoid danger.
Bringing him along would only distract Brother Qi.
Previously, Brother Qi had wholeheartedly helped him level up and gain strength, and now it was his turn to support Brother Qi.
Of course, this didn’t mean that Tang Yu’an would completely let go.
He put the Shadow Umbrella into the Portable Warehouse, then opened the map, keeping an eye on Zhou Qi’s movements to remind him at any time.
However, this kind of paper-and-pen communication was still too inconvenient; there might be situations where he couldn’t check…
Tang Yu’an suddenly thought of something and quickly checked the system messages.
[New employee forum added, unlocks message board function, can be viewed in the “Personnel” section]
Wow! An employee forum!
Tang Yu’an quickly opened the personnel section and indeed saw a forum button added to the interface.
He clicked in and saw a system prompt pop up.
[Please select a forum section to manage]
[1. Message Board]
[2. Posting Area (not unlocked)]
[3. Trading Area (not unlocked)]
It seemed that only the message board function was currently unlocked. Tang Yu’an clicked on the message board to take a look.
The message board, as the name suggests, was a section where employees could leave messages and communicate.
As the administrator, Tang Yu’an could set three modes for displaying names: anonymous, real name, and nickname—of course, regardless of the form, he, as the administrator, could see exactly who left the message.
Then, he could create up to three channels, setting different topics and employee usage permissions.
Tang Yu’an looked at the employee restrictions.
Employees at level 1 and above would unlock the message board function.
Moreover, only employees in a store at level 1 and above and with an employee level of 5 could use the message board to post; otherwise, they could only view it, with the exception of the branch store manager.
In other words, since Store No. 1 was only level 0, employees working in Store No. 1 couldn’t post on the message board and could only view the messages left by others, but Brother Qi, as the Branch Store Manager, didn’t have this restriction.
Tang Yu’an’s eyes lit up; it was just what he wanted!
He directly created an “Administrator” channel and set it so that only the Branch Store Manager could view and leave messages.
This way, he and Brother Qi could communicate without barriers!
Zhou Qi hadn’t walked far when he received a system prompt.
[The Mysterious Merchant has opened the message board function to all outstanding employees, and a new forum panel can be viewed on the homepage]
[Due to your excellent work performance, you have gained access to the message board – Administrator channel]
Zhou Qi raised an eyebrow slightly, and on the other side, Chi Hao and Xiao Cao also received the information.
