Chapter 141
Linhai Town, Guan Yu Village.
While Tang Yu’an was working on his fish pond, Hai Jing was busy digging a pit near the shore.
The blazing sun hung high in the sky, its intense rays burning his dark skin red, but he seemed oblivious to it.
Around him were several young children, the oldest barely ten years old and the youngest just five. Among them was Hai Xing, who had earlier promised to help.
They were on a mudflat—a harder surface to dig than sandy beaches, but it didn’t wash away as easily with the tide and was safer to work on.
Large stones scattered around them served as a base for makeshift devices made from plastic bottles.
These contraptions collected drinking water for the fishermen. Sunlight evaporated seawater inside the bottles, and the vapor condensed on the plastic covering, forming droplets that slid down into containers below.
This ancient method, passed down from the early days of the great disaster, provided essential drinking water during laborious work.
After finally digging a new pit, Hai Jing wiped the sweat off his forehead and turned to the children.
“Drink some water and head back home,” he instructed.
The seaside sun was harsher than inland, especially at midday. Prolonged exposure could harm the young ones. The children obediently drank from the containers and left together for the village. Watching their retreating figures, Hai Jing drank a few sips of water himself and began reinforcing the pit.
This pit, closer to the sea, would fill with seawater during high tide. By the next day, when the tide receded, the remaining seawater would evaporate under the sun’s heat, leaving behind white salt crystals.
According to the mysterious merchant’s method, the salt should be harvested when the seawater was just one finger deep. This ensured the salt was whiter and of better quality than if the seawater completely dried out.
Through trial and error, Hai Jing found this method the most efficient.
His strategy was simple: dig one pit a day, collect the salt, and do it all discreetly on a hidden beach. If other villages or towns discovered his large-scale salt production, they might suspect him of trading with the salt merchant—a surefire way to invite trouble. In Linhai Town, everyone wanted to trade with the salt merchant, but few had the capability.
As Hai Jing worked tirelessly, his nerves were taut. The closer he was to the sea, the nearer he was to danger. Suddenly, sensing a threat, he grabbed his long harpoon and thrust it backward.
Clang!
The blade at the tip of the harpoon struck something hard.
Quietly sneaking up behind Hai Jing was a massive crab over a meter wide. It had mistaken him for prey and lunged at him with claws larger than a human head.
Such mutated creatures were common near the sea. These crabs often buried themselves in the sand, revealing only their eyes to watch for careless fishermen. They would then strike when their prey let down their guard.
Having grown up by the sea, Hai Jing was used to battling these creatures. His instincts honed by years of survival, he dodged the attack and sprinted to a safer spot along the coast. The crab pursued briefly but eventually gave up. Hai Jing eyed its enormous claws with a trace of greed.
Those powerful pincers could easily sever a human arm and were even impervious to metal. However, the joints connecting them to the crab’s body were weak. If his harpoon were sturdier, he could immobilize the crab and wrench off its claws. Unfortunately, his harpoon was made of ordinary wood and metal, no match for such a formidable opponent.
“If only I had a weapon made of mutated metal…” he thought wistfully.
As a child, he had once tasted the claw meat of a giant crab, which his mother had accidentally found washed ashore. The memory of its flavor lingered vividly in his mind. Yet, despite countless attempts, he had never managed to claim a claw for himself since.
With a reluctant glance back at the crab, Hai Jing turned away and trudged home, covered in mud. His daughter greeted him with a bowl of water, helping him wash his hands and wipe his sweat. He smiled and said, “Lan Lan is such a good girl.”
Compared to his own childhood hardships, today’s struggles seemed trivial. The sea had been calm for a long time. The mutated creatures that once drove people inland had retreated back into the ocean…
Thinking of the disasters of those years, Hai Jing shook his head, unwilling to dwell on the past.
A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.
Grabbing his weapon, Hai Jing opened the door cautiously. Earlier in the day, widows and orphans had come to exchange rice. Now, standing outside were other villagers.
“Brother Hai Jing, I heard from Uncle Hao that you’re trading rice. Is it true that everyone can exchange for some?”
The young man outside was about seventeen or eighteen, his sun-darkened skin contrasting with his bright white teeth. Despite his shy, sheepish smile, he was already a pillar of his family, capable of going out to sea with his father to bring back food for their household.
Though lean, he was stronger than most villagers. His muscular arms hinted at the strength he had built through hard labor.
Under Hai Jing’s scrutinizing gaze, the young man lowered his head.
He hadn’t come willingly—his father had insisted, claiming that Hai Jing had struck it rich and had coarse rice to trade. If others could trade, their family should be able to as well. With six mouths to feed, exchanging rice would mean their food supply could last twice as long, reducing the need to risk going out to sea.
This year, too many people in the village had died, and Shui Sheng’s father was naturally fearful. Shui Sheng understood his father’s terror, but under Hai Jing’s calm and piercing gaze, he couldn’t help but blush.
“Yes,” Hai Jing replied.
Hearing this, Shui Sheng was momentarily stunned before lifting his head in surprise and joy.
“Brother Hai Jing, I… I can really trade?”
“Yes,” Hai Jing said calmly. “But for how many people in your family, they need to come themselves. Each person can trade for up to 200 grams.”
He showed Shui Sheng what 200 grams looked like.
At midday, the hottest time of the day, most of the fishermen had returned to the village to rest. Many villagers witnessed the scene at Hai Jing’s door: first Shui Sheng brought salt to trade for rice, then his father, mother, and younger siblings followed suit.
“Shui Sheng’s father is so shameless! His family has two able-bodied men who can go to sea, yet they still come to trade for this life-saving food.”
“Ha, he’s always been thick-skinned. You know that.”
“I’m just worried that Hai Jing’s rice will run out. If it does, what will the six families without strong men do to survive?”
Some worried about Hai Jing’s reserves, while others began to grow restless.
“I bet Hai Jing made a big deal with the salt merchant. Otherwise, how could he be so generous? How much food do you think he has stashed away?”
The person who said this quickly became the target of everyone’s ire.
“Don’t get any bad ideas. Do you know how many people in the village are relying on Hai Jing to survive right now?”
“Hai Jing sharing his food with us is a huge favor. Whatever deal he made with the salt merchant is his business.”
“Exactly! As long as Hai Jing is around, we’ll have a steady supply of food to trade. Nobody better ruin this lifeline for the orphans and widows!”
The speaker laughed awkwardly under the reprimands and dropped the idea after being scolded by an elder.
The tradition of mutual support in Guan Yu Village bound everyone together; no one wanted to watch others perish. However, the man muttered, “If Shui Sheng’s family can trade, so can I. Hai Jing can’t play favorites!”
With that, he returned home and soon came back with salt to trade with Hai Jing.
Despite the villagers’ worries about his reserves, Hai Jing accepted everyone. He conducted the trades in three rounds, giving each person only 200 grams of coarse rice—regardless of whether they were elderly, young, or able-bodied.
Though the repeated transactions seemed cumbersome and almost comical, those trading for rice followed his instructions without complaint. Whatever Hai Jing said, they complied.
As his points balance steadily grew, Hai Jing’s eyes shone brighter. He stopped trading for each individual immediately and instead spent 25 points to redeem 5 kilograms of rice at once. Then, he sat at his door and continued collecting salt.
The gathering crowd of villagers grew larger. Before long, more villagers, unable to resist, returned home to fetch salt for trade.
As time passed and the sun’s intensity waned, nearly the entire village had arrived. The once-quiet and somber fishing village became lively, with villagers bringing their families and lining up at Hai Jing’s door with their salt.
By the end of the day, every villager, even infants, had traded for rice from Hai Jing. Guan Yu Village consisted of 18 households and 76 villagers in total.
As the sun touched the horizon, Hai Jing had traded away 30 kilograms of coarse rice and 1 kilogram of refined rice, collecting over 700 kilograms of salt in return.
He gained 228 employee experience points, jumping from Level 3 to Level 6 in one leap.
On the fourth day of being employed, Hai Jing unlocked the ability to post on the message board.
What thrilled him even more were the newly unlocked items available after leveling up. His store now offered glucose, hemostatic powder, alcohol, and… fabric.
Seeing the variety of textiles available, Hai Jing’s eyes lit up.
However, upon noticing the steep cost of woolen cloth and down fabric compared to his modest balance of just over 100 points, he closed the interface.
Exchanging salt with the mysterious merchant for these valuable items seemed more practical.
Next, he opened the message board. After much thought, he hesitantly posted a message:
[Cloud Eagle]: Hello seniors, I’m a newbie.
Tang Yu’an had long thought up a nickname for Hai Jing, but he hadn’t expected Hai Jing to unlock the message board so quickly—he had surpassed Shi Tou’s level in one go.
Hai Jing’s trading notifications hadn’t stopped all afternoon.
“Hai Jing is doing business again!”
At first, Tang Yu’an didn’t think much of the notifications, as both Xiao Cao and Shi Tou were also trading salt in Jufeng Town. Their notifications were constant, and Tang Yu’an had grown desensitized.
But soon, he noticed something unusual in his points balance.
“Hai Jing’s trade points are so high!” Tang Yu’an remarked.
Each trade netted Hai Jing 50–60 points, always in three successful rounds, converting new customers into loyal ones.
“Is he selling a kilogram of coarse rice for several kilograms of salt?” Tang Yu’an speculated.
By 3 p.m., Tang Yu’an felt something was off. Checking the map, he zoomed in on Lin Hai Town and saw a long line of glowing dots outside Hai Jing’s home.
The green dots, representing villagers, were rapidly turning gold.
After counting, Tang Yu’an exclaimed, “It looks like the entire village is lining up to trade with Hai Jing!”
“Brother Qi, Hai Jing’s already earned 3,000 points! Should we use the points multiplier card?”
These 3,000 points could double to 6,000, and judging by the remaining green dots, many more points were sure to come.
After a moment’s hesitation, Xiao Qi nodded. “Use it!”
So, Tang Yu’an decisively activated the 12-hour points multiplier card.
For the next hour, his points balance skyrocketed, increasing at a rate of over 100 points per minute!
“This is incredible!”
In just an hour, he had earned seven to eight thousand points. Tang Yu’an was ecstatic, and while Zhou Qi was equally pleased, he managed to stay composed.
He had already devised several strategies for the multiplier card, and even though they had used it earlier than planned, they could still maximize its benefits.
“Now that we’ve activated the multiplier, we need to maximize its potential,” Zhou Qi said. “Let’s head to Jufeng Town.”
“Alright!”
Tang Yu’an quickly packed his things, and the two used a teleportation array to reach Jufeng Town by 4 p.m..
Once there, Tang Yu’an activated the 24-hour traffic boost card, the last one they had.
Despite this, the earlier incident with the mutant piranhas at Tie Jin’s home, where Zhou Qi used a cat toy to catch dozens of them, had already completed the [Eliminate Dangerous Creatures (2)] mission. This meant they still had a 48-hour traffic boost card.
When the 24-hour card was activated, it quickly demonstrated its power in Jufeng Town.
Nearly everyone passing by the Jufeng Grocery Store was drawn in, and the surrounding townsfolk also began to gather.
Using the traffic boost card in a town with thousands of people unleashed an astonishing effect.
The already popular grocery store was soon swarmed, completely packed with customers. From above, one could see even townsfolk foraging in the mountains returning to the town in droves.
At what should have been a quiet time, Jufeng Town suddenly became lively. The crowds continued to grow.
“What’s going on? Why are there so many people all of a sudden?”
Shi Tou and Xiao Cao soon faced the busiest period they had ever experienced. Overwhelmed at first, they calmed down when Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi arrived.
With Tang Yu’an there to manage supplies and guards maintaining order, there was nothing to fear. More customers only meant more business!
Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi naturally joined the effort to help. Thanks to the guards, the scene stayed under control, and by 6 p.m., the traffic card’s effect paused until 8 a.m. the next day.
Still, the momentum didn’t stop. Customers continued to crowd outside to trade salt, and the townsfolk returning from the mountains no longer rushed to the store.
Meanwhile, Hai Jing’s trades also concluded.
When Tang Yu’an glanced at his points balance, he froze briefly before nearly jumping for joy.
Hai Jing’s 700 kilograms of sea salt had earned Tang Yu’an 18,000 points, which, thanks to the multiplier card, became over 30,000 points!
Though activating the card midway meant losing about 5,000–6,000 points, the sheer volume of points overshadowed any regret.
Looking at the sudden spike in his balance, Tang Yu’an was beside himself with excitement.
That morning, his balance had been less than 15,000 points. After spending 6,000 points to set up the Store No. 3’s teleportation array and another 5,000 points for fish pond walls, his remaining balance had dropped to 4,000 points.
By the evening, however, not only had his points rebounded, they had surged to 46,000 points!
Besides Hai Jing’s 30,000 points, Xiao Cao and Shi Tou had also earned 12,000 points at the grocery store.
With the store’s business still booming, Tang Yu’an’s balance continued climbing at an incredible pace.
Remembering something, Tang Yu’an opened his panel and withdrew his dimensional shop’s balance. Recent sales, including a few dark green spider legs, had added 1,800 points.
After deducting the 10% transaction fee, he was left with 1,620 points, which doubled to 3,240 points thanks to the multiplier card.
This brought his balance to a staggering 50,000 points!
Grinning from ear to ear, Tang Yu’an pulled Zhou Qi into the back room and exclaimed excitedly, “Brother Qi, we’ve got 50,000! Fifty thousand points! Fifty thousand!”
Zhou Qi smiled and nodded. Seeing that Xiao Cao and Shi Tou could handle the store, he led Tang Yu’an away.
The two headed straight to the guard post, where they found Hong Li.
“Deliver the soybeans early?” Hong Li was puzzled. “You mean tonight?”
“Exactly!” Zhou Qi confirmed firmly.
The points multiplier card only lasted 12 hours, and since withdrawing points from the dimensional shop was included, he realized its rules were different from the traffic boost card.
Sure enough, when the traffic card paused at 6 p.m., the points multiplier was still doubling profits. This meant it would expire by 3 a.m., and delaying the soybean delivery to the next day would forfeit the multiplier bonus.
So, they came to negotiate with Hong Li.
Hong Li frowned. “You know, trust is everything in business,” she said. “We agreed on tomorrow.”
“To show our sincerity, we’ll include an extra kilogram of salt,” Zhou Qi offered.
Hong Li studied the two boys, her furrowed brows not relaxing.
“Why the urgency?” she asked, her sharp eyes narrowing. “Are you planning to leave Jufeng Town overnight?”
Unaware of the teleportation array, Hong Li assumed Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi hadn’t left the town recently.
“You should know the floods have made leaving nearly impossible. The rising waters from the Desolate city have submerged the base of the mountain, and displaced creatures are climbing up the slopes.
“These creatures may supplement the mountain’s dwindling food supply, but they bring immense danger too.”
The guards had already been deployed to various outposts, leaving Hong Li little time to rest. Before meeting Zhou Qi and Tang Yu’an, she had just returned from clearing a mutated boar on the mountain path near the town.
Of course, during these days, Hong Li hadn’t slacked in keeping an eye on the Jufeng Grocery Store.
She was confident that the 250 kilos of soybeans she had traded to the two boys were still in Jufeng Town, simply stored away using some method of theirs.
Thus, aside from the two boys needing to leave the mountain overnight, she couldn’t think of another plausible reason for their urgency.
Zhou Qi frowned slightly. They needed to provide a reasonable explanation; otherwise, it would raise too much suspicion.
“It’s him who needs to leave,” Zhou Qi said.
Hong Li narrowed her eyes at him. “You mean the salt merchant who came with you?”
“Yes,” Zhou Qi nodded.
Hong Li raised an eyebrow. “The roads are flooded. Are you sure he can still leave?”
“If he delays any further, it might become impossible for him to leave at all.”
Hong Li nodded thoughtfully. That explanation made sense, but…
“Do you remember our agreement? 50 kilos of salt per month,” she said, squinting at him. “A month from now, this floodwater might not recede.”
Floods in the Desolate City region could last as little as a month or stretch up to three months.
“Don’t worry. A month from now, the Jufeng Grocery Store will deliver 50 kilos of salt to the garrison as promised,” Zhou Qi replied confidently.
Seeing his assured demeanor, Hong Li finally nodded.
“Alright, I’ll trust you this time.”
The soybean production cycle was already constrained to morning and evening hours—previously totaling four hours a day. With the cooler temperatures, it had extended to six hours daily.
“I’ll deliver the remaining 250 kilos of soybeans after sunset,” she said. “According to the agreement, you must deliver 25.5 kilos of salt.”
The timing was nearly right. In about half an hour, night would fully settle in.
At that point, the 250 kilos of soybeans would yield 25,000 points with the multiplier in effect. Combined with the current points, Tang Yu’an’s balance would reach a historic milestone—75,000+ points!!!
