Chapter 153
Hearing the voice from the glowing orb, Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi exchanged glances, both seeing the surprise in each other’s eyes.
The name “Old Xie” was on the tip of Tang Yu’an’s tongue, but he managed to hold it back.
“You’ve finally regained consciousness,” he said softly.
“Who are you?” the man’s voice asked again.
“I’m the Mysterious Merchant,” Tang Yu’an replied. “Previously, when you were unconscious, I used a healing potion to treat you.”
“Really?” The man’s tone was filled with doubt.
Zhou Qi suddenly spoke up, “Your name is Xie Chao Ri, isn’t it?”
Xie Chao Ri paused.
“And who are you?” Though both used disguised electronic voices, Xie Chao Ri could tell Zhou Qi’s voice was different from Tang Yu’an’s.
“I’m the Mysterious Merchant’s assistant,” Zhou Qi replied.
“I see…” Xie Chao Ri muttered. “So I told you my name?”
“Who else would have?” Zhou Qi retorted.
Xie Chao Ri was silent for a moment before admitting, “Apologies, I can’t quite remember. My memory is… fragmented.”
He still seemed to harbor doubts about being saved by the Mysterious Merchant, but his weakened state made his speech labored.
Taking advantage of his clarity, Tang Yu’an quickly asked, “I’m curious—how have you managed to survive in the center of the Desolate City?”
“Aren’t you nearby?”
“We’re speaking to you through your dream.”
After another pause, Xie Chao Ri said, “That’s quite a miraculous ability.”
“If you can answer my question, I’ll give you another healing potion,” Tang Yu’an offered. “It’s already proven effective in treating your injuries.”
“So, you can transfer physical items to me through a dream?”
“Yes, exactly.”
Xie Chao Ri murmured again, “That’s truly an amazing ability…”
But to Tang Yu’an’s surprise, Xie Chao Ri refused.
“Even if your potion is effective, I might need to stay in my current state. If you heal me completely, it might spell my end.”
His description intrigued both Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi even more.
So Xie Chao Ri was in some highly unusual state, which allowed him to survive in the dangerous, waterlogged center of the Desolate City?
Recalling the earth-elemental crystals Xie Chao Ri carried, Zhou Qi ventured, “Could it be that you’ve turned into stone or some form of earth?”
Xie Chao Ri was silent for a moment before chuckling bitterly. “Mysterious Merchant, your assistant is remarkably sharp.”
Tang Yu’an: 0.0
He really turned into stone or dirt? This world’s ability users are incredible—even capable of transformations?
Given that the city center was now underwater, if he had become dirt, he might have been washed away.
So, Xie Chao Ri must currently be a stone—and a large one at that.
From the map, Tang Yu’an had noticed that Xie Chao Ri hadn’t moved from his position. If he were a small stone, he’d likely have been carried off by the floodwaters.
“Did you transform voluntarily?” Tang Yu’an couldn’t help but ask.
They knew too little about abilities, and this was a rare chance to gather more information from someone like Xie Chao Ri.
But Xie Chao Ri didn’t answer immediately.
While he seemed to be weighing his words, Zhou Qi offered his own hypothesis. “I suspect you turned into stone after being gravely injured. It wasn’t a voluntary transformation.”
Xie Chao Ri had used uncertain words like “maybe” and “perhaps,” suggesting he lacked full control. If he could consciously transform, healing his injuries wouldn’t prevent him from turning into stone again.
After a brief silence, Xie Chao Ri chuckled bitterly.
“You’re correct. When I regained consciousness and discovered I had become a stone, I was surprised too.”
He described it as a strange sensation, though he hadn’t had time to process it before falling unconscious again—until this dream conversation woke him.
Listening to their exchange, Tang Yu’an suddenly thought of something and quickly sent Zhou Qi a message via the message board.
Message Board (Admin Channel)
[Eastern Sweet Candy]: Brother Qi, do you think Old Xie’s condition might be related to a parasite?
Could it have taken over his body when he was critically injured, transforming him into a stone to protect him?
It wasn’t an entirely far-fetched idea.
However…
[Handsome Zhou]: Or it could be his high-level ability triggering an automatic protective mechanism in a life-threatening situation.
Otherwise, could a parasite really be benevolent enough to protect its host in a critical moment?
Zhou Qi thought back to his near-encounters with parasitic control and shook his head. He hadn’t felt any goodwill from the parasite in his body—it seemed unlikely such a thing would act to save its host.
The parasite within him was wild and violent, driven solely by an insatiable desire to devour. However, Zhou Qi’s parasite seemed fundamentally different from others; after all, he could wield multiple types of abilities, whereas others could only use one.
“Can you get me out of this cursed place?” Xie Chao Ri suddenly asked. “I don’t want to die, and I don’t want to stay here forever.”
It was clear this request was beyond what Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi could accomplish.
“It seems you can’t help me…” Xie Chao Ri’s voice grew weaker, but he forced himself to stay awake. “Can I ask you for another favor?”
“What is it?” Tang Yu’an asked.
“Do you know a place called Jufeng Mountain? It’s near Lanhu Town.”
“I’ve heard of it,” Tang Yu’an replied vaguely.
“If you ever reach Jufeng Town, can you pass a message to its administrator for me?”
“What message?”
“The administrator is a woman named Hong Li. Tell her…” Xie Chao Ri paused, and Tang Yu’an perked up, sensing gossip. He listened intently as Xie Chao Ri continued:
“The password is 584833.”
Huh? A password? Tang Yu’an was expecting a heartfelt last message, perhaps something emotional given how close Xie Chao Ri and Hong Li seemed.
Could it be a bank password? Tang Yu’an wasn’t sure if “banks” even existed in the fortress system, so he didn’t press for details to avoid exposing his ignorance.
He wrote it down and repeated, “Password 584833, right?”
“Yes,” Xie Chao Ri confirmed. “Thank you.”
“What does the password mean?” Tang Yu’an couldn’t resist asking.
“Just tell her. She’ll understand.”
“Okay. Anything else you want me to say?”
Xie Chao Ri thought for a moment. “Don’t tell her I’m still alive. If she knew, she’d come to save me, and it’d only cost her life.”
“Also, tell her I’m sorry… for not protecting Xiao Hao. And… to take care.”
Hearing the deep regret and guilt in his voice, Tang Yu’an hesitated before asking, “The Xiao Hao you mentioned—is he someone named Chi Hou?”
Xie Chao Ri visibly froze, and the glowing dream orb began to flicker.
“You… you’ve been in his dream too?”
“I can only tell you that he’s alive and currently on his way back to Qingmu Fortress,” Tang Yu’an replied.
“That’s… that’s wonderful…”
The orb trembled violently, and a countdown to the dream’s collapse appeared.
“Thank you so much…”
Xie Chao Ri’s voice cut off as the orb shattered.
Tang Yu’an looked at the map, where Xie Chao Ri’s point of light remained stationary, and sighed. “We can’t save him.”
Zhou Qi patted his head. “We can’t save everyone.”
Being trapped in the center of the Desolate City made escape nearly impossible. Even Xie Chao Ri himself had resigned to his fate, or he wouldn’t have insisted that Hong Li not come for him.
“When we have more points and can establish a safe passage to the Desolate City, maybe we can save him,” Zhou Qi said.
“Will he last that long?”
“Maybe? He’s a big stone now, isn’t he?”
Tang Yu’an mulled over his words and finally nodded, his mood improving. “Yeah, he’s lasted this long. He can definitely hold on.”
And when he couldn’t, there was always the healing potion to keep him alive.
Tang Yu’an opened the Dream Sea window again and pulled out the third drift bottle.
“Mysterious Merchant, Mysterious Merchant, please come to my dream! Hurry, appear…”
Inside the glowing orb came Xiao Ri Sheng’s urgent voice.
“I’m here,” Tang Yu’an replied.
“Mysterious Merchant, you’re finally here!” Xiao Ri Sheng exclaimed joyfully. “I have lots and lots of leaves this time, and I want to exchange them all for rice!”
“Oh? How many leaves?” Tang Yu’an asked.
“1,200 leaves!” Xiao Ri Sheng declared loudly.
Wow, that was a lot.
Before Tang Yu’an could respond, Xiao Ri Sheng quickly added, “Our lord says we want 2,000 kilos of rice!”
So, they were calculating 500 kilos of rice for every 300 Lanhu Leaves?
2,000 kilos of coarse rice cost 20,000 points. Luckily, Tang Yu’an’s balance was sufficient; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to close this deal.
The trade was completed shortly after.
[You have completed a profitable trade with a Dream Wisher. Points +30,000, Experience +6.]
After deducting the 20,000 points spent on coarse rice, Tang Yu’an’s balance increased by 10,000 points.
“Huh, that’s strange…”
The value of one Lanhu Leaf was 50 points, so 1,200 leaves should equal 60,000 points. After deducting the cost, Tang Yu’an should have made a profit of 20,000 points.
Upon closer inspection, he realized that only a small portion of the batch consisted of fresh leaves. The rest appeared slightly shriveled.
While these leaves still retained their ability to regulate temperature, the system classified the slightly dried leaves as being worth only 40 points per leaf.
Noticing this difference, Tang Yu’an thought for a moment but decided not to dwell on it.
He didn’t believe the Lanhu Town leader was trying to cut corners. After all, the leaves still worked for temperature regulation, even if they had lost some moisture.
From a practical perspective, the dried leaves were even easier to store. The leader likely didn’t know how the system evaluated point values.
Although the slightly dried leaves were worth less, the leader still needed coarse rice for a population of over 10,000. According to Chi Hao, the 2,000 kilos of rice Tang Yu’an had traded wouldn’t even feed the town for a day.
This meant that the Lanhu Town leader would likely bring out even more Lanhu Leaves for future trades. Marginal profits could still build a long-term business relationship.
Tang Yu’an used his portable warehouse’s inventory feature to separate 200 fresh leaves and stored them with his previous batch. The remaining 1,000 dried leaves were placed in another box.
Although he hadn’t found a use for the surplus Lanhu Leaves yet, Tang Yu’an believed a suitable opportunity would come. For now, he would continue collecting them.
After tossing the last bottle back into the Dream Sea, Tang Yu’an leaned on the window and looked out.
“It seems like all the bottles we retrieve are from this dimension,” he said, his voice tinged with disappointment as he stared at the floating bottles in the Dream Sea.
Zhou Qi, who was making the bed, paused momentarily before continuing. “For now, that does seem to be the case.”
“So if we want to contact Mom and Dad, we’ll have to rely on the bottles we send into the Dream Sea ourselves,” Tang Yu’an said wistfully, pulling his gaze away from the window.
“Don’t dwell on it. Maybe there will be other ways in the future,” Zhou Qi said as he tucked Tang Yu’an into bed. “If we keep leveling up, we’ll unlock more system features.”
Tang Yu’an nodded. “Becoming a top-tier merchant will let us go home, right?”
A sudden thought struck him. “Last time we upgraded the main store, didn’t we get an extra empty bottle?”
Zhou Qi thought for a moment before nodding. “Yes, we got one when we reached Lv10.”
That meant they currently had three interdimensional drift bottles: one connected to Langze, another to the water-scarce dimension, and one still en route.
“So when we reach Lv20 or upgrade the main store again, we might get another empty bottle!” Tang Yu’an said excitedly.
Zhou Qi nodded, though he reminded him that both methods would take time.
For instance, the second piece of Magical Furniture was still waiting for the sprite Yaya to upgrade, and the other three pieces hadn’t even appeared yet.
“But there’s another way to upgrade!” Tang Yu’an exclaimed, his excitement growing.
With a balance of over 60,000 points, he was ready to explore the second upgrade path: Bigger is Better!
Upgrading along this path not only offered a chance to obtain more bottles but also increased employee recruitment limits and overnight guest capacity.
Zhou Qi thought about it and nodded. “Let’s give it a try.”
Tang Yu’an opened the store interface.
[Choose Store Upgrade Path: Bigger is Better!]
[Deduct 1,000 points to unlock the “Bigger is Better!” upgrade path?]
Tang Yu’an, of course, chose yes.
[Desolate City Grocery Store (Bigger is Better!)]
[LV1 Upgrade Conditions: Merchant Level 5 (Met), Own 3 stores (Met), Total store area 1,000 sqm (Met), Total store popularity 10,000 (Met)]
[Deduct 2,000 points to upgrade main store “Desolate City Grocery Store” to (Bigger is Better!) Lv1?]
“Two thousand points?”
Although Tang Yu’an could afford it, he couldn’t help but grumble.
“When upgrading the ‘Smaller but Strong’ path, it only cost 1,000 points. Why is it double now?”
Looking at the conditions, he sighed. This path focused on branch numbers and total store area.
Luckily, he and Zhou Qi had discovered the wall-fencing trick to expand store boundaries; otherwise, it would’ve been tough to meet these requirements.
Despite the expense, Tang Yu’an clicked “Upgrade.”
[Deduction successful!]
[Congratulations! Main store “Desolate City Grocery Store” upgraded to (Bigger is Better!) Lv1.]
[New feature: Furniture Mall. See “Renovation” section for details.]
[Overnight guest capacity increased to 1,000.]
[Main store recruitment slots +5, branch store recruitment slots +3.]
[Dream Drift Bottle +1. Bottle capacity doubled. Total bottles: 4.]
[Message board upgraded. Additional editable channels +3. See “Forum” for details.]
“Wow! We really got another drift bottle!” Tang Yu’an exclaimed. “And its capacity doubled?”
He glanced at the Dream Drift Bottle window, noticing an extra empty bottle hanging from a nail on the frame.
Tang Yu’an eagerly retrieved it. Sure enough, the new bottle was slightly larger than the others.
Despite its increased size, its capacity was still limited. The bottle sent to the water-scarce dimension girl could only hold 200ml of water. Now, even with the larger size, it could carry just 400ml.
Drift bottle exchanges between dimensions involve time lags. Delivering such a small amount of water at a time is far from enough to meet the recipient’s needs.
If Tang Yu’an wanted to continue trading with the girl from the water-scarce dimension, he would need to find space-efficient tools that could fit into the bottle.
Still, having an extra drift bottle meant more chances of contacting his parents, and that thought alone made Tang Yu’an very happy.
Since he had already used up the day’s bottle-sending opportunities, he hung the drift bottle back in place, intending to use it again the next day.
With that settled, he finally had time to check out the other rewards from the upgrade.
The overnight capacity had indeed increased, and the branches seemed to have leveled up along with the main store.
Store No. 1, which had already been upgraded, now had an overnight capacity of 1,000, while Stores No. 2 and No. 3, still at Lv0 level, remained at 100 each.
The message board, which initially had only three channels, now had six.
Tang Yu’an decided to reassign Lin Zhen from the main store to Store No. 1 and renamed the third channel “Store Channel.”
Messages posted in the store channel were visible only to that specific store’s staff—though as the administrator, Tang Yu’an had access to all channels.
However, since all employees could see his posts, he resolved to minimize his activity in the store channel. This change would at least facilitate communication among Store No. 1’s employees.
As for the remaining three channels, he hadn’t decided on their purposes yet and left them unused for now.
What delighted Tang Yu’an the most about the upgrade, however, was the Furniture Mall feature added to the renovation section.
The Furniture Mall didn’t sell magical items but rather everyday household goods classified as Lv0.
These items, though mundane, were exactly what Tang Yu’an needed at the moment.
For instance, the selection included tables, chairs, storage cabinets, shelves, and various types of pots and pans. Most exciting of all was—stoves!
Yes, regular household gas stoves. Combined with the propane tanks available in the wholesale mall, they were perfect!
“We can set up a kitchen in Store No. 1 now!” Tang Yu’an exclaimed excitedly.
This way, they wouldn’t have to return to the main store to cook, and the stoves and propane tanks could also be sold to residents.
A stove cost only 100 points, and propane tanks weren’t too expensive either. Granny Guo would certainly be able to afford them.
She had even asked Grandpa Li to build her a traditional earthen stove. Now, she could switch to this modern alternative.
“This is fantastic! Tomorrow, it’s time to shop, shop, shop!”
With a surplus of points, Tang Yu’an no longer felt the pinch of spending a couple of hundred points on these items.
Not long ago, they had risked their lives for 100-point cold medicine.
“Life’s getting better and better!”
Tang Yu’an snuggled into bed beside Zhou Qi, feeling content. “We’ll definitely get home soon!”
Zhou Qi softly acknowledged, patting his head reassuringly.
Although the road home seemed distant, hope was their constant companion.
As the night deepened, thunderstorms rolled in, and heavy rain began to pour, bringing a sharp drop in temperature.
The next morning, Tang Yu’an felt the chill as soon as he descended the loft. He quickly stuffed a few Lanhu Leaves into his pocket to keep warm.
At this hour, the sky should have been getting brighter, but it was still dark, and the air was filled with the lingering cold of the night.
“Did you toss the drift bottle into the Dream Sea?” Zhou Qi asked as he packed breakfast.
Tang Yu’an nodded. “Already done.”
After much thought, he decided not to use the alias “Mysterious Merchant” this time and instead used his real name.
Since the drift bottles operated across dimensions, there was no risk of someone hurting him through the bottle.
Without the need for anonymity, using his real name might expedite communication. If his parents or sister found his bottle, knowing his identity immediately could save time.
With this mindset, Tang Yu’an decided not to hide behind the Mysterious Merchant persona when sending drift bottles.
Approaching the bottles with the intent to make friends might even yield unexpected benefits. After all, he wasn’t reliant on the bottles for points or experience.
Zhou Qi didn’t object to Tang Yu’an’s decision, reasoning that they had only one extra bottle, so testing it out wouldn’t hurt.
They carried breakfast to Store No. 1, where Lin Zhen, Xiao Cao, and Shi Tou were already waiting in Room 501.
“Woohoo, breakfast is here!” Lin Zhen cheered.
Xiao Cao and Shi Tou, though shy, were visibly eager for Zhou Qi’s cooking.
Grandpa Li quietly observed the group, his serious demeanor softened by the warmth in his eyes.
After breakfast, Lin Zhen and the others went off to assist the residents with their daily tasks, while Tang Yu’an took Grandpa Li to the kitchen to show off his newly purchased furniture.
“This is… a gas stove?” Grandpa Li asked, watching as Tang Yu’an pulled out a brand-new stove and two propane tanks from thin air. Despite his years of experience, he remained composed.
“Yes,” Tang Yu’an confirmed.
Zhou Qi connected the propane tank to the stove and turned it on, producing a steady blue-purple flame. Turning it off extinguished the flame instantly.
Though Grandpa Li’s expression remained calm, a hint of nostalgia flickered in his eyes as he stared at the once-familiar appliance.
But the surprises weren’t over yet.
Next, Tang Yu’an pulled out a full set of pots, pans, bowls, plates, and even a spatula.
“Grandpa, do you need a juicer?”
“…No, there’s no electricity.”
“Hm, is there anything else you need?” Tang Yu’an asked.
Grandpa Li paused for a moment before saying, “Do you have cigarettes?”
Thank you for the chapter!