Chapter 188
Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi hadn’t expected that borrowing Old Mo’s method to disguise their identities would so quickly lead to the development of a “follower.”
It seemed Old Mo’s approach had significant appeal in the wastelands.
Seeing the father and son still waiting for a response, Zhou Qi finally said, “Even as a follower, you’ll still need to exchange something for water and food.”
They hadn’t forgotten that the main purpose of using the God of Commerce’s name was to mask their identities and facilitate transactions. Recruiting followers wasn’t their goal.
“Understood, understood!”
Lao Ping nodded repeatedly, though his expression betrayed some disappointment.
If being a follower didn’t provide free resources, there was little incentive to risk joining a faith-based group.
Seeing that the “divine emissaries” weren’t intent on recruiting him, Old Ping respectfully bid farewell to Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi. He and his son then picked up the water bucket and left.
As their markers on the map gradually moved away, the fog covering the surrounding area dissipated, revealing new parts of the terrain. Tang Yu’an nodded in satisfaction.
Finally, someone could help them uncover more of the grassland map!
“Let’s head back, An An,” Zhou Qi said.
Hearing this, Tang Yu’an puffed out his chest. “I am the Mysterious Merchant, Silver Light!”
Then he chuckled and added, “And ‘Dark Moon’ sounds great too!”
Zhou Qi smiled faintly.
The idea to make Tang Yu’an admit to being the Mysterious Merchant had come to Zhou Qi as a way to protect his identity. The more mysterious merchants there were, the less conspicuous and vulnerable Tang Yu’an would be.
If the world began to associate the God of Commerce’s apostles with the Mysterious Merchant title, Tang Yu’an’s personal safety would naturally improve.
As they walked along the lakeshore, Tang Yu’an asked, “Should we explain this on the message board? At least to coordinate with Old Mo?”
They had initially planned to establish a teleportation point on the grasslands, but their encounter with Old Ping and his son had unexpectedly led to a promise of exchanging resources for water and food.
“Do you think we need to hire someone to manage Shop #6?” Tang Yu’an mused.
It would be ideal to hire a local, but there was a complication: the concept of the God of Commerce had already been introduced, and only Old Mo, the “founder,” was familiar with the narrative.
If they hired a new employee for Shop #6, that person could easily discover the employee forum and realize it wasn’t a religious group’s forum at all.
Zhou Qi thought for a moment before replying softly, “Our goal is to conduct business, not to create gods or expand a religion.”
He was aware of Tang Yu’an’s youthful idealism and didn’t want him to be influenced by the “faith” they were fabricating, as had happened with Gan Lin, who seemed thoroughly brainwashed by Old Mo into viewing the Mysterious Merchant as a deity.
“Even if the new employee realizes we’re not actual gods, what does it matter?” Zhou Qi asked. “Once they’re brought into our circle of shared interests and see the Mysterious Merchant’s powers, do you think they’ll walk away?”
Their employee recruitment process was carefully designed to filter candidates.
“After seeing the forum and the other features, however they interpret or react to them is their own business. It’s not something we need to control,” Zhou Qi concluded.
As their operation expanded, the need for structured management became apparent, but Zhou Qi believed in focusing on the big picture and leaving minor matters to resolve themselves.
Whether employees believed they were working for true gods or mere con artists, as long as they adhered to the rules, completed transactions, and earned points and experience, it didn’t matter.
“We can’t micromanage everything.”
From the beginning, they had never intended to act as lofty gods, nor did they want to control their employees’ thoughts. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have opened access to a full twelve years of educational content.
Even completing elementary school was enough to foster critical thinking.
Tang Yu’an considered Zhou Qi’s words and eventually nodded. His brother Zhou was indeed clever, always thinking of things he hadn’t considered.
“Then we’ll just let things take their course,” he said. “We don’t even have to appear in person.”
They could simply post a recruitment notice. There was no need to interact with the new employee directly. Once Shop #6 was built, they could leave.
This realization lifted a weight off Tang Yu’an’s shoulders.
When they returned to the construction site for Shop #6, Tang Yu’an took out the magic tent just as he received a system notification:
[Experience full. Merchant level +1.]
[Merchant level reached Lv19. New items available for exchange in the wholesale market: cumin, beef jerky, canned chicken, raincoats, and flashlights.]
[Personal warehouse slots +1. Total slots: 23.]
[Forum privileges upgraded: 1 new alias, channel filtering, and employee forum management permissions unlocked.]
[Remote Inventory skill upgraded to Lv18. See “Skills” for details.]
[Weekly quest refresh card +1.]
“I leveled up!”
Tang Yu’an eagerly checked the details of his upgraded Remote Inventory skill. Its effectiveness at the first three levels had increased to 4x.
The new effects were impressive:
- Remote Inventory distance extended to 40,000 kilometers.
- Intermediate Remote Placement range extended to 64 meters.
- Advanced Remote Retrieval range extended to 324 meters.
Tang Yu’an beamed with satisfaction. Thanks to these upgrades, he could transfer water from Shop #3’s reservoir to the lake despite the vast distance.
Now, even if they traveled far away, they could still use the Remote Inventory skill!
40,000 kilometers—how far was that exactly?
Tang Yu’an thought for a moment but couldn’t quite grasp the scale. Shaking his head, he turned his attention to the other rewards.
“Wow, beef jerky is available for exchange!”
He immediately redeemed a packet of cumin-flavored jerky, sharing it with Zhou Qi and their two pets before popping a piece into his own mouth.
Delicious!
Next, Tang Yu’an opened the forum interface and explored the new channel filtering feature. He quickly figured it out.
For instance, on the store channel, as the head manager, Tang Yu’an could see messages from all store employees, making the channel feel like a chaotic general chat.
But now, with the filtering feature, he could choose to view messages from specific stores. By selecting Store #1, he could limit the feed to conversations between Grandpa Li and his coworkers.
After testing it out, Tang Yu’an found the feature incredibly convenient. No more confusion!
He then examined the forum management authorization. Employees could now be assigned as moderators for different sections:
[Message Board Moderators]: Could mute employees, delete posts, set forbidden words, and edit channels.
[Discussion Area Moderators]: Could publish rules, pin and feature posts, delete content, and mute employees.
[Trade Area Moderators]: Had fewer permissions, limited to reviewing trade listings and submitting problematic items to the Mysterious Merchant for judgment.
Moderators couldn’t manage multiple sections, and only branch managers could be assigned as moderators.
After consulting Zhou Qi, Tang Yu’an assigned him as the Discussion Area Moderator, giving him control over its posts.
Next, Tang Yu’an reviewed his alias accounts. He now had three:
- Eastern Sweet Tang
- Two unused slots.
After some thought, he set the two empty slots as:
Mysterious Merchant—Silver Light
Mysterious Merchant—Dark Moon
He then authorized Zhou Qi to use the Dark Moon alias, though Zhou Qi’s permissions remained limited to those previously granted.
The two settled into their magic tent, enjoyed dinner, and began drafting posts.
Soon, employees across the stores noticed several pinned and featured posts in the Discussion Area:
[Pinned] [Featured] Wasteland Medicinal Herb Encyclopedia [Ongoing Updates]
[Pinned] [Featured] Practical Applications of Scientific Knowledge in Daily Life [Ongoing Updates]
[Pinned] [Featured] Enhancing Survival Rates for Ourselves and Customers During Natural Disasters [Ongoing Updates]
[Pinned] [Featured] On the Practicality of Abilities [Discussion]
The posts were captivating enough on their own, but the real buzz came from the authors:
Poster: Mysterious Merchant—Silver Light
Poster: Mysterious Merchant—Dark Moon [Moderator]
The Mysterious Merchant had finally appeared!
But… why were there two? What did “Silver Light” and “Dark Moon” mean—names, ranks? And what was a moderator?
Chi Hao, a curious employee, stroked his chin as he stared at the new posts.
He had long suspected the Mysterious Merchant of scheming something grand, but the recent posts and interactions on the message board painted a different picture.
While the posts lacked any overt agenda, their titles alone conveyed a sense of uprightness. If their content delivered as promised, they could indeed save countless lives.
Such valuable knowledge, made public and free of charge—it was hard not to reassess the Mysterious Merchant’s motives.
Chi Hao clicked into the post titled Practical Applications of Scientific Knowledge, written by Mysterious Merchant—Dark Moon.
Having recently committed to studying elementary courses after being humbled by poor test scores, Chi Hao had been captivated by the educational content. The lessons, though presented through animated videos, were surprisingly engaging.
As he read the post, he couldn’t help but mutter:
“Oh, so that’s how it works…”
“This is amazing!”
“Wait, you can do that?”
But as he continued, the concepts became increasingly complex.
Though reluctant to admit it, he knew the problem wasn’t the content—it was his own lack of understanding.
The comments, however, told a different story:
[WaterFish]: This is exactly what I needed! Thank you, Dark Moon!
[WaterFish]: Dark Moon, you’re incredible!
[WaterFish]: Is there anything you don’t know, Dark Moon?
Every post seemed to feature WaterFish praising the content, reaffirming that Chi Hao’s struggles were his own fault.
Frustrated, he closed the post and moved on to Wasteland Medicinal Herb Encyclopedia, authored by Mysterious Merchant—Silver Light.
The tone of this post was completely different—lively and approachable. Each entry described a medicinal plant in detail, including its features, uses, and even illustrations.
This post was far more active, with nearly every entry flooded with comments thanking the author for sharing.
Chi Hao found himself smiling as he browsed. The Mysterious Merchants were an enigma, but their contributions were undeniably valuable.
Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi hadn’t expected their attempt to disguise their identities using pseudonyms to work so well—it even resulted in engaging their first “follower.” Clearly, Old Mo’s methods had some merit in the wastelands.
Watching the active discussions on the forum, Zhou Qi noticed Chi Hao’s question directed to him: [Do you know anything about Silver Light and Dark Moon?]
Tang Yu’an saw the question on his practice pad and asked, “How should we respond to that?”
Zhou Qi thought for a moment and wrote back: [I hadn’t heard of them before today.]
Tang Yu’an couldn’t help but laugh at the honest reply. Since the Silver Light and Dark Moon aliases had been created that very day, Zhou Qi wasn’t technically lying.
After replying, Tang Yu’an continued editing posts, listing the wasteland medicinal herbs they had identified. Once done, he logged out of the forum.
“If we get more aliases in the future, we can create more ‘Mysterious Merchants,'” Tang Yu’an said with a grin, clearly entertained by the idea.
“I’ll buy more masks. Each mask in a different color can correspond to a different alias,” he added.
Zhou Qi nodded. “That’s a good idea. When dealing with different people, we can switch aliases, but we need to be careful not to mix them up—it could expose us.”
Tang Yu’an agreed but felt that such mix-ups were unlikely unless they built an extensive transportation network or opened up teleportation nodes. Given the wasteland’s harsh conditions, most people were unlikely to meet each other in their lifetimes.
After packing up their masks and cloaks, Tang Yu’an focused on his studies while Zhou Qi continued moderating the forum and managing employee discussions in the Discussion Area.
Their efforts quickly paid off, as the forum became more active. Employees began posting their own threads, many of which focused on scientific or practical knowledge. Some were free to read, while others required a small fee.
One employee, WaterFish, even posted bounty threads, offering small point rewards for helpful answers to her study questions. While the amounts were modest, they were significant for employees struggling to accumulate points.
The forum soon developed a scholarly tone, filled with practical and educational discussions.
During a break in his studies, Tang Yu’an checked the forum and felt overwhelmed by the flood of serious posts. “Isn’t there anything fun here? Mental and cultural enrichment is important too!”
Inspired, he switched to his alias, Eastern Sweet Tang, and posted:
[Post Title]: Stories of Heroes: “Great Heroes Serve the Nation and Its People!” [Ongoing Updates]
[Author]: Eastern Sweet Tang
[Main Post]: The forum is lively today! Let me share a wuxia novel with you. It’s from a book I read—would anyone be interested?
As soon as the post went live, replies flooded in:
[Changqing]: “First!”
[LittleNoise]: “Got my chair ready, selling peanuts, soda, and popcorn in the front row!”
Tang Yu’an chuckled. Grandpa Li and Old Mo were quick!
However, other employees were confused. Some genuinely asked if Old Mo was selling peanuts, soda, and popcorn. Were these edible? How much did they cost? Would they be listed in the Trade Area?
Old Mo was at a loss, eventually clarifying that it was a joke, meant to recreate the atmosphere of watching movies or operas before the apocalypse.
This led to new questions: What’s a movie? What’s an opera?
WaterFish chimed in: “I know what movies are! We’ve been watching them lately!”
Shi Tou and Xiao Cao, upon seeing the exchange in the store channel, asked when the next movie screening would be—they wanted to watch one that evening.
Previously unaware of the movie screenings in the chatroom, they only discovered it when Grandpa Li called them back to register their family. Fascinated by the novelty, they became avid viewers. Even on busy nights selling hot soup, Xiao Cao would rush home early to catch the screenings.
Now, they had a new source of entertainment: Tang Yu’an’s wuxia stories. Even employees who struggled to read could use the voice feature to have the stories narrated to them.
The best part? Unlike movies, the story posts could be revisited and reread anytime.
As Tang Yu’an began posting the novel, the once-bustling forum grew quiet. Employees who clicked into the thread were captivated, unable to tear themselves away.
But when they reached the line “To be continued in the next update!”, chaos ensued:
[Panshi]: “What? That’s it?”
[WaterFish]: “Yeah! Where’s the rest? I want more!”
[Puwei]: “Please continue…”
[Cloud Hawk]: “Such a great story. Is there really no more?”
[Greenish Blue]: “Update! Update!”
[Red Fire]: “Please update!”
Even Grandpa Li and Old Mo, despite feeling nostalgic, couldn’t help but itch for more. It had been years since they felt this level of anticipation.
[Eastern Sweet Tang]: “It’s late! Time to sleep. I’ll share more next time when I have time. Good night! ^^”
Tang Yu’an closed the post with a cheeky farewell, leaving employees eagerly awaiting the next installment.
Inside the magical tent, Tang Yu’an closed the book in his hands and stretched lazily.
The novel he had been posting in the forum was from his father’s treasured collection. When uploading it to the forum, he had included the book’s title and author.
Since the optical brain couldn’t scan the text directly, he had to manually transcribe it line by line—a meticulous task.
But judging by the response, it was worth it—everyone loved it!
Zhou Qi even featured the post to show that the moderator encouraged such contributions.
The novel’s success sparked others to share the legends and tales they had heard, injecting some much-needed liveliness into the previously academic atmosphere of the forum.
Although Tang Yu’an had said he was going to sleep, he found himself engrossed in reading the new story threads, unable to stop.
It wasn’t until Zhou Qi urged him to go to bed that he reluctantly climbed under the covers. Nearby, Black Pearl had already curled up on a cushion, sound asleep.
The cushion was thoughtfully prepared by the magical core. Even though the mischievous kitten often caused trouble, as the master’s pet, it deserved care and attention.
“Goodnight, Brother Qi!”
“Goodnight.”
The night enveloped the world in darkness.
Outside the magical tent, the construction robot continued its diligent work, while Yuan Bao stood at the entrance, its four eyes scanning the surroundings with a solemn vigilance.
Across the lake, the rustling of bushes broke the silence.
Old Ping, lying hidden behind the foliage, whispered to the person beside him, “See? I wasn’t lying, was I?”
Next to him was one of the tribe’s ability users, who had insisted on coming to verify Old Ping’s story.
Reluctant to let them go alone, Old Ping had tagged along.
“Now that you’ve seen it, let’s leave quickly. Didn’t you notice that giant beast guarding the tent? They’re not people our tribe can afford to provoke!” Old Ping whispered urgently.
The two ability users exchanged glances. After taking turns peering through binoculars to confirm the situation, they quickly left with Old Ping.
Their urgency increased when Yuan Bao glanced in their direction, making their scalps tingle despite the distance.
It wasn’t until they had run a kilometer away that they dared to speak again.
“Is this Commerce God Church really as miraculous as you say?”
“Why would I lie? You saw that half-full lake yourself—it was all brought here by their emissaries.”
“And they said you could get water and food?”
“Of course, but only by trading something for it. Their god hates freeloaders, and even followers aren’t exempt.”
The two ability users sighed in disappointment.
The lake was enormous, and they had initially considered stealing some water, but the four-eyed wolf had thoroughly quashed that idea.
No amount of water was worth losing several tribespeople over.
As they moved farther away, Yuan Bao resumed its watch, satisfied that the intruders had left, without pursuing them.
The next morning, when Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi emerged from the tent, the construction robot had completed a new building.
It was a simple two-story house occupying a mere 30 square meters, with a basement underneath.
Zhou Qi dried the walls and accelerated their hardening, while Tang Yu’an set up the new branch, activating the protective barrier and teleportation array.
Since the branch wasn’t intended for public access, Tang Yu’an immediately chose to close it, causing the newly built house to vanish from sight.
“See? I told you, my dad and I weren’t making this up!”
On the opposite side of the lake, Old Ping and Ah Shan stood with several tribespeople who had come to trade for water. They stared in shock at the house’s sudden disappearance.
“What kind of ability is that? It’s incredible…”
While the young and the ability users marveled, Old Ping’s expression changed suddenly.
“It’s the black panther!”
Seeing Black Pearl appear beside Yuan Bao brought back memories of the previous day, and both Old Ping and Ah Shan began trembling.
But Old Ping quickly took a deep breath, steadied himself, and turned to the others. “Stay here and don’t do anything reckless. I’ll go on my own.”
“Remember, they are not to be provoked. Do not do anything that might anger them!”
With that, he picked up the basket carrying their trade goods and approached the two giant beasts with cautious determination.
Black Pearl, initially flicking its tail playfully and preparing to approach, lost interest when it saw Old Ping coming forward alone. It wandered to the lakeshore instead, entertaining itself by swatting at the fish.
Noticing the people by the lake on his map, Tang Yu’an signaled Zhou Qi. Both donned their masks and stepped out of the invisible Shop #6.
As emissaries of the Commerce God, they no longer needed to hide.
To the tribespeople, the two cloaked figures seemed to materialize out of thin air, shrouding the Commerce God Church in an even deeper air of mystery.
Lao Ping hesitated briefly but quickly resumed his approach.
Reaching them, he set down the trade goods and knelt before the cloaked figures.
“Lord Silver Light, Lord Dark Moon, we’ve brought items to trade for water!”
He removed the basket’s cover, revealing a young lamb nestled inside.
Judging by its appearance, it seemed to be a sheep.
