Chapter 210
In the end, Tang Yu’an’an could only reply to Chi Hao, saying that they would take Kang Kang to Lan Hu Town when they had time.
They really couldn’t make time in the short term—after all, they were about to reach the center of Desolate City. They needed to retrieve Old Xie first before they could focus on anything else.
“It looks like we can move on to the next phase of guiding Brother Yunqing,” Tang Yu’an’an said as he watched Zhou Qi store the notebook in his portable warehouse.
Step by step, they were guiding him to unlock the teleportation array. Once that was done, Kang Kang could freely travel between both places.
Granny Guo could also accompany him. Not only would she be able to keep an eye on Kang Kang, but she could also access more suitable farmland in Lan Hu Town.
Zhou Qi nodded and asked, “How much commission has he earned this month?”
It had been two weeks since they last paid Lan Yunqing. Thanks to the addition of Lan Yue Liang, the revenue of Store No. 5 had increased— though Lan Yue Liang still couldn’t compare to their lord.
Lan Yunqing’s highest single-day sales record was 752 orders, while Lan Yue Liang’s best was just over 100—nowhere near the same level.
However, this month, Lan Yunqing’s transaction volume had noticeably decreased, while the points per transaction had significantly increased.
Instead of just selling brown rice and wheat, he had started using his stock points to trade for other goods.
After all, he had 100,000 stock points.
On top of that, he had the meat supply obtained from Chi Hao—the mutant pig alone weighed several hundred kilos. Trading 500 grams of meat for two Lan Hu leaves was a profitable deal.
In short, with his store’s revenue and branch manager bonuses, his personal commission had already reached 26,000 points.
By the end of the month, it would definitely be even higher.
Hearing Tang Yu’an’an’s answer, Zhou Qi nodded and said, “Then let’s post the mission to unlock the full-time protection barrier.”
“How many points should we set for this task?” Tang Yu’an’an asked.
Zhou Qi smiled slightly and said, “All of them.”
*
Lan Hu Town, Central Lakeside
The farmland that had once been dedicated to brown rice was now completely planted with mutant Star-chain fruit vines.
After Mother Tree agreed to make some compromises, these vines displayed astonishing growth. In less than a month, they had already climbed all over the trellises that the Lan Hu people had built for them.
Although they hadn’t yet borne delicious fruit, their ability to enrich the soil was already becoming evident.
Mother Tree had finally fully accepted them, and the Lan Hu people were eagerly planting more vines around the outskirts of the Lan Hu Forest.
This was a good thing, but as time passed, Mother Tree missed Kang Kang more and more.
As the second most favored human of Mother Tree, Lan Yunqing now had to spend even more time soothing it every day.
Frequent communication with Mother Tree was actually beneficial for Lan Yunqing, helping him understand it better.
And since Mother Tree could be understood and responded to correctly, he was able to calm it down most of the time— but that didn’t mean it was truly happy.
“Mother Tree really likes Master Kang Kang…”
Lan Yunqing sighed as he read Chi Hao’s response in the private chat.
He understood An An and the others’ concerns—Kang Kang was still too young, and taking him on a journey through the wastelands was indeed too dangerous.
For now, he could only continue comforting Mother Tree and ask it to be patient…
At least with the Star-chain fruit vines growing, the town’s food supply would improve after the harvest. He and Lan Yue Liang were also supplying the people with food through daily trades.
However, for now, the only thing the townspeople could trade in return was Lan Hu leaves.
Lan Yunqing felt that they needed a more diverse set of tradeable goods, but he didn’t yet have a good plan to implement this.
After all, even when harvested, Star-chain fruit had a limited shelf life and couldn’t serve as a long-term trade commodity.
He really wanted to discuss this with other branch managers, but the only ones he knew were An An and Zhou Qi…
With that thought, Lan Yunqing sent a message in the private chat.
[Red Blaze]: I’d like to set up a private chat thread with them. They can create it, and I’ll pay to join. Can you ask them for me?
[Greenish Blue]: Are you still asking about Master Kang Kang? Why not just bring them into this chat?
[Red Blaze]: Do you want other people to see our conversation?
Chi Hao’s heart skipped a beat when he saw this reply.
But he quickly composed himself and casually responded to Lan Yunqing before taking out his notebook to discuss it with Zhou Qi and the others.
He was currently in a forest. Through the treetops, he could faintly see a small fortress appearing on the horizon.
[Greenish Blue]: I’ll reach out to them, but An An and the others are pretty popular. If they create the thread, I don’t think it’ll stay private.
Lan Yunqing frowned slightly at the response.
That was true…
In the end, they decided that Lan Yunqing would create a paid-access chat thread, and Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi would purchase access to unlock it.
[Red Blaze]: I’ll find a way to repay the 2,000 points to you.
[Eastern Sweet Tang]: Just convert it into Lan Hu leaves ^^
Lan Yunqing let out a small sigh of relief. Thanks to their trades, his warehouse was already overflowing with Lan Hu leaves— of all things, that was the one resource he had in excess.
Just as he was about to ask them how to address the issue of the townspeople’s limited purchasing power and the potential shortage in the future, a system notification popped up.
[Congratulations! You have triggered the Elite Mission: “Upgrade the Protective Barrier – Unlock Full-Time Defense Against Destructive Natural Disasters.”]
[Description: Store No. 5 of “Peace Grocery” is thriving. Given the ever-present dangers of the wastelands, the protective barrier needs further upgrades.]
[Mission Objective: Spend store heat points and shop points to unlock this feature in the store panel.]
[Reward: Activates Store No. 5’s protective barrier for full-time defense against destructive natural disasters.]
Lan Yunqing’s eyes lit up.
Full-time defense against destructive natural disasters! Yes, this was exactly what he needed!
He quickly opened the store panel and saw that the upgrade button for the protective barrier was now active.
Besides the natural disaster defense, there was also an option for full-time defense against dangerous creatures?
It seemed like Store No. 1 had unlocked both of these. Unfortunately, on his interface, the latter option was still grayed out— he wasn’t sure what conditions were needed to trigger it.
For now, he selected the first option and submitted the upgrade request.
[You are requesting to upgrade the protective barrier. This will cost 300 store heat points and all of this month’s shop commission. Would you like to proceed?]
All of this month’s commission? That included both personal and stock points?
Lan Yunqing checked his revenue for the month. With Lan Yue Liang’s help, his commission had already reached around 200,000 points— so this wasn’t a problem.
He nodded and directly chose to continue the application.
Only this amount of points could truly justify the weight of the function, “All-weather Defense Against Destructive Natural Disasters.”
Although only half the month had passed, Lan Yunqing had no intention of slacking off for the rest of it. He felt that this might also be a test from the mysterious merchant.
Only by passing this test could he unlock the “All-weather Defense Against Dangerous Creatures” function.
With these two functions in place, the next steps would be to solve the issues of guest accommodation limits and the protective barrier’s coverage. If successful, Lan Hu Town could become a new “fortress.”
If these two functions could be activated, then no amount of effort or points spent would be too much!
Seeing the notification that his application had been approved, Lan Yunqing couldn’t help but sigh in his heart.
The God of Commerce is truly a great and merciful deity!
*
Desolate City Haven.
Seeing how quickly Lan Yunqing submitted the application, Tang Yu’an couldn’t help but marvel.
Was Yunqing just that generous, or was he simply too stingy himself?
After a brief moment of self-reflection, Tang Yu’an tossed the thought aside.
After all, this month alone, they had saved 200,000 points—what a win!
Then, he noticed that Lan Yunqing had posted a private message asking a question.
He didn’t expect Yunqing to think about this issue. As expected of the leader of Lan Hu Town, a place where civilization had not been completely severed!
Having completed his middle school education and developed a deeper understanding of economics, Tang Yu’an’s first thought was—
“Can we introduce a currency system in Lan Hu Town?” Tang Yu’an asked Zhou Qi.
“Hmm, this is indeed a good time for that,” Zhou Qi pondered. “However, the current salt currency is no longer suitable for Lan Hu Town’s situation.”
In fact, the problem of a lack of high-denomination currency had already become apparent in Desolate City Haven. Just earlier, in a conversation with Old Li, they had realized this issue.
With the increased productivity of the cultivators, they were converting their potato and sweet potato harvests into currency. Though they spent a portion daily, they were still hoarding a significant amount.
As a result, most of the salt currency was being taken by cultivators and stored, reducing its circulation in the market.
Furthermore, salt currency wasn’t made of paper—it was crafted from metal and fabric. This, in turn, led to a certain degree of resource wastage.
For now, Desolate City Haven wasn’t large enough for this to be a major issue, but they still needed a solution.
“We need to create higher-denomination currency,” Zhou Qi said seriously.
“Are we still using metal?”
Tang Yu’an scratched his head. “But if we use metal, the higher the denomination, the heavier it gets, which makes it inconvenient for circulation.”
They had tried before—salt currency valued at 100 points was already as heavy as a chunk of iron.
Since they needed to earn points, issuing paper money wasn’t an option. Instead, they had to use a general equivalent commodity, like gold or silver, which was a hassle.
Zhou Qi’s gaze shifted to a nearby Lan Hu tree. “We need to incorporate new materials.”
Tang Yu’an blinked and quickly caught on. “Oh right! Lan Hu leaves are light and valuable!”
No sooner had the idea struck than they put it into action. After replying to Lan Yunqing that they would help solve this issue the next time they visited Lan Hu Town to collect Star-chain Fruit points, they returned to their RV.
They took out the super printing machine and added cotton fabric, mutant metal, and a Lan Hu leaf inside.
“Once our home’s steel factory is built, we can replace the mutant metal with steel,” Zhou Qi said.
Mutant metal was much harder, making it a waste to use for currency—it was better suited for weapons.
“At that point, we can recycle the old salt currency and repurpose it for other uses,” Tang Yu’an said as he set up the super printing machine, then began the production process.
While waiting, they didn’t idle around—they continued driving the RV toward the center of Desolate City.
Once the completion sound chimed, Tang Yu’an excitedly opened the super printing machine and retrieved the new currency.
The new currency was the same size as the old salt currency, possessing both the resilience of metal and the softness of fabric. Its color had a deep blue hue.
“It feels so nice, just like a Lan Hu leaf,” Tang Yu’an remarked, activating an appraisal skill on the new currency.
“The value of this new currency is 51 points!”
Tang Yu’an stroked the currency—it felt as if the Lan Hu leaf had been transformed into a permanent item. Although it had lost its edible properties, it no longer decayed.
Moreover, their specially crafted temperature-resistant and waterproof fabric usually deteriorated over the years—this was something Tang Yu’an had discovered using an intermediate appraisal skill.
However, now that they had incorporated metal, something miraculous had happened—the degradation of the Lan Hu leaf components had significantly slowed. According to the appraisal results, the currency’s lifespan could last for decades.
“I feel like once people get the new currency, they won’t want to use it in transactions,” Tang Yu’an commented.
“It doesn’t matter,” Zhou Qi replied. “Saving money is a natural behavior. Besides…”
In Lan Hu Town, the chances of this being a problem were low, since the Lan Hu people didn’t have to worry about climate issues.
Tang Yu’an nodded. “That makes sense.”
He then tossed the new currency back into the super printing machine, continually adjusting the materials until they finally produced a batch of new coins, each with a denomination of “50.”
These new coins were a deep, eerie blue, carrying a metallic sheen. They were both tough and flexible—impossible to tear or crush, resistant to water and fire, and capable of regulating temperature.
On the front, the coin bore the large Chinese characters for “Fifty,” while the back displayed “50.” The original “Salt” character was replaced with “Peace.”
Yes, this new currency was called the “Peace Coin.”
It was no longer limited to salt and sugar exchanges—it could now be used to purchase anything from the grocery store.
Although there was still a discrepancy between system point pricing and the perception of value in the wasteland, this no longer mattered.
This currency would primarily circulate within Desolate City Haven and Lan Hu Town—territories where they held absolute control over pricing!
Whatever price they set was the price—there was no need to consider the opinions of the wasteland survivors anymore.
Thus, the value of goods could now be officially recorded on paper, making calculations much more convenient.
In addition to the 50-unit denomination, they also created new currency in 5, 10, 20, and 100-unit denominations, following the currency system from their original world.
These new denominations incorporated Lan Hu leaves, while the 1-unit and 2-unit currencies were still made from metal and fabric.
Thus, they took the super printing machine to the alternate dimension and let the housekeeping robots handle the operation.
By the next day, a new batch of Peace Coins worth a total of 100,000 points had been completed.
Producing this batch consumed less than 2,000 Lan Hu leaves, which Tang Yu’an’s inventory could still support.
Moreover, in the homeland, several offshoots had already grown in October, so there was no need to send people to collect them specifically—Tang Yu’an could simply gather them using the inventory function.
Of course, since he was sometimes too busy, he still let Grandpa Li arrange for someone to handle this task.
Initially, it was just because of the special properties of Lan Hu leaves, but now, he could completely say: This is all money!
When receiving this batch of new currency, Old Li was undoubtedly surprised. He hadn’t expected the two youngsters to solve the problem so quickly.
As he ran his fingers over the new currency, he soon noticed a difference: “Did you add something similar to constant-temperature fabric in the materials?”
Tang Yu’an nodded.
Old Li couldn’t help but be astonished, shocked by the scale of the two young men’s plans. After thinking for a moment, he said, “I see. So, what will you do with the old currency?”
“We’ll continue trading under the original rules, but once we collect the old currency, we won’t redistribute it—we’ll only issue the new Peace Coins.” Tang Yu’an explained.
Only then did Old Li notice the words “Peace” on the new coins.
He smiled slightly, “The Peace Merchant Guild using Peace Coins—that’s quite a nice touch.”
As for whether Peace Coins could be promoted in other areas… that was something only time would tell. In the short term, they would definitely remain limited to Desolate City.
However…
Old Li looked at the two young men and said, “The water level has started to recede.”
Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi were both stunned. “Grandpa, do you mean… the flood is about to retreat?”
Old Li nodded. “Based on past experiences, within one to two weeks, the flood will completely subside.”
He continued, “I’m going to delay building more houses for now and construct one or two more reservoirs instead.”
When he realized that 1 liter of water required 1 point to exchange, Old Li often looked at the water outside and thought: This is all money!
One cubic meter of water was worth 1,000 points. The reservoirs built in the haven each had a storage capacity of over 1,000 cubic meters, which meant… a single reservoir was worth 1 million points!
Providing food and wages for the residents was nothing compared to that—they couldn’t possibly consume 1 million points’ worth of water.
“Got it, we understand.”
The flood wasn’t going to last forever, and Tang Yu’an had already mentally prepared for it. Once the flood receded, Desolate City would welcome new visitors and face new challenges.
No matter what happened, it was always better to prepare in advance.
Then, Old Li continued, “Yesterday, you mentioned recruiting A’Lian as a new employee. After considering it, I think it’s a good idea.”
Originally, Old Li was more inclined toward Tie Jin, since he had a better relationship with him. Tie Jin also had experience trading metal goods with others.
But after Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi suggested A’Lian, Old Li observed her and found that she was indeed a more suitable candidate.
Ever since arriving at the haven, Tie Jin had been completely immersed in metalworking, and recently, Lin Zhen had even pulled him into machine manufacturing.
Most of Tie Jin’s business dealings were actually handled by A’Lian. What was even more amazing was that, despite her gentle and delicate appearance, she had built good relationships with all the residents in the homeland.
Even the most reclusive or ill-tempered people would soften up when interacting with her and her daughter, Jin Lili.
Even Kang Kang’s Lan Hu tree, which was planted in the fields, would excitedly shake its branches whenever they passed by.
Old Li also noticed this. He wasn’t entirely sure if this ability came from A’Lian or from Jin Lili, as the mother and daughter were always together and never separated.
But regardless, this kind of ability made her very suitable to be an employee.
Besides, if he recruited Tie Jin, he would probably end up with half of Lin Zhen too, so A’Lian was an excellent choice.
“I spoke with her yesterday, and she’s eager to become an employee of the homeland.” Old Li said.
There wasn’t a single resident in the homeland who didn’t want to become an official employee. Now that A’Lian had set an example, others would likely become even more motivated to contribute.
“Alright, I’ll send her a recruitment notice.” Zhou Qi said.
As a branch manager, he had the authority to hire employees, though they still needed to pass the mysterious merchant’s review. Old Li was aware of this as well.
“Alright then, it’s settled. I’ll have Shi Tou handle her employee training.”
With that, Old Li left to take care of other matters.
Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi stood by the window, looking out at the vibrant and bustling scene outside, feeling an undeniable sense of accomplishment.
Downstairs, A’Xiang, who was heavily pregnant, was carrying a basket as she walked toward the factory.
“Sister A’Xiang should be due soon, right?” Tang Yu’an said as he watched her back. “Should we start making preparations?”
They needed to arrange for birthing assistants in advance and prepare medical supplies.
Childbirth was an incredibly dangerous event.
Zhou Qi nodded. “Yes, we should get ready. If we wait until the last minute, we might panic, and that could lead to serious problems.”
Aside from A’Xiang, there were two other pregnant women in the homeland—yes, the first couple who registered their marriage also had a child on the way.
In the post-apocalyptic world, where birth control measures were nonexistent, pregnancies were common. In the future, there would only be more and more newborns in the homeland.
They took note of this and decided to establish a maternity ward. The conditions would be rudimentary, but it was better than having nothing at all.
“I know what to write in the second message in the drifting bottle to Mom and Dad!”
Tang Yu’an clapped his hands. “We can ask them for knowledge on this topic. Mom definitely knows more than the residents here.”
Zhou Qi nodded slightly. “Good idea. Once their situation stabilizes, we can also ask them about other fields of knowledge.”
The twelve years of compulsory education provided a broad but basic foundation. If they wanted to gain deeper expertise, they would need to seek out more sources of knowledge.
Next, they went to the swimming facility and built two more reservoirs to store water.
Just as Old Li had said, the water level was indeed receding. Seeing all that water go to waste, Tang Yu’an couldn’t help but feel distressed.
After thinking for a moment, Zhou Qi said, “Let’s have the robots dig a lake on the grasslands to store the water.”
“That’s a great idea!”
Thinking of it, they took action immediately. Once again, they relocated and assigned several construction robots to dig an artificial lake about one kilometer away from Store No. 6.
Before the floodwaters completely receded, they would dig as large a lake as possible.
After setting up a fence and extending the protective barrier to include the robots, Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi used a teleportation array to return to their RV and continued their journey.
By nightfall, they once again found Gan Lin’s drifting bottle.
“Divine Envoy! You have appeared in my dreams once again!” Gan Lin’s excited voice rang out. “I haven’t seen you in so long…!”
Tang Yu’an exchanged a few pleasantries before getting straight to the point.
“What?! You wish to bestow upon us a fruit tree that can grow even in extreme heat and drought?” Gan Lin was utterly shocked. “And its fruit is like bread?”
“Yes, both the taste and texture are very similar to creamy bread.”
Then, he heard Gan Lin’s choked-up sobs.
“You are truly a great and merciful deity… I don’t even know how to repay you… I am willing to serve you for the rest of my life! Please let me be your most devoted follower!”
Tang Yu’an: …
Honestly, just trading goods would be enough >.<
