Chapter 272
As soon as Zhou Qi spoke, Tang Yu’an immediately understood what he meant.
“You’re thinking of doing a direct sweep like we did in Linhai Town?” he asked.
Zhou Qi nodded. “We’ll come to Purple Sky Fortress by ship, openly under the name of the Merchant God Sect. Linhai Town now belongs to us too—we can resettle people there.”
“But will they be willing to leave?” Tang Yu’an asked, a bit uncertain.
“We’ll only take those who want to leave,” Zhou Qi explained. “Even if no one leaves with us, just showing our strength will have a deterrent effect.”
Besides, he figured most residents of Purple Sky Fortress would want to leave.
Purple Sky Fortress had essentially become an isolated island at sea. Under normal circumstances that might not be a problem, but it used to be surrounded by land.
Sea levels were rising year by year. Eventually, the barriers would collapse, flooding most of the flat land and leaving only the mountains. When that happens, a lot of people will die.
Even now, there’s already a height difference between the seawater inside and outside the barrier.
What the people in the center of the fortress think is uncertain, but those living near the edges—especially the fishing teams—definitely know that danger is closing in on them.
Now that there’s a chance to leave, they’ll definitely seize it.
Tang Yu’an nodded in agreement with Zhou Qi’s reasoning.
“Alright, let’s get ready and sail a big ship over to carry people!”
Large ships were expensive, especially ones with smart navigation systems, but that didn’t matter—he had plenty of points in his account to afford it.
Points don’t earn interest sitting in an account, and if the system were to crash someday, they’d go to waste anyway.
So not only should points be spent where needed—they should be actively spent!
“Let’s go back to the RV first,” Zhou Qi said.
In this whole plan, transporting people was actually the easiest part—the real challenge would be resettlement.
They needed to find a livable area in Linhai Town and coordinate relationships between the relocated people and the locals.
Back in the RV, the two began to plan.
“How many people live in Purple Sky Fortress?” Zhou Qi asked.
Tang Yu’an looked at the map.
“Feels like no fewer than 100,000,” he said. “How about we split them up and assign them to the various villages in Linhai Town?”
Linhai Town had over 50 villages of various sizes—some with just a dozen people.
If they scattered Purple Sky Fortress’s residents across these villages, it could breathe new life into them.
“Once all the fishing villages are included in the protective barrier, we won’t have to worry about elderly and children being bullied. In fact, they might even look after each other.”
Take Guanyu Village, for example—it lost over a dozen young adults this year, and most of the villagers left were elderly, women, and children.
With the protection rules for overnight stay in place, their rights would be better safeguarded. And with young adults moving in, the population structure would improve too.
Plus, residents of Purple Sky Fortress were generally more knowledgeable than the villagers—maybe they could help boost local education.
Zhou Qi listened to Tang Yu’an’s plan, eyes full of admiration.
“This plan works. Let’s do it your way,” he said, nodding.
The number of initial migrants probably wouldn’t be very large. Once the fishing villages reached their absorption limit, they could find another place to settle the rest of Purple Sky Fortress’s residents.
So, Tang Yu’an started drafting the mission.
First, he needed to notify Hai Jing to prepare the receiving villages in advance.
Since this was clearly a long-term effort, he made it a chain task. The first batch of migrants was set at 500 people.
Just as he finished posting the mission, a system notification popped up.
[Employee “Yu Lixia” completed a profitable transaction with a new customer. Points +10, EXP +3]
[EXP full. Merchant level +1]
Wahoo! Grandpa Lixia successfully closed his first profitable deal and even helped him level up!
Tang Yu’an quickly checked the level-up rewards:
[Merchant Level 26 reached. New items unlocked in Marketplace: Soy Milk, Cured Meat, Instant Porridge, Scissors, Electric Fans. See “Wholesale Market” for details.]
[Personal Inventory Slots +2 (Total: 32), Authorized Slots +1 (Now: 7)]
[New Feature: Video Chat with Friends. See “Employee Forum” for details.]
[New Feature: New Member Alert in Channel. See “Employee Forum” for details.]
[Wholesale Market Discount Card (20% off) +1]
Whoa, video chat feature!
Tang Yu’an quickly authorized the new inventory slots to Zhou Qi, then tried video calling Tang Xueyun.
On the other end, when Tang Xueyun saw his video call request, she froze.
She instinctively hit “accept.”
A new interface popped up—just like when Tang Yu’an had video called Gu Qianli before.
Same charge structure: 15 minutes per call, 2,000 points each, but now with an option for auto-renew to extend the duration.
And unlike with Gu Qianli, this wasn’t limited to one call per day.
“Mom, are you and Dad busy?” Tang Yu’an asked with a big grin.
Tang Xueyun nodded, her eyes filled with longing as she stared at him. Even though she’d seen his recordings, it wasn’t the same as talking in real-time.
“Don’t overwork yourselves—take it slow,” Tang Yu’an said warmly. “If you need anything, tell me!”
Tang Xueyun walked back into the house before replying: “We’ve got everything we need. Don’t worry. Just take care of yourself too.”
Conditions now were way better than before.
“All these years, I haven’t been able to be there for you. I couldn’t watch you grow up… it must’ve been hard for you.”
Even though only six months had passed in her world, An’an and Xiao Qi had spent more than three years in the other world.
In her memory, he was still a little boy just starting middle school—but now, he was already sixteen…
“Hehe, it wasn’t hard at all! I had Brother Qi with me the whole time—we’ve been really happy every day!”
Tang Yu’an turned to Zhou Qi and said, “Right, Brother Qi?”
Zhou Qi knew he was video chatting with Tang Xueyun and nodded, a little awkwardly.
Tang Yu’an didn’t notice his discomfort. He even scooted closer to Zhou Qi, not hiding their close relationship at all.
On the other side of the call, Tang Xueyun furrowed her brows slightly as she looked at the two boys on the screen.
She could clearly see Zhou Qi’s unease and tension, yet Tang Yu’an’s actions were so open and natural—it didn’t really seem like that kind of situation.
Maybe… she was just overthinking it?
*
Ice Flame Fortress
Wen Qingqing had just handed over the seawater she traded for today to the military personnel when she received a system notification.
After three or four months on the job, aside from the initial beginner tutorial, she had barely received any instructions from the Mysterious Merchant, so she couldn’t help but feel a bit surprised.
[The Mysterious Merchant has transferred you to “Peace Grocery Store Branch #6”]
She used to be with the Peace Grocery Store, right? Why move her to Branch #6 now? Just then, another notification popped up.
[Congratulations! Elite Mission “Establish New Branch” triggered]
[Mission Description: The Mysterious Merchant intends to establish a new branch in Ice Flame Fortress. Once completed, the branch will be able to activate a Guardian Barrier capable of resisting destructive natural disasters and dangerous creatures.]
[Mission Requirements: Reach Level 20 and pass the Branch Manager Ethics Test at Branch #6.]
[Reward: Permission to establish a branch + 1,000 points]
Wen Qingqing’s eyes widened as she read the mission description.
A Guardian Barrier that could resist destructive natural disasters and dangerous creatures?
Could this be real?
She knew the military had been buying large quantities of seawater from her not only to deal with Ice Flame Flowers and snow creatures—but also because the fortress leadership hadn’t yet abandoned their migration plans.
To be honest, even with the newfound ways to combat the Ice Flame Flowers and snowy beasts, she still didn’t believe migration was a truly viable plan.
Was the outside world really better than Ice Flame Fortress?
They had been trapped inside for so many years, and they had no detailed or deep understanding of the outside environment.
She knew this well from reading forum posts.
Not just the journey, but even settling in a new location would likely cost countless lives.
That’s why Wen Qingqing didn’t support the migration plan.
Thanks to her ability to bring in Flame Stones, food, and seawater, the fortress held her in high regard. Just recently, she’d even met with the fortress’s top leader to voice her opinions.
But from the looks of it, the leadership still intended to go ahead with the original plan.
After all, the survival of hundreds of thousands in Ice Flame Fortress was at stake—and Wen Qingqing, with her current abilities, couldn’t yet provide enough food and energy for everyone.
She understood that, which made her anxious every day.
She’d been doing everything she could to earn points, and had nearly bought out all the Flame Stones provided by Little Noisy, but it was still just a drop in the bucket.
And right when she was feeling the most overwhelmed, the Mysterious Merchant sent her this mission…
If the Guardian Barrier truly worked as described, Ice Flame Fortress might not need to implement that risky migration plan after all!
Excited, Wen Qingqing immediately opened the forum and posted a paid help request, asking about the Guardian Barrier.
Of course, it was a paid post—after all, knowledge is wealth, no matter where you are.
It didn’t take long before she received a reply.
[1st Reply – Changqing: On Year 1, May 21, the Guardian Barrier was indeed capable of resisting dangerous creatures and destructive natural disasters. As for how to activate it, I’m not sure.]
Wen Qingqing’s eyes lit up. She knew Changqing was a highly respected expert with a lot of knowledge, and likely held a high position in the Merchant God Sect.
His words were highly credible.
[Qingxue: Does snow count as a destructive natural disaster?]
[Changqing: Yes. Snow is repelled by the Guardian Barrier. The interior temperature remains above freezing.]
[Changqing: But just to clarify, this applies only to natural disasters—ice-type abilities still work normally.]
Wen Qingqing was amazed—above freezing?
That’s the freezing point of water, meaning water in the environment wouldn’t freeze.
That temperature would be tolerable for both humans and plants/animals living long-term in Ice Flame Fortress—and would save tons of energy!
Unfortunately, Changqing didn’t know how to activate the Guardian Barrier.
Wen Qingqing looked carefully at the mission details again: she needed to reach Level 20 and pass an ethics test at Branch #6?
She quickly checked her current level—and saw she was still quite a way from Level 20. She couldn’t help but feel frustrated.
She should’ve been grinding her daily customer tasks like she did when pushing for Level 5 at the start.
If she’d stuck with that, she would’ve passed Level 20 by now! No more slacking from now on.
A fresh sense of urgency welled up inside her.
She had to race against time—she had to get the store built and figure out how to activate the Guardian Barrier before the fortress began its official migration.
That was the only way to save more lives.
Right at that moment, another resident arrived to trade. To gain more experience, Wen Qingqing threw herself fully into the work.
Until the next morning—
[Your monthly commission salary has been issued. Please check your points account.]
When Wen Qingqing woke up and saw the message, she blinked—then broke into a happy grin.
Payday—it was her favorite day of the month.
But when she checked her account balance, she frowned.
Her personal points were over half what she had expected. Why? Was this part of the challenge of building the new branch?
Then another notification appeared:
[Starting this month, salary structure has changed: 2% in personal points, 10% in supply points, and 3% of personal points will now be issued as equivalent Peace Coins.]
[Your Peace Coin total for this month: 21,360]
[Please choose your delivery method…]
Peace Coins? What are those?
Wen Qingqing couldn’t help but wonder—could this be some kind of internal currency used within the Merchant God Sect? How was it different from regular points?
But once she chose to accept them and held over twenty thousand Peace Coins—each worth one unit—in her hands, she was completely stunned.
So… so warm!
Was it just her imagination? Why did holding this currency make her feel so warm?
Wen Qingqing quickly took the coins to her mother, and after some testing, she confirmed—she wasn’t imagining things.
“Qingqing, what is this great stuff now? Feels like a heat pack—warm, but not as dangerous as Flame Stones.”
“Th-this is called a Peace Coin.”
“Peace Coin? That’s such a lovely name!”
Later that night, Wen Qingqing discovered the warmth from the Peace Coins hadn’t faded at all.
She placed one on her chest, two more on her thighs, then layered on her thermal clothes—and just like that, she stayed warm the whole day.
This was truly a great invention!
Wen Qingqing practically wanted to convert all her wages into Peace Coins. If she wanted everyone in the fortress to have at least one coin, she still had a long way to go.
She posted a purchase request in the trading zone, then got ready to sleep—so she could trade the coins first thing in the morning.
But… she had this nagging feeling she was forgetting something…
Then, just as she lay down, she suddenly noticed someone had tagged her in the store channel’s message board.
She’d been so busy the last couple of days—and the channel for Branch #6 had been full of what she thought were just weird, mystical discussions.
So after saying a quick hello, she’d gone quiet and stopped checking it.
Now remembering that part of her mission included passing some kind of ethics test at Branch #6, she quickly opened the chat.
[Little Noisy]: @Qingxue, I just received a task—I need to organize an internal Merchant God Sect ethics and morality test for you.
[Little Noisy]: I’ll be the chief examiner. Are you ready?
For some reason, Wen Qingqing suddenly had a very, very bad feeling.
Here comes the cult brainwashing hahahhaha