Chapter 281
Mount Jufeng, Guard Post Grocery Store.
After finishing the day’s trade with the townspeople, Hong Li turned and walked into the Guard Post Grocery Store.
Ever since she discovered that upgrading the store was related to her level, she had been paying close attention to gaining experience and made time each day to trade personally with the townspeople.
However, as a manager, she also had many other matters to handle, so her time for trading was limited, and her level advancement wasn’t very fast.
Just as she sat down, a message notification popped up.
[Congratulations! You have triggered the Elite Mission “Upgrade the Store”]
[Description: Your outstanding performance after joining the faith has prompted the Mysterious Merchant to give you a further trial.]
[Mission Objective: Type “1” in the message board store channel to agree to offer all the land of Mount Jufeng to the God of Commerce.]
[Reward: The God of Commerce’s protection will cover the entire Mount Jufeng; the Guard Post Grocery Store will be upgraded to Lv2; Night Stay List feature will be unlocked; 10,000 Peace Coins.]
After reading the message carefully, Hong Li couldn’t help but twitch at the corner of her mouth.
Before, they asked for her guard post—now they wanted the entire mountain?
Was the Church of the God of Commerce getting a bit too greedy?
But…
As Hong Li looked at the mission rewards, she had to admit—she was tempted.
If the entire Mount Jufeng could be placed under the protection of the God of Commerce, the snow in the mountains would melt, and there would be much more usable land.
Right now, the snow had sealed off the mountains. Apart from areas connected by fences, the townspeople didn’t dare step foot elsewhere.
Mount Jufeng was simply too vast. Because of the terrain, it wasn’t feasible to fence off the entire mountain range—using fences alone was not realistic.
Besides the divine protection, there was also the store upgrade to Lv2, the Night Stay List function, and the Peace Coins…
After pondering it over for a while, Hong Li finally couldn’t resist calling Xie Zhaori.
Xie Zhaori was now quite a busy man. As one of the most educated people in the Desolate City Haven, Old Li’s talent training program definitely involved him.
Plus, he was young and an official employee, so many tasks naturally fell on his shoulders. Everything he couldn’t achieve back at Qingmu Fortress, he was now receiving in full at Desolate City Haven—even if he still had heavy debts to repay.
After listening to Hong Li’s concerns, Xie Zhaori laughed and said, “What’s there to hesitate about?”
“Hong Li, you’ve been managing Mount Jufeng for a few years—don’t tell me you actually see it as your own property?”
He continued, “You’re just someone stationed here by Qingmy Fortress. Now that you’ve defected, once the nobles back at Qingmu Fortress realize what happened, they’ll definitely come after you.”
Right now things were calm partly because of the long distance, and partly because the messengers like Li Feng had spread inaccurate information, thinking the Desolate City Haven was part of the Xie family’s plot.
Now that it’s been two or three months since Chi Hao returned to Qingmu Fortress, their main forces were likely already nearby.
“With snow-blocked roads, they might be moving slowly, but they’ll get here eventually.”
Xie Zhaori analyzed, “While you’re still the mountain lord, just hand over Mount Jufeng to the Church of the God of Commerce. You’ll remain the manager, and you won’t have to worry about Qingmu Fortress holding you accountable. What’s there to be conflicted about?”
Hong Li stayed quiet for a moment before saying, “I know what to do.”
The task itself was simple.
She opened the store’s chat channel and simply typed a “1” and sent it.
*
On the other side, Tang Yu’an, who had been watching closely, saw her message and quickly checked the map.
Sure enough—the entire Mount Jufeng range was now marked as territory of the Guard Post Grocery Store!
Awesome! (^^)/
He immediately upgraded the store and granted Hong Li access to the Night Stay List feature.
After transferring the 10,000 Peace Coins to her, he set the Guardian Barrier’s range to cover the entire domain.
With that done, once the Guard Post Grocery Store’s store popularity reached 10,000, it could be merged with the other three branches.
For now though, with only a few thousand people on Mount Jufeng, the Lv2-level night stay capacity was more than enough.
What Tang Yu’an didn’t notice, though, was that when he set the store’s Guardian Barrier to full coverage, a few green dots on the mountainside were suddenly teleported to the mountain’s base.
Those green dots were none other than Li Feng’s group—the team sent by Qingmu Fortress.
After the snow disaster struck, their mission in Desolate City had completely failed—all their subordinates had defected and joined the Desolate City Haven.
With only a few of them left, establishing a base there was clearly unrealistic.
Fortunately, their efforts weren’t completely wasted. Over the past two months, they had carefully investigated and roughly located the spatial rift in Desolate City.
This was largely thanks to the flood washing away most of the mutant creatures, which reduced the beast population in the city center significantly.
So they decided to return to Mount Jufeng and wait for reinforcements from HQ.
But in less than three months, both Desolate City and Mount Jufeng had undergone massive changes—making things incredibly difficult for them.
First, the road from Desolate City to Mount Jufeng had been taken over by the Desolate City Haven!
The most frustrating part? There weren’t even guards posted, yet they couldn’t get through! They could only trudge through the snow, trying to find another way.
When they finally reached Mount Jufeng, they discovered the mountain path had also disappeared!
Even so, they decided to ascend the mountain. At the very least, they had to capture Hong Li and retake Jufeng Town—or they’d be completely outmaneuvered.
So they braved the heavy snow, struggling to climb the mountain.
There was a path with melted snow—yet all they could do was look at it. The frustration was unbearable.
The more resentment they felt toward Hong Li and Desolate City Haven, the more the Guardian Barrier rejected them.
They had no choice but to climb the hard way.
Luckily, Li Feng knew of a secret path into the Guard Post Grocery Store on Mount Jufeng—one that would let them enter undetected.
Only problem? The entrance to that path was halfway up the mountain.
“We’re almost there—just ahead,” Li Feng said.
Despite the heavy snow, his skills were impressive. He was still able to guide the team along the correct path.
However, what they didn’t expect was that after finally climbing halfway up the mountain and spotting the cave entrance, just as they stepped into the rocky cavern and felt a bit of warmth…
Suddenly, everything blurred before their eyes, and when their vision cleared, they found themselves back at the foot of the mountain!
Li Feng was stunned for a long moment before roaring in fury: “AAAHHHH! Hong Li! Xie Zhaori! I’m going to kill you both!”
*
Plane MR168845
A week after Zhou Qi’s departure, Tang Sheng finally leveled up his employee rank to Lv20, unlocking the ability to build branch stores.
Although Zhou Qi’s sudden disappearance with his team sparked some controversy, once Tang Sheng shared the photos and videos sent by Tang Yuan, the negativity died down.
In its place grew excitement and longing for the new world.
No one had expected that their country had actually established a base on another planet—
Some skeptics still questioned the possibility, noting how little time Dark Moon had been gone. If it really was an alien planet, wouldn’t it take years just to get there?
But those voices had become very quiet.
After all, everything the Peace Company had presented so far defied conventional understanding. Maybe they’d discovered a wormhole on Earth that allowed near-instant travel to another planet?
Like two days ago, when “Pillow Superhero” issued a new task.
He ordered all wall-building operations to halt and instructed everyone to form teams, each person carrying a bundle of picket fencing.
They were to leave the base, assemble the fences to enclose land, then register the measured land with the Peace Company’s records. Once registered, they could dismantle the fences and repeat the process.
By evening, Peace personnel would reward each team member based on the area they had enclosed.
The incredible thing? Even after the fences were removed, the expanded protection barrier remained in place.
This lit a fire under everyone.
Though some questioned the ethics of Peace’s land-claiming behavior, it was undeniably effective at protecting the base’s population.
After all, without the Peace Company’s protection field, the land was worthless in the apocalypse. Plus, they weren’t hoarding the land—they allowed residents to live on it.
As the base grew more crowded, residents began eagerly claiming territory in hopes of having their own space.
But they soon realized that unless the land was officially measured and registered by the Peace Company, the protective barrier would vanish once the fence was removed.
So the Self-Defense Force leadership approached Tang Sheng, asking to continue land claims at night. When he declined, they offered to pay the Peace Company to assist—but Tang Sheng still refused.
The threat of mutants still loomed, and caution was critical.
Nighttime was dim, and mutant creatures remained active. There was no need to take unnecessary risks.
Thus, the plan for nighttime land claims was scrapped, and everyone had to wait until morning.
Still, hope was rekindled. With this method, maybe one day they could reclaim all the lost land.
After successfully reaching Level Lv20, Tang Sheng decided to fly across the river to take a look.
Even with aircraft, the journey wasn’t entirely risk-free. Mutants had infected bird species, and some could fly or shoot at airborne targets.
Still, with the Purple-Red Sleep Pillow, Tang Sheng was confident.
After consulting with Tang Xueyun, he spent points to exchange for a combat jet equipped with an AI pilot system.
Though expensive, it provided air combat capabilities—and with the discount card Tang Yu’an gave him, he saved quite a few points.
So that day, Tang Sheng and Tang Xueyun suited up and climbed to the top floor of the Grocery Store—Old Mr. Lin’s house had a massive balcony, perfect for a helipad.
“Look, what’s that?!”
“A plane? Peace Company actually has a plane that big?!”
“It’s heading north! Are they crossing the river?”
People rushed out to see. The streets were packed, but Tang Sheng couldn’t see it—he was resting comfortably in the cockpit, head on the Purple-Red Sleep Pillow, with a bungee cord tied to Tang Xueyun’s waist to keep them connected.
The fighter was compact—Tang Sheng and Tang Xueyun’s combined height was over three meters, but the six-meter-wide protective shield gave them plenty of space.
As they left the protection barrier’s range, a mutated bird crashed toward them.
“Unknown creature attack detected—engaging defense mode!”
Before it could get close, the jet’s AI issued a warning, opened fire, and shot the bird down.
At the same time, it accelerated and veered off. By the time the mutant bird hit the ground, Tang Sheng and Tang Xueyun were long gone, leaving only a trail of vapor in their wake.
“That’s so cool!”
“Peace Company is amazing!”
The crowd watching below erupted in cheers and applause, their morale soaring.
Of course, they couldn’t see what came next as the jet disappeared into the sky.
The jet soared through the air at high speed.
From the ground, objects occasionally shot upward, trying to strike it down. Most were evaded by the AI pilot, and only a few made contact.
Thankfully, the Purple-Red Sleep Pillow negated 100% of physical damage, so even the hits didn’t jostle the jet in the slightest.
*
North Bank of the River
This small town was split by a river into northern and southern zones.
After the mutation outbreak, the south side quickly fell due to an influx of refugees. The local government built defenses in the north, using the terrain.
As more mutants surged in, the military decisively blew up three of the four connecting bridges—leaving only one, to focus defense efforts and maintain a single escape route.
Unfortunately, even that final bridge was eventually overrun by mutants. The northern zone was now surrounded on three sides by mountains, with only a single main road left open to the northeast.
Originally, this main road could have been used to maintain contact with the outside world. However, after discovering that other towns had also fallen, they retreated back to the northern part of the city and completely blocked off the road.
From that point on, the northern part of the city became an isolated island.
Now, after more than half a year, the people trapped here are on the verge of no longer being able to hold on.
