Chapter 317
Peace Grocery Store, Branch No. 13.
Tang Sheng and Tang Xueyun stood in the room, anxiously waiting.
“Why hasn’t An An replied to my message?” Just as Tang Sheng said that, the teleportation array lit up.
The couple immediately fixed their eyes on the array, not looking away even though the light was blinding.
Under their intense gaze, two figures gradually appeared within the glow.
When the light faded and the silhouette they had longed to see appeared before them, Tang Sheng and Tang Xueyun couldn’t help but burst into joyful tears.
“An An! Zhou Qi!”
Tang Sheng strode straight toward the two young men. Tang Xueyun started to follow, but when her eyes fell on their tightly clasped hands, she instinctively paused for a moment.
“Mom, Dad, we’re back!”
Tang Yu’an naturally let go of Zhou Qi’s hand and ran forward to hug Tang Sheng. “Dad, you’ve gotten shorter!”
Tang Sheng laughed and cried at the same time. “You brat, you’re the one who’s grown taller…”
Leaning on his father’s shoulder, Tang Yu’an looked up and saw his mother, a step behind. He gave her a bright smile, though his eyes shimmered with tears.
“Mom!”
Tang Xueyun responded with joy and rushed forward, forgetting everything else, pulling them all into a family embrace.
Their family was finally reunited!
Zhou Qi stood to the side, watching.
Just then, Tang Sheng looked up and waved him over.
“Zhou Qi, you’ve worked hard.” Tang Sheng gave him a big hug. “Thank you for bringing An An back safe and sound. Thank you!”
Tang Xueyun also wiped away her tears and, hugging Tang Yu’an, said to Zhou Qi, “Yes, we owe so much to Zhou Qi. Thank you for taking such good care of An An.”
Even though they had video-called many times, for Tang Sheng and his wife, only a little over half a year had passed.
Their son, who had just started middle school, had suddenly grown into an almost eighteen-year-old young man. Thinking about the five years they missed of his growth made their hearts ache with guilt and sorrow.
But…
As long as their child was back home safe and sound, they had nothing more to wish for.
After spending some time with his parents, Tang Yu’an asked, “Where’s Xin Xin? I haven’t seen her.”
“She’s doing homework inside the magic tent,” Tang Xueyun replied.
Tang Yu’an went to the next room and saw a familiar tent set up in the corner.
As soon as he crawled in, the little black ball noticed him.
The tiny black orb flew over with a whoosh and affectionately rubbed his fingers when he raised a hand to greet it.
Tang Yu’an chuckled and released Black Pearl and the others from the pet slots—they had consumed a lot of high-energy beast meat in the other world and had gone into hibernation until just recently.
Black Pearl yawned groggily as it emerged but perked up immediately upon spotting a magical core.
Wang Cai and Yin Bi wagged their tails to greet Tang Yu’an, while Yuan Bao looked toward the little girl inside the tent.
Tang Yuxin had fallen asleep on her workbook. Hearing movement, she groggily opened her eyes. When she saw Tang Yu’an, she called out uncertainly, “Big Brother?”
“Xin Xin.”
Tang Yu’an walked over and picked her up.
Tang Yuxin stared at him blankly. “Big Brother, you’ve become an adult!”
Tang Yu’an ruffled her hair with a smile. “Yup, I’m eight years older than you now.”
“Am I dreaming?” Tang Yuxin asked. “Weren’t you in another world?”
“I’m back now. We can see each other all the time!”
Tang Yuxin stared at him, then suddenly pouted and started crying. “Big Brother… sob… I’m so glad you’re not dead…”
Tang Yu’an’s eyes grew moist again.
“Were those Aberrants scary? Were you really scared?”
“Mm…” Tang Yuxin sniffled. “But once the little black ball showed up, I wasn’t scared anymore!”
Tang Yu’an smiled and gently wiped her tears away.
“Now that we have a teleportation array, we don’t need the dream drift bottle anymore,” he said. “Let me officially recruit you as an employee.”
The little girl nestled into him, eyes sparkling. “If I’m recruited… does that mean I don’t have to do homework anymore?”
Tang Yu’an: “…”
Homework is still a must—but maybe the lessons could be made more fun.
Of course, on a day as memorable as this, it was best not to ruin the mood with that topic.
Tang Yu’an added his sister as a staff member, then granted her access to abilities like remote item retrieval, personal storage, and forum privileges.
In the original world, only Tang Mom and Tang Dad had full system access. Other employees could only use the message board, with limited access to shop and nearby channels.
This had been Zhou Qi’s initial decision.
After all, the two worlds had different ways of thinking and values, and this entire system was their secret. If both worlds could communicate freely, problems would inevitably arise.
Given that Tang Yuxin was still very young—and the forums were currently filled with “cult-like” messages—Tang Yu’an only gave her access to the public message board and the trading zone for now.
As for the wholesale market, he gave her full access to all the delicious and fun things.
“I’ve transferred 1,000 points to your account. Pick out anything you want, and if that’s not enough, let me know.”
“I want milk candy! Wow, and chocolate too…”
Seeing Tang Yuxin completely captivated by the endless options in the wholesale market, Tang Yu’an smiled and finally turned his attention to the system notifications he had been ignoring.
[You have arrived in the alternate plane. Calculating rewards for your time away… Calculation complete!]
[Employee “Zhou Qi” completed 37,220 profitable transactions. EXP +68,216, points…]
[Employee “Tang Sheng” completed 102,788 profitable transactions. EXP +112,389, points…]
[Employee “Tang Xueyun” completed 108,432 profitable transactions. EXP +108,432, points…]
[Employee …]
Yes, the two branch stores in this world had earned him 720,000 EXP points, instantly boosting his level to Lv31. He was now only 30,000 EXP away from Lv32!
But when he saw that Tang Sheng and Tang Xueyun had completed over 100,000 transactions each, Tang Yu’an’s eyes turned red again.
It had only been less than a month since Brother Zhou Qi left this world…
To complete that many profitable transactions, they would’ve had to finish three to four thousand deals every single day, meaning they spent nearly all their waking hours on trading—excluding meals and sleep.
And then there was Brother Zhou Qi—he must’ve gone through so much hardship too, just to establish Branch 13 and activate the protective barrier.
“Big Brother, what’s wrong?” Tang Yuxin’s voice rang out.
Tang Yu’an quickly wiped away his tears and explained, “I just feel that Mom and Dad have worked so hard for me…”
“That’s not true,” Tang Yuxin replied. “Mom and Dad are really happy these days. You don’t know, but before—Mom thought you’d died. She didn’t eat or drink, and I was so worried!”
Plus, they had all taken constitution-enhancing pills, so their health was excellent. And being ability users themselves, even this level of intense work was tiring—but not enough to break them.
Thinking back to that first contact through the AI brain, seeing the state his parents were in, Tang Yu’an’s heart ached even more.
But thankfully, all their hard work paid off, and now the family would never be separated again!
Standing at the entrance of the magic tent, listening to the siblings talk, Tang Sheng and Tang Xueyun showed relieved, contented smiles.
“I’ll go cook!”
Tang Sheng turned to leave. He had no idea how to express the surge of emotions he felt, so he decided to go make a feast of his best dishes for his son.
Tang Xueyun didn’t leave right away. Instead, she turned to Zhou Qi standing quietly on the side.
Under her gaze, Zhou Qi immediately tensed up. He couldn’t shake the feeling… that Aunt Tang might have noticed something?
He gathered the courage to confess—something he’d always intended to do.
But as he looked into Tang Xueyun’s eyes, and thought about how the family had just reunited on this special day, he hesitated.
What if Uncle and Aunt Tang couldn’t accept it? Wouldn’t that ruin the moment?
In the end, Zhou Qi said nothing.
“I’ll go help Uncle Tang,” he mumbled as he made a hasty retreat.
Tang Xueyun watched him go with a slight frown, then bent down and entered the tent, ready to have a good talk with her son.
But the moment she crawled in, she was swarmed by pets.
“Mom, Big Brother said this one is Yin Bi and that’s Wang Cai!” Tang Yuxin was happily playing with the pets. “This one’s Yuan Bao, and that cat is Black Pearl!”
For the moment, Tang Xueyun was completely distracted by the adorable pets, while Tang Yu’an continued reviewing the system notifications.
[Merchant Level reached Lv30. New items unlocked in the Shop: ice cream, popsicles, distiller’s yeast, canned eight-treasure porridge, disinfectant, bleach. Check the Wholesale Market for details.]
[+3 portable storage slots. Total slots: 41. +1 authorized access slot. Current authorized slots: 11.]
[Random teleportation upgraded. Directional teleportation unlocked. See the Shop panel for details.]
[+1 Dream Drift Bottle]
[+1 Seven-Day Flash Sale Refresh Card]
[Merchant Level reached Lv31. New items unlocked in the Shop: duck eggs (unfertilized), preserved eggs, meatballs, frozen buns, sewing kits, screws. Check the Wholesale Market for details.]
[+3 portable storage slots. Total slots: 44. +1 authorized access slot. Current authorized slots: 12.]
[Business map upgraded. New function unlocked: connect with any vehicle equipped with an intelligent driving system. See the Map for more.]
[+1 20% off Wholesale Market Discount Card]
Upon reaching Lv30, the number of new items unlocked per level in the Wholesale Market increased from 5 to 6.
Also, the number of portable inventory slots gained per level went from 2 to 3.
The teleportation feature now supported directional travel—a major boost in functionality.
And the business map could now connect with smart transport systems—a very practical upgrade!
But then, Tang Yu’an noticed the system messages weren’t finished:
[Energy fully charged. Intelligent system awakening…]
[Detected “Divine Punishment.” Attempting to break… Success! Remaining energy: 48%]
[Intelligent system startup successful. Beginning self-diagnostic… Warning! Warning! Suspected error detected. Restarting diagnostic…]
[Lucky Wheel: Operational. Seven-Day Sale: Operational. Reward System: Operational. No errors found in this diagnostic.]
[Restarting diagnostic… No errors found.]
[System crashing. Attempting repair… No errors found. Unable to repair! Unable to repair!]
