Chapter 324
“This vending machine is way too convenient!” Tang Yu’an exclaimed excitedly.
Zhou Qi, standing next to him, couldn’t help but sigh in amazement too. An An really did get whatever she needed, right when she needed it!
“Let me give it a try.”
Zhou Qi stepped up to the vending machine and scanned his face, but a small line of text popped up on the screen:
[This vending machine is for customer use only.]
Tang Yu’an leaned over to look and couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.
“Ah… So that means we can’t hire Shan Feng as an employee now?”
Zhou Qi didn’t think it was a big deal. He said, “Now that we have the vending machine, there’s no need to make him an employee.”
After all, their original goal was simply to ensure someone could continue trading with the giants while they were away from the alternate world. Now that they had the vending machine, things became much easier and more direct.
“Then doesn’t that mean Shan Feng can’t help us do business?” Tang Yu’an asked.
“Why not?” Zhou Qi said. “Does he have to be our employee to help us with business?”
Tang Yu’an paused, caught off guard.
Zhou Qi smiled and said, “He can still get goods from us and trade them with other giants. Then he can bring the profits back and use the vending machine to get more of what he needs.”
In this setup, although Shan Feng wouldn’t be earning experience points, they’d still gain points from his trades—without even needing to pay him a salary.
Of course, they also wouldn’t be able to assign him tasks.
But for now, they had no real plans for this alternate dimension. They were already overwhelmed with responsibilities in the Wasteland Dimension and the Original World—it was already more than they could handle.
They’d come back to it when they had the time and energy.
After Zhou Qi’s explanation, Tang Yu’an realized he’d been stuck in a rigid way of thinking. He nodded and said, “That works too! Shan Feng’s basically like a business partner—he takes stock from us and resells it!”
Just like the merchants on Jufeng Mountain who would get pepper powder from the Jufeng Grocery Store and then use it to make and sell hot soup.
Even though those merchants weren’t employees, they still brought in a significant number of points. As long as they maintained a competitive product advantage, they didn’t have to worry about losing partners.
“Alright, let’s head back to the alternate world!”
They hadn’t said goodbye when they left—Shan Feng and Sasa were still waiting for an answer.
Tang Yu’an minimized the vending machine and stored it in his portable warehouse. Then he and Zhou Qi used the teleportation array to return to the Thousand Layers Forest Grocery Store.
Shan Feng was still waiting outside. If it weren’t for the little phoenix keeping watch, he would’ve thought the two tiny shopkeepers had disappeared again. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw them return.
“Shan Feng, we brought you this!”
Tang Yu’an took out the vending machine and expanded it to full size.
“What’s this?” Shan Feng looked at it curiously, the boxy thing was unfamiliar and intriguing to him.
As Shan Feng approached, the vending machine’s screen lit up and a beam of light scanned his face.
[Retrieving customer data… Customer profile locked. Account established.]
[Name: Shan Feng]
[Status: Returning Customer]
[Race: Giant]
[Points Balance: 0]
[No written language data available for this race. Switching to voice mode. Voice pack activated: Giant Language.]
As the text appeared, a mechanical voice spoke:
“Happy to serve you. Please state the product you would like to purchase.”
Shan Feng jumped. “Who… Who’s talking?”
“It’s the vending machine,” Tang Yu’an explained.
Even he hadn’t expected the vending machine to be this advanced—it could retrieve customer profiles, automatically switch to voice service, and even select the appropriate voice pack!
Truly worthy of being a system product!
“This thing talks?” Shan Feng asked. “Is it a robot too?”
“You could say that.”
Shan Feng immediately got excited. “I want potato chips!”
The mechanical voice replied, “Restocking item, please wait.”
At the same time, a message popped up in front of Tang Yu’an:
[Vending Machine #0001: Mysterious Merchant. Returning customer “Shan Feng” is using the machine. Restock required: Potato Chips.]
[Vending Machine #0001: Inventory depleted. Please restock immediately.]
How to restock the machine?
Tang Yu’an opened his main system panel and found that a new “Vending Machine” interface had been added. Through it, he could restock items.
There were two ways to restock: through the wholesale market or from the portable warehouse.
He needed to pre-load the vending machine with specific goods—otherwise, he’d have to restock them manually when customers tried to buy.
Definitely more convenient than a traditional vending machine.
Tang Yu’an added potato chips, sourcing them from the wholesale market.
[You have restocked “Potato Chips” for Vending Machine #0001. Current procurement points: 0. Proceed with point transfer?]
Tang Yu’an studied the system for a bit.
Essentially, he needed to transfer points into a procurement account, select the items available for sale, and set their prices.
When customers made a purchase, the vending machine would deduct points to buy the goods internally and then sell them at the set price.
Yes, he also had to set the selling price.
Tang Yu’an couldn’t help but feel conflicted, so he messaged Zhou Qi through the message board. Soon, he got a reply:
[Message Board (Private Chat)]
[Handsome Zhou: Go with a 20% markup.]
[Eastern Sweet Tang: Isn’t that a bit much?]
[Handsome Zhou: Not at all.]
This was a perfectly normal profit margin. If it weren’t for the giants’ sheer size causing each transaction to involve massive quantities, Zhou Qi might’ve even considered raising the profit rate a bit more.
So, Tang Yu’an increased the price of all items by 20% over their base value, then transferred 100,000 points into the procurement account.
According to the instructions, points earned by the vending machine would be stored in a holding account and would only be transferred to his personal point balance when he manually withdrew them.
He could also enable an option that would automatically transfer earned points into the procurement account if it ran low.
Even more user-friendly, items acquired from customers could also be automatically listed for sale—allowing for true automated operation.
However, Tang Yu’an only enabled the auto-transfer of points for now, since the Thousand-Layer Leaves and crystals used by the giants for trade were still valuable to them.
After confirming all the settings, he stocked the vending machine with everything that Shan Feng and Sasa liked to eat.
[Vending Machine #0001: Restocking complete. Please remember to regularly clean the vending machine inventory, or normal operation may be affected.]
If the vending machine’s inventory overflowed, it would no longer be able to accept goods from customers. Once a customer’s points ran out, the machine would be forced to shut down.
Luckily, the vending machine’s inventory was linked to Tang Yu’an’s personal storage. As long as he regularly cleaned the designated inventory section of that storage, he wouldn’t have to worry.
“Potato chips restocked. Please select size and flavor.”
Images appeared on the screen, and each option came with a voice description.
Shan Feng looked overwhelmed by the chatter, but thankfully, Sasa noticed the commotion and came over to help him choose.
Once they decided on the size and flavor, the interface changed again.
“Insufficient points. Please place trade items in the circle illuminated in front of the vending machine.”
The scanning circle that had appeared earlier under Shan Feng was now projected on the ground in front of them.
Shan Feng hesitantly placed the Thousand-Layer Leaves that Sasa had gathered into the circle.
“Item detected. Proceed with trade?”
“Trade! Trade!” Shan Feng said eagerly.
The leaves in the circle disappeared before their eyes, and the panel updated once again.
“You have traded 103 purple Thousand-Layer Leaves. New point balance: 10,300. Would you like to redeem one large-size bag of tomato-flavored potato chips?”
Although the vending machine was speaking in the giant language, it still took Shan Feng a moment to understand. Then he nodded, “Yes, redeem one bag!”
“Points deducted successfully! Dispensing now, please wait.”
A flash of light appeared, and a bag of chips—at least two meters long—materialized in the glowing circle. Shan Feng and Sasa were overjoyed.
“We really got it!” they exclaimed happily.
Seeing the process go so smoothly, Tang Yu’an finally smiled and nodded. “Yes, this vending machine will stay here. When you want to trade, just come to it.”
“Great, great!” Shan Feng laughed cheerfully.
He tore open the chip bag and, after asking if Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi wanted any (they didn’t), he and Sasa happily started munching.
“Oh right—do you want to use the teleportation feature?” Tang Yu’an began promoting again.
“Teleportation feature?”
Seeing their confused expressions, Tang Yu’an patiently explained.
“From now on, you can use the teleportation array to visit Uncle Bo’er and the others—round trip in a single day.”
Shan Feng and Sasa clicked their tongues in amazement.
“You really are a magical species!” they marveled, then added, “But your houses are too small—we can’t fit inside.”
“That’s an easy fix.”
Tang Yu’an moved the teleportation array out into the courtyard. Even stepping in with just one foot was enough to activate it.
Of course, he’d also have to set up the other small houses as teleportation points.
“Each round trip costs 5,000 points. You can purchase travel credits at the vending machine,” Tang Yu’an explained.
This was a system-provided feature—after purchase, the vending machine would generate teleportation cards. Once the allotted uses were spent, the card would expire.
Tang Yu’an even thought the teleportation cards could be added to their home system, like the overnight stay passes.
Unfortunately, for now, only the vending machine supported this feature.
So after bidding farewell to Shan Feng and Sasa and heading off to set up the other teleportation houses, Tang Yu’an asked the system:
“System, are there any other ways to get more of these vending machines?”
These machines were just too useful—he definitely wanted more! And since the one he had was labeled #0001, there had to be more than one, right?
[Please work hard to level up.]
Tang Yu’an couldn’t help but pout at the system’s reply. The next level-up was getting harder and harder—how long would it take him to reach Level 33?
Just then, Zhou Qi spoke up beside him.
“Try using a Seven-Day Special Refresh Card—maybe it’ll show up that way?” They still had two of those cards left, after all.
[…]
The system popped up with a line of ellipses, but Tang Yu’an was already excited.
“Alright, let’s try it!”
