Chapter 35 – Merchants from Other Planes? ?
While Tang Yu’an was checking Chi Hao’s employee profile, Yuan Bao ran into the grocery store on its own.
It was already dinnertime, and when Tang Yu’an was taking a bath, Zhou Qi had prepared food for Yin Bi and Wang Cai.
The four-eyed puppy came to its bowl and looked at the empty dish in front of it. Then it glanced at the two companions beside it, who had milk all over their faces from drinking.
It frowned, its expression resembling a “stare-down” emoji.
Yin Bi quickly sensed its gaze. It stopped licking and looked up at Yuan Bao.
The big and small dogs stared at each other for a moment.
Suddenly, the big dog whimpered, pitifully stretched out its paw to push its own bowl toward the puppy, then licked its mouth and glanced at Wang Cai’s bowl, swallowing saliva.
Yuan Bao looked at it with some disdain.
Yin Bi’s expression became even more aggrieved, whimpering softly, though it was unclear what it was saying.
Zhou Qi noticed their interaction.
He thought it was just meaningless dog talk, but Yuan Bao’s expression grew increasingly serious. Finally, it turned and ran toward the store entrance.
Tang Yu’an hadn’t closed the door and watched as Yuan Bao slipped out from beside his feet, looking fierce as it chased in the direction where Chi Hao had left.
“Yuan Bao!”
The speed of the four-eyed dog was astonishing. Even Zhou Qi, enhanced with the Lightfoot Technique, might not be able to catch up, let alone Tang Yu’an.
He quickly looked at Zhou Qi and immediately cast the last use of the Lightfoot Technique on him. Then he jumped onto Zhou Qi’s back, urgently saying, “Brother Qi, Yuan Bao might be causing trouble for Chi Hao! Let’s hurry and catch up!”
Zhou Qi didn’t hesitate. He carried Tang Yu’an and chased after them.
Yuan Bao was already out of sight, but fortunately, Tang Yu’an had the map and could see both Yuan Bao’s and Chi Hao’s positions.
Moreover, Chi Hao couldn’t run far in his severely injured state, so they quickly spotted the four-eyed dog, which had reverted to its giant form.
It stood in the shadows, looking down at something, baring its teeth and emitting low growls, appearing ferocious and ready to attack at any moment.
“Yuan Bao!” Tang Yu’an called out.
Hearing his voice, the four-eyed giant dog looked over. Its big tail wagged, and its tense, fierce expression finally relaxed a bit.
Zhou Qi, carrying Tang Yu’an, quickly approached and turned on the flashlight.
They saw a ditch about seven or eight meters wide in the shadows. Chi Hao lay inside, unconscious again.
He had probably not seen the road clearly while escaping, stepped into empty air, and fell down. Though unlucky, it was precisely because of this that the four-eyed giant dog hadn’t attacked him immediately, allowing Tang Yu’an to rescue him.
“Woof woof!”
Yuan Bao barked angrily twice.
Who knows what Yin Bi had conveyed to it earlier—maybe exaggerating the story—causing Yuan Bao to be so angry that it chased after Chi Hao.
Tang Yu’an glanced at Chi Hao’s status bar; in such a short time, his condition had deteriorated from “critically injured” to “near death.”
His health had already dropped below 5%!
“Brother Qi, he’s about to die! Hurry and save him!” Tang Yu’an exclaimed.
Zhou Qi put down Tang Yu’an and jumped into the ditch. Perhaps due to the hot weather and quick evaporation, there was no water in the ditch, only slightly damp sludge.
He shone the flashlight over Chi Hao.
From his mouth to his chest, Chi Hao was covered in fresh blood—likely vomited during his escape. Blood also oozed from his forehead, probably from hitting his head when he fell.
To confirm his injuries, Zhou Qi took out a basic healing bandage and swiftly wrapped it around Chi Hao’s head.
Tang Yu’an watched Zhou Qi’s actions while keeping an eye on the panel’s information.
Finally, after Zhou Qi wrapped the bandage twice, the “near death” status in Chi Hao’s employee profile disappeared, returning to “severely injured.”
Only then did Tang Yu’an breathe a sigh of relief.
“Woof woof!”
The four-eyed giant dog barked angrily twice and suddenly began to shrink. When it turned back into a puppy, it successfully jumped into the ditch.
Seeing it about to pounce on Chi Hao, Zhou Qi shot it a cold glare. Yuan Bao, who had opened its mouth to bite, suddenly froze.
It growled discontentedly twice, then turned and jumped out of the ditch. It ran to Tang Yu’an, jumped onto his shoulder, and burrowed into the hood of his clothes, refusing to come out.
With the conflict resolved, Tang Yu’an reached into his hood and petted the aggrieved Yuan Bao.
Yuan Bao nuzzled his hand, finally responding.
Tang Yu’an smiled and looked back into the ditch. Zhou Qi, with some effort, helped Chi Hao up, let him lie on his back, and then carried him out of the ditch.
“Has he accepted the recruitment?” Zhou Qi finally had time to ask.
“Yes, he has.” Tang Yu’an nodded, sharing Chi Hao’s employee profile information. Then he asked, “What should we do next?”
Zhou Qi thought for a moment and said, “Let’s take him back.”
Since Chi Hao had successfully been recruited as an employee, they could dismiss him at any time to erase his memory. And with Yuan Bao back, keeping him around to observe wasn’t a problem.
Perhaps they could learn something about the outside world from him.
“Okay.” Tang Yu’an nodded and opened the map to guide the way home.
I have to say, this brother could really run. In such a short time, he had covered one or two kilometers. It took them more than twenty minutes to return to the grocery store.
On the way, Chi Hao woke up once.
Tang Yu’an checked his status bar and found that although he was still severely injured, his health had recovered by 1%. That recovery speed was astonishing.
Chi Hao saw them and was visibly confused.
His mind was foggy, and he felt like he might be dreaming. Soon, he fainted again during the bumpy journey.
Originally, Tang Yu’an had been organizing his words, thinking about how to introduce himself, but he had to give up for now, planning to see if Chi Hao would wake up when they got back.
He had many questions he wanted to ask!
*
Back at the grocery store, Tang Yu’an spread a blanket on the floor. Zhou Qi then laid Chi Hao down and placed a pillow under his head.
Seeing Chi Hao with his eyes closed, appearing deeply asleep, Zhou Qi brewed some glucose solution to feed him.
Meanwhile, Tang Yu’an took Yuan Bao out of his hood, held him in his arms, and rubbed his fluffy head.
“This brother is the one who broke into the grocery store this afternoon. He didn’t hurt us,” Tang Yu’an said softly. “He’s badly injured, so we’re planning to let him stay for the night.”
“If he dares to attack us when he wakes up, Yuan Bao, you can bite him again, okay?”
Yuan Bao seemed to understand, barking twice as if reluctantly agreeing.
“Yuan Bao, you’re awesome!”
Tang Yu’an vigorously rubbed Yuan Bao’s head and then said, “There’s milk for you too; I’ll pour it now.”
He then filled Yuan Bao’s bowl with milk.
“Hehe, no need to fight over it; from now on, you can have all the milk you want!” he said, placing Yuan Bao on the ground.
Now that milk could be exchanged in the mall—50 credits for 1 liter—and thanks to Chi Hao, they had plenty of credits and could enjoy unlimited milk!
Seeing the bowl of milk, Yuan Bao wagged its little tail again.
Earlier, after Yuan Bao had rushed out, Yin Bi and Wang Cai didn’t continue drinking milk; instead, they anxiously waited at the grocery store door. Only when Yuan Bao returned did they relax.
At this moment, Yin Bi lay on the ground like a child who had done something wrong, looking at Yuan Bao with pleading eyes.
When Yuan Bao impatiently pushed its own bowl toward Yin Bi, the latter finally grinned, showing its signature silly smile.
It looked like a goofy little dog but was the happiest and sunniest.
Tang Yu’an shook his head. He was quite curious about what Yin Bi had said to Yuan Bao that made Yuan Bao so angry, causing it to chase after Chi Hao.
Previously, when Yin Bi had a conflict with Black Pearl, it was Yuan Bao who had rescued it. These two dogs must have known each other for a long time.
But since he couldn’t understand dog language and saw the three little ones burying their heads in their food, he didn’t concern himself further.
The prey Yuan Bao brought back today was another yellow rabbit, slightly larger than yesterday’s.
With such fur color, perhaps it was easier to survive in the wasteland. But unfortunately, it encountered Yuan Bao, a mutated dog with exceptional hunting skills.
“Let’s deal with the rabbit first,” Zhou Qi suggested.
“Okay!”
They hadn’t finished the rabbit meat Yuan Bao had brought back the night before, and now they had another one, and a bigger one at that, so their fresh meat reserves were abundant.
“Brother Qi, should we cook some meat for the dogs?”
He didn’t know if they had given them extra food today; just drinking milk wouldn’t be enough.
“Sure.”
Zhou Qi had no objections. After all, the meat was brought back by Yuan Bao. As the big contributor, it was only right to let it eat.
So after processing the rabbit meat, he selected a plump hind leg, chopped it into pieces, boiled it briefly, and mixed in fruits.
When he came out of the kitchen, the three little ones had already finished their bowls of milk.
“Time to eat.”
Zhou Qi placed the iron plate filled with meat and fruits in front of them. As for how to divide it, he let them decide.
Finally, he and Tang Yu’an could relax and have their dinner.
For dinner, they had braised rabbit meat and stir-fried mushrooms, accompanied by soft porridge. It was delicious and nutritious, making Tang Yu’an’s belly round.
After finishing, the two youths sat on the sofa to rest which is Tang Yu’an’s favorite segment—
Counting today’s gains!
However, before they started, he looked at Chi Hao lying on the ground and thoughtfully opened the Shadow Umbrella, so even if Chi Hao woke up, he wouldn’t hear their conversation.
Meanwhile, Zhou Qi was attracted by the Shadow Umbrella floating in mid-air.
Was this a new ability of the Shadow Umbrella?
He curiously picked up the Shadow Umbrella and tried to let go like Tang Yu’an did. As a result…
“Thud—”
The Shadow Umbrella fell to the ground, and the canopy automatically closed.
Zhou Qi: “…”
After a moment of silence, Zhou Qi picked up the Shadow Umbrella again and handed it back to Tang Yu’an.
Tang Yu’an blinked, opened the Shadow Umbrella, and let go. The pure black umbrella once again floated up, concealing both of them.
Alright, this function could only be used by Tang Yu’an. 🙂
Although Zhou Qi felt somewhat targeted, he didn’t mind. Just like Tang Yu’an had said, he wouldn’t be jealous.
Tang Yu’an’s strength was his strength.
Of course, the same applied to him.
“How many credits do we have now?” Zhou Qi asked.
“Guess?” Tang Yu’an teased.
Zhou Qi estimated and said, “Around 2,600?”
“Haha, Brother Qi, your estimate is spot on.” Tang Yu’an shared the remaining credits with Zhou Qi.
So on Zhou Qi’s employee panel, the available credit balance became: 2,723.
Yes, yesterday they only had a balance of 664 credits, and today it became 2,723!
They had broken through the 2,000 mark—a historic improvement!
“Brother Qi, we’ve really rich this time.” Looking at the credit balance, Tang Yu’an grinned widely.
The main reason they accumulated so many credits was thanks to Chi Hao. He alone provided them with 1,514 credits.
That’s more than twice what they had earned over the past few days!
It’s a pity that such big deals only happen once. Chi Hao had become an employee and couldn’t trade, and he didn’t have any other valuable items on him.
“Now we don’t have to worry about credits for a while,” Zhou Qi said.
When the seven-day special sale refreshes the day after tomorrow, they should have enough credits to continue exchanging for goods. Hopefully, items like the basic healing bandage will appear.
Restoring health by percentage (health points) was incredibly overpowered.
It meant that as long as someone wasn’t killed instantly, they could basically be saved. Moreover, one roll could be used ten times. Calculating that 25% is the threshold for escaping critical condition, one roll was equivalent to three or four lives.
Magical items…
He wondered what kind of world could produce such goods? And such overpowered effects, yet they were labeled as “basic.”
Zhou Qi frowned in thought, while Tang Yu’an continued counting.
In addition to the huge credits, they had also traded for many items—six arrows, 40 ml of paralyzing venom, one pack of insect repellent powder, two mutated metal arrowheads, and a dagger made entirely of mutated metal.
Of course, the mushrooms they got from Granny Guo had already been eaten for dinner.
Zhou Qi took out the mutated metal dagger, drew it from its leather sheath, and then took out the ordinary dagger with a chipped blade from before.
He placed the blades of the two daggers together and struck them forcefully.
“Clang—”
The blade of the ordinary dagger broke instantly.
Tang Yu’an watched with wide eyes and couldn’t help saying, “This dagger is so sharp!”
They now had another means to deal with mutated creatures in the future, which was an additional safeguard.
“Should we apply the paralyzing venom now?” Tang Yu’an asked.
Zhou Qi thought for a moment and shook his head. “Not now; let’s apply it when we need it. That paralyzing venom is too dangerous; we should be cautious when using it.”
“Mm-hmm!”
Then, Zhou Qi took out the gun obtained from Chi Hao.
This gun was entirely made of metal, so it was heavy. Tang Yu’an had to use both hands to hold it, let alone raise it to shoot.
Zhou Qi was slightly better, but when he lifted it and made a shooting stance, he was still shaky. It’s hard to imagine how terrifying the recoil would be when firing.
It seemed that the muscles on Chi Hao’s body were not just for show; his arm strength was amazing.
Although they knew the gun’s power should be considerable, it was of limited practical use to them at present.
No matter how powerful a gun is, if you can’t fire it or can’t aim properly, it’s useless.
So Tang Yu’an put the gun away again, not leaving it in the first slot to occupy space, but storing it in the newly added warehouse slots.
As for returning it to Chi Hao? Once something went into his pocket, it wasn’t coming out!
After putting away the gun and Chi Hao’s nameplate, Tang Yu’an carefully took out a red crystal, cautiously watching Zhou Qi.
Fortunately, just one crystal had limited impact on Zhou Qi; he wouldn’t be controlled like the first time he faced water crystals.
Tang Yu’an couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
“This crystal should be fire-attribute, right?”
In Chi Hao’s skills, one was “Fire Element Manipulation”; his ability should be fire-type, so the crystals he used would be as well.
In other words, besides water crystals and gold crystals, Brother Qi also reacted to fire crystals? So what exactly was the attribute of the parasite in Brother Qi’s body? Why was it so omnivorous?
Tang Yu’an was deeply puzzled.
Zhou Qi pressed his lips tightly. He could feel the power of the parasite; today’s close call served as a warning that he must not be careless in the future.
“Forget it; let’s not dwell on this.”
Seeing the heavy atmosphere, Tang Yu’an quickly changed the topic. After putting away the crystal, he brought up his level-up rewards.
First, three new items were added to the bulk market.
[Green beans: 5 credits/100 grams]
[Hardwood charcoal: 5 credits/100 grams]
[Milk: 50 credits/1 liter]
No need to mention green beans and milk; hardwood charcoal was a very practical and important resource.
“The climate in this world is abnormal; it’s hot now, but it might become very cold later,” Tang Yu’an said. “With charcoal, we don’t have to worry when it gets cold!”
Zhou Qi agreed.
“Moreover, didn’t you want to make a simple water purifier?” he said. “Charcoal can be processed into activated carbon after burning, which has strong adsorption capabilities for impurities. It’s one of the materials for making water purifiers.”
“Wow, really?”
“I read it in an encyclopedia; we can give it a try.”
Tang Yu’an’s eyes lit up, chuckling. “That’s great; when we have time, let’s make some.”
With a water purifier, Granny Guo and Kangkang could drink relatively clean water. He believed that this simple water purifier would be very popular in the wasteland.
For example, people like Uncle Tie Jin, who had abundant supplies and didn’t have to worry about food, would probably be willing to pay a high price to trade with them.
Drinking clean water could prevent illnesses, especially important for children like Lili!
Thinking about the large number of credits that could come in later, Tang Yu’an couldn’t help but smile.
Then he brought up the last few gains.
“In addition to unlocking one more warehouse slot and one daily task refresh card, the purchasing section seems to have upgraded, unlocking an appraisal catalog.”
“An appraisal catalog? What’s that?” Zhou Qi asked curiously.
“Well, it’s like a book added to the purchasing section.”
Tang Yu’an opened the purchasing section of the mall. Previously, when he opened it, the page was blank, probably because his level wasn’t high enough.
But this time, upon opening, there was a change.
He saw that the page had two new columns: one was “Purchasable Items,” and the other was “Items for Sale.”
In the “Purchasable Items” column, there was a list of items, but only the top few could be clearly seen; the ones below were blurred.
Tang Yu’an looked at a few items and couldn’t help but exclaim.
“So expensive!”
Among the items he could see was “Special Cold Medicine,” with a description identical to that in the Seven-Day Special Sale, except that at the end, there was an ID: Edward, Plane KJ7634.
Unlike the Seven-Day Special Sale, the cold medicine sold by this Edward cost 300 credits per pill!
You know, in the Seven-Day Special Sale, 3 pills of Special Cold Medicine sold for 100 credits, about 33 credits per pill. The one on this page was nearly 10 times more expensive!
As for “Items for Sale,” it was currently grayed out and unavailable. Perhaps it would unlock after leveling up further.
Zhou Qi listened to his introduction and couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow in surprise.
“So, these items are actually sold by other plane merchants?”
Besides them, there were many other plane merchants?
“Other plane merchants?”
Tang Yu’an looked again at those items. Besides the Special Cold Medicine, there was the Basic Healing Bandage and some plants he hadn’t seen before.
“Should be.” He nodded. “We can also sell items. Although that option is currently grayed out, it should unlock in the future.”
He thought for a moment and said, “I just don’t know whether other plane merchants use the same system as us—also a Doomsday Grocery Store?”
Unfortunately, the intelligent system had already gone into hibernation and couldn’t answer him, and there was no chat option on the purchasing interface.
Zhou Qi frowned slightly and, after a moment of silence, said, “Could it be that in our world, there might also be a plane merchant?”
Hearing this, Tang Yu’an was delighted and continued, “Even if there’s no plane merchant, there should be a code, right?”
“If we can find the code of our world…” Zhou Qi paused, not continuing.
Even if they found the code, figuring out how to return would be a difficult problem—perhaps only when the intelligent system woke up could they get an answer.
“Anyway, it’s definitely worth paying attention to!”
Tang Yu’an was very excited. Finally, they had found a clue to return home. Although figuring out how to find the code of their world was still a mess, at least they had a general direction.
“The system could bring us and the grocery store to this world; I believe there must be other ways to take us back.”
At worst, when the system wakes up and we recharge it, we might be able to return.
Tang Yu’an had never given up on the idea of returning home.
“Mm, let’s work hard to level up.” Zhou Qi reached out to rub his head. “Maybe when we become top-level plane merchants, we can really go home.”
“Okay!”
Tang Yu’an happily agreed, then selected the icon labeled “Appraisal” in the upper right corner of the purchasing page, and a new interface appeared before him.
[Appraisal Catalog]
[Description* Records information of appraised items. Upon first opening, you will automatically learn the skill “Item Appraisal (Basic).”]
[Congratulations! You have successfully learned the skill “Item Appraisal (Basic).” You can view it in the skill panel.]
0.0
Tang Yu’an’s eyes lit up; he had learned a new skill for free!
He quickly opened the skill panel to check.
[Item Appraisal (Basic)]
[Description: A basic merchant skill, obtained by unlocking the Appraisal Catalog.]
[Effect: Can appraise the basic information of an item. Each appraisal will deduct 10% of the item’s value in credits.]
[Note: Only items that have been appraised can be placed on the “Items for Sale” page.]
After reading the details, the excitement on Tang Yu’an’s face instantly disappeared.
Sure enough, what’s free is the most expensive.
Each use costs 10% of the item’s value in credits! So expensive!
Looking at the numbers, Tang Yu’an felt a pang of heartache.
“No wonder we couldn’t sell items before; only appraised items can be placed on that page.”
After explaining to Zhou Qi, he looked at the skill information panel again and couldn’t help muttering.
“This is such a rip-off…”
For items of low value, it’s fine—the credits deducted aren’t much. But for crystals, appraising once would deduct 20 credits.
Although their credit balance had soared, 20 credits could be exchanged for 20 liters of water, 4 pounds of brown rice, or 200 grams of salt!
But there was no choice.
Hesitation appeared on Tang Yu’an’s face, but finally, he took out a mutated lantern fruit previously traded from Granny Guo.
He had always been curious why the mutated lantern fruit was so valuable. According to Granny Guo, this fruit could emit light but couldn’t be eaten because it was poisonous.
“Brother Qi, I want to appraise this,” he said.
“Mm, then give it a try.”
Zhou Qi didn’t object; at most, they would spend 5 credits, which was paying for knowledge.
So, Tang Yu’an focused on the mutated lantern fruit, just like when he used the Lightfoot Technique before, silently saying in his mind: Appraise items.
A system prompt immediately popped up.
[Do you want to deduct 5 credits to use the skill “Item Appraisal (Basic)” on this item?]
It seemed the actual value of the mutated lantern fruit was 50 credits; previously, trading it could only get 49 credits, probably deducting the cost.
Tang Yu’an chose “Yes.”
[Credits deducted successfully. Appraising… Appraisal complete.]
[Tip: When you look at this type of item, the appraisal information will automatically appear. You can also view all appraised items in the “Appraisal Catalog.”]
Tang Yu’an’s gaze fell on the mutated lantern fruit.
Sure enough, a bubble with item information floated above the lantern fruit.
[Name: Mutated Lantern Fruit]
[Value: 50 credits/item]
[Origin: Plane MR176349]
[Named by: Guo]
[Description: The fruit of mutated lantern grass. It can emit light in the dark and be used for illumination. Its pulp can also be used medicinally, having detoxification, anti-swelling, and pain-relieving effects, especially effective for treating burns and fire-related ailments. It is an excellent pharmaceutical material.]
So, besides emitting light, the mutated lantern fruit had other uses!
“Brother Qi, the mutated lantern fruit can detoxify!” Tang Yu’an said happily.
He then opened the Appraisal Catalog.
He saw that the interface had the first item, not only showing the information he just saw but also an image of the mutated lantern fruit.
Noticing that he could customize category labels, Tang Yu’an entered the word “Plant.” In the future, as more items were appraised, categorizing them in advance would make retrieval easier.
There was another feature that caught his attention—
Tang Yu’an noticed a button labeled “Bookify” next to the page and curiously clicked it.
[Do you want to bookify the “Appraisal Catalog”?]
As he clicked confirm, the page in front of him began to glow, and the dazzling light made him involuntarily close his eyes.
Then, Tang Yu’an felt a weight in his hand.
He instinctively opened his eyes and saw that all the light had dissipated, leaving only a book in his hand.
The book’s cover was embossed with the words “Appraisal Catalog” in gold lettering, and the cover was engraved with luxurious and intricate patterns, looking exceptionally exquisite.
He couldn’t help but open the first page.
The first page was the table of contents, with “Plants” as the main category at the top, and the first line below was the name of the mutated lantern fruit and its page number.
Tang Yu’an turned another page and found that it was the same as on the screen, with images and text, key points highlighted in different colors, high-definition pictures, and layout more exquisite than the encyclopedias he had read in the library.
The subsequent pages were blank.
Looking at the content with only this one page, Tang Yu’an felt an urge to complete this book, because just thinking about it gave him a sense of accomplishment!
So expensive things are expensive for a reason.
Tang Yu’an stroked the cover of the Appraisal Catalog. It looked beautiful, but he realized that after bookifying it, he could still open the Appraisal Catalog in the system panel.
In this way, the book seemed a bit redundant.
Heavy and taking up space, besides looking good, it didn’t seem very useful…
At this moment, he noticed that Zhou Qi, sitting beside him, seemed to be staring at his hand—or at the book in his hand.
Tang Yu’an was stunned for a moment, then tentatively handed the catalog to him. To his surprise, Brother Qi actually took the book!
“Brother Qi, can you see the content in the book?” he asked.
Zhou Qi had already opened to the table of contents page. Hearing the question, he nodded. “Yes, it says ‘Mutated Lantern Fruit.’ Is this book the Appraisal Catalog?”
“Yes!”
Tang Yu’an was pleasantly surprised to find that after bookifying the Appraisal Catalog, Brother Qi could also read it!
If so, then this function was very useful and not redundant at all.
“From now on, I’ll put this catalog in the first slot of the portable warehouse. If you want to read it, you can take it out anytime,” Tang Yu’an said happily.
Zhou Qi smiled and patted his head in agreement.
The catalog was indeed quite exquisite, and the appraised information was valuable; this skill was very practical.
At this time, Tang Yu’an said, “Brother Qi, let’s put a mutated lantern fruit on the sales page to see if anyone wants it.”
He wanted to earn back the appraisal fee!
“Sure.” Zhou Qi thought for a moment and said, “But it’s better to check if there’s a handling fee? Is it deducted upfront or afterward?”
Tang Yu’an’s eyes widened slightly; he hadn’t thought there could be such a catch!
He quickly opened the sales page and found the related sales rules in “Items for Sale”:
[1. Current merchant level is lv3; you can sell up to one type of item at a time.]
[2. The sale price of items must not exceed ten times the item’s value and must not be lower than the item’s value.]
[3. If the item hasn’t been sold after being listed for 24 hours, it will automatically return to the portable warehouse. If the return fails, it will go to the store warehouse.]
[4. Upon successful sale of the item, a 10% handling fee will be charged.]
Looking at the last line in small print, Tang Yu’an murmured, “Brother Qi, you guessed it right!”
Moreover, the sale price could be up to ten times the item’s value, no wonder the items on that page were so expensive.
“Then let’s set the price higher?” Zhou Qi suggested.
Tang Yu’an nodded; since everyone was selling like that, he asked, “How much is appropriate?”
“Five hundred,” Zhou Qi said.
Tang Yu’an couldn’t help but exclaim, “Maxing it out?”
“Yes,” Zhou Qi said. “According to the information in the Appraisal Catalog, this kind of fruit should be a specialty of this plane. Rare things are valuable, and since it’s cross-plane trade, selling it at a higher price is fine.”
Moreover, even if it doesn’t sell, they don’t lose anything.
If the market is good, then it would be a very good way to earn credits in the future—provided that Granny Guo’s production is stable.
“Okay, I’ll listen to you!”
Tang Yu’an placed a mutated lantern fruit on the sales page, confirmed the price at “500 credits/item,” and submitted it.
Soon, his sales information appeared in the listings.
[Mutated Lantern Fruit: 500 credits/item, Description: … ]
[Seller: Mysterious Merchant, Plane MR176349]
The sales information hid the actual value and the namer information. What surprised Tang Yu’an was that his identifier didn’t show his name but “Mysterious Merchant.”
Tang Yu’an pondered and quickly realized why.
This might be because he hadn’t set a nickname.
He asked Zhou Qi and quickly got an accurate answer: In the system information Zhou Qi received, he was always referred to as “Mysterious Merchant.”
So in the recruitment information Chi Hao received earlier, it also said “Mysterious Merchant”?
Wait a minute…
Thinking of this, Zhou Qi and Tang Yu’an almost simultaneously looked at the unconscious Chi Hao lying on the ground, then exchanged glances.
They both realized they had new ideas.
A cunning light flashed in Tang Yu’an’s eyes; he asked, “Brother Qi, are you thinking the same as me?”
Zhou Qi also slightly curved his lips.
He didn’t beat around the bush and directly voiced his thoughts: “When Chi Hao wakes up, we’ll pretend to be employees of the Mysterious Merchant and attribute all the incredible powers to the ‘Mysterious Merchant.'”
There was a reason for pretending like this.
If Chi Hao didn’t pose a significant threat to them, they could consider keeping his employee status.
Anyway, if he showed any signs of acting up, they could dismiss him at any time and erase his memory.
Having such a powerful ability user, and one from the fortress—if he could truly become an employee of the Mysterious Merchant, how much help would that be to them?
“Haha, I was thinking the same!” Tang Yu’an said excitedly.
In the future, he would be the true Mysterious Merchant, possessing magical powers, allowing employees to use credits to exchange for all kinds of goods. As long as they worked hard and made trades, they could get what they wanted!
Playing the role of a big shot behind the scenes like this was super cool just thinking about it!
