Chapter 64
This recruitment message was, of course, sent out by Tang Yu’an.
They had been on the road for most of the day and had now arrived at an outpost halfway down the mountain. Because he had the Mountain Lord’s token, the guards warmly welcomed them.
However, to gain experience points, Tang Yu’an still gave them some fruits as a return gift—
The fruits they had exchanged from Granny Guo had already been eaten. The ones they had now were from selling salt in the morning, and there weren’t many left. But as a small gift to give casually, nothing was more appropriate than fruits.
So they decided that next time they went out to do business, they needed to get more fruits from Granny Guo.
After lunch, when the guards arranged rooms for them to rest, Tang Yu’an finally had some free time. He found Xiao Cao’s light spot and sent out the recruitment message.
He waited and waited, but after a long time, he still hadn’t received any acceptance or rejection message.
“Why hasn’t Xiao Cao accepted yet?” Tang Yu’an was a bit anxious.
Zhou Qi was extracting purified water.
Hearing this, he suddenly realized a problem: “Could it be that she doesn’t understand it?”
Tang Yu’an was stunned.
Huh? Doesn’t understand what?
He blinked, and quickly understood: “Oh right! Xiao Cao hasn’t been to school; she can’t read!”
They had considered all possible issues they might encounter, but hadn’t thought of this one—in the wasteland, probably only survivors from before the apocalypse and people from the fortress could read.
Tang Yu’an was speechless, never expecting to be stuck on this issue.
“Does that mean we can only recruit people from the fortress as employees in the future?” He frowned.
Finding people who survived the catastrophe wasn’t easy, but people from the fortress… unless they went to the fortress, where could they easily meet such people?
At present, in Jufeng Town, the most suitable candidate was probably Hong Li.
“Do we have to recruit Sister Hong Li as an employee?” Tang Yu’an muttered.
Actually, if there were enough positions, recruiting Hong Li seemed feasible. But when he sent out the recruitment message just now, Tang Yu’an discovered that there was a limit to the number of employees he could recruit.
At the current store level of lv1, the maximum number of employees is four.
That is to say, besides Brother Qi and Brother Chi Hao, he could currently only recruit one more employee.
After analyzing with Brother Qi, they guessed that this was related to the store upgrade route he had chosen.
“Small is Strong” is clearly an elite route, so naturally, they couldn’t recruit employees on a large scale—after all, considering the size of the grocery store, they didn’t need that many employees.
Although this number was small, if they upgraded “Big is Beautiful,” perhaps the number of employees they could recruit would greatly increase as the store size expanded.
Unfortunately, they didn’t have extra points to upgrade other routes for now.
So currently, they could only recruit one more new employee—for the sake of retaining the memory-erasing function in case of need, the remaining employee position couldn’t be used.
Privately, Tang Yu’an was more inclined to recruit Xiao Cao.
Shi Tou and Xiao Cao’s survival conditions were very poor; becoming employees of the Peace Grocery Store might be their only chance to change their fate.
Moreover…
Tang Yu’an didn’t really trust Hong Li.
Although this Mountain Lord was powerful, had high prestige, and governed a significant population, the strong attitude she and her subordinates displayed made him feel uneasy.
Tang Yu’an glanced at the map.
After they left Jufeng Town, the two guards who had been monitoring them were still following them. Who knew how long they would keep tailing…
If they recruited Hong Li, their identities would definitely be exposed.
Who knew what would happen after exposure? There were too many unstable factors, and the level of danger was on a whole different level.
“Don’t overthink it,” Zhou Qi said. “Maybe Hong Li can’t read either?”
Tang Yu’an couldn’t help but be amused.
How could that be possible? Even Brother Chi Hao could read; Sister Hong Li was even less likely to be illiterate.
However, after that, Tang Yu’an continued to worry.
Perhaps his concern was too intense; after a while, the system unexpectedly popped up a new prompt.
[Detected that the recruit ‘Xiao Cao’ has low literacy. Would you like to enable the voice broadcast function for her?]
Tang Yu’an was surprised!
There’s such a good function? Of course, enable it immediately!
*
At the Jade Pavillion Inn, in the large common room on the first floor.
Xiao Cao stared at the light screen for a long time, until her eyes felt sore. This strange thing still floated in front of her.
So what on earth was this?
While she was puzzled, new text appeared on the screen. At the same time, a mechanical voice suddenly sounded in her ear: [The Mysterious Merchant has enabled the voice broadcast function for you.]
Then, the mechanical voice read the recruitment message to her in full.
Xiao Cao was so startled that she sat up abruptly.
Mysterious Merchant? Salesperson at a grocery store? And points and an exchange panel?
What are all these?
Xiao Cao was terrified for a while. Seeing that nothing else happened and the light screen hadn’t disappeared, she had to focus her attention back on it.
Whenever her eyes scanned a line of text, the mechanical voice would read it out to her.
[Accept] [Reject]
She looked at the two options and thought that since it was a dream, what harm would it be to accept? After all, it was just a dream.
As her thoughts shifted, the words on the panel changed.
[Congratulations, you have become a salesperson for the ‘Peace Grocery Store.’]
[Employee Regulations]
1. Do not disclose your salary to other employees.
2. Do not reveal to customers that you are an employee of Peace Grocery Store.
3. Do not reveal the existence of the Mysterious Merchant to customers.
4. Do not intimidate, threaten, or attack the Mysterious Merchant or other employees.
5. Do not steal the goods of the Mysterious Merchant or other employees.
[Note: The Employee Regulations will be strictly enforced; no employee may violate them. Violations exceeding three times will attract the attention of the Mysterious Merchant.]
[Conditions not met; Employee Panel not yet unlocked.]
[Please work hard; when you meet the requirements, the Mysterious Merchant will unlock the Employee Panel for you, providing more benefits.]
Xiao Cao stared blankly at these lines of text, listening to the emotionless mechanical voice explaining their meaning.
What does all this mean?
But she quickly grasped the key point: work hard to unlock benefits?
What benefits could be unlocked?
She felt her heart start to beat rapidly. Although she still didn’t understand what all this meant, if she wasn’t dreaming right now…
At this time, new words appeared on the panel.
[Congratulations! You have triggered the Ordinary Task ‘Newcomer Assessment.’]
[Description: Only by proving your sales ability can you truly gain the recognition of the Mysterious Merchant; otherwise, the Mysterious Merchant will withdraw the recruitment.]
[Task Content: Please complete a profitable transaction with your brother (0/1).]
[Task Reward: Unlock the Employee Panel, Points x 2.]
Xiao Cao blinked. Profitable transaction?
Does that mean doing business with someone but gaining an advantage?
She thought for a moment and reached out to shake her brother awake.
Shi Tou, who had just fallen asleep, woke up startled.
“What’s wrong, Xiao Cao? Did something happen?”
He sat up abruptly. Seeing that nothing had happened and they were still safely in the Jade Pavillion Inn, he relaxed and lay back down again.
Xiao Cao shook him again.
“Sis, what are you doing? I want to sleep…” Shi Tou grumbled discontentedly. If it weren’t his sister beside him, he might have already thrown a punch.
“Give me the steamed bun, and I’ll let you sleep.”
“The Little Divine Doctor said we can’t eat too much of the bun at once…”
“Will you give it or not? Give it or not?”
Shi Tou couldn’t resist her shaking and had to take out the steamed bun hidden in his arms, but he only gave her half. “Just eat a little…”
Xiao Cao hummed.
As soon as she took the half bun, the words on the panel changed.
[You have completed a profitable transaction with a regular customer. Employee Experience +1.]
[Congratulations! You have completed the Ordinary Task ‘Newcomer Assessment.’]
[Having gained recognition, the Mysterious Merchant has unlocked the Employee Panel for you. Click to view.]
[Points +2.]
With the voice broadcast, Xiao Cao knew she had completed the task. It didn’t seem difficult.
She explored and opened the Employee Panel.
The light screen no longer had only text but became a new interface with four icons: Market, Performance, Tasks, and Employee Regulations.
Xiao Cao inexplicably felt excited.
She first opened the Market to check.
Like Chi Hao’s market page, she could only exchange for two items at the moment—
[Glucose: 1 point / 10g.]
[Soybeans: 5 points / 100g.]
Xiao Cao stared blankly at these items. Although there was voice broadcast, just like she didn’t know what a “salesperson” was, she didn’t know what “soybeans” were.
However, she knew what “sugar” was.
Sugar is sweet; she had seen others selling honey at stalls in the market.
Of course, she had only seen it but never actually tasted it.
This mall seems to mean that she can exchange her points for soybeans and something called glucose?
Xiao Cao looked at the number of points displayed: 12.
She couldn’t read, didn’t understand units of measurement, but she understood basic numbers. The voice broadcast helped her.
12 is larger than 1 and 5; she had enough points to exchange for items.
Then let’s try it; there’s nothing to lose.
Thinking this way, Xiao Cao spent 1 point to exchange for glucose.
[“Glucose” exchange successful. Please select the delivery address.]
[1. Peace Grocery Store Warehouse (Permission not obtained).]
[2. Personal Storage (Not unlocked).]
[Automatically selecting immediate delivery. Please choose a container for the goods (touch the container with your finger to select).]
Xiao Cao was confused. After reading it several times and understanding the meaning, she touched the empty bowl they had used to eat vegetables yesterday.
Under her gaze, she saw that the empty bowl suddenly had white powdery particles, like fine sand, appearing out of thin air at the bottom!
This dream is getting more and more real!
Xiao Cao’s eyes widened. She couldn’t help but reach out and pinch her brother’s leg hard.
Shi Tou, who was in deep sleep, immediately cried out, sitting up straight. Seeing that it was his sister Xiao Cao who pinched him, the boy was so aggrieved he was about to cry.
“Xiao Cao! Why did you suddenly pinch me?”
“Does it hurt?”
“Of course it hurts! It’s bruised!”
It hurts? Could it be that this isn’t a dream? Xiao Cao was confused. Then she said to Shi Tou, “Brother, look.”
“Look at what?”
Shi Tou looked down at the bowl in her hand and asked curiously, “What’s this white sandy stuff?”
“It’s sugar,” Xiao Cao said.
“Sugar? Can’t be. I’ve seen honey, and it doesn’t look like this!” Shi Tou directly reached out, pinched a bit, and put it in his mouth. His eyes immediately lit up.
“So sweet!” He said excitedly. “I’ve never eaten something so sweet!”
Xiao Cao also quickly pinched some sugar and put it in her mouth. Her eyes lit up as well.
It’s so sweet!
Sweeter than the “little radishes” she dug up yesterday!
“Where did you get this?” Shi Tou couldn’t help but ask. “Did the boss lady give it to you?”
It couldn’t have been left by the Little Divine Doctor before he left, could it? It seemed only the Little Divine Doctor could bring out such things.
Xiao Cao shook her head, not knowing how to explain.
“I’ll show you!” She placed her finger on the bed between them and chose to exchange for soybeans.
At the moment she successfully exchanged, round, pale yellow granules appeared out of thin air at the spot she pointed to, quickly forming a small pile.
“Roll, roll—”
Several grains rolled to Shi Tou’s hand.
He, like Xiao Cao, had wide eyes, showing an incredulous expression. But soon, a look of realization and joy appeared on his face.
“Xiao Cao, you’ve awakened an ability!”
Xiao Cao was stunned. Huh? This… is an ability?
Just as she was feeling confused, new prompts popped up on her panel.
[Congratulations! You have triggered a Long-term Task ‘Profitable Transactions.’]
[Description: As a salesperson of the grocery store, you can conduct three valid transactions with each customer every day.]
[Task Content: Conduct profitable transactions.]
[Task Reward: During the novice protection period, you will receive 1 point for each profitable transaction completed.]
Before Xiao Cao could understand what the long-term task meant, a new task popped up.
[Congratulations! You have triggered the Ordinary Task ‘Cook Soybeans.’]
[Description: Soybeans are a high-quality staple food. After boiling in water, they become soft and palatable.]
[Task Content: Please cook the soybeans and use the cooked soybeans to complete a profitable transaction (0/1).]
[Task Reward: Points x 2.]
Listening to the mechanical voice’s broadcast, Xiao Cao’s eyes lit up.
So these little round soybeans can be cooked and eaten! She was eager to try.
