Doomsday Grocery Store – CH7

Chapter 7 – It Turns Out That The Lucky Cat Can Really Bring Wealth

After his initial surprise, Tang Yu’an quickly embraced this unexpected delight.

He carefully read through the system prompts. Seeing that the “Guard Dog” task had actually unlocked the map’s full-range detection function, he hurriedly opened the map to check.

Originally, the map showed only one golden dot, two green ones, and a blue dot representing Zhou Qi. But now, many red dots had appeared!

Tang Yu’an knew that these red dots represented dangerous creatures.

At this moment, around the five-pointed star symbolizing the grocery store, there were as many as four or five red dots wandering!

They moved at a very slow pace, occasionally disappearing into the foggy areas outside the visible range on the map.

If each red dot represented a mutant giant dog, then they were in grave danger…

Tang Yu’an hadn’t realized that the map’s previous display was incomplete. Seeing so many sources of danger around the grocery store, he couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat.

“Brother Qi, we’d better come inside!”

Tang Yu’an quickly picked up Wang Cai and pulled Zhou Qi back into the grocery store. Only when they were enveloped by the protective barrier did his heartbeat return to normal.

Thankfully, on their first night in this world, when Brother Qi was blocked outside the house, he hadn’t forced him in, which would have caused the barrier to fail.

Now that he had also become an employee, both of them enjoyed the protection of the grocery store’s barrier. Without this shield, they wouldn’t know how to survive amidst such lurking dangers…

Feeling fortunate, Tang Yu’an was just about to share this news with Zhou Qi when the system prompt popped up again.

  [Attention! Special Task Triggered: Eliminate Dangerous Creatures (1)]

  [Eliminate Dangerous Creatures (1)]

  [Task Description: To protect customer safety, please eliminate the dangerous creatures around the shop promptly, creating a safe shopping environment for customers.]

  [Task Content: Eliminate the dangerous creatures around the grocery store (1/5)]

  [Task Rewards: Random credits (up to 100 points), Wholesale Market Discount Card (20% off), Traffic Boost Card (24 hours), Lucky Wheel Spin x3]

Staring at the new system prompt, Tang Yu’an was momentarily stunned. Eliminating dangerous creatures… This was too much to ask of them.

However, when he glanced at the task rewards, his eyes lit up instantly.

The rewards for this task were incredibly generous!

Up to 100 credits, not to mention the discount card and traffic boost card, and especially the three lucky wheel spins.

The magical effect of the special item—the Invincible Cat Teaser—had already given Tang Yu’an a taste of its benefits and made him realize the importance of the lucky wheel. Naturally, the spin chances had become precious.

But thinking about the task’s difficulty, his excitement cooled down.

Although they had the magical Cat Teaser, the task wasn’t entirely impossible, but it was already dark. He was still running a fever, and Brother Qi was injured. There was no way they could attempt it today.

Tang Yu’an shared the task with Zhou Qi and then said, “It’s too dangerous to go out now. Let’s wait until tomorrow.”

However, the usually calm and cautious Zhou Qi didn’t respond. He pressed his lips together and reached out to touch Tang Yu’an’s forehead.

It was still burning hot…

“How many credits do we have left?” he asked.

“Sixty-three…”

Tang Yu’an answered instinctively, but he sensed something amiss. Quickly grabbing Zhou Qi’s hand, he wrapped his arms tightly around his.

“Brother Qi, you’re not thinking of going out to do the task now, are you?”

Zhou Qi didn’t answer. Tang Yu’an hugged him even tighter. “No, you can’t go… If you dare to go, I’ll… I’ll cry!”

Tang Yu’an looked up at him, his lips quivering as if he were about to burst into tears.

“Alright, alright, I won’t go.”

In the end, under Tang Yu’an’s insistence, Zhou Qi gave up the idea.

He found some alcohol to wipe Tang Yu’an’s forehead and behind his ears to reduce the fever. Then he had him sit on a chair to drink water and rest before heading to the kitchen to make dinner.

“How about some porridge?”

“I want fried eggs…”

“Okay, I’ll make them right away. Be a good boy and sit still.”

Tang Yu’an obediently sat on the chair, sipping water slowly. He felt waves of dizziness and couldn’t help but worry.

If his illness didn’t improve, Brother Qi would still have to complete the task alone later…

“Meow—”

Just then, the cat squatting at his feet suddenly meowed. When Tang Yu’an looked down, it happily wagged its tail.

A dog with a cat’s appearance…

Tang Yu’an thought for a moment and took out the Super Cool Dog Frisbee.

As soon as the frisbee appeared, Wang Cai’s eyes locked onto it.

Tang Yu’an waved the frisbee in front of its eyes, then finally threw it toward the door. The cat immediately leaped and bit down on it.

After landing, it ran back with the frisbee in its mouth, its body gradually enlarging until it turned into a dog about as tall as Tang Yu’an’s knee.

Sure enough, the Super Cool Dog Frisbee had the same effect as the Invincible Cat Teaser.

He guessed that the Super Mousetrap would have a similar function.

Tang Yu’an took out the mousetrap to examine it. Shaped like a clamp, it didn’t trigger any new special tasks when he brought it out.

He didn’t continue to mess with Wang Cai, like turning it into a mouse or anything, but instead placed the mousetrap into slot 1 of his portable warehouse, sharing the item with Zhou Qi.

Then, Tang Yu’an checked Wang Cai’s status and discovered that the “Fortune Cat” prefix had disappeared.

His heart skipped a beat, and he quickly took out the Cat Teaser to play with it.

Once Wang Cai returned to its cat form, the “Fortune Cat” prefix reappeared.

Only then did Tang Yu’an breathe a sigh of relief.

He patted the cat’s head and whispered, “Looks like you’ll have to be a kitty from now on.”

Saying this, Tang Yu’an took a few dried fish from the shelf and placed them in front of Wang Cai. “Eat up; you must be hungry.”

As soon as the cat saw the dried fish, it wagged its tail excitedly and started devouring them.

  [Fortune Cat “Wang Cai” Loyalty +1]

  [“Wang Cai” is full. After rummaging around, it has found 52 credits for you.]

  [Credits +52, Current Credit Balance: 115]

Tang Yu’an was stunned. He knew Wang Cai could bring him credits, but he didn’t expect it to be so many!

“Brother Qi! Brother Qi!” Tang Yu’an hurriedly called out.

Hearing his shout, Zhou Qi thought something was wrong. He turned off the gas and rushed over in a panic. “What is it? Are you feeling unwell?”

“Brother Qi, we can exchange for the special medicine now!”

Tang Yu’an excitedly shared the good news, then quickly exchanged for the special cold medicine from the “Seven-Day Sale.”

Seeing the three white pills neatly placed in a transparent plastic box that appeared in Tang Yu’an’s hand, Zhou Qi, after his initial surprise, finally showed a relieved smile.

“That’s great. Take one quickly.”

Zhou Qi promptly poured water, helping Tang Yu’an swallow the pill with warm water.

Indeed, shortly after taking the medicine, the persistent flush on the child’s face faded. Tang Yu’an also felt less dizzy, and the soreness in his throat eased significantly.

“Brother Qi, I’m really better!” Tang Yu’an exclaimed happily.

Zhou Qi joyfully hugged him, then looked at Wang Cai, who was squatting on the ground watching them with an innocent expression.

It was hard to imagine that such a cat had transformed from that terrifying giant dog.

Zhou Qi reached out to rub its head.

This time, Wang Cai didn’t revert to its original form to attack him when he approached and touched it.

However…

After petting Wang Cai’s head, Zhou Qi looked at his now blackened palm, then glanced down at the cat’s gray-black fur. His previously softened expression couldn’t help but show a hint of exasperation.

“An An, you go ahead and eat.”

Zhou Qi scooped up Wang Cai and said to Tang Yu’an, then headed toward the bathroom.

Of course, Tang Yu’an didn’t heed his words and followed right behind.

In the bathroom, Zhou Qi filled a basin with water and directly placed the cat into it.

Since it was essentially a dog, Wang Cai wasn’t afraid of water. It just didn’t understand what Zhou Qi was doing, its emerald eyes curiously watching him.

Seeing that Zhou Qi hadn’t even added any soap but just soaked it in water, and the entire basin of water had turned pitch black, Tang Yu’an noticed.

Zhou Qi’s expression became noticeably grimmer.

After a hard round of scrubbing, when they finally washed it clean and dried it off, they discovered that Wang Cai was actually an orange cat!

  [Guard Dog/Pet Cat “Wang Cai” Loyalty +1]

After the bath and blow-drying its fur, Wang Cai appeared noticeably more content, even increasing its loyalty by one point.

It found a cool corner, lay down, and started to nap.

Fortunately, due to the daily tasks, the grocery store’s floor was cleaned every day, so they weren’t worried about it getting dirty again.

And to bathe it, they used up the remaining 15 credits to exchange for water.

But compared to the 52 credits Wang Cai had brought, allowing Tang Yu’an to exchange for the special medicine and cure his illness, and considering the credits it would continue to bring in daily, this amount of credits wasn’t much.

*

After all the hustle, Zhou Qi and Tang Yu’an finally sat down to have dinner, then huddled together to tally up the day’s gains.

First were the three special items, which were probably the most important acquisitions today, followed by unlocking the portable warehouse and map.

With these, they finally had some ability to protect themselves in the face of danger.

Of course, attracting a new customer was also very important.

Looking at the golden dot representing Granny Guo on the business map, Tang Yu’an seemed to see an endless stream of credits.

Moreover, he noticed that Granny Guo’s location was an area Brother Qi hadn’t explored today, which meant—

The movements of old customers could also clear the fog on the map, helping them unlock new areas!

Even Zhou Qi’s eyes lit up upon hearing this discovery.

Then, Tang Yu’an discovered that the map actually had a note function!

He quickly added notes.

Around Granny Guo’s golden dot, there were also two green dots representing potential customers.

If they zoomed the map to the maximum, they could see that one of the green dots almost overlapped with Granny Guo.

This should be a relative or friend living with Granny Guo.

Although there were only these three customer dots, given that the “Guard Dog” had enabled full-range detection earlier, Tang Yu’an knew the map’s display was incomplete.

This suggested that in the areas they had already explored, there were likely more potential trading partners than just these three.

The reason these two green dots were displayed might be because Granny Guo knew them or had interacted with them today.

In any case, with such a powerful tool as the business map, when they went out to find people to trade with, they wouldn’t have to search blindly like Zhou Qi had these past two days.

As for the grocery store…

“We shouldn’t reveal the store’s existence for now,” Zhou Qi said.

“Mm-hmm,” Tang Yu’an nodded.

Their ability to protect themselves was still relatively weak, and due to the grocery store’s nature, they couldn’t block customers during business hours.

Facing this apocalyptic world where humans had supernatural abilities, they still needed to be cautious. The grocery store was their home and most crucial foundation; nothing could go wrong with it.

“I just leveled up once and unlocked so many useful functions. As long as we work hard to complete tasks, we’ll definitely become stronger!”

Tang Yu’an smiled optimistically.

Zhou Qi, who had been deep in thought, looked at his now healthy and cheerful face, and his expression relaxed.

“Mm.” He ruffled Tang Yu’an’s hair. “Time to sleep.”

Tang Yu’an agreed, went to wash up, and then climbed up to the attic. After making the bed, he pulled Zhou Qi into the covers.

The warm, soft bed with its pleasant scent allowed the two youths, exhausted from a day of running around, to completely relax.

“Brother Qi, thank you.” Tang Yu’an snuggled into Zhou Qi’s arms and whispered.

Zhou Qi quietly held him, his hand resting on the back of his head, gently rubbing. Meanwhile, the scene of the mutant giant dog chasing Tang Yu’an replayed in his mind, causing waves of lingering fear.

“I’m the one who should say thank you.”

He said softly, “But next time, don’t take such risks.”

Tang Yu’an knew what Zhou Qi was referring to. He couldn’t help but puff out his cheeks. “If I hadn’t come to save you, you would have died…”

At this point, his eyes reddened.

“You can’t leave me alone. We agreed to go home together… If you’re not here, what will I do by myself?”

In these two days since arriving in this strange world, he was grateful to have Brother Qi with him. Without him, Tang Yu’an really didn’t know how he would hold on.

If he had been thrown into this terrifying apocalyptic world alone, he couldn’t imagine how desperate he would have felt.

Hearing the sobs in his voice, Zhou Qi paused, quickly hugged him tighter, and softly comforted, “I’m sorry. It’s my fault for making you worry.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong; you don’t need to apologize,” Tang Yu’an said softly. “Brother Qi, I’m also a man; I can protect you too.”

Listening to his childish voice speaking so earnestly, Zhou Qi felt both amused and filled with infinite warmth and tenderness.

Tang Yu’an was grateful for his companionship; wasn’t he the same?

Fortunately, he had gone to the Tang family’s grocery store right after school that day. Fortunately, the system had brought him along…

“Mm, I know,” Zhou Qi replied softly.

In the darkness, Tang Yu’an smiled contentedly. He buried his head in Zhou Qi’s arms again. Though the teenager’s chest wasn’t yet broad and strong, it gave him an indescribable sense of security.

Slowly, the two youths embraced each other and drifted into sleep. This was probably the first peaceful and tranquil night they had experienced since arriving in this different world…