Chapter 85
After finishing their discussion the boys left the attic and went downstairs.
“Meow—”
Wang Cai wagged its tail, greeting them enthusiastically.
Tang Yu’an picked up the little kitten, happily stroking its head, then patted Yuan Bao, and looked curiously at Yin Bi, who was still lying on the ground.
What’s wrong with Yin Bi today? It usually rushes over first!
Tang Yu’an hurried over and found that Yin Bi had its eyes closed; even when he stroked its head, it showed no sign of waking up.
This situation feels so familiar…
He opened the pet panel and saw that Yin Bi’s information now included a new status description: [Energy digestion in progress… 80%…]
Hmm? Is Yin Bi starting to evolve too?
Tang Yu’an recalled that it might be because Yin Bi had eaten Lizard Egg for two consecutive days.
Since they had a big harvest yesterday, they directly cooked some Lizard Egg for dinner and shared it among the three little ones.
Tang Yu’an picked up Wang Cai to check, and found that the green in its eyes seemed to have deepened a bit. He looked at Yuan Bao; although it appeared unchanged on the outside, its eyes seemed more spirited.
It seems that Lizard Egg is beneficial for them all!
Tang Yu’an felt relieved and got up to prepare breakfast for Wang Cai and Yuan Bao.
[“Wang Cai” Loyalty +3]
[“Wang Cai” is full and after rummaging around found you 85 points of credits]
[Credits +85, Credit Balance: 8112]
Hehe, Wang Cai is awesome!
I wonder if it’s because of the increased loyalty, but it seems that Wang Cai brings him more credits every day.
[Employee “Xiao Cao” completed a profitable transaction with a returning customer, Credits +10, Experience +2]
[Employee “Xiao Cao” completed a profitable transaction with a new customer, Credits +9, Experience +3]
Wow, Xiao Cao has opened for business too!
[Employee “Xiao Cao” completed a profitable transaction with an old customer, Credits +2, Experience +1]
[Experience is full, Merchant Level +1]
[Merchant Level reached Iv9, new items available for exchange: lotus seeds, baking soda, shampoo (nourishing type), details can be checked at “Wholesale Market”]
[Personal warehouse slots +1, Total slots: 13]
[Remote retrieval skill upgraded to lv8, details can be checked at “Skills”]
[Business map upgraded, new location markers and marker search function added, details can be checked at “Business Map”]
[Daily task refresh card +1]
[Please select a delivery address…]
With Xiao Cao’s assistance, Tang Yu’an leveled up again.
Moreover, after leveling up, his experience bar continued to rise, stopping at Iv9 (27/180).
That morning, Xiao Cao attracted 15 customers again, not only successfully helping Tang Yu’an level up, but also bringing him 85 credits.
Tang Yu’an looked and saw that the little girl had also successfully raised her employee level to lv4 (8/50), just 10 experience points away from surpassing Brother Qi.
This little girl is really working hard!
Tang Yu’an glanced at Xiao Cao’s personal credits; since she exchanged for soybeans and glucose yesterday, she had consumed some, leaving her with 120 credits.
So, he gave her 80 credits as a leveling reward, rounding it up for her.
As for new product exchanges…
He thought for a moment and decided not to unlock anything new for now.
Xiao Cao could currently exchange for soybeans, glucose, pepper powder, hardwood charcoal, and hemostatic powder, which included food, warmth, and healing items, basically meeting their survival needs.
Her foundation was still too shallow, and now she had connected with Hong Li through soybeans.
Given Hong Li’s personality, she would definitely send guards to monitor her. If she produced too many good items in a short time, it would draw attention and threaten her safety.
Fortunately, the little girl was cautious; so far, she had only exchanged for soybeans and glucose, and the quantities only met their daily needs, which was reassuring.
After topping up Xiao Cao’s credit balance to 200, Tang Yu’an closed the interface and checked Chi Hao’s.
Employee Experience: Iv0 (3/10)
What’s going on with Chi Hao? He’s been in Jufeng Town for so long and has only completed three profitable transactions!
Could it be that he lacks motivation because he hasn’t been assigned long-term tasks?
Thinking of this, Tang Yu’an felt a bit guilty.
Since Xiao Cao was young and was one of their carefully selected employees, they had set up targeted guidance tasks right after hiring her.
Among them, during the novice period, completing a profitable transaction would immediately earn 1 credit as a long-term task, which had a significant motivating effect.
As for Chi Hao…
His personal credit settlement was still once a month.
As for performance target rewards… perhaps they were set too high, so he lacked motivation? Tang Yu’an scratched his head.
“An’an, it’s time to eat.”
“Coming, coming.”
Tang Yu’an sat down at the dining table and told Zhou Qi that he had leveled up again, then discussed Chi Hao’s situation.
“We can assign him a long-term task.”
Zhou Qi said, “But he will be on the road for the next two months, so he probably won’t have much time or opportunity to make transactions. It’s best to assign it while he’s still in Jufeng Town.”
“Then I’ll send it to him now!”
Tang Yu’an directly sent Chi Hao a long-term task identical to the one given to Xiao Cao, then he ate while checking his leveling rewards.
Last time when he leveled up to lv8, he unlocked sesame seeds, chili sauce, and dishwashing liquid, and this time at lv9, he unlocked…
[Lotus Seeds: 5 credits/100g]
[Baking Soda: 1 credit/10g]
[Shampoo (nourishing type): 10 credits/50g]
“Lotus seeds, my favorite!” Tang Yu’an said happily, then exchanged 5 credits for 100 grams.
“Oh no, they’re dried lotus seeds.” He said a bit disappointed, “Can dried lotus seeds not be used as seeds?”
Zhou Qi shook his head, “Not sure, but after soaking in water, the sprouts of the lotus seeds are still green, maybe we can try planting them?”
“Okay!”
Tang Yu’an put away the dried lotus seeds, “Once we clear out the swimming pool, we’ll give it a try. If we can really grow them, we can dig up lotus roots to eat in the future.”
Seeing the boy’s face full of hope, Zhou Qi also smiled.
“If we grow lotus flowers, we can use the petals to make flower cakes.” He said, “As for the lotus leaves, we can make sticky rice chicken.”
By then, if A Mu successfully hatches the chicks, they could eat home-raised chicken; otherwise, they could use bird meat as a substitute.
“Brother Qi, it’s a promise!” Tang Yu’an looked at him with bright eyes, “You must make it for me to eat!”
“Yes, it’s a promise.”
Thinking about the delicious food they could eat in the future, Tang Yu’an felt even more motivated to eat.
After they finished their meal, the hot water Zhou Qi had boiling in the pot was ready, and they poured the 10 pounds of salt they had just obtained into the pot to stir and dissolve. Then, Zhou Qi carried the whole pot of brine to the rooftop to dry in the blazing sun of the Wasteland.
“We’ll check back later; it should be about ready to filter then.”
“Mm-hmm!”
By then, they could also figure out how to make a water purification device together.
Tang Yu’an soaked a pound of soybeans, waiting to make soy milk later and then use the brine to set tofu.
There was definitely a risk of failure the first time making it, and he was mentally prepared; if it didn’t work today, he would continue tomorrow.
They would definitely be able to enjoy smooth and tender tofu pudding!
Of course, he didn’t forget to take out the red beans from the glowing green cabinet; otherwise, as the daytime temperature rose, if the glowing green cabinet continued to heat up, it would conflict with the gray-blue freezer.
The plants in the cabinet were thriving, no longer wilted like before.
Tang Yu’an watered the plants and opened the front window to let more sunlight in—
Although they would be leaving the grocery store soon, which might increase the risk of exposure, it was unavoidable.
Plants need light to grow; keeping them indoors all the time would make them sick.
Anyway, the security of their shop door was average; it had been directly barged in by Chi Hao before, so they could only rely on their pets to guard it.
Since Yin Bi was still in hibernation, Tang Yu’an discussed with Yuan Bao, hoping it would stay at the grocery store to guard today.
Yuan Bao showed no reaction.
However, when Tang Yu’an reached out to pat its head and smiled to coax it, its little tail behind it started wagging uncontrollably.
When Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi went out, Yuan Bao indeed didn’t dash out.
It squatted at the door, watching them leave.
Though small, it somehow felt reliable.
“The remote retrieval skill has leveled up too.”
Tang Yu’an leaned on Zhou Qi’s shoulder, happily saying, “This time it doubled! The distance for remote placement has increased to 4 meters.”
Following this pattern, the next upgrade would increase it to 8 meters!
This way, the practicality of this skill had significantly improved, and he was naturally very happy.
Zhou Qi nodded, “I need to work hard to improve too.”
Whether it’s employee level or his own Superpower, they both needed to strive to improve and become stronger.
“Mm-hmm, Brother Qi, you can do it!”
Tang Yu’an cheered him on, then said, “The map has also unlocked the search function; I just need to input keywords to quickly locate marked customers or places. It feels quite convenient.”
Customers are always on the move; some with fixed ranges are fine, but for someone like Mo Ke, who is always on the go, it’s a bit challenging to find him immediately.
However, if it can be searched…
Tang Yu’an tried entering: Ba Shi in the newly added search bar on the map, then clicked search.
Soon, the cursor on the map began to search.
In the end, the inverted triangle marker surprisingly stopped in an area shrouded in fog.
This is possible too!
Tang Yu’an exclaimed in amazement, “That will make it easier to find people in the future.”
As long as he had seen and marked them, even if no transaction had been made, he could roughly know where they were.
Even if they had entered the foggy area of the map and their exact location was not visible, the general direction could be estimated. If he really needed to find someone, he could definitely search in that direction.
Zhou Qi nodded, “It’s indeed a nice new feature.”
At this moment, they arrived at the abandoned parking lot.
Tang Yu’an placed milk and meat pancakes for Black Pearl, then left with Zhou Qi, heading first to Granny Guo’s house.
When they arrived, they saw Kang Kang holding a new flower pot.
The leaves of the Lan Hu Tree had already been planted by him, and judging by his serious little face and tightly furrowed brows, it would be a while before he saw any results.
Tang Yu’an encouraged him, then began today’s “trading game.”
Since one Mutated Lantern Fruit had been sold and one Upgraded Glowing Green Cabinet had been used, only four lantern fruits remained for the trading game today.
Tang Yu’an gave the opportunity to gain experience points to Zhou Qi.
After all, he could also gain experience points simultaneously, and since Kang Kang was already familiar with Brother Qi, he didn’t refuse to play this “game” with him.
Zhou Qi took out his machete and dagger, and under Kang Kang’s amazed gaze, added them to the game props.
Thus, he successfully earned 597 points from Kang Kang.
Next, Zhou Qi went to fetch water for Granny Guo. Hearing her worry about how to store potatoes, he taught her how to process potatoes into more storable Potato Slices.
“Don’t throw away the residue from washing Potato Slices; it can settle and be filtered to extract potato starch, which can be cooked and eaten.”
As for Potato Flour…
Although it is more storable and tastier, the production process is too complicated, and one pound of potatoes might yield only 100 grams of potato starch, making the leftover potato pulp a hassle to deal with.
This method wasn’t suitable for Granny Guo, while Dried Potato Slices could simply be made by slicing and drying the potatoes, which was undoubtedly much simpler.
“When you want to eat them, just soak them in water; whether stir-fried or boiled, they’re great.”
Granny Guo nodded with a smile, then shook her head and said, “Without proper cooking utensils, I can only boil them.”
Upon hearing this, Zhou Qi said, “Tie Jin can make a frying pan; if you’re interested, you can ask him to customize one for you.”
Granny Guo was initially delighted, but then hesitated, saying, “A frying pan should require quite a bit of metal, right? Wouldn’t the price be high?”
Zhou Qi then mentioned Tie Jin’s request.
“He really likes potatoes and hopes that when you plant potatoes in the future, you can let him help you dig them up in exchange for food,” he said. “You can trade potatoes with him; he should be very willing.”
Granny Guo nodded; planting potatoes once could last her ten days to half a month.
In the remaining time, she could use the potatoes she grew to exchange for more survival supplies.
“Let’s see how it goes; I’ll dry the potato slices at home.” Suddenly, she became serious and said, “You all need to pay attention to food storage.”
Zhou Qi felt a stir in his heart and asked, “Is it because of the flood?”
Granny Guo nodded, “Since you know, I won’t say much. Once the flood comes, it will take at least half a month to recede; you need to be prepared.”
“Granny, when does the flood usually come?” Tang Yu’an leaned over and asked.
Granny Guo shook her head, “That’s hard to say.”
She looked at the light filtering through the cracks in the wall and said, “The weather will get hotter and hotter, to the point where even those with Superpowers can’t stand it anymore, and then the flood will come.”
Listening to her description, Tang Yu’an couldn’t help but feel a bit melancholic.
Is this the Wasteland? It’s too hard!
Zhou Qi frowned as well, finally saying, “Thank you for the reminder; we understand.”
Then, he took out the clothes he promised to make for Kang Kang yesterday.
They were also made of gray cotton fabric, with a loose top and pants, designed to fit even if Kang Kang gained weight later, as there were no elastic bands, and the pants could only be secured with a string.
Compared to the ready-made clothes sold in stores, Zhou Qi’s craftsmanship was naturally rough, but to Granny Guo, these two sets of clothes were already perfect.
“Really nice!”
Granny Guo stroked the clothes, clearly tailored to Kang Kang’s size, and she noticed the fine stitching.
Unlike Tie Jin, who could only express admiration, she recognized the special nature of the stitching—this was clearly made by a sewing machine.
So, do these two boys have a functioning sewing machine at their place?
Granny Guo was surprised in her heart, but she didn’t show it, nor did she probe further; there were simply too many oddities about these two boys.
If she were to investigate, it would take a long time to uncover everything.
In the end, like Old Li, she chose to turn a blind eye.
Life is about being blissfully ignorant; these two boys take such good care of her and her grandson, so why not keep their secrets?
“Thank you,” Granny Guo said with a smile, “When I get back, I’ll give Kang Kang a bath and change him into his new clothes.”
So, compared to Tie Jin, Granny Guo really knew how to take care of children—of course, this might be because Zhou Qi came over every day to help her fetch water, so she never lacked for it.
In the end, Zhou Qi earned 128 points from Granny Guo.
Just a little more, and his points balance would break nine thousand!
Next, Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi went to Old Li’s house, where Lin Zhan happened to be as well.
“Wow! I was just about to go back and wait for you, but you guys arrived!” Lin Zhan exclaimed excitedly upon seeing the two boys.
“Um… Is my meat pancake ready?”
“Yes, it’s ready.”
Zhou Qi took out her biscuit box from his backpack, then the pancakes wrapped in large leaves, saying, “Besides the meat pancake, there are also vegetable pancakes, just these few.”
Lin Zhan couldn’t help but drool at the delicious smell.
“These pancakes don’t store well; you’d better eat them quickly, or they might spoil by afternoon.”
“Don’t worry! I’ve prepared a chilled box at home; I’ll put them in there to keep fresh as soon as I get back!” Lin Zhan said cheerfully.
Then she generously handed one meat pancake and one vegetable pancake to Old Li, saying, “Here, old man, this is for you; you treated me to Lizard Egg before, so this time I’ll treat you.”
Clearly, she had already told Old Li about the Giant Lizard Nest.
Old Li didn’t refuse her; after taking the pancakes, he shook his head and said, “You girl, you’re really too bold…”
“Hey, fortune favors the brave!”
Lin Zhan waved her hand, “If I weren’t bold, where would I get Lizard Eggs to eat now?”
She looked at Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi, giving each of them a pancake, but they declined.
“We went to the Giant Lizard Nest yesterday too,” Zhou Qi said.
Then, he pulled out a Lizard Egg from his backpack, which he had discussed with Tang Yu’an beforehand.
After all, without Old Li, they wouldn’t have known the situation at the Giant Lizard Nest, nor would they have triggered the quest; he was entitled to a lizard egg—
Of course, the main reason was that they had too many Lizard Eggs!
Now pulling out this one, they still had 37 left; who knows when they would finish eating them.
“Didn’t you say it’s become very dangerous there now?”
Lin Zhan widened her eyes, nervously scrutinizing them, and asked, “You didn’t run into any trouble, did you?”
She and Old Li didn’t find it strange that the two boys knew exactly where the Giant Lizard Nest was; they just assumed the other had told them.
Old Li couldn’t help but pull Tang Yu’an over to check if he was injured.
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
Tang Yu’an quickly waved his hand, “When we went, that female lizard hadn’t returned, so just like Sister Lin, we secretly picked up three Tang Lizard Eggs and ran.”
He took the Lizard Egg from Zhou Qi and stuffed it into Old Li’s arms, saying, “Grandpa, this is for you.”
Old Li wanted to refuse, “You risked your lives to get this; how can I accept it? Quickly take it back.”
“Grandpa, just accept it; we can’t eat so many,” Tang Yu’an said. “With the weather being so hot, they’ll spoil if left too long.”
Old Li opened his mouth, but in the end, he still accepted the Lizard Egg, “I’ll go out hunting later; I’ll bring you a game tomorrow as a trade.”
“No need to rush.”
Tang Yu’an said, “We still have two Lizard Eggs; we can eat for two or three days.”
Old Li nodded, but he was clearly determined; he would definitely return a game to the two kids later.
Next, Zhou Qi first traded with Lin Zhan, finally managing to earn today’s experience points before letting her leave, while trading with Old Li was much simpler.
Once the points and experience were secured, Tang Yu’an mentioned to Old Li that they were looking for a place to live nearby.
Of course, he also mentioned Tie Jin’s suggestion.
Old Li listened carefully, then nodded, saying, “He’s not wrong; having a Plant Ability User reinforce the house would be safer.”
But this was a very luxurious thing; he, Granny Guo, and Lin Zhan’s houses had not been reinforced.
“You should go find Ba Shi; his skills are decent.”
Although there had been unpleasantness in the past, Old Li didn’t stop Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi from seeking out Ba Shi.
“Have you found a location yet?”
“Not yet; we plan to go today.”
“What kind of house do you want?” Old Li asked.
“A tall one, preferably an entire building like Tie Jin’s, and close to you and Granny’s house,” Tang Yu’an counted on his fingers, “That’s about it.”
Hearing his last request, Old Li’s eyes softened with a smile.
He nodded and said, “If that’s the case, I know a good place; it’s just that the building is even taller than Tie Jin’s, and the reinforcement costs might be considerable.”
“That’s fine; Grandpa, can you take us to see it?”
“Sure.”
So, Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi followed Old Li to an abandoned neighborhood next door.
It only took ten minutes to walk from Old Li’s house.
“This is the one.”
Old Li pointed to a building about ten stories high, surrounded by collapsed buildings; only this one stood tall, with only the top two floors showing some cracks.
“This was a commercial housing complex before the disaster; I’ve been inside, and it’s all bare, not yet renovated, so every room is empty.”
Tang Yu’an looked at the building in front of him and couldn’t help but swallow, “How many units are there on one floor?”
“Seems like five units?”
So this entire building has about 50 units… all for them?
