Chapter 87
This dog is so fierce!
Tang Yu’an looked at the hunting dog and couldn’t help but glance at the map.
There were no red dots indicating dangerous creatures on the map, so this should just be an ordinary dog, not a mutated creature.
At that moment, he felt a small hand grab his pants.
Tang Yu’an looked down and saw Jin Lili had somehow run to his side, looking up at him with her little head tilted.
“Daddy…” she said softly.
Tang Yu’an picked her up and pointed out the window, saying, “Look, your daddy is back.”
“Daddy!”
Clearly, Jin Lili was also very fond of Tie Jin. As soon as she saw him, she clapped her little hands in joy.
“Let’s go downstairs,” Tang Yu’an said.
Although the first floor didn’t have the coolness like the second floor, it was insulated by the upper floors, so it wasn’t as hot as the third or fourth floors.
Tang Yu’an carried Jin Lili to the first floor. As soon as he opened the door, he saw Zhou Qi and Tie Jin had already come outside.
“Daddy!” Jin Lili shouted happily.
Tie Jin, who had been tense because of the menacing hunting dog, instantly forgot everything upon hearing his daughter’s call.
He ran over with a smile, skillfully avoiding the obstacles at the door, and reached Tang Yu’an, extending his hands to take his daughter.
Ba Shi, who was following Zhou Qi, watched this scene from a distance, feeling a bit surprised.
When did Tie Jin get a daughter?
As he was pondering this, he suddenly felt the dog leash in his hand jerk forward violently, the immense force nearly causing him to fall flat on his face.
Fortunately, he quickly tightened the leash and squatted down, stabilizing himself in a horse stance, thus avoiding the tragedy of landing face-first.
The large dog he was holding onto, however, was still struggling violently, barking incessantly.
“Quiet!”
Ba Shi scolded in a low voice. Once he steadied himself and looked at the hunting dog, he suddenly frowned in confusion.
Unlike just now, when it was aggressive due to the unfamiliar scent, at this moment, the hunting dog being held by Ba Shi was… wildly wagging its tail.
The anxious look with its tongue hanging out was incredibly excited; it was even happier than when it was given meat.
What’s going on?
Ba Shi, puzzled, followed the hunting dog’s gaze.
He saw a young boy saying goodbye to Tie Jin, then carefully avoiding the obstacles set up at the door, making his way to the open space to join Zhou Qi.
While Ba Shi was sizing them up, Tang Yu’an also looked over at him.
The hunting dog, which had been wagging its tail madly at Ba Shi, suddenly lay down on the ground as soon as he looked over, then rolled over to show its belly, presenting itself in a way that seemed to invite him to pet it.
Ba Shi: “…”
Tang Yu’an: “…”
Looking at the hunting dog that no longer had the slightest fierce demeanor, Tang Yu’an suddenly realized—
Right, he was wearing the special title of “Dog Lover,” which must have activated the halo effect of being a dog lover, leading to this situation.
Ba Shi tugged at the dog leash, feeling a bit embarrassed.
Unfortunately, the usually obedient hunting dog was not listening to its owner this time. Seeing that Tang Yu’an wasn’t coming over to pet it, it let out a very aggrieved whimper.
Tang Yu’an: “….”
Looking at the dog’s pitiful eyes, he finally walked over and took the initiative to greet Ba Shi, “Uncle, is this your dog?”
Ba Shi scrutinized him with a discerning gaze.
After looking at him for a few moments, he stiffly nodded, “Mm.”
“Can I pet it?” Tang Yu’an asked with a smile.
As the saying goes, one shouldn’t strike a smiling face, especially since according to Tie Jin, these two boys were big clients from the fortress.
Although this request… Ba Shi had never heard anyone make before.
Because his dog was very fierce, with a strong aggressive nature; unfamiliar scents would provoke its wild instincts.
As Tang Yu’an approached, the dog that had been lying on the ground got up, continuously rubbing its head against the boy’s calf, making whimpering sounds of grievance.
Seeing it act so affectionately, Ba Shi couldn’t help but twitch at his temples.
He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, nodding slightly.
Thus, Tang Yu’an reached out to pet the dog’s head.
“Woof woof!” The dog barked excitedly, rubbing its head against Tang Yu’an’s hand.
Even Zhou Qi, who knew about the existence of the dog lover halo, couldn’t help but be a bit surprised at this scene, let alone Ba Shi.
He stared wide-eyed, wearing an expression of disbelief.
“Uncle, what’s your dog’s name?” Tang Yu’an asked.
Ba Shi looked at the boy and finally replied, “Big Black Dog.”
Tang Yu’an: “…”
That name is really simple and straightforward!
“Where is your house?” Ba Shi continued, “Since it’s not too hot yet, let’s hurry over.”
“Okay, okay.” Tang Yu’an patted Big Black Dog’s head and said, “Let’s go.”
Big Black Dog seemed to understand, responding with a bark.
Ba Shi looked at his dog, then couldn’t help but glance at Tang Yu’an. What kind of magic did this boy have that made his Big Black Dog like him so much?
All the way, Ba Shi pondered this question.
Because from then on, Big Black Dog behaved very well, losing interest in attacking Zhou Qi, and kept wagging its tail, following Tang Yu’an closely.
If it weren’t for the dog leash being in Ba Shi’s hand, one might think Tang Yu’an was its owner.
However, when they saw the building, Ba Shi’s mood brightened again.
“Does the whole building need to be reinforced?” he asked, unable to contain his excitement.
After seeing Zhou Qi nod, a hint of a smile appeared on Ba Shi’s cold face.
“Well, this is a big project,” he assessed the house in front of him.
“How long will it take to finish?” Zhou Qi asked.
“If it’s just me, it would take at least five or six days, and I can only reinforce the foundation, the main load-bearing columns, the load-bearing walls, and the top two floors.”
Although it looked intact from the outside, the internal damage was very severe. While there were many suites, very few were livable—unless one wanted to risk the floor collapsing or being hit by the ceiling while living there.
“If all floors and suites need reinforcement, it would take at least half a month, or even a month.”
After all, rushing work is fine in the short term, but for the long term, he would have to do other things and couldn’t stay here every day, so the timeline would definitely stretch.
Moreover, he genuinely felt it unnecessary to reinforce so many rooms. With two floors available for living, they could just set up a staircase for going up and down. Not to mention two people, even ten would be enough to live there—
After all, there were five suites on the first floor, with the large ones nearly two hundred square meters and the smaller ones around eighty to ninety square meters.
This was no small project either.
Ba Shi then asked, “Are you really sure you want to live here? It’s too conspicuous and could easily attract mutated creatures.”
Although he really wanted to take this job, he still kindly reminded them, considering how much Big Black Dog liked Tang Yu’an.
However, Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi had already made their decision.
Since there was a big house to live in, why choose a small one? In the future, if they could choose an upgrade direction for the branch, this branch should also follow the “big is beautiful” direction.
After all, the “small but strong” direction had too few employees, which was quite limiting.
“Mm, yes.”
Zhou Qi nodded and then asked, “Does it really have to be five or six days? Can it be faster?”
The imminent threat of flooding made Zhou Qi hope to establish the branch as soon as possible, so that even if the flood submerged the main store, they would have some leeway.
“If I let my brother Ba Tu help, it should be done in three days, but it will cost extra.”
“Starting from today?”
“Today counts as half a day; I’ll have it ready by the night of the day after tomorrow.”
Zhou Qi and Tang Yu’an exchanged glances and nodded, “Okay, you name your price.”
“What do you want to exchange?” Ba Shi asked.
Tie Jin only told him that the two boys were from the fortress and had a lot of good things with them, but didn’t specify what they had.
Zhou Qi took out a small bag of salt, which was coarse salt that had originally been in the shop.
Although it wasn’t as refined as fine salt, it was much whiter than the salt commonly found in the Wasteland, making Ba Shi’s eyes light up.
As Zhou Qi took out the salt, he kept a wary eye on Ba Shi; if Ba Shi made any sudden moves, he would swing his machete.
Meanwhile, Tang Yu’an was also preparing his happy and sadness marbles.
Though they couldn’t be considered strong, in a two-on-one situation, even if the opponent was an ability user, they wouldn’t be able to gain any advantage from them.
Fortunately, when Ba Shi saw the salt, although his eyes showed desire, there was no greed, nor did he make any attempt to snatch it.
“This is salt? Is it refined?” Ba Shi asked, his face full of joy. “How much do you have?”
“You name your price,” Zhou Qi said again.
Ba Shi couldn’t help but hesitate. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said, “Two jins (1kg); Ba Tu and I will each take a jin. How about that?”
To be honest, this price would have been ridiculously cheap in the old world.
Moreover, not counting the trade with Little Hai Lan, they already had a large bucket of coarse salt in their shop, definitely at least one or two hundred pounds.
But… this was in the Wasteland.
He still remembered when he first started, he traded a gram of salt with Granny Guo for a fruit. If converted at that rate, two pounds of salt would be equivalent to 1,000 fruits.
That sounded a bit expensive; if the trade went through so easily, it could likely attract unnecessary trouble.
“Uncle Jin said you would give a fair price,” Zhou Qi said, staring at Ba Shi in a low voice.
Ba Shi’s gaze clearly flickered.
Zhou Qi then bargained, “One pound.”
He pointed at the salt in his hand, “You should have noticed, our salt is different from others; it has very few impurities and doesn’t taste bitter.”
He poured a little for Ba Shi to taste.
“This kind of salt isn’t like the yellowish, bitter kind that could make you sick if consumed long-term.”
Ba Shi tasted the pure salty flavor on his tongue and couldn’t help but nod. After frowning in thought for a moment, he finally agreed.
“Alright, then one pound.”
He would split it with Ba Tu, and if they were careful, it would last them two to three months.
Now, by making a good deal with these two boys, he could continue trading salt with them in the future, hoping for a steady stream of business.
After all, without salt, one would lose strength. In this Wasteland, one cannot afford to offend anyone, especially not the salt merchants.
“This pack will serve as a deposit.” Zhou Qi handed a small pack of salt to Ba Shi.
Ba Shi weighed the salt pack in his hand, and a hint of a smile appeared on his otherwise serious and cold face. He nodded and said, “Little brother, you’re a straightforward person!”
He put away the salt pack and continued, “I’ll start working right now and guarantee to finish within the deadline.”
Then he let go of the dog leash and said to the big black dog, “Go call Ba Tu.”
The big black dog, freed, happily circled around Tang Yu’an until the boy patted its head, at which point it settled down.
Ba Shi suppressed the urge to kick it and scolded, “Why aren’t you going yet?”
The big black dog let out a whimper and reluctantly ran off, quickly disappearing into the ruins.
Ba Shi couldn’t help but glance at Tang Yu’an a few more times.
He really couldn’t understand why the big black dog liked this boy so much. What was so special about him?
Tang Yu’an smiled at him, looking pure and adorable.
Ba Shi pressed his lips together and then averted his gaze. Perhaps it was this innocent quality that was so rare in the Wasteland that made the big black dog look at him differently.
“I’m going to work.”
Then he turned and entered the abandoned building. Tang Yu’an watched him walk away and quickly tugged at Zhou Qi’s sleeve.
“Brother Qi, you should go after him.”
Although they didn’t have any earth-type crystals on hand and couldn’t confirm that Zhou Qi had earth-type abilities, what if he did?
It was worth checking out; perhaps they could learn the earth-type reinforcement technique, so they could reinforce the remaining floors themselves in the future.
Zhou Qi looked at his flushed face and sweaty forehead, not leaving immediately. Instead, he took out the shadow umbrella.
“Wait for me here; I’ll be back soon.”
“Okay.”
Tang Yu’an watched him enter the building and then turned his attention to the surroundings.
They would need to open a branch store here, so it was essential to understand the environment.
This place must have been a community before the disaster, with a relatively spacious distance between the buildings. Only those over thirty stories tall had serious issues with each other.
The building they chose was fortunate, as it was surrounded by shorter ten-story buildings.
Looking at the collapsed abandoned buildings and imagining the terrifying scenes during the disaster, Tang Yu’an couldn’t help but feel anxious.
He wondered if his parents and Xin Xin could survive in this apocalypse… Tang Yu’an took a deep breath, trying not to think too much, or he might start crying again.
Besides the abandoned buildings, the community still retained some artificial landscapes, with three or four trees growing nearby and some vibrant plants.
Thinking about the water purification device he was preparing to make, Tang Yu’an picked up some stones of various sizes and even found many pebbles in a dry pond.
“Hey, what’s this…”
Tang Yu’an noticed a flicker of light among the pile of pebbles. He cleared away the pebbles to reveal a stone that was faintly glowing beneath.
He took it out and washed it, revealing the stone’s true appearance—
It was actually a yellowish crystal!
Tang Yu’an used an identification spell on the crystal, and sure enough, it was an earth-type energy stone.
Yay! He found another crystal, and this time it was earth-type.
Grandpa Li was right; it was easy to find crystals in the wild.
Though it was a bit smaller and only worth 180 points, Tang Yu’an was already very happy.
[Employee “Zhou Qi” completed a profitable transaction with a new customer, Points +10, Experience Points +3]
Brother Qi also made a deal with Ba Shi.
Today, Tang Yu’an hadn’t actively engaged in business much, leaving the opportunity for Zhou Qi, hoping he could level up quickly so he could continue to downgrade the skill of remote item retrieval to him.
By the time Zhou Qi completed three profitable transactions, Tang Yu’an had also collected enough pebbles.
At that moment, the big black dog returned.
Behind the big black dog was a strange man. Compared to the tall Ba Shi, he appeared somewhat thin, with a pair of somewhat sinister hawk-like eyes.
This must be Ba Tu, the one Grandpa Li mentioned who had a bad temper.
Tang Yu’an hid nearby, watching as he and the big black dog entered the house. Soon after, Zhou Qi came out.
“Brother Qi!”
Tang Yu’an hurried over and pulled Zhou Qi under the shadow umbrella.
“How did it go?” he asked.
Zhou Qi smiled and nodded, “I learned it.”
“That’s great!” Tang Yu’an cheered, then took out the earth crystal he had found, “Look, this is what I picked up in the pond.”
Zhou Qi picked up the earth crystal, examined it, and then casually returned it to Tang Yu’an’s hand.
“Mm, very good!”
Seeing that he remained unfazed by the crystal, Tang Yu’an couldn’t help but grin and then put the crystal away.
He looked at the building and had a sudden idea, “Shall we go in and take another look?”
Since it was the first time meeting Ba Tu, and he didn’t know what kind of person he was, he thought it would be good to supervise a bit.
“Sure.” Zhou Qi had no objections.
So, they used the shadow umbrella and quietly entered the building again.
Upon entering, they saw two elevator shafts, with suites on both sides, and a huge parking lot below, which was now unusable.
Ba Shi and Ba Tu were sitting on the ground not far from the entrance, both with their hands pressed against the wall, and they could faintly see a yellowish light glowing from their hands.
The big black dog stood guard around them, alert and watchful.
Tang Yu’an curiously looked at Ba Shi, “Is this how you reinforce it?”
“Mm.” Zhou Qi nodded, “They are reinforcing the foundation.”
He could feel a yellowish energy flowing down the walls of the building, penetrating deep into the ground, disappearing about three or four meters down—
Perhaps it just vanished from his “sight.”
This “sight,” as Grandpa Li told him, was generally referred to as “spiritual power.”
It was one of the applications of spiritual power, used to observe the energy changes of Ability users, but generally, Ability users could only observe energy of the same type.
As for those mysterious types of Abilities, he wasn’t too clear about them.
“Ba Shi, who was that kid just now?” Ba Tu’s voice suddenly rang out, “Did he just come from outside?”
“Didn’t you see another kid when you came in?”
Ba Tu shook his head, “No.”
Ba Shi frowned slightly and then said, “They came from the fortress.”
“From the fortress?” Ba Tu was surprised, “So the salt traded was also brought from the fortress? It’s the first time in my life I’ve seen such white salt!”
“Probably.”
Ba Shi thought for a moment and said, “There’s also a younger kid; it’s my first time seeing such a beautiful little boy.”
Hearing this, the beautiful little boy Tang Yu’an couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed and troubled.
He had already tanned; how could he still receive such praise?
Ba Tu, however, didn’t think much of it, feeling that his brother was exaggerating. How beautiful could a little boy be?
He wanted to say more, but was interrupted by Ba Shi, “Get to work; we promised to deliver in two days.”
“Fine.”
Ba Tu pouted but ultimately quieted down.
Seeing that the two brothers were working seriously and not slacking off, Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi watched for a while before leaving.
By the time they returned to the grocery store, it was almost noon.
“Woof woof!” Before they even opened the door, Yin Bi was already lying behind the window hole, peeking out and wagging its tail at them.
“Yin Bi, you’re awake!” Tang Yu’an quickly opened the door and entered.
Thanks to the gray-blue freezer, even at the hottest time of the day, the temperature in the grocery store remained stable at 29 degrees.
In comparison to the outside, the store felt particularly cool.
Tang Yu’an checked on Yin Bi’s condition.
It seemed that aside from its fur being a bit shinier, there was nothing particularly different; its eye color hadn’t changed like Wang Cai’s.
Tang Yu’an had prepared enough food for them.
He rubbed Yin Bi’s big head, relieved to see it was fine. The upgrade and evolution could take their time; there were still nearly 40 lizard eggs at home.
He then patted Yuan Bao, thanking it for staying behind to guard the house today.
At that moment, Zhou Qi had already brought down the saltwater that had been left to dry on the roof.
After a morning of sun exposure, the moisture inside had decreased by half, and some crystals had formed.
Zhou Qi went inside to get a filter and filtered out the coarse salt crystals, leaving the remaining brine for backup.
Meanwhile, Tang Yu’an ran to pour the soaked yellow beans into the soy milk machine, pressing the switch to start making soy milk.
When he returned, he saw the coarse salt that Zhou Qi had filtered out, “It really does look whiter.”
But it wasn’t as good as the coarse salt they originally had in the store.
“Isn’t Bobo’s break over?” Zhou Qi reminded.
Tang Yu’an looked and realized it was indeed.
“Great! I’m going to upgrade the refrigerator!”
He took out the materials he had prepared long ago, placed them on the refrigerator, and then clicked to upgrade.
[200 Points deducted successfully!]
[The furniture sprite is checking the order…]
[The sprite Bobo has accepted the order!]
[Bobo: The refrigerator is upgrading, expected to take 2 hours and 30 minutes, please wait patiently.]
Under Tang Yu’an’s eager gaze, the little sprite Bobo, with gray-blue hair, appeared before them again.
As soon as it appeared, it sprinkled stardust on the refrigerator and then dashed toward the beer placed on it.
This time, besides the beer and dried squid, Tang Yu’an secretly took out the treasured five-grain liquor his father had kept and poured a small cup next to the beer.
Just as the little sprite pounced on the beer, it hadn’t even had time to conjure a straw before it sniffed deeply with its nose.
Then it abandoned the beer and flapped its wings, flying toward the cup of five-grain liquor.
The little sprite perched on the edge of the cup, tentatively dipped its little hand into the liquor to taste it, and then its eyes widened, its little face visibly reddening.
Was the alcohol too strong?
Tang Yu’an looked at Bobo nervously.
After shaking its head, the little sprite leaned in and took a big gulp of the liquor.
By the time half of the liquor in the cup had disappeared, the little sprite finally lifted its head again, burped, and then flapped its wings, wobbling as it flew up.
A silly grin appeared on its face as it waved at Tang Yu’an with a giggle.
Tang Yu’an thought: Oh no! The little sprite is drunk!
Under the watchful eyes of Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi, the little sprite flapped its wings and danced gracefully in mid-air, with more and more light dust falling from it.
[Bobo is full of energy, dropping more furniture stardust, reducing upgrade time by 10 minutes.]
[Bobo is full of energy, dropping more furniture stardust, reducing upgrade time by…]
It kept refreshing the notifications for 10 times before finally stopping, reducing the original upgrade time of 2 hours and 30 minutes to just 50 minutes!
