Chapter 97
Tang Yu’an looked again at the Dimensional Store Panel, where a window had already opened.
[Spirit Gathering Grass: 50 Points/plant]
[Description: An herb that can slowly gather spiritual energy and increase the concentration of wood-element spiritual energy in the environment]
[Seller: Gu Qianli, Plane No. XZ12586]
“XZ? Cultivation?” Zhou Qi guessed.
“It should be about the same. The seller’s name also has a very ‘cultivation’ world style,” Tang Yu’an nodded and said.
A cultivation plane! Just thinking about it feels so cool!
“Should we buy it?” he asked next, “50 Points per plant doesn’t seem very expensive.”
Tang Yu’an felt that the value of this spirit gathering grass was definitely more than 5 Points per plant. This Gu Qianli probably hadn’t raised the price too much.
“Let’s buy it,” Zhou Qi said.
This price was indeed rarely seen in the Dimensional Store.
So Tang Yu’an directly clicked to purchase. After he successfully bought it, the window disappeared. It seemed that Gu Qianli, like him, could only sell one item at a time.
The purchased spirit gathering grass was placed in the Portable Warehouse. Tang Yu’an took it out to look at it.
It was a very ordinary-looking small grass, with deep green leaves, growing in good condition.
Tang Yu’an used a basic appraisal skill on it.
[Do you want to pay 5 Points as an appraisal fee to use the basic appraisal skill on this item?]
“Wow, this planar merchant called Gu Qianli really didn’t raise the price at all!
The appraisal fee is 5 points, so the actual value is 50 Points, which is exactly the same as the selling price.”
Zhou Qi was also surprised, “He probably didn’t read the trading rules carefully.”
Tang Yu’an nodded, saying happily: “Great, I got a bargain!”
He looked at the Dimensional Store Interface again. He had already saved this window and could check it in “My Favorites”, but unfortunately the remaining quantity was still 0.
This merchant named Gu Qianli probably didn’t know his item had already been sold.
Tang Yu’an had to close the interface, then took a pot, filled it with soil, and planted the spirit gathering grass in it.
To make the egg that enhances physique, other materials were still needed. This spirit gathering grass could only be planted for now. He didn’t know what benefits this effect of increasing spiritual energy concentration could bring.
If it was very useful, he might not even be willing to use it as a food ingredient.
“Let’s keep an eye out for more in the future. One plant is not enough,” Zhou Qi flipped through the cookbook and looked. The required quantity of spirit gathering grass was 5 plants.
“Okay!”
After placing the planted spirit gathering grass in the green cabinet, Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi sat down to eat lunch.
Jin Lili, who had fallen asleep from playing, was quickly awakened by the aroma of the food. It was a fragrance she had never smelled before. As soon as she smelled it, her stomach started growling.
It’s food!
She sat on the floor, staring intently at Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi.
The big brothers are eating…
The little girl was quiet. It wasn’t until Tang Yu’an looked back at her that he realized she was awake.
“Lili, are you hungry?” he asked.
Jin Lili hesitantly looked at him, and only nodded almost imperceptibly when Tang Yu’an asked again.
Tang Yu’an picked her up and sat her in the child’s chair.
This was used by his sister when she was little. Fortunately, it hadn’t been thrown away and now came in handy again.
After settling Jin Lili at the dining table and tucking a piece of cloth into her chest as a bib, Zhou Qi took out the baby food he had made for her from the Portable Warehouse.
It was a bowl of tender, fragrant steamed egg.
A child over one year old should have already grown teeth and be able to eat more types of food, but due to long-term malnutrition, Jin Lili’s development was obviously delayed. She had only grown two teeth now.
However, compared to when they first saw her, those two little teeth seemed to have grown out a lot more.
In a while, new baby teeth would surely grow out.
Tang Yu’an gave her a small spoon, letting her eat by herself.
“This whole bowl is yours. You need to eat it all up, okay?” After teaching her how to use the spoon, Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi continued eating.
Jin Lili sat at the dining table, looking down at the steamed egg in front of her, then at the two brothers eating. After observing for a moment, she tentatively scooped up some egg custard with the spoon.
Then she stopped again, observing Tang Yu’an and the others’ reactions.
No one stopped her.
Only then did she lower her head and carefully put the egg custard into her mouth. It was soft and smooth, a very delicious food!
After eating this bite, she couldn’t help but look at Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi again.
Only after making sure they weren’t angry and that she really could eat did the little girl finally eat with peace of mind.
She ate very seriously, slowly and carefully.
But she was still too young, and her little hands lacked control. Soon, egg custard fell onto the small table.
She quickly lowered her head to lick it clean.
Looking at the steamed egg in the bowl, the little girl frowned in thought, then brought her mouth to the edge of the bowl, holding the bowl with one hand and scooping with the spoon in the other.
This way it wouldn’t spill out!
Although Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi were eating, they were actually observing Jin Lili out of the corners of their eyes.
Her cautious, tentative manner was really heartbreaking, but it was good that she gradually became bolder and started eating on her own, even learning to “scoop” by herself.
That’s great!
Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi smiled at each other.
By the time Jin Lili had finished eating the egg custard on her own, Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi had also finished eating. Zhou Qi felt her little belly and found it wasn’t bulging yet, so he took out another bowl of mashed potatoes.
He wiped her mouth clean, then fed her with a spoon.
Jin Lili seemed to be in a good mood, smiling faintly at him, a small dimple appearing at the corner of her mouth.
Zhou Qi had added milk and a little salt to the mashed potatoes. It tasted much better than the porridge made by Tie Jin and Granny Guo. Jin Lili’s eyes widened after just one bite.
This was probably the first time she had grasped the concept of delicious food.
“Is it good?” Tang Yu’an asked.
“Good…” Jin Lili wanted to respond to him, but the pronunciation was clearly difficult for her.
Tang Yu’an patted her head, not talking to her anymore to avoid her choking.
After Jin Lili finished the mashed potatoes, they took her to the attic for a nap. Zhou Qi finally had time to check the “message” Chi Hao had given him.
After waking up this morning, Chi Hao should have seen the system prompt. Zhou Qi could imagine his mood.
Sure enough, when the Sketchbook was opened, his messy handwriting was visible.
[Zhou Qi, Handsome Zhou, are you Zhou Qi? What’s with this title???]
Zhou Qi asked Tang Yu’an and learned that he had already left Jufeng Mountain and was winding northward. It seemed Qingmu Fortress was to their north.
He took out a Ballpoint Pen and replied to Chi Hao.
Under the scorching sun, Chi Hao was struggling through the ruins.
After leaving Jufeng Mountain, he encountered fewer people and could hardly see any passersby, so naturally, he couldn’t make trades anymore.
He had tried hard to find customers on the way down the mountain, but unfortunately, perhaps because his aura was too strong, those people ran away as soon as they saw him from afar. Even those he managed to call out some, most of them crouched on the ground trembling, unable to speak clearly.
He had managed to complete two transactions under these circumstances. He really had it tough!
Chi Hao climbed over a small mountain and was about to take out water from the Portable Warehouse when he saw the usage record of “Handsome Zhou”.
He quickly opened the portable warehouse and took out the Sketchbook.
Above his message from this morning was the previous message Tang Yu’an had left for him.
[Chi Hao brother, thank you for helping me get the house. Here’s a meat pancake for you to eat ^_^, An]
Cute An’An had given him a super delicious meat pancake!
Chi Hao had never eaten anything so delicious, and he vaguely felt that this pancake contained a kind of gentle yet rich energy.
This meat pancake was definitely not ordinary!
An’An was really very kind to him.
Although there were quite a few spelling mistakes, he could understand it anyway, so there was no need to correct him.
Chi Hao scanned the text above and looked down. Zhou Qi’s handwriting had a strong personal style, neat and tidy, but… the spelling mistakes were no fewer than An’An’s.
They probably learned from the Mysterious Merchant, which couldn’t be helped.
[Yes, it’s me. Maybe the Mysterious Merchant thought ‘Handsome Zhou’ (Handsome Porridge, because ‘Zhou’ in Chinese can also be meant as ‘porridge’) is a good name :)]
Xiao Qi’s ‘Handsome Zhou’ did sound nice, but the problem was… why give him a title called “Greenish Blue”?!
Did it mean green to the point of being blue?
His hair was clearly red, and he was a fire ability user! Could it be… the Mysterious Merchant was colorblind?
Chi Hao had seen such people before and knew there was a condition called red-green colorblindness in the world. Apart from mixing up colors when looking at them, it had no other effects.
He wrote his understanding in the Sketchbook and put it in the Portable Warehouse. By the time he finished drinking water, Zhou Qi had replied to him.
[Probably, maybe it’s just to protect our identities, so a title is used instead]
Chi Hao thought about it and realized it was indeed possible.
Anyway, when others saw “Greenish Blue”, they definitely wouldn’t think of him!
Chi Hao accepted this explanation.
At this moment, his eyes sharpened, and he casually threw a fireball a few meters to his side. When he walked over, he saw a rabbit lying on the ground, its fur completely charred.
He took out a knife, cut off a rabbit leg, and put the rest in the Portable Warehouse.
It had to be said that such a portable space was really useful! Anything could be put in it, allowing one to travel light.
Chi Hao took out the Ballpoint Pen again and wrote in the Sketchbook.
[Slot 1: “Greenish Blue” put in Sketchbook x 1]
Zhou Qi took it out to check, and Tang Yu’an, who had just lulled Jin Lili to sleep, also came over.
[Xiao Qi, can you make me a few more meat pancakes? The rest of the meat is for you guys. If it’s not enough, I’ll catch more]
Although his ability to earn Points was average, Chi Hao was quite capable when it came to hunting.
However, they had Grandpa Li, and after Yuan Bao and Black Pearl woke up, they would have an even richer source of meat, so they wouldn’t lack meat.
In the end, Zhou Qi still agreed to Chi Hao’s request.
High-nutrition foods like meat were never too much. If the Portable Warehouse wasn’t enough to store it, they could also trade with customers.
After the nap, Tang Yu’an and the others took Jin Lili to the swimming pool again.
After yesterday’s cleaning, the venue had become clean. The putrid smell could still be detected, but it wasn’t as strong.
Green Gem happily welcomed them.
Jin Lili looked at the small green vines dancing in mid-air, her eyes full of curiosity.
The plant also noticed her and showed great interest in such a small, fragile life. Its thin vines surrounded Jin Lili, constantly teasing her with its tendrils.
Because it had already been ordered not to actively harm humans unless in danger, Tang Yu’an wasn’t very worried.
After watching it play with Jin Lili for a while, they started getting down to business.
Tang Yu’an continued purifying the filth on the stands, while Zhou Qi went to repair the hole. After finishing the repairs, he still needed to reinforce the walls and foundation, otherwise this swimming pool building probably wouldn’t last long before collapsing.
After casting the purification spell 10 times, Tang Yu’an took out the gray-blue broom and placed it in the corridor to let it work.
Green Gem also pulled back its vines, exposing the windows in the corridor to let light shine into the building. The corridor instantly became much less gloomy.
However…
Tang Yu’an saw two blue mushroom heads scurrying away with squeals when the sunlight came in – so there wasn’t just one mutant fungus in the swimming pool!
Should they leave a room for them in the future?
Tang Yu’an walked along the corridor. Perhaps because of the gray-blue broom’s presence, he felt much braver. After walking for a while, he came to a front hall.
The original main entrance doors of the natatorium had long since vanished, and the floor-to-ceiling glass windows were all shattered. Now they were tightly covered by Green Gem’s vines.
When Tang Yu’an arrived here, Green Gem eagerly pulled its vines to the sides, letting in more light.
Looking outside, he could see lush green vegetation thriving in the sunlight.
Tang Yu’an didn’t dare to go outside. He designated a garbage storage area for the gray-blue broom, then turned back to the main hall to check on the fish in the swimming pool.
After settling for a day and night, the sludge they had swept into the pool yesterday had sunk to the bottom. The pool water looked less murky now, and he could see some fish swimming in the shallow layers.
But more fish were hiding in the sludge at the bottom, clearly finding that environment more comfortable.
Tang Yu’an fed them some bean dregs, then opened the map and removed the filter on the light red dots.
Hundreds of fish dots suddenly appeared at the pool’s location on the mini-map. He marked each of these dots one by one.
Amazingly, even ordinary animals could use the attachment function.
For example, when he clicked on a certain dot, a photo of an octopus appeared in the attachment – because he had seen this octopus before, so he had an image of it in his memory.
This made the statistical work much easier to carry out!
Because when the pool purification was finished, the water was especially clear, and in order to count the number of fish, he had observed carefully, so he basically had pictures of every fish.
Moreover, when annotating, he added the word “fish” to each one.
So when doing an annotation search, he could just enter “fish” to directly count the number of fish in the pool!
If a fish died, its dot would disappear, so he could see real-time changes.
After marking everything, Tang Yu’an hid the animal dots again, then revealed the dots representing plants.
He was delighted to find that three light green dots had appeared in the swimming pool.
This meant plants were growing at the bottom of the pool!
Great, there was hope for his lotus roots!
Tang Yu’an hurried to share this good news with Zhou Qi, who had just finished repairing the big hole.
“The lotus seeds may have sprouted,” Zhou Qi said, carrying Jin Lili on his back as he came with Tang Yu’an to observe the pool’s edge.
“The mud layer still seems a bit thin,” he said.
Although the tiles at the bottom had cracked and been damaged by the giant lizard’s thrashing, exposing the soil layer underneath, it would still be better to have a thicker mud layer for growing lotus roots in the future.
“Then let’s collect some soil to fill it in,” Tang Yu’an said.
The pool was so big anyway, setting aside a third of it for growing lotus flowers would be more than enough.
Since it was getting late, they postponed this work for now, planning to continue renovating their fish pond after opening the branch store.
When it was time to leave, Jin Lili waved her little hand reluctantly at Green Gem.
After just one afternoon together, she seemed to have become good friends with Green Gem.
Green Gem, which usually clung to Tang Yu’an with its tendrils and whined for a long time whenever they left, acted very maturely this time. Although Tang Yu’an could sense its reluctance, it still took the initiative to loosen its fine tendrils.
It imitated Jin Lili, waving its leaves at them in a very human-like manner.
After the two young men left with the little girl, watching their figures disappear from sight, those fine tendrils slowly retracted.
All the vines closed up again, blocking all the entrances.
Inside the swimming pool, in the room connected to the pool.
The giant main vine of the mutant plant slowly twisted its body. A point of bright green light appeared in the dim room, contracting and expanding as if breathing.
If Tang Yu’an had opened the pet menu to check at this moment, he would have seen new text appear in Green Gem’s status: [Splitting…1%……]
When they returned to the Grocery Store, as soon as they entered, Tang Yu’an felt fresh air hit his face.
This had never happened before.
Although a window at the front of the shop was open to let the plants get sunlight, all other doors and windows were tightly closed, so the Grocery Store usually felt quite stuffy inside.
However, today when they returned, there was no such feeling at all!
Not only that, but there was also a faint fragrance of grass and wood permeating the room, making one feel relaxed and carefree.
Tang Yu’an immediately thought of the spirit-gathering grass they had planted at noon. He quickly ran to the emerald green shelf and saw that the plants in the shelf were growing very well.
And among the plants, that spirit-gathering little grass had grown a few tiny new leaves.
It seems it had not only adapted to the environment, but also really liked it!
Zhou Qi also came over with Jin Lili. He could sense that the energy structure in the Grocery Store seemed to have changed.
That energy is similar to what he had felt when Granny Guo was nurturing plants and had become a bit more concentrated than before. Could this be wood elemental energy?
What benefits would come from wood elemental energy becoming more concentrated?
He pondered this, his gaze falling on the plants Tang Yu’an’s mother had grown. Their growth state had visibly improved.
Could this be due to the influence of wood elemental energy?
The spirit-gathering grass could help surrounding plants grow better, and it itself seemed to have received nourishment in return, growing a new leaf so quickly.
In any case, because of the spirit-gathering grass, the environment in the Grocery Store had become more comfortable.
“Those 50 Points were so worth it!” Tang Yu’an said happily.
He decided to browse the Dimensional Store more often in the future. Maybe he could snag more bargains like today!
Although she didn’t know what had happened, seeing Tang Yu’an so happy, Jin Lili also clapped her little hands very supportively.
She seemed to have emerged from the gloom of Tie Jin’s departure, and going around with Tang Yu’an and the others today had also made her more lively.
Tang Yu’an patted her little head, then took her to play with Yin Bi and Wang Cai.
He found that the little girl was actually quite brave. Even though Yin Bi and Wang Cai were so much bigger than her, she hadn’t cried in fear at first, and now she was playing very well with them.
In the evening, after putting Jin Lili to bed, Tang Yu’an finally started today’s lottery draw.
Today Xiao Cao had attracted 10 new customers, barely helping them complete their daily task. Her total number of customers today had also sharply decreased to 15.
However, she still helped him gain 37 Experience Points. Adding that to what they had earned during the day, they now had 56 points.
The Experience Points needed for leveling up had increased sharply again.
Originally it only took 180 points to reach level 10, but now it would take 300 points to reach level 11.
However, at their current speed, Tang Yu’an felt it was still acceptable to level up in about six or seven days.
Unfortunately, perhaps because his luck in snagging bargains today had been too excessive, he only drew 100 Points from the lucky wheel.
Tang Yu’an felt a bit disappointed, but Zhou Qi thought it was quite normal. He even suspected that the system’s treasury might have been emptied, so the probability of drawing good items had decreased.
“We’ll definitely draw something good tomorrow,” he said, patting the young man’s shoulder to comfort him.
“Okay!”
Tang Yu’an had just responded when he suddenly remembered Jin Lili sleeping nearby and quickly covered his mouth.
Then, he went to open the window of the dream Drift Bottle and looked out at the dream sea. Sure enough, there were many more Drift Bottles than in the morning.
He fished out a Drift Bottle with a particularly bright glow.
When he opened the Drift Bottle, a small ball of light floated into the air, and Little Hai Lan’s voice sounded in the loft.
“Mysterious Merchant… I want to see the Mysterious Merchant…”
He had thought it would be the monster from the abandoned chemical plant, but unexpectedly it was Little Hai Lan.
Could it be that because the probability of encountering her had increased, the glow of her Drift Bottle had become brighter?
If so, even if the probability of encountering her was increased to 100%, he could still choose according to his own wishes.
Tang Yu’an thought about it and felt this made sense. Otherwise, wouldn’t he only be able to fish out her bottles in the future?
Tang Yu’an looked at Jin Lili and saw that the little girl was sleeping soundly, seemingly not having heard Hai Lan’s voice.
He let out a small sigh of relief and said softly to the ball of light, “I’m here.”
That evening, when Hai Lan’s father came home from fishing, he saw the woolen cloth and hardwood charcoal his daughter had produced.
No matter how unbelievable it seemed, he had to believe what his daughter said was true.
His daughter had really met a Mysterious Merchant in her dreams and traded for these precious supplies from him!
He didn’t understand how they had traded, and could only attribute this to his daughter’s Ability.
That night, he closed the doors and windows tightly, then lit the charcoal, gaining a room full of warmth. Of course, the most important thing was the blanket made from the woolen cloth.
He hugged his daughter, and the father and daughter curled up under the woolen blanket. The warm breath they exhaled was trapped by the woolen blanket, and with the burning charcoal, they spent their first such warm winter night.
Unfortunately, in the following days, the Mysterious Merchant did not appear again.
The charcoal was quickly used up, but with the woolen blanket, the nights were still much better than before.
However, Hai Lan was not satisfied with this. She wanted another woolen blanket.
Because the woolen blanket was too thin, her father had folded it in half to make it warmer, but this meant his feet and lower legs weren’t covered.
She also wanted to trade for food, so her father wouldn’t have to risk his life fishing, and she wouldn’t have to worry about him dying.
“Mysterious Merchant… I want to see the Mysterious Merchant…”
She prayed almost every night in her dreams, and even forced herself to sleep during the day, but the Mysterious Merchant never appeared.
Hai Lan didn’t give up, still persistently calling for the Mysterious Merchant.
Finally, on this night, she heard that voice that made her heart leap with joy sound in her dream once again.
“I’m here.”
