Chapter 18: The 18th Day of Livestream Selling
After they finished packing today’s goods, the livestream ended. Qin Xiaoman happily rode his little electric scooter home from work, but Lin Zhao did not rush to leave his post as usual. Instead, he stayed behind and began taking inventory of the food-themed toys in the supermarket.
In supermarkets mainly focused on daily goods and food, the toy section usually took up around 5% to 8% of the space. The little supermarket Lin Zhao had taken over was no exception. Considering the train station’s relocation and the sudden drop in foot traffic, the toys had really had no sales over the past half year. Including inventory, the total number of individual food-themed toys was only around eighty. They included, but were not limited to, surprise eggs, gem rings, biscuit building blocks, and so on.
“How many children watched my livestream this time?” Lin Zhao asked 1114.
But before 1114 could give an accurate answer, he said again, “Forget it. Just tell me whether the toys in the supermarket are enough for each child to get one. If not, can you help me restock some more? The standard is one for every child who watched the livestream this time. Do I have enough money?”
Of course he had enough.
Toys, these small commodities that could be mass-produced in large batches through machine assembly lines, were one of the categories with the greatest profit margin. Food-themed toys were the same. Their wholesale prices were often not even calculated by how much each individual item cost, but directly by weight.
Kaman itself did not have a large population base after the material scarcity following nuclear winter, and the survival rate of children went without saying. 1114 had also livestreamed randomly, so the number of children who had seen the livestream that day was not some enormous figure. It could even be said that most of them were concentrated in Gear Town, which was relatively friendly to the old, weak, sick, and disabled.
Lin Zhao did not know which child had sent him the blessing, and 1114 had no authority to reveal other people’s privacy. They could only use this clumsy exhaustive method to give every child a surprise.
Of course, he was not some incredibly wealthy rich person at the moment either. This was about the limit of what he could do within his ability.
“Can you do targeted delivery?”
“I can.” Although 1114 asked customers to fill in an address before every shipment, in reality, it did not need one. The reason for the address-filling process was simply because some customers, like Mr. Gray, had situations where the place they needed the goods delivered and their actual location were not the same.
A job like anonymously delivering one food toy to the bedside of every child with precision, while a little troublesome, was only a matter of a few hours for 1114.
Since it had “worked overtime” that night, Lin Zhao gave it the entire next day off.
“C-can it be done like that?” 1114 was slightly confused.
It was not that it disliked resting. It was now becoming more and more used to having holidays that belonged only to itself. During this time that belonged solely to it, it could do everything it liked. It was just—
“I didn’t see any other company bosses online calculating overtime like this. Is this right?”
Lin Zhao still had his own set of crooked logic. “If I borrow something of yours, do I have to return it to you later? And the essence of overtime, to put it plainly, is borrowing time from an employee. Since I occupied the rest time that should have belonged to you, shouldn’t I return it during later working hours?”
“Oh, right.” 1114 half-understood and half-did not, only feeling that what its host said made a lot of sense.
And during the day when 1114 harvested happiness, all the children of Gear Town also opened their eyes to see the little surprises that had inexplicably appeared in their hands.
They were not the most precious things, nor were they the best things, but they made every child sincerely let out a “Wow.”
For quite a few of them, this was even the first toy of their lives.
Some children curiously squeezed the realistic food gummies in the bags, while others reached out several times but did not quite dare touch the fluffy marshmallow that looked like a plush doll. It looked so soft, and also so fragile.
After that, Lin Zhao diligently livestreamed for a while.
It was still basically the same routine: put the camera to one side and stop caring about it. He and Qin Xiaoman were only responsible for working hard with their heads down.
And through the two of them persevering in their efforts, the goods Mr. Gray had arranged to send to different regions of Kaman were basically being shipped out one after another and were almost finished.
It was clear that this mercenary should have earned quite a lot. Lin Zhao’s private-message inbox was almost exploding from people on Kaman’s side asking him questions. Lin Zhao had been livestreaming all this time, but he had not listed any product links again, because his little supermarket had already sold everything there was to sell. Nearly everything left had also been rounded up by Gray’s third pre-order.
This tough man, who acted decisively, almost came back to Lin Zhao without stopping to make another batch of product reservations the moment he got money.
The transaction points between the two of them were like a snowball. In just a few short days, they began growing exponentially, looking even more thrilling than the A-share market index.
Lin Zhao was so busy his feet almost did not touch the ground. Qin Xiaoman was already itching to mobilize his entire family to come help.
Because of this, aside from Mechanic, who thirsted for knowledge, Lin Zhao was not in a hurry to trade with other people from Kaman. In fact, even if his supermarket had not been emptied by Gray, he genuinely could not keep up with the packing. They could only wait until Mechanic’s robots arrived.
As the number of transactions kept increasing, Lin Zhao was finally able to open his system mall.
Because of this, he also saw his own backend panel. The core data was all written on it, clear at a glance in a classic upgrade-flow style.
Name: Lin Zhao.
Physical Fitness: 41/100. Failing. Please strengthen your exercise, host.
[???]: Just entered the beginner stage. Unable to detect. But resilience is outstanding, and potential is limitless.
Bloodline: Pure-blooded Blue Star human. No bloodline or genetic modification has been performed.
Level: Entry-Level Merchant.
Active Trade [???]: 2. One more region awaiting selection.
Portable Space: Not unlocked.
Credit Rating: One star. Note: Small credit purchases are available, with a limit of 100 transaction points.
Lin Zhao directly skipped over the censored parts. After all, he had nowhere to guess from, and 1114 could not explain it clearly either.
This system with a damaged head could actually explain quite a lot. For example, the bloodline section supposedly meant that corresponding genetic locks could be purchased from the system mall after later unlocking, giving Lin Zhao an all-around upgrade. It was just that the price was extremely ridiculous, and he was currently quite satisfied with being an ordinary Blue Star person.
What Lin Zhao truly focused on was the level column, which at one glance was clearly part of a complete upgrade system.
[???] Newbie: Points required for upgrade: 0. Initial level. Core authority: Unlock “value assessment” function. Three free beginner lottery draws. 0/3.
Entry-Level Merchant: Points required for upgrade: 1,000. Core authority: Unlock the first layer of the system mall.
Official Merchant: Points required for upgrade: 5,000. Core authority: Unlock 10 cubic meters of portable space. May simultaneously maintain links with five fixed [???]…
Lin Zhao could not see the upgrade directions after that. He could only see the levels he had reached and the next stage he could advance to.
It was like a carrot dangling in front of a donkey’s eyes, obviously designed to urge the host to work hard.
The entire interface of the system mall was similar to Lin Zhao’s data panel: simple and futuristic in design, with deep blue as the base and flowing light outlining everything. The goods were not simply listed, but floated in the air in the form of holographic projections, always slowly rotating. On the right were clear category labels:
Supplies — guaranteeing your life.
Tools — transaction efficiency determines product profit.
Knowledge — cognition is the best leverage.
Special — randomly refreshed every month.
There were four categories in total, and after each was opened, it would expand into several products. Beneath them were flashing pale-blue price tags, and every single price…
Looked like something Lin Zhao could not afford for the time being.
He browsed over the product called Body Restoration Potion — Beginner again and again. Looking at that thin test tube of medicine, he felt that what sparkled inside was not golden light, but the beautiful future of his entire family.
The price was just truly intimidating.
Just as Lin Zhao was still mentally weighing whether he should sell his house now to buy health for his whole family, 1114, flying at the side, suddenly began exploding fireworks.
All kinds of virtual fireworks popped out of its head as though they cost nothing, and it even personally added some silly little sound effects, things like whoosh whoosh bang.
A question mark slowly appeared on Lin Zhao’s fair face.
1114 immediately began introducing things enthusiastically with a string of rapid chatter, its tone exactly like Qin Xiaoman when he acted as control host. It first congratulated the host on officially entering the trade profession, then explained why it had suddenly started celebrating. It was because Lin Zhao had triggered a bottom-level code pre-designed by the mainframe:
“When the host establishes a stable link channel with a third region, the system mall will welcome its first discount event. The entire store will be 90% off. You can only buy three items from the already unlocked first layer. Epic-level discount, only this once, no compensation if missed!”
No matter how Lin Zhao looked at it, it seemed like another consumerist trap set by the mainframe.
But…
“Is the host not participating?” 1114 tilted its head.
Lin Zhao looked once more at the beginner body restoration potion that had made him linger and forget to leave, and the only option left was to nod.
He would no longer die, but that did not mean the genetic terminal illness inside his body no longer existed. He still understood the basic truth that mountains one relied on could collapse, and people one relied on could run away. Being able to completely cure himself was naturally more reassuring than staying bound to the system forever.
Most importantly, this potion belonged to the type that could treat illness if one was sick and strengthen the body if one was not.
And Lin Zhao’s aunt, Lin Mingzhu, was no longer young.
This was a trap he was willing to step into wholeheartedly.
Lin Zhao, who had previously still been shouting that the things in the system mall were too expensive, did not feel they were expensive at all this time, even though these products were still a very considerable amount even after a 90% discount. But without 1114 needing to urge him, Lin Zhao had already clicked open the third-region selection page without hesitation.
The imperial mothership Goddess of Disaster, whose destination was the mother planet Eurybia, was still sailing.
His Highness Reinhardt, already a tall adult man, was currently staring at a chocolate sword.
This thing had appeared in his hand out of thin air. He was very certain of that. In fact, the reason he had startled awake was precisely because this object had suddenly appeared from nowhere. Although the mental fluctuation in that instant had been extremely faint and lasted only a moment, it was still captured by this Highness with SSS-level mental power.
Unfortunately, the other side really seemed to have only wanted to give a gift. After putting down the chocolate sword, they disappeared without a trace, and no trace of their existence could be caught again.
The reason Reinhardt judged this to be a gift and not some conspiracy was the familiar yet unfamiliar square characters on the wrapping paper.
He did not recognize a single one of these characters, but he had indeed just seen them yesterday, in Lin Zhao’s livestream room. Although the livestream room had 1114’s bilateral translation, the words on the original packaging of those goods did not. Reinhardt also did not know why he would subconsciously remember these square, upright characters that he might never use in his entire life. But in short, he had remembered them.
And now, this good memory of his had helped him.
It allowed him to understand the source of this gift immediately.
His Highness Reinhardt became somewhat unable to sit still on the spot, but he still worked hard to suppress his impatient heart. Following his usual habit, he first got up to exercise, then trained his mental power, and finally tidied himself up until he was impeccably neat. Only then did he appear before everyone in the starship dining hall.
His first sentence was directed at his adjutant, who was eating a sandwich while scrolling through his optical computer.
“What news is there this morning?”
Adjutant Carlos looked up blankly, and his instinctive reaction was to almost reply, “Were you possessed?”
Fortunately, His Highness Reinhardt’s map of Yan was not long. Before Adjutant Carlos could say anything treasonous, this prince, who always had strange ideas, had already revealed the dagger named “How did you know I received a gift?”
Only I have one.
Do not ask how he knew. He had already asked all his subordinates who had squatted in the livestream room yesterday, and none of them had received this mysterious gift that appeared in their hands.
Only him!
Author’s Note:
Nonsense Mini Theater:
Reinhardt: What does this prove?
Carlos: It proves that your prospective partner can only be living in a pending-upgrade zone and is unlikely to be from a remote inferior star. Because even the most remote star systems can use interstellar express delivery. This kind of method that requires direct transmission through mental power can only belong to star systems that have not yet formally entered the Universal Alliance.
Reinhardt: It proves he has me in his heart!!!
![After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar]](https://i1.wp.com/panda-translations.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/20220822190944_300_420.jpg?resize=151,215 "After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar]")
