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Ying Hu’s smile deepened as he led the group to the dining area, “Here, the base for the hotpot costs one seventh-level crystal core, and a plate of meat slices costs one sixth-level crystal core.”
Upon hearing the prices, the survivors couldn’t help but gasp. Although they had inquired about the prices beforehand, they still found them steep, especially since the base was more expensive than the meat slices.
“That’s an authentic beef tallow base. It’s been ten years since the apocalypse, and only our place still serves the most authentic beef tallow base. You’ll know the difference as soon as you taste it,” Ying Hu immediately explained upon hearing the survivors’ murmurs.
The survivors glanced at the neighboring table, where the meat slices looked increasingly scarce, gritted their teeth, and handed over their crystal cores.
Soon, a pot was brought out, along with two plates of mutated beast meat. As soon as the meat slices were served, the survivors were hit with a pungent, fishy smell.
They instinctively frowned and leaned back. Not only did the meat look unappetizing, but the base also appeared bland, with only a few droplets of oil floating on the surface.
When the meat slices were dipped into the pot, it appeared no different from blanching them in plain water. The meat was tough and fishy, and the base only had a faint hint of beef tallow. So, where exactly did the enticing aroma they smelled upon entering come from?
The survivors were extremely dissatisfied with the meal. It turned out that this hotpot place was nothing special, far from what others had claimed, and it had even cost them a significant number of crystal cores.
When they left, their faces were almost black with displeasure.
After seeing off all the survivors who had come to eat, Ying Hu counted the crystal cores in his pocket, grinning from ear to ear.
“It’s still you who really has a way, getting some leftover soup base from that hotpot place and using it to make a fortune,” another man laughed as he slung his arm around Ying Hu’s shoulder.
Ying Hu chuckled, “That Boss Jiang is a fool. She has such a valuable resource but only earns pennies. Truly, long hair but short-sighted.”
Then, he called out to the survivors still eating hotpot inside, “Alright, they’re gone. No need to act anymore. Remember to put the props back, and don’t damage them.”
The survivors, who had been pretending to enjoy their meal, immediately changed their expressions, spitting out the meat in their mouths.
“This is way too fishy,” one survivor complained.
“Stop eating it. The toxins haven’t been fully removed. Eating too much might shorten your life,” another survivor kindly warned a young newcomer who had been hurriedly stuffing a piece of meat into his mouth.
“Huh? But didn’t Brother Ying say the toxins were all been processed?” the young survivor asked naively.
“Are you stupid? That was just to fool others. If we didn’t say that, who would come here to spend their crystal cores? And if the toxins could be completely removed, wouldn’t we have been eating this sort of meat ages ago? Why wait until now?”
The young survivor quickly spat out the meat in his mouth and reached for some water to rinse his mouth.
“Wait, the water’s toxic too. You’d better drink some nutrient solution later,” the survivor in front of him dropped another bombshell.
The water he had just sipped was immediately spat out.
“You really don’t know anything? Then why did you even come along?”
“I… I just wanted to earn some crystal cores to support my sister,” the young survivor stammered.
The survivor in front of him fell silent for a moment, then whispered, “This is a shady business. Avoid it if you can. Go home early.”
After saying that, he left without looking back, leaving the young survivor standing there in place.
*
pls do not share this anywhere or u will always stub ur toe when u walk past a door frame !! this translation has been stolen from mioscorner.com, pls only read there i’m begging u :kneels:
As the number of employees increased, Jiang Ci finally found herself with some real free time. Each store now had enough staff, so she and Song Jinchuan took a few days off to deliver takeout, finally finishing all the delivery flyers they had previously distributed.
Soon after, she handed out another batch, and this time, the survivors’ enthusiasm was even greater than before. The thick stack of delivery slips was quickly depleted.
However, what surprised Jiang Ci was that recently, fewer survivors from cities outside of City C had been coming. Logically speaking, the lingering effects of the previous advertisements shouldn’t have faded so quickly.
However, she had also heard that mutated beasts and zombies in various places were becoming more active, so it seemed people didn’t have much time to spend on leisure and enjoyment anymore.
This wasn’t only the case in other cities, but also in City C, where things were starting to get unsettled.
Jiang Ci overheard survivors who came to the store for food mention that a high-level zombie was leading a horde of zombies to attack a base.
Since arriving here, she had seen quite a few high-level mutated beasts, but high-level zombies were something she had rarely encountered.
High-level zombies possessed higher intelligence and abilities, making them a formidable challenge for humans.
When Jiang Ci went out to deliver takeout and hadn’t brought Hui Hui or Xiao Lulu out with her, she happened to come across a high-level zombie once.
The high-level zombie looked quite different from ordinary zombies. It no longer resembled a human at all. Its entire body was pale and emaciated, crouched on the ground with long, slender limbs and a protruding spine that made it look quite terrifying.
In front of it stood a large group of lower level zombies, their figures dark and dense. Jiang Ci and Song Jinchuan watched from a distance, their ears filled with the growls and roars of the zombies.
Jiang Ci didn’t know how they communicated, but after a series of growls and roars of varying intensity, they all headed in a certain direction.
At that moment, Jiang Ci was in a hurry to deliver the takeout, so she didn’t pay attention to where they were going.
However, when she arrived at the delivery location, she coincidentally found that the zombies had slowly surrounded the base.
Turns out their destination was the same after all.
The people inside the base had clearly noticed the zombies attempting to invade. Many stood atop the walls, their expressions serious and ready for battle.
Amidst this tense atmosphere, the already nervous survivors suddenly saw a familiar electric scooter approaching from the distance, its headlights brightly illuminating the road ahead and the zombies.
Then, the scooter slowly made its way through the horde of zombies and successfully reached the base’s wall.
The survivors watched in disbelief as Boss Jiang took off her helmet, looked up at the people on the wall, and said in a cheerful tone, “Hello, your takeout has arrived.”
The survivors: “…”
The tense atmosphere was completely shattered as the survivors’ minds began to loop Jiang Ci’s cheerful announcement, “Your takeout has arrived, your takeout has arrived!”
This unexpected interruption made the horde of dark, menacing zombies seem a little less terrifying.
“Boss Jiang, please come in first,” the survivors said, unwilling to leave Jiang Ci to her fate. They prepared to open the base’s gate.
Jiang Ci glanced at the approaching zombies and shook her head, “No need. It wouldn’t be good if the zombies got inside.”
However, with the zombies blocking the gate, the survivors inside couldn’t retrieve their food, which posed another problem.
So, Jiang Ci had Song Jinchuan park the electric scooter, and then she released a vast expanse of black mist along the zombies’ path, creating a barrier in front of them.
The survivors were astonished by the mysterious black fog. They had never seen Jiang Ci take direct action before. What was this flowing, dark barrier?
Just as everyone was puzzled, the zombies that approached the black mist simply vanished, as if absorbed by the fog.
A high-level zombie watching from afar roared in anger and unleashed a burst of earthen-colored energy—a sign of its earth attribute abilities.
The survivors braced themselves for a tough battle, some even leaping down from the walls.
But in the next moment, all the earthen energy was absorbed by the black barrier Jiang Ci had erected.
Seeing the effective result, Jiang Ci clapped her hands and returned to the base wall, “Alright, you can open the gate now.”
Still in a daze, the survivors descended and opened the gate to let Jiang Ci in.
They had expected a fierce battle, but to their surprise, Jiang Ci had effortlessly dismantled the threat.
Jiang Ci handed over the delivery ingredients to the survivors and even performed a secret menu noodle-pulling act.
Even after Jiang Ci left, the survivors on the walls remained in awe, watching as the zombies continued to disappear into the black mist.
After this incident, the survivors carefully preserved their delivery orders, preferring to walk the extra distance rather than use them casually. Some bases even offered high prices to reclaim them, saving them for future crises.
Noticing the decrease in orders, Jiang Ci enjoyed the newfound leisure and focused on researching her hope ability in her courtyard.
She recently discovered that this ability might have more uses than she initially thought, and that the word “hope” itself could represent a lot of it.
However, before she could delve any deeper, her mission of selling a thousand breakfast sets was completed, allowing her to unlock fish hotpot and grilled eggplant.
When Jiang Ci heard about the mission reward, she was in the backyard watering the vegetable garden with Song Jinchuan. The garden had grown after several expansions, and Jiang Ci had even bought some medicinal herb seeds from the store to plant.
Nowadays, survivors weren’t just lacking food and clothing—medical care was also a critical issue. She often heard survivors complain that a single illness could cost them half their savings, with severe cases even costing them everything they had.
Medical treatment wasn’t as convenient as before, and its effects were also slower.
If she could grow herbs that could prevent and treat basic illnesses, it would undoubtedly be very useful in this environment.
The system probably placed these seeds in the mall with the same intention.
She proceeded to clear a patch of land to plant medicinal herbs. The seeds had just been sown recently, and now tiny sprouts were beginning to emerge.
Jiang Ci also tried using her ability to water the plants. She controlled her ability, transforming the water orb into a large sieve, and moved it around to water the plants in the field.
She wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination or not, but after watering the plants, Jiang Ci felt like the medicinal herbs had grown just a little bit taller.
Before she could take a closer look, Jiang Ci noticed Aunt Mo Yun hurrying from the back door of the small courtyard toward the direction of the staff dormitory.
Seeing that the other person looked somewhat anxious, Jiang Ci quickly stepped forward to ask what had happened.
“Sisi is back, and she brought a teammate who seems to be injured. She asked me to go back and get some anti-inflammatory medicine,” Aunt Mo Yun explained hurriedly upon hearing Jiang Ci’s voice.
the translator has nothing to add ◡̈
