Chapter 31 Fresh Food Supermarket: Cilantro Loves Milk Tea

"Shu Yi, shouldn't you explain why you stood me up yesterday?" The speaker was a muscular man with a heavy sword on his back, named Hu Ba.

The people present were all high-level players from various towns, and they were not familiar with each other. They had gathered here only because a level 65 boss had spawned here.

Unexpectedly, Shu Yi was absent from the first team formation. The lack of a core damage dealer in the first gathering greatly reduced the combat power, so the others naturally wouldn't risk fighting the BOSS.

Who wouldn't be furious if a whole day was wasted?

Hu Ba is from Chixiao Town, which is adjacent to Yunpei Town. He and Shu Yi are old acquaintances, so it is most appropriate for him to ask.

Shu Yi was not good with words and did not intend to explain. He was silent for two seconds, then took out five cups of iced lemon tea from his backpack and lined them up.

"Apologize." He only said two words.

A wisp of white steam wafted from the plastic cup through the straw, instantly calming everyone's anger. Even through their protective suits, they could feel the coolness of the milk tea.

Hu Ba's Adam's apple bobbed as he snatched a glass, ignoring the sweltering heat emanating from his protective suit. The moment the lemonade entered his mouth, he shivered: "Damn, this taste... I haven't had anything this cold in ten years!"

"Where did this come from?" The others in the group snatched their own cups, their eyes filled with envy as they looked at Shu Yi. Someone guessed, "Could it be that you had some kind of extraordinary encounter yesterday because you didn't come?"

Meeting Lin Nanxing was indeed a stroke of luck, Shu Yi nodded, tacitly agreeing with this assessment.

"Lead the way!" the five said in unison. The next second, the sound of straws slurping through empty plastic cups rang out one after another.

In less than two seconds, the large glass of lemonade disappeared into everyone's mouths. Since Shu Yi was willing to share this extraordinary encounter, it must not be a one-time consumption of the encounter.

Looking at these people's 'animalistic' behavior, Shu Yi suddenly regretted bringing them milk tea. He changed the subject, saying, "Let's go fight the BOSS first. We've already wasted a few days."

Hu Ba followed behind him and snorted coldly: "You only realize now that you've wasted time? You stood us up yesterday. Even if there was a lucky encounter with milk tea, it's still incomprehensible."

Five days later.

While strolling around his territory, Xu Yongyuan suddenly noticed a brand-new building in the southwest corner.

Curious, he approached and looked up to see the words "Xingxing Fresh Supermarket" written on the signboard.

"Huh, when did a supermarket open in the territory?"

Since his brother Xu Yongfeng and his team settled in the Star Territory, their hunting success has far surpassed that of before. The area is closer to high-level monsters, and using the Star Territory as a base greatly reduces the losses incurred on the journey.

As a weakling, Xu Yongyuan naturally stayed in his territory and didn't need to go out to hunt demons.

As the only idle person in the team, Xu Yongyuan's daily task was to stay behind to guard the territory and observe what new changes occurred there each day.

He observed the newly opened building for a few seconds, muttered something, and pushed open the door. He was greeted by a fresh aroma of fruits and vegetables.

Two rows of metal shelves held eight storage baskets, each neatly arranged with crisp cabbages, plump sweet potatoes, round potatoes, and bright red tomatoes, all exuding the fresh scent of earth and clearly just picked.

There was even a small basket of bright red chili peppers in the corner.

The fresh food supermarket only has vegetables, no meat, but the available goods are already mouthwatering.

Xu Yongyuan's eyes lit up, and he subconsciously reached out to grab it, but as soon as he touched the potato, he was blocked by a transparent barrier.

[WARNING! This supermarket is only open to official residents of Star Territory.]

"What the hell? Why is there such a restriction?" Xu Yongyuan was dumbfounded. He had never heard of any official residents in the Star Territory. He turned to the passersby who came in with him and asked, "Have you heard of this rule?"

Those nearby also received the warning and shook their heads.

Then the system prompt popped up again:

[Player has been detected as meeting the requirements for official resident of Star Territory. Do you wish to pay 1000 game coins to become an official resident?]

Tempted by the aroma of fresh fruits and vegetables, Xu Yongyuan was about to pay the thousand yuan when the chatter around him pulled him back.

"You have to pay to join a territory? These days even safe zones are charging fees?"

"Is there a trap? I've heard that some unscrupulous towns used to lure people with all sorts of conditions, and once you became a formal resident, you became their slave."

Xu Yongyuan listened to their discussion and agreed wholeheartedly. He reluctantly withdrew his hand. A thousand yuan was nothing to him, but what these people said made sense. He planned to wait for his brother Xu Yongfeng to return and discuss it before making a decision.

But while some question it, others agree with it.

"But look at those potatoes, they'd be delicious roasted. You only need 1,000 game coins to buy them, it's practically free."

“I also think so. After so many days, you have seen the treatment here. Even as slaves, we are more comfortable than people in other places.”

The constant temperature barrier alone, comparable to that of a high-powered low-temperature air conditioner, is enough to impress many people.

"You'd give up your freedom for such a small benefit?"

Before the debate could subside, the system suddenly popped up a message, clearly displaying the terms and conditions for residents of the Star Territory to everyone:

[Responsibilities of Residents of Star Territory]

1. Abide by the basic laws of the territory and maintain public order.

2. When monsters invade, you must participate in the defense (non-combat personnel can be responsible for logistics).

3. One territory assignment task (planting/construction/patrol, etc.) must be completed each month.

[Benefits for Residents of Star Territory]

1. Permanently increase health by 50

2. Base health regeneration speed increased by 1 point/minute.

3. All goods within the territory enjoy a 20% discount.

4. There is a high chance of obtaining extra food when hunting monsters.

This condition immediately caused a huge uproar.

"I can't believe my eyes! It actually says that becoming a full resident increases health and recovery speed?!"

"I've seen it too; there are so many benefits to becoming a full resident."

The crowd erupted in an uproar. In the apocalyptic game, you only have one life, so you can never cherish it too much.

For 1000 game coins, you get two buffs: one that increases maximum health and the other that increases base health regeneration. Nothing could be more useful.

If you could enjoy a buff every time you went out demon hunting, wouldn't that be...?

Thinking of this, those who were already somewhat hesitant immediately clicked to become residents of the Star Territory.

As for the responsibilities of residents mentioned in the information, they didn't take it seriously at all. It's such a simple thing that anyone who joins a town has to abide by, so why bother?

Xu Yongyuan was the fastest to act again. 1,000 game coins were quickly deducted from his account. After that, he didn't bother to check his identity information and immediately squeezed through the crowd to find his brothers.

With such good benefits for becoming a resident of Star Territory, there will definitely be a lot of people willing to pay this thousand dollars. He needs to hurry up and inform his brothers and the others, lest there be too many people and the supply falls short of demand, causing them to miss this opportunity.

Xu Yongyuan left, but the number of people in the supermarket only increased. The first few players to complete the registration were surrounded by a light green glow, and the status bar showed a new 'Star Resident' buff icon.

"It really added 50 health points!" A burly man excitedly pumped his fist. "This money was well spent!"

Lin Nanxing listened to the system notification tone with satisfaction.

The number of official residents in the territory gradually increased. Meanwhile, on the first day of the fresh food supermarket's opening, because there were no restrictions on the number of purchases, the vegetables on the shelves were sold out in less than two hours, much faster than she had expected.

The operation model of fresh food supermarkets is the same as that of vending machines. No human supervision is required. You only need to set the prices of each agricultural product and replenish the stock regularly.

Lin Nanxing's savings were replenished again, and he leisurely strolled to the farmland. From afar, he saw the coriander spirit comfortably taking root in the puddle, its leaves spreading out contentedly, looking just like a supervising old man.

Meanwhile, the clover plants under its care were working diligently in the field. Some were loosening the soil, some were watering the plants with growth accelerators, and some were even clumsily but earnestly mounding soil around the potato seedlings with small shovels rolled up with their leaves.

Looking at the coriander sprite lazily rooted in the soil, Lin Nanxing couldn't help but complain, "You're living a pretty comfortable life, aren't you?"

The coriander spirit lazily shook its leaves, looking smug and self-satisfied.

Lin Nanxing squatted down and poked its stem: "Don't just enjoy it. I've given you all my growth accelerator. Remember to grow more vegetables. The supermarket's inventory has been cleared out, and there won't be any left to sell tomorrow."

Today, they use fresh food supermarkets as a pretext to make these players their subjects, but tomorrow the fresh food supermarkets will just be empty shells.

Even without anyone questioning her, she would think it was a scam.

As Lin Nanxing spoke, before the coriander spirit could even protest, he had already prepared by taking out five different flavored fruit teas from his spatial bag and lining them up in front of it.

"Overtime pay." She gently swirled one of the peach oolong teas, and the sweet aroma of the fruit immediately filled the air.

The coriander essence's leaves instantly straightened. It twisted its stem with feigned modesty, pretended to think for three seconds, and then, with lightning speed, extended its roots, grabbed all the cups, and began to gulp them down.

Lin Nanxing accidentally discovered that coriander extract liked to drink milk tea.

She has been working at the milk tea shop for the past few days, searching for seeds that are still viable, since she can save as much money as possible out of the ten thousand yuan.

Sometimes, when she finds too many seeds, she treats the leftover milk tea as kitchen waste and puts it in a corner of the milk tea shop.

When she finished her work and went to clean up the unfinished milk tea, she only found empty cups that had been licked clean.

It took her two days of surveillance to finally catch the person who stole the milk tea. It was a clover with the ability to hide, and the culprit was the coriander spirit in front of her who was still chugging it down. It was this spirit that ordered its underlings to steal it.

"Drink slowly, no one's going to take it from you." Lin Nanxing watched as it scraped the last pearl clean, and once again marveled at the fact that a plant could drink milk tea. "It's a deal, after you finish drinking this, you have to finish harvesting all the crops in the fields tonight."

After giving some instructions about the coriander extract, Lin Nanxing hadn't even gotten up when she saw Sister Lan walking towards her in a hurry.

"Nanxing, I've finally found you!"

Lin Nanxing was squatting by the edge of the field, watching the coriander spirit chugging down its fifth cup of milk tea. Hearing Lin Qiulan's anxious voice, she patted the coriander spirit's leaves: "Drink slowly, don't soak the roots and stems."

Only then did he get up and go to greet her.

"What's wrong, Sister Lan?" She patted the dirt off her hands and asked nervously, "Is another beast tide coming?"