Chapter 1
"An An, your mother and I are going out to buy some goods. Please take a look at the shop."
Mr. Tang moved all the goods in front of the door into the house, leaving only an open window.
He patted his son's head and told him, "Do your homework well at home. If there are too many people to take care of you, you can close the shop and wait for us to come back."
"OK."
Tang Yu'an nodded, watched his parents get on the pickup truck and leave, then turned and went into the house.
Their shop is not big. It is filled with daily groceries from the doorstep. After walking a few meters, it is blocked by shipping containers, leaving only a gap to separate the living area at the back.
As soon as he entered the house, Tang Yu'an couldn't help sneezing.
He touched his nose and looked out the window.
It was a little after four in the afternoon, but it was already getting dark outside, with a cool breeze blowing. I didn't know if it was going to rain.
Tang Yu'an turned on the small desk lamp on the counter and took out his textbooks and homework from his schoolbag.
He worked on his homework seriously and took care of his business from time to time.
There were people coming and going on the street outside.
From time to time, someone would come to buy a pack of cigarettes, and some children passing by after school would come to buy candy.
Tang Yu'an multitasked and quickly passed all the levels.
Just when he was stuck on the last big question, he happened to hear footsteps. Tang Yu'an thought it was a guest, but when he turned his head and saw who was coming, he couldn't help but feel happy.
"Brother Xiaoqi!"
A young boy in a blue and white school uniform appeared outside the window. He was carrying a schoolbag, had a tall and slender figure, and a gentle smile on his young and innocent face.
He is the neighbor’s brother, Zhou Qi.
Zhou Qi is three years older than Tang Yu'an. As soon as Tang Yu'an learned to walk, he loved to follow behind him and ran around with him everywhere like a clingy person.
Now that they have grown up, they still have a good relationship.
"Are you home alone?" Zhou Qi leaned casually on the windowsill and asked him through the window.
"Yeah, my parents went to buy some goods."
Tang Yu'an ran to the door and opened it. "Brother Xiaoqi, come in quickly. I don't understand a question. Please explain it to me."
"Where's your sister?"
"Xinxin was called away by her friends right after school. She's probably jumping rope in the park now."
At this time Zhou Qi walked in.
Tang Yu'an suddenly stopped and looked behind him.
Zhou Qi smiled at him and handed him the transparent plastic bag in his hand, which contained steaming glutinous rice balls and fried sweet potato chips, emitting a faint fragrance.
Tang Yu'an stopped talking because he smelled something.
"Wow, it's delicious!" Tang Yu'an's eyes lit up, "Thank you, Brother Xiaoqi!"
Zhou Qi reached out and rubbed his head. Tang Yu'an didn't hide. He took the snack with a smile and watched Zhou Qi bend down and take the bricks next to him to help him hold the door.
"Brother Xiaoqi, I don't understand a question. Can you explain it to me?"
"good."
Tang Yu'an just started the first grade of junior high school, and Zhou Qi would come to help him with his homework after school every day.
In addition to the affection they had for each other since childhood, he was even more grateful for the help and care Tang Yu'an's parents had given him...
Zhou Qi is an orphan who grew up relying on his grandmother.
As neighbors, the Tang family helped him and his grandmother a lot, especially when his grandmother was bedridden, giving the young him some support.
After his grandmother passed away, she took the initiative to cover Zhou Qi's tuition and living expenses.
Fortunately, Zhou Qi is a promising student. This year, he was admitted to the key high school in the city with excellent grades. Not only did he have his tuition reduced, he also received a scholarship.
"Sneezes—"
Tang Yu'an suddenly sneezed.
Zhou Qi frowned slightly, looked at him and said, "Did you catch a cold?"
The flu has been very serious recently, and at least half of the students in their class have been infected. Seeing Tang Yu'an sneezing, he couldn't help but feel worried.
"That shouldn't be the case." Tang Yu'an rubbed his nose. "It's just a little itchy, not runny."
Seeing that he looked normal and in good spirits, Zhou Qi finally felt relieved, but he still said, "Then don't eat the fried sweet potatoes and glutinous rice balls. They're too hot."
Tang Yu'an suddenly looked resentful.
"It's okay to eat a little bit..."
"Bang--"
At this moment, the door of the grocery store suddenly closed automatically, and the loud noise startled both of them.
"Is it the wind that's too strong?"
Tang Yu'an muttered, jumped off the chair first, and ran to open the door.
But when he pushed the door open with great effort, he was stunned to see that the bustling street scene outside was no longer there. It had become a desolate world with collapsed buildings and no one in sight.
At the same time, a crisp electronic sound rang in his ears: [Ding~ Doomsday Grocery Store System is online! ]
Looking at the words that suddenly appeared in front of him, Tang Yu'an subconsciously stepped back, but was tripped by the debris at his feet and fell backwards to the ground.
"An An!"
Zhou Qi ran over, made sure that he was not injured, and reached out to close the door again.
Yet, through the window holes, they could still see that the outside was no longer the familiar prosperous streets, but a world covered in dark clouds, like a ruin without any life...
After trying several times and finding that the scenery outside did not change even after closing all the doors and windows and reopening them, Zhou Qi stopped.
The boy's face was filled with confusion, but when facing Tang Yu'an, he managed to maintain his composure.
"An An, you stay here, I'll go out and take a look."
Zhou Qi wanted to walk out of the grocery store, but Tang Yu'an grabbed his hand. He heard Tang Yu'an ask him, "Brother Xiaoqi, can you see the words in the air?"
"What word?"
"It was on a transparent panel with black and gold text that read: Doomsday Grocery Store System is now online..."
Zhou Qi couldn't help but be shocked.
Doomsday...System...
He looked up and around, making sure he couldn't see the kind of text Tang Yu'an was talking about, then shook his head and said, "No."
At this moment, the electronic sound rang in Tang Yu'an's ears again, and the text on the panel in front of him also changed.
【Congratulations on being selected to become a Doomsday Plane Merchant! 】
[Personal panel opening...]
Tang Yu'an looked at the desolate and terrifying world outside in the silence, and then looked at the strange words in front of him, and he suddenly realized something.
"You brought us here?" Tang Yu'an said anxiously, "I don't want to be a businessman. No matter who you are, please send us home!"
Perhaps his emotions were fluctuating too violently, and the voice that had originally quieted down rang out again.
[The host was chosen because the host's birthplace has entered the doomsday countdown. Even if you return, you will be destroyed along with your birthplace without any power.]
Tang Yu'an stared blankly at the text, her eyes suddenly reddened, "You...you mean my dad, mom, and Xinxin...are they all going to die?"
Is their world about to end?
The boy obviously couldn't bear such a blow. He shook his head and panicked.
However, when he saw the strange world outside through the open door, he suddenly realized... this might be true.
This thing called the system had the ability to teleport them and the entire grocery store here, and it seemed unnecessary for it to deceive him.
Tang Yu'an tried to calm himself down. He asked, "Why is our world destroyed? There must be a reason, right?"
[Sorry, insufficient energy to determine]
"Then can you bring mom, dad, and Xinxin along?"
[Sorry, insufficient energy to transmit]
[The personal panel has been opened, and the intelligent system is about to go into hibernation. Please complete the task carefully.]
[Become a top-level plane merchant, and everything you want will be at your fingertips]
When this sentence appeared, the panel in front of Tang Yu'an flickered, and then the text shrank to the corner, and a new function panel appeared in front of him.
The electronic voice that had just spoken in his ear fell silent.
"Intelligent system? Intelligent system?"
No matter how Tang Yu'an called out, no new text appeared on the panel in front of him, and the mechanical electronic sound did not sound again.
"An An?"
Tang Yu'an looked up and saw Zhou Qi's worried and confused eyes. He had no choice but to suppress his fear and sadness and explain to him in detail the information he had obtained from the system.
After hearing Tang Yu'an's words, Zhou Qi's face turned pale.
After a long moment, he murmured, "It seems we won't be able to go back anytime soon..."
"Is it possible for us to go back in the future?" Tang Yu'an also looked distraught.
"If we can recharge the system and wake it up, maybe there's a chance?" Zhou Qi speculated. "Doesn't it say that becoming a top-tier dimensional merchant means you can get anything?"
A glimmer of hope ignited in Tang Yu'an's heart, but he quickly withered away. "But, the system says that our world has entered the countdown to doomsday..."
Even if I could go back, I probably wouldn't be able to stay there for long before the world is destroyed, right?
Zhou Qi looked at him with a firm gaze: "So, we must not only work hard to upgrade and become top-level planar merchants, but also find a way to resolve the Earth crisis before returning."
In fact, Zhou Qi was unsure, but... they needed this goal. At least after hearing his words, Tang Yu'an finally calmed down.
"Brother Xiaoqi, I understand."
Tang Yu'an wiped his face and said seriously, "Let's find a way to go home together."
Also, save your family and Earth.
Zhou Qi exhaled slowly and reached out to touch the top of his head. "First, let's see what the system means by the personal panel."
"good."
Tang Yu'an calmed down and focused his attention on the panel floating in the air again.
This is a translucent light screen. After the intelligent system fell into hibernation, he seemed to have gained control over it and could freely fold and appear it according to his wishes.
Five sections appeared on the light screen: Personal Information, Mall, Store, Item List and Tasks.
Tang Yu'an's gaze fell on the first section. As he thought, the section was automatically selected and opened, and lines of information were displayed before his eyes.
Name: Tang Yu'an
Nickname: Not set
Merchant Level: lv0 (0/10)
Shop: Ping An Grocery Store
Employees: 0
Points: 0
Pets: No
Ping'an Grocery Store is the name of their grocery store.
On the personal information page, the store name was light gold. As Tang Yuan thought about it, the store page appeared in front of him.
【Ping An Grocery Store】
Level: lv0
Description: An ordinary grocery store, with nothing special except for a small amount of goods.
Total transactions: 0
Accumulated points: 0
Apart from being able to rename it, there are no other operational functions. Of course, it is impossible to change the name. After all, this is his ancestral property and it is also his thought for his parents.
Tang Yu'an took a quick look and then exited and returned to the homepage, entering the "Mall" section.
The mall is divided into two parts, wholesale market and acquisition.
Wholesale market...does that mean you can buy things? Tang Yu'an couldn't help but be shocked and quickly clicked on the wholesale market to look at it.
While Tang Yu'an was carefully studying the grocery store system panel, Zhou Qi did not disturb him. Instead, he quietly stood up and began to check the situation inside the house.
The small desk lamp that Tang Yu'an had turned on earlier has gone out.
Zhou Qi fumbled for the light switch, and after confirming that he couldn't turn on the light, he went to the kitchen at the back of the house and turned on the faucet to check.
Not surprisingly, they are now without water and electricity.
end……
Zhou Qi pursed his lips and came out of the kitchen. Seeing that the back door of the grocery store was open, he hurried over to close and lock it. Still feeling uneasy, he took a shoulder pole and locked it.
Then he found a flashlight, walked lightly as he passed Tang Yu'an, and finally walked out of the grocery store through the front door.
The light outside became noticeably dimmer.
Zhou Qi climbed up the stone blocking the door a few steps away and looked around.
There is an open space in front of the grocery store, with large and small stones piled up. Abandoned cars buried underneath can be vaguely seen, and unknown plants are growing from the cracks in the stones.
Opposite the grocery store are several collapsed buildings, with gravel and sand constantly falling under the erosion of the evening breeze.
Anything further away is out of sight, as the scenery is hidden in the night and fog, but one can still imagine how tragic a disaster this city once suffered.
Zhou Qi withdrew his gaze, turned around and looked, then was forced to look up.
Ping'an Grocery Store is located right under two collapsed buildings, squeezed in this triangular space, and it looks precarious no matter how you look at it.
When Zhou Qi walked around outside and returned to the grocery store, Tang Yu'an had almost finished studying the system panel and was about to go find him.
"Brother Xiaoqi!"
Seeing him come back, Tang Yu'an hurried forward and asked, "How is it? Did you find anything?"
Zhou Qi shook his head, briefly explained the situation outside, and then expressed his concerns. They were not short of food at the moment, but they had to find a way to go out and find water.
There was only one box of mineral water left in the grocery store. It was probably because the system lacked energy and failed to bring all the goods over. The water tank in the kitchen was only half full. It wouldn't take too long if they were a little more conserved.
Hearing this, Tang Yu'an laughed.
This was the first time he smiled since crossing over. He said, "Don't worry about that. The system can redeem it."
"exchange?"
"Yeah!" Tang Yu'an nodded. "The system has a mall section where you can redeem points for goods, including water for grocery stores."
Of course, perhaps because his level was not high enough, the wholesale market panel currently only displayed three items that could be exchanged -
Grocery store water use: 1 point/L
Brown rice: 1 point/100g
Salt: 1 point/10 grams.
After understanding what he said, Zhou Qi's eyes lit up.
Water, rice and salt are important supplies for basic living. If they can really be exchanged, they should be able to survive for a long time.
"How do I exchange it? Are there any conditions?" Zhou Qi asked.
"You need points." Tang Yu'an explained to him, "Points can be obtained through trading and completing tasks. There are daily and weekly tasks now."
He opened the task interface and read it to Zhou Qi. The light screen in front of him read:
【Daily tasks (refreshed at 00:00 every day)】
⑴Complete transaction (0/1)
⑵Purchase goods at the wholesale market (0/10)
⑶ Use the item list function to organize goods (0/1)
⑷ Clean the shop (0/1)
⑸Complete the transaction and gain profit (0/1)
[Weekly Quest (refreshed at 00:00 after seven days)]
⑴Complete the transaction and gain profit (0/10)
⑵ Cultivate a regular customer (0/1)
"Although there's no mention of any rewards for completing these two tasks, according to the points rules, you should be able to earn points as long as you complete them."
Zhou Qi nodded, thought for a moment, took out a stack of change from his pocket, took out a ten-yuan note and handed it to Tang Yu'an.
"I'll buy you a pound of scallion chicken biscuits. You don't need to give me the change for the ten dollars."
He often came to the Tang family and occasionally helped with business, so he had some knowledge of the prices of some goods. A pound of chicken slices with green onions cost seven yuan, which should be profitable according to the prices in the original world.
But now that we are in the apocalypse, it may not be so...
Sure enough, after Tang Yu'an weighed the biscuits to him, he saw the panel appear -
You completed a loss-making transaction with a new customer, experience points +3, points +0.
"No, it means I lost money, but I did gain experience points." Tang Yu'an said.
On his personal information panel, the experience bar has become 3/10. He should be able to upgrade after a few more transactions. Doesn't it seem like a loss?
At the same time, new text appeared on the system panel again:
[You completed the daily task (1), points +2]
"You can get points by completing daily tasks!" Tang Yu'an happily shared the good news with Zhou Qi.
This way they don’t have to worry about water problems!
Zhou Qi also showed a hint of a smile on his face. Then, he grabbed a handful of cookies from the ones Tang Yu'an had just "sold" to him, tentatively handed them to him, and said, "I'll use these five cookies to exchange for the ten dollars in your hand."
In the end times, the financial system collapses, and paper money is just a piece of waste paper that cannot be exchanged for cookies. What about the other way around?
Tang Yu'an was stunned for a moment, but still handed over the ten yuan and then took the biscuits.
result--
You completed a profitable transaction with a returning customer, gaining +2 experience points and +2 credits.
[You completed daily task ⑸, points +2]
Tang Yuan:!!!
Is this even possible?!
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