Chapter 43: The Second Platform Activation

Li Xuemei and Yan Yu sipped their milk powder slowly, eyes squinting in bliss, completely in sync.

Yan Lao’er felt happy just looking at them. When his gaze drifted downward to his wife’s belly, his silly grin widened even more.

His wife even brought out the panel—she must have been craving it.

Yan Lao’er kneaded the dough, pounding and pressing it with practiced hands. Even kneeling on the ground, he could still make a pot of proper hand-rolled noodles!

Eggs, soy sauce, and a pinch of shredded jerky for extra flavor—he mixed in both of their household’s signature seasonings.

As the oil heated in the pan, a rich, savory, and spicy aroma burst forth.

Li Xuemei touched her belly. She had just finished a bowl of milk, but the smell instantly made her hungry again.

As soon as the noodles were cooked, Yan Yu couldn’t wait any longer.

She mixed the sauce in and started slurping enthusiastically.

Her little cheeks bulged like a squirrel with a mouthful of hazelnuts.

Midnight

【Please confirm whether your surroundings are safe.】

A gentle, soothing female voice rang out. Yan Yu, mouth still stuffed with noodles, barely swallowed before answering, “Yes!”

Rows upon rows of shelves—the ones she had been longing for—stood neatly arranged.

Yan Yu hurriedly gulped down the noodles, shoved the bowl into her father’s hands, and started rattling off prices.

“Rice, 2.8—Flour, 2.4—Salt, 1—”

…

Learning from their previous mistakes, this time they made sure to record all the prices. They also had to track the items they sold to the platform, making sure they understood what was valuable and what wasn’t.

The Free Market icon kept blinking, but Yan Yu didn’t stop.

She was excited to find that the items on the shelves had changed since last time.

【Brown Rice—2.8】【Coarse Flour—3.9】【Mung Beans—4.2】【Red Beans—5.9】【Black Beans—6.6】

Not only were there new items, but their quantities also seemed to have increased.

No time to look closely—she kept reading.

【Dandelion—12.8】【Elm Seeds—53.8】【Wild Lettuce—14.6】

No!

Her heart ached!

Give back her sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn!

Li Xuemei and Yan Lao’er used sticks to write on the ground—one noted the names, the other wrote the numbers.

Once they compared their records, everything was in order.

Yan Yu gloomily clicked on the Free Market.

A punk-styled uncle appeared online.

“Hey, little girl! What took you so long? I’ve been dying of impatience!” He was overjoyed to see Yan Yu.

The beef was delicious!

He had been extra careful, meticulously dissecting it, not wasting a single scrap.

He had even skinned the cow in one whole piece, preserving it with anti-decomposition gel—his most prized possession at the moment!

Even if it could never see daylight, just looking at it made him feel incredibly happy!

“Uncle, last time my shelves had sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn, but now they’re all gone! Instead, there’s dandelion, elm seeds, and wild lettuce…”

Yan Yu pouted, looking utterly miserable.

“Hahahaha!” The uncle had zero sympathy and was instead thoroughly amused.

“I told you before—the mall items change! It scans your environment and adjusts accordingly. Everything’s wild greens now? Are you in the wilderness?”

“Wow, great guess,” Yan Yu said soullessly.

“Then why aren’t they adding more? And why did they remove my stock? Never mind that—Uncle, you know my situation. What do you want to trade this time?”

“Heh heh! How’s my Mechanical Bionic Bull working out? Want another one?” The uncle enthusiastically pitched his products. “Since you’re out in the wild, you should get an Exploration & Collection Robot! Tell you what—get another one, maybe a pig, sheep, or donkey. I’ll trade with you, guaranteed best value!”

“A bionic robot is supposed to look like a person. How am I supposed to explain a new person suddenly appearing?” Yan Yu was tempted, but it wasn’t feasible. If only her family were rich enough to afford servants—then she’d definitely grab one without hesitation!

“How about this—can you change it to look like a cat, dog, or bird? That way, I can carry it around easily. If not, those spider or lizard models you mentioned before would work too!”

The appearance didn’t matter—only practicality did.

“Sure! No problem at all! Customer requests always come first! But listen up—humanoid Exploration & Collection Robots have both functions. If you change the design, you’ll lose the collection ability. It’ll basically become useless for gathering stuff.”

He continued enthusiastically, “Cats and dogs are fine, but if you go for spiders or lizards, I’ll have to tweak the speed settings to keep it realistic.”

Yan Yu: …

If he hadn’t explained, she might’ve been fine with just the exploration function. But now that he had, it felt like she was getting scammed.

Just imagine—having a robot that could both explore and collect versus one that only explored and then made her do the collecting…

The difference was huge!

And picturing a cat dragging back a bucket of water? Completely absurd.

“Uncle, forget it. Downgrading from high-end to low-end just doesn’t sit right with me. Besides, I don’t have pigs, sheep, or donkeys right now, and I have no money to buy them.” Yan Yu looked pitiful.

She was a poor little girl with pockets emptier than her face was clean.

“Can’t you hunt? Wild rabbits, pheasants, wild boars—don’t novels always say they’re super easy to catch?” The uncle anxiously tried to help. His meat supply depended on this little girl with an ancient-world setting!

The others—he called them unlucky bastards, which was an objective fact. Only this little girl was his biggest client in his entire career!

“Hunting?” Yan Yu thought of the forest-covered mountains. “But no one in my family knows how to hunt, and I doubt the forest has that much game. Can your robots track animals?”

The uncle’s eyes sparkled—he had an idea. “Tracking? Of course! Just set the target, and it’ll work like a charm. But about this hunting business, little girl, no one’s born knowing everything. I think you and your family should start developing this hunting skill.

“Think about it—you’re already in the wild, so why not take advantage of it? What if you randomly stumble upon an animal? Wouldn’t it be a waste if you don’t know how to hunt?

“But don’t worry! I’m here for you. Your big bro’s got your back.

“A crossbow is stupidly easy to make—just takes a few minutes. All you need to do is practice aiming.

“Only problem is, scopes require special materials, which I don’t have…”

As he spoke, he tapped away on a virtual screen.

In no time, he had designed a classic crossbow.

Pulling the screen over, he proudly showed Yan Yu: “Look! Totally retro crossbow—compact, powerful, long-range! Add in alloy-tipped arrows, and any prey that crosses your path will bow before you! Hahaha!”

Yan Yu: …

Why was he more excited than she was?

—End of Chapter—