Ji He saw the message from “Little Powerhouse” and guessed that this must be the young man whose arms had strengthened after she saved him. He had successfully completed his task, proving he had decent abilities.

However, she had no intention of revealing herself. She lacked combat power and preferred to stay hidden.

She continued reading but found no new information.

Everyone was currently showing off their mission rewards, which mostly consisted of bread, biscuits, instant noodles, and bottled water. Whether there were other items remained unknown.

Ji He closed the chat channel and opened the marketplace.

The system had said that transactions could now be made in the store.

The marketplace interface was divided into two sections.

On the left was the system shop, offering the same expensive items as before, with no major price changes.

Ji He took a quick glance and lost interest.

On the right, a new trading interface had appeared. Clicking on it revealed two options:

Open a Shop / Individual Sales

Ji He clicked on Open a Shop to take a look.

[Shop: Opening fee – 10 gold coins. A shop can list up to 100 items simultaneously, with the seller setting their own prices. Items cannot be priced lower than the system shop, but bartering is allowed, with a 50% reduction in transaction fees.]

Nope!

Ji He quickly closed the page and opened the Individual Sales interface.

Many items were already listed—bedsheets, quilts, clothes, pants, rice cookers, and more.

Everything was new, and some items were even priced higher than in the system shop.

Ji He spotted several luxury-brand items priced at a ridiculous 5 silver coins.

Seriously?

She had no interest in those and skipped past them, searching for food instead.

0

Her mouth twitched. Not a single listing for food?

She hesitantly clicked the top-right corner, and a new interface popped up. The left side displayed “Items for Sale,” while the right side showed “Items Wanted in Exchange.”

Ji He took out a braised sheep head from her space and cut off a few pieces of meat as a test. The system quickly approved the listing but prompted her that the minimum price had to be 1 silver coin, and upon sale, a 30-copper transaction fee would be deducted.

Ji He: “…”

Silent scream!

What a rip-off! A 30% transaction fee? How dare they?!

And could she even sell it for 1 silver coin?

At this moment, she finally realized that the shop fee was actually cheap. Just 10 gold coins to cut transaction fees in half? A total bargain!

The earlier one opened a shop, the better. Otherwise, individual sales would just rack up more fees!

Too bad Ji He had no money.

10 gold coins = 1,000 silver coins.

And her latest mission reward?

1 silver coin and 10 copper coins.

Great! She only needed to complete 999 more missions to open a shop!

Haha.

Groundhog scream!

Ji He expressionlessly closed the interface and stored the sheep head back in her space.

Now was not the time to focus on opening a shop.

She had other matters to attend to.

As the sky remained dark, Ji He quietly slipped out of her house.

Lately, the heat had been extreme, and many households had garbage piled outside, emitting a nauseating stench in the summer night.

Wearing a mask, Ji He walked cautiously with a flashlight.

She noticed many people driving out to buy supplies, a clear sign of growing panic.

As she walked, she spotted sacks of rice left outside some homes, already attracting insects.

After a moment of thought, she discreetly collected the rice bags into her space.

Even if people couldn’t eat the rice, chickens could. And if chickens ate the bugs, well, extra nutrition for them.

Moving stealthily, Ji He suddenly noticed a white wriggling mass on the roadside.

She shone her flashlight on it—maggots.

Rotting food was covered in countless squirming white maggots. Just one glance was enough to make her skin crawl.

Ji He quickened her pace and left the area immediately.

Finding a hidden corner, she took out her tricycle from her space, got on, and rode toward a livestock farm.

She wasn’t sure if the farm was still operational, but it was worth checking.

Luckily, her gamble paid off—in the distance, she could see the lights were on.

Someone was there.

Parking her tricycle nearby, she quickly walked to the entrance and knocked on the door.

A moment later, a middle-aged man’s voice called from inside, “Who is it?”

“Boss, I want to check out some poultry,” Ji He shouted back.

Creak.

The iron gate cracked open slightly, and a cautious middle-aged man peered out.

Seeing that Ji He was alone, he relaxed a little.

He recognized her—she had come to buy livestock not long ago.

She had been an aggressive bargainer, managing to get discounts and some free feed, despite not buying much.

Ji He smiled and nodded. “Boss, I’d like to see the young livestock this time.”

The man hesitated before cracking the gate open slightly more. “Come in.”

As soon as she entered, a foul stench hit her.

Ji He immediately pulled out a mask and put it on.

The boss didn’t comment, though his face looked troubled and deeply worried.

“What do you want to buy? I’ll be honest with you—the heat’s been rough, and a lot of our livestock aren’t in great shape. Many have already died. If you take them and they die on you, don’t come complaining.

Also, prices have gone up. You know about the chaos a few days ago. Everything’s skyrocketed. Don’t expect the same prices as before.”

Though she had no money, Ji He kept a straight face. “That’s fine, uncle. Let’s take a look first.”

Seeing her insist, the boss led the way.

The young livestock looked weak and lifeless. Many lay on the ground, barely moving.

Even when approached, they showed little to no reaction.

They were barely clinging to life.

Compared to her previous visit, the contrast was staggering.

The boss glanced at Ji He’s expression.

Even someone completely clueless could tell these animals were in bad shape—probably dying.

If they were full-grown, at least people could slaughter them for meat.

But no one wanted to buy weak young animals.

The boss knew why—livestock was already hard to keep alive in the heat. With water and food shortages, raising them now was practically a death sentence.

Anyone who bought them would be throwing money away.

But he had no choice. His entire fortune was tied up in this farm.

If the animals all died, he would be ruined.

How would he feed his family?

But holding on wasn’t easy either.

Just keeping them alive cost a fortune in water and feed.

He had even borrowed a generator to run fans for them.

Yet despite all his efforts, large numbers still died every day.