Dimensional Supermarket - Chapter 70

One leg has a comminuted fracture, the other a minor fracture. Four ribs are broken. We’re not sure if there’s a concussion, but it’s looking pretty bad. This hand is also broken—if it’s beyond saving, we may need to amputate.

Zhou Yuanhe’s expression is extremely complicated. “One of the broken ribs nearly pierces his spleen. If that happens, he won’t last long enough for you to rescue him. And it’s not all from the fall. There are bite marks on his shoulders and back. Based on the wounds, it looks like dog bites—probably hunting dogs.”

Ye Zhou inhales sharply when he hears that. “He’s really lucky.”

With this level of injury, it’s a miracle that he’s still alive. He must be a child of destiny.

While helping the injured man, Ye Zhou glances up at the cliff. There’s nothing but sky above and the mountain wall below—no visible way up or down. Either there’s a small path they haven’t found, or they’ll have to walk upstream along the river beneath the cliff.

Of course, the simplest way to reach the bottom of the cliff is to jump straight down from above.

Though there’s no guarantee of survival.

“His spine is deformed. He has an acquired hunchback,” Zhou Yuanhe says, rare anger creeping into his voice. “He’s been tortured to the point of no longer resembling a human. His palms, knees, and elbows are covered in calluses from constantly having to bend and crawl.”

Who needs to crawl? Judging by his clothes, this doesn’t seem like a place that has entered the industrial age.

There are no narrow pipes to operate, and with his body in this state, it’s impossible not to think of human torture.

Zhou Yuanhe frowns. “He needs rest. He can’t stay in crowded places or sleep in the warehouse.”

Ye Zhou asks, “Should we build a tent for him outside?”

Zhou Yuanhe replies, “Do you have any better ideas?”

Ye Zhou thinks for a moment. “I’ll check the system. Maybe there’s some high-tech, simple housing or something. A treehouse from Doraemon would work too.”

Zhou Yuanhe looks relieved. He hesitates before apologizing. “Sorry, boss, I didn’t mean to be rude just now. It wasn’t directed at you.”

Ye Zhou is easygoing and waves it off. “You’re a doctor. It’s normal to be frustrated.”

Ye Zhou doesn’t waste time. He has the distinct feeling that the red-haired man could die at any moment. His life is hanging by a thread, more fragile than glass.

After speaking with Zhou Yuanhe, he goes to the break room to check the system mall.

Ye Zhou hasn’t browsed the mall since their jump to this plane.

After moving from the Daliang Dynasty to Luoyang Base, the system acquires many more items. This time, there are likely even more.

Ye Zhou glances through the available options.

He doesn’t find the balloon house or treehouse from Doraemon, but he does find a simple house.

It resembles a tent, but the materials are better than those typically used for tents. It’s inflatable, but the material is incredibly tough. According to the description, it can’t be punctured by a needle. Even if it’s damaged, the material automatically heals and compresses itself to prevent leaks.

After reading the introduction, Ye Zhou thinks this is a great option. It’s windproof, rainproof, and has a power interface. The walls and floors are insulated, so there’s no worry about the entire tent being damaged if the power is turned on.

“It can connect to the supermarket’s power supply, just like the rooms in the supermarket. It can also have air conditioning,” Ye Zhou considers. “But air conditioning would be too complicated to install. A cold and hot air blower on the ground should suffice. It would consume a bit more power, but I make plenty now, so I’m not worried about the electricity bill. Besides, no one asks me to pay anyway.”

Ye Zhou isn’t sure where the supermarket’s energy comes from. Maybe it comes from his original plane, or perhaps it’s provided by the system.

Though he isn’t sure where the fee comes from, it definitely isn’t free. If it’s system energy, the system would never allow him to take advantage of it.

“By the way, this kind of tent could also be used as an employee dormitory,” Ye Zhou remarks. “It takes up a little space, and they’re all single-layer with no additions. But it’s very convenient, and the price isn’t bad.”

A tent like this costs over 20,000 yuan. It’s soundproof, insulated from heat, windproof, rainproof, and can be powered. For that price, it’s a bargain.

Though its service life is only five years, even if you rent a house or a room, it’s still worth it for over 20,000 yuan.

Ye Zhou says, “If I order it now, it’ll be delivered in two hours.”

In the past, the supermarket scanned codes to collect payments, and the items would disappear after a while. Now, when he places an order, the item appears in the warehouse after just two or three disappearances.

The warehouse has a function, but it’s not convenient for the employees to live there.

Though the employees don’t complain or voice their needs, they surely desire some privacy.

Especially the couples who can’t even quarrel in private, and families with children. It’s not appropriate for seven- or eight-year-old children to sleep in the same bed as their parents.

“Maybe we can build a real employee dormitory in the future,” Ye Zhou says. “This tent is not bad, but it doesn’t have a toilet inside. Though it can be powered, it can’t provide water or air. But it’s enough for living. People would still need to go back to the supermarket for the toilet and showers.”

Ye Zhou feels a bit greedy. When he was in Luoyang before, he thought an employee dormitory was a good idea. As for its design or form, it didn’t matter much.

Now that he has a tent, he starts wanting more and better.

He doesn’t need to buy beds, tables, or chairs from the system—the supermarket has those. They’re all foldable and inexpensive. After all, his supermarket isn’t a shopping mall, so there’s no high-end furniture, but what’s available is enough.

“When it arrives, I’ll check the quality and how comfortable it is,” Ye Zhou says to Zou Ming. “Then I’ll order one for the family, and you can live in a room by yourself.”

Ye Zhou still prefers to live alone. Living with Zou Ming in the same room means he can’t walk around in just his underwear, let alone naked.

Zou Ming doesn’t seem thrilled by this. He nods quietly, as if indifferent to Ye Zhou’s decision.

“Tomorrow, we’ll organize a team to go upstream and check the terrain here,” Ye Zhou says. “It would be perfect to use a drone. I had one back in the Daliang Dynasty, but I had to rely on my own legs before…”

He’s not sure how he managed back then. Every day he ventured out early and came back late, forcing himself to map the area, even when he couldn’t draw.

“Let’s see when this man wakes up.” Ye Zhou glances in the direction of the infirmary. “I hope he makes it.”

Though he doesn’t know the man, Ye Zhou still doesn’t want to watch a life fade away in front of him.

The wind blew the grass low, and Kane found himself back on the lawn of the manor. He was dressed in a small vest and shorts, calfskin boots, and a hat with silk trim. He was playing with his brothers, laughing as they raced horses.

The losers had to bark like dogs, and Kane always lost—but he was never convinced by the outcome.

Sometimes, when the sun set, Kane would quietly race horses. He always believed that one day, he would win, and when that day came, he would never have to bark like a dog again. His brothers and sisters would praise him, and his parents would love him even more.

That day, he lost again. But before he could bark like a dog, indignation on his face, a group of soldiers on horseback charged in through the gate. They wore swords and immediately killed the old housekeeper who tried to stop them.

Kane’s eldest brother, unsure of what was happening, fled up the mountain in fear.

–He died under the sword of the soldiers.

It wasn’t until Kane became a slave that he learned the truth. He never understood what crime his parents had committed. Once the soldiers captured him, he never saw anyone from the Ken family again.

He became one of the slaves, always sleeping in the open. Even when he slept inside, it was cramped, pressed against others like an animal.

At first, he dreamt of the past, but as time passed, he started to question whether the past was merely a dream from his life as a slave.

The slave owners often humiliated them, making them crawl with others on their backs or lick food scraps off the ground like dogs.

If there were attractive men or women among the slaves, they were often taken away.

If they were lucky, they would return the next day. But as slaves, they were never seen as anything more than tools for the master’s amusement. If they were unlucky, they would never return. At best, the other slaves would hear their master mention an unnamed corpse in the cemetery after a long time.

Kane tried to please his master, but it only led to more torment. The other slaves would lock him up, tie him up before work, and tell the steward he was lazy. The steward never listened to his side of the story—only to the beatings that followed.

His hunched back was a result of the master’s cruelty. One day, the master saw a beggar with a natural hunchback and, curious, asked how it had happened. The beggar explained that he had spent years bending over to beg for alms, eventually becoming permanently hunched.

Intrigued, the master wondered if it was possible to make someone else hunchbacked within a year or even months. So, Kane was chosen. He was forced to hunch his back at all times, even while eating or sleeping, until his back could no longer straighten.

Occasionally, Kane would be beaten. The manager thought that the bump on his back could be “worked out” with enough punishment.

Eventually, Kane grew used to the hunch, and when he did manage to straighten his back, it only brought pain.

But Kane didn’t care about the state of his back. He only hoped that his master’s cruelty would come with some reward—perhaps more food. Even a piece of black bread would be enough.

But when he finally became hunched, even the hope of food vanished. His master had forgotten him. Without special treatment, he wasn’t even a source of entertainment anymore.

Slaves had nothing. To change their fate, they were forced to sacrifice their dignity, harm their bodies, and please their masters. It was their only way of surviving.

Even slaves needed a reason to live. Most of the time, that reason was to please their masters.

Kane remembered the conversations he had with his brothers. They thought slaves were servile, born without the ability to make decisions. They believed slaves were like mindless creatures, their brains eaten by worms, only good for labor, and incapable of questioning authority. Slaves would even kill each other. With such lowly characters, they could never be anything but slaves—less than human.

But when Kane became a slave, he understood what slavery truly was.

When you can’t resist, obedience becomes the only way to survive. People don’t want to die. They are afraid of death. With barely enough food to survive, all they can think of is their next meal.

Kane had no strength. His head was always dizzy. Resistance? Even walking required all his strength. How could he resist? They had no tools, no weapons, and even less strength to speak.

Rather than resist, it was better to please.

Running away might lead to death, but pleasing would not. If you were lucky, perhaps you could please the steward or the master, and in return, be rewarded with a full meal.

Kane’s greatest dream was to eat until he couldn’t anymore.

For that, he would give everything—even his life.