Dimensional Supermarket - Chapter 71

“I’ll go ask Doctor Zhou.” Cao’er wipes her hands with disinfectant tissues. It’s a habit she picks up at the Luoyang base. Although she doesn’t fully understand everything, she remembers that diseases spread through the mouth. If you don’t clean your hands, you can get sick by touching things and then rubbing them into your eyes or mouth.

Cao’er whispers, “I heard Doctor Zhou say that if someone gets bitten by a dog, and that dog is sick, the person can get sick too! It’s called rabies. Even though he’s already vaccinated, if it’s been more than a day since the bite, the vaccine won’t be very effective. He could still get it. The way he roared at me just now really looked like rabies!”

Cao’er is still shaken by the encounter. It isn’t just that the man has red hair; his fierce roar makes her think he might have the blood of a monster.

“Be careful,” she warns Feng Ling before leaving. “He may look weak, but he’s still a man—and maybe even a monster. Don’t underestimate him.”

Feng Ling nods obediently. “Okay.”

Cao’er pats the back of her hand. “I’ll go ask Doctor Zhou first.”

As Cao’er leaves, Feng Ling puts on her face mask—the scars on her face are too terrifying. When meeting someone for the first time, she prefers wearing a mask so as not to scare them. Holding the translator, she opens the door to the “ward” and walks in.

The red-haired man has pulled out the pillow and curled up at the foot of the wall. His needle puncture wound is bleeding slightly. When he sees Feng Ling, he panics, waving his arms in an attempt to ward her off.

“Hello?” Feng Ling asks in English. Her English isn’t great. Since the school stops teaching it, she learns by watching videos. With the base’s unstable power supply, she studies on her own for three or four years and barely finishes the junior high school courses. She isn’t sure how well she’s done.

Kane freezes. He thinks he might have heard wrong. He stands there for a while before responding cautiously, “You… you are not a devil?”

Since Cao’er comes in, Kane has been gripped by extreme fear. He has only heard of people with black hair and black eyes in legends. Even if some people have black hair, they don’t look like that—nothing about them seems the same.

Despite Feng Ling’s heavy accent, Kane can still make out enough to guess her meaning.

“Don’t worry, we’re here to help you,” Feng Ling says, squatting in front of Kane but keeping her distance. “No one will make you crawl like a dog. No one will let a dog bite you. No one will deny you food.” She extends her hand, looking into Kane’s eyes.

Perhaps it’s her gentle and firm gaze, but Kane doesn’t yell at her or wave his arms again. Instead, he shrinks even further into himself.

Feng Ling’s nose tingles, and her eyes sting a bit. She turns her head away and, after controlling her emotions, repeats the line Cao’er and the others always use: “This is the dwelling place of a god. A god has saved you.”

As soon as she says that, Kane looks up, his eyes shining. “Is it the Moon God?!” he asks excitedly. “That’s right! The Moon God should have black hair and eyes!” He once thinks the Moon God should have silver hair, but that doesn’t matter anymore—black seems connected to the night. He murmurs, “I knew… I knew… God would never abandon me…”

“The Moon God would never abandon their most loyal believer,” Feng Ling says softly, wiping away a tear.

She finally understands why Cao’er and the others think Ye Zhou is a god. They suffer so much; if Ye Zhou isn’t a god, why would he save them? They see too much evil in the world and can only hope for divine goodness. Only gods can be trusted without reservation.

Feng Ling asks gently, “Would you like to eat something? There’s bread…”

Before she can mention oatmeal porridge, Kane looks at her with shining eyes and shouts, “Bread! Bread!”

He becomes a hunchback just for a bite of black bread, though he doesn’t receive it.

Feng Ling purses her lips. “I’ll get it for you.”

Feng Ling brings Kane heated milk bread and a cup of diluted goat milk. She doesn’t urge him to sit on the bed but places the plate on the ground, allowing him to take the bread with his hands.

Kane picks up the warm bread. He looks at it, confused. It’s unlike anything he’s ever eaten before. Even back home, as the son of a manor lord, he never eats bread this good. Never so soft, white, and full of a rich milky fragrance.

Feng Ling smiles and explains, “This bread is made from wheat flour, sugar, butter, and milk. I only gave you two slices because I was afraid it might upset your stomach. The goat milk is also diluted. You haven’t eaten much recently, so it’s better not to overeat.”

Kane doesn’t wait to finish listening before shoving the bread into his mouth. The moment it touches his tongue, it seems to melt, and the rich flavor fills his mouth. He swallows it without chewing, eagerly biting into the second slice.

By the time he finishes the last bite, Kane is licking the crumbs off his fingertips. He drinks the diluted goat milk in one gulp, but it doesn’t satisfy his hunger. He’s still so hungry he feels he could eat anything.

Kane cautiously looks at Feng Ling. “Are you a priestess of the Moon God?”

Feng Ling vaguely answers, “More or less.”

She finds it amusing. Surely no god would make her, a person with a scar on her face, a priestess. That’d be a pretty undiscerning god.

Will the Moon God summon me?” Kane asks, no longer feeling that the place is strange. After all, how could the home of gods not be strange? How could anyone look at gods like ordinary people?

Feng Ling smiles faintly. “Maybe in the future. But the most important thing for you right now is to take care of your health. There’s still hope that your back can straighten out.” After all, it isn’t congenital, and there’s no bulge. Zhou Yuanhe says that if he endures the pain and uses a corrector, it won’t take long to fix. It’s more psychological than physical—he hasn’t straightened up because he’s been bent for so long, and it hurts when he tries. But it isn’t the kind of pain that’s unbearable.

Kane opens his lips slightly. “Really?”

Although Feng Ling is wearing a mask, Kane can still see the kindness in her slightly curved eyes. “Of course, but it will hurt.”

Kane’s eyes light up, and he says excitedly, “I can bear it! No matter how painful it is, I can endure it!”

He hopes that when the Moon Goddess summons him, he will no longer be a hunchback or a slave, but a whole person.

“His name is Kane.” Feng Ling sits opposite Ye Zhou in the break room, nervously looking down at the water cup in her hand. It’s filled with warm orange juice, specially poured for her by Cao’er Niang.

She tells Ye Zhou about Kane’s name and origins.

Finally, she adds, “He doesn’t know what crime his family committed.”

There are too many crimes that can turn people into slaves in this era.

Ye Zhou frowns. “This is still a slave society?”

Ye Zhou feels desperate. He doesn’t like the idea of a slave society. Though he also dislikes the feudal system, he thinks the latter is better. After all, the feudal system still concerns itself with the people’s welfare, even if just for appearances. Even with all the corrupt officials, they still have to pretend to care about the common people.

But in a slave society, no one cares about appearances.

People are considered property.

Property is not the same as people.

Ye Zhou rubs his temples. “Then how am I supposed to do business here?”

Slaves have no money. He doesn’t want to do business with slave owners, and he doesn’t want to indirectly exploit these slaves who have no dignity.

But Feng Ling suddenly says, “Cao’er and the others all think you’re a god, don’t they? As long as you perform miracles, those people will give you money willingly. You can use this money to save the slaves, buy a piece of land, and build a city or manor for them. You’ll earn money, save people, and never have to exploit them.”

When Feng Ling speaks, she avoids looking at Ye Zhou. She knows she’s young, and her words carry little weight, so she speaks in a soft tone, as if ready to shut up the moment Ye Zhou expresses even the slightest dissatisfaction.

But Ye Zhou actually thinks what she says makes sense!

He can’t accept pretending to be a god and deceiving the common people.

But if pretending to be a god means deceiving the slave owners who make their slaves crawl like dogs, then he can accept that without any moral qualms.

“Okay.” Ye Zhou is very decisive. He smiles at Feng Ling. “How have you been feeling these days? Are you still unwell?”

Feng Ling is surprised. Strangely enough, she doesn’t believe her companions when they say that working at the supermarket will improve her health. If that were true, it would be a technological marvel.

But since the “dimensional jump,” her body has indeed improved noticeably.

She no longer feels bloated after eating a little, no longer blacks out from low blood sugar, and doesn’t get dizzy when standing up after squatting. Her heart, especially, hasn’t acted up once.

Ye Zhou continues, “The probation period is one month. If you want to stay after that, we can sign a formal contract. The starting period of the formal contract is two years. During that time, I can’t dismiss you at will, but if you wish to resign, you’ll need to give one month’s notice. But if something urgent comes up, we can adjust the rules.”

Ye Zhou is easygoing in this regard. He’s used to the supermarket staff being non-problematic, probably because Cao’er Niang manages them, and those hired by the system never cause trouble.

Feng Ling nods. She looks around the break room to make sure only she and Ye Zhou are present, then asks quietly, “Boss, are you really a god? Or an alien?”

Ye Zhou thinks about it. Since he isn’t from the same plane as them, maybe “alien” isn’t that far off?

He places his thumb thoughtfully on his chin and says, “Alien?”

Feng Ling blinks. “…?”

Why is he so uncertain?

Ye Zhou smiles. “I don’t think it matters. We look the same, we speak the same. Even if we’re from different worlds, it doesn’t change that we’re all human.” He adds, “That man, Kane, doesn’t seem wary of you anymore. When you have time, take care of him more. He seems to avoid men.”