Dimensional Supermarket - Chapter 77

After the performance, Ye Zhou feels relieved. He isn’t in any rush to conduct business with the lord just yet. Doing business while pretending to be a god might raise suspicions. Anyone who isn’t completely oblivious can figure out that gods don’t strike deals with mortals. A god trading things? It’s absurd.

The red-haired man, Kane, tells Feng Ling about the myths here. The Moon God is supposedly the most tolerant of all gods.

But when Ye Zhou hears the retelling from Feng Ling, he can’t figure out what part of the Moon God is supposed to be “tolerant.”

Because aside from not killing people, this Moon God does every kind of evil… He certainly doesn’t shy away from doing all the other harmful things He’s capable of. If He’s in a good mood, He remains silent, but when He’s upset, He shakes the world and brings violent storms.

If someone offends Him, He seizes them and imprisons them for a thousand years, subjecting them to a millennium of torment.

When the Moon God wants something from the human world and the people refuse to offer it, He doesn’t hesitate to take it by force. Afterward, He reflects on how stingy and narrow-minded humans are, as though offering what He desires should be a natural act of devotion.

So, the exchanges between gods and humans are clearly not mutual; they are, in fact, divine robbery.

Ye Zhou’s plan is to first give them a carrot—dangling it right in front of their eyes—something they can never quite reach, but will always chase after.

Then he’ll wait for the lords to offer things up on their own initiative.

At first, Ye Zhou is worried. He needs a spokesperson, someone who is familiar with the continent’s customs, who can understand his needs and work hard to secure benefits while subtly deceiving the lord—someone like Cao’er Niang.

Cao’er Niang provides Ye Zhou with so many benefits in the Daliang Dynasty. Ye Zhou hopes to find another person like her here.

As for whether the person is good or bad, loyal or treacherous—none of that matters, as long as Ye Zhou can achieve his goals.

After returning to the woods, Ye Zhou says to Zou Ming, “I think that man named Kurt could be useful.”

Zou Ming frowns. “Useful? He’s just an opportunist.”

Ye Zhou pats him on the shoulder. “Don’t think like that. As long as he’s useful, that’s all that matters.”

If Kurt truly proves unforgivable, Ye Zhou won’t hesitate to deal with him, but if he hasn’t caused harm, then it’s fine to just leave him be.

“I’m going out for a while,” Zou Ming says suddenly.

Ye Zhou raises an eyebrow. “Aren’t you going to set up a tent?”

Zou Ming glances at him. “You don’t like living in a tent.”

“I don’t, but it’s not like I have a choice.” Ye Zhou sighs. “Just now, I couldn’t exactly say I wanted to rest in the wooden house. There’s an injured person inside, and I’m the one who hurt him.”

Though Ye Zhou doesn’t feel guilty about shooting him, he also can’t shake the discomfort of being in the same room as the person he injures. It feels too strange.

As for kicking the injured person out of the wooden house—well, that seems even more bizarre.

“Then carry him down the mountain,” Zou Ming suggests, indifferent to the wounded man’s fate. “He’ll die on the mountain anyway.” Zou Ming says it with a calmness that implies he doesn’t care whether the man survives the trip down.

Ye Zhou rushes after him. He grabs Zou Ming’s arm and says urgently, “Forget it, really. Just imagining lying on the bed someone I shot was sleeping in makes me feel completely uneasy. I know you’re thinking about me and want me to sleep well, but I think I’ll sleep worse if I go there. I’ll just use extra bug spray tonight.”

He isn’t lying, nor is he being polite. After spending so much time with Zou Ming, he feels that he and Zou Ming have become close friends. Zou Ming doesn’t like to talk much, but he listens carefully and keeps Ye Zhou’s needs in mind.

Ye Zhou believes that Zou Ming has his own internal scale—he sees everything clearly, just doesn’t speak it aloud.

Simply put, in Ye Zhou’s eyes, Zou Ming is a gentle, quiet, capable, and decisive person.

If it’s something he can do, he doesn’t talk about it.

In other words, he’s somewhat stubborn. Once he makes up his mind, he pursues something with firm determination, not turning back even if he hits a wall. Even if he’s hurt and bleeding, he continues onward.

Because it’s the path he chooses, he doesn’t allow himself the chance to regret it.

Ye Zhou admires this quality and likes people who have such character. He’s the same way. He grows to appreciate his friends more and more, magnifying their strengths and overlooking their weaknesses. He isn’t a perfect person, so he doesn’t expect others to be perfect either.

With Zou Ming, Ye Zhou always speaks plainly—never sugarcoats anything.

“That’s how I feel,” Ye Zhou says, pulling Zou Ming back and asking him to sit on a stone. He sits down next to him and hands him a bottle of water. After Zou Ming takes it, Ye Zhou adds, “It’s better to keep your distance from them. Once the distance between people becomes too close, they will take advantage of it.”

Zou Ming looks up at Ye Zhou, his face expressionless.

Ye Zhou doesn’t notice anything unusual and continues, “So there’s no need to ruin my identity as the Moon God just to live better. A little suffering now will lead to sweetness in the future.”

Zou Ming nods but doesn’t say anything.

Ye Zhou sighs in relief, “Good.”

He looks up at the moon in the sky, smiling. “I wonder, if there really is a Moon God out there, would he be so mad seeing me impersonate him that he can’t sleep at night?”

They haven’t been punished! They aren’t caught!

Ira huddles among the slaves. They all run away, but after realizing the stewards haven’t caught them, they come back again. Running away is a difficult task; there are no villages nearby, and even if there are, they don’t dare enter. If they’re caught as runaway slaves, they’ll be caught and hanged.

Ira sees the others haven’t been punished after returning, so he quietly follows suit.

Some slaves, who escape farther, don’t come back. After returning, Ira regrets it for a moment—maybe they are free now. But a while later, he doesn’t regret it anymore. Who knows if those runaways end up killed by wild beasts or dead in some trap? He just wants to live, anyway. Whether escaping or staying, both are equally dangerous.

“I thought you wouldn’t come back,” Som says, gazing at the slaves with a complicated expression. A deep sadness fills his heart as he mutters to himself, “You could be free, but you choose to come back on your own. Are you born to be lowly?”

The slaves don’t respond. They don’t feel insulted; they’ve always been lowly, and have never known what it’s like to be noble.

Som looks at their faces, full of fear. He wonders: Are these slaves born to be lowly, or do they become that way after being enslaved? If I had been a slave, would I have been the same? The thought pains him, but the slaves don’t care. They’re just glad they won’t be punished.

Ira whispers to the slave girl beside him, “The Moon God just came again!”

The girl sighs with yearning, “If we were free people, we could’ve seen the Moon God.”

“I wonder what the Moon God looks like,” Ira says. “He must be very handsome! He must be the most beautiful man!”

The slave girl nods in agreement. “I wonder how long the Moon God will stay here.”

The slaves all believe that the Moon God’s arrival is the reason they aren’t punished or beaten, despite eating the lord’s bread. They sit on the grass, relieved from their work for the day. The stewards don’t urge them or whip them. The stewards seem to be busy with something urgent, but the slaves don’t question them. After all, important people are always busy.

To the slaves, even the little steward is already a grand figure in their eyes.

As the sun rises to its peak and they are wondering when they’ll eat, a male servant comes over carrying a roll of parchment.

“Stand up if you hear your name,” he calls sternly, his face set in a grim expression. Without any explanation, he unrolls the parchment and begins calling names. “Tahir!”

The slaves are confused—slaves don’t have names.

Ira has a name because he has a favored mother when he is young.

The other slaves have no real names, just code names based on their appearance: someone with a big nose and mole, or names inspired by flowers, plants, and stones.

They don’t dare ask questions, but the servant, growing impatient, reads the names again.

When no one stands up, he points to a male slave in front. “You, stand up. From now on, you are Tahir.”

The slave stands up quickly, his face pale, sweat pouring from his brow, his legs shaking.

The servant doesn’t glance at him again, continuing to read out names. He calls out a total of sixteen names—fourteen male, two female.

When he finishes, the servant says, “From now on, you are granted the status of freemen. You can own property and receive land to cultivate. Of course, land tax must be paid to the lord.” The servant sneers, “You should be thankful. If not for the Moon God, you filthy insects would stay slaves forever!”

He looks at the slaves with disgust, especially as some of them seem to be turning into freemen.

But the slaves don’t cheer. They look at the servant in confusion, not understanding what he is saying.

Freemen?

They have never been freemen.

When they have no hope, they consider becoming freemen as their salvation. They think freedom will bring them happiness.

But now that it’s really happening, they begin to fear like never before.

They are born slaves, and they don’t know how to live as free people.

At that moment, Ira suddenly stands up from the crowd and shouts at the servant, “I have a name! I’m Ira! I want to be a free man!”

The other slaves stare at him in awe, as if they are seeing him for the first time.