Around dinnertime.
The ability users who’d gone out hunting trickled back into the inn, one after another.
The moment they stepped through the front door, they spotted a massive photographic piece hanging on the wall behind the front desk.
The image captured within it was none other than the mangrove forest behind the inn.
This particular tree was the most common species found across the wasteland — remarkably tenacious, evergreen through all four seasons, capable of thriving even in the harshest environments. It was one of the special species born out of the great catastrophe a century ago.
In the enormous photograph, the mangrove forest looked pristine, sunlight pouring down through the fiery red leaves, scattering across cracked earth sparsely dotted with dry grass, lighting up that stretch of trees with an overwhelming sense of vitality.
In truth, the wasteland’s residents had long grown used to seeing this kind of tree.
To them, the blood-red tree was just about the most ordinary thing on the face of the earth — inedible, with no particular use whatsoever, and something people typically just ignored on sight.
And yet now, this photograph — depicting nothing but the mangrove forest — hung right at the center of the inn, taking up more than half a wall.
The ability users found themselves stopping in their tracks to stare at it.
Though puzzled as to why, everyone still couldn’t help speculating — why would that great innkeeper hang a photograph like this, front and center, somewhere so prominent?
“This has to be some kind of revelation!” someone said. “He’s trying to tell us to be as unyielding as the blood-red tree!”
“Exactly! The innkeeper wouldn’t hang this without a deeper meaning behind it!”
“Right — maybe he’s hoping we’ll work hard hunting, clearing out the mutants! Someday, humanity will reclaim its place as ruler of this continent!”
The ability users whispered among themselves, and the more they talked, the more their admiration for the innkeeper grew.
To be able to draw such profound meaning from something so utterly mundane — truly worthy of being a high-tier ability user! It was no accident he’d become the powerhouse he clearly was!
Everyone stood there in reverent awe.
Meanwhile, Chu Yi had just stepped out of the bathroom — yes, after clearing out a wave of mutants and gaining a tier-three wind ability, he’d found himself unable to stand the grime the wasteland air had left on his clothes and skin, so he’d gone to shower once more.
As for that photograph hanging on the wall—
it was one he’d taken in the mangrove forest, using that high-end camera he’d bought for 450 points.
The inn’s surveillance system had been running the whole time.
So, naturally, when these guests gathered in front of the desk, lavishing praise on the photographic work—
Chu Yi heard every word of it.
Without so much as a change in expression, he opened the backend controls for the robot Xiao Yi.
By the time the system realized what was happening, the vending machine in the corner of the lobby’s automatic vending machine had already been restocked with new merchandise.
Then, as Xiao Yi made its rounds, it drifted slowly over toward the group gathered around the photograph, the emoticon on its screen shifting to a smile as it began its pitch. “Dear guests of the inn, the innkeeper has just released a photography-themed card sleeve — would you like to take a look?”
“Card sleeve?”
Everyone exchanged puzzled glances.
“What’s that?”
The smile on Xiao Yi’s screen didn’t waver. From the camera lens at the very top, it projected a holographic image upward.
The wasteland dwellers had never seen this kind of technology before, and all of them stood there frozen at the sight.
Xiao Yi then began introducing the four acrylic frame card sleeves being projected.
“A card sleeve is used to hold your inn consumption card. There are four styles in total: ‘Fortune Rising,’ ‘Wealth Flowing In,’ ‘Safe Travels,’ and ‘Happiness and Joy.’ Each comes with a matching large-character charm and a photographic-work charm taken by the innkeeper himself.”
As Xiao Yi described each one, the four styles of pendant card sleeves appeared before everyone’s eyes, one by one.
The large characters on ‘Fortune Rising’ were red, and the border of its photographic work matched that same color scheme, as did the sleeve itself.
‘Wealth Flowing In’ was gold; ‘Safe Travels’ was green; ‘Happiness and Joy’ was pink.
Each style featured a different photograph, though all shared the same subject — the blood-red mangrove forest.
“For 20 points, you can purchase one ‘Mangrove Forest’ themed blind box, randomly receiving one of the four sleeve styles. For 75 points, you can purchase the full set, receiving all four styles included inside. Purchases can be made at the vending machine over there.”
The ability users’ gazes settled on the holographic projection.
The sleeves really were quite attractive, glittering and eye-catching.
Still — aside from holding a card, did they serve any other purpose?
As if sensing exactly what they were thinking, Xiao Yi continued: “This blind box is a limited-time release. The innkeeper will roll out more designs in the future, including prize drawings. Guests who have previously purchased themed card sleeves will be given priority eligibility for future drawings. Prizes include inn discount vouchers, free breakfast vouchers, anonymous inn points cards, and more…”
“And most importantly, as the inn expands its services in the future, guests who supported and purchased inn merchandise early on will be given priority eligibility to be selected for early access.”
Ah, so that was it!
Realization dawned on everyone.
“It’s only 75 points! I’ll take it!” someone immediately responded to the call to action. “Besides, this is a piece the innkeeper personally photographed — just carrying it around feels like it fills you with strength!”
He rushed straight over to the vending machine and spent 75 points to purchase the full set of blind boxes.
Once he’d unpacked all four, he happily slotted his card into one of them.
And honestly, it really did look quite nice.
The wasteland dwellers had never seen anything this refined and beautiful before — their day-to-day lives offered little in the way of entertainment, mostly just leaving early and returning late, rising early and sleeping early, their clothes perpetually dust-gray with nothing worth looking at.
Now, these four keychain-style charms, with their vivid colors and refined craftsmanship, stood in stark contrast to the coarse, rough-edged people around them — instantly endearing to the eye.
Clipping a brightly colored card sleeve onto your belt loop made your whole appearance a fair bit more striking.
“This little thing’s cute, I’ll grab a couple extra, give them to my kid to play with later,” someone said. “And even without a card in it, you could stick a photo in there instead — imagine showing that off out there!”
None of these ability users were short on money. Spending a mere 20 points to buy a specialty item exclusive to the inn was an absolute bargain — never mind that purchasing it also earned future prize-draw eligibility.
In no time, everyone rushed to the vending machine, lining up to make their purchases.
Before long, more than twenty had sold, and several people had bought the entire set outright.
Watching all this unfold, the system was left utterly dumbfounded.
[…They actually bought them.]
Wasn’t the whole point supposed to be that wasteland folk valued practicality above all else?
Why hadn’t a single one of them hesitated even for a second before buying?!
It hadn’t expected that Chu Yi, on top of running a shop that gouged people at every turn, would go and bring over blind-box culture — one of Blue Star’s worse cultural imports — as well.
And with it tied to future inn services on top of that, the item had instantly become a hot commodity.
The ability users weren’t short on money to begin with, and to express their loyalty to the inn, they were more than willing to part with a mere few dozen points for a harmless little trinket.
[Host, you really do have a deep understanding of consumer psychology.]
Commissioning 1,000 sleeves at 10 points each, then reselling each individual sleeve for 20 points.
“Profiteering” didn’t even begin to describe it.
Chu Yi let out a soft snort and said, “Just wait. Give it some time, and even without any prize draws or trial-access privileges, these people will keep coming back to buy my merchandise regardless.”
Granted, the inn had only just opened a handful of days ago — rolling out this kind of entertainment-oriented merchandise this early might seem a bit premature.
But in order to cultivate good spending habits among the wasteland folk, Chu Yi would rather start early, weaving the habit of buying products into their daily lives sooner rather than later.
Rolling out this card sleeve had been the result of several days of careful observation on his part.
The people here dressed in perpetually dust-gray clothing, with no bright colors to speak of.
But that didn’t mean these ability users actually preferred looking dull and grimy.
They cleaned themselves up carefully, making sure they looked like “civilized people” while at the inn.
Even the ability users who weren’t particularly fastidious about cleanliness normally had, since arriving at the inn, started grooming themselves to look properly presentable — so as to match the cleanliness of the establishment itself.
Environment shapes people.
Attractive, finely crafted little trinkets were a scarce commodity out in the wasteland.
This group of ability users, being far from short on money, would surely be delighted to buy one to show off outside.
And every time they showed it off, it doubled as free advertising for the inn.
Hadn’t he just watched people who’d been hesitant moments earlier all suddenly commit to buying one, the instant they saw the beautifully crafted physical item in front of them?
This blind box run was merely a trial balloon — testing their tolerance threshold and their loyalty.
And from what he’d seen so far, this particular batch of suckers still had plenty of harvesting left in them.
Meanwhile, inside the inn, Lu Chenggong — who had spent the entire day here scouting things out —
simply couldn’t hold himself back any longer, and ended up pulling out crystal cores to register himself a card after all.
He then made a beeline for the vending machine and bought the full set.
Both he and his wife loved brightly colored things, but out in the wasteland, everything was perpetually dust-gray, with clothing built purely around practicality — dyeing fabric required spending a considerable sum.
Because of this, they normally could only acquire the occasional antique craft item that scavengers happened to dig up from the ruins, relics from a century ago.
Having reached his current position, he certainly wasn’t short on crystal cores or points, which meant his day-to-day life had grown considerably more comfortable in that regard.
Lu Chenggong had collected quite a few beautiful little trinkets over the years.
Now, seeing the card sleeves Xiao Yi had displayed, the more he looked at them, the more he found himself liking them.
The moment he got his hands on one, he immediately clipped it onto his belt loop — his black clothing making the gold characters of “Wealth Flowing In” stand out even more strikingly.
Looking over the other three charms, he felt quite pleased with himself, already planning to bring them home to his wife as a surprise once he got back to the base.
In the end, it was only when Wang Yan came over to remind him that he finally recalled the actual purpose of his visit to the inn.
“Never mind — let’s head back for today,” Lu Chenggong said, looking around at the clean, bright shop, gently running his fingers over the finely crafted card sleeve, the last traces of his earlier resentment dissolving completely. “We’ll think this through carefully later.”
While their group reluctantly left the inn behind, Guo Fanxiang’s fuel-selling side business was thriving in full swing.
The moment he’d gotten back from the base, he’d immediately reached out to a few ability users he was on especially good terms with, quietly leading them over to his car, popping open the fuel tank, and showing them the gasoline inside.
To make sure the evidence was airtight, he’d first drained out all the mixed mutant-oil-and-gasoline blend and stored it separately in the car, then gone and refueled fresh, before showing it to them.
“You all saw that underground parking lot, right?” His expression turned mysterious as he dropped the bombshell. “The fuel they pump down there — it’s real gasoline.”
The few ability users, who’d been somewhat confused up to that point, all went wide-eyed at once.
“What?! Gasoline?!”
“Old Guo, you’re not messing with us, are you?”
Seeing their reaction, Guo Fanxiang gave a satisfied snort, popped open his own car’s fuel tank, drew out a small sample, and held it up in front of them.
No careful analysis was even needed — one whiff of the smell alone was enough for everyone to tell for themselves.
This really was — actual gasoline!
The inn genuinely had something this incredible!
Everyone exchanged glances, all sharing the same feeling of “this can’t possibly be real.”
Truth be told, virtually nowhere still used gasoline anymore these days — it was far too expensive, entirely impractical.
But if the inn was genuinely using real gasoline, and at a price roughly comparable to mutant-oil on top of that… then the entire wasteland was about to change beyond recognition.
Mutant-oil reeked, and its efficiency was poor to boot — if gasoline were available, who would still bother with that stuff?
If fuel became this abundant, they could travel to far more distant places, and hunt far more mutants than ever before!
Thinking of just how extraordinary this inn kept turning out to be, the ability users couldn’t help but marvel out loud.
“The innkeeper really is incredible!”