C5 You Guys Beat Me to Death!

"Uh, do you like cell phones?" Bao Guo's cheeks flushed as he caught the subtle scent of innocence emanating from Anna. He offered her the phone, but she just shook her head, her face turning crimson as she dashed away.

The big bald guy came up, babbling incoherently. Bao Guo could barely grasp the gist of it—he wanted to trade his knife blank and coarse salt. If Bao Guo saw anything he liked, he was welcome to just take it.

Just then, Big Beard Allen arrived at the village entrance, hauling a boar that might as well have been a small mountain. It was a sight similar to yesterday's, when he dragged in a massive leopard. Bao Guo couldn't fathom the strength of this human behemoth.

"I'll settle for that," he decided, eyeing a basket of bean pods weighing roughly ten kilos. "And that pig—surely a single leg weighs over fifty kilos. Never mind, let them get on with the dissection. I'll just take a fifty-kilo chunk of meat."

Back on Earth, it was past 11 PM, yet on the other side, the sun still blazed down through the rain. The sight of two suns in the sky left Bao Guo astounded—a binary star system. And despite over twenty hours passing on Earth, it was still daylight there. The rain would stop intermittently, only to start again, an irritating cycle.

After cutting the massive slab of meat into tofu-sized blocks and stowing them in the freezer, Bao Guo pulled out his phone to make a call.

"Yawn... man, you're killing me. It's late, and you won't let me sleep. You really think I won't kick your ass when I get home tomorrow?" came the irate voice from the other end.

"Come on, cut it out. You're a night owl, pretending to sleep? Just drop it. A few days back, at my grandma's funeral, I met a guy who drives hearses. He's imported some new plant-based teeth whitener from Brazil. Not sure if it's safe for humans, so I want you to test it. Name your price—no need to let outsiders benefit. If it's safe, I'm in too. We could go into business together."

The person on the other end of the line paused their work and moved to a quieter spot to whisper, "Send it over by bus first thing tomorrow morning. You've already mentioned it's a medicinal solution. Nowadays, any liquid gets scrutinized during shipping – it's a time sink, and money's not even the issue. I can run a test in the university lab without spending much. By the way, you didn't even tell me about your grandma's passing. That's not cool."

Bao Guo felt a warmth in his heart and let out a sigh, "My dad didn't want me to tell you. You've just started your postgrad and you've got a lot on your plate. He said we'd talk about it later."

"Okay, I've got to go; I'm in the middle of writing a report. We'll get in touch once the package arrives."

"Sure, take care of yourself. Don't burn the midnight oil too often. Bye."

...

Before seven the next morning, Bao Guo was at the roadside waiting for the bus. He had spent the previous night using a soy milk machine to process dozens of beans, straining out all the solids to leave just the pale green liquid, which he then bottled in a mineral water container to send to his best friend Guibao in Qin Island City. Guibao, whose surname is Gu, was a genetic engineering postgrad at Haiyang University, and Bao Guo couldn't think of anyone better to help with the substance analysis.

As Bao Guo watched the long-distance bus pull away, he lit a cigarette and turned back, nearly colliding with the old party secretary.

"Hey, what's got you out here so early, lad? Even if those two families are giving you trouble, you've got nothing to fear. You're from the old Liu clan. Keep your head up; your third uncle's got your back. Don't worry about it. Our shop may be small, but we don't need to tangle with them. Let them stir up trouble on their own. Got it? I'm off."

Bao Guo stood there, dazed. What was the old secretary going on about? He scratched his head, considering chasing down the old man for clarification, but in a flash, the man had hopped on a connecting bus. Well, he'd figure it out soon enough once he got back to the village.

From a distance, Bao Guo grasped the old secretary's message. Apparently, the fireworks he set off on the grand opening of his "Old Liu Family Provisions Shop" hadn't gone unnoticed by the two small supermarkets nearby. Naturally, they reacted by launching their own promotions—a standard business move.

The shop at the village entrance slashed prices, while the one at the other end offered free small tables and chairs with a significant purchase. Clearly, they were trying to undercut Bao Guo's fledgling grocery store.

Laughing off the competition, Bao Guo scoffed, "Suppress me? I could shut down this minute and show you. I'm not even in this for business. I'll go find someone who can teach me the language. Without understanding it, I'm just wasting time."

...

"Did anyone see how he left? Or how he managed to take that wild boar meat and the soybeans? Did anyone witness it?" Village Chief Krod Rothter called together all the villagers to inquire, but they all shook their heads. No one had seen how Bao Guo managed to move the items or when he had departed. They couldn't very well spy on the man.

With a sigh, Krod pulled a dark green leaf, half a meter long and several centimeters wide, from his apron. He rolled it into a cylinder, lit it with the bonfire's flames, and inhaled deeply.

"It's becoming clear that this gentleman is someone of mystery and intrigue. It's a good thing we haven't crossed him. Though it puzzles me why he'd want soybeans and the least valuable cut of wild boar, our best course of action is to accommodate his requests. Allen, take a crew and build a decent dwelling for our guest in the plaza. Tonight, Anna can move in. Actually, scratch that—erect a mage tower instead. Smaller is fine, but make sure it resembles the ones in town. Off you go."

Allen thumped his chest in agreement, hefted the nearly meter-long steel blade over his shoulder, and departed. He had already fitted the blade with a handle and sharpened it to a gleam. The blade's cold light was visible even from a distance.

No sooner had he stepped out the door than he dashed back in, exclaiming, "Village Chief, Village Chief, that gentleman has returned, yet he's brought nothing with him. It looks like he's come back empty-handed."

But was Bao Guo truly empty-handed? Not at all. He had brought paper and a pen, moved by a newfound determination to study. After over a decade of education, he had never once taken the initiative to learn on his own. Now, for the first time, he was serious and intent on mastering a foreign language. Sadly, he soon felt the sting of despair.

In the village, home to over a thousand souls including the village chief and his daughter, not one could read or write. They could speak, yes, but they were all illiterate—a glaring and uncomfortable truth.

Witnessing Bao Guo's crestfallen expression, Krod's face flushed as he offered an explanation, "Actually, the rainy season will pass in a few more days. We can go to town and purchase some spirit awakening potions for you to drink, and then get some literacy books. That should do it."

He himself wasn't entirely convinced by his words. The spirit awakening potion was available in pharmacies across many towns and wasn't considered a rare commodity. It was meant to unlock the mental faculties of the people in this world, but it came with a risk of failure. The first bottle might not work, but one could keep trying. Though not exorbitantly priced, it was still beyond the means of their humble village.

Bao Guo, of course, didn't grasp the explanation, but the gesture of tilting one's head back to drink suggested that the village chief believed that consuming something would enable communication between them. Fine, then. He would wait until they acquired this mysterious drink.

In the meantime, it occurred to him that he could bring something to drink as well, like fetching some wine to gauge the villagers' reactions.