132: Chapter 130 Borrowing the Point of Cause and Effect
Li Xiulian's breathing skipped a beat.
No worries about customers. No need to worry about food spoiling. She could set her own prices, or convert it directly into karma points.
Isn't this just like the food delivery platforms from before her Transmigration?
And it was the kind of food delivery platform where you didn't have to run errands, didn't have to worry about bad reviews, and got paid immediately after making the food.
Her mind began to race.
Before her Transmigration, she had run a home-based food delivery service for a while. She sold handmade braised dishes and cold tossed dishes, posting them in the residential compound's owner group. Everyone who ate them said they were good, and repeat customers made up seventy percent. Later, the business got too busy, and she couldn't take care of her family, so she had to stop.
She had regretted stopping for a long time.
Now—
Her youngest son was in a deep sleep, her daughter and husband hadn't reunited yet, and their luck had been terrible in the first few days after their Transmigration.
Although they had the help of the constantly updating functions of the Fate Platform, her daughter and husband, who had very weak self-sufficiency skills, were still struggling.
Especially after barely upgrading to a Bronze Grade Houseboat, they were short on food and drink, and their weapons and armor were all still Rotten Wood Class.
In the small team of dozens of people she had joined, there were several others responsible for logistics with her. Usually, they just did mending, washing, and looking after the Houseboat. It was busy, but not exceptionally so; most of the time, they had to find work for themselves.
The source of karma points for her family was really meager.
Or rather, the source of karma points for most unskilled Rotten Wood Class Survivors was very meager.
Their personal attributes for Essence, Qi, and Spirit were all between 7 and 10. One karma point required consuming at least one-fifth of one of these attributes.
In other words, converting all of their Essence, Qi, and Spirit into karma points would yield at most 15 points.
It was the limit for them to squeeze out 5 karma points every day; any more, and they would experience anemia, fainting, and weakness. One could imagine how dangerous such a state would be on the Magic Sea.
Moreover, a portion of these five points had to be used for the various functions of the Fate Platform, so being able to save two points a day in the end was quite good.
The key was that their Essence, Qi, and Spirit didn't reset after a sleep like in a game. If a single attribute dropped by more than one-third, it would take at least two or three days of rest to recover without supplements.
Therefore, basically all Survivors sacrificed their Essence, Qi, and Spirit in a balanced way when offering them for karma points.
Magic Sea Beast meat could accelerate the recovery of Essence, Qi, and Spirit. This was the reason why the combat-type Survivors in those teams went out to hunt every day—mainly to restore their state and accumulate karma points.
She relied on the chores she did for the team every day to get some Magic Sea Beast meat to accumulate karma points.
She could consistently save three points a day, and sometimes, if they caught a big haul of fish, she might be able to save one more karma point.
Her daughter's situation was basically the same as hers. Her husband was slightly better off; in his team, he could participate in hunting, but he was still just there to do odd jobs. Moreover, because participating in hunting consumed more of the Fate Platform's functions, the karma points he ended up saving were about the same as theirs.
Because of the Houseboat upgrade, the total balance of karma points in their family's hands currently did not exceed seventy points.
She sometimes wondered, if it weren't for the existence of the great Fate Master who gave them the opportunity to use the Cause and Effect Fate Platform.
A family like theirs, raised by modern society with absolutely no self-survival skills in the wild, would likely have been wiped out within the first few days of being on the Magic Sea.
Now, their family seemed to be living quite stably, which was pretty good.
But if their family could only maintain this status quo.
Unable to keep up with the continuous progress of the main force, she worried whether her family would be able to hold out against the next, potentially more terrifying Magic Sea Beast Tide.
And if the things introduced by the second function of the food god shrine in front of her... could really be made to work...
Just thinking about it made her incredibly excited.
Then her hand moved.
Li Xiulian opened the trading platform of the Karmic Trading Realm and began searching for ingredients and seasonings.
Sea salt, available, relatively cheap.
Dried chili powder, available—very expensive, three karma points for a small bag.
Ginger powder, available; aged vinegar, available; soy sauce, six karma points a bottle; marinated common Magic Sea Beast tenderloin, three karma points per jin; fresh seaweed, one karma point per bundle.
She wouldn't buy tools for now; they had ready-made ones in the team. If the experiment was successful, she would buy a set for herself later.
She checked her balance of karma points.
Twenty-one.
Not enough.
The staple food was cheap; it was mainly those seasonings that were expensive.
She was short by about ten or so.
To go all in, she still had to borrow money.
Li Xiulian sat on the edge of the boat and stared at the sea surface for three seconds. Then she opened the private messaging function on the Fate Platform; she wanted to ask her husband and daughter to pool some funds.
But they had already entered the Sequence War, and she couldn't contact them in the short term.
So she set her sights on her good friend.
Sending message to: Zhang Lijuan.
"Lijuan, lend me ten karma points."
The reply was almost instantaneous.
"Ah, that many karma points? What are you doing?"
"Testing the new function of the food god shrine."
"That thing for buying food? What are you testing?"
"The second function. Cooking to sell for money."
The other side was silent for a dozen seconds.
"Sister Xiulian... you're at it again."
Li Xiulian knew Zhang Lijuan too well. She was forty years old, had run a general store in her hometown town before Transmigration, and was capable, honest, and didn't like to stir up trouble. The two of them had been old sisters for more than a decade before Transmigration. After Transmigration, they used the Fate Platform's positioning to confirm that they were both still alive. Although they were separated and had each joined different teams, they had always kept in touch.
"Lijuan, listen to me." Li Xiulian began sending messages in succession, "The second function of the food god shrine allows the food you make to be directly transmitted to exchange for karma points. The higher the deliciousness, the more you get. This is the food delivery platform from before Transmigration, and you don't even have to run errands or worry about the food spoiling—"
"Sister, type slower, I can't keep up."
"Just tell me whether you'll lend it or not!"
"...Can you slow down first? Last time you said you wanted to sell hand-woven fishing nets on the trading platform, I lent you five points, and how much did you end up selling?"
"That time the market was already saturated. This time is different."
"When is it not 'this time is different'?"
Li Xiulian took a deep breath.
"Zhang Lijuan."
"Hmm?"
"The braised dishes I made before Transmigration—you've eaten them."
The other side was silent again.
"...I have."
"Were they delicious?"
"...Delicious."
"Then lend me ten points. If I earn, I'll pay you back double. If I lose, I'll work three extra days in the team to compensate you."
The silence lasted for nearly a minute.
"Ten karma points is too much. I've only saved up eighteen so far. I can lend you eight; I don't have any more than that."
"Deal!"
Li Xiulian turned off the notification for the incoming karma points and immediately began purchasing.