"Sir, how much longer will you take to get here?"
Zhou Kun squatted at the door of his cold storage warehouse while anxiously waiting for the maintenance worker to arrive.
The weather in Tong City during June was already very warm. If the fruits inside the cold storage warehouse were not refrigerated, it would be difficult to prevent them from rotting, let alone keep them fresh for longer.
"I'm on the way. I'll arrive in about 15 minutes or so."
"Please hurry up, Sir."
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Kun took out a cigarette from his bag and lit it up while making sense of the matters that happened recently.
Zhou Kun's parents were hospitalized after getting into a car accident three months ago, and the fruit business that was run by his family had to be managed by him.
Although he had been running a wholesale fruit business with his parents for many years while learning a lot during that period, he realized that there were still many things that he had yet to pick up when he tried his hands at running the business.
Take the batch of cantaloupe that had been placed in the warehouse recently as an example. When he purchased it in bulk in the beginning, he thought that they were of great quality. He assumed that the prices for cantaloupes would rise in the near future due to the heavy downpours when the cantaloupes bloomed at the production origin. Hence, he stocked up a batch of cantaloupes in a bid to sell them after the prices surged.
However, to Zhou Kun's surprise, the prices for cantaloupes did increase, but there was a large influx of honeydews in the market this year. As a consequence, several wholesalers turned to honeydews, which were cheaper than cantaloupes.
Seeing that no one cared about the cantaloupes in the cold storage warehouse and calculating the day-to-day storage costs, Zhou Kun got a major headache.
To make matters worse, he discovered that the refrigerator in the cold storage warehouse was malfunctioning when he arrived. Fortunately, he had discovered it early, otherwise, the cantaloupes in the warehouse would all be ruined.
Moreover, with the rise of e-commerce in the past two years, fruit farmers had been selling fruits at low prices due to the absence of a middleman. In the end, there were lesser customers who purchased loosely-packed fruits from Zhou Kun.
Zhou Kun also registered his brand on an e-commerce platform known as 'Jia Duoduo'. However, he frowned when he saw the prices that his competitors were charging.
Most of the fruits were sold for 9.9 yuan, inclusive of free shipping. Even major wholesalers could not offer such low prices.
Later on, he decided to give it a try and purchased some fruits from those sellers, only to discover that they were mostly sales gimmicks. The actual products delivered were not as superb as advertised, and the sellers were shoddy.
That kind of business would not last long and hence, Zhou Kun decided not to compete by lowering his prices. Instead, he wanted to win by providing high-quality fruits.
Hence, no one placed any orders on his online store, and he simply kept it going. The lack of business made Zhou Kun feel very disturbed and vexed.
"It's done. 600 yuan in total." The maintenance worker packed up, and Zhou Kun heard the sounds of the cold storage running normally again.
After paying up, Zhou Kun eagerly entered the cold storage warehouse in order to check whether the cantaloupes were alright.
However, Zhou Kun was shocked upon opening the cold storage warehouse.
One of the walls of the cold storage warehouse was no longer there. Instead, it was replaced by a deep passage.
Who is kidding with me?
Did that person ruin the refrigerator in here for the sake of wreaking havoc?
However, I'm the only person who had the keys to the cold storage warehouse. How could there be anyone?
This surreal scene didn't seem to be a painting. Is it a projection?
Zhou Kun scanned his surroundings in the cold storage warehouse, but the end result was rather disappointing because he did not discover any projectors.
Zhou Kun approached the deep passage and touched the wall with some uncertainty.
In the next second, Zhou Kun quickly withdrew his hand, and shock was written all over his face.
The wall of the cold storage warehouse was really gone!
In other words, this was really a passage!
Everything in front of Zhou Kun made him feel rather uncertain because he was absolutely sure that there was an industrial park right behind his cold storage warehouse. The wall should have led to the open air, but there was nothing connected to it.
What was going on with the passage in front of me?
Where was it headed towards?
In order to get a clearer idea of everything, he would have to enter and take a look.
After hesitating several times, Zhou Kun finally walked into the passage because he was driven by curiosity.
The moment Zhou Kun stepped into the passage, the wave of heat that was in his face swept away the chilliness of the cold storage warehouse.
Zhou Kun did not rush forward but carefully looked at the surrounding environment.
The passage that he was in was warm and stuffy. The surrounding rocks made it look like a cave.
A faint ray of light radiated from not far in front, as though it was calling Zhou Kun.
Just as Zhou Kun hesitated, he suddenly heard a voice coming from the front.
A deep and rumbling voice said, "Intruder, you've disturbed me from my slumber. What is your motive?" There was another voice coming from behind that seemed to be talking to him. However, it was too far, and Zhou Kun couldn't hear it clearly.
Hearing the voice of someone talking, Zhou Kun's heart almost jumped out of his chest. After all, the unknown was the most terrifying. He felt that he might be able to ask what was going on to the person ahead.
Following the light, he advanced continuously, and the path onwards suddenly became discernable. Zhou Kun finally arrived in the open space, but at the next second, he felt that he was thinking too simply.
There was a behemoth creeping in front of him, who was exuding a fiery aura. Beneath him, there were countless gold coins and jewels. Zhou Kun felt that the legendary dragon of the Western world could be in front of him.
Zhou Kun subconsciously dug at the stone beside him and discovered that it was not a foam prop.
Looking up at the behemoth in front of him and feeling the heat from the continuous heat waves, he felt that everything was true.
"Damn it, is this really not a television program where they prank people?"
"Where are the cameras?"
"Such scenes don't even happen in novels. Why is there a dragon in my cold storage warehouse!?!"
"How dare you deceive the great Pilux? Die, intruder." At this time, Zhou Kun finally discovered that there was a person standing in front of the dragon. It was as if the dragon was talking to him previously.
The dragon seemed to have been provoked by him, as a burst of flames spurted from its nose. The person standing in front of the dragon was turned into ashes in the next second.
"Another intruder, are you in cahoots with him?" The giant dragon kept its huge eyes fixed on Zhou Kun, and Zhou Kun felt his skin burning due to the hot breath coming out of the dragon's nose.
"No, he and I are not in cahoots." Although Zhou Kun's reaction was slow, he knew that everything in front of him was real.
"You're not?"
"In that case, reveal your motive," the dragon said in a voice that was still as deep as before. However, Zhou Kun felt that the question would kill him. Clearly, the guy in front of him had not answered it correctly.
"If I say I'm lost, can you let me go?" Zhou Kun glanced at the passage behind him with his peripheral vision, in an attempt to figure out whether he could outrun Pilux's Dragon's Breath.
The massive dragon Pilux felt that it was a special day because adventurers had broken into his lair one after another. They actually dared to covet his treasures. He felt that they should not be forgiven and spared.
"Does that mean you're here to play a fool too?"