Clearly, Zhao Guang was overthinking things, as the more he moved items upstairs, the more people he encountered.
One tells ten, ten tell a hundred, and soon the entire building knew, and then the whole neighborhood was in on the secret. Despite Zhao Guang's attempts to keep his lips sealed, it was no use; the rumors others spread became increasingly far-fetched.
Why did his mouth slip so easily?
It's a sin, it's a sin, Zhao Guang thought, deciding not to worry about what others said anymore.
After all, most people definitely wouldn't believe it, and for the few who did, there was nothing he could do about it. Besides, the items he stockpiled at home weren't going to waste; at most, it would just take a bit more time to use them up.
What Zhao Guang didn't know was that, while everyone outwardly thought he was a fool—after all, who hoards so much seasoning?—almost every family was secretly buying up non-perishable food items to store at home.
The next day, Zhao Guang ran to the grain and oil shop, where everything was already prepared for him.
"Let's get one thing straight, the goods were all exchanged by you, and we have nothing to do with it, and here's the receipt."
After paying, Zhao Guang stuffed the receipt into his pocket: "Don't worry, if they drink themselves to death, it's their own fault for liking this recipe."
"Exactly, a bunch of freaks."
Lao Liu waved his hand and watched Zhao Guang leave, then took out his cellphone to happily look at the numbers on the screen.
He liked dealing with people like this, never expecting to stumble upon such a money-making opportunity. Even if he told others, no one would probably admit to it.
Back at home, Zhao Guang started moving items again, trip after trip.
But this time, it was chili oil, and upon seeing those oil drums, the neighbors looked at Zhao Guang even more strangely.
Zhao Guang ignored them, and after closing the front door upon entering, he began moving things around.
Before coming upstairs, Zhao Guang had already disassembled his tricycle; he couldn't have gotten it upstairs otherwise. He then started transporting items back and forth. Busy until the sun was high in the sky, Zhao Guang felt like he had exercised all his muscles.
"What a hassle. Next time I have to find an easier way, maybe a conveyor belt?" he thought while reassembling the tricycle. There was a mountain of stuff since he'd made two trips. But since no one here was checking for overloading, Zhao Guang piled up the goods slowly, like a small hill.
"Let's go," Zhao Guang shouted, then nothing happened.
"What's going on, is it overloaded?" Zhao Guang jumped down, looking at his motionless tricycle with confusion.
"It seems to not respond at all; the battery couldn't be dead, could it?" Regardless, he had a spare, so Zhao Guang replaced it with another. "Let's go!" he shouted with gusto once more.
But the next moment was awkward, as the tricycle still didn't budge.
Never mind, no one saw it happen, so pretend nothing did.
"Can it really be because there's too much stuff? Is the quality that bad? Aren't domestic tricycles supposed to handle ten times the load?" he muttered while unloading some of the stuff, but to no avail.
Ultimately, after some testing, Zhao Guang confirmed that all the batteries were useless.
If it had been just one battery not working, it could have been a quality issue, but this many meant it wasn't about quality. At least, even if the quality was poor, there should be some sort of reaction.
These batteries were fully charged before he set out.
Deciding to head back home to check things out, Zhao Guang once again opened the Space Gate, taking the batteries with him.
"They work at home; could it be that batteries don't work in another world?" Zhao Guang finally considered this possibility. Maybe the fundamental laws of physics were different there.
Too bad he wasn't a scientist; he couldn't figure out these issues.
"Forget it, if the batteries don't work, I'll just pedal there," he decided.
Thinking of the tricycle's manual system, he realized it was not entirely useless.
Stepping through the Space Gate, Zhao Guang shouted to the sky: "Hahaha, Beastmen, I... I will never share the sky with you!"
Luckily he didn't slur his words; otherwise, he really would have been in trouble because from afar, Zhao Guang saw a group of people. Yes, those were Humans, and he recognized the two leaders—weren't they Jack and Hans?
"Lord Zhao Guang, you're finally back, we've been waiting for you so eagerly that we've lost weight," they said.
Looking at them come over, making a scene with tears and snot, Zhao Guang took frightful steps back.
He backed up against a rock, and the glaring countdown appeared. "Hold on, wait, what are you doing? What do you want to do?" Bloody hell, these Humans were more frightening than the Beastmen.
"That what, Lord Zhao Guang, please come back with us quickly, these are the goods you brought, right?"
Zhao Guang, seeing those people with the odd looks in their eyes, hurriedly said: "Yes, these are the ones, help me move them up, and then take them back."
Jack waved a big hand: "What are you waiting for? Hurry up and help Lord Zhao Guang with his things."
The others promptly stepped forward to assist though they didn't know what the items were.
And Zhao Guang was close to tears, all these supplies were meant for the Beastmen, could he really get a good price for them if taken to the Humans? If not, wouldn't that be a problem?
But there was no choice, there were too many of them and he couldn't beat even one.
"Right, Lord Zhao Guang, you just said you'd never share the sky with the Beastmen, have you seen those beasts?"
"How could I have not? I ran into them the last time I was here, they took all my stuff and even demanded I bring more. Damn Beastmen, these supplies were clearly meant for Humans."
Zhao Guang vigorously rubbed his eyes, almost forcing the tears out.
"Sigh! Don't be like this, we will eventually drive those damn Beastmen away. Be careful from now on, this place is the border line, and we can't always control it," they reassured him.
Zhao Guang nodded earnestly as if he was suffering a profound injustice.
Then, watching the soldiers move his goods and thinking about not getting a good price, he truly wanted to cry. Why was he so unlucky? When he was looking for them, they weren't there, and when he wasn't, they appeared.
"Lord Zhao Guang, what is this?"
Finally, Hans noticed the tricycle, which obviously didn't seem like a product.
"This? Oh, this is a tricycle. Look here; you just ride it and it can carry all these items. How about it, wanna give it a try? It's easy to learn."
Free labor, right there for the taking – get them to ride it for him.
"I want to try; I'll go first." As expected, the soldiers were very intrigued by the novelty of the tricycle.