Ch 76: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World

The five-member team left, and the area around the blind box shop fell silent.

Lu Yao stood at the shop entrance for a while, considering placing a couple of benches outside. The space felt too empty, sparking her desire to make some improvements.

She mentally noted the idea and then returned to the shop, where she stocked the remaining two hot drink blind boxes from the storage into the machine before heading to the snack shop.

The blind box shop’s tables and chairs hadn’t been set up yet, and with no customers, there wasn’t much to do—perfect for putting things on autopilot for now.

That evening, the snack shop was launching its new late-night menu, and Lu Yao wanted to check out the dishes.

At 4 PM, the snack shop’s first floor closed as usual. Quan Shengju, Bai Ming, Xingzi, and Xiao Qie were in the kitchen preparing the late-night dishes.

The late-night menu mainly consisted of barbecue. Meat and vegetables were cleaned, cut, and marinated in advance. Once ready, they would be skewered using illusion-created skewers and grilled when the shop opened.

For the meat, they had prepared pork belly, lean pork, chicken wings, chicken skin, chicken gizzards, phoenix claws, beef, and some magical beast meat from the Alexander Continent, with 100 skewers of each type.

For the vegetables, they had green peppers, enoki mushrooms, green beans, cucumbers, lotus root slices, dried tofu, sweet potato skin, chiba tofu, stinky tofu, and cabbage leaves, with 50 skewers of each type.

Lu Yao loved grilled oysters and shrimp, but both Yaoguang City and Emerald Town were inland, making seafood either expensive or impossible to find.

As a result, the shop didn’t prepare seafood, except for 20 fresh carp.

Lu Yao tried the barbecue seasoning made by Quan Shengju and found the flavor spot on.

There was also a small pickle jar in the shop, with some sweet and crispy pickled carrots inside.

Lu Yao asked Xiao Qie to scoop out some pickles, then chopped up a bit of the carrots and grilled a few skewers of sweet potato skin.

The thick, tough sweet potato skin became soft and chewy after grilling. The surface was brushed with spicy oil, sprinkled with salt and cumin, and wrapped around chopped pickled carrots and scallions, held together by two skewers. The result was a deliciously chewy, tangy, and fragrant snack.

Quan Shengju tried a skewer and commented on how the crispy exterior contrasted with the soft and chewy interior, the pickles adding a tangy crunch, and the scallions providing a burst of flavor. Simple yet rich in taste.

“We don’t have this type of snack where I’m from. This tastes amazing.”

Bai Ming and the others also gave the grilled sweet potato skin high praise.

Lu Yao then introduced them to a similar approach for grilling dried tofu, where adding some fillings also produced an excellent result.

Compared to the springy, chewy sweet potato skin, dried tofu was dry and savory, making it highly addictive.

Quan Shengju quickly learned the technique for grilling sweet potato skin from Lu Yao and suggested adding two more pickle jars to the kitchen for pickling more carrots.

At 5 PM, the second and third floors of the shop closed on schedule.

Qi Chen, Chi, Mo Cheng, and Yu Cai also came downstairs to help.

The staff had agreed among themselves to rotate late-night shifts in groups of four, switching every seven days.

Starting from this first night, Bai Ming, Xingzi, Xiao Qie, and Quan Shengju were the team working the late-night barbecue shift.

However, since it was the first night, Chi and the others, curious about the late-night barbecue, decided to stay and help out as well.

At 7 PM, the snack shop’s barbecue stall officially opened. The Du brothers, Du Chen and Du An, had been eyeing the place for a while.

Seeing the sign light up, they headed over together, bringing along some guests who were staying at the inn.

These guests had queued outside the shop during the day but hadn’t gotten in. They checked into the inn next door, planning to try again the following morning.

To their surprise, the snack shop had quietly launched a late-night menu, and they were lucky enough to catch it, much to their delight.

They were the first group of customers, ordering everything on the menu and even a whole case of beer.

The five or six of them gathered around a table, eating barbecue, drinking, and chatting. For a moment, it felt like they were back in their lives before.

After a while, the head guard Bai Jian and Qing arrived, bringing with them several NPCs from the amusement park.

It turned out that the head guard was treating the employees to barbecue.

The NPCs filled four or five tables, creating a lively atmosphere in the shop.

Before long, customers from the nearby KTV, dance studio, and art room caught a whiff of the delicious aroma and rushed out, only then realizing that the snack shop was now offering late-night barbecue, operating from sunset until the early hours of the morning.

“Oh my! Just finished singing, now I can have some barbecue before heading home to sleep—how perfect is that?”

“This smells amazing! That table’s about to leave, hurry and grab their spot!”

“Oh my god, it’s barbecue! I can’t believe I’m eating barbecue again in this lifetime—worth dying for!”

“But… you’re already dead…”

“Shut up! Stop talking and go grab the food!”

“My favorite grilled fish with that crispy, charred skin—it smells divine!”

“Beer with grilled fish? Absolutely unbeatable!”

News of the snack shop offering late-night food spread quickly, drawing many people in.

Not only was the shop itself packed, but they also set up more than ten tables outside, which quickly filled up as well.

On the first day of business, customers flooded in, excited by the novelty of the late-night barbecue.

Lu Yao helped with grilling skewers in the kitchen, while Qi Chen and Yu Cai joined in to serve the customers.

…

In the Day of Impermanence world, at the corner of the abandoned Shenghong Building, Lu Yuanfan held a hot drink blind box, steam rising as the faint scent of tea mixed with milk spread in the air.

The atmosphere suddenly grew quiet as Zhou Yan, who had been scolding them for over twenty minutes, finally fell silent, staring blankly at the can in Lu Yuanfan’s hand.

One of Zhou Yan’s teammates, who had also come out searching for the kids, leaned in. “It smells so good… is this kind of like coffee?”

“No, I think it smells more like tea?” another teammate speculated.

Zhou Yan took the hot drink from Lu Yuanfan and brought it close, holding up a small energy crystal to try and see inside. The weak green glow from the crystal wasn’t enough to illuminate the contents, so he sniffed it and then took a small sip.

The flavor was a mix of mild bitterness with a fresh tea aroma and a hint of milk.

Zhou Yan frowned slightly. The taste was both familiar and unfamiliar. It seemed like it should have a proper name, but he couldn’t recall it. Eventually, he just said, “It’s probably some kind of tea powder mixed with coffee.”

Xing Shan leaned over. “Captain, let me have a sip.”

Zhang Lewei and Wang He also crowded closer, each taking a sip and savoring the flavor.

Zhou Yan was twenty-eight years old, and his teammates were around twenty-four or twenty-five. When the Day of Impermanence began, they had been just a few years old, but they still knew a bit more than the kids born after the Day of Impermanence.

They all felt like they had tasted or seen something like this drink in their childhood, but no one could remember its name.

It had been too long, and opportunities to experience such things had become rare.

Zhou Ying walked over and asked quietly, “Isn’t it called matcha latte?”

Lu Yuanfan and Zhang Bo, the younger team members, got excited. “A new flavor?”

Zhang Lewei clapped her hands in excitement. “Yes! That’s it! Matcha. I couldn’t remember it no matter how hard I tried.”

Zhou Yan looked at his sister. “How do you know the name?”

Zhou Ying pointed to the can. “There’s a label on the can that lists the flavors. I guessed it based on what you said about the tea taste.”

She then pulled out a small, square box from her pocket. “Brother, we also drew a few instant noodle blind boxes from that shop, but we don’t know what flavors we got yet.”

Instant noodles?

Zhou Yan, Xing Shan, Zhang Lewei, and Wang He all reacted immediately. The mention of instant noodles stirred deep memories.

As kids, they would do anything—whine, beg, and throw tantrums—to get a bowl of instant noodles from the adults.

A few years ago, they could still occasionally trade for long-expired instant noodles at the base, though the price was steep.

In recent years, however, instant noodles had practically disappeared from circulation.

The Day of Impermanence had become increasingly chaotic, and life was harder than ever. Any available food was hoarded and never brought out.

Moreover, the Day of Impermanence had lasted too long.

Industrial production had come to a halt, and everything produced before the Day of Impermanence was nearly consumed.

Now, the land was polluted, making it impossible to grow normal crops.

With animals and plants continuously mutating, the amount of edible food was shrinking, leaving humanity with fewer and fewer resources to survive.

Zhou Yan took the blind box, while Xing Shan and Wang He each held up an energy crystal to provide light.

Without hesitation, Zhou Yan tore open the packaging. Everything inside was individually wrapped, and by feeling the surface, he could tell that the largest packet was the noodles.

He pressed it a couple of times but didn’t open it.

Zhou Ying and Lu Yuanfan leaned in, disappointed to find only three seasoning packets inside.

“This is just a regular version. What the store owner said was true—only the hidden items have more ingredients.”

Zhou Yan, not paying attention to their conversation, immediately grabbed Zhou Ying’s hand and urged, “Take me to that shop where you found this.”

Zhou Ying turned to lead the way, her tone carrying a hint of pride. “It’s right at Fairy Tale Square. The store is really bright, you’ll see it as soon as you get close. Brother, you brought enough energy crystals, right? We didn’t bring many and couldn’t draw too many blind boxes.”

Xing Shan, Wang He, and Zhang Lewei exchanged glances. They didn’t fully understand what the kids were talking about regarding blind boxes, but finding food was such a pleasant surprise that their spirits were high.

However, Fairy Tale Square was once a major mall before the Day of Impermanence, housing a large supermarket, clothing stores, and a snack street. It had been a rich source of supplies, and many people had scavenged there over the years.

After all these years, it had been looted countless times, down to the point where even the floors seemed as if they had been licked clean.

In recent years, anyone with common sense wouldn’t bother searching for supplies there anymore.

Only children, knowing nothing, would come by chance and stumble upon something valuable.

Zhou Ying stopped and pointed to the brightly lit blind box shop in the distance. “Brother, there it is.”

Zhou Yan and the others finally understood what the kids meant by “bright.” The shop’s sign was glaringly bright, and the streetlights on both sides emitted a pure white light, completely different from the colored light produced by energy crystals.

After hearing from Zhou Ying and the others that the shop was run by a young woman who called herself the owner, they had no further concerns.

The group marched straight into the blind box shop, only to find it empty.

Zhou Ying, leading the way, proudly showed her brother and his teammates. “This is the blind box machine. We exchange energy crystals for blind box tokens over there, and then we put the tokens in here to draw hot drinks and instant noodles.”

Zhou Yan and his team circled the machine, all having the same thought, but they decided to check out what was inside the machine first.

Each of them fished out a few small energy crystals from their pockets and exchanged them for 15-yuan blind box tokens.

Zhou Yan, more interested in the instant noodles, didn’t hesitate and immediately drew a box.

Xing Shan and Wang He, also feeling that the instant noodles were more cost-effective, each drew a box as well.

Zhang Lewei, feeling a dull ache and discomfort in her abdomen, opted for a hot drink blind box, hoping it would help soothe her stomach.

Zhou Ying hefted each of her brother’s instant noodle blind boxes and commented with slight disappointment, “They’re all light—probably just the regular versions.”

Xing Shan was surprised. “You can tell just by feeling it?”

Zhou Ying puffed out her chest proudly. “The shop owner said that only the hidden versions come with extra ingredients. I drew a hidden spicy pork rib flavor, and it came with fragrant pork ribs and crispy vegetables. It was so delicious. The hidden versions have both meat and vegetables, so they should weigh more than the regular ones.”

“Yingying has good luck, getting a hidden item on her first try.”

“Just thinking about that meat makes my mouth water. It was so tasty.”

“The vegetables were also amazing—crunchy and fresh. I didn’t even know vegetables could taste like that.”

Lu Yuanfan’s team members all chimed in, reminiscing about the hidden instant noodles they had eaten just a short while ago.

Zhou Yan’s team was genuinely astonished now. Instant noodles with real, non-mutated meat and vegetables?

They couldn’t even remember the last time they had eaten normal meat and vegetables, but from the kids’ descriptions, it didn’t seem like they were lying.

Xing Shan looked at the instant noodle blind box in his hand and suggested with a sigh, “How about we draw another one to try?”

A hidden instant noodle box—who wouldn’t want that?

They had no plans to open the regular versions they had drawn; they were far more eager to see what the hidden version would be like.

Meat, vegetables—the temptation was too great.

Xing Shan drew another box, and Zhou Ying weighed it in her hands, shaking her head.

Wang He drew another as well, and he didn’t need Zhou Ying’s input—he could already tell it felt about the same weight as the previous one.

When it was Zhou Yan’s turn, Zhou Ying raised her hand. “Brother, let me draw it for you!”

Zhou Yan was actually quite interested in the act of drawing a box himself. For those struggling to survive in the Day of Impermanence, this form of “game” offered an oddly relaxing distraction.

But since his sister wanted to do it, he didn’t stop her. He stepped back and handed her the tokens.

The little red light beside the blind box machine lit up, and Zhou Ying crouched down to retrieve the box. The moment she picked it up, she grinned. “Brother, I got it!”

“No way!” Wang He exclaimed in disbelief.

Lu Yuanfan squeezed over. “The shop owner said Yingying is… what was it? Oh, right, a ‘lucky emperor’!”

Zhang Bo chimed in, “And a ‘one-hit wonder’!”

Zhou Yan took the so-called hidden blind box and hefted it—it really was noticeably heavier than the others. The difference was clear.

But when it was sitting inside the machine, you couldn’t tell at all.

“Captain, are we opening it?” Xing Shan asked eagerly, eyeing the hidden instant noodles with anticipation.

“Open it!” Zhou Yan decided.

Zhou Ying added, “There’s hot water over there, so we can make the noodles right away.”

Zhou Yan’s group turned to look, surprised by how thoughtful it was to have hot water available.

They started investigating the hot water machine, feeling that everything about it seemed a bit off.

“This machine looks brand new.”

“It doesn’t seem to be heated by energy crystals? Is it using electricity?”

“The water’s really clean too, not murky.”

They all started wondering: Who’s behind this strange shop?

Zhou Yan pushed the thoughts aside and opened the hidden instant noodle box. As expected, there were two extra ingredient packets inside.

“What kind of noodles are these?”

Both the older and younger team members were curious.

Zhou Yan pulled out a small slip of paper and handed it to them. “It’s Yi Yi Seafood Noodles.”

“Seafood? Is it fish?”

“What’s in the hidden ingredients?”

“I’ve never eaten fish before. I wonder what it tastes like.”

Zhou Yan opened the noodle packet, revealing round, pure white noodles that smelled like fresh wheat—completely different from the musty, expired instant noodles they used to trade for at the base.

As soon as the seasoning and soup packets were opened, the rich aroma of seafood broth filled the air. The extra ingredients included dried scallions and corn kernels.

Finally, Zhou Yan opened the two hidden ingredient packets. One contained three pre-cooked shrimp, and the other held two crab sticks.

“Oh my god, real shrimp!” Zhang Lewei exclaimed, clutching her hot drink blind box, suddenly regretting her earlier choice.

This instant noodle was such a win!

After the noodles were prepared, Zhou Yan took the first bite and a sip of the broth. His usually stern face lit up with excitement as he praised, “This is delicious!”

“Captain, let me try a bite!” Xing Shan couldn’t hold back any longer.

One box of instant noodles was definitely not enough for everyone, so they opened a few more regular instant noodles. They ended up with mushroom chicken soup noodles, pickled pepper beef noodles, and spicy pork rib noodles.

The two teams, totaling nine people, shared the four bowls of noodles. While no one was fully satisfied, it was the best food they had eaten in nearly a decade and the most normal meal they had in a long time.

Zhang Lewei got a small portion of the seafood noodles and a tiny bit of shrimp. She sat on the floor, opened her hot drink blind box, took a sip, and exclaimed in surprise, “I think I got red date ginger tea!”

The drink was warm and sweet with the taste of brown sugar, a slight spiciness from the ginger, and thin slices of red dates floating on top.

The others tried it, but their reactions were mild. Zhang Lewei, however, was overjoyed.

When she was about fourteen or fifteen, she had once had red sugar water at an old base that had since been destroyed. Back then, she was on her period, in agonizing pain, lying in a broken-down tent when a kind woman had given her a little red sugar water to drink.

Now, that base was long gone, and the kind woman’s whereabouts were unknown.

Zhang Lewei was also suffering from severe menstrual pain today but had no choice but to go out for the mission. At this moment, all her emotions were soothed by the warm ginger tea. The warmth eased the cold pain in her abdomen, and the sweet aftertaste lingered in her mouth.

It felt like she could keep going for a while longer.

After finishing their food, Zhou Yan and his team members stared at the two blind box machines, their thoughts clear without needing to be spoken aloud.

Xing Shan remarked, “These machines are pretty interesting. It would be a shame to just smash them.”

Wang He added, “But if we don’t break them open, we can’t take something this big with us. We need to bring all the food back—this batch of supplies is important.”

Lu Yuanfan and his younger teammates overheard the adults’ discussion, looking confused.

Zhang Bo asked, “Why smash the machines when we can exchange energy crystals for food?”

Opening the blind boxes was fun, after all.

Xing Shan replied, “With Eternal Night lasting longer and supplies running low, we can’t leave something this good sitting here. If we don’t take it, someone else will come and take it. The food may not be much, but it’s enough to help everyone survive until the end of Eternal Night.”

Zhou Ying couldn’t hold back anymore. “But this shop has an owner. If we want food, we can just exchange for it with energy crystals. Why do we have to steal?”

The innocence of a child. Xing Shan and the others started circling the blind box machines, looking for an angle to break them open.

Zhang Lewei walked over to Zhou Ying, sighing inwardly.

She used to be just like Zhou Ying—innocent and idealistic, clinging to principles no matter how hard life became. But to survive in the Day of Impermanence, one had to abandon such notions early on.

No matter why this shop was here or who the owner was, if the person who placed these items couldn’t protect them, they should expect them to be taken.

Lu Yuanfan, seeing Zhou Ying upset, quietly approached her and said, “Yingying, if Brother Zhou Yan and the others have decided we need to take these supplies, you’ll have to get used to it. No one knows how much longer Eternal Night will last. With these supplies, a lot of people might be able to survive.”

But back at the base, whenever supplies were gathered, they would trade energy crystals or other items with people. The items from this shop weren’t abandoned supplies, and Zhou Ying felt uneasy about taking them. Still, she knew how valuable these supplies were.

Feeling frustrated and helpless, she could only stand there and sulk.

Meanwhile, the three young men began trying to break open the blind box machines.

Suddenly, there was a sound at the entrance. Everyone turned to look.

Lu Yao walked through the door. “You’re smashing my blind box machines and trying to steal from me? That’s not very nice.”

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