Ch 77: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World

The late-night business at the snack shop was so booming that all the prepared ingredients were sold out before midnight.

Lu Yao was in charge of grilling skewers and worked up quite a sweat.

After closing, she discussed with the staff about preparing double the ingredients for the next day. The carp supply would be increased from 20 to 50, and the amount of alcohol would be boosted by a third, aiming to extend the business hours until midnight.

If even that wasn’t enough, they would hold off on increasing the quantity further for the time being.

Running the business steadily was better than rushing to meet demand all at once.

The customers had already grown accustomed to the snack shop’s late-night hours, but the costs had shot up.

Between ingredients and alcohol, the daily expenses for just the snack shop had risen by around 5,000 yuan. Some of the ingredients could be purchased from the Alexander Continent, and the daily cost, converted into yuan, was about 15,000.

If it weren’t for the subsidy from the demon god, Lu Yao might have been pulling her hair out over these expenses.

The blind box shop was also a money-draining venture, so she needed to find a way to make use of the energy crystals; otherwise, it would become a losing business as well.

After leaving the snack shop, Lu Yao posted another black ring on the forum, still priced at 5 million yuan, including taxes.

Afterward, she headed to the nail salon.

Having worked up a sweat and feeling grimy, she didn’t plan on returning to her residence since it was already late. Instead, she showered in the salon’s restroom, changed into her pajamas, and prepared to rest, knowing she’d have another busy day ahead.

As she stepped out of the bathroom, her hair still dripping wet, the system chimed in:

System: “Emergency notification, the blind box shop is under attack. The owner is requested to return immediately.”

Lu Yao: “What happened?”

System: “Some guests are trying to take items from the blind box machine by smashing it.”

Lu Yao: “Take? More like stealing outright.”

System: “…It seems the owner is angry.”

Lu Yao pushed open the door of the research room, ready to leave.

Tina, who would soon be moving to Dragon Valley and had been staying at the nail salon to acclimate, was the only one in the women’s dorm tonight, enjoying the peace and quiet.

Hearing the door open after midnight, Tina came out of her room, surprised. “Are you heading out this late?”

Lu Yao used her transformation magic to throw on a thick coat casually. “There’s an issue at the new shop. I’m going to check it out.”

Tina stepped up and used her fire magic to help dry Lu Yao’s hair. “Be careful. Come back soon.”

“Thanks. You should get some sleep.” Lu Yao opened the door and returned to her world.

Tina remained at the door as Harold and Si Jin also came out of their room.

The two dragons had recently gotten into playing tablet games and had taken to hanging out in the lounge rather than returning to their nests.

“Where did Lu Yao go?” Harold asked.

Tina replied, “She said there’s a problem at her new shop and she’s going to check it out.”

Harold frowned. “New shop? Where did she open another new shop?”

He knew that Lu Yao had opened a new shop but couldn’t understand what kind of store would require so much attention, especially so late at night.

Si Jin chimed in, “It’s probably in another world we don’t know about.”

Tina shot Harold a glance. “The owner is out late, and it’s worrying. Can’t you think of something to help?”

Harold looked confused. “What?”

Si Jin knocked Harold lightly on the back of his head. “Yeah, it’s up to you. We can’t do anything about it.”

Only Harold, with his half-silver dragon bloodline, had the potential to awaken time-traveling abilities. The rest of them didn’t.

…

In the world of Impermanence, at Fairy Tale Square.

In the blind box shop, Xing Shan exhaled deeply, preparing to punch the machine again. “What is this thing made of? It’s so hard! Even with my ability at level five, I still couldn’t break it.”

Abilities, likely the only reward humanity gained from the endless disasters of Impermanence, were only awakened in some individuals. The chances of developing powers were higher in the younger generation, especially those born after the Day of Impermanence. Among every ten new-generation children, six to seven might awaken abilities.

Lu Yuanfan’s squad were all ability users, though they were still young, with low power levels. In Zhou Yan’s team, Xing Shan and Zhang Lewei were also ability users. Zhang Lewei was very agile, making her an excellent attacker and sneak fighter. Xing Shan possessed immense strength, capable of lifting thousands of pounds with one hand—few could withstand a direct punch from him.

At first, Xing Shan thought he could easily break the blind box machine. After three punches, he had only managed to dent it slightly, causing his frustration to grow.

Lu Yao pushed open the door to the blind box shop, catching sight of the three young men trying to break the machine. The top of the hot drink blind box machine was already dented from their punches.

She pinched her fingers together and calmly walked forward. “You’re smashing my blind box machine and trying to steal from me? That’s not very nice.”

Everyone turned to look. The girl standing there was tall and slender, with short hair that brushed her shoulders. She had a clean, delicate appearance. Dressed in a long white coat, with half-length gray cartoon-printed pajama pants visible below, she wore slippers, looking utterly relaxed. Even her walk was leisurely.

Xing Shan glanced at her but quickly looked away, focusing his energy again. He didn’t care about the sudden appearance of this woman, who was likely the shop owner. All he knew was that this next punch would definitely destroy the machine.

Caught in the act of vandalizing the shop, there was no longer any room for negotiation. He figured it was best to be decisive—grab the supplies and leave.

Lu Yao sighed and waved her hand. Xing Shan was lifted into the air and, under the astonished gaze of the others, flew out of the shop.

The door immediately shut behind him, leaving him outside alone.

“I’m the owner of this shop. You’ve damaged my machines, so you’ll have to compensate,” Lu Yao said, her eyes quickly recognizing that Zhou Yan was the one in charge.

Zhou Ying and Lu Yuanfan’s younger squad members, upon seeing Lu Yao return, hung their heads, not daring to look at her. They had been so happy when they drew their blind boxes earlier. The owner had been kind and patient, guiding them through the fun, useful products. Yet, they had come back with people to destroy her shop.

Zhang Lewei bent her body slightly, her muscles tense, preparing for an attack. The shop owner clearly had powers, likely a rare form of telekinesis. No wonder she had the confidence to open a shop and sell supplies—she must be very secure in her abilities.

Still, Zhang Lewei figured that if she was fast enough, she could catch the owner off guard and defeat her in a single move.

Despite recognizing that the shop owner had rare abilities, Zhang Lewei didn’t underestimate her. The situation had already turned ugly. In a peaceful time, they would have apologized and compensated. But in this chaotic and lawless world, strength was what mattered.

The shop owner probably didn’t realize that among the remaining eight people, six were ability users. Even though Zhou Yan hadn’t awakened any powers, his close combat skills were on par with any ability user.

She, the shop owner, wasn’t in as strong a position as she might think.

Lu Yao, seeing that these people hadn’t given up yet, sighed inwardly.

So annoying.

System: “Owner, for 500,000 popularity points, you can install a blacklist system for the blind box shop. Any customer who commits a violation will be locked out and permanently blacklisted.”

Lu Yao: “…500,000? You’re no better than these people smashing my shop.”

System: “…At least I’ll give you a useful defense system?”

Lu Yao remained silent.

After a moment, the system tried to make amends: “It’s because blacklisting requires the input of a large amount of data. It relies on popularity points to operate.”

Lu Yao still didn’t respond.

System: “…How about you try a test run? I can make an exception and offer you a trial service—10,000 popularity points for one day, with a minimum of three days.”

Lu Yao blinked and then nodded. “Hmm, okay. Let’s go with the three-day trial.”

The system was secretly delighted. Once the owner experienced the benefits of the blacklist system, she’d surely grow dependent on it. Eventually, those 500,000 popularity points would come straight into its pocket. Observing Lu Yao’s management style, the system had learned a thing or two.

It wasn’t dumb, not at all.

With the blacklist system installed, a semi-transparent black panel appeared in front of Lu Yao, instantly scanning the physical data of the eight people across from her.

She lifted a finger slightly and looked at Zhou Yan. “What’s your name?”

Zhou Yan hesitated for a moment before responding, “Zhou Ming.”

Lu Yao glanced at the blacklist panel, noting that the data hadn’t been recorded. There was only one explanation: he was lying about his name.

She didn’t care and quickly added the other seven people to the blacklist.

Zhang Lewei and the others suddenly found their bodies stiff, unable to move.

“What did you do?” Zhang Lewei asked, alarmed.

Lu Yao observed their condition. Once they entered the blacklist, they were immobilized in the shop.

She drew a path on the black panel with a flick of her finger, and those who were blacklisted were immediately expelled from the blind box shop.

“Can they come back in?” she asked the system.

System: “Not unless you remove them from the blacklist.”

Lu Yao nodded. “Got it. It’s quite handy.”

The system puffed up with pride.

Lu Yao turned her gaze to Zhou Yan, her tone cold. “Your entire team has now been blacklisted from this shop. None of you can enter again. And as for the damage done to the machine, you still need to compensate. What do you think?”

Zhou Yan felt conflicted, regretting how overconfident he had been in his earlier judgment. When his sister mentioned that the shop was run by a young woman, he had guessed she might be an ability user, possibly quite strong. But when they didn’t see anyone upon entering and found such tempting things like hot drinks and instant noodles, who wouldn’t be swayed?

Originally, they could have stolen the supplies before the owner returned. But he hadn’t expected the machine to be so sturdy, wasting too much time—and now the owner was back.

His fatal mistake had been continuing to underestimate her, thinking that their numbers would let them do as they pleased. This time, however, they had run into a formidable opponent.

“What kind of compensation do you want?” Zhou Yan asked, realizing that the situation was now out of his control.

The system evaluated the damage to the hot drink blind box machine and quoted a number.

Lu Yao said, “You need to pay 500 yuan in blind box tokens. After that, you can leave.”

Five hundred yuan roughly equated to five red energy crystals, fifty green crystals, or five hundred blue ones. Occasionally, a highly pure red crystal could be compressed to cover the entire amount with just one.

The energy stored in the crystals wasn’t stable, so the value of the compressed tokens wasn’t always consistent.

Zhou Yan did have enough energy crystals on him. He took out two red crystals, which compressed into 400 yuan in blind box tokens, and then added ten green crystals to make up the remaining 100 yuan, reaching the required 500 yuan.

After compensating for the damage, he, too, was kicked out of the blind box shop.

His team immediately gathered around him.

“Captain, are you alright?”

Zhou Yan’s face was dark and stormy. The bright light at the entrance illuminated his expression, and everyone could see the anger simmering in his eyes.

Xing Shan tried to comfort him. “Captain, forget it. That woman’s got some skills. We can come back with more people, or we can trade crystals for her supplies.”

Zhou Yan replied grimly, “It’s too late.”

The others were confused, not understanding what he meant.

Zhou Yan explained, “She’s blacklisted our entire team. We won’t be able to enter that shop again.”

The others didn’t believe it. They assumed the earlier difficulty in entering was because the shop’s doors had been closed.

Now, as the blind box shop door opened, they approached it but found themselves unable to move beyond a certain point, as if an invisible barrier blocked their way.

Inside, Lu Yao used her light magic to repair the damaged hot drink blind box machine, feeling her frustration ease slightly.

She was glad to discover her magic worked in this world as well. Previously, she couldn’t use her illusions from Dreamland in other worlds, leading her to believe that all of her abilities might be restricted. Apparently, Dreamland was just a special case—or perhaps there was a distinction between the world of the living and the dead?

Still, the illusionary rings could appear in the real world, and it was said that the guards of the park had crafted those rings.

Maybe her illusion magic just wasn’t strong enough yet?

Without pondering it too much, Lu Yao made a new sign and placed it outside the shop: “Damaging store property results in permanent blacklisting.”

After taking care of everything, Lu Yao returned to the nail salon, but instead of sleeping, she entertained herself by tinkering with the blacklist system.

Fifty thousand popularity points? The little system was getting too cocky.

Outside the blind box shop, Zhou Yan’s team tried several more times to enter, only to realize the severity of the situation. Especially for Lu Yuanfan’s younger team members, who now hung their heads in dejection like wilted eggplants.

Once they left, Yu Li, Tang Ling, and Wei Dong emerged from the shadows with a group of people. They had been hidden the entire time Zhou Yan’s team was inside, preparing to go in themselves but choosing to wait when they saw the others arrive first.

Wei Dong couldn’t hold back his curiosity. “What does ‘blacklist processing’ mean?”

Tang Ling replied, “It looks like they can’t get into the shop anymore.”

The man accompanying them urged, “Forget about that. Let’s check out the goods you were talking about.”

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