Ch 86: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World

Liquid Crystal Core Knife, Heat Pack, Solid Fuel Block.

Jiang Han opened his three crystal core blind boxes and fell into silence.

Chen Feng and Li Cheng lowered their heads to stifle their laughter, thinking, Han-ge’s luck doesn’t seem that great.

The two lowered their heads and began opening their own boxes.

Chen Feng first drew two more bags of heat packs, and his laughter quickly faded. With four boxes of heat packs already from previous days, he was practically stocking up.

For his last box, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and tore it open, spilling out a pair of black leather gloves.

The card that fell out with it read: Crystal Core Heated Gloves.

Jiang Han: !!!

Chen Feng opened his eyes, dumbfounded. “What? Did I just draw the gloves?”

“Hmph,” Jiang Han grumbled, feeling a pang of envy.

After drawing two bags of solid fuel blocks, Li Cheng finally rebounded and drew a crystal core heated blanket.

Jiang Han was practically speechless; they all got the new models.

Everyone’s eyes turned to Chi Jin—the last one left to open his box.

Chi Jin, usually lazy and unhurried, had been joining them at the blind box shop daily lately. He always took his time, needing three or four reminders to open his box.

Slowly, Chi Jin tore open his box and drew out three items: a windproof mask, a crystal core-powered pressure cooker, and a crystal core insulated jacket.

The accompanying card detailed each item:

• Windproof Mask: Lined with special crystal core material to shield against wind and retain warmth, protecting the face and respiratory tract.
• Pressure Cooker: Powered by crystal core energy, it functions even at low temperatures—a great tool for cooking noodles, porridge, or soup. Compact and circular, it’s just the right size for a single serving of instant noodles, with a red button on the bottom to activate it.

With his little water cup, his mini pot, and the food blind boxes, Chi Jin seemed to have everything he needed. The others’ jealousy was almost tangible.

The card that came with the insulated jacket flipped over, revealing the word “Hidden” on the back, with a note below: Filled with crystal core liquid, this jacket keeps you warm even in temperatures down to -50°C.

Jiang Han’s team: “…”

Is this the world’s imbalance? It’s just not fair!

Jiang Han took the loss the hardest, sulking for a while before clenching his fist determinedly. “Fine, we’ll come back tomorrow.”

At the door, Chi Jin donned his windproof mask and insulated jacket, clutching the pressure cooker under one arm, with both hands in his pockets. His hair and head were snugly covered by the hood of the jacket, and with his oversized sunglasses, not a trace of vulnerability was visible.

Jiang Han’s team collectively fell silent in awe.

Outside, the wind and snow raged, and the temperature continued to drop.

In the back room, Lu Yao checked the crystal core blind box sales—93 out of the needed 200, leaving 107 more to meet the goal. At this rate, with the weather this bad, it looked grim.

Based on her previous experience, she guessed the crystal core blind box mission might be nearing its deadline.

With a sigh, Lu Yao left the blind box shop and returned to the nail salon to brainstorm.

…

Meanwhile, at the gates of Hope Base, Xi Tingran’s team pushed through the blizzard, hauling several large crates of supplies into the base.

The day before the transitional period arrived, Xi Tingran received intel on a new supply location and set out with his team that night.

After over ten days away, they returned with a few crates of cold-weather supplies and a small amount of food. The biggest gain from this trip, however, was rescuing a research team of five from Base Z8.

Base Z8 was a small outpost that couldn’t sustain itself due to food shortages during the prolonged darkness. On their return journey, Xi Tingran’s team encountered the five researchers, who specialized in developing crystal core energy and had achieved a 50% utilization rate—the most advanced in the world.

Increasing the efficiency of crystal core energy could solve many daily issues, so Xi Tingran invited the team to join him at Hope Base and continue their work on crystal core development.

Upon their return to Hope Base, Xi Tingran’s first order of business was to turn in supplies, followed by finding housing for the new research team. After finishing up, he went back to his quarters to change before heading out again.

At the base entrance, he ran into his team members, who also planned to brave the snow. They exchanged smiles and headed together toward Fairy Tale Plaza. Throughout their journey, everyone had longed for the warm, sweet drinks and fragrant instant noodles from the blind box shop.

With their supplies safely stored, they all had the same thought—to indulge a little at the blind box shop.

The team arrived at the store, exchanged blind box tokens, and eagerly bought food blind boxes. Only Xi Tingran noticed the crystal core blind box machine tucked in the corner. He walked past the instant noodle and fruit blind box machines, drawn to the scrolling message at the top, and promptly bought a few crystal core blind boxes.

Zheng Yang and the others were already sitting around a table, enjoying their hot drinks and chatting while they waited for their noodles to soften. Seeing Xi Tingran walk over with some unfamiliar boxes, they looked at him curiously.

Xi Tingran didn’t explain, immediately opening a box and pulling out a heat pack. After reading the instructions, he peeled one open, stuck it inside his clothes, and stepped outside. Moments later, he returned, visibly shaken. Without a word, he opened two more boxes, revealing a small flashlight and a solid fuel block.

His teammates noticed his expression was unusual.

“Xi-ge, is there something wrong with that blind box?” Li Shuang asked.

Xi Tingran looked up, his expression complex. “These crystal core blind boxes contain lifestyle products developed by the shop owner using crystal core energy.” He held up the heat pack. “I just tried this; it warms you up immediately. I even felt overheated sitting here in the shop.”

Curious, the team also bought crystal core blind boxes, with mixed luck.

Once back at the base, Xi Tingran announced to the residents that the blind box shop now had cold-weather products available for those interested.

…

Emerald Town, Alexander Continent

In her nail salon, Lu Yao was busy designing new crystal core blind boxes when she received a notification:

200 crystal core blind boxes successfully sold. Task complete! Reward: 100,000 popularity points, 1 blind box category, and 1 blind box machine!

Lu Yao’s blind box shop has sold a total of 10,000 boxes, achieving a three-star rating. Rewards: 10,000 popularity points, 1 blind box category, 1 blind box machine, 1 glass display shelf, and increased single-box capacity to 1 kilogram. Keep up the good work!

New task! Reach 200,000 yuan in blind box sales within ten days. Rewards: 200,000 popularity points, 2 blind box categories, 2 blind box machines, 2 glass display shelves, and increased single-box capacity to 1.5 kilograms.

The task completion caught Lu Yao off guard, as surprising as opening a blind box.

Putting down her pen, she mused over the new additions. “A glass shelf? I can start offering boxed collections now?”

System: … Yes.

The shop owner’s mind worked fast.

“Perfect. I can use these new items to kickstart the next task. I’ll create a series of themed boxes to entice customers’ desire to collect. It won’t be wasted effort.” Lu Yao sketched out a small box frame, jotting down ideas, then got up to visit the snack shop and discuss box designs with the packaging team.

System: … Are you sure people would want to collect something like that?

Lu Yao: “Never underestimate people’s passion for collecting. Trading cards in instant noodles, colored marbles in snacks, supermarket reward stamps, movie stubs—even differently colored candy wrappers—people love to collect all kinds of things.”

System: … Humans are really so boring, aren’t they?

Lu Yao: “…”

It was the first time the system’s criticism rendered her speechless.

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