Ch 91: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World

The Yi Chuan team didn’t realize Luo Huian was missing until nightfall.

Initially, they didn’t want to alert Xi Tingran, so the four searched the base quietly.

They couldn’t find him, and unfortunately, they ran into Xi Tingran and Xi Ruiyang, who had just returned from the river.

With no way to hide it, they confessed that the youngest member of their research group, the chubby boy, was missing.

Xi Tingran asked, “Why would he run away?”

Yi Chuan came up with an excuse, saying the boy had health issues, a bad temper, and hated taking medicine. After being forced to drink bitter medicine these past few days, he probably got upset and left.

Xi Tingran’s expression grew serious. After a long pause, he ordered the four researchers back to their dormitory, planning to lead a search himself.

The first place he thought of was the blind box store, but a sudden blizzard that night made it hard to go out.

The store’s blind box machines still had stock and wouldn’t close, but there wouldn’t be customers around at night either.

Meanwhile, Luo Huian was still at the blind box store, clinging to his filtered, heated water cup and sipping hot water to stave off hunger.

When Lu Yao returned from the snack shop and saw him leaning against a blind box machine alone, she walked over and asked, “Why aren’t you going home?”

Luo Huian strained to sit up a little straighter, lifting his head, “It’s warm here. I like this store.”

A loud rumbling came from his stomach. Embarrassed, he pressed his hand to it, his ears turning bright red. He lowered his head, eyes darting nervously, unable to meet Lu Yao’s gaze.

Lu Yao noticed the cup in his hand and asked curiously, “You didn’t redeem any food but bought this cup instead?”

She was sure this was his first time at the blind box store; she’d seen him with a crystal-core blind box earlier and hadn’t thought much of it.

Now, it seemed his crystal-core tokens probably only covered one blind box. But for the same price, he could have redeemed four food boxes.

Most first-time customers immediately noticed the food, so she doubted he’d missed it.

Luo Huian nervously traced his fingers along the cup, glancing forward for a moment before quickly looking down again. In a small voice, he said, “The crystal-core blind boxes in this store are fascinating. I was curious about their internal structure, so I couldn’t resist buying one. But after getting it, I realized I couldn’t understand it without opening it.”

A flush crept over his face, sweat beading on his forehead as his voice trailed off. Suddenly, his grip weakened, and the cup rolled out of his hands onto the floor.

Lu Yao blinked in surprise and reached out to nudge him. “Hey, are you alright?”

System: [Store owner, this kid is sick.]

Lu Yao stood up. “I’m not clueless.”

System: […Then why did you ask?]

Wanting to confirm he was still conscious, Lu Yao traced a quick magic circle, and Luo Huian’s body floated into the air.

She opened the portal to the backroom space, moved the chubby boy inside, and set him on a chair. “Check his condition and let me know what medicine is needed; I’ll get it.”

System: [His weight is due to the long-term side effects of medication. He looks heavy but is actually frail. He’s chilled, exhausted, starving, and running a high fever.]

Lu Yao went to the nail salon to grab a few diluted medicine vials, then picked up some porridge and side dishes from the snack shop.

The fever reducer worked quickly; within half an hour, Luo Huian’s forehead cooled.

Dazed, he woke up, still unsure where he was, and found a bowl of corn porridge, a plate of blanched greens, and a dish of stir-fried potato slivers in front of him.

Lu Yao sat across from him. “Eat something first; we’ll talk afterward.”

Luo Huian stole a glance at the store owner. She wasn’t looking at him but was instead absorbed in drawing on a piece of paper.

Curious, he cautiously leaned forward and studied her sketch for a moment before pointing to a spot on the diagram. “Store owner, there’s an issue here. The crystal-core liquid concentration is too high, and the material’s too thin; it might not hold up.”

A moment later, Luo Huian sat in the main hall of the blind box store, holding his food tray, looking pitiful as he drank his porridge.

If given another chance, he definitely wouldn’t have spoken up.

…

Lin Yan’s team met Ji Feiming in a discreet teahouse in Yaoguang City, where they handed over their recent investigative data on the Park.

These materials weren’t free; Ji Feiming offered a generous price, enough for the three to live worry-free for a while.

The 955 Special Department also provided substantial severance, which softened the blow of “unemployment” somewhat.

The door to the private room opened, and Ji Feiming walked in.

Unlike the polished figure Tang Qi had expected, Ji Feiming was unkempt. A scruffy beard covered half his face, his left eye hidden behind a black leather eye patch. He wore an old leather jacket and carried a black briefcase, looking like a jaded middle-aged man.

He sat down at the table without small talk, opened the case, and said, “The money’s here. Let me look over the materials first.”

Lin Yan pushed a brown file folder and a tablet toward him. “All the data we collected over the past few days is here.”

Ji Feiming opened the folder, casually flipping through a few pages without expression. “These are all previously investigated data, worthless.”

Lin Yan took a sip of tea, her voice calm and indifferent. “The headquarters has all sorts of information, but unfortunately, none of it is accessible to outsiders—only Ji family members can review it. We don’t know which materials are classified as already investigated.”

Tang Qi and Xiao Zhou were slightly surprised. Lin Yan’s demeanor in front of their former boss was different from her usual manner. Even if the department had suddenly dissolved and the hierarchy no longer applied, this shift seemed a bit too quick, unlike her usual conduct.

Ji Feiming ignored the provocation entirely and picked up the tablet.

He examined the photos of Qi Jue and Zhuang Liang, lifted his eye patch briefly, scanned the rest of the materials, then set the tablet down and stood up. “The money is yours.”

Lin Yan stopped him. “Wait. How could the 955 be disbanded so suddenly? In the beginning, the Ji family was instrumental in establishing the Special Department. How can you accept its dissolution so easily?”

Ji Feiming paused, then calmly replied, “Because I was the one who submitted the disbandment request.”

“Why would you do that?” Lin Yan asked, puzzled.

Ji Feiming replied, “No reason. The 955 no longer serves any purpose.”

With that, he turned to leave.

Tang Qi couldn’t help but call out, “What about the tablet? Aren’t you taking it?”

Without slowing, Ji Feiming’s gruff voice replied, “Nothing valuable on it. No need.”

“Wait.” Tang Qi hesitated, then mustered the courage to stand up. “Boss, I used to work as a monitor in the Special Department, familiar with all the detection equipment. Now that the department is gone, do you think I could join you in continuing the investigation of the ‘Park’ project?”

After much hesitation, Tang Qi decided to take his chance.

Ji Feiming glanced back at him, his tone cold. “You don’t have the qualifications. Find yourself a stable new job.”

Tang Qi slumped back down, dejected.

After a long silence, Xiao Zhou suddenly asked, “Sister Lin Yan, who exactly is the Ji family?”

Lin Yan stared at the abandoned tablet, lost in thought. Ji Feiming was as cautious as ever. She lowered her voice and said, “I’m not sure either, though there was an old rumor… Forget it, let’s head back to Yuheng City.”

After Ji Feiming left, he used the information on the tablet to locate Zhuang Liang, then tracked down Qi Jue through him.

Ji Feiming quickly noticed an anomaly the Lin Yan team had missed. Qi Jue and Zhuang Liang were shrouded in deathly energy far more intense than that of regular Park players.

It was possible they’d encountered the very entity he was searching for.

Qi Jue had finished assisting Lin Yan’s team and gone on to a new assignment in another province. Unable to reach him, Ji Feiming had a couple of drinks with Zhuang Liang, who eventually mentioned the name “Lu Yao.”

…

[Congratulations! You achieved a sales target of 200,000 blind box tokens within ten days. Task completed! Rewards: 200,000 popularity points, 2 new blind box categories, 2 blind box machines, 2 glass shelves, and an increase in the individual blind box weight limit to 1.5 kg.]

[Task completed three days early! Additional rewards: 100,000 popularity points and 100,000 RMB!]

[Lu Yao’s Blind Box Store is now a four-star shop due to its thriving business. Rewards: 50,000 popularity points, 1 new blind box category, 1 blind box machine, and 1 glass shelf. Keep up the great work, store owner!]

[New task! Due to the store’s rising popularity, the owner can’t manage alone. Hire at least two employees within three days. Rewards: 20,000 popularity points, blind box machine capacity of 50, and glass shelf capacity of 30.]

The day after Chi Jin drew the snowmobile, the blind box store reached a record-breaking number of visitors, selling out all its goods within half a day.

With 200,000 blind box tokens in sales, the task was completed ahead of schedule.

!!!

Lu Yao opened the store owner’s status panel. Her popularity points updated to 1,453,500, and assets to 9.15 million.

The system really rewarded her with RMB.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

System: [For excellent task performance, occasionally special rewards are triggered.]

Lu Yao: “Oh! You should tell me about these good surprises earlier!”

While 100,000 RMB wasn’t a game-changer for her right now, a little extra didn’t hurt.

System: [The new task is to recruit staff. Do you have any ideas?]

For her first two shops, Lu Yao had quickly hired new staff. But for the third, she hadn’t shown any interest in hiring until this task appeared, piquing the system’s curiosity.

Lu Yao had considered it but hadn’t found the right candidates. The blind box store was unique—largely self-service, so staff weren’t usually necessary.

However, sourcing materials for the blind boxes required coordination between two worlds, and the items needed to be packaged at the snack shop and stamped at the nail salon. With plans to open more stores, Lu Yao worried she wouldn’t be able to dedicate her full attention to the blind box store.

She realized she might need to recruit someone from her world to handle product transportation and stocking without exposing the secrets of the shopping street—a difficult task.

Lately, she’d been fretting over it, though she hadn’t shown it outwardly.

She also considered hiring a few staff in the Impermanence World, but finding suitable candidates was still an issue.

Ideally, she wanted to recruit a blind box designer who better understood the needs of Impermanence World residents, possessed some relevant knowledge, and had a relatively good character.

Each requirement wasn’t too high individually, but combined, they made the task challenging in the Impermanence World.

Lu Yao quickly decided, “I’ll start by posting a recruitment notice at the blind box store.”

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