Ch 95: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World

Ji Feiming had cut his hair, shaved his beard, even removed his eye patch, and donned gold-rimmed glasses, dressing like an old-fashioned gentleman. He arrived at the shopping street in a newly purchased Cadillac for his first day at work.

Born with yin-yang eyes, Ji Feiming had held a high status in his clan since birth. At sixteen, he was chosen as a divine emissary and moved to the sacred mountain, leading a life disconnected from the modern world until he was nearly thirty. It was only during his years in the 955 Special Division that he learned some modern-day professional etiquette and lifestyle norms.

Since the store owner had designated him as a blind box store employee, Ji Feiming had stayed up all night studying everything he could find online about blind box products and the market. After his intensive research, he felt he was well-prepared to handle any position the owner might assign him.

He parked his car in a derelict lot beside the shopping street and walked to the front of the blind box store, habitually adjusting his tie and suit cuffs before raising his hand to knock.

Lu Yao opened the door, momentarily taken aback by the unfamiliar, well-dressed middle-aged man standing outside. “Excuse me, you are…?”

Ji Feiming took a step back, his demeanor formal. “Store owner, it’s me. Ji Feiming.”

“…” Lu Yao moved aside to let him in. “Come in, then.”

Lu Yao had checked with the system earlier, confirming that parts of the store existed in her world. In theory, people from this world could access its physical space. In this shopping street, the only strictly off-limits area for the living was the snack shop. The other stores could be entered if permitted by the owner.

Ji Feiming paused briefly at the doorway before nodding and stepping inside.

The store’s interior was much larger than it appeared from the outside. A row of seven or eight blind box machines stood in line, along with three or four spacious glass shelves stocked with various blind boxes that looked different from those he’d seen online.

It was around 6 p.m. in the Impermance World, and there were a few customers inside, though not many. Occasionally, small groups of three or four would arrive together.

Luo Huian, Wei Xuan, and Nie Yu were arranging items on the shelves. Noticing the store owner leading in a distinguished-looking man, they looked a bit surprised.

Lu Yao paid them no mind and gave Ji Feiming a quick tour of the store, stopping at the entrance to the back area. “What can you see here?”

Since stepping into the store, Ji Feiming’s hands had begun to sweat. The store was entirely unlike what he’d expected, filled with an ominous energy that was unsettling. What unnerved him most was that, despite the isolated location and the lack of foot traffic in the shopping street, the store still had a steady stream of customers.

The customers appeared normal but, upon closer inspection, seemed distinctly different from people in the modern world.

“What exactly is this place?” Ji Feiming couldn’t help but ask.

Anticipating his hesitation, Lu Yao answered calmly, “This is just the blind box store. Now, tell me, can you see anything through this door?”

Ji Feiming shook his head. “It’s a black void; I can’t make anything out.”

He could neither sense the nature of this space nor enter it.

Lu Yao sighed, “Looks like you’ll be limited to delivery work. You can also assist customers here in the store.”

Ji Feiming: “…”

Lu Yao then called over the three local employees and introduced him, “This is our new delivery worker, Mr. Ji.”

The employees introduced themselves, clearly intrigued by Ji Feiming, whose attire and demeanor were rare in this area.

Meanwhile, Ji Feiming observed that they were just teenagers—youths who, in normal circumstances, should have been in school rather than working at a blind box store.

Ji Feiming began to realize that this situation was far more complex than he had anticipated. There was some hidden connection between Lu Yao and this strange shopping street—this was no ordinary place. Instead, it seemed to connect to mysterious realms, and the store owner, while appearing to be an ordinary person, clearly wasn’t.

After introducing him to the staff, Lu Yao gave Ji Feiming a rundown of his daily duties. His primary responsibility was transporting goods. Each day, he was to deliver raw materials from the nail salon to the door of the neighboring snack shop, where the assistant manager would receive them. Once the blind boxes were packaged, they would be left outside the store for him to collect, stamp at the nail salon, and finally bring to the blind box store, where the three young employees would stock the shelves.

Since he couldn’t enter the fictional subspaces within the store, Ji Feiming would spend most of his time in the shop, assisting customers with their purchases.

In that moment, Ji Feiming keenly felt the gap between his expectations and reality—yet something deep inside sparked a faint excitement. Ever since the old gods had fallen, strange phenomena had become nearly impossible to observe, and as his powers faded, the world had become dull.

The assistant manager at the snack shop this week was Bai Ming. Lu Yao introduced the two in front of the store, having informed the other staff members the day before. Bai Ming greeted him politely but distantly, briefly explaining the handoff process.

In the morning, the nail salon was bustling, with many customers having pre-booked appointments. Ji Feiming stood at the door, feeling a bit out of place. The customers at the blind box store had already felt peculiar, but the nail salon clients—through their appearances, attire, and manners—crushed any lingering belief he held that this was an ordinary job.

Lu Yao was in conversation with Ambrose, the necromancer, whose white skeleton was cloaked in luxurious robes with wild leopard-print nail art on his fingertips. The hollows of his eye sockets gleamed with lively red light.

Moments later, a gathering of slimes, vampires, fairies, demons, and dragons closed in around Lu Yao, forming a protective circle as they directed skeptical stares at Ji Feiming.

Harold scowled deeply, his voice full of disdain: “Can he really protect Lu Yao? He’s so weak; even the slimes are stronger.”

Mumu, nestled in Edward’s arms, tugged at Lu Yao’s sleeve with its tiny, excited hand. “Chirp-chirp!”

With magical nails, I can protect the store owner, too.

Lu Yao patted Mumu, praising, “Mumu is the strongest and cutest slime!”

Mumu’s large eyes sparkled as it snuggled into Lu Yao’s hand. “Chirp.”

Puxiu and Merulu circled Ji Feiming twice, frowning before landing back on Lu Yao’s shoulder.

Merulu crossed her arms, looking up at Lu Yao. “Is this really the best your world has to offer for protection?”

Puxiu moved closer to Lu Yao, lifting his plump little face to gently nuzzle her hair, his brows furrowed in concern. “This human doesn’t seem to have any magical talent. Are you sure you want him, store owner?”

Clarissa conjured an enormous scythe in her hand, her voice cold. “As a human, he’s indeed too weak. Why not try another species?”

Ambrose stroked his chin thoughtfully. “That might actually be a good idea.”

Ji Feiming had never been so openly dismissed. His eyes revealed to him that these beings surrounding Lu Yao were more than just strange-looking—they wielded terrifying power, rivaling that of the monsters in the snack shop.

Having long grown accustomed to her non-human staff’s thinking, Lu Yao reassured them, “Calm down, everyone. Mr. Ji here is considered very powerful in my world and is well-suited for his position here. As you all know, humans derive their strength from more than just raw power.”

The non-human staff fell silent, and after a moment, their expressions softened.

“Well, if the store owner says so, let’s wait and see.” Clarissa reluctantly withdrew her scythe.

Tina raised her leg and gave Harold a nudge.

The little black dragon, confused, turned around to retaliate, but Tina, her red eyes blazing, spoke with disdain: “You’re too slow. If you’d found the store owner sooner, she wouldn’t have needed to find protection in that world.”

Harold slumped, unable to argue.

Lately, he’d been trying every day to track down Lu Yao, but the energy from the scale was faint, fluctuating and making it hard to pinpoint her exact location.

Lu Yao patted him on the shoulder. “It’s not an easy task, and you’ve only just awakened your powers. Don’t rush yourself too much.”

Harold pulled out a handful of scales from his pocket—some pure black, others with silver flecks—and stuffed them all into Lu Yao’s hands. “Keep a few more with you.”

The stronger the dragon’s aura, the easier it would be for him to sense her presence.

Lu Yao stored the scales and turned to Ji Feiming, saying quietly, “Since you can’t go upstairs, Harold and the others will leave the blind boxes by the door each day. Just come by and take them next door.”

Ji Feiming nodded numbly, still struggling to recover from the reality of being the weakest person on the street.

Lu Yao didn’t intervene much. The job itself was simple, and he’d get the hang of it in a few days.

…

After a few days of adapting to the monotony of driving his Cadillac to the blind box store for delivery runs, Ji Feiming found his routine disrupted when the cold snap in Impermanence World suddenly ended.

Typically, after a cold snap, there’d be a transitional period of about ten days. But this time was different—the sky cleared for only half a day before it started raining, and it didn’t stop. The sky stayed dim, with rain falling day and night in an unending downpour.

Luo Hui’an mentioned to Lu Yao that the next disaster might be flooding due to the relentless rainfall.

With only two days left to complete her task of gathering five hundred positive reviews, she was still ninety-eight reviews short. Since the system controlled the tally mechanism, Lu Yao could only hear progress updates without knowing the exact circumstances that led customers to leave positive feedback.

After some thought, Lu Yao decided to restock the shelves with a new blind box series. This time, it was a set of household items—thirty-six varieties in total, priced at thirty currency units per pull, with a limit of two per person.

Soon, the customers braving the rain to visit the store discovered this new series. Although it wasn’t food and had a lower redemption price, the items were particularly appealing.

Early that morning, Jiang Han heard from Chen Feng that the blind box store had launched something new, so he rushed to head out. His grandfather, Jiang Shanrun, called him back.

“Grandpa, what’s wrong?” Jiang Han asked.

Jiang Shanrun pulled an old, yellowed checkered umbrella from the cabinet, opened it, and stepped into the rain. Turning back, he said, “You all keep talking about that blind box store. I’d like to go and see it myself.”

Jiang Han was momentarily stunned; he hadn’t expected his grandfather to be so interested as to want to visit personally.

Jiang Shanrun was well into his old age, and his biggest wish since the Impermanence World disaster had been to restore the polluted soil and grow normal crops on this land again.

Although he had been relatively healthy, he’d fallen gravely ill during the last cold snap. Luckily, he had the blind box store’s medicine to pull through, but he’d never quite regained his previous vigor. He could no longer venture out alone to search for unpolluted plants and soil, and his spirit had waned.

This morning, a thought suddenly struck him: the blind box store seemed to have everything. Perhaps they even had unpolluted soil, and he wanted to see for himself.

Jiang Han didn’t know what was on his grandfather’s mind; he simply thought his grandfather had decided to experience drawing a box himself. Since his illness, Jiang Shanrun often sat by the window, gazing at the garden with an unreadable emotion in his eyes. It was rare for him to express interest in going out, and even though it was raining, Jiang Han couldn’t bear to discourage him.

Taking the umbrella from his grandfather, Jiang Han helped him outside, saying, “Grandpa, this rain is relentless. The road is slippery, so let’s take it slow—there’s no rush.”

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