Ch 103: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World

Lu Yao pocketed the clue, holding the two bones, and headed back to the blind box shop.

The customers inside looked at her and Harold behind her with fearful eyes.

Whether it was the massive creature transformed into human form or the store owner who could command such creatures, they were far more terrifying than any mutant beast or plant.

Ignoring the customers, Lu Yao went straight back to the research lab.

Ji Feiming, upon seeing Harold, was too stunned to think. He knew the employees at the snack shop and nail salon were creatures, but he hadn’t expected a dragon. This fearsome being, like something out of a mythical adventure story, was not only real but also his coworker.

Harold glanced at him with a look of disdain. “Why are you so useless?”

Because I’m not a dragon, Ji Feiming thought, barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

Compared to a dragon, human strength was pitifully small. Even the deities he once served weren’t this overwhelming.

After witnessing a massive battle, the store was now in complete disarray as Lu Yao entered the research lab.

Unable to enter the special space himself, Ji Feiming called Wei Xuan, Nie Yu, Xue Ge, and Lilly to help maintain order and disperse the customers.

Jiang Han ran to the plaza and saw that Chi Jin had indeed disappeared. After living together for years, today he’d discovered that Chi Jin was a fully evolved mutant plant. Stunned, he stood in place for a long time before turning and running into the blind box shop.

Inside, he noticed Xi Tingran and several others standing outside the shop office, all seemingly waiting for Lu Yao.

After a while, Jiang Shanrun emerged and saw that most of those gathered were influential figures from nearby bases. Remembering Lu Yao’s instructions before she entered the lab, he announced, “I understand you all have questions. The store owner is currently busy with an important experiment, which will likely take three days. Please return for now.”

After witnessing the mutant beasts’ battle and the dragon’s appearance, even the base leaders had mustered the courage to seek out Lu Yao. But upon being politely turned away, they didn’t press further.

The Everbright Base was familiar with the store owner, and some representatives had already entered the research lab. Building a good relationship with her was clearly the right approach.

Most took the advice and left, planning to return in three days.

Jiang Han stepped forward. “Grandfather, what’s going on with the store owner?”

Xi Tingran, who had started to leave, stopped upon hearing Jiang Han’s question.

Jiang Shanrun shook his head. “Nothing’s wrong. She probably has a new idea and is experimenting with it.”

Jiang Han nodded, setting aside his questions about Chi Jin and preparing to return to the base.

Too much had happened that day; he needed time to process it all.

Turning, he saw Xi Tingran and gave a casual nod without intending to speak.

However, Xi Tingran called out, “Want to talk?”

Jiang Han paused. “Talk about what?”

“Let’s step outside,” Xi Tingran replied, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

…

In the research lab.

Lu Yao quickly set up a magic array and immediately began her experiment.

Using popularity points, she exchanged with the system for a pair of lab mice.

After repeatedly adjusting her data and conducting dozens of trials, she succeeded in extracting absorbed crystal core energy from the mice.

In this world of impermanence, supernaturals gained power by absorbing crystal core energy. The lab mice had survived the injection, so Lu Yao decided to test it on herself.

The crystal core energy liquid contained immense energy, and as soon as it entered her body, it felt like her organs and veins were on fire, nearly suffocating her.

Lying on a bed covered in magic arrays, Lu Yao endured the burning pain for four hours as the energy gradually seeped out of her organs and blood, drawn by the magic.

Drenched in sweat, she stared blankly at the ceiling, her voice hoarse. “Do you think this method could be used to extract the compass fragments?”

There was no one else in the lab, and after a pause, the system spoke quietly: “Even if the method works, the mission in this world has already ended.”

“Yeah. If only I’d thought of it sooner,” Lu Yao murmured, draping an arm over her eyes. “What time is it?”

System: “It’s been thirty-four hours and twenty-three minutes since you entered the lab.”

“Only a little over a day? It feels like it’s been so much longer.” Her voice was weary as she propped herself up on the bed and, finding a clean set of clothes, walked to the washroom to run hot water.

The system, unusually concerned, commented, “You haven’t eaten, drunk, or slept, nor used any recovery potions, and you’ve conducted experiments on yourself. Your vitals are at their lowest threshold. After your bath, please eat something and rest.”

“Alright,” Lu Yao replied absently. Lacking any real appetite, she finished her bath, then lay down on the lounge chair and immediately fell asleep.

She didn’t know how much time had passed before hunger woke her in a daze.

The shop was unusually quiet. Jiang Lao wasn’t in the lab, and neither Xue Ge nor Lilly, her usual companions for watching dramas during breaks, were around.

Lu Yao pushed open the door to the back room; the blind box shop was also empty.

No customers, no staff.

Only rows of blind box machines and shelves, with an advertisement playing on a wall display, its sound jarringly loud.

It felt like she was the only one left in the entire shop.

A sense of caution rose within her, only to quickly dissipate. There seemed to be nothing to worry about.

She pushed open the shop door, and the scene outside made her pupils contract, her heartbeat racing.

Was this still the world of impermanence? Was she dreaming?

The ground was covered in yellow soil, scattered with bleached bones. The world was bleak and barren.

She tried to call up the system, but it seemed to have disappeared without a trace.

In the distance, the sound of mountains crumbling echoed, and she stood on tiptoe to see, but nothing was visible.

The distant rumbling grew louder as she waited.

Unable to reach the system or open her portable storage, Lu Yao stepped out of the blind box shop.

Whatever needed to be done had to be done now; opportunities were fleeting.

She followed the sound for a long way without encountering a soul until she saw two figures locked in battle.

To be more precise, it was a massive mutated beast fighting a mutated plant.

Watching from afar, Lu Yao’s expression gradually became puzzled.

The fighting mutated tiger bore a striking resemblance to the Beast King who had fought Chi Jin at the shop two days ago.

In his beast form, he had a distinctive tuft of white fur on his head.

Only this tiger was even larger, and he was fighting a mutated white hibiscus.

Lu Yao cautiously called out, but the tiger and hibiscus were too engrossed in their battle to notice her.

She picked up a slender branch from the ground and approached slowly.

Before she could get close, the mutated hibiscus suddenly fell, blue blood splattering everywhere.

The mutated tiger paid no mind and began devouring it.

After a few bites, the tiger’s expression changed, and it rolled on the ground in discomfort. After a moment, it recovered and resumed eating.

This process continued for over ten minutes until, in the end, the mutated tiger’s body went rigid, collapsing to the ground and foaming at the mouth.

Lu Yao ran over to inspect the situation, but her fingers passed right through the tiger’s body as if it were an illusion, intangible to her touch.

By the time she refocused, the chaotic scene of the fallen mutated beast and plant had vanished, leaving behind two nearly complete compass fragments.

Unlike her actual experience, here, the Beast King had killed the Flower Emperor, and his body held a compass fragment nearly twice the size of the one from the mutated hibiscus.

But ultimately, the tiger and flower had both met their ends.

The compass fragments lay scattered on the ground—visible but out of reach.

From the distance came the sound of sorrowful crying. Lu Yao picked up the slender branch again and walked toward the sound.

She didn’t know how long she walked, but the scenery around her shifted until only a bare expanse of yellow sand remained.

There, kneeling before a shattered compass, a young boy wept as though his heart were breaking.

Lu Yao walked over and reached out, only to find she couldn’t touch the boy.

She decided to sit down beside him, curious to see what would happen next.

The boy cried day and night, unceasingly.

Yet, in this world, no one cared.

After a long time, Lu Yao grew impatient. Just as she was about to get up and leave, someone approached.

A young man with silver hair and red eyes stepped forward, glancing at the shattered compass on the ground with a cold expression. “Your crying is truly unpleasant. And you dare call yourself a god?”

The young god lifted his head, his eyes red and swollen, his voice hoarse. “My world has died. Order collapsed, humanity was slaughtered by the beast clans, and there are no living souls left in this world.”

The silver-haired youth clicked his tongue dismissively, his tone indifferent. “Isn’t this the equality you sought?”

The young god’s ears and eyes turned bright red as he tried to respond but couldn’t find the words. Finally, he muttered, “Why are you here?”

The silver-haired youth pulled two white bones from his dark robe. “To make a deal.”

The young god agreed to help hide the bones in exchange for the resurrection of the world of impermanence.

The silver-haired youth frowned. “No, choose something else.”

The young god asked, “Why not? I have only this one wish.”

In a calm tone, the silver-haired youth replied, “I take life, not save it. Wishing to me is useless.”

The young god, snapping out of his grief, recalled the unique nature of the man before him. “Then… before the end arrives, help me kill the Beast King and the Flower Emperor.”

If he couldn’t resurrect the world directly, he’d break one of its key links.

Without the Beast King and the Flower Emperor, perhaps humanity would survive.

The silver-haired youth smirked slightly but said nothing more. With a wave of his hand, he turned and walked away. “Make sure you hide those bones well.”

Lu Yao watched the silver-haired youth leave, standing up quietly to follow him.

This place felt like a dream, yet also like a memory from the god of the world of impermanence. She didn’t need to worry about being discovered.

The world had already crumbled, and the god was no longer a god.

To reset the world, she had to return to the moment when the god made his fatal mistake.

The second round began, with the Balance Compass shattering and the day of impermanence descending.

The barren landscape started to shift, gradually transforming into a scene Lu Yao recognized.

The silver-haired youth wandered the world and encountered a mutated white hibiscus that had not yet become the Flower Emperor but had already collected some fragments by a marsh.

He killed the hibiscus, took the compass fragment and a stray piece of white bone that had fallen out.

At that moment, Lu Yao clearly saw a flicker of irritation in his eyes.

He probably hadn’t expected the young god to hide his precious bones so carelessly.

The youth pocketed the bone, adopted the alias Chi Jin, and infiltrated a human base, becoming a researcher specializing in mutated plants.

Years later, while searching for compass fragments outside, Chi Jin encountered the young Beast King.

A fierce battle ensued between the flower and the beast over the compass fragment.

Chi Jin knocked the Beast King to the bottom of a cliff but ended up unconscious himself, only to be rescued and taken back to the base by Jiang Shanrun.

From that point on, he stayed at the Everbright Base.

Lu Yao slowly walked back toward the blind box shop from the Everbright Base.

White mist began to spread, obscuring everything from view.

She lowered her head to rub her eyes, and when she looked up again, she was back in the blind box shop, as if she had never left.

Sitting up from her chair, Lu Yao felt as though she had just awoken from a dream.

On the table, a compass had mysteriously appeared.

This was… the Balance Compass. Hadn’t it vanished after being restored?

System: “It seems it wanted to stay in the shop and came back on its own.”

Lu Yao: “…”

So she had just seen the Balance Compass’s memories?

The world of impermanence had already been destroyed once; this was the second round.

That red-eyed youth was clearly the same strange spirit that had possessed Bai Ming at the snack shop.

It seemed likely that the silver-haired youth whom Little Black Dragon’s mother had encountered was also him.

But why was he constantly hiding bones?

Lu Yao couldn’t figure it out.

However, he had said they would meet again, meaning he wasn’t dead.

System: “…He also said something else at the end! That’s the real point here!”

Lu Yao got up and headed outside, wanting to see the current state of the world of impermanence.

With the Balance Compass restored, the cycle of disasters had ceased.

The residents hadn’t noticed yet and continued to come to the blind box shop daily to exchange goods.

Perhaps because the Flower Emperor and the Beast King were gone, and the Balance Compass had been recovered, the powers of evolution had waned, causing mutated plants and animals to revert to their normal forms.

Mutant beasts shrank in size, their strength now on par with ordinary wild animals. Their crystal cores reverted to flesh, although their waste now formed crystal core fragments.

Except for unique beings like Lilly and Xue Ge, who had developed full consciousness, most mutated plants regressed to ordinary vegetation, though their flowers bore fruits in various colors of crystal cores.

People no longer needed to hunt mutated plants and animals; instead, they could gather crystal cores from mutant animals and cultivate mutated flora for a sustainable supply.

The young tiger cub stayed by the spot where the Beast King had died, refusing to leave.

After observing for several days, Lu Yao sighed, slowly approached, and sat beside him.

The cub glanced at her and gave a soft “awoo,” as if in question.

Lu Yao wrapped her arms around her knees and looked into the distance. “Recently, a few naughty kittens have joined my home. They could use a strict, dignified teacher to teach them hunting skills. Would you like to give it a try?”

She knew he could understand.

The cub’s round eyes fixed on her, his head tilted as he sat still.

Thinking he wasn’t interested, Lu Yao tentatively reached out and gently petted his soft fur.

He didn’t pull away, and, out of habit, lightly licked her fingers but still gave no response.

Not wanting to push him, Lu Yao spent a little more time with him before standing up to head back to the shop.

The cub gave a small “awoo” and trotted along after her.

He didn’t know where else to go, and staying here allowed him to keep guarding his father.

…

Over time, the nearby base residents noticed that the cycle of disasters had disappeared, but issues like soil and water pollution persisted.

The world was still in ruins.

Then, the blind box shop launched a new crystal-core energy series, including products like nutrient solutions to purify soil, plant-based crystal-core powders for water purification, ultra-fast-growing special seeds, planting tools, and more.

After finishing the new launch, Lu Yao spoke with a few base leaders nearby.

Following their discussions, the bases began collaborating to establish designated planting zones.

Once Zhong Ruying’s health had recovered, she approached Lu Yao and expressed a desire to stay in the shop’s research lab.

The blind box shop grew busier, with staff now including humans, mutant plants and animals, and even people from other worlds.

In this world, everything would start anew.

…

The store owner had been immersed in the blind box shop for days, with no signs of moving to the next world.

Unable to hold back any longer, the system asked: “When do you plan to open the fourth shop?”

“How about today?” Lu Yao glanced at the time, feeling it was about right.

The system perked up: “The next clue is ‘Drowned Sea.’ What kind of shop are you planning to open?”

The clue seemed specific, but in reality, it was quite abstract.

With past experiences in mind, the system held back from making suggestions.

Lu Yao replied, “The kittens in the shop should start earning their milk money.”

System: “…Wait, what?”

🛍️🛍️🛍️🛍️🛍️