Ch 120: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World

The creature fighting the large shark was a purple sea nettle jellyfish, trailing long, lace-like tentacles, boldly taking on the massive opponent.

With its pretty umbrella-like body adorned with purple stripes and a prominent red cross-shaped scar, it was clear this jellyfish was also a person.

Perhaps they were acquaintances, recognizing each other, which was why they were battling in the sea.

Lu Yao leaned against the membrane and watched. The small jellyfish, less than 30 centimeters in diameter, was holding its own against a massive shark weighing several tons—what a surreal sight.

Sea nettle jellyfish are venomous, and their stings are quite painful.

The great white shark, with its menacing, sharp teeth, looked ferocious but seemed more like a big punching bag, with red marks scattered across its forehead from stings.

After the initial panic, the guests settled back down, watching the spectacle while petting cats, with no one intending to break up the fight.

Lu Yao walked to the door, put on her flippers, carefully sidestepped the dueling shark and jellyfish, and swam toward the garbage mound with her collection machine.

The show could wait—there was work to do.

Compared to before, the garbage mound had almost shrunk by a third. It had not only contributed hundreds of thousands of popularity points to the shop but had also cleared a small patch of seabed near the solitary fish group, where bottom-dwelling creatures had started to appear on the flat sandy floor.

In time, corals, seaweed, anemones, and bottom-dwelling fish might start thriving here, making it as vibrant as the coral reef forest beside the Little Pet Cafe.

A translucent moon jellyfish drifted by in front of her, and Lu Yao watched it for a moment.

Moon jellyfish are harmless and quite beautiful, with a delicate clover pattern at the center of their transparent umbrella, and their tentacles move in a gentle rhythm, like a cloud slowly floating across the sky.

If not for the cluttered background of the garbage mound, it would be even more stunning.

She carefully avoided the moon jellyfish and resumed picking up trash in another direction. A flower hat jellyfish with bright, short tentacles floated by, then a cute egg yolk jellyfish, followed by a rainbow jellyfish…

Lu Yao paused, realizing she was now surrounded by jellyfish.

Various rare jellyfish, typically found in different regions and depths, had gathered on the cleared section of the garbage mound, drifting by one after another.

Jellyfish are invertebrate cnidarians, possessing only a nervous system without a brain structure, and their bodies are mostly water.

Most jellyfish have venomous tentacles, a vital tool for catching prey.

A sting from a real jellyfish is no joke.

By nature, these creatures lack complex thoughts, their actions purely driven by predatory instincts.

Yet the jellyfish here swam past Lu Yao without incident, artfully retracting their graceful tentacles to avoid touching her.

Lu Yao observed them for a while. Unable to use telepathy on a brainless creature, she bent down and continued collecting trash.

These jellyfish seemed to like this seabed. If she could fully clear it, they might even decide to stay.

Noticing Lu Yao’s sudden burst of motivation, the system, recalling the shop upgrade blueprint she had drawn a few days prior, couldn’t resist asking, “Are you planning something again?”

Lu Yao sucked up the broken shell of an old TV with her machine, and after hearing the mechanical voice announce a score of +800 points, she responded nonchalantly, “Not really, just thought these jellyfish are cute.”

The system went silent for a few seconds, then spoke in a tone that sounded almost accusatory, “Shopkeeper, I saw the upgrade blueprint. Isn’t it a bit excessive?”

Lu Yao collected a few large batteries buried in the mud and said casually, “A million popularity points for renovation isn’t excessive, is it?”

System: “…That’s for the safety of the shop.”

Lu Yao replied, “Then I’m just maximizing shop improvements within the task reward limits. Are you backing out?”

System: “…”

Coming from the shopkeeper, this was an especially cutting remark.

The system, with as much dignity as it could muster, fell silent.

It would see this through!

[Mission Complete: Successfully helped 100 stranded souls leave the Garbage Sea. Reward: 100,000 popularity points and a free shop upgrade!]

Lu Yao beamed. “Ah, task complete already. But I just had a new idea. I’ll revise the blueprint a bit and give it to you later.”

System: 【…】

【Due to the high popularity of Lu Yao’s Little Pet Cafe, it has been upgraded to a three-star establishment, earning an additional 50,000 popularity points. Keep up the good work!】

New Task: Help 500 stranded souls leave the Garbage Sea. Rewards: 100,000 popularity points and access to exit the Garbage Sea!

！！！

Access to leave the Garbage Sea?

This was precisely what she’d been searching for—the means to leave this area. It turned out that permission could be granted only by completing tasks.

Lu Yao had previously tested the boundaries, confirming what Qingmei had mentioned: they were trapped in this sea.

The Garbage Sea functioned like a massive, cubic water prison, affecting only the solitary fish by confining them to a specific area, while regular marine life remained unaffected.

It made sense that the Little Pet Cafe, located in this region, was similarly isolated from the normal world.

Only now did the system reveal that these solitary fish were called “stranded souls” in this realm.

Why were they brought to the Garbage Sea?

What was the world beyond this place really like?

Why was there so much trash in this sea?

Who was the “Mother” that the humpback whale had mentioned?

There were so many things Lu Yao wanted to know, and whether by intuition or experience, she felt that unraveling these questions would lead her closer to the ultimate mission of this world.

…

After multiple revisions, it was only by evening that Lu Yao submitted the final blueprint to the system.

The system swiftly scanned her annotated upgrade details, its voice tense and displeased: 【You’re really pushing it.】

Lu Yao packed her things without taking its complaint seriously. “I’m super excited about this upgrade, though I agree it’s quite challenging. Must be difficult for you too, right?”

The system stalled, not wanting to appear weak in front of the shopkeeper, retorting stubbornly: 【…What’s difficult for you is a breeze for me. Just wait and see!】

Lu Yao stifled a laugh. “Alright, I’ll be watching.”

Five minutes later, the system sheepishly informed Lu Yao that due to the complexity of the upgrades, maintenance time would be doubled, and the shop couldn’t operate during the process.

Maintenance would start tonight and finish by 6 p.m. tomorrow, which would already be the shop’s closing time. It would be best to close for the entire day.

Lu Yao informed Qingmei about the day off.

Qingmei looked horrified, thinking something had gone wrong with the shop.

She loved working here, where she had food, drinks, and cats to cuddle, and didn’t want to go back to being a “ghost fish” in the sea. Learning that the closure was just for renovations, she finally relaxed.

Curious about the process, she considered stopping by the next day to check it out since Lu Yao wasn’t giving her any specific answers.

…

Even with the Little Pet Cafe closed, Lu Yao was far from idle.

As more shops opened, daily tasks increased. To save time, she had been staying in the break room at the nail salon for quite a while.

Her old rental had been vacant for some time, and she hadn’t had a chance to deal with it.

Taking advantage of her day off, she called her landlord and arranged not to renew the lease.

She quickly handled the formalities, hired a moving truck, and had all her belongings transported to the shopping street.

The rental complex was old but fairly safe and affordable, so she had lived there for a long time.

While packing, she found numerous old items, the most unexpected of which was a piano stashed in the storage room.

A nearly brand-new black piano lay hidden under a dust cover. Recognizing the brand emblem on the back, it was an exceptionally expensive model.

Lu Yao had no recollection of buying such a piano, and couldn’t remember ever owning one.

The mover looked at her puzzled expression and confirmed, “This piano is yours, right?”

Lu Yao was equally baffled. When she’d moved in, this place had only a few old wooden cabinets and a cot. But she genuinely couldn’t recall ever buying a piano, so she decided to call the landlord for clarification.

The system quietly chimed in, “This system has archived records. The piano indeed belongs to the shopkeeper.”

Even after hearing this, Lu Yao called the landlord anyway.

After confirming the piano was hers, she instructed the movers to take it to the shopping street.

It took her half a day to pack. There was so much stuff, and quite a bit she no longer needed.

She set aside three boxes of comics and novels for Harold and Si Jin, as well as some nail materials and polish she’d stored at home, which she transferred to the nail salon.

A few large boxes of unused kitchenware, dishware, and various barely-used items were all bundled into low-cost mystery boxes for the Blind Box shop.

But as for her old keepsakes, she carefully sorted them and brought them all into her room at the nail salon.

Then there was the piano—no matter which shop she placed it in, it took up a lot of space.

She gave it a thorough wipe-down and spent 1,000 popularity points to have the system tune it.

The piano was stunning, its sleek black body under the eaves, keys interlacing black and white. Lu Yao pressed a few random notes, her expression suddenly freezing.

She straightened, gazing down at the keys, pressing them one by one, as a strange little melody emerged from the scattered notes.

Lu Yao mused, “Could it be that before my accident, I actually knew how to play?”

The system, sighing softly, replied, 【Uh… that’s quite possible.】

Lu Yao was about to respond when a Maybach pulled off the main road onto the side path, heading directly into the shopping street.

It was followed by a Cadillac and a mid-sized white delivery van.

The Cadillac belonged to Ji Feiming, his cherished car, and the delivery van likely came with him.

The driver of the Maybach was also a familiar face. Jing Yuxi was the first to step out, immediately noticing the piano beside Lu Yao. “Shopkeeper, are you planning to open a music store now?”

Lu Yao chuckled and shook her head. “Just found this old thing from home and wasn’t sure where to put it.”

Jing Yuxi circled the piano, testing a few notes. “It’s a great piano. If you don’t want to keep it, I can find a buyer for you at a fair price.”

Lu Yao’s fingers traced the edge of the lid, and without hesitation, she shook her head. “Nah, I think I’ll hold on to it. I like this piano.”

Jing Yuxi could tell from the way the shopkeeper looked at the piano that there was a story behind it, but with other matters to handle today, there was no time for an intimate conversation.

However, before getting down to business, she needed to recharge at the Little Pet Cafe.

It had been days since she’d seen Tape, and she missed him terribly.

“You came on the wrong day—Little Pet Cafe is closed for renovations,” Lu Yao’s voice, in that moment, sounded especially heartless.

Jing Yuxi scratched her head. “…Guess we’ll get down to business, then.”

“Shopkeeper, our order has arrived.” Ji Feiming seized the opportunity to interject.

Lu Yao glanced at the small white van filled with the new “fluffies” for the shop. “Take them to the Blind Box Store and let Tiger Cub train them first.”

As the crates were unloaded, muffled, melodious sounds could be heard from under the covers. Jing Yuxi, curious, asked, “What’s that?”

“New staff for the Little Pet Cafe,” Lu Yao explained briefly. “Weren’t you here to discuss something?”

“Oh, right, I almost forgot!” Jing Yuxi smacked her forehead, quickly pulling her thoughts back on track.

…

The Garbage Sea.

Each stranded soul, upon waking, instinctively swam toward the Little Pet Cafe, which had become their go-to place for relaxation.

Seeing a “Closed for Renovations” sign on the door, the group of solitary fish was bewildered.

“This shop can be renovated? Where’s the construction? No one’s even around.”

“Did it close down? No! How will I survive without little Erxin?”

“Maybe it went bankrupt and had to shut down?”

One fish flipped belly-up on the spot, blowing bubbles as it mumbled, “Without the Little Pet Cafe, my Sugar, my Tape, my Pounce, my happiness… all gone…”

A small manta ray squeezed through the crowd and called out loudly, “The shopkeeper said it’s closed for one day to renovate and expand. It’s not gone! Stop spreading rumors.”

A fish murmured, “But there’s no one around, and no signs of construction…”

The manta ray glanced back at the shop, which indeed was eerily silent.

The solitary fish collectively “self-isolated”—one, two, three—all flipped belly-up…

The manta ray: “…”

A somber mood began to spread through the sea. Amid the belly-up fish, the great white shark and purple sea nettle jellyfish resumed their “morning friendly exchange.”

After a full day and night, the manta ray awoke and blinked wide-eyed.

Was this really the Little Pet Cafe?

How could it have transformed like this?

Swimming back and forth, the manta ray still found the scene in front of it unbelievable.

Just yesterday, nothing was there. There’d been no sight or sound of construction, so how had everything changed overnight?

Was the shopkeeper secretly a sea witch?

Just then, the solitary fish began to stir.

One by one, they flipped back over and, by habit, swam toward the Little Pet Cafe.

Midway, some fish stopped, eyes bulging like angry pufferfish.

This was the Little Pet Cafe?

So it had indeed been closed for renovations, though the shopkeeper’s idea of “renovation” seemed different from theirs.

A clownfish with bulging eyes blew bubbles and asked, “Renovation? Who turns a bare-bones shop into an underwater park during renovations?”

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