Ch 79: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World II

The spider demon had recently developed a consistent routine: cultivating at night and heading to the internet café at dawn to buy a few favorite snacks for breakfast. While eating, she would catch up on the latest episodes of her favorite drama.

The modern romance drama she had been following was nearing its finale. As an experienced internet surfer, she had started using Big Eye to look for recommendations for her next show.

Her searches often centered around the second male lead of her current drama, and the algorithm seemed to have noticed. It constantly pushed related updates and news to her.

The actor playing the second lead had gained immense popularity for his role, winning over countless fans. The spider demon, while looking for new dramas, was greeted by an advertisement featuring the actor promoting a cosmetics brand.

Seeing the actor’s name, she clicked on the ad without hesitation.

The video flashed through various scenes—not a drama trailer nor a short series, but undeniably featuring the actor.

After watching it once, the spider demon didn’t understand the context of the short video. She scrolled through the comments section, reading for a while before realizing it was an advertisement.

She didn’t fully grasp what “advertisement” meant but noticed that many comments exclaimed, “I’ll definitely buy this!” and asked the actor to recommend specific shades.

The actor was endorsing a new lipstick line by a brand starting with “Y,” which had released four new shades.

Finally understanding it was a lipstick ad, the spider demon grew interested. She had a fondness for human cosmetics, though most didn’t align with demon aesthetics.

Human powders and rouge often came in red or pink tones, even the boldest of which failed to excite her.

Now intrigued, the spider demon decided to rewatch the ad.

At that moment, Danxi noticed her screen, where a short-haired man was repeatedly applying lipstick. Each time he switched shades, his outfit and style also changed.

The ad ended with a close-up of the four lipsticks lined up, showing the corresponding colors on the actor’s lips.

Danxi was immediately drawn to the second-to-last shade—a deep brown—and blurted out, “Where can I buy this color?”

The spider demon, who had been eyeing the final purple shade herself, hadn’t considered the possibility of buying it. Hearing the question, she pulled off one earphone. “What did you say?”

Danxi leaned closer. “I’m asking, where can I buy that lipstick? I want that color.”

The spider demon blinked at Danxi, surprised. “You can buy it? I didn’t even think about that.”

Danxi leaned closer to the screen to investigate.

The interface displayed text shared by both the Cultivation and Human Realms, so the spider demon could mostly understand it, but Danxi struggled.

Pointing to a differently colored link under the video, Danxi suggested, “Try clicking this.”

Following her advice, the spider demon clicked the link, which led to a product page with images and prices.

The two of them spent a good while puzzling over the interface, finally figuring out how to add the lipstick to the shopping cart. Their learning abilities were impressive—they exited to search for solutions whenever they encountered something confusing and slowly managed to select shades and fill in the delivery address.

However, they hit a roadblock at the final step: payment.

The spider demon turned toward the counter and called out, “net manager, come here!”

When Lu Yao got up, she already had a sinking feeling. As she approached and saw the spider demon’s computer screen, her premonition came true.

The internet offered endless possibilities, but the one Lu Yao dreaded most was customers discovering online shopping.

The café’s beginner tutorials covered online games, chatting, streaming shows, and listening to music—but deliberately excluded anything related to shopping.

Even in-game purchases or paid skins were topics Lu Yao consciously avoided exposing to her guests.

Her goal was simply to earn internet fees and complete her missions, not to end up covering additional expenses.

..l

Guests from the Floating World Continent used spirit stones to pay for internet usage. If they wanted to shop online, lacking the Human Realm’s currency, they would require the café to front the payment and then settle the cost in spirit stones with Lu Yao.

Though troublesome, Lu Yao could accept the hassle—after all, running a business inherently came with challenges.

Lu Yao’s real concern was that this cross-world “proxy shopping” would drain her already limited resources from her current-world assets.

The hot spring inn hadn’t required much funding and had even brought substantial profits to Merchant Street. Her small savings had finally built up, and she didn’t want to deplete them on the internet café—especially not on “proxy shopping” or in-game purchases.

Her thoughts raced, but her expression remained calm as she approached. “What’s the matter?”

The spider spirit replied, “Lu Yao, Danxi and I want to buy this lipstick, but we can’t pay with spirit stones.”

They were eyeing lipstick. The delivery address had already been filled in as “Interdimensional Internet Café, Baixian Mountain”, with the contact listed as the spider spirit’s terminal code and the recipient as “Zhu Ying.”

Lu Yao had to admire the spider demon’s cleverness.

She smiled faintly. “This lipstick is a new release. I’d recommend waiting for a bit.”

Danxi frowned. “What do you mean?”

Lu Yao explained, “It’s currently sold online, so you haven’t seen the actual product before purchasing. If the quality doesn’t meet expectations or the results differ from what you anticipated, you’d have no way to hold the seller accountable since you don’t even know where their shop is located.”

Zhu Ying quickly interjected, “It’s fine. I saw the ad, and I think it’ll definitely be good. Plus, I really like this color.”

Danxi added, “I love that shade too. I’ve never seen anything like it elsewhere.”

Lu Yao glanced at the two lipsticks in their cart: one deep brown and one vibrant purple.

To be fair, both Danxi and Zhu Ying had the looks to pull off such bold colors.

Still, Lu Yao tried to persuade them further. “I’m just saying there’s no need to rush. For new products like this, beauty bloggers usually post reviews and videos. Why not wait until someone else has tried it? You can check out real-life swatches and feedback before deciding. After all, these aren’t exactly cheap, and the café would also charge a handling fee for proxy purchases.”

Zhu Ying, a seasoned internet surfer, understood most of Lu Yao’s points, even if Danxi didn’t.

She had seen review videos before, though they were about perfumes. While she hadn’t understood them at the time, Lu Yao’s explanation suddenly made things clearer.

The world within the internet—a box of wonders—seemed like an independent realm, separate from the six known realms. In essence, it was a hidden dimension.

The café acted as a gateway connecting the Human Realm to this hidden world, with Lu Yao as its gatekeeper.

If they wanted something from this hidden dimension, they could only rely on the gatekeeper to help procure it.

Zhu Ying opened the ad again, her eyes wide and sparkling. “But I really, really love this lipstick color. It’s so rare in both the Human and Demon Realms. I can pay you extra spirit stones.”

Even for the purple shade, subtle variations in tone made the one in the ad feel like her perfect match.

Lu Yao sighed in resignation. “The café doesn’t currently offer online shopping services for guests. It’ll take some time to set this up. You’ll have to wait a bit.”

Shopping cravings—the bane of the internet age.

Lu Yao completely understood Zhu Ying and Danxi’s mindset. Even if she refused them today, they’d be fixated on finding a way to get their hands on the lipsticks.

The internet was a Pandora’s box, showcasing endless desires as soon as it was opened.

And Lu Yao had brought this box to the Floating World Continent.

Since the box was already open, she was prepared to deal with the consequences.

She didn’t brush Zhu Ying and Danxi off, knowing she needed time to prepare for this new development.

First and foremost, the delivery address couldn’t remain as “Floating World Continent, Baixian Mountain.” Shopping Street was a secluded location, and frequent deliveries would eventually attract unwanted attention.

There weren’t many people in the area, so if the delivery courier came by a few times, they’d quickly remember the place.

The shipping address, purchasing account, and proxy fee standards all needed careful consideration from Lu Yao.

Of course, if Zhu Ying and Danxi eventually forgot about the lipstick, Lu Yao wouldn’t hesitate to let the matter slide. She certainly wouldn’t bring it up on her own.

Seeing how attached Zhu Ying and Danxi were to the lipstick, Lu Yao retrieved a box of lipsticks from her portable warehouse. These were new products from Rouge House in Great Wu. She smiled and said, “This is a new product from my other shop. As an apology, I’ll give you each one. Pick your favorite color.”

Zhu Ying and Danxi were delighted.

The collaboration between the cinema and Rouge House had produced a batch of modern-style lipsticks, which also included deep brown and purple shades.

The lipstick tube was sleek and sophisticated: black glossy glass with a fine ring of gold foil embedded around the center, exuding understated elegance and a substantial weight in hand.

Zhu Ying chose the purple lipstick, and it looked stunning when she applied it. She thought it could rival the one from the ad.

Danxi initially picked the deep brown, but upon applying it, she found it didn’t complement her complexion. She switched to a slightly orange-tinged brick red, which highlighted her fair skin and gave her a commanding aura.

Danxi began to understand Lu Yao’s earlier advice—sometimes, what seems perfect in theory may not work in practice.

With their new lipsticks in hand, Zhu Ying and Danxi no longer insisted on online shopping.

Zhu Ying noticed Danxi wasn’t familiar with the internet and enthusiastically recommended her favorite dramas, providing a long list of titles.

For the first time, Danxi interacted with a demon cultivator and realized they weren’t as the Demon Realm rumors claimed. At least Zhu Ying was fun and intriguing.

By noon, Zhu Ying introduced Danxi to the café’s specialty meals.

At the café, food could be ordered directly from the computer screen via an electronic menu featuring noodles, rice bowls, stir-fried noodles, and other dishes provided by shops in Shopping Street.

Guests placed their orders through the system, which routed them to the appropriate food vendors. During lunch hours, a middle-aged man would deliver the meals to the counter.

Each meal came in a box labeled with the station number and the guest’s name. Guests could pick them up themselves or, if they were too busy, ask the café attendant to deliver them.

Under Zhu Ying’s enthusiastic influence, Danxi not only set up a new account for watching dramas but also ordered lunch for the first time.

The dramas were captivating, and the food was delicious.

The café was starting to seem genuinely enjoyable!

…

In the afternoon, Cheng Ye returned to Shopping Street with his medical examination results.

Only Lu Yao knew he had gone for the check-up that day.

Hearing he was back, she immediately sent him a message:

“How did it go?”

🛍️🛍️🛍️🛍️🛍️