Ch 28: My Multiverse Supermarket

A few days after the hurricane passed, the temperature dropped several more degrees.

Before the fireplace, several half-grown children huddled together beneath thick blankets.

Even so, they were shivering uncontrollably.

The firewood had long since burned out, and the fading embers were no longer enough to warm the small, cramped room.

“Has Sister Linzhi and the others still not come back?” one child asked in a muffled voice.

No one answered her.

Just then, someone’s stomach rumbled loudly.

That sound seemed to ignite a chain reaction—soon, the air was filled with a chorus of growling bellies.

“I’m hungry.”

“Me too.”

“Do you think the city hall will still hand out bread today?”

The children had no answer.

A few years ago, they would never have asked such a question.

This was, after all, a charitable orphanage, and though humble, it had once managed its own small businesses, enough to feed the children and keep them clothed.

But after the natural disaster years ago—when the mines collapsed, hurricanes swept through, and the temperature plummeted—everything changed.

The ground froze solid; seeds could no longer sprout; food became scarce.

If not for the scientists’ hydroponic and greenhouse technology that allowed crops to grow in water, the people of Planet Mia might not have survived even a few years.

Yet just as they began to feel hopeful, the rain stopped falling altogether.

When precipitation came, it was only hail—or snow.

Now, it had been nearly a year since even snow had fallen.

The land cracked under drought; the plants that depended on soil and water withered away.

With the water supply dwindling, hydroponic crops also began to fail.

To make matters worse, Planet Mia lost contact with Blue Star.

The transport ship from Blue Star was supposed to arrive every five years, bringing superior seeds, advanced technology, and other supplies, then taking Mia’s mined resources back.

But the last ship had come eight years ago—three years overdue.

For three long years, they had waited for a signal that never came.

Scientists speculated that a wormhole malfunction had caused both the disaster and the communication failure, leaving Blue Star unable to locate Mia’s position.

Fearing panic, they hid the truth.

But no secret lasts forever—six months ago, the news broke.

The fragile order shattered instantly.

Enraged citizens stormed the Academy and City Hall, seizing the scientists in charge of the immigration project and the officials managing hundreds of thousands of residents.

Eventually, the mayor appeared on television, promising to provide food and water until contact with Blue Star was restored. That speech temporarily calmed the riots.

From that day onward, City Hall distributed food every day.

Of course, those with means disdained the gritty, sand-laced rations that scraped their throats.

They still shopped at the big supermarkets, buying the genetically optimized produce from corporate farms.

The orphanage, however, had lost its sources of income. Its funds dwindled until it had no choice but to rely entirely on City Hall’s aid.

But things only worsened.

Mining companies collapsed after the cave-ins; unemployment soared; more people could no longer afford supermarket food.

The sick died in hospitals where medicine was running out.

Each day, more people joined the lines for free food.

The financial strain became too great. With tax revenue drying up, City Hall could no longer sustain daily handouts.

Food distribution changed to once every three days, then once a week.

People went from two meals a day to just one.

The children didn’t understand the chaos outside, but they could feel the tightening noose of hunger.

After waiting in vain for their meal, they finally drifted into sleep, huddled together for warmth.

Only in sleep could they forget the gnawing hunger.

…

In the silent streets, the lights were dim and the wind bit like knives.

“Linzhi!”

The unconscious girl was shaken awake.

She gasped as her eyes flew open, pain stabbing the back of her head so sharply she nearly fainted again.

As her senses returned, she saw the face before her. “Jianshan?”

Lin Jianshan exhaled in relief. “Good. You’re alive.”

Ting Linzhi tried to speak, but a thought hit her like lightning—her hands were empty. She cried out, “The bread!”

Lin Jianshan was silent for a long moment before saying, “It was stolen.”

Ting Linzhi struggled to stand, staggering forward a step before stopping dead.

Chase them?

Chase who?

She had no idea who had knocked them out and taken their food.

Tears welled in her eyes. “We were so close…”

Just two more streets, and they would have been back at the orphanage.

But they’d been ambushed here, of all places.

That bread had been one day’s rations for eight children at the orphanage.

They’d left before dawn, queued all day at City Hall for the handout, and had rushed straight home without resting—only to be robbed on the final stretch.

Ting Linzhi wept until her head throbbed.

Lin Jianshan said quickly, “Come on, let’s go back and clean your wound first. I’ll go to the woods later and see if I can dig up any frozen bamboo shoots.”

Over the past few years, the forest had been picked clean—there was nothing left to dig up.

But Ting Linzhi knew they had no other choice now.

Starving and battered, the two of them leaned on each other and slowly made their way back to the orphanage.

As they reached the entrance, Lin Jianshan suddenly made a soft sound of surprise.

“What is it?” Ting Linzhi asked.

Lin Jianshan pointed beside them. “Linzhi, wasn’t there an empty lot next to the orphanage?”

“Huh?”

Ting Linzhi looked up—and froze.

There had been an empty plot of land next to the orphanage, once intended for a children’s playground.

But when the catastrophe struck and survival on Planet Mia became perilous, the orphanage abandoned its plans.

Later, in a desperate attempt to raise funds, it sold the land.

However, the transaction wasn’t compliant with city regulations, and the municipal government repossessed the lot.

Yet City Hall, crippled by massive budget deficits, couldn’t fund new construction either—so the land had sat barren ever since.

But now, there stood a building that hadn’t been there before.

Ting Linzhi was so shocked she forgot her throbbing head and ran toward it.

Lin Jianshan almost called out to stop her but was afraid of alerting anyone—or anything—and quickly followed.

When they reached the building, the flickering streetlight illuminated a sign above the door:

Good Life Supermarket.

A supermarket!?

The style of the building resembled those in Changcheng District and Hongqi District—

Settlements originally built by Dali, a nation from Blue Star, during the first wave of colonization.

The first Blue Star settlers to arrive on Mia had been Dalians.

And the two of them were their descendants.

Could this supermarket belong to a Dalian merchant?

But that wasn’t the main question.

The real question was—how could someone have built a three-story structure in just one day?

Inside the store, all was dark.

Lin Jianshan sighed in disappointment. “It’s closed.”

Then, bitterly, she thought—so what if it were open? They couldn’t afford anything inside.

Ting Linzhi also tore her gaze away. “Let’s go back and check on Zihua and the others.”

Remembering Linzhi’s head injury still needed care, Lin Jianshan agreed.

They slipped quietly back into the orphanage, where they found the younger children asleep in the kitchen, huddled together for warmth.

No wonder they didn’t sleep in their rooms anymore—the orphanage had been without water and power for months. With no heat and the air growing colder by the day, the kitchen’s old fireplace was their only refuge.

The firewood inside had already burned to ash.

Lin Jianshan carried in a few more logs and rekindled the fire, while Ting Linzhi fetched her own blanket to cover the children.

Then Lin Jianshan rummaged through the medical kit, pulling out disinfectant and gauze. By the flickering firelight, she cleaned and bandaged Ting Linzhi’s wound.

“You should go to the hospital tomorrow,” she said. “A head injury isn’t a small matter.”

Ting Linzhi shook her head. “Hospitals cost money.”

Children from the orphanage had once received free medical care—

But that was before the apocalypse, and only for minors under eighteen.

Ting Linzhi had just turned eighteen this year. She no longer qualified.

Lin Jianshan said nothing more.

Ting Linzhi endured the pain, finished dressing her wound, and soon fell asleep—hungry, exhausted.

Lin Jianshan stood there for a long time, watching the children’s sleeping faces in silence.

Then she quietly slipped out of the orphanage again.

When she returned to the supermarket, she carried a few tools—lockpicks.

She had noticed earlier that the lock on the supermarket door looked like a model from Blue Star’s twenty-first century.

On Planet Mia, such a mechanism was practically ancient. She was confident she could open it in five seconds.

But just as she raised her hand, another hand pressed down on hers.

Startled, she jerked free and tensed defensively.

“Linzhi?”

Ting Linzhi frowned. “What are you doing?”

Lin Jianshan pressed her lips together. “I thought you were asleep.”

“How could I sleep?” Ting Linzhi looked up at the supermarket’s third floor, then suddenly grabbed Lin Jianshan’s arm and ran.

Back at the orphanage, Lin Jianshan pulled free. “Stop dragging me!”

“Someone’s awake inside!” Ting Linzhi said.

“That’s impossible!”

“I heard movement on the third floor.”

Just as the words left her mouth, the third-floor lights came on.

Both girls froze, then ducked into the shadows.

Moments later, the second floor lit up.

Then the first.

In a neighborhood where nearly every home had gone dark from power cuts, the supermarket shone like a colossal lightbulb, blazing in the night.

Lin Jianshan and Ting Linzhi exchanged a look.

Curiosity overpowered fear, and they crept closer.

Now that the lights were on, the interior of the supermarket was clearly visible.

Even from a distance, they could see rows of shelves—and stacks of bottled water, milk, and beverages piled neatly on the floor.

Hunger made their mouths water.

As they drew nearer, they saw a figure behind the counter.

The woman yawned, looking entirely harmless.

Before Lin Jianshan knew it, she reached for the door handle.

To her astonishment, the door—previously locked tight—opened easily.

“Technically, it’s not business hours yet,” said the woman behind the counter. “But… welcome.”

“So warm,” Lin Jianshan murmured in disbelief.

Then, coming to her senses, she quickly pulled Ting Linzhi inside. “It’s so warm in here!”

[Author’s Note]

Zhou Li: I just got here and I’m already getting robbed? [clown emoji]

☢️☢️☢️