Ch 119: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World II

The next day, Luo Yao fed the young tankang milk, sprinkled some spirit stones for the spirit beast egg, and then called Zeyuan to go out with her.

Since both were busy with their own affairs, they didn’t get much time together. Zeyuan had been harboring some resentment and hadn’t actively visited the internet café lately, so it had been quite a while since they last met.

Xiong An’an overheard that Luo Yao was taking Zeyuan out and eagerly followed them to the door, but Jiao Niang stopped him at the bar.

Luo Yao took out a teleportation scroll and brought Zeyuan to Zhongdu City.

Zhongdu City was a human settlement with virtually no demon or magical creatures, and even cultivators were rarely seen. Disguised as ordinary people, Luo Yao and Zeyuan strolled through the bustling night market, glowing with lanterns and filled with throngs of people celebrating the Fifteenth Lantern Festival. The streets were lively, mainly filled with couples out for the night.

Luo Yao bought a lotus lantern and handed it to Zeyuan to carry. She also bought two skewers of candied hawthorn and offered one to him.

Zeyuan tried hard to maintain a composed expression and shook his head to refuse. Luo Yao didn’t insist and instead wandered over to a small stall selling trinkets, sifting through the wares with interest.

Zeyuan followed her silently, watching as she perused various small items. At a stall selling embroidered sachets and perfume powders, Luo Yao took a liking to a gold-threaded sachet with a simple and elegant design. She turned to Zeyuan and asked, “Does this look good?”

Zeyuan nodded.

“Do you like it?” she asked.

Zeyuan raised his eyebrows slightly, puzzled.

Luo Yao immediately put it down and pulled him away. “If you don’t like it, forget it. Let’s look for something else.”

Zeyuan froze on the spot, unmoving, staring at her with a strange, searching expression.

Luo Yao tried to tug him along, confused. “What’s wrong?”

In the blink of an eye, a flood of memories and thoughts surged through Zeyuan’s mind. He hesitated briefly before reaching out and tentatively taking her hand. Lowering his gaze for a moment, he then looked up at her, as if waiting for her reaction.

Luo Yao remained calm outwardly, though her heart was stirred. A faint smile played at her lips, and she let him hold her hand without saying anything, allowing him to pull her into the crowd.

Zeyuan’s amber eyes glimmered like liquid gold, his lips curving upward in a slight smile. Gripping her hand firmly, he suddenly pivoted and quickly maneuvered them out of the throng.

Once they reached a secluded corner, he leapt into the air with her, landing atop the tallest building in Zhongdu City.

The noise of the crowd faded, and the sprawling sea of lanterns glittered in the distance. The cool breeze brushed past them, clearing their thoughts and calming their hearts.

Zeyuan truly loved places like this.

After a moment’s hesitation, he pulled out the twin black lotus and held it out to her. “This is for you.”

Luo Yao looked surprised. “You went to the secret realm for this?”

The twin black lotus was said to bloom only once every thousand years and was a near-extinct supreme spiritual plant across the six realms. What’s more, this one was a rare twin-petaled lotus.

Zeyuan didn’t deny it, nor did he try to claim any credit.

Luo Yao accepted the gift. “It’s been a while since you got this. Why are you giving it to me now?”

Zeyuan looked up at her quickly, then averted his gaze. “…”

Luo Yao narrowed her eyes. “Don’t tell me… you weren’t planning to give it to me initially?”

Flustered, Zeyuan immediately said, “I was just worried you might not like it.”

“I love it,” Luo Yao replied, pulling out her Regulation rod and holding the lotus against it to measure its fit. “You don’t mind if I refine it, do you?”

The idea of refining such a rare treasure on the spot was audacious, but Zeyuan, still basking in the joy of successfully giving her the gift, generously said, “It’s yours now—do as you please.”

Using Fula’s Blessing, Luo Yao refined the twin black lotus into her Revolution rod, merging the two seamlessly. After the process, the lotus shed its black exterior, revealing a golden core that entwined itself around the dark, ink-like body of the ruler. The twin lotus now rested beautifully beneath the double-faced deity engraved on the staff.

With a thought, Luo Yao conjured a miniature version of the Revolution rod in her palm—a pitch-black, shining pendant with golden lotus vines that shimmered like flowing water.

She held it up to Zeyuan and said, “This is the semi-incarnation of my wish-forged tool.”

The pendant was akin to the earrings Zeyuan had given her before—akin to the divine marks gifted by the gods, bearing powers close to their creators.

She wanted to give him something comparable, even though he hadn’t remembered those past events yet.

This pendant, like the semi-incarnation of a god, would stay with him forever.

Zeyuan didn’t reach out to take it; instead, he leaned slightly toward her, turning his face to the side, revealing reddened ears.

Luo Yao paused for a moment, then clasped the pendant in her palm. When she opened her hand again, the pendant now had a loop clasp attached to it.

“All done,” Luo Yao said, releasing the pendant.

Zeyuan had already reverted to his original appearance: silver hair, crimson eyes, and a strand of golden light shimmering faintly under the moonlight near his ear.

Luo Yao had noticed before that he had an ear piercing, perfectly complementing hers on the opposite side. She thought this accessory suited him well, even adding a touch of elegance.

Despite the warmth blooming in his heart, the Demon Sovereign kept his face stoic, as if utterly unmoved.

Shoulder to shoulder, Luo Yao and Zeyuan gazed at the stars, the moon, and the lights in the distance.

Zeyuan’s heart was calm, more serene than it had ever been. The most mundane moments of life, shared with her, made him unwilling to wake up from this peaceful reverie, longing to stay in this bliss forever.

When the night breeze grew cooler against her face, Luo Yao spoke. “It’s late. Will you take me home now?”

Zeyuan came back to himself and, without hesitation, agreed.

…

Meanwhile, the small ginseng demon had been staying at the internet café for a week, helping care for the young tankang and the spirit beast egg. After a conversation, Luo Yao successfully recruited her as a content advisor for the game project.

The next week, when the game team came over for their weekend overtime, they saw the little ginseng doll playing with Xiong An’an. The group of single young men were so overwhelmed by her cuteness that their hearts practically burst with affection, nearly scaring the poor doll to tears.

Luo Yao, who usually didn’t intervene in their activities, made a special trip to the workroom after hearing about this. She reminded them to keep their behavior in check and not frighten the (over-a-thousand-years-old) child.

On the other hand, Xiong An’an received yet another emotional blow.

He couldn’t believe that his cuteness level was being compared to the ginseng doll’s. Wasn’t the giant panda supposed to be a national treasure?

Xiong An’an had secretly watched many live streams from panda sanctuaries and zoos. Humanity’s unconditional love for pandas seemed boundless, so how could he be equated with the ginseng doll?

Xiong An’an couldn’t understand.

Seeing him huddled in a corner like a defeated rice ball, the young men approached him. “What’s wrong, buddy? How about I teach you to code?”

Xiong An’an: “…”

…

The game team came to the internet café for regular weekend overtime, racing against deadlines. Meanwhile, Luo Yao and Chi Jiumeng continued constructing the illusion realm on the café’s fourth floor.

After a month, the game team emerged from the mustard seed realm, utterly drained.

“We finally finished. It wasn’t easy!”

“I need a feast and a soak in the hot springs!”

“Where’s An’an? Only a fluffy panda can heal me!”

“Boss, can I pet the little tankang before we leave? Just once?”

The tankang cub had spent over a month at the internet café. The shop staff and collaborators all knew of its presence and wanted to bask in the good fortune of the auspicious beast.

Luo Yao had tried numerous methods to care for the little tankang. It had gained some weight, but it was still far from healthy, and its hind legs remained weak.

Nonetheless, Jin Huaichen and the ginseng doll were astonished that the tankang had survived this long. Jin Huaichen, in particular, frequently visited to confirm the tankang’s status.

Inspired, Jin Huaichen had been combining theories of scientific feeding with traditional knowledge to care for young beasts back at Beast Mountain.

Luo Yao arranged for Xiao Ji to let the game team rest. The final two weeks of work had been intense, with the team working overtime all weekend. They were understandably exhausted.

…

After a month of rigorous preparation, the new wuxia MMORPG Tales of the Six Realms—a collaboration between the internet café and Shi Yan’s team—was finally complete.

Another week of internal testing by the internet café staff followed. After fixing several bugs, Tales of the Six Realms was officially ready for a closed beta test.

The commercial district had some procedural steps to finalize, so the game couldn’t launch immediately. Ji Zhixin was overseeing the process, and internal testing would have to wait until all procedures were completed.

There wasn’t much urgency on that front. Luo Yao instructed the game team to prepare 300 beta test accounts to distribute within the Floating World Continent, inviting café patrons to participate in a week-long beta test starting three days later.

The patrons of the Interdimensional Internet Café, hearing about the concept of a “game beta test” for the first time, became highly competitive when they learned there were only 300 slots. They even began bribing the café staff with snacks to secure a beta test spot.

At first, Cheng Ye and Xiao Zhong thought their boss was being overly ambitious—after all, there was only one internet café in the Floating World Continent. Even with the recent expansion, there weren’t more than 100 terminals available, so it seemed impossible for all 300 accounts to be used simultaneously.

But as soon as the beta announcement was made, nearly all the slots were claimed within a single day—290 out of the 300 available accounts were already reserved.

Luo Yao had kept 10 spots reserved, planning to use some special means to send them to the Underworld.

…

The Underworld, Crossing River.

Xie Yi and Fan Song had been punished with 100 years of gate duty for their negligence during the last Ghost Gate opening.

When no one was crossing, the two often slacked off, sitting by the river and daydreaming.

They couldn’t help but think about that night when the Ghost Gate had opened and they stumbled upon the internet café in the human realm.

Before, they hadn’t known such a place existed. Now, knowing it was real, they couldn’t stop longing for it.

If they weren’t being punished, they could have occasionally slipped into the human realm during soul-collecting rounds and enjoyed the café.

Instead, they were stuck guarding the gate for 100 years. By the time they could return to the human realm, that little shopkeeper might have already crossed the Naihe Bridge several times.

Fan Song lay bored on the ground, arms folded behind his head, as the dark red river water flowed quietly by his feet. Translated on Hololo novels. The sky was dim and lifeless, offering no entertainment.

Xie Yi idly chewed on a red spider lily stem and tossed a random bone into the river.

As ripples spread, a cluster of white envelopes drifted downstream, floating on the water.

Xie Yi found it odd and reached out to grab one, then suddenly smacked Fan Song’s knee hard.

Fan Song sat up abruptly. “What are you doing?”

Xie Yi shoved the envelope at him, and Fan Song was equally startled.

It was an invitation letter from the Interdimensional Internet Café.

The contents aside, how could such an object have traveled from the human realm into the Crossing River?

The two immediately inspected the Ghost Gate but found no signs of it having been opened.

Yet these ten invitations had inexplicably traveled undetected from the human realm to the river.

Though both Xie Yi and Fan Song were eager to return to the café, they wouldn’t shirk their duties for it.

The arrival of these ten invitations was as alarming to them as the Ghost Gate being forcibly breached—perhaps even more so due to its bizarre nature.

Without delay, they delivered the ten envelopes to their superior.

…

Two days later, the Interdimensional Internet Café closed for a day of maintenance and upgrades.

Another day passed, and at precisely 5 a.m., the café reopened for business.

The beta test for Tales of the Six Realms (Cultivation Version) had officially begun.

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