Ch 54: My Multiverse Supermarket

Infinite World

Instance: New International Department Store

An Fengxuan gripped the mop, her face blank as she dragged it across the scarlet floor.

The red was glaring—so bright it made her skin crawl the longer she looked.

No matter how much cleaning powder she poured, the color never faded.

It seemed soaked deep into the tile, or perhaps the pigment had been mixed into the clay before firing, baked together in the kiln to produce this vivid red.

No matter how hard An Fengxuan scrubbed, she couldn’t make it clean. The only change was that the water in her bucket grew redder and redder.

Yet her mission was to clean this very floor—and clean it completely.

According to instance rules, since it was a mission, it had to be possible. She just hadn’t found the right method yet.

Without damaging the tiles, how could she make them spotless?

An Fengxuan tried every method she could think of, but none worked.

Perhaps there was a tool meant for this—but she didn’t have one.

Exhausted, she decided to rest.

She lifted her bucket of bloody water and headed to the restroom to dump it.

But as she approached the janitor’s closet, she froze—

Across from the restroom stood a new shop that hadn’t been there before.

A supermarket.

The New International Department Store was already a huge supermarket—so how could there be another one inside it?

And it had a different name: Good Life Supermarket.

“Did the instance… upgrade?” she muttered automatically.

Instance upgrades were rare, usually triggered by a hidden quest or when the difficulty didn’t match a player’s level—like when a high-tier player bulldozed through a low-tier scenario.

But her level didn’t exceed this instance’s difficulty, and she hadn’t triggered any hidden mission.

If she had, the Infinite Game GM would’ve notified her.

Still, she couldn’t think of any other explanation.

An Fengxuan stayed cautious. She didn’t dare approach—only watched from the shadows.

From its placement, the small supermarket was located in what had once been a sealed-off section of the mall.

So it could be a newly added merchant zone.

But instance layouts were fixed the moment they were created.

In other words, unless the instance itself had upgraded, no new areas should exist.

Suddenly, she saw someone moving inside the shop.

A young woman’s face—alive.

An Fengxuan could feel life from her.

It had been three years since the alien species descended, leaving the world in ruins.

The weak had all perished. Those still alive hadn’t become stronger—they were merely puppets, their strings pulled by the instance’s power.

People wanted strength. They sought artifacts from instances to satisfy their greed.

Others, worn down by endless runs, were simply exhausted.

They lived only to keep living.

In this world, humans no longer radiated vitality.

As for the alien species—they weren’t even human-shaped anymore, twisted and monstrous, each with different abilities.

Still, An Fengxuan couldn’t swear none could imitate human form.

With countless instances came countless species. A few shapeshifters wouldn’t be strange.

She still had time before her mission’s deadline, so she decided to keep watching.

Good Life Supermarket.

Zhou Li had already seen what lay outside.

She groaned, “Isn’t that a supermarket out there? I’ve basically opened a Meijia inside a Walm art!”

The system said, “Please remain calm. The local spatial interference of this dimension caused that. Since time and space here are unstable, the supermarket’s location will constantly shift.”

“Huh?” Zhou Li blinked.

“In the terminology of this world,” the system continued, “the supermarket is currently inside an instance. When time and space inside distort, the original coordinates collapse, and so the supermarket relocates.”

“So I’ve turned into a mobile mini-market now… actually, that’s kind of fun.”

Then, realizing how it might sound, she added quickly, “I mean—the concept is fun. Obviously, I don’t think an alien-ravaged world or suffering humans are entertaining. I deeply sympathize with them.”

The system stayed silent.

Zhou Li peeked out through the door. “Still, can we even get business here?”

Just as she finished, a figure peeked around the corner.

After a few minutes of observation, An Fengxuan came to a realization.

Even if the instance had glitched—what if that was the key to clearing it?

If the small supermarket was run by an alien species, it still had to obey the game’s rules.

So long as she didn’t break those rules, she wouldn’t be harmed.

How could she just waste time doing nothing?

Once she made up her mind, she equipped her tools and cautiously approached.

The closer she got, the stronger her unease became.

Not because a supermarket inside another supermarket wasn’t strange—it was—but because this wrongness came from Good Life Supermarket itself.

The New International Department Store instance was modeled after a real-world supermarket from before the alien invasion.

Everything inside could be eaten or used by the alien species—but for humans, most items were traps or curses.

Only special mission tools, like her mop and bucket, were safe for humans—and only usable within specific tasks.

Food on the shelves wasn’t mission-related. If she dared to eat any, she’d first get a “Rule Violation” warning, then the aliens would exploit that to punish her.

And the food itself would harm her body.

Yet their bodies were still human—they bled, they starved.

They needed food. Real, safe food.

And somehow, the products in this tiny supermarket felt real—like they were made for humans.

Everything about it radiated the aura of “safe to eat” and “safe to use.”

Only the two oddly shaped machines by the entrance—probably vending machines—seemed strange.

An Fengxuan stepped across the threshold.

A wave of cool warmth greeted her face.

Not the clammy chill of an instance dungeon, but the gentle spring air of twenty-six degrees Celsius.

Her eyes flicked toward an air conditioner remote—

Indeed, it read 26°C.

Zhou Li smiled warmly. “Hello. Welcome to Good Life Supermarket.”

[Author’s note]

The new world is a mobile supermarket [dog-head emoji]

☢️☢️☢️