Ch 149: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World II

Liu Jing still couldn’t quite grasp Luo Yao’s explanation and voiced her doubts. “The staff on Ghost Street are all followers of him. They’ve forsaken themselves, offering everything to him, willingly becoming its apostles in the human world. And now, after just two days working in the DIY Workshop, they suddenly want to be human again?”

Cai Yuxing found it hard to accept. “Fully transformed divine apostles—can they really turn back into humans?”

Figures like Gan Qing, Chen You, and Huang Qi, who retained partial consciousness, were selected from ordinary transformed individuals for their mental resilience. They served as his right-hand operatives, secretly controlling shops on Ghost Street and manipulating both the shop owners and customers.

Luo Yao couldn’t help but think of the residents of Dreamland, who could freely transform into terrifying creatures in the paradise, only to revert to their original forms when leaving the special space.

But in Dreamland, only the soul existed as a true entity. Dead souls altering their appearances was merely a change in their soul’s projection, without affecting their essence. Of course, the forms they assumed often reflected their own will—after all, as beings who had shed all illusions of the living world, they had no reason to lie to themselves.

Ghost Street differed from Dreamland in that it was still part of the living world. Everything unusual occurring on this street could be explored using the logic and reasoning of the living.

Ghost Street also wasn’t like Tales of The Six Realms, a game Luo Yao had launched on the Floating Continent. In that game, the “Heavenly Ladder” and its final update, the “True Ladder,” were grounded in the real illusions of the fourth and fifth floors of the internet café. In contrast, Ghost Street seemed to be a completely digital, code-generated fantasy street.

The residents of Ghost Street weren’t their real selves either, but merely projections of human consciousness. The characters that appeared on the street initially resembled the players’ real-life appearances, but the mechanics seemed to dictate that lost individuals would lose their sense of humanity, their mental state gradually deteriorating until they transformed into monsters and defected to the boss faction.

However, if their consciousness was stimulated again by external factors, their human cognition could reawaken.

Piecing together Gan Qing and Chen You’s situation, Luo Yao confidently told Liu Jing and Xiao Cai, “It’s likely possible to restore a mutated individual’s humanity by repeatedly stimulating their consciousness.”

Liu Jing and Xiao Cai exchanged glances, still not fully understanding.

Pei Qi, who had entered unnoticed, stood silently at the side. Suddenly, he spoke to Liu Jing and Xiao Cai. “The boss’s explanation makes sense.”

Not knowing Pei Qi well, Liu Jing and Xiao Cai were skeptical.

Pei Qi continued, “Have you forgotten why this street is called ‘Ghost Street’?”

Liu Jing and Xiao Cai’s faces paled slightly.

Ghosts—souls without bodies, wandering remnants.

The inhabitants of Ghost Street weren’t even complete souls, merely fragments of consciousness.

Suddenly, many things clicked for Liu Jing and Xiao Cai. A chill ran down their spines, and their scalps prickled. The terrifying symptoms of transformation and loss weren’t physical changes but signs of a person’s last bastion of mental strength being completely overrun—kneeling in submission before him.

Once he devoured them, nothing of that person would remain.

Seeing the two staff members pale and clearly frightened, Luo Yao clapped her hands gently, snapping them out of their thoughts. She spoke softly, “There’s no need to worry too much. As long as one keeps moving forward, consciousness doesn’t fall so easily. Even he cannot completely overthrow and control an individual’s will.”

If Luo Yao’s guess was correct, simply helping transformed individuals regain their consciousness wasn’t the key to clearing the game.

The true solution might lie in separating the players’ consciousness from the game and awakening them in the real world.

The Dream Fulfillment System likely existed outside the game in the real world.

For now, Luo Yao didn’t have enough information to make further assumptions, but she decided to test this direction.

While earlier she had been fretting over how to manage the three full-time staff, Luo Yao now had some ideas.

As the evening cleanup wrapped up, Luo Yao led the six staff members into a Mustard Seed training session.

With the food-themed activity concluded, the DIY Workshop would soon launch a new event.

Since none of the staff were professionals in the craft industry, they needed to undergo training before the event began.

The system reminded Luo Yao not to let anyone see her abilities. She had privately considered this before but concluded it was unavoidable.

Without the Dream Fulfillment System nearby, Luo Yao had to personally handle everything in the shop, making it inevitable for her to use her abilities.

Still, she had the staff re-sign confidentiality agreements—partly to mitigate risks, partly as a test. Luo Yao wanted to understand the priority between their contracts with him and the confidentiality agreements.

By the time they entered the Mustard Seed space, Gan Qing and Chen You had regained their composure, appearing back to their roles as staff. Huang Qi, on the other hand, was as carefree as ever, showing no visible changes compared to the other two.

For the next experience activity, Luo Yao had two plans: miniature woodworking toys and a simplified metalworking experience. Since both activities needed to happen eventually, she decided to combine their training, letting the staff choose based on their interests.

Both woodworking and metalworking traditionally have a high entry threshold. DIY activities, however, focused on the experience itself, similar to vocational experience venues in the real world that allow participants to explore professions they don’t normally encounter.

Drawing from her own expertise, Luo Yao had pre-recorded two 90-minute tutorial videos. Some tools and raw materials were sourced from the Alexander Continent and the Floating Continent.

These tools and materials, imbued with fantasy elements, significantly lowered the difficulty of entry while adding an extra layer of enjoyment to the activities.

The six staff members were awestruck upon entering the Mustard Seed space. They spent considerable time just exploring the tools and materials. Encountering the unusual properties and functions of some materials for the first time, they finally felt a sense of being inside a game.

After familiarizing themselves with the tools and materials and watching the tutorial videos, the staff formally began their training.

The three volunteer staff all chose the metalworking group, while the “Cthulhu” staff picked up knives and began carving wood.

Thanks to the Mustard Seed’s ability to manipulate time, the staff completed a full day of training, but only a few minutes had passed in the real world. When they clocked out, it was still before 9 PM.

As Luo Yao closed the shop, she spotted the bartender from the Abyss Bar again.

As usual, he had a golden octopus perched on his head, his expression blank. He hadn’t further transformed, but neither had he shown signs of recovery.

Just as before, Luo Yao gave him a slight nod in greeting and closed the door.

Returning to the operation classroom area, Luo Yao used her abilities to set up and upgrade two mobile operation classrooms, a process that would take 24 hours to complete.

She then gathered a stack of design blueprints and returned to the shopping street. Her priority was to complete the special system and the equipment to host it, tailored to meet the needs of Ghost Street customers.

For programming, she needed to hold a meeting with Ji Qingyan and Cheng Ye, possibly involving 1041 and his team as well.

As for the equipment to host the system, Luo Yao planned to build it herself. She had decided not to use magic or spells in its creation.

The hot spring inn had Ji Qingyan scheduled for night shifts that week, while at the internet café, Cheng Ye had swapped shifts with Xiao Zhong and started night duty at the beginning of the month.

Luo Yao messaged them both and headed straight to the pet cafe.

Half an hour later, Ji Qingyan, Cheng Ye, and 1041 and his team convened at the pet cafe to begin their late-night meeting.

Luo Yao held the chubby Leilei close, burying her face in its thick, plush fur and taking a deep breath.

Indeed, the fluff was incredibly soothing.

Recharged, she lifted her head and began explaining the purpose of the late-night meeting to her staff and collaborators.

For Ji Qingyan and Cheng Ye, this was their first time learning about the new shop’s peculiar situation. The same went for 1041 and his team, who found the idea of such a bizarre world hard to grasp.

“Are you sure this is within a holographic game?” someone from 1041 and his team asked.

Luo Yao replied, “Ninety-five percent sure. The remaining five percent will be confirmed once we finish building the equipment.”

1041 and his team still found it unbelievable. “If that world is truly inside a game, how can both your shop and you, as a real entity, navigate it so seamlessly?”

Luo Yao had some ideas but chose not to elaborate—they involved explaining the existence of the Dream Fulfillment System.

The group’s initial surprise quickly gave way to enthusiasm for tackling such a novel and challenging task. They immersed themselves in discussions about turning the shop owner’s concept into reality.

As the system had indicated, Luo Yao had access to resources and technologies from multiple worlds, coupled with substantial R&D experience and the Mustard Seed space, which significantly shortened development time in the real world.

Three days later, Luo Yao and the team completed the product for the new DIY Workshop—a Ghost Bracelet.

…

Returning to the DIY Workshop from the pet cafe with the newly created Ghost Bracelet, Luo Yao entered to find the lobby as lively as ever. Over ten customers were seated, waiting.

Following the conclusion of the food-themed DIY activity, the shop had launched its metalworking experience.

Metalworking, broadly speaking, refers to processing and manufacturing activities involving metallic materials. It ranges from jewelry crafting to the production of large machine parts for automobiles and ships, down to minute components like watch mechanisms.

The DIY Workshop’s focus was on jewelry-making, offering three tutorial options for customers: a beginner’s smooth-surface ring, gem-adorned earrings with mold assistance, and an advanced metal necklace.

The activity was a hit among customers.

All three operation classrooms were fully booked morning and afternoon. Even customers who hadn’t registered were reluctant to leave, opting to sit and wait in the lobby instead.

Luo Yao arrived just as the morning session ended. Customers trickled out of the operation classrooms, holding paper bags stamped with the DIY Workshop’s logo, containing their morning creations.

Spotting Luo Yao, Song Wen squeezed through the crowd with difficulty to reach her. “Boss, why weren’t you here this morning?”

During the food-themed sessions, Song Wen had come to the shop daily with his grandmother. After the switch to the metalworking activity, his grandmother stopped coming, but Song Wen and a group of young people continued their visits.

Three days ago, he had commissioned a storage bag from Luo Yao.

Luo Yao retrieved a small silver box from her personal warehouse and handed it to him. “The storage bag has been designed as a ring. Take a look. If you don’t like it, we can modify it.”

Song Wen opened the box to find a simple silver ring resting on dark gray velvet. Barely five millimeters wide, the ring featured delicate, indiscernible patterns etched onto its surface using an unknown technique. On the inside was an extremely small “Yao” character. The craftsmanship was far superior to the ring he had just made himself during class.

He slipped the ring onto the index finger of his left hand—it fit perfectly.

Inside the box was also a sheet of paper: the instruction manual.

After reading through the instructions, Song Wen glanced at Luo Yao and gently pressed his thumb against the surface of the ring. A sharp, tingling pain shot through his finger, numbing his knuckle momentarily before fading away. The ring itself showed no visible change.

Following the manual’s instructions, Song Wen silently thought, Storage Ring. A semi-transparent screen appeared before his eyes.

Seeing the customer freeze, Luo Yao leaned closer and whispered, “Try putting the paper bag into it.”

Song Wen extended his hand, concentrating slightly. The paper bag in his palm vanished, now appearing in the first slot on the screen, marked with a small “1” in the bottom-left corner of the grid.

He stared in stunned silence for a moment before looking back at Luo Yao.

When he had ordered a storage bag from the DIY Workshop, it had been on a whim, not expecting much. Yet this ring’s functionality and user experience were almost indistinguishable from the Ghost Street system’s own storage feature.

Who was this shop owner?

Luo Yao patiently waited for him to finish testing the product, then casually shook her wrist, revealing a silver bracelet. “This storage ring was designed before the Ghost Bracelet. Its storage function overlaps a bit with the bracelet’s, so I added a unique feature to the ring to make it more practical for you.”

Song Wen glanced at the silver bracelet on Luo Yao’s wrist, unsure what she meant.

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