Ch 154: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World II

Ren You finalized the purchase of 20 Ghost Bracelets.

The first batch of Ghost Bracelets consisted of only 20 units. Two had already been sold, and three were given to staff, leaving 15 in stock.

Ren You’s team, consisting of himself and three others, immediately paid for and received four bracelets. Eleven unopened boxes were to be taken back to the church and distributed to other patrol members, while the remaining five were reserved for pickup in two days, along with the custom storage ring Ren You had ordered.

Ren You, Jiang Lin, and their two team members didn’t leave immediately. Instead, they sat in the lobby, pulling out their Ghost Bracelets and instruction manuals to study them and prepare for activation.

It was Ji Linkai’s first day on the job, and he was still familiarizing himself with his duties. He rotated between assisting Liu Jing, Xiao Cai, and Pei Qi as a teaching assistant.

The guests were all adults with strong self-management skills, so like Gan Qing and Chen You during their early days, Ji Linkai mostly stood guard in the classroom.

Lu Yao called him to the lobby to guide Ren You and the others, while she retreated to the lounge to work privately.

She needed to craft Wish Boxes tailored to the guests, a process that required discretion.

Using the Regulation Rod to create two boxes yesterday had been tedious, mainly because the abilities had to be pre-designed to match the bracelet owner’s personality and skills. However, once she hired staff to manage the main server, this task could be delegated to them.

In the future, Lu Yao would only need to produce and distribute the Wish Boxes according to the system’s calculations.

For the next batch of official Ghost Bracelets, the distribution of Wish Boxes would take longer. Lu Yao planned to align the timing with the daily maintenance routines of shops on Ghost Street, setting it to 24 hours to ensure she had sufficient time to craft them.

The Ghost Bracelets needed to launch as soon as possible.

While using the Regulation Rod earlier in the morning, Lu Yao had glanced at the clue note. To her surprise, the message on the note had changed slightly. The four-character clue, which initially seemed to reference a location, now had a different first character, and the edges of the paper had begun to yellow and fray.

Lu Yao couldn’t discern the meaning behind the changes but felt an inexplicable urgency. She needed to locate the Dream Fulfillment System and proceed to the next world.

After finishing four Wish Boxes in the lounge, Lu Yao prepared to make a quick trip to the shopping street.

On her way out, she passed by the mobile classroom.

Ren You’s group was still there, selecting materials and tools. Ji Linkai stood beside them, diligently explaining, while the four patrol members listened with shining eyes, clearly envisioning themselves using the weapons they crafted to thrash giant octopuses in the future.

The mobile classroom wasn’t frequently used, and currently, only Classroom 1 was open. Even then, the 30 workstations were rarely fully occupied.

Today was no different; only a few guests were scattered throughout the room.

At one of the workstations, a guest stepped out to restock materials and overheard Ji Linkai recounting his encounter with the aberrant octopus. The patrol officers chimed in with details about the latest events in the South District. Intrigued, the guest asked about the Ghost Bracelets.

Initially, it was just a casual inquiry. But upon hearing Ji Linkai’s story and the patrol team’s experiences, the guest became deeply interested.

As Lu Yao reached the doorway, the guest stopped her.

“Boss, how could you not advertise something this amazing? I come here every day and only just found out. I want one too!”

Lu Yao smiled wryly. “The first batch of prototypes was limited, and the patrol team just cleared out the remaining stock. But don’t worry, the Ghost Bracelets will officially launch in two days.”

The guest looked disappointed. “Two days? There’s really none left at all?”

Lu Yao shook her head. “None.”

The guest insisted, “Then I want to reserve one in advance.”

Lu Yao: “Reservations aren’t open yet. How about this—come back tomorrow and check with the front desk.”

She managed to placate the guest while mentally planning the reservation process and noting the need to train Chen You on handling it.

For now, she had to return to the shopping street to interview new staff and organize the Ghost Bracelet launch event. The guest’s comment reminded her that the bracelets deserved a proper advertisement.

Leaving the DIY Workshop, Lu Yao first headed to the Little Pet Cafe to notify the Waterdrop Seals about the updated bracelet specifications and production timeline for the first batch.

The Ghost Bracelet’s mechanism was quite special, relying not just on programming but also on divine craftsmanship. Lu Yao had entrusted the seals—who were naturally imbued with divine power—with its production.

The Waterdrop Seals, divine envoys of the Deep Sea Goddess Emerald Star, were perfect for the job thanks to their innate power and prior experience building the Ghost Phone System.

This time, however, the seals made a request: instead of payment in Yore Coins, they wanted grilled wild demon ox and red wine-demon grass stew from Alexander Continent, desserts from Yu Gui Zhai in the Great Wu Dynasty, premium snacks from Sanhua City, and full-course meals from the Celestial Banquet Hall in Starcatcher Tower on Floating World Continent.

The Starcatcher Tower’s owners were a couple of tribulation-stage elders—one a healer, the other a sword cultivator. Despite being at the brink of ascension, they had been stuck at the same level for nearly a century.

Recently, after the Interdimensional Internet Café’s Celestial-Demon Conference concluded, they arrived hoping to join the action. Unfortunately, the evil god had already been sealed.

Their trip, filled with excitement, ended without the expected battles. To their dismay, even the Demon Sovereign and Demon Emperor had both fallen, leaving no one to challenge. Frustrated, they turned to browsing the Internet Café.

Having lived for so long, fame and life held little appeal for them, but they became enamored with food livestreams. The novel dishes and cooking methods showcased online were so tantalizing that they couldn’t help but start learning to cook themselves.

In less than two weeks, they opened Starcatcher Tower in Starry City, specializing in spirit plant and spirit meat dishes inspired by online cuisine.

They even mastered online shopping, sourcing most of their seasonings and some special ingredients from e-commerce. Spirit-infused ingredients were locally sourced.

When Starcatcher Tower opened, Lu Yao had ordered 20 tables of banquet meals as a perk for staff across the stores. The seals, who must have remembered this feast, now craved more of the spirit-infused dishes, each table costing hundreds of high-grade spirit stones.

The seals’ demands didn’t stop at just ordering the food—they wanted to eat their fill.

These adorable yet powerful seals were Lu Yao’s most loyal partners, and she generously agreed to all their requests. As long as it didn’t involve spending real-world currency, she didn’t feel the pinch.

The seals’ feast also benefited guests at the pet cafe, who enjoyed precious delicacies from another world after a day of fun at the underwater amusement park.

With new snacks every day, the Waterdrop Seals were in high spirits, eagerly rolling over to Lu Yao with affection whenever they saw her.

Lu Yao laid out the schematics, pointing out areas that needed upgrades. The seals were enthusiastic and readily agreed.

Setting the production timeline for the first batch, Lu Yao couldn’t help but tempt the seals with a promise: “Work hard for the next two days, and I’ll order you the best milk tea and cakes from Yaoguang City.”

Their eyes lit up instantly, brimming with excitement at the mention of Yaoguang City’s delicacies.

After wrapping up discussions with the seals, Lu Yao contacted the staff at her nail salon and blind box shop via the internal network.

The Ghost Bracelets’ external materials were sourced from Alexander Continent, the internal chips from Team 1041 in Nightlight City, and the kinetic energy cores from the Impermanence World.

Leaving the pet cafe, Lu Yao made time to message an old acquaintance: “Busy lately? Do you have time to shoot an ad for my shop’s new product?”

A minute later, before Lu Yao reached the interview office, her phone buzzed with a new message:

[Okay.]

She stopped, quickly replied with two messages to confirm the time for the advertisement shoot, then pocketed her phone and entered the office.

The interview location was the main server room next door to the DIY Workshop. Four candidates had arrived—three men and one woman—all professionals in computer science.

As usual, Lu Yao started by introducing the situation on Ghost Street, a practice she had followed since recruiting from the Hot Spring Inn. Only if the candidates could accept the reality would the interview proceed further.

All four had been referred by existing shop staff. After Lu Yao’s explanation, their reactions varied, but none panicked or made a scene, showing decent composure.

Midway through the interview, one of the men stood up and left.

He was a fresh graduate, and after hearing the full details of Ghost Street, he was overwhelmed and couldn’t accept it.

Lu Yao sent a message to Xiao Ji, asking him to escort the departing candidate.

The young man walked out of the office and down the road without looking back. When he reached the entrance to Ghost Street, he couldn’t resist turning around and pulling out his phone to film the entire street.

Today’s experience was simply absurd.

Xiao Ji, having received the message, hurried out of the blind box shop and saw the man still holding his phone up. He approached and said politely, “Excuse me, please delete the videos and photos on your phone.”

The young man slipped the phone into his pocket, his expression smug. “It’s my phone. Why should I listen to you? I’m not deleting anything.”

Xiao Ji maintained a calm demeanor. “I’m just advising you kindly. Anything about this street can’t leave with you. Don’t waste a perfectly good phone.”

The man laughed mockingly as he stepped back. “What is this, a cliché threat from decades ago? Old man, stick to being a security guard and stop meddling.”

Ji Feiming sighed faintly. “…I’m not a security guard. I’m a delivery driver.”

The young man turned away with a smug smile. “What’s the difference?”

As he walked through the invisible barrier surrounding the shopping street, his laughter abruptly stopped. His head felt clouded as though it were filled with sludge, and his consciousness became foggy.

Ji Feiming calmly drove out of the parking lot, caught up with the man, and stopped him. “Let me drive you to the nearest bus stop.”

In a daze, the young man got into the car. About ten minutes later, he got out at the bus stop and boarded the next bus back to the city.

By the time he reached his apartment complex, he snapped out of his daze, only to find himself confused about why he had gone downstairs in the first place. Panicking, he pulled out his phone, only to discover, much to his misfortune, that it was inexplicably broken.

…

Lu Yao spent a long time talking with the three remaining candidates:

• Song Qingshan, 35, male.
• He Bi, 28, male.
• Zhang Shu, 26, female.

All three expressed their willingness to stay. Each had impressive resumes, as expected from staff-referred candidates. After some consideration, Lu Yao decided to hire them all.

They signed trial contracts and confidentiality agreements. Afterward, Zhang Shu asked, “Can we visit any of the shops on the street?”

He Bi: “Didn’t you say this place connects to other worlds? Ordinary people probably can’t go there, right?”

Lu Yao asked, “What did your referrers tell you before you came?”

Song Qingshan replied, “Su Su told me the benefits here are great, and the work pressure isn’t too high, so I came.”

Song Qingshan was Zhou Su’s cousin. He had gone through a divorce at the beginning of the year, lost his job mid-year, and had a child in middle school to support. When he heard about the job, he didn’t hesitate. As long as the compensation was reasonable, he didn’t mind hard or exhausting work.

He Bi added, “Liu Yixi—Brother Liu—contacted me.”

Zhang Shu said, “Sister Qingyan mentioned she worked here, so I came.”

Lu Yao nodded. “Zhou Su is at the pet cafe, Liu Yixi is in Office No. 2, and Qingyan is at the Hot Spring Inn. Go find them, have some fun, and come back. You’ll officially start tomorrow.”

That evening, the internal employee group chat gained three new members, each with a prefix of “Creative DIY Workshop.”

..l

Late at night

At the Hot Spring Inn, Lu Yao welcomed an old friend.

A reserved man in a suit stood at the door. He was noticeably thinner than when he had left earlier in the year but looked in good spirits. He was accompanied by two new assistants, and a small white van parked behind them, said to be carrying his personally prepared filming equipment.

During the day, Lu Yao had contacted Director Fu Chi, asking him to shoot an advertisement for the Ghost Bracelet.

Fu Chi, who had recently returned to work after a hiatus, was busy filming a new movie. His schedule was tight, but upon receiving Lu Yao’s message, he immediately postponed his next two days of filming, booking the earliest flight back to Yaoguang City that afternoon.

Seeing him, Lu Yao greeted him with a smile. “Director Fu, long time no see.”

Fu Chi returned her smile, his tone tinged with nostalgia. “This place hasn’t changed a bit.”

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