Ch 75: My Multiverse Supermarket

Over two hundred years ago, when Mia Star had only just been identified as a habitable planet, no one yet knew whether there were hidden dangers beneath its surface.

The interstellar route between Blue Star and Mia Star had been traversed only twice, and scientists still couldn’t confirm its stability—whether gravitational shifts or galactic movement might one day cause it to collapse remained uncertain.

Even so, Blue Star had already rushed to send researchers and laborers to Mia Star to begin extracting Orka energy.

The cost of such an operation was far beyond what any single national government could afford—it required private sponsorship.

Fortunately, Blue Star’s industrial tycoons were all optimistic about Orka’s potential.

Among the top 500 wealthiest people on Blue Star at the time, more than 300 competed to invest.

The Richter family was one of them.

They had already been funding Kepler Nation’s extraterrestrial exploration programs, and now they poured more than half their fortune into the Mia Star project, sending a large team of engineers to the new world.

Leading those engineers was the Richter patriarch’s eldest daughter—Sophia Richter.

After arriving on Mia Star, Sophia and her team discovered multiple Orka veins and established a century-long plan encompassing mining, transport, research, and energy development.

But during the height of her work, Sophia fell ill with a strange disease.

The illness was believed to have originated from a Mia Star virus, for which Blue Star had no cure.

Scientists needed to collect samples from the planet to develop effective medication and vaccines.

To prevent her condition from worsening, Sophia’s parents arranged for her to enter cryogenic sleep aboard the Kepler Space Station, waiting for the day when Mia Star’s scientists could create a cure.

And so, Sophia slept for two centuries.

—A vaccine had actually been developed just 27 years after human colonization began on Mia Star, but during Sophia’s cryosleep, both of her parents died unexpectedly.

Her brothers and relatives, eager to seize her inheritance, intentionally delayed her reawakening.

Once the will’s validity expired, she automatically forfeited all rights of succession.

Their plot succeeded.

They didn’t want to kill her outright, so they simply left her asleep aboard the Kepler Station.

Generations of Richter heirs came and went, and fewer and fewer remembered Sophia’s name.

She was forgotten in that silent station, tended only by diligent service robots keeping her cryochamber functioning.

Eight years ago, a supply ship from Blue Star suffered critical damage and was forced to dock at the long-decommissioned Kepler Station to await rescue.

That was when the Richter family discovered Sophia, still alive and moving inside the station.

Gerhard Richter knew that if this scandal ever leaked, it would destroy the family’s reputation.

For the pioneer who had led humanity’s expansion to Mia Star to have been abandoned for two hundred years because of familial greed—nothing could be more damning.

So he publicly claimed that Sophia was his own eldest daughter, who had been living on Blue Star all this time and had only just returned on the recent supply ship.

To the public, Blue Star was the “home world,” so no one found it strange that she had grown up there. In fact, they envied her for what they imagined was a privileged, cultured upbringing.

Her detached mannerisms and unconventional behavior were simply seen as the quirks of a pampered heiress.

…

Zhou Li was stunned. “So Sophia’s from two centuries ago?”

Captain Tang Lingzhou nodded. “That’s what Gerhard said.”

“But didn’t he consider this a scandal? Why admit it now?”

“It was Mayor Edna Ponti who noticed something was off. She dug deeper and uncovered the truth.”

Edna had only been mayor for five years—she didn’t even have clearance to access those records eight years ago.

By the time she took office, Mia Star was already sliding into disaster, and City Hall’s efforts were focused entirely on managing the worsening environmental crises. The Richter archives weren’t a priority.

That changed recently, when City Hall began to suspect that the Good Life Supermarket might have connections to Blue Star.

Edna reopened the investigation into interplanetary communication networks—including whether the last supply ship that had arrived from Blue Star eight years ago might have reopened the route.

Because the investigation was so massive, progress was slow.

But when Edna met with Gerhard Richter, his nervous demeanor caught her attention. She ordered a closer look at Sophia’s records—and that’s how the truth came to light.

Gerhard confessed because Edna had reached a disturbing conclusion: this catastrophe might have begun long before anyone realized.

The supply ship malfunction eight years ago could have been an early warning sign of the apocalypse.

At the time, no one recognized it as such.

Edna believed that if they traced the cause of that malfunction, they might uncover the origins of the disaster—and perhaps a way to save themselves.

Sophia’s cooperation was key. After all, when the Richter family found her, she had already awakened and was active inside the station.

Without external intervention, there was no way she could have ended her own cryosleep. So what had awakened her?

The station was decommissioned; though supplies remained, most were long expired.

How had she survived?

…

Zhou Li asked, “So you’re telling me this because you want me to ask her?”

Captain Tang smiled faintly. “As expected of the clever little boss.”

“Then you should ask her yourselves,” Zhou Li said flatly. “I’m not interested in riddlers and their games.”

Tang Lingzhou didn’t press further.

When the time came, Zhou Li instructed the system to initiate a plane jump.

Once the supermarket vanished, Tang Lingzhou led the security team away, leaving the citizens who had rushed over to stock up staring at each other in confusion.

Why had the little supermarket stayed through the worst of the chaos, only to leave after things had finally calmed down?

The residents went to find Qu Shuyi, who had once braved the storm to meet the shopkeeper—perhaps she knew something.

Qu Shuyi was in the middle of working with City Hall to authenticate the viral recording that had spread across the matrix network.

The results came in right then. She posted them directly to the community chat:

“What else could it be? The shopkeeper left because everyone disappointed her again. The rumor was so easy to debunk, yet people still chose to believe it.”

Seeing the forensic report—clearly showing obvious cuts and AI voice splicing—most residents were furious.

“Thank goodness we didn’t fall for it.”

Those who had joined the riot weren’t so lucky.

After all, they’d already seen what happened during the earlier supermarket shutdown; they knew better than to become one more snowflake in an avalanche.

Someone grumbled, “It’s their fault we can’t even reach the vending machines now. I just wanted to buy some daily supplies!”

At first, the guards had allowed people claiming to shop to pass through—until some of them tried to vandalize the store.

After that, unable to tell who was genuine and who was there to cause trouble, the guards simply blocked everyone.

Qu Shuyi said, “The good news is the supermarket didn’t break its agreement with City Hall. It’s still supplying them with materials.”

That lifted everyone’s spirits. “Yeah, and with the new open-pit mine, our communities will be prioritized for Orka supply. We can hold on.”

Suddenly someone shouted excitedly in the chat, “Turn on the news! The Richter family and Wolf Pharmaceuticals are at war!”

After the Richter family announced their cooperation with City Hall, Richter Medical exposed Wolf Pharmaceuticals for trying to blackmail them by cutting off medicine supplies.

Gerhard Richter held a press conference, declaring a countermeasure: any company partnering with Richter Mining was now forbidden to sell Orka energy or its processed products to Wolf Pharmaceuticals or its executives.

Mia Star’s upper class had always been deeply entangled, and the Richters and Wolfs had shared many ventures.

When the disaster first struck, the Richters’ mines collapsed and they’d been forced into deeper cooperation with Wolf Pharmaceuticals in the medical sector.

Now, this corporate war would hurt them both.

But in the long run, the family that controlled the Orka veins—the Richters—would prevail.

And by publicly emphasizing their alliance with the Good Life Supermarket, the Richters sent a clear message.

In times of survival crisis, energy and supplies mattered more than anything else.

Medicine was important, yes—but unless Wolf Pharmaceuticals threatened to stop production entirely, the people would side with the Richters.

*

This time, Zhou Li didn’t hold a grudge against the citizens who had joined the riot.

It wasn’t leniency, nor was it forgiveness. She simply understood the contradictions of human nature.

After all she’d seen across so many worlds, this kind of thing no longer angered her.

Back in her home plane, she resumed her routine—contacting manufacturers and restocking the warehouse.

Mu Kun dropped by, bringing breakfast to refill the empty hot display case in the store.

Watching the lively crowd at Mu Kun’s new breakfast stall, Zhou Li said, “Congratulations, Aunt Mu—your business is booming.”

Mu Kun grinned from ear to ear. “That’s thanks to your advice! You really have a knack for business.”

She couldn’t resist taking a jab. “Much better at it than Zhou Hao.”

Zhou Li: …

“By the way, Aunt Mu,” Zhou Li said, “I’ve noticed a lot of new faces around the village lately.”

Mu Kun slapped her thigh and lowered her voice. “You’re telling me! I asked around—apparently they’re part of some logistics park project team. You know the new South High-Speed Rail Station? Folks are eyeing the land nearby. They plan to build a logistics park in this area.”

“Wait, does that mean land requisition?” Zhou Li tensed slightly.

“Of course not,” Mu Kun said. “The villages here are too dense. It’s not worth the cost. There’s plenty of open land around the South Station—they’ll never reach us.”

Zhou Li thought that made sense.

And even if they did plan requisition, the surveys and approvals would take years.

By then, her big supermarket would already be open for business.

[Author’s Note]

Zhou Hao: “Don’t you dare jinx it with weird flags!” [angry]

Zhou Li: “?” [confused]

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