Ch 79: My Multiverse Supermarket

The Good Life Supermarket didn’t sell cigarettes—but it did sell alcohol, and even a few restricted blades.

An Yixiao immediately began helping Zhou Li stash those items away.

Zhou Li asked the system, “What happens if we break a rule?”

“You’ll be fined. In severe cases, your license to operate on campus may be revoked.”

Zhou Li’s expression turned odd. “Then let them revoke it. After that, we’ll just reopen the supermarket outside the school.”

System: …

You really are a genius.

“But,” Zhou Li added, “let’s not risk it. What if we can’t even re-enter the dungeon afterward?”

The incident made her realize she’d grown too complacent behind the supermarket’s protection field.

She told An Yixiao to move the alcohol and weapons upstairs.

Everything from the second floor up counted as private residence and wasn’t bound by campus regulations.

Using an item, An Yixiao easily transferred everything to the second floor.

Then Zhou Li had the system remove alcohol and blades from the vending machines.

Just as they finished, the director of discipline arrived.

He strode in energetically, but his face darkened when he found no violations to punish.

Zhou Li greeted him pleasantly. “Teacher Long Zhatian, your order of school supplies has arrived. Please have someone check the inventory.”

The players: Pfft.

The director’s name was Long Zhatian?

His expression twisted. He pointed at the few who laughed the loudest. “You three—go count the supplies. You have five minutes. If anything’s missing or damaged, you’ll be punished.”

The named players instantly sobered up, trembling.

“Countdown begins,” came the director’s cold voice.

They didn’t dare delay and hurried toward the storage area.

Song Ganlan, also chosen, muttered in despair, “Five minutes? That’s impossible!”

Zhou Li said, “Just use the vending machines—everything’s listed there. You only need to swipe Long Zhatian’s membership card.”

The dean smiled thinly. “If you want the card, convince me.”

The players felt the air drop several degrees.

Duan Jing and An Yixiao had already warned them—no fighting inside the supermarket, or its protection would vanish.

But if the director refused to leave, how could they grab his card?

Sweat beaded on their foreheads as they debated risking everything. Then An Yixiao reminded them, “If the mountain won’t come to me, I’ll go to it.”

Duan Jing’s eyes lit up. She dashed outside to the vending machines, entered the director’s supply order, and when the prompt asked for a card swipe, she pulled out an item. “Swap Positions!”

In a blink, she and the director switched places.

“Beep—Card recognized. Dispensing now,” the machine announced.

Players: ?

Dean: …

A wave of black mist—actually countless gnats—swarmed over his face. Even though his features were obscured, the pressure and dread radiating from him only grew stronger.

“What are you waiting for? Four minutes left!” Duan Jing shouted.

Song Ganlan snapped into action, and the others followed.

Zhou Li clapped for Duan Jing’s quick thinking.

An Yixiao shot her a sidelong look. “Pretty rich, aren’t you?”

Duan Jing laughed awkwardly. “That was my last trump card. I’ve definitely made him furious now—your turn to handle it, President An.”

Zhou Li sighed inwardly. Both of them were clearly loaded, yet they’d pretended to be broke right up until the brink of death.

An Yixiao faced the director. “Teacher, my family’s poor. I’d like to apply for a work-study position here at the supermarket.”

Dean: …

Of all the players here, you’re the last one qualified to say that.

Zhou Li wisely kept quiet instead of confirming An Yixiao’s “employment.” If she admitted to hiring a student, the director might claim it violated regulations and use it as an excuse to punish her.

Better to let An Yixiao handle it herself.

Naturally, the director refused to let her use this as a loophole to hide inside the supermarket. With its protection, she’d become even harder to control.

So he denied the work-study request outright.

An Yixiao said lightly, “Looks like I’ll have to take a few days off then, boss.”

Zhou Li replied, “Fine, since you boosted my sales numbers, I’ll approve some leave.”

The director, with no rules to exploit, had to leave empty-handed.

As soon as he was gone, the students—who’d been too frightened to come near—rushed in to shop.

Then the bell rang. Lunch break was over, and everyone’s faces turned ashen.

Some students, unaware of the supermarket’s rules, stayed inside after class began as they used to.

The director appeared like a ghost, bringing an instructor to catch them. He accused Zhou Li of violating school regulations.

“I know,” Zhou Li said calmly. “Fine’s twenty per loitering student, right?”

She slapped the counter and glared at the student. “Well? Pay up!”

The student: ?

“Wait, aren’t you the one being fined?”

“The school fines me,” Zhou Li said, “so I fine you. Any complaints? Keep talking and I’ll blacklist you.”

The student looked helplessly at the director. His twisted face darkened. “How can it just be a fine?”

“Can you show me a rule that says otherwise?” Zhou Li shot back.

The director: …

Normally, procurement and penalties weren’t his job—that fell to administration or logistics.

But Mingde wasn’t a real school, so it had no logistics office.

That meant such matters fell under the principal—and with the principal absent, the director had no authority to amend penalties.

He’d planned to exploit the vague punishment clause to scare Zhou Li into thinking the consequences were dire.

Who could’ve guessed she’d know that the penalty for loitering students was only a fine?

Seeing him speechless, Zhou Li exhaled in relief.

Good thing she’d guessed right!

She’d only assumed it based on her own middle-school memories—when the punishment for that rule had also been a fine.

Even if she’d guessed wrong, it wouldn’t have mattered; the dungeon didn’t punish you just for guessing incorrectly.

The student reluctantly handed over twenty game coins.

Zhou Li turned to the director. “Here’s the fine.”

The dean: …

He said nothing, but even Zhou Li, a non-player outsider, felt the air grow foul—like stepping from a mountain breeze into a chemical plant’s exhaust.

Pollution?

If that was what it felt like, then she was only safe thanks to being an outsider shielded by the supermarket.

She reached under the counter and produced an air freshener.

The director left in silence, bringing the buzz cut instructor and the punished student with him.

The instructor whispered, “Sir, I told you—this boss is no fool. She saw right through our setup!”

Indeed, the student had been a plant meant to trick the supermarket into breaking the rules.

But they hadn’t expected Zhou Li to know the fine clause—and to make the student pay it instead.

The director glanced coldly at the anomaly student. “Useless.”

The creature trembled violently before letting out a wail—then its body disintegrated into a swarm of gnats.

The instructor shuddered in terror.

*

Inside the supermarket, the system asked, “Why did you make the student pay the fine?”

Zhou Li replied without a hint of guilt, “The supermarket was fined because of them. Isn’t it logical that they pay it?”

System: …

Zhou Li peeked outside. “What was that noise just now?”

“The most common kind in this dungeon,” said the system.

Hearing that, she stopped worrying about it.

By evening, classes had ended. An Yixiao returned with Zhang Xiaozhi—bandaged and blood-spattered again.

“Half a day gone, and you’re injured already?” Zhou Li asked.

Wrapping her arm with gauze from the med-kit, An Yixiao said, “Boss, please hide Zhang Xiaozhi here for a while.”

Zhou Li told her about the fine situation.

An Yixiao paused, then pulled out over a hundred game coins. “This should cover a few days’ worth of fines.”

Zhou Li happily accepted them and sent Zhang Xiaozhi upstairs to hide.

Once the frightened girl was out of earshot, Zhou Li asked, “So—you and Duan Jing have started that clearance plan you discussed?”

An Yixiao nodded.

Their theory was this: if each dungeon mirrored a real-world event, then the story of Dawn Village must have truly happened.

If so, clearing the dungeon would make the event known to the outside world—maybe even cause an uproar.

Could they then use the time difference between Dawn Village and Mingde Academy to draw that outside attention here?

Since Wang Hui had died from bullying, public interest in school violence and juvenile crime would be intense.

If Zhang Xiaozhi, a survivor from Dawn Village, reported bullying at Mingde Academy, the place would become a media storm.

Once under scrutiny, the school’s staff—from the principal to the dean—would be forced to restrain themselves.

That would give the players room to rise as “excellent students.”

And if the principal and dean were absent, such recognition from teachers alone might count as victory.

Zhou Li, unfamiliar with the dungeon’s structure, frowned. “But time in a dungeon freezes. When it’s cleared, does time start again?”

An Yixiao shook her head. “No one knows. Cleared dungeons can’t be re-entered. Until Dawn Village and Mingde Academy, no one realized dungeons could even be connected.”

Zhou Li said, “That makes sense. If dungeons are snapshots of real places at specific times, it’s rare for two connected events to happen in the same location. If Zhang Xiaozhi weren’t from Dawn Village, the two would just be unrelated worlds.”

An Yixiao smiled faintly. “Which is why I’m grateful you exist, boss.”

Without the supermarket’s anomaly linking the two instances—and giving Zhang Xiaozhi shared memories—no one would’ve discovered this truth.

“This plan might have been impossible before,” An Yixiao said. “But now… it’s worth a try.”

☢️☢️☢️