Ch 80: My Multiverse Supermarket

Zhou Li originally wanted to wish An Yixiao success with her plan—but then realized that sounded like setting up a death flag, so she wisely shut her mouth.

An Yixiao assumed Zhou Li wasn’t particularly interested in dungeon affairs, so she didn’t go into detail.

After An Yixiao left, night fell.

The streetlights that should have turned on stayed dark. It was as though someone had poured ink across the sky; blackness swallowed every trace of light.

Even the supermarket’s brightest lamp could only barely illuminate the small clearing within the range of its protective field.

From outside came faint, rustling whispers—soft, chaotic, like the murmur of something breathing just beyond sight—adding an eerie edge to the already perilous night.

Zhou Li watched for only a moment before a chill crawled up her spine.

Then, a scream ripped through the darkness from the floor above.

Zhou Li’s heart lurched painfully.

She bolted upstairs and arrived just in time to stop Zhang Xiaozhi from smashing the television.

“What are you doing?”

“The principal—!” Zhang Xiaozhi pointed at the black screen.

Zhou Li: …

“You mean you saw the principal of Mingde Academy in the TV?”

Zhang Xiaozhi nodded.

Zhou Li’s face twisted.

Seriously? Why did her house suddenly turn into a ghost movie set?

“System?” she called immediately.

“She’s an anomaly,” the system said. “Her sensory perception differs from a human’s.”

“So,” Zhou Li asked, “you mean I might not see what she sees?”

“Exactly.”

Zhou Li thought for a moment, then asked, “If the protective field harms anomalies, do you have a workaround?”

“Maybe…” the system said. “You could open the Study and Strengthen the Nation app for her.”

Zhou Li: ???

“You’re sure that won’t kill her?” she asked.

Like how Zhou Li sometimes used the 24-Character Socialist Core Values mantra to banish fear—

“Between two evils, choose the lesser one,” the system replied. “Oh, and if she tries to run, use the medical pod. It can restrain patients.”

Zhou Li wasn’t sure whether that would work on an anomaly, but it was the only idea she had.

So she coaxed the terrified Zhang Xiaozhi—who was on the verge of fleeing back to school—up to the third floor and locked her inside the medical pod.

The pod automatically scanned her body and displayed multiple injuries on the monitor.

Zhou Li stared at the results, silent.

When Zhang Xiaozhi realized she’d been tricked, she started thrashing violently.

Zhou Li snapped out of it, pulled out her phone, and played the pre-downloaded educational videos for her.

Zhang Xiaozhi: …

*

The next day.

An Yixiao arrived to pick up the anomaly.

At the sight of the now haggard, half-mad Zhang Xiaozhi, the latter flung herself at her, sobbing. “I don’t want to be an anomaly anymore! Just send me to the Reeducation Hall!”

An Yixiao: ?

She glanced at Zhou Li in confusion.

Did the boss torture her or something?

Zhou Li looked at the ceiling, the floor, her phone—anything except them.

“What happened?” An Yixiao asked Zhang Xiaozhi.

Zhang Xiaozhi wailed, “She made me watch Study and Strengthen the Nation! And for every video, she made me write at least 150 words of reflection! She’s inhuman!”

An Yixiao: ???

Zhou Li protested, “I am human—and humane! I only made you write 150 words! I have to write at least 300 myself!”

“But I’m an anomaly!” Zhang Xiaozhi cried.

“So what? Anomalies don’t need education? You’d be studying anyway when you go back to school! Besides, after watching those videos, did the principal come to find you again? No, right? You’re still alive, aren’t you?”

Zhang Xiaozhi: …

At that point, she couldn’t decide who was scarier—the principal or the boss.

An Yixiao, having pieced it together, nearly burst out laughing but held it in for fear of offending Zhang Xiaozhi.

“I do actually need to take you to the Reeducation Hall,” she said.

Zhang Xiaozhi hesitated. “On second thought… the Study and Strengthen the Nation app isn’t that bad.”

An Yixiao continued, “Everything’s ready. The Reeducation Hall is the only place that can avoid school surveillance and still contact the outside world.”

Why not use the supermarket?

Because the supermarket existed in a separate space—completely sealed off from external connections.

“The director isn’t here today,” she added. “It has to be today. Once we’re done, you can return to the supermarket. After that, whether you study or not is up to you.”

Zhang Xiaozhi wavered.

Part of her—the anomaly—wanted to resist, to betray them.

But another part remembered the torment Mingde Academy had brought her. She desperately wanted out. This might be her only chance to escape with outside help.

Finally, she nodded.

Zhou Li said cheerfully, “I’ll keep your study videos ready. Come back anytime for more learning.”

Zhang Xiaozhi: …

*

The ordinary students of Mingde Academy had no idea about the players’ plans.

All they knew was that the small supermarket had somehow appeared inside the school.

Between classes, they would find every excuse to sneak over and buy things.

At first, they were too afraid to buy snacks—after all, phrases like “Eating junk food makes a girl immoral” had long been drilled into them.

But once they caught the scent of warm, delicious food and saw the brightly colored packaging, old memories of sneaking snacks resurfaced one by one.

In the end, the craving for snacks won out over the brainwashing of so-called “female virtue” education.

When teachers forbade them from eating snacks, the girls simply ate them inside the small supermarket before returning to class.

If classmates tried to report them, they denied everything—and soon ganged up to drag that tattletale along to the supermarket too.

Once students realized snitches got ostracized, the urge to inform vanished completely.

Those suffocating doctrines of “virtue” that had bound them for so long began to loosen, one trip to the supermarket at a time.

“I ate the snacks in the supermarket, not in the school. That doesn’t count as breaking the rules.”

“You can’t know how harmful snacks are until you eat them. I’m sacrificing myself for the greater good!”

“Yeah right, you just want chips.”

“Hey, why hasn’t the instructor come to catch us yet?”

“You didn’t hear? He bought a bunch of alcohol while the director’s away—probably hiding somewhere getting drunk.”

“If even the instructors are drinking, why can’t we eat snacks? Come on, everyone, eat!”

“……”

The once lifeless school suddenly became animated every recess.

Ironically, the snacks that sold the least in other worlds became bestsellers here.

Listening to the anomaly students complain about the cafeteria, Zhou Li thought, If I remember right, Duan Jing said the cafeteria food increases pollution. So if they fill up on snacks instead, maybe that’s why they’re less affected?

If Zhou Li could guess that, the teachers of Mingde Academy certainly could too.

They soon noticed many students weren’t finishing their cafeteria meals, causing large amounts of waste.

Lately, the staff and instructors had been too busy dealing with the troublesome players to care about such details. The anomaly students—long since docile from pollution—hadn’t needed close supervision.

But when they saw groups of students flocking to the supermarket at lunch and dinner, suspicion finally arose.

That discovery enraged them.

Several students caught dumping cafeteria food were immediately detained.

What awaited them was punishment so terrifying even the anomaly trembled at the thought.

Just then, darkness fell across the campus—a shadow blanketing everything.

Beyond the cafeteria, the world went silent.

Even inside, every teacher and student froze mid-motion, as if someone had pressed “pause.”

The vision of every anomaly and player began to twist. A soft, crawling whisper filled their ears, raising goosebumps all over.

Invisible pressure and distorted pollution flooded the space. Anomaly teachers and students could no longer hold human form and reverted to their grotesque originals.

Players who had been too corrupted began to change as well.

Their eyeballs bulged. Their lips thickened. Their teeth became jagged like saws.

Their facial features slid out of place, their skulls warped grotesquely, and when they opened their mouths, the corners stretched almost to the back of their heads.

They screamed—high, piercing shrieks that shattered the stillness.

Meanwhile—

Zhang Xiaozhi came tumbling back into the supermarket, thrown in by An Yixiao.

Zhou Li had already sensed something wrong with the school; even she felt a deep unease now.

“Did your plan work?” she asked.

An Yixiao said, “It worked.”

One of the players who’d come with her to rescue Duan Jing snapped angrily, “You mean it worked to piss off the principal! The principal’s coming back—we’re all going to die!”

An Yixiao shot her a frigid glare.

Duan Jing barked, “Shut up! If you’re that scared of dying, I’ll kill you first.”

The player fell silent, though resentment still burned in her face.

Zhou Li, perfectly composed, said, “You talk like not having the principal return would’ve guaranteed your survival. Once you chose to enter, you should’ve accepted death as a possibility. What, did you think this dungeon was just for farming achievements?”

The player’s face flushed red—because Zhou Li had hit the mark exactly.

“Enough,” said Song Ganlan, who had been terrified before but now stood firm. “If you’re scared, stay here. Don’t drag us down.”

When Zhou Li asked her why, Song Ganlan explained that she’d regained full clarity—so she knew what needed to be done to have any chance of clearing the dungeon.

“Boss,” An Yixiao called.

“What, leaving your last words already?” Zhou Li asked.

An Yixiao paused, then shook her head. “No, just wanted to confirm—if I die, my debts are canceled, right?”

“That depends,” Zhou Li said calmly. “If your sister inherits your estate, the debt goes to her too.”

The players: …

Boss, you’re so practical.

An Yixiao smiled faintly. “Good. Then I’m relieved.”

The players: ? Relieved about what exactly?

Duan Jing exposed her immediately. “Don’t tell me you’re thinking—if you die, An Fengxuan can’t repay the debt and will have to work it off here instead?”

Working for the supermarket was basically a get-out-of-death-free card.

If not for the goal of clearing the dungeon, An Yixiao wouldn’t have risked her life at all.

Zhou Li: …

Tsk. Outsmarted again.

[Author’s Note]

Next chapter—the dungeon will probably wrap up.

☢️☢️☢️

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