Ch 97: My Multiverse Supermarket

Fang Qin believed that anyone capable of running a supermarket on a place like this artificial island had to have powerful backing behind them. Going head-to-head with such a person would be unwise.

If the other party wanted to play shopkeeper in some kind of real-life management game, then they would play along as customers—earn the boss’s favor first, and act when the time was right.

Of course, just buying things wasn’t enough to pull off that act convincingly.

Fang Qin picked up a product and frowned. “Never heard of this brand. And look at this address…”

Zhou Li wasn’t surprised by the question.

People had raised the same issue back in the interstellar world, but she’d brushed it off using “Blue Star” as an excuse.
Later, in the Infinite Plane—where time and space were chaotic and fused with The Game’s world view—no one cared about things like brands, trademarks, or manufacturing details.

But this world was different: it was modern, familiar, and its geography was unique. Of course someone would notice if the brands and origins didn’t make sense.

Still, Zhou Li wasn’t worried.

This was practically a lawless world now. Even if she openly said that all these products had fake labels and fake manufacturers, no one was going to arrest her.

She smiled faintly. “That’s because they’re all unregistered products—no brand, no barcode, no license.”

Fang Qin choked on her words.

Zhou Li’s blunt honesty left her completely stunned.

After a long pause, Fang Qin muttered, “How can you just say that…”

For the sake of business, Zhou Li decided to patch things up. “Even if they’re unregistered, I guarantee there’s nothing wrong with the quality. If you don’t believe me, buy one and see for yourself.”

Fang Qin borrowed Lin Xiaole’s membership card to pay, only to be told she couldn’t use it.

“We’re together,” she said, exasperated. “I just borrowed her card—you saw it yourself, Boss.”

Zhou Li shook her head. “Rules are rules. Membership cards can only be used by their owner.”

Her rigidness was annoying—but it also made them feel oddly safe.

Someone that strict wouldn’t change the rules on a whim.
Which meant, as long as they stayed within the boundaries, she wouldn’t harm them.

While letting Lin Xiaole pay, Fang Qin muttered, “You’re so strict about rules—then why sell unregistered products at all?”

Zhou Li replied calmly, “Because ‘unregistered’ is only defined under a normal, regulated society. You have official quality control and inspection agencies here?”

Fang Qin had no answer to that.

Lin Xiaole successfully checked out, and the pack of sausages Fang Qin had bought arrived in their hands.

The three women looked at each other until Qi Jiayu decided to play the brave one.

She tore open the package, took a deep sniff, and—under her companions’ watchful eyes—bit into the sausage with tragic determination.

Zhou Li: …
So dramatic.

“How is it?” Fang Qin asked, gripping Qi Jiayu’s shoulder.

Qi Jiayu closed her eyes—and a tear still slipped free.

“It’s just… normal sausage,” she said.

Fang Qin was just about to relax and try one herself when a head suddenly darted in—Lin Le snatched the sausage from Qi Jiayu’s hand and swallowed it in one bite.

“Lin—Le!” Fang Qin barked.

Cheeks puffed full, Lin Le chewed happily and handed her card over. “Here, Sister Qin, you can go buy lots and lots more sausages.”

Fang Qin rolled her eyes. “Keep your card.”

Lin Le opened her pack and offered a blue coral. “Then Sister Qin, why don’t you just get your own membership card?”

Everything in that pack belonged to all three of them. She hadn’t known the cards were non-transferable; otherwise she’d have discussed it first before trading the coral.

Luckily, Qi Jiayu and Fang Qin weren’t petty about it.

Each took a coral—one blue, one black—and went to exchange them for points.

Zhou Li: …
If not for the auction house acting as a buffer, she’d be worried about the authorities busting down her door.

Red and blue corals were already rare enough, but black coral was practically extinct.

Because of that, the auction house heavily devalued them.

Since their pieces were smaller than Lin Xiaole’s red coral, the two women ended up with only a few thousand points more than she had earned.

But with the economy in ruins, none of them realized how huge that difference actually was.

Still, they had survived together for years. To prevent future fights over unequal shares, they agreed to split everything evenly.

Since points couldn’t be transferred, they decided to balance things out using supplies instead.

After doing the math, they agreed Qi Jiayu and Fang Qin would spend more when shopping later.

Zhou Li yawned, clearly bored.

An Fengxuan asked, “Boss, what are they doing?”

“Settling accounts,” Zhou Li replied, then paused as a thought struck her. “Wait—you can understand what they’re saying?”

An Fengxuan looked surprised. “I can.”

Zhou Li asked the system, “Is Chinese one of this world’s main languages too?”

The system replied, “No. This is a small bonus that comes with the sales-champion reward—it lets official employees use automatic translation to communicate in the common local language, as long as they’re inside the system’s controlled area.”

“Controlled area?” Zhou Li asked.

“The same as the supermarket’s protection zone.”

Zhou Li said nothing further.

That feature usually cost energy to unlock, so getting it for free was already a good deal.

And since she never planned to bring An Fengxuan back to her home world, there was no risk of exposing her secrets anyway.

An Fengxuan looked at Zhou Li, as if hoping for an explanation.

Zhou Li simply said, “That’s great—it’ll make it easier for you to talk with customers from now on.”

An Fengxuan didn’t quite understand, but she let it go.

Qi Jiayu, Fang Qin, and Lin Xiaole finished balancing their accounts and were slowly coming down from their excitement.

As long as the supplies here were real and usable, who cared if they lacked proper labels?

They had found a new path to survival.

Seeing their flushed, hopeful faces, An Fengxuan glanced at Zhou Li and decided to take the initiative. “You said you’re from Ansu Island—why did you leave, and what brought you here?”

Zhou Li thought, Good question.

She had deliberately avoided talking about the supermarket’s origins, presenting herself as someone indifferent to anything beyond store affairs. Original translation at HololoNovels dot com. So even though she was dying to know more, she couldn’t very well be the one to ask.

Qi Jiayu and Fang Qin exchanged glances and chose to share part of the truth.

*

Though this world was now nothing but scattered islands, eons ago it had been a single, continuous continent.

After countless geological shifts, the land fractured into islands of every size.

Humanity spread and thrived across them, growing in number and power until the archipelagos evolved into hundreds of independent island nations.

Among them, the largest in the western hemisphere was the nation of Ansu—
a federation built around Ansu Island and its surrounding hundreds of thousands of islets.

Ansu Island itself was the world’s fourth-largest island, spanning 730,000 square kilometers with a population of over seventy-two million.

Its dense population turned it into a nightmare once the zombie virus broke out. It became the “zombie paradise” of the world.

People fled Ansu Island in panic, thinking other islands would be safe—only to discover that zombies could cross the sea.

The virus swept the globe. Apart from a few uninhabited islands, nowhere was spared.

As Ansu was a federal nation of islands, once the outbreak hit, each archipelago tried to declare independence.

With the central power gone, local armed forces seized the chance to claim territory and rule by force.

Islands fought over resources, alliances crumbled, and the entire order collapsed.

It was in this chaos that Qi Jiayu, Fang Qin, and Lin Xiaole met.

They decided to form a team and survive together in the ruins of civilization.

Their arrival here had been pure accident.

They had set out for Gufeng Island—a large island of over 30,000 square kilometers.

For years, it had been wracked by constant warfare between rival factions.

But a year ago, a new island lord rose to power, purging corruption and enforcing order so the people could live in peace.

After a year of reform, Gufeng Island’s reputation soared, drawing waves of immigrants seeking stability.

The three women had planned to be among them.

But when they tried to leave their previous island, they were obstructed and targeted by unsavory people, unable to buy tickets through legal means.

Their only choice was to purchase a small raft in secret and escape quietly.

With crude equipment and a long journey ahead, they soon lost their bearings at sea.

After drifting for days with dwindling food, water, and fuel, they followed a flock of seagulls—and found this island.

*

When they finished, An Fengxuan said with certainty, “This isn’t Gufeng Island.”

Qi Jiayu nodded. “We know.”

It was an artificial island—an unnamed, unfinished one.

Normally, scientists named their projects before construction began, and those names became the islands’ titles.

But the control center here had no such records. The documents were likely taken or destroyed during the evacuation, leaving this as a nameless island.

Fang Qin asked, “You mean you don’t know its name either? Are you outsiders too?”

An Fengxuan glanced at Zhou Li. The latter smiled and admitted, “That’s right.”

“Then where did you come from?” Lin Xiaole asked.

They had asked before, but Zhou Li hadn’t answered. And An Fengxuan wasn’t foolish enough to reveal anything now.

She said, “That’s confidential.”

Then, seizing the chance to steer the conversation, she asked, “What did you find on the island earlier?”

Qi Jiayu and Fang Qin both fell silent.

☢️☢️☢️