Ch 99: My Multiverse Supermarket

“There’s a restroom inside,” Zhou Li said. “You can go wash up first. After you’re clean, I can give you all a quick checkup.”

The mention of a shower immediately lifted their spirits—but when she said “checkup,” the three women froze.

A checkup?

After five years in the apocalypse, they’d seen plenty of so-called “body checks” that were really just excuses to recruit test subjects for human experimentation.

If Zhou Li hadn’t spent the day showing no signs of malice, they’d have run the moment she suggested it.

Qi Jiayu turned to An Fengxuan. “She’s getting checked too?”

After all, they had just fought side by side. Qi Jiayu trusted An Fengxuan more than she trusted the supermarket owner.

Zhou Li nodded.

An Fengxuan, knowing Zhou Li wouldn’t harm her, volunteered. “I’ll go first—take a shower and do the checkup after.”

With her taking the lead, Qi Jiayu didn’t object further.

Zhou Li understood their caution. If she’d lived five years in an apocalyptic world, she’d be just as wary.

“This is a legitimate, law-abiding supermarket,” she said. “We don’t do anything illegal here.”

Lin Xiaole blurted, “Does your supermarket also offer medical checkups as a business service?”

Zhou Li laughed. “Not officially. That’s why it’s free. Just a complimentary experience for you all—no pressure, of course.”

The women exchanged glances. It was obvious the boss would benefit somehow from it, but it didn’t seem particularly dangerous to them.

Once An Fengxuan finished showering, she was the first to head upstairs.

Fang Qin and Lin Xiaole, curious about the rest of the building, followed her under the pretense of keeping watch.

“You should shower first,” Zhou Li said to Qi Jiayu. “Come up after you’re done.”

Qi Jiayu raised a brow. “Aren’t you worried I’ll loot your supermarket and run off?”

Zhou Li smiled. “You can try.”

Qi Jiayu: …

That confidence told her all she needed to know—the woman clearly had some kind of backup plan.

She wasn’t foolish enough to cause trouble on someone else’s turf anyway. And truthfully, the idea of a real shower after weeks at sea made her eager to go.

Fresh water had been scarce for so long—she could hardly remember the last time she’d bathed properly.

…

When Fang Qin and Lin Xiaole went upstairs, they were surprised to find that the upper floors looked like an ordinary apartment.

Reaching the third floor, they both stopped.

It wasn’t danger that froze them—it was how spotless everything was. Original translation at HololoNovels dot com. The bright white tiles gleamed, and they hesitated to even step forward, afraid to dirty the floor with their muddy shoes.

Five years into the apocalypse, and there was still a place this clean and airy?

The wide balcony wasn’t even sealed off.

“That’s dangerous,” Lin Xiaole said. “Zombies could just climb up from there!”

Some zombies had evolved to jump or climb; they could easily vault two-meter walls, or scale buildings if they found footholds.

Most post-apocalyptic homes had no balconies at all—or if they did, they were reinforced with iron cages so survivors could shoot through the bars at climbing zombies.

Zhou Li glanced at her own open balcony. “Don’t worry. My home has special protection. No zombie can enter.”

The women couldn’t imagine what kind of “protection” that meant, but with no monsters nearby, they decided not to question it.

When An Fengxuan stepped into one of the rooms, they followed—and froze again.

Inside stood a medical pod like something straight out of a sci-fi movie.

An Fengxuan had already climbed in.

Zhou Li began operating the console, and soon a transparent dome sealed over the pod.

A purple-blue glow shimmered, and streams of biometric data appeared on the screen.

Lin Xiaole and Fang Qin instinctively leaned closer, eyes full of curiosity.

[Extracting blood sample: 0.5 ml.]
[Analyzing… testing in progress.]

A progress bar appeared beneath the data feed.

Ten minutes later, the test finished and the dome lifted with a soft hiss.

An Fengxuan stepped out. “So?”

The pod dispensed a printed report.

“Completely healthy,” Zhou Li said.

Then she asked, “How long does it usually take for a zombie infection to show symptoms?”

“Published data says the fastest onset is two hours, the slowest around four,” Fang Qin answered.

“So short,” Zhou Li mused. “That means the virus replicates fast and spreads quickly. Even if the pod had never analyzed this specific virus before, it would still detect abnormalities.”

An Fengxuan nodded. “If the report says I’m healthy, it means there’s no foreign or mutated virus in my system.”

At that moment, Qi Jiayu—freshly washed and silently observing from the doorway—stepped in.

“My turn.”

The pod had just finished disinfecting.

Qi Jiayu lay down, and as the dome closed, she tensed up slightly.

Whatever the machine released calmed her nerves almost instantly.

Outside, Zhou Li explained, “Her body’s too tense. The pod uses auxiliary measures to help the muscles relax.”

Fang Qin and Lin Xiaole watched in silence.

Before long, her results were ready.

Years of living under stress and scarcity had taken a toll—even for someone with a military background, her body showed signs of malnutrition and several old injuries.

The pod had even identified hidden internal damage—residual trauma from past wounds.

By now, Lin Xiaole’s suspicion had completely melted away. She looked at Zhou Li with open admiration. “Boss, can this machine heal her too?”

Zhou Li thought, Of course it can—but it needs medication.

With the interstellar realm still in turmoil, she had limited resources to spare.

Qi Jiayu’s conditions weren’t life-threatening, so she could wait.

Qi Jiayu got off the pod just in time to hear Lin Xiaole’s question. “We agreed to a checkup, not free treatment,” she said flatly.

There was no such thing as a free lunch.

Someone with tech like this could undoubtedly heal her—but the price would be steep, and she wasn’t about to guilt the supermarket owner into it.

However, Qi Jiayu cautiously asked, “Would this machine… be able to develop a vaccine for the zombie virus?”

Zhou Li shook her head.

The three women looked disappointed, though they quickly realized how unrealistic their hope had been.

Qi Jiayu said, “Either way, thank you. You can deduct the checkup cost from my membership points.”

Zhou Li powered down the medical pod. “Membership points can only be used for supermarket purchases. Since the supermarket doesn’t offer medical services, no deduction can be made.”

Lin Xiaole took out a few pearls and handed them over. “Then maybe you can accept these?”

Because artificial pearls were so common in her home world, Zhou Li didn’t consider them valuable. And besides, she had no fondness for pearls.

“No need,” she said. “If you really want to thank me, buy more things from the supermarket.”

The three women: …

So the little boss really only cared about her store’s business!

*

With their bodies confirmed free of infection, everyone could finally sit down and talk properly.

An Fengxuan and Qi Jiayu began sharing what they’d discovered on their expedition.

Previously, when Qi Jiayu and Fang Qin had entered the control center, they hadn’t gone very deep.

This time, An Fengxuan and Qi Jiayu explored the interior more thoroughly.

The good news was that most of the island’s systems were still intact.

When the scientists evacuated, they hadn’t destroyed the equipment.

That meant the artificial island could, in theory, be restarted.

The bad news, however, was that the systems were interconnected.

Once activated, the shelter’s passageways would open—and the zombies inside would come pouring out.

“Are you certain there are zombies down there?” Lin Xiaole asked.

“The control center still had independent surveillance,” Qi Jiayu replied. “We checked the footage—there’s definitely movement in the shelter.”

An Fengxuan nodded. “There was also an archive room. Some documents hadn’t been destroyed. That’s where we ran into the zombies.”

From those records, they learned that this artificial island had been built by a wealthy magnate named Higin Hirthus for his family.

Higin was also the CEO of a biotech company and had established a research institute beneath the island’s shelter, hoping to develop a vaccine.

After the island was completed, he brought part of his family to live there.

At first, life on the island was comfortable and idyllic.

But as more relatives arrived, resources grew scarce.

Higin had no choice but to import supplies from outside—breaking the island’s isolation and allowing the zombie virus to infiltrate.

The situation quickly spiraled into chaos.

After Higin himself turned into a zombie, the remaining Hirthus family members and the scientists still on the island made a swift decision: abandon the island, seal the shelter, and escape with the research data.

Before leaving, they locked the infected in the underground facility. Those already carrying the virus stayed behind to cover the retreat while the others fled by boat.

They had intended to destroy all information about the island, but underestimated the virus’s incubation period.

Before they could finish, they too transformed into zombies—leaving the records intact.

When the story ended, the room fell silent.

Zhou Li waited for a while, but no one spoke. She finally looked up—and realized all three women were staring at her.

Zhou Li: ?

Then Fang Qin said, “Since the owner of this island, Higin Hirthus, is dead, that makes this an unclaimed island. By current custom, whoever discovers it first owns it.”

They had arrived later, which meant Zhou Li had every right to claim the island as hers.

☢️☢️☢️