Ch 104: My Multiverse Supermarket

Dusa Archipelago, Vila Island.

When word came that three escort ships had been sunk, Li Zairen’s vision went dark—then he collapsed flat onto the floor.

His subordinates panicked, shouting for a doctor while slapping and pinching him in desperation.

A few moments later, Li Zairen came to.

“My escort ships…” he croaked, eyes wide and hopeful—perhaps this was all just a bad dream.

Yes, it had to be a dream. Just earlier, he’d gone to bed in high spirits after hearing about Xu Jiayi’s recent setback. From that moment onward, everything—being shaken awake in the middle of the night, hearing about his ships being destroyed by a defenseless artificial island—all of it had to be part of that same dream!

His men dared not answer, terrified of setting him off again.

But one look at their faces told him the truth.

Fury surged through him as he reached for the phone on his desk—the one directly connected to the Dusa Archipelago’s Defense Department. One call would mean an all-out war.

“Major General,” one aide warned quickly, “if you report this, the General will find out.”

Li Zairen froze. Then he withdrew his hand.

Of course—the old man would hear of this soon enough, but not yet. Not until he had things under control.

He knew well that his uncles and brothers were circling like sharks, waiting for a misstep. If word reached the patriarch and he couldn’t give a proper explanation, the old man would strip him of his command immediately.

“What we need to do now,” his aide suggested, “is find out exactly what happened—then shift the blame onto Lonewind Island. Or, better yet, drag the others into it too.”

Li Zairen’s eyes brightened. “Yes. If they’re all implicated, Father won’t single me out.”

As for whether that might weaken the Dusa Archipelago’s overall power? He couldn’t care less—what good was strength if he lost his authority anyway?

Still, the thought of those three sunken escort ships made his heart ache.

Since the apocalypse, the Li family hadn’t been able to build a single new vessel.

Two years ago, after an internal feud, Li Zairen had claimed one destroyer and five escort ships as his share.

Among the three that were now gone, one was a stealth missile frigate—his pride and joy.

He never imagined it would end up on the ocean floor because of this foolish operation.

If he had known, he would have sent a few patrol boats to scout instead of risking his fleet.

*

Xu Jiayi, meanwhile, had no idea Li Zairen had fainted—but she could easily picture him fuming and sleepless, pacing in rage.

The thought alone made her laugh out loud.

After all, he’d sent those ships just to strut and intimidate Lonewind Island, only to end up humiliated and stripped bare.

The officers gathered in her office were in good spirits too.

The gloom brought on by the Sulawesi cargo seizure and the North Street riot finally began to lift.

Still, one cautious officer voiced concern. “Won’t the Li family send reinforcements? They’ve dominated the Dusa Archipelago for years—they won’t just take this loss quietly.”

They remembered too well how, after Xu Jiayi had killed General De’an’s youngest son in self-defense, the Li family had retaliated with three medium warships and seven escort vessels.

Thankfully, Lonewind Island’s anti-air defenses had intercepted most of the missiles.

Xu Jiayi’s counterattack had sunk an escort ship and several speedboats.

Then, as luck—or fate—would have it, an outbreak of the zombie virus had spread aboard the Li fleet, forcing them to retreat before Xu Jiayi could capture their ships.

When brute force failed, the Li family resorted to blockades, hoping to choke the island from within.

Now that Newborn Island had sunk Li Zairen’s three escort ships, it was as though someone had slapped General De’an across the face. There was no way the Li family would let that stand.

Everyone on Lonewind Island knew what kind of people the Lis were.

They couldn’t touch the mysterious, dangerous Newborn Island—so they’d surely turn their wrath toward Lonewind instead.

Xu Jiayi snorted. “So what? Barefoot people aren’t afraid of those wearing shoes.”

She turned to her secretary. “Are the personnel for tomorrow’s landing ready?”

Ever since seeing Newborn Island’s offer of trade, she had decided to send a small team to investigate.

If they could buy supplies, all the better. If not, it was still a legitimate reason to observe the island up close.

The secretary nodded. “Eight have been selected. Here are their files.”

They were all elite soldiers with excellent physical conditioning.

Since firearms were prohibited on Newborn Island, they prioritized those capable of defending themselves barehanded if necessary.

After reviewing the files, Xu Jiayi nodded. “I’ll go too.”

The room erupted in protest.

She was the heart of Lonewind Island—if something happened to her, what would they do?

Xu Jiayi said calmly, “The Li family won’t move again right away after such a loss. You’re enough to keep order here. As for North Street, the riot may be suppressed, but mishandling it will only plant future trouble. I’ll go to Newborn Island myself—give our people something to believe in.”

Xu Jiayi’s word was law. Once she decided, no one could dissuade her.

By dawn, she was already on a boat, leading eight soldiers toward Newborn Island.

*

7:00 a.m.

Zhou Li yawned as she pushed open the supermarket doors.

Gazing at the sunrise, Zhou Li said to the system, “Good thing we didn’t move locations—otherwise we wouldn’t have such a beautiful view.”

Ever since the system had taken over management of the artificial island, Zhou Li had unlocked the entire island map.

The system had suggested, “You could move the supermarket to the B1 floor of the shelter. That way, when you leave, you can simply lock the shop doors, and no one will know where you went. It’ll make others less likely to target Newborn Island.”

Zhou Li had countered, “That makes sense, but putting the shop inside the shelter means anyone wanting to buy something would have to enter it. Wouldn’t that expose the shelter’s internal layout? Even if I close the shop afterward, won’t they still suspect the supermarket and the island’s defense system are connected?”

Smart people, she thought, would guess it anyway—even if she moved the shop all the way down into the engine room.

So she decided it was better to keep the supermarket on the surface and create a sort of “illusion array” inside the shelter to mislead people.

The plan was simple: make everyone believe the little supermarket was just a regular store that restocked from within the shelter, and that the real bulk of the supplies was stored in the shelter’s warehouse.

Zhou Li explained all this to Qi Jiayu and her companions.

She trusted that, now that they had found peace and stability, they wouldn’t betray her or abandon the island.

Maybe once they’d dreamed of living on Lonewind Island—but after witnessing Newborn Island sink three escort ships without breaking a sweat, they knew exactly where the safest place in the world was.

And even if they did betray her, Zhou Li wouldn’t lose much—Newborn Island had been a free bonus.

If this island ever became inhospitable for her supermarket, she could just move elsewhere. Somewhere out there, another island would surely welcome her with open arms.

Then Zhou Li said to the trio, “Starting today, Qi Jiayu will serve as acting island master. Fang Qin and Lin Le will be deputy island masters.”

Qi Jiayu: …

No wonder the little boss had introduced herself to Xu Jiayi yesterday as the owner of a supermarket, not the island master. So this was what she had in mind.

An Fengxuan explained, “The little boss leaves the island for a few days at a time, so it’s necessary to have an acting island master. There’s no one better suited than you three.”

The women accepted the responsibility with enthusiasm.

They also took on the task of drafting basic governance rules for the island. An Fengxuan, drawing from her corporate experience, occasionally offered suggestions based on her company’s management structure.

But before that, they had to deal with the aftermath of the fifty “uninvited guests.”

After the defense system upgrade, its enforcement methods had evolved too.

Before, it simply created a vacuum zone to suffocate intruders briefly before expelling them.

Now, it used their own earpieces to unleash sonic attacks.

This new measure was far from merciful—fainting was the mildest consequence. Most victims would suffer permanent deafness, brain injury, or partial paralysis.

Qi Jiayu and the others had tied the men up overnight.

At first, they’d worried about them escaping—but by morning, though the men were awake, they sat motionless, eyes dull and vacant like broken puppets.

Startled, Lin Xiaole had run to Zhou Li first thing to report the “abnormality.”

Zhou Li hadn’t witnessed the punishment herself, but the system had told her what happened.

She said, “That’s normal. Sonic attacks do cause neurological abnormalities.”

She knew that in this world, sonic weapons existed only as theory—but even theoretical ones could kill.

The defense system wouldn’t go that far—it avoided fatalities—but disabilities were another matter.

“Sonic attacks?!” Qi Jiayu was dumbfounded.

The little boss actually had that kind of advanced weapon?

Here, sonic weapons were still a speculative concept, not an existing reality.

Zhou Li didn’t want to linger on weapons talk. “Anyway, what are you all doing here so early?”

Qi Jiayu remembered the real reason. “Uh—just received a wireless transmission. Lonewind Island is requesting permission to land.”

Zhou Li sighed. “Next time, just use the radio to contact me. No need to run all the way here in person.”

Doing so only made it obvious that she was the one in charge of Newborn Island.

Qi Jiayu explained, “We were worried the lines might be tapped.”

They hadn’t worried about such things before, but after last night’s events, their sense of caution was sharper than ever.

Zhou Li thought for a moment and asked the system, “Can the defense system prevent eavesdropping?”

The small supermarket used to block all external signals—so if that protection now covered the entire island, maybe it could block interception too.

The system replied, “All island communications are now encrypted.”

Relieved, Zhou Li told Qi Jiayu, “It’s fine. Everything on the island is fully encrypted.”

Finally, she instructed Qi Jiayu and An Fengxuan to handle the reception of Lonewind’s delegation.

*

Newborn Island had a modest dock, just large enough for a 20-meter yacht.

Xu Jiayi, having come in peace, arrived through the “front door.”

Once the yacht was secured, she disembarked first.

At the far end of the dock stood two figures—one relaxed, the other carrying the unmistakable air of a soldier.

Xu Jiayi approached and greeted the woman in front. “Hello, I’m Xu Jiayi.”

Qi Jiayu hadn’t expected the famous island leader to come in person.

Seeing her idol up close, she couldn’t help but grin.

“Hello! Welcome to Newborn Island.”

After a pause, she remembered to introduce herself. “I’m Qi Jiayu, in charge of coordinating trade between the island and the outside.”

Xu Jiayi: …

Since the apocalypse began, she’d never met anyone so eager to sell supplies.

Her gaze shifted to the other woman. “And you are?”

“My name’s Fengxuan. I’m a security guard,” An Fengxuan said.

Xu Jiayi: ?

A security guard? Sure, that was a common enough job—but somehow, it felt completely out of place on this island.

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