Ch 105: My Multiverse Supermarket

Qi Jiayu knew Xu Jiayi’s true purpose was to gauge Newborn Island’s strength—but time was short. The little boss would be leaving in just a few days, and Qi Jiayu had to help boost sales while she still could.

So she didn’t waste time. She led Xu Jiayi and her group straight to the small supermarket by the beach.

Xu Jiayi assumed the choice of location was deliberate caution—that they didn’t want outsiders near the main complex in the island’s center, and so had brought them to this small lookout building instead.

But when she saw the sign above the door, she froze. “Good Life Supermarket?”

Qi Jiayu said, “That’s right. You can browse for whatever supplies you want here. If you’re ordering in bulk, you can place your order first—our little boss will handle the restocking.”

Xu Jiayi swallowed her many questions about the island and decided to focus on the supply situation instead.

“How much can you provide at most?”

“As much as you can pay for,” Zhou Li answered with a smile as she stepped out of the shop.

Originally, she wouldn’t have had that kind of confidence—but ever since the auction house began accepting trade-in goods, her supply channels had widened considerably.

The voice sounded familiar to Xu Jiayi. Then it clicked. “You’re the little boss of Newborn Island?”

Zhou Li nodded. “That’s me.”

Xu Jiayi wondered—why “little boss”? Did that mean someone else, a parent or superior, was the real decision-maker behind the island?

“Are you authorized to make trade deals yourself?” she asked carefully.

“I am.”

Xu Jiayi thought about it. The island had the power to instantly sink three escort ships. Whoever truly controlled it was clearly someone powerful operating behind the scenes. The so-called “little boss” and Qi Jiayu were probably just the emissaries handling day-to-day dealings for the real master.

Since the true authority didn’t want to show themselves, pressing further would only risk offense.

Instead, she pulled out a list of urgently needed supplies and handed it over. “I need these.”

Zhou Li glanced through it. There were over a hundred items—mostly food, water, and everyday goods, but also a section of seeds.

Apparently, since Zhou Li had said no weapons were for sale, several weapon types had been crossed out.

“You’re buying seeds?” Zhou Li asked. “That means you have a cultivation area. If that’s the case, you must’ve already stocked up on seeds. Why buy more?”

Xu Jiayi explained, “The cultivation zone was planned a year ago, but since then Lonewind Island has been under constant pressure. We’ve gone through our reserves and need to replenish. If your island doesn’t have any, then—”

“Who said we don’t?” Zhou Li interrupted, seeing through Xu Jiayi’s tactic but not minding it.

Even the clearly nonessential items on the list didn’t bother her. She knew what Xu Jiayi was doing—padding the list to test the other party’s inventory and pricing power.

If the supermarket couldn’t produce everything, they’d look weaker in negotiations. And if Zhou Li was the type to be easily flustered, Xu Jiayi could then bargain her way into getting more for less.

“These items are all available,” Zhou Li said, “but I’m not sure you can afford them.”

“How much?” Xu Jiayi asked.

Zhou Li asked the system to calculate.

A moment later, the result came back: “Rounding down the small change, it totals 7.837 billion membership points.”

Xu Jiayi didn’t know what prices were like on Newborn Island, but in the inflation-ridden apocalypse, 7.8 billion units for a year’s worth of supplies for over 8,000 people was an incredible bargain.

Still… “Membership points?”

Qi Jiayu had prepared for this. She took out a membership card and explained that standard currency wasn’t accepted—only valuable goods could be exchanged for points.

Xu Jiayi found it reasonable.

After the archipelagos split apart, each island had formed its own economy, and the old monetary system had collapsed.

Many islands had invented their own currencies. Lonewind Island hadn’t, but it used the common metal coins circulated throughout the Anhai Archipelago—gold, silver, and copper.

The Anhai seas were rich in natural resources—gold, silver, copper, iron, oil, and gas.

The Dusa Archipelago, ruled by the Li family, held most of the gold and silver mines.

The Su family’s Anxi Archipelago had oil, natural gas, nickel, and asphalt deposits.

A third major archipelago mined copper and iron.

Even before the apocalypse, barter with gold and silver had been common.

After the fall, General De’an’s Li family monopolized the precious metal mines and began minting coins—gold, silver, and copper—and the other islands followed suit.

Fortunately for Lonewind, De’an’s youngest son had built a treasury there, hoarding coins, gemstones, and antiques.

Xu Jiayi produced one gold, one silver, and one copper coin. “How many points for each of these?”

Zhou Li couldn’t be bothered checking purity by hand—she just tossed them into the auction system.

The readout: gold coin 78% purity, silver coin higher, copper coin mixed with aluminum and low-grade metals.

At the current rate, 24k gold was worth 771 yuan per gram, 18k about 578 yuan. The 78% pure coin was priced at 75% of 24k gold’s value. Silver was 9 yuan per gram; copper barely worth mentioning.

“This gold coin weighs 3.11 grams—worth 1,797.58 points.”

After a quick calculation, Xu Jiayi realized that silver and copper coins weren’t worth trading—they’d barely fetch anything.

But Lonewind’s treasury didn’t have many gold coins left, maybe a hundred thousand. Even if she exchanged them all, it wouldn’t reach 7.8 billion points.

Her thumb and forefinger rubbed together unconsciously—a telltale habit.

Her subordinates knew that gesture well. Their commander was thinking about raiding the Lis again.

Li De’an’s son had hoarded massive wealth, but Xu Jiayi couldn’t rely solely on plundered reserves forever.

Whenever she found the chance, she sent teams to intercept the Li family’s treasure ships carrying mined gold.

“You like blockading Lonewind?” she’d once said. “Then don’t blame us for robbing your gold shipments.”

To maintain control and prevent others from rebelling like Xu Jiayi had, the Li family kept a tight grip on every mining island.

Gold and silver were shipped back to the main island immediately after extraction.

One of the gold-producing islands had a transport route passing within fifty nautical miles of Lonewind.

That was where Xu Jiayi struck, three successful raids before the Li family finally rerouted the convoys—an expensive adjustment.

In retaliation, they’d strengthened ties with other archipelagos, pressuring ports to seize any cargo ships linked to Lonewind.

Most regional powers gave the Lis face, leaving Xu Jiayi no choice but to buy through intermediaries and smuggle goods in.

Qi Jiayu, unaware of what Xu Jiayi was plotting, suggested helpfully, “Valuables aren’t limited to coins. Corals and gemstones work too.”

Xu Jiayi blinked. “Corals?”

This planet had no shortage of coral or mineral resources.

Islands with advanced technology had long since made deep-sea mining routine.

Coral, the product of massive reefs of coral polyps that grew around nearly every island, was especially abundant. Its growth rate rivaled that of trees on Earth—if one mined away a centimeter today, two days later it would grow back.

Zhou Li didn’t know coral on this planet grew so fast. Out of environmental concern, she said, “You still need to be careful about the ecosystem. Overharvesting could cause coral extinction, couldn’t it?”

Both Qi Jiayu and Xu Jiayi were startled.

Xu Jiayi turned to one of her officers. “Can coral go extinct?”

The officer replied, “The zombie virus can pollute the oceans. If the ocean ever lost its self-purifying capacity, then yes—after hundreds or thousands of years, coral could die out. But that’s only if the seas lose that ability.”

What she didn’t add aloud was that even if every human on the planet turned into a zombie, the oceans’ self-cleansing system would still remain intact. Unless the entire planet suffered an extinction-level event, coral extinction was practically impossible.

When Qi Jiayu explained the coral’s growth rate to Zhou Li, the latter was stunned.

Qi Jiayu said, “Before the apocalypse, the island-states would send people each year to harvest coral. But some didn’t—so coral accumulated, forming reefs, and after about a decade or two, those reefs would become new islands.”

Zhou Li: …

She didn’t know whether to be relieved that coral on this world wasn’t facing extinction, or to complain that the auction house had been pointlessly undervaluing it.

Still, overexploitation was never good. Even trees on Earth grew fast, but not fast enough to keep up with human logging.

“When there’s too much of something,” Zhou Li said, “its value drops. I hope you understand that.”

She was giving them a warning in advance.

Knowing how the auction house worked, if she dumped several tons of coral on the market at once, the price would plummet.

Xu Jiayi nodded. “Understood. Rarity is what gives something worth.”

The thought that she could solve Lonewind Island’s supply crisis not through raids but simply by harvesting coral lifted her mood considerably.

She didn’t believe coral mining would harm the environment—after all, what truly affected coral growth was zombie-virus pollution. Even if she didn’t order the mining, many coral colonies would die anyway.

In fact, by encouraging her people to fish and thus reducing the number of floating corpses near the island, she had improved the local environment, allowing coral polyps to thrive again.

Thinking of other tradeable goods, Xu Jiayi pulled out a crystal that shimmered in shifting rainbow colors. “Would you accept this kind of sea fluorite?”

Zhou Li recognized the term “fluorite,” but she’d never heard of sea fluorite before.

It certainly looked similar, though. Unsure, she submitted it to the auction system for appraisal.

The results appeared instantly:

【Sea Fluorite, 403g】
Year: —
Date of Extraction: —
Current Owner: Xu Jiayi
Starting Price: 1,500 yuan (suggested)
Buyout Price: 3,000 yuan (suggested)
Note: Formed in deep sea; may shine even brighter in a world of magic.

Zhou Li was surprised—it was actually quite valuable, more than fluorite on Earth.

On Earth, fluorite cost only about 3,100 yuan per ton—roughly 3 yuan per kilogram.

But what caught her eye was the note.

Could it mean that sea fluorite was worth more in a world where magic existed?

That gave Zhou Li an idea—she recalled one of her system’s selectable “science-and-magic hybrid” planes.

Maybe she could stockpile some of this and sell it there.

Her mind made up, Zhou Li asked, “Is sea fluorite difficult to mine?”

Xu Jiayi instinctively calculated her answer.

Could it be that the little boss was especially interested in sea fluorite?

If so, maybe she could inflate the price by claiming it was hard to extract.

But she quickly quashed the thought.

If the little boss asked an expert and learned the truth, lying would destroy the fragile goodwill she’d just built.

“Mining difficulty isn’t high,” Xu Jiayi replied honestly. “Before the apocalypse, Lonewind Island already had a mature extraction line.”

“Before the apocalypse?”

“Yes. Unfortunately, the mining site is about sixty nautical miles from the island. Due to the blockade, we can’t reach it anymore.”

In truth, deep-sea mining mainly focused on rare metals, oil, and gas—sea fluorite was just a byproduct.

“Oh,” Zhou Li said mildly. She had no interest in the blockade, nor did she offer to help Lonewind break through the Li family’s naval cordon just to collect fluorite.

Seeing she wasn’t going to press further, Xu Jiayi decided to treat sea fluorite as an optional trade item.

She ordered her men to return and start collecting coral, then announced a coral-harvesting decree to the island’s people.

She also recorded a short video in the small supermarket to reassure the citizens—telling them that she’d secured a way to solve Lonewind’s supply shortages, but that unity was essential.

Zhou Li didn’t mind her shop being filmed.

She knew the news would quickly reach the Li family—and soon spread across all the Anhai Archipelagos.

Free publicity, essentially.

And as for being targeted?

Well, the fate of the Li family’s escort ships spoke for itself.

☢️☢️☢️