Ch 115: My Multiverse Supermarket

Steam and Magic: Revolution

The blazing sun scorched the ground.

Across the boundless wilderness, vegetation was sparse.

Beside two acacia trees stood a three-story residential building.

Not far away, in a patch of muddy ground, a young giraffe lay dead while several hyenas tore at its flesh.

A few more hyenas prowled near the building.

Inside the supermarket—

Zhou Li had plenty to complain about. “Didn’t you say this world was one of steam and magic?” she asked the system.

Steam and magic—just the name evoked the style of steampunk.

She’d imagined an era at the crossroads of the Middle Ages and the Industrial Revolution—something like Victorian London.

So why did everything around her look like an African savanna in the dry season?

“You’re sure we didn’t end up in some random plane?”

The system replied, “This is the Steam and Magic Plane. It’s just that the Emerald Wasteland is a no-man’s-land—neither under the jurisdiction of the Science Faction nor restricted by the Magic Faction.”

Zhou Li sighed. “Got it. So neither side wants us.”

“Quite the opposite,” the system said. “Both factions offered several cities for settlement. But for long-term trade, the Emerald Wasteland is the most strategic location.”

Zhou Li: …

She had really wanted to see what a world of coexisting magic and technology looked like!

“Out of all these planes, it seems only the interstellar one had a normal setup.”

The ancient plane was on a mountain range, the zombie plane on a remote island, this one was an ‘African savanna,’ and the infinite plane was the most absurd—no fixed location at all.

The system cheerfully said, “Isn’t that great? You get to see all kinds of natural landscapes without leaving your store—mountains, beaches, alien ice worlds, and now the grasslands. The infinite plane even lets you explore local towns, so you can experience the life of a grassroots civil servant in advance.”

Zhou Li: …

Suddenly, An Fengxuan—who was at the door, exploring this “new world”—called out, “Boss, there’s an airship floating above!”

Zhou Li leaned out and saw a huge, round, bulbous airship drifting through the sky.

It moved slowly from east to west—“floating” was exactly the right word for it.

An Fengxuan murmured, “Is that powered by magic or by technology?”

The airship looked like an inflated pufferfish balloon, complete with propellers, suggesting a technological design.

But in many fantasy settings, airships were magically powered, so it was impossible to tell which faction it belonged to.

Zhou Li pulled out the sea fluorite crystals and packaging bags from under the counter. “Who cares what it is? Back to work.”

“Got it, boss.”

*

When the airship bearing the insignia of the “Black Raven” passed overhead, everyone in sight panicked and hid.

Inside the command cabin—

Commander Front was listening to a report from his subordinates when the magic array at the center of the room suddenly glowed faintly.

The light immediately drew everyone’s attention.

The mage at the console turned to Front. “Commander, there’s a reading of magical elements coming from the Emerald Wasteland.”

Front said, “Find out what’s causing it.”

The mage raised his staff and chanted a spell. The glowing area of the magic array rapidly expanded.

Through the projection, everyone could now see a peculiar-looking house standing in the middle of the wasteland.

The mage frowned. “The house appears to be protected by a barrier. I can’t see inside, but I can confirm the presence of elemental gemstones.”

The moment he spoke, shadows in the room rippled, and a low whispering “buzz” came from all directions.

The soldiers around Front began to sweat, frozen in place.

“Silence!” Front barked.

The shadows stilled.

He rubbed his brow and spoke in a calm tone. “I understand this discovery excites you all—but we are not in Mayrelia. How do you know this isn’t a plot by Atmos? Besides, the readings show only a small amount of elemental energy—not enough to sustain the Magic Council’s daily use.”

The buzzing rose again, louder this time.

Front listened intently, then said, “Understood. I’ll send someone to investigate.”

When silence returned, the soldiers finally relaxed.

Front said, “Summon Rebecca and Yag.”

Quartermaster Rebecca and Paladin Captain Yag quickly arrived.

Front pointed to the map on the magic array. “We detected elemental energy here. The airship will land at Vitas Outpost. You and Yag will lead a squad of paladins to investigate.”

“Yes, sir!” Rebecca replied. She had many questions but, as an officer, knew her duty was simply to follow orders.

Vitas Outpost was one of the Magic Faction’s fortresses in the Emerald Wasteland—built to monitor and counter the Steam Faction’s activities there.

It was roughly 30 miles (48.28 km) from the site of the elemental reading—a five-hour ride by horse.

However, the wasteland was home to an animal called the landrunner, whose strength and speed rivaled a horse’s and whose adaptability to the terrain made it an ideal mount once trained.

After the airship landed at the outpost, Rebecca and Yag set off immediately with five paladins, each astride a trained landrunner.

Before sunset, they finally reached the peculiar house glowing under the acacia trees.

At that same moment, Zhou Li—after several focused hours—finished packaging the sea fluorite crystals and neatly arranged them on the shelves.

An Fengxuan stretched her cramped fingers. “Boss, I’m going to make dinner.”

Ever since partially leaving the Infinite World, An Fengxuan had picked up a new skill—cooking.

After being tormented by the bland food of the Infinite World, her standards for taste had become extremely high.

She’d put great effort into learning culinary arts, and her cooking was now far superior to Zhou Li’s.

Zhou Li had since delegated all meals to her, taking care only of preparing ingredients.

“Go ahead,” Zhou Li said. “I bought some beef brisket—you can make braised brisket rice.”

“Perfect,” An Fengxuan said, hurrying upstairs.

The smell of food soon drifted out from the stairwell.

Just then, Zhou Li heard the miserable cries of hyenas outside.

When she looked, she saw a massive hammer come crashing down, smashing the skull of a leaping hyena.

Zhou Li let out a hiss. For some reason, she thought: though the hyenas were dead, at least they’d had a good meal before dying. Maybe, when they reached the underworld, they’d count as “cats that died full.”
After all, despite their name, hyenas aren’t canines—they belong to the feliform suborder, family Hyaenidae.

“Nice, another general knowledge question reviewed,” Zhou Li muttered to herself.

System: …

Once the beasts around the area were cleared, Yag blocked Rebecca’s path.

His face darkened as he glared at the glowing sign outside the building. “That’s not a magical artifact.”

Everyone knew that in nations devoted to eternal magic, most objects used by people were magical in nature.

But the light box before them gave off no trace of magical energy—it was clearly an industrial product.

Using industrial products meant one thing: an enemy of their faith!

“So it is a trap by Atmos!” Yag’s words made the paladins lift their hammers, ready to strike.

Rebecca pressed a hand to stop him. “Don’t act rashly. You all wait outside. I’ll go in and take a look.”

With that, she stepped inside first.

Bright light enveloped her, and an irreverent thought suddenly crossed her mind—the brightness was comparable to the Holy Light of the God of Light Himself.

Lamps could stay lit indefinitely, while divine light could not last long.

Realizing her thought was blasphemous, she quickly cast it aside.

Zhou Li greeted her with her signature smile. “Welcome to Good Life Supermarket.”

Rebecca didn’t understand the word “supermarket.” Her eyes were drawn instead to the colorful “gems” on display.

The moment she realized what they were, her pupils contracted.

“Elemental gemstones!”

Following her gaze, Zhou Li looked over—and saw that the “gems” were indeed sea fluorite.

So sea fluorite in this plane was equivalent to elemental gemstones?

Did that mean the zombie plane also had magical elements?

But then, why were sea fluorites only found in the ocean?

Did that imply that in the zombie plane, magical elements existed only in the sea—or even just the seabed?

Zhou Li had no way of knowing.

Breathing quickly, Rebecca asked, “Why do you have elemental gemstones here?”

“Sorry,” Zhou Li said, “that’s a trade secret.”

Rebecca composed herself, then introduced formally, “I am Rebecca, quartermaster of the Black Raven Legion.”

“The Black Raven Legion?” Zhou Li echoed.

Rebecca hadn’t expected her not to recognize the name.

But since this was the Emerald Wasteland, a place cut off from both sides’ influence, it wasn’t too strange that locals knew little of the outside world.

She explained, “The Black Raven Legion is a military force under Homoleia. We are followers of the War Goddess.”

Zhou Li said, “Oh…”

Outwardly calm, she was already tapping furiously at the system. “Which faction does the War Goddess belong to?”

This was basic enough for the system to answer.

“The Magic Faction. But the Steam Faction also has a God of War—her twin brother. He caused so much chaos that the War Goddess and the Goddess of Wisdom beat him senseless, and he defected to the Steam Faction. Those who study tanks, firearms, and ammunition—the war academics—are his followers.”

Zhou Li asked, “So if magic and missiles went head-to-head, who’d win?”

System: “If you stay in this plane long enough, you might one day find out.”

“No thanks,” Zhou Li replied. “Earth loves me, and I love Earth.”

System: …

Rebecca sensed no hostility from her, which eased her nerves a little.

At least this woman wasn’t from an enemy faction.

Rebecca asked, “May I ask if these elemental gemstones are for sale?”

“Of course,” Zhou Li said. “Prices are listed above.”

Rebecca’s heart leapt—until she glanced at the price tag and froze. “Four hundred ninety-nine… gold?”

That wasn’t expensive at all.

But Zhou Li’s next words shattered her illusion.

“I don’t take gold directly. You need to exchange valuable items for the store’s currency—member points. You can only use points to purchase goods here.”

Rebecca understood the idea of member points.

Many factions and organizations had their own internal currencies used for trade.

For example, soldiers of the Black Raven Legion had to exchange merit badges for extra equipment or supplies.

“So this means… 499 points?” Rebecca asked.

“Yes.”

“Please wait a moment.” Rebecca stepped outside.

Yag immediately came forward. “Well? What did you find?”

Instead of answering, Rebecca asked, “Do you have any gold coins on you?”

Puzzled, Yag pulled out a pouch containing the remainder of his monthly pay—about a dozen gold coins.

Ordinary soldiers earned one gold coin per month; as a captain, he earned twenty.

The five paladins with him each earned ten.

As quartermaster, Rebecca’s pay was even higher, but she didn’t usually carry much with her.

Taking Yag’s coins, she went back inside.

“How many points can these be exchanged for?” she asked.

Zhou Li examined the coin, which bore a woman’s profile. “May I ask who this is?”

“That is Homoleia—the High Priestess who serves the War Goddess,” Rebecca said reverently.

“I see,” Zhou Li nodded. “These can be exchanged for 1,913 points. But since the coins aren’t yours, you can’t register a membership card.”

Each coin weighed 4.37 grams, with 60% purity—about 14k gold.
At a rate of 461 yuan per gram, its value was 2,014.57 yuan.
After deducting a transaction fee, it came to 1,913.84 yuan.

Zhou Li rounded down the decimals.

Rebecca quickly calculated—one gold coin could buy nearly four elemental gemstones.

Her breathing grew faster.

[Author’s Note]
This plane follows a steampunk aesthetic. Elements such as the “landrunner” and “quartermaster” were inspired by World of Warcraft.

☢️☢️☢️