Ch 118: My Multiverse Supermarket

When Zhou Li reopened the supermarket door for business, she was greeted by devastation.

The battle last night must have been fierce. The vegetation outside looked scorched, and the ground was littered with the remains of non-human creatures—skeletons, wolves, hyenas, and even the carcasses of the paladins’ mounts, the landrunners.

Rebecca was resting against an acacia tree, but the other paladins were nowhere in sight.

Hearing sounds from inside the store, the ever-alert Rebecca opened her eyes at once and jumped down from the tree. “Boss.”

Zhou Li: Hm?

Why did Rebecca’s tone sound… vaguely resentful?

In fact, she was.

Because last night, they had been ambushed by rogues.

Rogues specialized in stealth and assassination. They had struck while Rebecca and her party were busy fighting the undead, launching their attack from behind.

Fortunately, Rebecca was a ranger—quick and agile—so she wasn’t seriously hurt, and the paladins healed even her minor injuries with Holy Light spells.

Though the rogues escaped, Yag became convinced that their appearance had been orchestrated by the Boss—meant to have them killed. After all, there had been such a commotion, and yet the Boss hadn’t reacted at all!

Rebecca had insisted otherwise. “No, those rogues were just as surprised to find a house here. It’s likely our airship’s flight over the Emerald Wasteland drew their attention, and they came to investigate. There’s no time to waste—go back to Vitas Outpost and bring reinforcements.”

“And what about you?” Yag asked.

“They’ll be back,” Rebecca replied. “I need to find out who’s behind them—and what kind of power this shopkeeper really holds.”

So, as the fog cleared, Yag and the remaining paladins rode off on the surviving landrunners.

Rebecca hadn’t slept all night. In the morning, the aroma wafting from the house made her stomach growl, but she had to gnaw on rough black bread to fill herself—wishing instead for fish and chips.

Finally seeing the Boss again, she said, “Thank the Goddess you’re safe.”

She explained everything that had happened overnight, while discreetly watching Zhou Li’s expression.

Zhou Li said lightly, “That sounds dangerous.”

Rebecca: …

Zhou Li added, “Did your companions abandon you and run away?”

Rebecca replied, “No, we lost a landrunner last night, so I sent them back for reinforcements.”

Zhou Li brightened. “That’s great.” The more people came here, the better for business.

Rebecca, however, couldn’t understand why she was so happy. Wasn’t she even a little worried that the reinforcements might try to take the place by force?

After a moment’s thought, Rebecca asked, “Boss, do you know much about the Emerald Wasteland? Or about those rogues who attacked us?”

Zhou Li thought, You’re really asking the wrong person.

“I probably know even less than you do.”

Rebecca didn’t get the information she wanted—but in her explanation, she inadvertently revealed why the wasteland had become a no-man’s-land.

This world’s known territories consisted of four continents and three oceans.

The largest continent, Dagu, lay to the northeast—the place where dawn rose.

It shared the Sea of Mimir with the continent of Nott, separated by the Howling Strait.

Long ago, Dagu and the western Palen Continent had been connected. But a thousand years ago, a massive earthquake shook the plains that joined them for over ten days. Towns and villages were destroyed, tens of thousands perished.

After the quake, a rift two hundred kilometers long split the plain. The sea flooded in, dividing the land into two separate continents.

That plain had been called the Emerald Plain—once lush and fertile, now desolate and barren, earning the name Emerald Wasteland.

Later, the kingdoms on both sides of the wasteland went to war for control over it. The land became a graveyard, haunted by countless restless souls.

In time, thieves and exiles flooded in, turning it into a haven for criminals, while ordinary folk no longer dared to set foot here.

…

Zhou Li asked, “And the last continent?”

“The Raging Tide Continent,” Rebecca said. “It’s the most distant and mysterious one. Only one nation exists there—the Kingdom of the Elves. Beyond its borders lies the Sea of Origin, the divine realm of the Goddess of Life.”

“Huh? Gods can found nations?” An Fengxuan was so startled that the melon seeds in her hand fell to the floor.

Rebecca shot her a look. “A divine realm is no ordinary kingdom. Those who dwell there are the servants and messengers of gods themselves.”

“So other gods have their own divine realms too?”

“Of course,” Rebecca said, then paused. “But aside from the Sea of Origin, no other divine gate has ever opened to mortals.”

“Is that because the Goddess of Life has more followers, and therefore greater power?” Zhou Li asked.

Rebecca would never speak ill of her deity. “The Goddess of Life was entrusted with the Vessel of Life by the Earth Mother. Long ago, the Earth Mother drank from it, giving birth to the gods and creating all living things… When She returned to the primordial chaos to keep the world from collapsing, She passed the vessel to her daughter, the Goddess of Life. But the Goddess accidentally overturned it, and the waters spilled out to form the Sea of Origin—from which all life was born.”

And so Zhou Li and An Fengxuan received a full mythological lecture on the world’s version of human creation.

Zhou Li couldn’t help thinking that, no matter the world, creation myths always seemed wildly inconsistent.

An Fengxuan suddenly mused, “If I drank from the Vessel of Life, could I get pregnant without—uh, physical help?”

Zhou Li: “…”

Rebecca glared at her. “How dare you blaspheme the Goddess!”

An Fengxuan said, “I didn’t!”

“You just said you wanted to drink from the Vessel of Life!”

“I didn’t actually do it!”

Before they could start a full argument, Zhou Li quickly patted An Fengxuan’s shoulder. “Forget it, forget it. If you’re that curious, I’ll take you to the Women’s Kingdom to drink from the River of Motherhood. Same effect.”

An Fengxuan: …

Wait—there’s really such a place?

Never mind. She’d just been running her mouth. She wasn’t actually trying to have a baby.

After a night of chaos and senseless fighting, Rebecca finally saw the people she had been waiting for all morning.

The captain of the Vitas Outpost sentry squad arrived in a hurry, leading ten sentries on landrunners.

Apparently, Yag’s report had been rather… subjective, because the moment they arrived, the sentries raised their bows, ready to shoot.

Rebecca stopped them at once. “Don’t be rude!”

The captain called out, “Quartermaster Rebecca?”

“I’m perfectly fine,” she replied. “There’s no one here who poses any threat to you, so you can relax.”

The captain lowered her bow.

Rebecca asked, “Did Yag deliver my requisition order?”

The captain nodded and handed over a pouch of gold coins along with several bags of materials.

She explained that most of these were herbs the sentries had gathered during patrols or materials collected from slain monsters. Normally, when merchants passed through, they’d sell such goods for cash—but after receiving Rebecca’s order, she thought the materials might be useful and brought them along.

Zhou Li, curious, peeked into one of the bags—only to nearly get smacked in the face by something that jumped out.

“What the hell!?” Zhou Li cried out in shock, immediately asking the system why the safety mechanism hadn’t triggered.

The system replied, “No hostile intent or harmful action detected.”

When Zhou Li got a closer look, she was speechless.

It wasn’t a creature or a weapon—it was a severed tail. But the tail was twitching, and at first glance, it did look alive.

Rebecca grabbed it up. “That’s a pincerfish tail. It’s one of the ingredients used to make an Underwater Breathing Potion.”

She couldn’t help laughing a little. She hadn’t expected the mysterious shopkeeper to be startled by a mere tail.

Zhou Li said dryly, “I don’t accept raw materials. If you have finished Underwater Breathing Potions, that I’d consider.”

Rebecca was a bit disappointed, but she wasn’t going to push a sale.

The gold coins the captain brought amounted to 117 pieces—three months’ total wages for all thirty-some sentries stationed at Vitas Outpost.

When she handed them over, she hesitated, but Rebecca gave her a reassuring nod.

“These coins can be exchanged for 223,821 points,” Zhou Li calculated, “enough to buy 373 elemental gemstones valued at 599 points each.”

Of course, the shop had far more gemstones in stock, but Rebecca really couldn’t afford more.

“Forget it,” she told herself. “Greed never ends.”

She still chose her gemstones according to need, prioritizing what would be most useful.

The captain, seeing so many elemental gemstones in a shop filled with technological goods, was secretly kicking herself—if only she’d discovered this place earlier during patrol!

But she also knew it was far too distant from the outpost; even with more patrols, she would never have stumbled upon it.

…

Rebecca ended up buying 350 gemstones, using the remaining money to purchase supplies for the sentries—sausages, dried meat, bread, potatoes, wine, and dairy products.

Since she had to return and report to the commander, she didn’t linger at the supermarket any longer.

She and the sentries left together, taking a different route to avoid the rogues’ employers.

Though this first wave of customers hadn’t brought in a massive profit, the small supermarket soon welcomed a second—none other than the infamous Arca Company.

As Zhou Li watched the gang of armed thugs approach, she thought: if Rebecca and her crew had stayed just a little longer, they’d have figured out who sent those rogues last night.

Ebus stepped down from a rumbling steam-powered automobile that belched thick black smoke.

He wiped his face with a silk handkerchief, then, trying to look gentlemanly, entered the store.

“Good day, madam,” he said to An Fengxuan, who was standing at the door. “I’m Ebus, director of the Arca Company. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

An Fengxuan took one look at his face—blackened like he’d rubbed it with soot—and burst out laughing.

A muscle in Ebus’s jaw twitched as he visibly fought to control his temper.

“Sorry,” An Fengxuan managed between chuckles. “We’ve got water here if you’d like to wash your face.”

Ebus’s expression contorted slightly, but he waved to one of his attendants to fetch water for him.

After washing up and tidying his suit, he reentered the shop.

An Fengxuan had already stepped aside. Ebus immediately noticed that the real authority here belonged to another woman.

Before greeting her, however, he glanced around the store—and his confidence grew instantly.

There were electric lights!

And not just any lights—real, white-glowing bulbs.

To think—the light bulb had only been invented twenty-three years ago, and even in the United Kingdom of Atmos, only a handful of nobles could afford them.

Yet this entire building was illuminated by them.

“Which engineer designed these improved lamps?” Ebus asked eagerly. “Have you registered a patent?”

Zhou Li: …

What’s next—suing Henry Goebel for infringement?

…

Sandy: I won’t be able to remember all this weird location names. I apologize for the inconsistencies in the upcoming chapters. Thank you for your understanding (ᵕ—ᴗ—)

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