Ch 192: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World II

Lu Mingxiao: “The person who gave you this flyer.”

Xie Yu grabbed a towel and immediately turned back toward him. “Instructor, do you know them?”

Leaning slightly against the chair, Lu Mingxiao didn’t answer directly. Instead, he asked coolly, “What did you encounter in Gaosheng City?”

Xie Yu was surprised. If the instructor knew Tina and Lu Yao, perhaps he could persuade them to come to Hope Base. Sitting down, he began recounting, “We didn’t face any issues on the way there—it went smoothly. But when we arrived at the supply point, there was a problem. The location was occupied by a massive white spider the size of a human, and the area was covered with webs. We didn’t notice at first, but when we tried to leave, we couldn’t find the exit.”

At this point, Xie Yu remembered how they might still be trapped if they hadn’t encountered Tina and Lu Yao.

He still hadn’t figured out why the escalator disappeared or why the spider zombie had taken over that location. Looking back, he was increasingly impressed by Tina’s abilities.

Before leaving, he’d observed the massive white cocoons hanging from the ceiling. Based on the spider’s feeding habits, those oval-shaped cocoons likely contained its “stored food,” already turned into ready-to-eat “nutrient packs” for the spider zombie to consume at any time.

Lu Mingxiao showed little interest in these details but didn’t interrupt.

Lu Yao hadn’t shown up at the expected time, and the world had undergone an unexpected upheaval. After investigating the cause, he decided to stay at the base and wait for her arrival.

But when she didn’t appear at the designated location, Lu Mingxiao realized their connection was weakening.

Despite his impatience, he listened to Xie Yu’s account of their journey with remarkable patience. Most of Xie Yu’s focus, however, was on Tina.

He repeatedly described the red-haired girl’s astonishing capabilities—how she punched an alien zombie into oblivion and kicked the massive spider ten meters away with a single strike.

Finally, Lu Mingxiao pinched the bridge of his nose, his tolerance running out. After a few seconds, he interrupted, “Who else was with the red-haired girl?”

Xie Yu glanced at the earring dangling from Lu Mingxiao’s right ear. “There was a short-haired girl with an exaggerated earring and a chestnut-haired boy with teardrop-shaped moles under his eyes. The boy wasn’t particularly notable, but the short-haired girl might be an engineer. They’ve opened a courier shop and somehow use communicators to stay in touch. We invited them to the base, but unfortunately, they declined.”

Lu Mingxiao, having gathered the information he wanted, stood and headed for the door. “Thanks for the report. Get some rest.”

Xie Yu sensed something ambiguous in the instructor’s expression and followed, asking, “Instructor, do you know them?”

Without turning back, Lu Mingxiao replied, “No. Rest.”

The sound of a door opening and closing came from the next room. An Xia straightened, frowning in thought.

The instructor had initially said to Xie Yu, “You met her.”

Did he know Lu Yao? Or Tina?

A few minutes later, An Xia’s frown relaxed before deepening again.

Lu Mingxiao knew Lu Yao.

…

The next morning, An Xia was jolted awake by the sound of running water. The dorm’s poor soundproofing meant she could hear everything from the next room, including someone washing their face or flushing the toilet.

She glanced at the alarm clock by her bed. It was just past seven. She immediately lay back down, ready to get more sleep.

They had returned in the early hours of the morning with a significant haul of supplies, completing their mission successfully. They could rest for two or three days before heading out again.

An Xia fell back asleep, half-aware of the sound of a door opening and Xie Yu speaking to another team member.

“Just ran into the instructor. He’s requesting leave from the director to handle personal matters in Gaosheng City.”

Xie Yu: “The instructor wants to go to Gaosheng City alone?”

Team member: “The director didn’t allow it. He said if someone’s going to Gaosheng City, they might as well take a team and revisit the mall we went to yesterday.”

Xie Yu frowned. “Which team is the director sending?”

Team member: “Looks like it’ll be Team Seven.”

Xie Yu said, “Go call Captain An. We’re going too.”

The team member pulled a grim face, already regretting sharing the news. “But we just got back, barely slept a few hours, and haven’t even recovered.”

Xie Yu replied, “Once Team Seven clears out the supply point and claims all the allocation benefits, you won’t feel like slacking anymore.”

Hope Base was established quickly after the zombie virus outbreak. To attract more people, it implemented a relatively comprehensive welfare system.

These benefits were sustained entirely by the scavenging teams. Currently, Hope Base had nearly 30 such teams, which took turns going out to locate and gather resources.

In return, scavenging team members enjoyed far better living conditions than regular residents. This included improved housing and the best food supply.

However, these perks were tied to their performance. The base assessed each team every 15 days, and the more resources a team brought back, the more abundant their living supplies.

The supply point in Gaosheng City was discovered by An Xia’s team after multiple reconnaissance trips, which even cost them a team member. It would be a significant loss to let another team reap the rewards.

Hearing this, An Xia’s sleepiness vanished. She sat up, agreeing with Xie Yu—they couldn’t let Team Seven claim the spoils.

With the instructor accompanying them, there was less worry about encountering trouble on the road.

Ten minutes later, An Xia and Xie Yu went to the director’s office, volunteering to accompany Lu Mingxiao and Team Seven on the return trip to Gaosheng City.

…

Gaosheng City, Guanyin Road

The courier shop had just opened when four new orders came in. The closest one was in Guanyin Community, with two more from Golden Crown Residences.

The four young dragons barely had time for breakfast, grabbing bread and milk before rushing out to run errands.

The morning’s orders reflected the results of their recent flyer distribution. Considering Zhao Ye’s efficiency—helped by his sparrow companions—Lu Yao assigned him to distribute more flyers in nearby neighborhoods.

After two days of canvassing and errands, Lu Yao noticed that simply handing out flyers didn’t significantly increase orders.

Even if potential clients learned about the courier shop through the flyers, they had no immediate way to place orders. They needed the shop’s business cards to do so, which required visiting the shop in person.

In a zombie-infested city, venturing outside was a challenge in itself. For those far from the shop, the trip required considerable courage.

To address this, Lu Yao had the Dream Fulfillment System print a new batch of flyers overnight. The new flyers were made from special paper sourced from the Floating World Continent.

This paper, used by cultivators for recording spells, was infused with several spiritual plants, making it flexible, water-resistant, and fireproof.

Lu Yao imbued the flyer’s surface with a thin layer of willpower, giving it a functionality similar to that of the business cards.

Clients could now place orders by filling out the address and quantity in the designated order section at the bottom of the flyer.

Within the coverage of the Willing Network, the Courier System would read these orders in real-time and dispatch employees for work.

The cost of these new flyers increased, so Lu Yao adjusted the pricing. Delivery orders placed via the flyers were charged double the usual fee, with in-store staff handling the deliveries.

Ding Qing, who was temporarily living at the shop, needed IV therapy for three hours every afternoon but rested or watched the shop during the rest of the day.

After discussing it with her, Lu Yao assigned her to handle delivery orders within a three-kilometer radius of the shop.

Ding Qing was delighted to start working so soon. The conversation seemed to ease her overall mood considerably.

Orders beyond the three-kilometer range were temporarily assigned to Zhao Ye.

Zhao Ye’s work schedule remained flexible. If he received an order requiring card delivery, he could prioritize it over flyer distribution and complete the task first.

Lu Yao also took orders during her free time.

Yesterday, the team completed a total of 27 deliveries, bringing the two-day total to just over 30 orders.

With only five days left to complete the mission, they still needed more than 200 orders.

Based on the number and quality of the errand runners, completing 200 orders in five days wasn’t a difficult task. The challenge lay in finding enough customers to place orders.

This once-bustling modern city, home to hundreds of thousands of permanent residents, had seen its population density plummet with the rapid spread of the zombie virus. Human civilization had shrunk at an unimaginable rate.

To expand their customer base, Lu Yao planned to extend the Willing Network’s coverage to a 50-kilometer radius. She used the Regulation Rod to create 24 additional signal receivers and sent several electric bikes to the Alexander Continent and Floating World Continent, where non-human staff and craftspeople modified them using magic and spellwork to forcibly enhance their speed and battery life.

…

The day’s mission for Lu Yao was to install the signal receivers and complete the Willing Network’s expansion as quickly as possible.

As she left the shop, she ran into Tang Anqi’s team, who were heading to a nearby building materials market to find supplies to replace their broken doors.

The four of them had spent the previous night huddled together, taking turns keeping watch, barely managing to get through the night.

They decided that Jiang Yifei would stay behind to clean their new residence and guard their supplies while the other three went to the market for materials.

Lu Yao sped off on her electric bike, aiming to install at least six signal receivers by noon.

With a coverage radius of 50 kilometers, the bike could barely make a round trip on its current maximum battery life.

However, Lu Yao had a backup plan. She had four fully charged electric bikes stored in her portable warehouse. If one ran out of power, she could switch to a fully charged bike in a hidden spot and continue.

Although there were other ways to improve efficiency, the electric bike remained the simplest and least conspicuous option.

The Dream Fulfillment System scanned the terrain along the way, collecting data and optimizing her route. The morning’s work went smoothly.

On her way back, Lu Yao received a call from Zhang Shu. The staff at the DIY Workshop reported an issue on Ghost Street. Something seemed to have malfunctioned, and it was beyond their abilities to fix, requiring Lu Yao’s immediate attention.

Sensing the urgency, Lu Yao contacted Harold and asked him to open a space-time portal to pick her up.

Harold had just finished an errand and was available. Within half a minute, he transported Lu Yao back to the courier shop.

From there, Lu Yao headed straight to the Ghost System’s main server room to assess the situation.

Song Qingshan and He Bi, visibly stressed, were relieved to see her return so quickly. They immediately reported the anomaly on Ghost Street.

Song Qingshan said with confusion, “We’re not sure what’s happening. The system suddenly detected dozens of unidentified signals. They appear to be new players, but they didn’t log in through Ghost Street.”

He Bi added, “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

Lu Yao asked the Dream Fulfillment System, “Do you know what’s going on?”

After negotiating with Mingshi City’s official representatives, Lu Yao continued operating the DIY workshop on Ghost Street.

New customers occasionally came to purchase Ghost Bracelets, but the numbers were low—just a few in the past couple of days, and at most ten on busier days.

The DIY workshop was now operating in self-service mode. There were no customers or crafting events, only the sale of Ghost Bracelets.

When a customer signed a contract, the contract was automatically generated. After the customer signed, the document was sent to the system’s backend, where Song Qingshan and He Bi organized them in shifts and submitted them to Lu Yao at the end of each day.

With such a relaxed operation model, Lu Yao couldn’t figure out what could have caused the bug.

The Dream Fulfillment System replied, “Go to the shop and contact Pei Qi directly. This is their doing.”

With no other option, Lu Yao headed to the DIY workshop.

Upon entering, she saw four or five people sitting in the main hall. They glanced at her as she entered but said nothing.

Recently, none of the customers who had bought Ghost Bracelets had seen Lu Yao, nor did they know she was the owner of the shop.

Scanning the room, Lu Yao asked directly, “Are you new players who just logged into Ghost Street?”

One person stood up. “Who are you?”

Lu Yao replied, “I’m Lu Yao, the owner of this shop.”

The person’s eyes lit up with excitement as they walked over. “You’re the owner? Finally, we get to meet you!”

Lu Yao, puzzled, asked, “What’s the matter?”

The person turned back, pulling a boy sitting at the table to his feet. “This is my younger brother. Until today, he was stuck in a game called Horror Homestay. I used the Ghost Bracelet to enter that virtual world, found him, and brought him here through a virtual channel created by the game company. He seems to be in shock, dazed and unresponsive, and doesn’t want to leave. The administrator emailed us, saying we could come to the DIY workshop for classes to potentially awaken his consciousness. We came here, didn’t see any staff, and were at a loss about what to do. Then you showed up.”

Virtual channel?

Lu Yao was perplexed when her Ghost Bracelet, stored in her portable warehouse, pinged with a new message notification.

The sender was Pei Qi.

In his office, Pei Qi saw Lu Yao come online and immediately contacted her.

Pei Qi explained that the virtual channel was a rescue method devised by dozens of top electronic information engineers from Mingshi City.

With the Polaris project no longer reliable, and limited time and manpower to locate and deactivate every logout device in virtual spaces, the engineers settled on a compromise: creating new exits.

However, after numerous attempts, they found that these virtual worlds often contained warped and folded spaces, making it harder to open doors than find existing exits.

Eventually, the Polaris research team proposed the virtual channel solution. They identified worlds with similar configurations to Ghost Street and restructured their programs to link the two.

Rescue personnel wearing Ghost Bracelets would enter the target virtual world and guide lost players into Ghost Street. From there, players could log out safely.

Today was their first attempt at building a virtual channel, connecting the Horror Homestay world with Ghost Street. To their surprise, they successfully rescued six players in one go.

However, all six players were in a state of deep disorientation, requiring their consciousness to be reawakened.

For this task, Pei Qi could only think of Lu Yao and her DIY workshop.

After spending a few minutes processing the information, Lu Yao had only one question: “Now that Horror Homestay is connected to Ghost Street, is there a chance the monsters from over there will come here?”

Pei Qi froze. “…Sorry, we didn’t consider that.”

Lu Yao’s concern was entirely valid. This was just the first virtual world they had connected, and they planned to link Ghost Street with more worlds in the future.

Pei Qi apologized again. “I’ll report this issue immediately.”

Lu Yao cut him off. “I don’t mind, as long as you’re not afraid.”

Pei Qi: “…”

We’re terrified!!!

Lu Yao even began to muse, “This way, my DIY workshop might become a hub connecting countless worlds. No shortage of customers anymore.”

Pei Qi, already mentally and physically exhausted from dealing with Ghost Street, felt his anxiety spike.

Every virtual world similar to Ghost Street was filled with eerie, dark imagery. What kind of creatures would emerge from those places? Just imagining it quickened Pei Qi’s heartbeat.

Lu Yao asked casually, “Did you get in touch with my former staff?”

Pei Qi snapped out of his thoughts. “Yes. Jiang Lin and Cai Yuxing are preparing to retake their exams. Ji Linkai and Gan Qing haven’t outright declined—they’re still considering it. Liu Jing and Chen You said they’d work here again if the pay wasn’t in Ghost Coins.”

When Liu Jing and Chen You were mentioned, even Pei Qi couldn’t help but admire the mental resilience of these two women.

Lu Yao said, “Then please notify them to log in. I’ll be at the shop for about two hours this afternoon, so we can have a face-to-face conversation.”

The DIY workshop now conducted all transactions with players in Moon Coins, the universal currency of Mingshi City.

Lu Yao also paid her employees in Mingshi City with Moon Coins as their wages.

Half an hour later, Lu Yao met Liu Jing and Chen You again on Ghost Street. They discussed the terms of the contract and compensation, signed the agreement, and re-hired the two as staff for the DIY workshop.

That afternoon, the DIY workshop officially resumed operations.

There weren’t many customers that day. With one of them manning the front desk and the other serving as an instructor, it was a relatively light workload.

By the time the DIY workshop affairs were handled, it was already past 3 PM. Lu Yao returned to the shopping street to give Song Qingshan and He Bi a brief explanation of the situation on Ghost Street. Without pausing, she hurried back to the courier shop.

Zhang Shu greeted her upon arrival, beaming as he reported, “This afternoon, six or seven customers came to the shop to buy business cards. They were all from Guanyin Community and the residential area across the street. In total, we sold 43 cards.”

Lu Yao walked over to review Zhang Shu’s sales record. At that moment, the Courier System notified her that a customer had just filled out a flyer.

Two minutes earlier, the system had also received an order placed via a flyer. Zhao Ye had already taken the task and was on his way to deliver.

The doctor from the shopping street had arrived late today, so Ding Qing was still receiving her IV treatment.

Lu Yao carefully examined the address on the order and said, “I’ll take this one. I haven’t been to that area yet. After delivering the goods, I can also set up a signal receiver while I’m there.”

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