Ch 122: My Multiverse Supermarket

At 5:40 in the morning, the sun began to rise.

Across the Anhai region, countless factions that had stayed awake all night—waiting for news from the front—finally received the latest report.

To their shock, the victor was neither the Li family nor the Su family.

On the main island of the Anxi Archipelago, the Su family patriarch hung up the phone under the gaze of those around him.

Seeing the grave expression on the old man’s face, Su Qingyi immediately understood—
the Li family had lost. Completely.

Sure enough, the old man took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “The Li family’s fleet has been annihilated. Li Guangren, who personally commanded the battle, is dead.”

The room fell into stunned silence.

After a long pause, someone blurted out, “How could they lose?”

The old man shot him a cold glance. “The same way Li Zairen lost last time—that’s how Li Guangren lost.”

“But that was an entire fleet!”

The Li fleet had included one battleship, two cruisers, five destroyers, eight frigates, five fighter aircraft, and more than a dozen other vessels.

Such a powerful force—completely wiped out?

“What about Newborn Island?” someone asked.

The old man replied, “Newborn Island… is completely intact.”

“That’s impossible!”

“Nothing is impossible. You all thought it was a fierce midnight battle, both sides exchanging heavy fire? In truth, Newborn Island and Lonewind Island didn’t even deploy a single warship. After the Li family attacked, the fighting stopped within half an hour.”

All the later noise had come from the fleet itself exploding.

The chaos only ended when the Li fleet had completely sunk—
a perfect repeat of Li Zairen’s earlier debacle when his three escort ships went under.

“Good heavens… Has Su Wujun returned yet?” someone shouted. “Tell him to withdraw immediately!”

“He already has—an hour and a half ago.”

After witnessing the Li fleet inexplicably destroyed, the sea in that area churning with waves several stories high as if struck by a storm, even Su Wujun didn’t dare let his ships get close.

When he saw that Newborn Island was untouched—no smoke, no ruin, everything pristine—he fled in terror.

Li Zairen fled too. He’d never boarded his ship at all, wary that Newborn Island might have hidden trump cards.
The moment Li Guangren’s fleet came under fire, Li Zairen rushed back to the main island, hoping to seize control before anyone could blame him.

…

On Lonewind Island, Xu Jiayi sat in silence.

Why did this scene feel so familiar?

Then she shuddered. “Anhai’s entire power balance is about to turn upside down.”

After today, no one in the region would ever underestimate Newborn Island again.

In fact, perhaps not just the Anhai region—unless a nation was completely isolated, the name Newborn Island would soon spread across the world.

Xu Ou’ge came running to her. “Commander! I’m so glad you’re alright.”

Xu Jiayi said, “Start counting casualties and damages on Lonewind Island.”

The island lacked Newborn’s advanced defenses; despite her best interception efforts, some shells still landed.

She’d evacuated civilians into bunkers early, so most of the wounded were her own soldiers.

After a moment, her eyes blazed with determination. “Send out my orders—repair and rearm. It’s time for a counterattack.”

General De’an would probably be enraged to death by this outcome.

Once he died, chaos would grip the Dusa Archipelago.

If she didn’t seize a few more islands now, then all the suffering from a year of blockade and shortages would have been for nothing.

*

The wider political upheaval was lost on the people of Newborn Island—and none of them cared.

They were throwing a party in the shelter, celebrating Zhou Li’s return and their miraculous survival.

Zhou Li herself was too tired and declined to join, leaving the ever-energetic An Fengxuan to take part.

Du Xiaogan, having lived through war before, felt a bit lost.

Most people cleaned up battlefields after a fight—but here, they were celebrating?

Then she thought about it: nothing on Newborn Island had been damaged, there was no battlefield to clean.
And after such a brush with death, maybe celebration was the only way to breathe again.

Seeing her younger sister smiling so brightly, Du Xiaogan found herself smiling too. Maybe a little joy wasn’t such a bad thing.

The party didn’t last long.

They were happy, yes—but they all knew tougher days were coming, and they needed to rest and recover for whatever came next.

…

Zhou Li didn’t wake until nine.

The racket last night had gone on forever, and her place wasn’t soundproof; she hadn’t fallen asleep until after three.

There probably wouldn’t be any customers today—so she allowed herself a rare lazy morning.

After washing up and eating breakfast, she finally went downstairs.

Qi Jiayu and the others came to brief her on the recent events and share information, waiting to see if she had new instructions.

Zhou Li said she had none. “You’re the acting master of Newborn Island now—you’ll have to take charge on your own one day.”

Fang Qin hesitated. “Boss, we… made a decision without your approval. We reached a cooperation deal with Su Bochun.”

Zhou Li asked, “Did she help?”

“Yes. Councilor Su did speak up for us, but unfortunately—”

“Since she showed good faith, Newborn Island should honor the agreement, no matter the result. I won’t blame you for taking initiative. In fact, finding allies beyond Lonewind Island under those circumstances was smart.”

Fang Qin sighed in relief—and felt secretly proud. From today, her name finally meant something.

Once the reports were done, Zhou Li looked toward the door, where Du Xiaogan had been lingering nervously. “Why don’t you come in?”

Du Xiaogan entered, struggling to find words.

Zhou Li said, “Your sister’s treatment can start now. But the process won’t be short—and it’s not cheap. Be mentally prepared.”

Du Xiaogan’s eyes shone. “I’ll find a way to collect coral.”

Zhou Li said, “You might not have to pay yourself. The Li family owes us compensation, after all. If it’s enough, we’ll count it as public revenue—earmarked for infrastructure, relief, and medical aid.”

That made Du Xiaogan happy—but also embarrassed. “I didn’t contribute much during the crisis…”

Compared to what Qi Jiayu and Fang Qin had done, her efforts seemed trivial.

If the enemy had landed, she might’ve fought—but since they only bombarded from afar, all she could do was hide in the shelter.

“Protecting the island’s assets is a contribution too,” Zhou Li said.

From the start, she’d assigned Du Xiaogan to logistics—not combat or diplomacy. During the attack, Xiaogan had focused on moving surface equipment underground to keep it safe, and that was more than enough.

Zhou Li said, “While I’m free, bring your sister for treatment.”

Du Xiaogan wiped her face, eyes red, and left.

Soon she returned, pushing Du Yishi in a wheelchair.

Zhou Li placed her inside the medical capsule. The machine automatically analyzed her condition and proposed an optimal treatment plan.

Following the instructions, Zhou Li selected the program and loaded the corresponding medication.

When a countdown appeared on the display, she said, “The process takes three hours. She’ll need two more hours of rest afterward before waking up. Let’s give her some quiet.”

Du Xiaogan wanted to stay by her side, but in the end, she chose to trust Zhou Li.

While she went off to handle errands, Grandma Du arrived with a set of cleaning tools.

Zhou Li asked, “Grandma Du, what are you doing?”

“I’m helping you clean up,” she said.

Zhou Li tried to refuse, but the old woman insisted—grateful that Zhou Li had saved her granddaughter, she needed to do something to repay the kindness. Zhou Li could only let her.

Though Zhou Li usually kept the store tidy, it was big, with countless shelves and corners easy to overlook.

Grandma Du cleaned every last speck of dust, even in the hardest-to-reach spots.

When she finished, she asked, “Boss, do you still need these cardboard boxes?”

Zhou Li: “…No.”

“Then can I have them?”

“Go ahead.”

Grandma Du beamed as she collected them.

An Fengxuan asked, “What do you need boxes for?”

“They’re very useful,” Grandma Du said cheerfully. “When it gets cold, you can cover yourself with them to stay warm!”

Just then, Du Xiaogan arrived to pick up her sister, whose treatment was nearly done. Hearing that, her heart ached. “Grandma, we have blankets now. We don’t need cardboard boxes.”

“Well, they can still hold things,” the old woman said stubbornly.

Du Xiaogan said nothing, only looked at Zhou Li with hopeful eyes.

Zhou Li smiled. “Come on, let’s go take a look.”

Grandma Du, seeing them head upstairs, couldn’t resist following.

Though her legs were weak, the thought of seeing her granddaughter gave her strength; she climbed all three flights in one go.

“Ah, I’m exhausted,” she said, holding the railing, dizzy from the effort.

But before she could sit down, she heard a familiar, raspy voice: “Sis… ter.”

That hoarse sound—no matter how old or forgetful she became—she would never forget it.

Straightening her back, she shuffled toward the medical room.

As she appeared in the doorway, Du Yishi turned her head to look at her.

Grandma Du’s vision blurred completely—clouded by tears.

【Author’s note】

Boss Zhou: “Sure, the Li family suffered heavy losses—but we were scared half to death. Mental distress compensation sounds fair, doesn’t it?” [dog emoji]

Li family: “…”

☢️☢️☢️