Ye Jinran looked with deep satisfaction at the neatly arranged shelves, feeling his compulsive need for order finally soothed for a moment.
The storefront of this place appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary convenience store that operated around the clock.
If a native inhabitant of the instance stepped inside, they would only see a normal convenience store. However, once a player walked through that door, they would cross into another space entirely, the real System Shop.
The interior of the shop had undergone space folding magic. Although the outside looked small, the inside was far more expansive. Ye Jinran pulled a duckbill cap low over his eyes, sat behind the checkout counter, and casually scrolled through his phone.
There was nothing much to understand about the plot of a PVP instance. The real focus lay in the conflict between players. With this attitude, Ye Jinran did not bother memorizing the storyline of this instance.
He simply skimmed over the background information. If he remembered too much, he feared he would be unable to resist spoiling things for the players again.
All he knew was that the five players would each receive a different identity. Their roles were Survivor, Journalist, Councilman, Meteorological Expert, and Graduate Student. These identities represented several major forces that existed during the upcoming catastrophe.
Civil survival organizations, the media, the government, the military, and the university would all respond differently in order to protect their own interests. They would attempt to expand their influence and take control of the disaster’s direction.
Who would be able to seize control of fate’s current? Ye Jinran chuckled softly. He already had his answer.
The chime at the entrance rang crisply.
The convenience store’s motion sensor had detected someone coming in. Still holding his phone, Ye Jinran lowered the brim of his hat and pretended to be fully absorbed in the online world, though in truth his attention was fixed entirely on the customer who had just entered.
She was a girl with a high ponytail, wearing a cropped T shirt that exposed her waist. She was not even one meter sixty in height and carried a one strap shoulder bag. The moment she stepped into the shop she began looking around curiously. Her gaze froze the instant it fell upon the shelves.
She stood rooted to the spot for nearly half a minute before finally approaching the counter with hesitation.
“Um…” The girl with the high ponytail began speaking in Chinese. “Is this the System Shop?”
Ye Jinran set his phone aside and propped his chin on both hands. “That is right. Payment can be made with points or with anything else that interests me.”
The payment methods in the physical store were far more flexible.
The online System Shop’s rules were rigid. Once a transaction was completed, points were automatically deducted. Ye Jinran had very little room for manipulation there.
But when trading face to face in the physical store, the range of things he could accept expanded greatly. Bartering was extremely common.
The girl, known in the game as Crane Candy, nodded with sudden understanding. She had heard stories on the forum about offline system shops, but this was her first time running into one inside an instance.
“Can I ask… am I the first player to find this place?”
Since it was her first visit, Ye Jinran explained patiently. “That counts as intelligence. You will need to pay an appropriate price.”
The player standing in front of him was Crane Candy. She was surprisingly not with her usual partner. Perhaps she had not had the chance to meet up with him yet. Ye Jinran briefly considered whether he should sell her the location of the person whose username was I Am Crane’s Dog at a very high price.
Crane Candy, or simply Crane, went quiet with contemplation after hearing the requirement. “Can I pay with my remaining time? I have plenty of that, but I do not have many points left.”
She was referring to the death countdown each player possessed.
Ye Jinran raised an eyebrow and quietly opened the player information page that only he could see. Just as expected, this crouching tiger of a girl actually had more than twelve years’ worth of time, yet her points barely reached ten thousand.
Twelve years might not sound long, but most players actually had less than a year remaining. In this instance alone there were two players who were already in the expiration stage. Amanda and the Medicine God had time left measured in weeks. If they were not already on the verge of expiry, Ye Jinran doubted they would risk entering a PVP instance, especially alongside Bai Yanzhou.
As for Crane, she must have cleared enough instances with confidence, and with her fixed teammate always accompanying her, she probably felt very secure. Ye Jinran casually checked her instance clearance records, which were densely filled with victories from teaming with I Am Crane’s Dog.
As his attention lingered on her, he made an unexpected discovery.
His earlier assumption had been wrong. Crane and her so called fixed teammate were not lovers. They were siblings. Their real names were Wang He Ran and Wang Aimin. The elder sister was seventeen and the younger brother twelve, both underage.
Children. True children. Ye Jinran was genuinely stunned.
Would someone like Bai Yanzhou show mercy to a child? Probably not.
Crane’s younger brother had drawn the identity of Meteorological Expert, but his real age was only twelve. In such cases, the instance would automatically generate an appearance suitable for the assigned identity.
Only NPCs would see the altered appearance. In the eyes of others, he might very well look like a middle aged uncle.
Crane’s identity in the instance was Graduate Student. By logic, her appearance should have been made more mature. However, Ye Jinran noticed her system profile carried a patch, portraying her as a prodigious girl who had skipped multiple grades and entered postgraduate studies at only seventeen.
She was not using any disguise tools, and her appearance right now was exactly the same as in reality. Once again, Ye Jinran had to admire how carefree she was. She did not seem worried at all about being attacked offline. Truly a fearless little child.
“You can use time to pay.” He had no need to hide anything and answered directly. “One day of your time in exchange for my answer.”
Crane agreed without a trace of hesitation, not caring at all that a small portion of her remaining time had just been carved away.
After deducting her time, Ye Jinran said, “You are the first player to find the System Shop this round. As an opening bonus, I will give you another piece of information. Someone stocked up on items before entering the instance.”
Crane’s eyes widened. She quickly said, “It should not be my brother. If he did something like that, he would definitely tell me. Amanda… she is as poor as I am. So it must be one of the remaining two.”
Ye Jinran’s eyes brightened. He had not expected to hear Amanda’s name from her, much less that Crane even knew the girl’s exact points balance. They must be close. Players rarely revealed personal information lightly. Points balance in particular was usually only shared with extremely trusted long term teammates.
Crane did not intend for him to answer and immediately continued, “Daylight God is a huge problem. I am not expecting to defeat him. Honestly, I came with the heart of a fangirl. But maybe I will win. Dreams are free anyway.”
She had a stable team advantage, but her overall combat ranking was somewhere past ten thousand. She was a small, nearly invisible player in the grand scheme of things. Naturally she did not dare compare herself to a top tier expert.
Watching how innocent she seemed, Ye Jinran nearly felt tempted to find a reason to get all her remaining points as well. Or rather, exchange them properly.
“Would you like something to drink? You probably did not enter this convenience store to look for me originally.” He attempted to lure her.
Crane clearly had not known anything unusual about the store before stepping inside. She must have come for a normal reason.
Sure enough, after his reminder, she suddenly remembered. “Oh right. I came to buy drinks. A classmate from my research group asked me to come get some cold beverages. They are busy calculating experimental data and do not have the time or the patience to come out.”
The System Shop carried everything. It was not hard for Ye Jinran to pull up drinks that matched her needs. He tapped a few times on the interface, switching out the contents of the freezer. “Choose whatever you like. There are carbonated drinks and fruit juices in different flavors. They all have special functions as items, but you can drink them normally too.”
Crane rushed toward the freezer with enthusiasm and examined the drinks lined up on the shelves. Their prices were mostly in the double digit range. Ye Jinran had intentionally chosen inexpensive, low level items.
Even so, Crane still asked timidly, “Can I pay with cash?”
Ye Jinran hesitated. It was not that he disliked money, but converting currencies from different worlds required complicated processing and resulted in large losses. Often, it was simply not worth it.
Seeing his lack of immediate response, Crane understood his concerns and quickly added, “Alright. My points are still enough to buy a few bottles.”
She hesitated briefly, then swiftly pulled several bottles from the freezer. They looked like cola and lemon water.
Based on her knowledge of items, the cola like drink could be used to craft explosives with control effects, and the lemon water possessed long lasting insulation properties, so it would stay cold on the way back even if she took a long time.
After paying, Crane stuffed the drinks into her shoulder bag. While packing, she said cheerfully, “Store owner, you should get ready this time.”
“What?” Ye Jinran tilted his head in confusion.
“Bai Yanzhou… who knows if he will pull something like last time again. People like us are mere mortals. We would not dare guess what goes on in the mind of someone like him.” Crane muttered awkwardly, her tone full of both admiration and helplessness.
Before Ye Jinran could stop her and ask what she meant, her phone rang with an urgent call urging her back. She hurriedly left the convenience store, clearly anxious to deliver the cold drinks to her research group classmates as quickly as possible.
Ye Jinran leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest. He slowly closed his eyes, emotions tangled in a complicated knot.
Crane had told him to be prepared for Bai Yanzhou. Did that mean Bai Yanzhou had done something to the previous store owner? From Crane’s choice of words, she obviously did not know the shopkeeper had been replaced.
Most players were unaware of the former owner’s death. Even those who had heard fragments of the truth instinctively believed that an NPC backed by the Main God would simply resurrect. After all, time reversal was nothing difficult under the power of the Main God.
As for what had really happened to the previous store owner, Ye Jinran actually knew very little.
His direct superior, the Main God, had only mentioned the matter in a single offhand sentence. The former store owner had been ambushed and died in the attack. The Main God simply reminded him to take care of his own safety in the future. That was all.
The more Ye Jinran thought about it, the stranger it felt. Based on everything he understood about the Main God, resurrecting the dead should have been as easy as breathing. The Main God could have reforged the corpse into a stronger species.
It could have reshaped the soul and placed it into a new human vessel. If it wished to be meticulous, it could even erase the fact of death from the timeline entirely, as though it never happened.
Instead, the Main God did nothing except pluck Ye Jinran from the countless newly admitted players and force him into the role of the store’s new owner. Then it immediately began squeezing every drop of labor out of him without the slightest guilt.
Sometimes, Ye Jinran even wondered if the former store owner had truly been human. He had never seen the person, so he could not be certain.
Driven by a mixture of curiosity and unease, he had once combed through the player forum, searching for clues regarding the previous store owner and the terrifying attack that had taken his life.
Most of what players discussed was guesswork or exaggerated rumors. The truth had long since been distorted through endless retellings.
Some said the guardian of the System Shop was actually a three dimensional projection of the Main God, something like an avatar.
Others said the attack was an attempt by humans to overthrow the Main God, and that the experiment had achieved limited success.
More people complained bitterly about the incident because it had caused the System Shop to shut down for an extended period. With no access to items, instance clearance rates had plummeted and death rates had soared, yet despite the supposed partial success, the infinite game had not been halted.
A few experts speculated that the attacker had not been human. Or at least, not human from this world. Based on the current overall level of the player base, no human should possess the capability to challenge the guardian of the System Shop.
The Main God’s game connected countless parallel universes. Beyond the reach of human perception, there might be many intelligent species forced into the game. Perhaps they were the ones bold enough to resist.
Unfortunately, the humans of this world were painfully weak. Without the support of system items, they possessed no supernatural abilities.
No matter which faction one belonged to, everyone held a pessimistic view toward the idea of breaking free of the Main God, much less mounting an actual rebellion.
Ye Jinran felt a headache rising and massaged his temples. “It all sounds like the work of some reckless hero who does not care about consequences. People would end up resenting someone like that, would they not…”
The bitter fruit created by a hero would ultimately be borne by countless ordinary people. That was the silent punishment the Main God had imposed.
He sincerely hoped that the so called hero hidden somewhere among the crowd would finally understand the negative impact of their actions, recognize the disaster they had brought upon others, and wisely retreat.
And more importantly, never come seeking trouble from him again.
✦ ✧ ✦
Nycreth
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
Their journey continues. Their coffee cup, however, does not.
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
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ChaptersChapter 1 · Blood Moon Town: ShhhChapter 2 · The Mist of Nanjin Village (1)Chapter 3 · The Mist of Nanjin Village (2)Chapter 4 · The Mist of Nanjin Village (3)Chapter 5 · The Mist of Nanjin Village (4)Chapter 6 · The Mist of Nanjin Village (7)Chapter 7 · The Mist of Nanjin Village (6)Chapter 8 · The mist over Nanjin Village (7)Chapter 9 · The Mystery of Nanjin Village (The End)Chapter 10 · Real WorldChapter 11 · Riding The Wind (1)Chapter 12 · Riding The Wind (2)Chapter 13 · Riding The Wind (3)Chapter 14 · Riding The Wind (4)Chapter 15 · Riding The Wind (5)Chapter 16 · Riding The Wind (6)Chapter 17 · Riding The Wind (7)Chapter 18 · Riding The Wind (8)Chapter 19 · Riding The Wind (9)Chapter 20 · Riding The Wind (10)Chapter 21 Part 1 · Riding The Wind (11)Chapter 21 Part 2 · Riding The Wind (11)Chapter 22 · Real World (1)Chapter 23 · Real World (2)Chapter 24 · Golden Sands Fade Away (1)Chapter 25 · Golden Sands Fade Away (2)Chapter 26 · Golden Sands Fade Away (3)Chapter 27 · Golden Sands Fade Away (4)Chapter 28 · Golden Sands Fade Away (5)Chapter 29 · Golden Sands Fade Away (6)Chapter 30 · Golden Sands Fade Away (7)Chapter 31 · Golden Sands Fade Away (8)Chapter 32 · Golden Sands Fade Away (9)Chapter 33 · Golden Sands Fade Away (10)Chapter 34 · Golden Sands Fade Away (11)Chapter 35 · Golden Sands Fade Away (12)Chapter 36 · Golden Sands Fade Away (13)Chapter 37 · Golden Sands Fade Away (14)Chapter 38 · Golden Sands Fade Away (15)Chapter 39 · Golden Sands Fade Away (16)Chapter 40 · Golden Sands Fade Away (17)Chapter 41 · Golden Sands Fade Away (18)Chapter 42 · Golden Sands Fade Away (19)Chapter 43 · Golden Sands Fade Away (20)Chapter 44 · Golden Sands Fade Away (21)Chapter 45 · Golden Sands Fade Away (22)Chapter 46 · Golden Sands Fade Away (23)Chapter 47 · Golden Sands Fade Away (24)Chapter 48 · Golden Sands Fade Away (25) The EndChapter 49 · Main God’s DomainChapter 50 · Anomaly Investigation Bureau (1)Chapter 51 · Anomaly Investigation Bureau (2)Chapter 52 · Item FactoryChapter 53 · Defrosted Friendship (1)Chapter 54 · Defrosted Friendship (2)Chapter 55 · Defrosted Friendship (3)Chapter 56 · Defrosted Friendship (4)Chapter 57 · Defrosted Friendship (5)Chapter 58 · Defrosted Friendship (6)Chapter 59 · Defrosted Friendship (7)Chapter 60 · Defrosted Friendship (8)Chapter 61 · Defrosted Friendship (9)Chapter 62 · Defrosted Friendship (10)Chapter 63 · Defrosted Friendship (11)Chapter 64 · Defrosted Friendship (12)Chapter 65 · Defrosted Friendship (13)Chapter 66 · Defrosted Friendship (14)Chapter 67 · Defrosted Friendship (15)Chapter 68 · Defrosted Friendship (16)Chapter 69 · Defrosted Friendship (End)Chapter 70 · The Real WorldChapter 71 · Matching TimeChapter 72 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (1)Chapter 73 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (2)Chapter 74 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (3)Chapter 75 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (4)Chapter 76 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (5)Chapter 77 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (6)Chapter 78 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (7)Chapter 79 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (8)Chapter 80 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (9)Chapter 81 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (10)Chapter 82 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (11)Chapter 83 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (12)Chapter 84 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (13)Chapter 85 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (14)Chapter 86 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (15)Chapter 87 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (16)Chapter 88 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (17)Chapter 89 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (18)Chapter 90 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (19)Chapter 91 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (20)Chapter 92 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (21)Chapter 93 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (22)Chapter 94 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (23)Chapter 95 · The Meaning of Endless Abundance (Complete)Chapter 96 · The Main God Invites You for TeaChapter 97 · The Player ForumChapter 98 · Training GroundChapter 99 · Eternal Night – The Stone-Striker (1)Chapter 100 · Eternal Night – The Stone-Striker (2)Chapter 101 · Eternal Night – The Stone-Striker (3)Chapter 102 · Eternal Night · The One Who Strikes the Stone (Finale)