Chapter Ten

Cricket heard the sound of footsteps and the dog’s rapid panting, then turned her head: "You're back."

Youxing walked over, rested her hands on the railing, and got straight to the point: "Have you found a suitable location for the shop these past few days?"

Cricket shook her head: "I don't understand these things."

Youxing: "Do you have any thoughts about the shop at all?"

Cricket stood up, suddenly facing Youxing. She sat on the railing and leaned down, her dark eyes fixed on Youxing: "Aren't all these troublesome things supposed to be done by you?"

Youxing’s gaze was calm as she looked into those eyes, which were as deep as an abyss: "I am merely the apartment complex manager. My primary job is to assist the Domain Lord in opening a shop; I am not the shopkeeper or an employee. We must correct this misunderstanding first."

Cricket frowned: "Then who is the shopkeeper?"

Youxing: "You—or you could appoint a reliable subordinate."

Cricket: "They won't do. I want to appoint you as the shopkeeper of the store in my domain."

Monsters within a domain generally lack self-awareness, with the exception of the Domain Lord. Even if there are one or two exceptions, they are bound by rules and cannot move freely.

Youxing: "It is normal to have no established procedures for the first shop. Don't worry, I will assist you in managing this shop with all my might. As for the position of shopkeeper, I'm afraid I’m not qualified. After all, I work as an apartment manager during the day; if I were to work here at night as well, I wouldn't be able to handle it."

Cricket lowered her head: "But I don't know how to run a business."

Youxing: "We will learn from now on, and explore together."

Cricket: "A monster story opening a shop—don't you think that’s strange?"

Youxing shook her head: "I am just very expectant. If it succeeds, this project will change the ecology within the monster stories."

Cricket scoffed: "Change the ecology? Just with one shop? You only obtained the permit to open a shop from me. Whether this shop can truly open is still unknown."

Youxing was puzzled: "Isn't it enough to have the permit to open a shop?"

Cricket: "Don't you know that everything within a domain follows specific rules? Whether it’s a monster, or every blade of grass, stone, or brick in this domain—some rules are so absolute that even I, as the Domain Lord, cannot defy them. If you want to open a shop in this domain, you must alter some of those rules and integrate the shop's existence into them. Do you—have that ability?"

Youxing suddenly understood. This was what the apartment manager meant by the second condition for opening a shop. This was going to be tricky...

Cricket observed Youxing’s expression and her gaze slowly fell upon the isolation bag in Youxing's hand. She suddenly looked surprised: "You obtained the Shears of Severing Evil?"

Youxing snapped out of her thoughts and lifted the bag: "You mean this? I found it on the way here."

Cricket floated down to the ground and moved closer to Youxing, her expression extremely complex.

"Is it yours?" Youxing held out the isolation bag: "I didn't really want to pick it up, but it followed me the whole way. If it's yours, I'll return it to you."

Cricket lowered her eyes, didn't reach out to take it, and chuckled: "I didn't expect it to choose you."

Youxing was lost in thought: "Is this pair of shears an ancient relic?"

Cricket did not answer directly: "The conditions for opening the shop are now met."

The Shears of Severing Evil—an ancient relic possessing the power to break rules. It is a precious, rare artifact; some have speculated that it was hidden within a Level 7 or higher relic monster story.

Cricket eyed Youxing sideways and clicked her tongue: "These shears are too overbearing; I’ve long wanted to drive them out. When that SSS-level hunter came in last time, I thought it would choose them, but it didn't. I never imagined it would choose you."

Youxing fully grasped the disdain Cricket hadn't voiced: "What grade of relic is it?"

Since the appearance of ancient relics, they have been classified into five grades based on their abilities and utility. Levels 1 to 3 are standard grades, above Level 1 are Special-Grade relics, and above those are Holy Relics.

Cricket glanced at the shears in Youxing’s hand: "According to your human classification, it should be a Special-Grade relic."

Special-Grade relic—many people must want these shears.

Youxing didn't know much about ancient relics. Her position and spiritual power level were too low to access such information, and she only knew common knowledge. When she encountered the Shears of Severing Evil, she guessed it was an ancient relic hidden in a monster story domain, but she hadn't expected it to be such a powerful tool.

Youxing: "Then I’m afraid I can't use it."

The lowest Level 3 relics can barely be matched by a B-level spiritual power user; Level 2 relics require an A-level, and anything above Level 1 requires an S-level spiritual power user to control.

Cricket frowned at Youxing: "I'll tell you a secret: the apartment manager is a super-level 9 grand monster story."

Youxing was slightly startled internally but didn't show it: "...Why are you suddenly telling me this?"

Cricket: "With your power level, you should have gone insane the very first second you entered the apartment manager’s domain, becoming a low-level wandering monster. But you didn't. It’s the same in my domain—you know the state that double-S level bodyguard was in. There is something strange about you; perhaps you can also use a Special-Grade relic while over-leveling."

Youxing didn't answer.

Cricket: "What? You don't believe it? If you can't use the Shears of Severing Evil, the shop project will have to be shelved. Let’s find a place to test it."

Cricket signaled for Murin to lead Youxing downstairs, and they wandered the streets below, looking for a suitable spot for the shop.

Youxing took off her gloves and made direct contact with the Shears of Severing Evil. The world before her changed. She saw the streets, the buildings, and even the passing wandering monsters, all covered in twisted, obscure, strange characters.

Cricket said those were the powers of the rules.

Youxing didn't fully understand, but after observing them, she could vaguely sense their strength. She stopped at a three-way intersection; next to a massive abandoned clothing store was a small storefront. The twisted characters circling it were sparse and short, their power appearing slightly weak.

Youxing pointed to that shop: "Let’s go with this one."

Cricket: "It’s so small?"

Youxing: "Greed leads to failure; let’s take it slow. Cricket, I have a question for you first."

Cricket: "What is it?"

Youxing turned her head and looked straight into Cricket’s deep eyes: "If we are to open a shop, our customers will be the humans who enter the monster stories. The only condition for those humans, who are trapped in desperate situations, to patronize our shop is if the goods we sell are useful to them. Before we officially decide on the business items and the rules, I want to know: is the rule you enforce truly to destroy the spirits of all challengers?"

Cricket stepped back two paces and tilted her head to look at Youxing: "What do you think?"

Youxing: "I think that you, bound here, are also waiting for a grand resistance."

Cricket turned her face away and remained silent.

Youxing read the answer in her silence. She walked toward the dilapidated little storefront, raised the shears, and gently snipped away a small segment of the rules. Just as she was about to turn back to call Cricket, her breath suddenly hitched, she couldn't catch her breath, her legs turned to jelly, and she collapsed toward the ground.

Cricket floated over and caught Youxing, preventing her from hitting the ground, though her tone was somewhat relaxed: "It seems that even for you, forcibly over-leveling to use a Special-Grade relic isn't so easy."

Youxing blinked, staring at Cricket with a dazed look. She was conscious but unable to speak, as if suffering from sleep paralysis.

Cricket carried Youxing out of the domain and returned her to her dormitory.

Her spiritual power was overdrawn and required rest to recover; a healing pod would be best, but there wasn't one in the apartment. Fortunately, Youxing still had two bottles of spiritual stabilizer and a few unfinished special soy-milk meal buns in her bag. Youxing drank one of the stabilizers, didn't eat anything, and fell into an exhausted sleep.

The next morning, Youxing was still fast asleep, so Yan Zhen had to cover her shift for another day. At noon, Yan Zhen returned with a pile of takeout and saw Murin squatting at the door of the manager's office. He wanted to roll his eyes: "I should really let the apartment manager see this; Youxing’s salary should be split with me."

Murin barked at him.

Yan Zhen set down the takeout and reached out to pet Murin's furry head: "You’re a little ungrateful wolf, too. You go out with someone once, and now you won't even let people talk about her."

Youxing woke up and ate a soy-milk meal bun. Her mental state recovered, and as she went downstairs, she saw Yan Zhen and Murin bickering. She walked over to greet them: "Sorry, I’ve troubled you these past few days. I bought a few boxes of machine oil in the Ninth Sector; I hope you like it."

Yan Zhen’s consciousness seemed attached to a robot body; as long as he had a physical form, he would need machine oil. High-intelligence robots would even develop preferences for certain types of oil.

Yan Zhen probably hadn't expected Youxing to bring him a souvenir. Thinking about his complaining just a moment ago, he felt slightly embarrassed, but he still accepted the gift happily. This was the first time he had received a gift since he was born as a monster story, and it was something very practical.

Yan Zhen carried the gift bag, unable to resist asking a few more questions: "How are the preparations for the shop going?"

Youxing: "The location is chosen; I’ll go hang the shop sign tonight."

Last night, she only managed to snip a small piece of the rules; she had to fill the gap with the shop sign as soon as possible. Yan Zhen hadn't expected Youxing’s initiative to be so strong, pushing things to this point in just a few days: "Have you decided what to sell?"

Youxing nodded: "After work, I will try to make some samples first."

Cricket had no ideas at all for the shop. Even as a man-made monster story, once born, one is almost entirely detached from human cognition, both physiologically and mentally. She couldn't remember why her domain looked so much like a human city, and she lacked any commercial knowledge, her head full of memories of being rejected, insulted, and suppressed during her life.

Cricket's domain actually had supermarkets, fruit shops, and restaurants, but they were empty shells with no real-world significance. Youxing felt like she had entered a startup company where the boss was completely hands-off, and the entire project relied on her to push it forward.

In the afternoon, Youxing applied for 5,000 Star Credits from the apartment manager for the startup costs of the first shop. The advantage of opening a shop in a monster story domain was that there were no upfront costs like rent, utilities, or licensing fees, which saved most of the trouble. The first things to consider were goods and sources, and later, store upgrades, new product development, and hiring help.

Youxing received the money and immediately bought 300 Star Credits worth of candy and 200 Star Credits of ingredients at a nearby supermarket. The errand runner delivered them exactly when she got off work. Once Youxing had the materials, she notified Cricket and followed her back to the dormitory to test-make the merchandise.

Youxing planned to open a candy shop in Cricket’s domain. Whether it could be finalized depended on whether she and Cricket could make the ideal candy.