Chapter 76: Parallel World in the Dream (Part 2)
To test her theory, Song Yuqing leaned her entire weight onto the shopping cart handle and sprinted forward.
The surrounding shelves blurred into a dizzying streak as she flew past. Catching a quick glimpse out of the corner of her eye, she spotted an entire section filled with nothing but zombie crystal cores.
Song Yuqing dug her heels in and slammed on the brakes.
She plucked a brilliant red, basketball-sized crystal core from the rack and inspected it. This core was far more translucent than any she had ever seen; its surface was so polished she could distinctly see her own reflection in it.
A supermarket that sells crystal cores? Is there really such a good thing?
The moment the thought crossed her mind, the massive red core began to dissolve right in her hands. Song Yuqing felt a surge of pure, immense energy flood into her veins, but it didn’t cause her a shred of discomfort. Instead, it washed over her like a warm spring breeze, leaving her completely relaxed.
Song Yuqing: “…”
She had only wanted to look at it. How had her body automatically absorbed it?
Driven by curiosity, she reached for a massive, aqua-blue crystal core to study it further. But the instant her fingers brushed the surface, the shopping cart flashed a violent red and let out a shrill alarm, scaring her into dropping it immediately.
“Warning. Warning. Insufficient points.”
Song Yuqing froze. Turning around, she grabbed a handful of weapons from the opposite rack and tossed them into the cart instead. This time, the alarm remained silent, and the weapons vanished into her personal spatial storage without a hitch.
“Exactly how many points do I have left?” she muttered, scratching her head as she leaned over the handle to ask the cart tentatively.
“Total balance: 3,000 points. Expended balance: 2,500 points.”
Song Yuqing carefully eyed the rows of multi-colored cores lining the shelves. Judging by the automatic warning, they were clearly premium merchandise, so she decided to stick to the bare essentials. Pushing her cart along, she scanned the aisles until the terminal let out another sharp, piercing beep.
“Warning. Warning. Points have reached zero.”
The mechanical siren was still ringing in her ears when a mysterious, irresistible force violently yanked her backward, dragging her straight back to Master Fu’s underground music venue.
With a sharp click, the deadbolt on the door snapped locked.
Song Yuqing stood dazed in the shadows. The entire experience felt far too surreal to grasp.
Down in the basement, the rock music was still pounding. Peeking through the gaps in the front row, she spotted Master Fu scrambling onto a massive speaker stack at the side of the stage, roaring into the microphone as the crowd erupted into another wave of thunderous applause.
Song Yuqing watched quietly from the back, a soft smile playing on her lips. Master Fu’s vocals were actually quite impressive, and the track had a fantastic, driving rhythm. Even though the melody was simple, it was charged with raw power and vitality.
“Wake up! Burn! I know you can change this miserable world!” Master Fu chanted at the top of his lungs over the roaring instruments.
Suddenly, the vibrant spotlights cut out, replaced instantly by a brilliant white house light that illuminated every dark corner of the basement.
A thick, suffocating wave of stale sweat hit Song Yuqing’s nose.
The tightly packed crowd began to disperse, filing into a neat line to squeeze through the narrow exit. Taking advantage of the sudden distraction, Song Yuqing moved against the flow of the crowd, heading backstage to locate Master Fu.
The backstage area opened up into a wide, messy concrete space with several folding tables cluttered with various instrument cases.
Master Fu was kicking back at one of the tables, casually shooting the breeze with a few bandmates.
“Didn’t your old man explicitly ban you from gigging?” one of them asked.
“Yeah, the old guy claims I’m throwing my life away,” Master Fu laughed, pumping a fist in the air. “But this is the real work! We’re saving humanity’s spiritual core!”
Song Yuqing took a deep breath and called out, “Master Fu!”
Master Fu and the people around him paused, turning to stare at her with expressions of utter bewilderment.
“Who’s that?”
“Do I know you, sister?” Master Fu asked, tilting his head.
Song Yuqing’s mouth twitched. Who is he calling ‘sister’?
Suppressing her annoyance, she maintained a polite tone. “I just wanted to ask… what’s the deal with that iron door beneath the stage?”
“What door? Beats me. Go ask the venue manager,” Master Fu replied carelessly, grabbing a towel to wipe the sweat from his neck.
Song Yuqing stood there awkwardly, completely unsure of how to keep the conversation going.
“Wait a minute… have you been stalking me this entire time?” Master Fu asked, narrowing his eyes as his friends began to hoot and jeer.
“Well…”
“Did my father send you?” Master Fu’s expression instantly turned cold and serious. “Go back and tell him that he can focus on saving his world, and I’ll focus on saving mine.”
Hearing his dramatic declaration, the bandmates burst into a fit of laughter. Someone reached out to give Master Fu a mocking pat on the shoulder, teasing him for being so overly dramatic.
“Man, you and your old man are both absolute headcases!”
Master Fu irritatedly slapped his friend’s hand away. “Shut up. Even if he and I don’t see eye to eye, the guy really is a hero.”
Song Yuqing slowly raised her hand. “Are you talking about your father?”
“Yeah, obviously. Who else?”
“Come on, don’t you think your dad has completely lost his mind?” the guy next to Master Fu joked. “He keeps screaming about an impending global apocalypse. The guy reads way too much sci-fi.”
The apocalypse is coming? You mean it hasn’t happened yet? Song Yuqing’s brow furrowed into a tight knot.
“Nobody asked for your opinion!” Master Fu snorted coldly, pushing back his chair and storming toward the exit.
Song Yuqing quickly gave chase. She reached out, intending to grab his shoulder to demand a straight answer, but the exact microsecond her fingers made contact, she sat up abruptly in her bed.
Song Yuqing stared blankly around the room. The warm, amber glow of the vanity light bathed the walls, grounding her in reality and reminding her that she had merely survived a massive, winding dream. She sat perfectly still for a long moment, desperately trying to untangle her thoughts.
Was it really just a nightmare? But why did it feel so incredibly real?
Letting out a soft sigh, she swung her legs out of bed and stepped out into the storefront.
Inside the God’s Supermarket, only Liu Xiaona, Gaha, and Little Meat Bun were present. Song Yuqing began to genuinely question if even Zhang Yimiao’s sudden arrival had been part of her imagination.
Liu Xiaona was tapped into the terminal, rapidly processing invoices on the e-commerce backend, while Gaha and Little Meat Bun scurried between the rows, sorting and boxing up inventory. They were so thoroughly consumed by their duties that they didn’t even notice her stepping out of the residential wing.
“Are those new orders?” Song Yuqing asked softly.
Liu Xiaona, Gaha, and Little Meat Bun froze, snapping their heads around to look at her in unison.
An abrupt silence fell over the lobby.
Then, the room erupted into cheers.
“Song Yuqing! You’re finally awake!”
The trio sprinted across the floor, throwing their arms around her in a massive group hug.
“What’s the big deal? I just took a quick nap!”
“A quick nap?!” Liu Xiaona huffed, crossing her arms as she pouted. “Manager, you’ve been completely out cold for two days and a night!”
Song Yuqing blinked, stunned. “I’ve been asleep for that long?”
“Yes! And while you were out, we already smashed our monthly quota and cleared the 3,000 zombie target! We even helped Zhang Yimiao and her crew fully clean out and prep the adjacent building!”
“Gaha!” Gaha nodded vigorously to confirm.
As the fog finally cleared from Song Yuqing’s brain, a sudden, bizarre sensation washed over her. It felt as though every block in her internal energy meridians had been blasted wide open, leaving her feeling lighter and more powerful than ever before.
We cleared the 3,000 zombie soul quota ahead of schedule?
Awesome! Time to squeeze a performance bonus out of the old spirit!
“Master Fu!” she called out into the empty air. “We hit our baseline corporate target early! Where’s my official system reward?”
“Uh, we already asked him about that while you were asleep,” Liu Xiaona chimed in, scratching her head. “Master Fu claimed there is no reward because you somehow managed to blow through all 3,000 store points yourself.”
“Me?!” Song Yuqing pointed a finger at her own chest. She had been fast asleep the entire time! It wasn’t like she had physically walked into the parallel world to go on a retail shopping spree.
Wait a minute… unless what I experienced in that basement wasn’t a dream at all?
“Yeah, you were technically asleep on the outside, but did you secretly sneak off into the parallel dimension or something?” Liu Xiaona asked, thoroughly puzzled.
“Well, well, Song Yuqing,” Master Fu’s booming voice suddenly manifested in her mind. “What kind of high-grade loot did you manage to drag back to the inventory space this time?”
Song Yuqing: “…”
Did I really infiltrate the parallel world… through my own dreams?
