After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar] – CH20

Chapter 20

The starter shop was 100 square meters. For Xie Xingchen, that was more than enough—after all, he didn’t have many products.

Every shop you purchased came with one free renovation.

“Free,” however, didn’t mean you got everything. The mall system offered only a small selection of complimentary decorations. Many attractive styles and decorative items still required star-coins.

But Xie Xingchen had no intention of making his flower shop flashy or over-the-top, so he didn’t need to buy those delicate-looking—yet ridiculously expensive—decor pieces.

He decided to paint the exterior in Tiffany Blue, also known as robin’s egg blue.

It was fresh and clean, but with a subtle youthful elegance. More importantly… after wandering from First Avenue to Seventh Avenue, he hadn’t seen any other shop using this color.

But the endless palette on the system’s renovation page finally made him understand.

If he hadn’t searched with a specific color in mind, he probably wouldn’t have found it either. The system’s built-in colors alone numbered in the hundreds; once you included paid colors, there were at least a thousand!

Not only were there countless shades, but there were also plenty of loud, eye-catching options—so trying to “blind pick” something soft and refreshing without patience would be genuinely hard.

With one-click preview refresh, Xie Xingchen confirmed the color really did look great.

Satisfied, he saved it and moved on to redesign the storefront.

For different store types, the system provided reference templates. Customers could also buy and customize ready-made templates, but few people did. Even those who paid for convenience usually modified them beyond recognition—because nobody wanted their shop to “match outfits” with someone else’s.

Xie Xingchen had seen countless flower shops, including many stunning ones. He’d even worked part-time at a flower shop before, so he had plenty of ideas.

The storefront didn’t need to be complicated. He simply split it into two sections: the left side became a grand, elegant grid window display; the right side became a glass arched doorway with a hint of vintage sophistication.

Both the window and the arch were wrapped in robin’s egg blue, accented with a touch of white trim. The overall look was refined and refreshing—so photogenic it practically begged people to take pictures with it.

After finishing the façade, Xie Xingchen moved on to the interior.

He painted the entire inside a high-saturation white. With one click, the shop transformed, instantly taking on a beautiful shape.

Since he didn’t have many products, he didn’t place too many flower racks inside. But leaving the space too empty would look shabby, so he leaned into white gauze and greenery.

In the grid window display, he layered at least three tiers of white gauze embroidered with floral and botanical motifs. The gauze varied in depth and transparency, creating a soft, ethereal feel.

To match the fresh palette, he placed light, pale-wood flower stands around the shop. They varied in height and had unique shapes. He also installed a few grid frames on the walls for hanging trailing plants. In the center, he set up a large hollow circular wooden display stand—delicate, yet grand.

As for the innermost wall, he painted it the same Tiffany Blue as the storefront. This would be the checkout area, so he placed a graceful white cashier counter there.

There were two ways to place orders in StarNet Mall: one was to order at the virtual shop’s cashier counter—paying an extra 10 star-coins to use the purchased item in the virtual world for up to ten hours. The other was to place the order directly through your light-brain, and have the item delivered to the real world.

In most cases, hardly anyone paid the extra 10.

After all, this was a holographic mall. It carried some entertainment value, but it wasn’t a game or a social app… and with mental power restrictions, people couldn’t stay online for long anyway. So few were willing to spend more for temporary virtual use.

That wasn’t exaggeration. It wasn’t that the mall didn’t try to drive traffic—it was simply limited by the nature of holography. Even B-rank mental power users could only stay for ten hours.

In the Alliance, D-rank and C-rank users were the social mainstream. B-rank users were already qualified to apply to plant cultivation programs. A-rank was considered the top of the pyramid, and S-rank the sharpest point at the very top.

As for SS and SSS ranks who could ignore time limits and stay in the holographic world all day? Leaving aside how rare they were—why would people like that waste time here when they could be cultivating their abilities?

So the virtual cashier counter wasn’t actually that useful.

However—

Xie Xingchen didn’t care. His shop felt too empty!

Having a free, good-looking device that took up space was perfect.

After saving the current design progress, he moved on to decorations.

Filtering for free plant décor, he chose greenery only—no flowers.

Decorative flowers required careful color coordination, and unfortunately, Xie Xingchen didn’t trust himself to handle that. Green plants, on the other hand, made everything easier.

He placed thirty to forty pots of greenery of all sizes in different corners. He also added several trailing and climbing plants on the wall frames. After that, he carefully adjusted the plants’ sizes and proportions, then stepped back and inspected everything.

Only then did he nod in satisfaction.

He saved the renovation progress again, walked around inside and out a few more times, and finally stood at the entrance with his chin in his hand.

The entrance… still felt a bit empty.

After thinking for a moment, he opened the renovation page again and turned on the editable area view.

When he realized the space about 1.5 meters outside the shop was still his territory, he immediately installed a textured white wooden fence, wrapping the shop halfway while leaving a wide entry path.

Once the fence was in place, he added a pebble path in the open space between the fence and the storefront, and covered the rest with grass.

Then he placed a pale-wood table and chairs on the left side of the little enclosed garden. Finally, he filled the base of the fence with short flowers and herbs, and tied a few macaron-white-and-green balloons to the railing.

The final result was fresh and elegant—with just the right touch of playful charm.

Nice. Xie Xingchen nodded, pleased.

He clicked the [Start] button, and everything in front of him shifted rapidly.

In less than a minute, the plain, bare starter shop transformed according to his saved design—turning into a refined, refreshing flower shop.

And yet—

When he saw the white signboard with plain black lettering hanging above his beautiful storefront, Xie Xingchen nearly swore out loud.

Damn it, StarNet Mall, you stingy iron rooster!

So even the “free signboard” could become another paid trap?

Spitting blood internally, he didn’t want to pay, but in the end… he had no choice.

After spending 10,000 star-coins, he redesigned the sign in the same style as the façade. But calling it a signboard wasn’t quite accurate—because he didn’t add a separate sign at all. Instead, he integrated the shop name directly into the building, making it feel cleaner and more upscale.

Just as he was about to press confirm, Xie Xingchen suddenly looked up.

After a moment, he clicked preview—and his lips curved upward.

He changed the shop name and planet emblem to a glowing option, adjusted the brightness to match the storefront’s lighting, and previewed it several times. Once he was sure everything was perfect, he finally pressed [Confirm].

Whew…

He couldn’t help wiping sweat from his forehead.

So close. He’d almost gotten scammed again.

After finishing the renovation, Xie Xingchen chose not to reveal the shop publicly.

At once, a thick fog rolled in, completely shrouding his flower shop.

The once-ignored starter shop was now hidden behind dense mist. Curious merchants on Blue Heart Street stepped out to see what was going on.

“Huh? That shop got bought?”

“Why’s there fog? That’s rare.”

“What are they selling? Who opens a store here and makes it this mysterious?”

Nearby shop owners craned their necks in curiosity.

This street was famous as a “retirement lane,” with terrible traffic. People with ambition wouldn’t choose to open a shop here. Most shop owners here were laid-back—opening a store was just for fun. There was no reason to hide behind fog.

And yet now, a mysterious newcomer had arrived.

They chatted and speculated for a long time, but couldn’t reach any conclusion. When they finally dispersed, they couldn’t help telling their friends and family about this “oddity.”

So in less than a day, word spread: a mysterious shop had opened on the retirement street.

And suddenly, many people wanted to see what exactly this mysterious person was planning to sell here.

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