Chapter 39
At 20:00 in the evening, many people had already put down what they were doing and were waiting eagerly.
Even though everyone knew Earth Shop’s “new items” event wouldn’t start until 21:00, at this moment, people still couldn’t resist heading to 123rd Street.
The old Earth Shop location was blocked by thick fog. When people arrived, they basically saw… nothing. But many of them still refused to leave.
Alice was one of them, and she was also one of the most nervous and uneasy.
Compared to others who would be satisfied as long as they managed to buy something, Alice wanted more. She wanted to stockpile more priority shopping cards.
So ever since night fell, she had been restless.
She originally planned to wander around Earth Shop to calm her nerves.
But when she got here, she realized—her anxiety not only didn’t ease, it actually got worse as the crowd grew more and more suffocating!
Alice: slam!
What the hell?!
Why are there so many people?!
With this many people, could she really make it into the first 100 payments?
Alice instantly lost confidence.
She exited StarNet Mall. Alice went into full “withdrawn mode.”
She thought for a long, long time. Then her eyes suddenly lit up.
She decided to change! her! snatching! method!
These days, everyone uses the holographic mall—so what if she took another route and used the web version instead?
Alice snickered, convinced this was a brilliant idea.
The holographic mall was great, but precisely because it was so great, everyone crowded into it.
And don’t talk about “social anxiety doesn’t like crowds”—sure, social anxiety doesn’t like crowds, but the holographic mall had a single-player mode! You could enter the holo-mall, switch to single-player mode, and no one could see anyone else. You could rotate a store 360 degrees, see products in 3D, try things on… so many benefits that, over time, everyone forgot the web version even existed.
But now Alice suddenly remembered it.
And the more she thought about it, the more it made sense.
No matter what, the web version was simple!
When it came time to grab items, she could focus completely.
With that in mind, Alice immediately told Vincent.
Vincent received Alice’s message and looked totally confused.
Then he scratched his head in a very not-clever way and said to his roommates sitting in the dorm living room, “Alice told me to use the web mall to grab stuff. She says it’s easier to focus.”
The others didn’t understand.
Vincent continued, “Alice said Earth Shop just finished renovating. If it’s too pretty, we might get stunned. And honestly—even if we only freeze for a couple seconds, stuff might be gone.”
It sounded ridiculous, but thinking about it… it really could happen.
Earth Shop already looked great before. Now it’s renovated again, so it’s probably even better. Getting dazzled wouldn’t be strange. But the problem was… if you lost focus for a few seconds, everything would be sold out!
Roommates: thoughtful.jpg
Roommates: sparkly eyes.jpg
They nodded again and again. At this moment, they admired Alice like crazy.
Vincent nodded too, affirming his sister’s strategy, and said, “Alright then—later we’ll use the web mall to grab stuff.”
After saying that, Vincent exited StarBlog and opened the StarNet Mall web page.
Not only did he do it—his roommates did too.
It was originally just a “just in case” measure. But once they entered the web version, they discovered a huge point—
—So the store decoration in the holographic mall didn’t affect the store’s web page at all?
Compared to the fog-covered holographic storefront, Earth Shop’s web page still had items listed!
And even better—the web page already showed links for the items that would go live later!
Even though the links were gray and couldn’t be clicked yet, they could see the product categories, quantities, and prices in advance!
“Holy—everything here is insanely affordable…”
“Wuwuwu Boss Xie is so, so conscientious!”
“I don’t dare speak. Is this really high-end greenery? It’s way cheaper than I expected!”
“Huh… wait. There’s a sunflower selling for 9,999 star-coins. Is it something special?”
StarNet Mall’s default was that stores under the same owner appeared in a “store-within-a-store” format, and the best-selling shop showed up first, so what everyone saw first was the flower shop.
The flower prices were the same as before. The only standout was the sunflower priced at 9,999.
In other greenery shops, 9,999 for a plant wasn’t expensive—but in Earth Shop, that price was ridiculously high.
While everyone was dawdling around, it was almost 21:00.
At that point, the people who wanted to keep discussing all shut up. Everyone opened the shop they wanted, fully focused, squatting and waiting for the moment.
Vincent and his three roommates all wanted the priority shopping card, so without even discussing it, they gave up fighting for flowers.
Vincent and his sister Alice chose the food shop, because they believed it would have the fewest buyers.
But his roommates had the opposite opinion. One chose the food shop like Vincent, but the other two chose the flower-tea shop.
Their reasoning was extremely solid—maybe fewer people would buy food, but even if fewer people bought, it could still sell out in seconds. And if you wanted the priority card, you needed to be in the first 100 payments. The first 100 would obviously fight like crazy for speed!
And besides, if you could think of this, couldn’t other people think of it too?
Maybe countless people were thinking “food shop is low heat” and would all rush the food shop—making the food shop the hardest one to grab after all.
Vincent almost got persuaded.
Because that logic was brutal.
And it had a high chance of being true.
However—
Vincent thought for a long time, and in the end, he decided to trust his first instinct: food.
As the countdown on the screen ticked down, sweat started to appear on Vincent’s forehead. His voice trembled slightly as he asked his friends, “Are you guys nervous? I feel kind of nervous.”
His roommates didn’t answer, but their trembling hands made their anxiety obvious.
No one spoke. The room became silent again.
Four big boys stared at the screen, even slowing their breathing.
Not blinking, so focused they could almost hear the sound of blood flowing through their bodies.
Finally, when the countdown reached single digits, their eyes sharpened. Their hands stopped shaking. They stared at the product link like wolves staring at prey—
They had to get it.
10, 9, 8, 7… 4, 3, 2, 1!
[Earth Shop: Congratulations, you have successfully purchased [Scallion Pancake1]. Congratulations, you are the 88th paying customer of [Earth Shop · Food Shop]. You have successfully received the event reward [Universal · Priority Shopping Card1].]
Seeing the message from Earth Shop, Vincent’s lips rose uncontrollably into a grin.
He got it?
He got it!
With shining eyes, Vincent bragged to his roommates: “HAHAHAHAHA I got it! I got the priority shopping card! HAHAHAHAHA…”
But unexpectedly, not only did he get it, but his three roommates got it too.
The three boys were beaming, full of joy.
“Hehehe, I got it too.”
“Same—and that was so close. I was the 100th customer in the flower-tea shop. Almost didn’t make it.”
“Hahahaha, I’m different. Also flower-tea shop, but I got 10th place.”
10th?!
Even Vincent couldn’t help feeling jealous.
Just how good was that guy’s light-brain?
How else could that bastard grab 10th place?
Two words—jealous.
He wanted a light-brain that was good too.
But the next second, while he was still jealous, Alice flooded his screen with a chain of “HAHAHA.”
When he saw that Alice had actually gotten first place, Vincent turned as sour as a sourfruit.
If I’m sour alone, that’s not as fun as everyone being sour together.
Vincent turned to his roommates and said, “Alice got first place in the food shop.”
Roommates who were still showing off: ?
Roommates who were still happy: smiles gradually disappear.jpg
Vincent: Yep. Seeing others unhappy made him happy.
Earth Shop’s rule was unified shipping.
The reason was simple: every time items went on sale, they sold out immediately. There wasn’t much difference between “unified shipping” and “instant shipping,” so Xie Xingchen just made everyone wait an extra half hour. Delivery robots would process all orders first, then ship them in sequence by time.
As longtime customers, Vincent and Alice knew they couldn’t receive their items immediately.
After thinking about it, they went to StarNet Mall to watch the chaos.
But the moment they arrived at 123rd Street, they were stunned.
Looking at the gorgeous street in front of them, they swore they only managed to buy anything today because of sheer luck.
Thank heavens they used the web version!
Boss Xie made Earth Shop Street way too beautiful!
Dreamlike, with a faint, indescribable ethereal vibe. Interstellar society did have styles like this, but very few people used them in commercial areas.
And if they weren’t mistaken, Boss Xie must have bought all the newly expanded starter shops behind the street?
Not only did he buy them—he renovated them!
He even built a public rest area!
Everyone: so… so rich!!
As the crowd flowed forward, when they reached the boundary—where the flower wall separated Earth Shop from the other shops—everyone’s eyes widened even more.
Everyone: It’s really pretty!
They gently closed their eyes and took a deep breath.
Immediately, a faint floral fragrance entered their noses, refreshing and soothing beyond words.
When they opened their eyes and saw rows of osmanthus trees down the center of the street, everyone stopped walking.
They foolishly followed the crowd to the wooden benches under the trees and sat down carefully.
Leaning back, eyes closed, quietly breathing in the osmanthus scent, it felt like stress evaporated in an instant.
“Wuwuwu—I’ve decided this place is going to be my new favorite forever.”
“Oh my god, Boss Xie understands us too well! He actually built a rest area for us? What kind of divine boss is this?!”
“I have a feeling this is going to become an internet-famous tourist spot. This place is seriously heavenly!”
“Man… I really don’t get it. Why is Boss Xie from human civilization? His style totally matches our merfolk civilization’s aesthetics!”
“I don’t get it either. This is exactly the kind of architecture merfolk love! Boss Xie is too good.”
People walked and marveled, their faces filled with envy.
At the same time, some people trudged along looking miserable, sighing nonstop.
Obviously, they didn’t manage to buy anything.
Seeing those long-faced people, Vincent couldn’t stop a smug grin from spreading across his face.
Hehe, he got it!
And he was 88th!
He got both the food and the priority card!
How could he not be proud?
Vincent grinned so hard you couldn’t even see his eyes—he looked ridiculously punchable.
Sensing the unfriendly looks from people around, Vincent and his roommates decisively logged off.
After logging off, the four of them paced like ants on a hot pan, anxiously waiting for delivery.
Alice was also anxiously waiting—but unlike Vincent, who only had three roommates with him, anxious Alice started a livestream!
[DrizzleDrizzle: Alice are you an octopus?? You got first place??]
[YangXiaoxiaoBird: Wuwuwu why do some people get first place while I didn’t even get anything?! I admit my sin—I couldn’t move when I saw Earth Shop Street! I must be sick in the head!]
She clearly went to grab items, but when the fog dispersed and she saw the themed street, she just… froze?
After a few seconds, she finally snapped out of it—only to find everything gone!
Seriously, she didn’t understand. Everyone was human—so why was other people’s internet speed so godlike?
[RubRubRubRub: Same! What kind of beasts are you people? I only froze for a few seconds and when I came back to myself, everything was gone!]
[CallingSomeoneOut: +1. I froze for a few seconds too, and then everything was gone. Do you guys seriously have that much self-control? Or… do you have some other snatching method?]
Seeing this comment, Alice smiled but said nothing.
There was a method—but no way she could tell!
If she told them, what would she grab next time?
It was only because most people used the holographic mall now that so many had forgotten the web mall existed.
If more people remembered, she’d be screwed—by then the web mall might be even more crowded than the holo mall.
Alice smiled sweetly and played dumb. “Luck! Just luck, haha. I didn’t think about anything. The moment it opened, I rushed in and bought. I just didn’t expect so many people to freeze, and somehow I got first.”
Fans didn’t believe her, but Alice insisted. There was nothing they could do except cry and wait for her livestream unboxing.
This time, the item quantity was huge, so Xie Xingchen didn’t use the “unify packaging then ship” method.
He split the delivery robots into two teams: one team packaged, the other delivered packages to the small wormholes.
Alice was the first customer in the food shop, so she was among the first to receive a delivery.
When the delivery robot rang the doorbell, Alice was still pretending to be clueless with her viewers.
Right when she was about to fail at pretending, the doorbell rang!
Alice: “Ah! I’m not talking anymore—my delivery is here!”
She sprang up and rushed to open the door.
A few minutes later, she happily reappeared on stream hugging a package.
Alice: “Ta-da! Everyone look at my scallion pancake!”
She rotated the package box 360 degrees for viewers.
As she rotated it, she couldn’t help commenting: “Earth Shop’s packaging is so cute! This has to be a designer-made exclusive box, right?!”
The box in her hands was pale pink, printed with fruits she didn’t recognize—but… they looked delicious.
Swallowing her saliva like a hopeless foodie, Alice carefully opened it.
The moment the box opened, fragrance rushed out instantly.
Alice said in a daze, “S-so fragrant…”
A golden-brown pancake, crispy crust—one glance and you could tell it would be chewy yet crunchy.
She carefully broke it open, and a rich scallion aroma surged out.
It wasn’t harsh at all—just long-lasting and comforting.
Alice loved it!
She didn’t even have time to talk—she stuffed it straight into her mouth.
The flavors locked inside the pancake exploded all at once, and Alice’s taste buds experienced a feast.
From “fairy goddess” to “wolfing it down” was only one scallion pancake away!
After she finished, she shamelessly sucked on her fingers while praising nonstop: “Wow! This is seriously stunning food! I swear I’ve never eaten anything better in my life!”
That comment completely shocked the viewers who were already dumbfounded.
However—
Alice, did you forget something?!
You’re freaking livestreaming!
Everyone waited to see you take a bite—then the main character just ate it all herself?
Is that something a human does?
Fine. This streamer is done. We need to find another one.
Fans who were tortured by Alice’s eating rushed to StarBlog begging for help, hoping some streamer who got food could save the children and let them “taste” through the screen.
And somehow—they really found one!
Those who finally got to “taste” the food cried tears of joy.
It was too delicious!
After eating something that good, how were they supposed to go back to the nutrient solution?
And just like that, Xie Xingchen’s StarBlog got flooded.
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