Chapter 1

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「Ding Ling!」

「Welcome to the Dimensional Shop. Our store sells and recycles any item, as long as it has value. Additionally, we offer a commission service, where you can hire any of our employees to do tasks for you. Of course, the prerequisite is to have enough... dimensional coins... System, what the heck, can you even put this thing in here?！」

Zhao Chen read the standard lines, slowly raising his head. However, what appeared before him was not the expected customer, but a pair of murky eyes and a withered face.

Damn, this is a Chinese product, Zhao Chen instantly let out a curse. At the same time, a large mouth lunged at him, but as the new owner of the Dimensional Shop, although he was startled, he did not panic, nor was there any reason to panic.

Before the poor little zombie could bite Zhao Chen, a square glass cover sealed it off. At the same time, a panel appeared before Zhao Chen, displaying information about the zombie.

【Name: Luo Dapeng

Race: Zombie

World of Origin: Low-Tech World

Strength: Zero Rank One Star

Description: A pitiful little zombie attempting to attack the Dimensional Shop owner. Currently confirmed to have no personal consciousness, the owner has full ownership. (Will this little zombie be used for unknown purposes?)】

What unknown purposes!

Zhao Chen was speechless, and with a wave of his hand, the zombie turned into a pile of pixels and two bottles of blue liquid before his eyes.

「Two bottles of zombie virus agents? Well, better than nothing.」 The two bottles vanished into thin air, and the pile of pixels turned to ashes.

Zhao Chen lowered his head again, waiting for the next customer. The entire process was seamless and smooth.

Even Zhao Chen himself hadn't expected that in just a few days, he had already adapted to this life, to the point where encountering a zombie only slightly startled him.

Reflecting on the past few days, Zhao Chen's lips curled into a bitter smile. He probably, maybe, should have known he was being "tricked."

The story of the Dimensional Shop began three days ago.

It was a scorching afternoon, and Zhao Chen faced a difficult choice: survival or... getting out of bed?

Yes, getting out of bed.

「Should I get up? I really want to continue my cultivation, but there seems to be no food left at home.」

With dead fish eyes, Zhao Chen looked at his smartphone, surrounded by countless piles of instant noodle and takeaway boxes. If it weren't for the good ventilation and Zhao Chen's frugal habits—finishing every meal and licking the plates clean—the place would have been a stinky garbage dump. Even so, it didn't look much different from one.

After much deliberation, Zhao Chen decided his life was more important. He had to get up and go shopping. After an hour of procrastination, he finally made it to the door. (Cough, not because the house was too big, but because there were too many obstacles.)

Then, as Zhao Chen pushed the door open, he immediately retreated. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. Was this weather trying to kill him?

「I might as well stay in bed and continue being a salted fish.」

Before Zhao Chen could fully lie down, a notification on his phone caught his attention. His eyes flashed with excitement, as if he had made a decision, and he rushed out of the house, ignoring the scorching heat.

The message on his phone read:

All items in the store are on sale for 10% to 50% off for the next hour. Time is limited, don't miss out.

If it were anyone else, they might not have believed it, but for Zhao Chen, this was a trustworthy message. It came from his old friend who owned a store!

Thus, braving the heat, Zhao Chen overcame his "salted fish" nature and rushed to the store, which was six kilometers away. This was his friend's store.

「Is this real? If it is, I won't be polite. If it's a joke, I'll have to take your life!」 Zhao Chen, drenched in sweat, sat beside the cash register, positioning himself in front of the air conditioner.

「It's real, I swear. You're amazing, 10 minutes, wow, you could compete in the Olympics.」 His old friend, sitting behind the cash register, handed him a towel with a look of admiration.

「Are you making money? Selling at 10% off, you won't even cover your costs. If the store goes bankrupt, I won't have anywhere else to mooch off.」 Zhao Chen took the towel, half-jokingly.

His friend laughed. This guy seemed like a good fit, both in character and compatibility. He stroked his chin, seemingly making a decision, and said with a playful tone: 「System, activate owner recognition mode.」

「You've been reading too many novels, talking about systems... Uh!」

Before Zhao Chen could mock his friend, who seemed to have a case of middle school syndrome, a floating transparent panel appeared before his eyes, displaying a handprint and some text: Name, Age, Race...

Swallowing hard, Zhao Chen instantly backed away from his friend, holding onto a shelf to keep from falling. He forced himself to ask, despite his fear: 「Who are you? Where's Old Zhao? What do you want? I'm just a regular guy, I have nothing to give you!」

Old Zhao laughed and shook his head. He had never realized his friend was so timid. For a moment, he even doubted if he had chosen the right successor.

But in the end, he smiled and said: 「You're overthinking it. I am Old Zhao, but I'm also the owner of the Dimensional Shop! Don't believe me? Remember that time in junior high when you snuck out to go online and almost wet your pants when you came back? Oh, wait, you did wet your pants.」

「Nonsense, that never happened! I didn't wet my pants, I'm not that timid!」 Hearing this, Zhao Chen confirmed it was indeed Old Zhao. The only people who knew about that incident were the old principal and Old Zhao, but more importantly, he trusted his gut!

Since meeting Old Zhao, he had never felt any danger, so the person in front of him must be the real Old Zhao!

This was the intuition of a salted fish!

「But, a Dimensional Shop? Like those in the novels on a certain website, like the 'First Shopkeeper in History' you recommended?」

Realizing it was indeed his old friend, Zhao Chen's eyes lit up. Thinking of the protagonists in the novels he had read, who became invincible once they got a system, he asked the most important question with excitement.

Old Zhao waved his right hand, and the panel flew to Zhao Chen's eyes. 「Want to know? Put your hand on it and see for yourself.」

Zhao Chen looked at Old Zhao suspiciously, then slowly placed his hand on the panel.

...

「Now I remember, why did I have to be so obedient back then! Whatever Old Zhao said, I did, and now I'm stuck with this.」 Inheriting the Dimensional Shop, Zhao Chen couldn't stop the tears from flowing when he thought about three days ago. ~~~~(&&&&&;_&&&&&)~~~~

Yes, he was stuck with it. Old Zhao was the previous owner of the Dimensional Shop, or rather, the previous owner of the Dimensional Shop's original form!

Since he had transcended, Old Zhao wanted to find a successor. However, the Dimensional Shop had specific requirements for a successor, the most important being a high compatibility level.

The compatibility with the original form determined the successor's future achievements, so every owner would try to find someone with high compatibility.

Of course, the successor's character was also strictly reviewed. If the Dimensional Shop fell into the hands of someone without principles, the consequences would be unimaginable! Other requirements were up to the current owner.

According to the store's records, many owners had become psychologically distorted due to their long lives. Thinking about the dark history of previous owners, Zhao Chen was relieved his friend had no such quirks.

One owner had even cursed his successor to wear women's clothing all the time! If that owner hadn't transcended and broken the curse, the next few successors would have had to continue wearing women's clothing.

Thinking about himself in a dress, Zhao Chen shuddered.

「Well, there's no point in dwelling on it. I've already taken over the store, so I'll just take it one step at a time.」 With a flip of his right hand, a cup of coffee appeared in Zhao Chen's hand. 「Actually, this life doesn't seem so bad.」

Taking a sip of coffee, a transparent panel appeared before Zhao Chen, displaying the remaining items in the Dimensional Shop.

【Four-Star Item: One Unknown Egg】

【One-Star Item: Two Bottles of Zombie Virus Agent】

【Zero-Star Items: Various Food and Miscellaneous Items...】

This was all the Dimensional Shop had. Items were classified by stars, with their value measured in dimensional coins. Zero-star items were worth 1-100 dimensional coins, one-star items 100-1000 dimensional coins...

「System, what are your criteria for letting people in? Yesterday it was an egg, today a zombie. This makes me feel very unsafe.」

「Please rest assured, owner. No creature in the store can harm you. You are like a god in the store, but this ability cannot be used on customers unless they are maliciously trying to destroy the store. The criteria for letting people in are their inner desires and the store's level. Sometimes, random customers may also appear.」

The system's electronic voice was so pleasant, making Zhao Chen feel completely at ease... or so he thought!

「So, if I leave the store, I could easily be killed, or do you have other means?」 Concerned about his safety, Zhao Chen asked carefully.

「Please don't worry, as the owner, you have the following rights: such and such, this and that... Also, if you had read the 'Owner's Guide' in time, you wouldn't be asking such a silly question!」

... How dare you tease me like this, system!

Zhao Chen's lips twitched. Are you trying to be cute? I'm not in a fantasy world, who knows what you mean by "such and such, this and that"!

Before Zhao Chen could complain, a stream of information flooded his mind.

The Dimensional Shop was a unique store that connected countless worlds and universes. Each world was an unexplored virgin land.

The greatest ability of the Dimensional Shop was to trade with different worlds. The content and final gains of the trades were determined by the owner, and the system provided the value of the items. After each transaction, the owner received a commission.

Additionally, the owner had the right to use items in the store and learn skills through the store's system, but only the owner could do so.

The customers of the Dimensional Shop came from various worlds, and they might share the same concepts as characters in novels and comics, with the same personalities and destinies. However, their stories had no end!

As the owner, you had the ability to purchase items once a month, which meant the ability to cross worlds, either randomly or by choice. Random choices depended on luck, while specific choices depended on the owner's level. You might randomly end up in a world with great potential or a weak and primitive one.

Moreover, the store had healing abilities, but required energy, or transaction points. The store could provide healing based on the severity of the injury, with a base price for the owner and a price set by the owner for others.

...

「Can you be a bit gentler next time? It feels like a hundred Tang Sengs are chanting in my head.」 After a moment, Zhao Chen clutched his head and squatted down, warning the system.

System: Blame yourself for your poor endurance!

Feeling strangely belittled...

「Ding Ling!」