Chapter 9

"Bang!"

Hongci watched the Twin-Spine Tiger collapse before her, her expression calm as she simply told Kong to store the beast away.

The adventurer team led by Hongci was called the Blazing Team. The team consisted of five members in total—besides Hongci, there were Luosi, Lulusi, Kong, and Ximeng.

Kong happened to be a spatial mage, normally responsible for storing mission targets. This time, the employer needed a Twin-Spine Tiger.

Since the deadline was tight and the task was heavy, the reward was high, which was why Hongci had accepted it.

Checking the time, the Blazing Team found an empty patch of ground in the rest area and sat down.

"We'll make do with instant noodles for lunch," Hongci declared with a wave of her hand. "Once we turn in the mission, we'll hit Keke Shop for a big shopping spree and enjoy the most luxurious hot pot feast tonight!"

The Blazing Team members nodded vigorously. Even Lulusi, who was usually reserved, showed a look of anticipation.

Kong pulled out a clay pot, five packs of instant noodles, and some ingredients that could serve as sides from his spatial storage.

Luosi stepped up to take charge of making lunch.

At first, the other teams in the rest area paid no attention to the Blazing Team's activities. Then a rich, savory aroma exploded across the entire rest area, immediately drawing everyone's attention.

"That smells amazing!"

"Who's cooking something that smells so good?"

...

Following the scent, they traced it back to the Blazing Team's spot.

Those who had wanted to ask stopped in their tracks the moment they saw the Blazing Team.

After waiting for a while, watching the Blazing Team wolf down their food, everyone else couldn't help but swallow their saliva.

Finally, an adventurer named Wood, who was fairly familiar with Hongci, stepped forward to ask.

"This comes from a shop called Keke Shop near No. 7 Wandering Town," Hongci answered between slurps of noodles.

Lulusi handed a chilled can of cola to Hongci, who popped the tab.

"Pfft!"

She casually tossed a can to Wood, then thought for a moment and pulled out five more packs of instant noodles, throwing them to him. "No need to pay."

Wood looked at the cold can in his hand, thanked Hongci, then turned and left the rest area.

The others nearby had overheard the information and left satisfied. As for asking Hongci for something—forget it. That woman's stuff wasn't easy to get...

Hongci continued eating, paying no mind to the others, but then she suddenly glanced at a patch of grass not far away.

In the nearby grass, two children with furry ears and tails nervously covered their mouths.

"Jin, did she spot us?" asked one child with freckles, yellow cat ears, and a cat tail.

The child named Jin, who had gray wolf ears and a tail, nodded. "Maybe. Let's get out of here. Humans are the trickiest!"

The two beast-eared children tiptoed away, quietly leaving the human rest area.

Before leaving, the wolf-eared child named Jin snuck a glance at the pot of boiling instant noodles, swallowed hard, and silently took note of the shop called "Keke Shop."

Meanwhile, the Rao Ke everyone was thinking about was slumped over the counter, still pondering the fact that her bloodline was Witch.

Sesame Paste couldn't offer any explanation either, since he had also assumed Rao Ke was just an ordinary human.

She had worried about it all night and hadn't slept a wink, so Rao Ke greeted the day with dark circles under her eyes as she tended the shop.

After checking, she found that upgrading the shop would require 7 days and 100,000 points, so Rao Ke didn't choose to upgrade right away.

After all, she had just over 100,000 points on hand, so she planned to operate one more day, keeping at least 20,000 points for restocking.

She intended to close after today's business and spend all of tomorrow upgrading.

So that morning, Rao Ke put up a wooden sign in the shop announcing that the shop would close for a week starting tomorrow for expansion.

The customers who had only come to buy small items were both curious and anxious.

Curious about what new products would appear after the expansion, and anxious because the shop would be closed for a week—those who had tasted such exquisite food could never go back to how things were.

Although Rao Ke appeared gentle, the customers still didn't dare ask her directly, so they turned to Baitang and Heitang instead.

Baitang and Heitang just smiled, saying that after the upgrade, the supermarket's goods would undergo earth-shaking changes, and asked customers to look forward to it. Other than that, they kept their lips sealed.

So the customers bought what they could, stocking up on enough food for themselves, then messaged their friends to warn them.

Since there was no space to display other products, but the shop already sold hot pot base, Rao Ke put together several hot pot ingredient gift boxes for sale.

They were: a regular hot pot ingredients gift box for 99 silver coins, a premium gift box for 999 silver coins, and a deluxe gift box for 2,999 silver coins, with only 50 of each available.

As soon as the gift boxes were launched, they were warmly received by customers and sold out quickly.

After submitting the mission at the Adventurer's Guild and collecting the reward, Hongci wasted no time and led her team straight to Keke Shop.

"Thank you, shopkeeper!" Hongci's eyes lit up as Rao Ke brought out the deluxe hot pot ingredients gift box she had reserved for them.

After paying and saying goodbye to Rao Ke, the Blazing Team headed home in high spirits with their gift box.

Rao Ke watched the Blazing Team's backs, a slight smile tugging at her lips.

Among all the customers who had come yesterday, Hongci was the only one who had asked Rao Ke for her Astrolabe contact.

For some reason, Rao Ke had chosen to accept the request from this stranger.

The Astrolabe had a spatial feature, and Rao Ke posted images of the three gift boxes there.

Then three deluxe gift boxes were reserved.

One was for Mo Duoya and Ailier, one for Selen and Laiensi, and the last for Hongci.

After tidying up and seeing that it was about time, Rao Ke saw off the last few customers and closed the shop for the day.

That evening, Rao Ke had invited Mo Duoya and the others over for the hot pot feast.

Rao Ke had prepared everything, and Mo Duoya and the others arrived shortly after.

"Wow!" Laiensi walked in and his eyes lit up at the sight of the table laden with ingredients.

Mo Duoya and Ailier followed close behind.

"Since you're here, have a seat," Rao Ke said, bringing out sliced watermelon.

"Gurgle, gurgle—"

The split pot in the center gave off a tantalizing, spicy aroma. The four of them found seats according to their preferences and sat down.

Rao Ke casually opened a can of chilled cola.

"I'll cook!" Laiensi was very enthusiastic, and the others didn't compete with him.

Since hot pot was a new thing on the Kaqisha Continent, Rao Ke had put together a rough list of cooking times for the ingredients.

Laiensi followed the list with the caution he used when brewing magic potions, carefully cooking the ingredients.

As for the other three ladies, they naturally enjoyed Laiensi's service.

By the time Laiensi had his fill of fun, the other three ladies were already full.

"Is the shop expanding tomorrow?" Mo Duoya asked, sipping her iced black tea.

"Mm, the current shop is still too small."

Mo Duoya didn't ask more. After eating, the three didn't linger.

After seeing them off, Rao Ke called up the system panel.

"By the way, what will my room look like after the upgrade?" Rao Ke suddenly thought to ask.

Sesame Paste was eating a chocolate popsicle. "Up to you. If you want to keep it as is, just move the room to the third floor. If you don't mind a change, we can set aside a separate small house attached to the shop for you."

"I grabbed a few blueprints from the neighboring infrastructure system. Take your pick, and we'll use the one you choose as the base template for the upgrade."

Sesame Paste sent the blueprints to Rao Ke's system panel.

Rao Ke flipped through them and finally settled on one.

She chose a beautiful three-story shop in brownish-red, with large transparent glass windows embedded in the exterior, giving it a magical world feel.

"I suggest you set aside a separate building for living quarters, since you might need to hire employees later."

Rao Ke thought that made sense.

She pressed the "Confirm" button, and a thick fog enveloped the shop, completely concealing it.

Then Rao Ke was pushed out by the fog.

Rao Ke: ...??

"Oh no, I forgot to tell you—there can't be any living creatures inside during the initial upgrade," Sesame Paste said sheepishly, still holding his chocolate popsicle.

Choosing the right system really matters—don't pick a slacker as your boss. That was Rao Ke's only motto at the moment.

"Fine, let's go." Looking at the pitch-dark Adventure Forest, Rao Ke thought finding a place to stay was the most important thing right now.

She had no idea where to go; almost all the nearby towns should be under curfew by now.

"I'll fix this!" Since it was his fault for not explaining, Sesame Paste quickly went to the main system to get some perks.

"I'm back!"

[Random Task: Drive the RV to the nearby beastman town of Daylight Town to sell goods for seven days, promoting Keke Shop's reputation.

Reward: Multifunctional Transformable RV]

Then a huge white RV appeared in front of Rao Ke.

"We can rough it in the RV for tonight. We'll head to Daylight Town tomorrow morning," Sesame Paste said, relieved.

"Sesame Paste, why does the main system always give you perks?" Rao Ke asked casually.

Sesame Paste said bluntly, "Because she's kind of my mentor. I was raised by her since I was little, so she knows my abilities well."

Rao Ke decided to retract that motto. Even if the boss was a slacker, if it was a system second-generation with connections, that was tolerable.

Sesame Paste handed Rao Ke the RV keys.

Opening the RV door, the inside was about fifty square meters, divided into a large sales area and a small rest room.

"Space stones are used inside, so the space is expanded. The shop expansion will use them too," Sesame Paste explained.

Rao Ke first checked the small rest room, which contained a single small bed and a washroom.

Xue Qiu had been sticking close to Rao Ke's feet the whole time, watching the surroundings warily with his ice-blue puppy eyes.

"Alright, I'm going to take a shower." She bought a change of clothes from the shop and went into the bathroom.

After her shower, Rao Ke saw Xue Qiu and Sesame Paste lying on the small bed, holding a tablet and watching a variety show, surrounded by a pile of snacks. She couldn't help but shake her head.

Rao Ke had unlocked a portion of the shop's restocking permissions to Sesame Paste, letting him handle snacks for himself and Xue Qiu.

But she would limit the total amount that could be spent.

"Come join us~" Sesame Paste patted the empty spot beside him with his tail.

Rao Ke chuckled softly, then climbed onto the bed and sat in that spot.