Dimensional Supermarket - Chapter 1

The land before him resembles a barren patch, with weeds scattered sporadically, unable to form a single, coherent stretch. The trees are tall, yet they’ve been stripped of their bark, exposing slightly yellow trunks. Only the tops of the trees still show a faint trace of green, but it’s clear that these barkless trees won’t survive for long.

It looks like a primeval forest—a primeval forest stripped bare by refugees fleeing famine.

Ye Zhou slaps himself.

It’s louder and more painful than he expects.

This is the third day Ye Zhou has spent here. Slapping himself in the morning has become part of his routine, as if it might somehow wake him from this bizarre dream and bring him back to the normal world.

But once again, it doesn’t work.

The scenery remains unchanged.

Ye Zhou considers many possibilities. At first, he thinks he’s just crazy, that he must be hallucinating because of some mental issue.

Later, he comes up with a more plausible explanation: he’s probably been abducted by aliens for experiments.

Not only has he been brought here, but his supermarket has come along too, completely intact.

The most outrageous part is that the supermarket still has electricity, water, and even internet—though it can’t send or receive messages, making it impossible to contact anyone.

This is beyond the scope of time travel—it can only be the work of some mysterious alien force.

Realizing he won’t “wake up” today, Ye Zhou returns to the supermarket.

Since he’s here, he might as well make the best of it. He gives up on resisting and chooses to lie low.

Anyway, he probably won’t starve to death.

As for expired food? Well, as long as it doesn’t poison him, it’s fine. If it does, he’ll just count himself unlucky.

After eating two pieces of bread and drinking a bottle of milk, Ye Zhou sits at the supermarket entrance, playing games on his tablet. Standalone games work just fine, and he can charge the tablet inside the supermarket.

The isolation starts to weigh on him, and he knows his language skills might deteriorate over time. His mental state might, too.

Robinson has Friday, and Chuck has Wilson.

(Translator’s Notes: Robinson Crusoe is stranded on a deserted island and eventually meets a native man whom he names Friday. Chuck Noland, the main character in the movie Cast Away is also stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash. His only “companion” is a volleyball he names Wilson)

But Friday is a person, and Wilson is a volleyball.

Ye Zhou doesn’t think his chances of meeting people are high, but he doesn’t want to talk to a volleyball. So, he settles on a middle ground—maybe he can catch some wild birds or stray cats. He’ll feed them, and they can talk to him in return. Seems like a fair and mutually beneficial arrangement.

However, in the past few days, Ye Zhou hasn’t seen any birds, not even bird droppings.

Now he knows what a place without birds really looks like.

At noon, Ye Zhou goes back into the supermarket and eats a self-heating rice bowl.

To be honest, today’s convenience food is surprisingly well-made—not worse than some takeaway meals. As he eats, he thinks that maybe some takeout places just use pre-packaged ingredients.

Cheap and convenient, it tastes decent, and it’s not toxic.

It might not be the most nutritious, but it definitely won’t kill him.

After eating, Ye Zhou cleans up the trash. He always seals it and throws it into the large bin behind the supermarket. He doesn’t know how long it’ll take to fill it up, but for now, he doesn’t feel like digging a pit to bury the waste. If it’s left to naturally degrade, it might take a hundred years to break down.

Until he figures out a better solution, this will have to do.

In the afternoon, Ye Zhou takes a hatchet and a backpack to survey the surrounding area. Although he didn’t know how to make a map before, now he has to try. To avoid getting lost, he carves marks into tree trunks at regular intervals.

Soon, Ye Zhou finds a river, but it’s dry now, with only the riverbed exposed. The corpses of animals still lie there, their bones covered by yellow sand. He glances briefly and spots a dry bone that looks a lot like a human skull—but he quickly looks away.

The trees in this forest, stripped of their bark, are almost all dead.

The few small trees that still have bark are also withered, leaving only a few towering trees that were once lush and green.

Their roots run deep enough to survive even without bark, so they still retain a bit of green.

The sun, which has been burning the earth all day, gradually dims. Ye Zhou sits under a tree, pulls a bottle of water from his backpack, and prepares to drink before heading back. He still doesn’t know where he is or whether there are other people around, but at least he knows he’s safe for now.

There are no large wild animals nearby—not even small ones.

Because the forest has been destroyed, the birds that once lived here have mostly migrated.

He does find insects and centipedes under rotting trees, and wild mushrooms in the caves.

At least these things prove there’s still some form of life here.

By the time it gets completely dark, Ye Zhou is still in the woods. He follows the marks he made earlier and walks back using a flashlight.

Just as he’s about to reach the supermarket door, Ye Zhou suddenly stops.

Two figures are standing in front of the supermarket.

Rather than feeling surprised to see living people, Ye Zhou feels more cautious.

He carefully steps back, hiding behind a patch of dry bushes. To avoid being seen, he crouches down and curls into a small ball.

Ye Zhou has good eyesight. Even from this distance, he can clearly see the clothing the two people are wearing.

Their tattered linen clothes are so shredded that their original form is unrecognizable. Their bones look like they’re about to break through their skin, and they resemble skeletons that can still breathe. They wear scraps of cloth, their messy hair covering their faces, and they’re barefoot on the sandy, rocky ground.

The two lean on each other, using one another as crutches.

Ye Zhou can hear their knocks at the door, but they’re soft. If he were inside the supermarket, he definitely wouldn’t hear them.

Their voices are rough and hoarse—it’s hard to tell whether they’re men, women, young, or old.

After watching for half an hour, Ye Zhou becomes certain the two are harmless—they definitely don’t have the strength to hurt him.

So, he stands up and walks toward them.

Cao’er feels like she’s about to die. She’s heard people say that if you can’t urinate, you’re close to death.

She counts on her fingers; in the past ten days, she’s only urinated five times.

She and her family have been dragging each other along, rushing to food stalls whenever they find them, trying to slip through the city gates—but there’s no rice in the porridge, and the guards won’t let them in. Her father is stabbed to death by the guards in that moment.

Her younger brother is killed for stealing food.

Later, her little sister is abandoned by their mother.

Her second sister is sold by their mother for a handful of unpeeled wheat.

She and her mother have no idea where to go. They’re unfamiliar with the roads and have no strength left, so they gradually fall behind the others.

When her mother suggests entering the forest, Cao’er doesn’t stop her. She follows her into the woods.

They’re going to die anyway, and it makes sense that her mother wants to die somewhere that feels like home.

If her mother dies, she can’t survive either—so they might as well die together.

When they’re hungry, they peel tree bark. When they’re thirsty, they chew on grass roots. Hunger becomes a constant companion, and the idea of “being full” feels as distant as a dream.

They walk aimlessly, and when their legs give out, they close their eyes for a brief rest.

Just as Cao’er is about to collapse, her mother suddenly bursts with strength. She grabs her, pulls her, and cranes her neck to look ahead. Her mother screams hoarsely, “Cao’er! There are people ahead! There’s a house!”

Cao’er rolls and crawls forward, following her mother.

She doesn’t want to die! She wants to live!

Then, they arrive at the large house in front of them.

Cao’er can’t find the right words to describe the house. It’s enormous and square, even bigger than the landlords’ homes in her hometown, yet it has no tiles or bricks. The house looks like it’s been carved from a single giant stone, a solid structure with no visible seams.

There’s a plaque hanging from the eaves, but Cao’er doesn’t recognize the characters on it.

Neither she nor her mother can read. Only her father could—but he only knew his own name.

They knock on the door from day to night, using up all their strength. The initial surge of hope turns into an even deeper despair.

But they don’t dare sit down. It feels like if they sit down, they’ll definitely die.

“Mother… I’m hungry…” Cao’er leans against her mother, who leans back on her in turn. With the last of her strength, she whispers, “Mother… let’s go home… let’s go home…”

Cao’er remembers the big banyan tree at the edge of their village. Their home is just behind it. Her parents work the land of a good-hearted landlord who only takes sixty percent of the rent. Though her family is poor, they never go hungry.

She once took her brother to herd cattle for the landlord. Her second sister stayed home to cook and care for their youngest sibling.

Her younger brother had dreamed of going to town to learn a trade and become a carpenter. His dark face had glowed with youthful optimism when he shyly told her, “When you get married, I’ll prepare a dowry for you.”

She remembers his words: “I’ll go! I’ll go! Tell Mother not to abandon our little sister! I’ll bring food back!”

But he never returns. Her brother’s skull is crushed by a stone, and his outstretched hands are shattered, biscuit crumbs scattered between his fingers.

All for a piece of biscuit! Her brother’s life wasn’t even worth that!

“Go home…” Cao’er keeps repeating, “Go home…”

There’s no pain, no hunger, no death, no conflict, no blood—back home.

She had been the strict eldest sister, with honest and hardworking parents, a well-behaved sister, a brother with dreams of the future, and a baby sister to care for.

What a good life that was…

Cao’er feels like she can’t hold on any longer. She wants to close her eyes.

Just then, a bright light suddenly shines from behind!

Cao’er is momentarily blinded. She raises her arm to shield her eyes. It takes a while before she lowers it.

Twisting her neck, she looks toward the source of the light. A beam of light projects from the man’s palm. She can’t see his face—only his silhouette, outlined by the shadows.

He’s a man, and he’s very tall.

Behind him lies a dark forest, twisted and gnarled branches framing his figure, making him seem even more imposing.

The light comes from his palm.

Cao’er stares at him in confusion, her mother’s cries echoing in the background.

She numbly watches as her mother drops to her knees beside her, crying out in desperation.

“Immortal! Immortal! Immortal, help us!”

She hears the sound of her mother kowtowing, her head striking the ground with such force that Cao’er can smell the blood.

Cao’er stiffly kneels down.

She kowtows!

If they break their heads open, maybe the Lord Immortal will save them!

Ye Zhou is stunned by the sight of the two people in front of him. He’s seen beggars who intentionally dress to look pitiful, and he’s seen refugees fleeing famine in movies and TV shows—but those are just actors playing a part. There’s only so much a director can do with makeup.

The refugees in films, though ragged, never wear clothes so tattered they can’t cover themselves. They’re never so emaciated they look like skeletons.

But when these two people look up, Ye Zhou is horrified by their faces.

Sunken cheeks and eye sockets, skin stretched tight over their skulls—they don’t look like living people at all. They look like the undead or mummies from a horror film.

Before Ye Zhou can recover from the shock, the two fall to their knees and begin kowtowing to him, with a determination that says they’ll keep going until they die.

Ye Zhou panics and hurries toward them.

Now, he isn’t worried they might be dangerous.

What worries him is that they might die right in front of him.

“Stop!” Ye Zhou raises his voice without meaning to.

The two stop kowtowing.

They stay kneeling, staring up at him with eyes that seem unnaturally large due to their emaciation, their gazes fixed and unblinking.

Ye Zhou feels goosebumps all over.

He swallows hard, suppressing the terror and slight unease rising inside him, then slowly squats down in front of them.

This way, they don’t have to strain their necks to look up at him.

He forces a smile that feels more like a mask than a real expression and speaks in the gentlest tone he can manage, “Do you want something to eat? Come in and sit down.”

He’s never been this gentle in his life.

Even he thinks he sounds pretentious.

But his tone seems to have a calming effect on the two kneeling figures.

Ye Zhou sees the older one’s lips move, trying to form words. Finally, she manages to say, “Immortal… please…”

She doesn’t finish. Mid-sentence, her head tilts and she collapses forward, hitting the ground with a dull thud.

Ye Zhou: “…”

He’s stunned.

She died?!

No way?!