Su Shisan let herself be pushed aside. It was all part of the plan. She was playing dumb on purpose to make the player lower her guard—so that later, she could pull off something bigger.
And even if the player sensed something wrong?
Too bad. The trap had already been laid.
Sure enough, just as the ponytailed girl reached for an apple—chomp!
“Ah!!” she yelped, stumbling back several steps, terror written across her face. “Did you see that? I—”
Before she could finish, Su Shisan cut in with a puzzled expression.
“What’s wrong? Why’d you jump back like that? Was there a worm in the apple?”
“I—didn’t you see—” Mimiko started to protest, but suddenly remembered the rules. She stopped herself immediately.
Her face went pale as she stared at the darkening bite wound on her hand, teeth gritted against the pain.
“Sorry… I just lost my balance. Let me get you a few more.”
She really wanted the customer to pick the apples herself—maybe even get bitten too. But reason held her back. If the customer got hurt in the store, she’d be the one punished.
So Mimiko resigned herself to another round of potential bites, cautiously testing each apple and quickly pulling away whenever one tried to bite her. Eventually, she managed to gather a bag of “safe” apples.
But were they really safe?
Su Shisan’s eyes gleamed with glee. She made a show of inspecting the apples—then suddenly looked furious.
“You scammer! How dare you pick rotten apples on purpose?!”
She plucked one out with uncanny precision and cracked it open—revealing a blackened core. Rotten through and through.
Too exhausted to argue, Mimiko could only bow and apologize.
“I’m so sorry… I must’ve missed it. Let me get you a different one.”
Unfortunately, that was exactly the wrong move. The worst response possible.
Su Shisan, still feigning outrage, sneered, “If saying sorry fixed everything, what would we need the police for?”
“If I hadn’t noticed that bad apple, you would’ve passed it off as good. People like you don’t deserve to work at Thirteenth Supermarket!”
The words hit Mimiko like a sledgehammer to the brain.
I’m not a qualified employee… I’m unqualified… this hurts so much…
She stood there muttering in a daze, like her mind had short-circuited. Su Shisan’s smile curled with satisfaction.
Losing 30 SAN points wouldn’t make a player go insane on the spot—but that sudden crash could seriously destabilize their mental state. Especially players already teetering on the edge.
And that made them ripe for the picking.
After all, shouldn’t a good employee try to make up for their mistakes?
A few moments later, Mimiko finally came back to her senses. She felt drained, rubbing her temples as she pulled out the rules sheet to review it again.
Food Section Clerk Guidelines
Thirteenth Supermarket operating hours: 08:00–20:00
Break time: 12:00–14:00
To ensure profits and employee…
For your safety, please strictly adhere to the Employee Code during work hours.
- During work hours, employees must wear their blue uniforms and keep their badges visible at all times.
- The customer is always right. Always maintain a smile, and unconditionally fulfill customer requests.
- There are no employees in red uniforms in this supermarket. If you see one, do not speak to them.
- The store manager is trustworthy. She helps competent employees.
- Security is here to handle danger. If needed, you may call for help. However, there is no danger inside the supermarket. Please do not call security.
- All food items are normal. They should not have eyes, noses, or mouths. If you notice anything unusual, you are probably just tired. Please take a break.
- The daily sales quota for the food section is 500 yuan. Failure to meet the target will result in punishment.
- Keep the shelves tidy. Remove any non-food items and dispose of them in the miscellaneous bin.
“Ugh, I must’ve broken a rule just now… otherwise, how could I have run into an apple that bites?”
Mimi Zi let out a frustrated sigh, muttering to herself.
“There are so many things wrong with these rules. Maybe I should try approaching one of those red-uniformed employees…”
After sabotaging one player, Su Shisan didn’t immediately follow up. Instead, she took the secret passage from the restroom straight to the manager’s lounge.
It’s worth mentioning—players can use these secret passages. The trick is whether they can find them and figure out how to access them. Some require keys or passwords.
Su Shisan had designed this particular entrance to be voice-activated. To open it, one had to say:
“Open sesame, little poop-craving child.”
She was confident no one would ever guess that password. And if someone did? Well, she’d admit defeat.
Wall-hacking was useless here. Any experienced architect would design low partitions inside the tunnel.
These partitions would fool the wall-hack detection, making the system think there wasn’t enough room for a full person—thus skipping the passage entirely.
All tricks she’d learned from Sparta, a top-tier B-level architect. Their guidance had been invaluable.
“You… you came out from in there?”
Mimosa was startled to see Su Shisan suddenly appear in the lounge.
Ah, right. This girl was a newbie architect—she probably had no idea. Su Shisan gave her a brief explanation.
“It’s a hidden passage. You should put one or two in your own scenario; they come in handy.”
For someone new, this was an exciting revelation. Mimosa’s eyes lit up.
“You can do that? That’s amazing—thank you! I never would’ve thought of it.”
“No problem. I learned it from someone else too,” Su Shisan replied casually, heading over to check the surveillance monitor.
By now, Zhen Jin had entered the store and was headed straight for the clothing section.
Su Shisan had already dealt with the food section. The home goods area was off-limits due to player danger, leaving only the clothing section.
As for the remaining roles—security and warehouse clerks didn’t interact with customers much. Players in those roles tended to get themselves killed without outside help.
And cashiers?
There’d always be someone causing trouble there.
As an NPC hired by the system, Zhen Jin had to prove her worth. If she could eliminate a player quickly, she’d secure her mission points.
“Hurry up! Why are you taking so long just to pick a dress? If you waste any more of my time, I’ll file a complaint!”
The grumpy old woman sat in a chair, shaking her leg impatiently, radiating peak levels of pettiness.
Zhao Qian Sun Li, groveling, poured her a cup of water and rushed to grab several dresses that matched the customer’s request. He even brought over the mannequins that wore them.
Zhen Jin frowned, crossing her legs.
“I said I wanted dresses, not mannequins. What, are you trying to insult my figure? Think I don’t measure up to some plastic doll?”
She really had a knack for picking a fight. Zhao Qian Sun Li’s face turned grim, but he forced a smile.
“Haha, of course not! You’re a gorgeous woman—still radiant with charm. Those mannequins can’t hold a candle to your beauty. Comparing them to you would be… a disgrace.”
Even as he laid it on thick, he was silently apologizing to his conscience. He didn’t want to say such shameless things, but the rules forced his hand.
“Clothing Section Employee Guidelines”
…
6. Mannequins in the clothing section do not speak or move. If you see anything unusual, it’s a hallucination caused by fatigue.
7. To maintain store aesthetics, mannequins must always be properly dressed.
8. This store follows mainstream fashion trends. Employees must check mannequins for strange
combinations and dispose of them in the miscellaneous bin.
Rule 7 stated clearly: mannequins must be properly dressed. But what exactly counted as “proper”?
Zhao Qian Sun Li didn’t know, so he played it safe—don’t mess with their outfits.
Too bad Zhen Jin was trying to make him break a rule.
“Oh please, what a convenient excuse. Fine, then just take the clothes off the mannequins and give them to me.”
Fortunately, Zhao Qian Sun Li had read the previous employee logs and already knew where the clean backups were stored.
“Please hold on, I’ll fetch some fresh ones from the back—they’re perfectly clean.”
Zhen Jin wasn’t having it. She stood up threateningly.
“I said I want those clothes. I don’t care if they’re clean.”
Clearly trying to make trouble.
Zhao Qian Sun Li quickly dragged the mannequins behind him and smiled.
“Of course. But I’ll just need to grab a replacement outfit to dress the mannequins again. Store policy, you understand. Or would you prefer I call the manager to explain it to you?”
Watching the scene unfold, Su Shisan shook her head. Zhen Jin had clearly failed to trip this player up.
The player was clever—immediately shifting the burden onto the supermarket.
According to the Employee Code, “The manager is trustworthy.”
And in this scenario, that was mostly true. The manager was actually an inspector—part of the “just” faction.
However, her mission was to stabilize the pollution source—and sacrificing players was one way to do that. So unless the player asked for help and it didn’t create risk, she wouldn’t intervene.
“I’m heading to the home goods section. Your shift should be starting soon too.”
Su Shisan closed the monitor window and returned to the secret passage.
She was curious about the player’s ability—how exactly did it feel to make people want to be close to you?
As soon as she stepped into the home goods section, she was hit by a sickening stench—a mix of blood and raw fish.
Jennie Textile Machine stood by the freezer, staring seriously at its contents.
And the moment Su Shisan got close, she felt… an odd sense of affection. The way Jennie earnestly searched for problems—she actually looked kind of cute.
Her brain registered a positive impression of Jennie, even though she knew it was a result of the player’s skill. Still, it didn’t bother her.
It didn’t cloud her mind either. Su Shisan could easily withhold useful info—and had no intention of helping someone win.
Just as Mimosa had said, this skill didn’t impact architects as much. And maybe because Su Shisan was naturally emotionally detached, the effect was even weaker on her.
Relaxed, she cut straight to the point.
“I’d like to buy some bowls.”
The request was so ordinary and clearly rule-compliant that Jennie naturally assumed her ability was working.
Smiling, she pulled out stacks of patterned bowls in different sizes.
“Feel free to choose the ones you like. If none suit you, I can grab more from the back.”
“These are fine,” Su Shisan pointed to one.
“Wrap up two of these.”
After getting her items, she pulled out an apple from her bag and handed it to Jennie.
“You’ve got good customer service. This is for you.”
“…Well, thank you.” Jennie hesitated but took the apple. She’d often received NPC gifts due to her skill, most of which were harmless—or even helpful.
She didn’t plan to eat this one just yet though. It looked like one of those apples from the food section.
She’d ask that player about it during lunch break.
Seeing her accept the apple, Su Shisan smiled faintly and walked away without pushing her to eat it.
There was no need to rush—she still had the whole day in this instance. She’d come back and cause trouble for the cashier later. Plenty of time to fill that KPI.
At the checkout counter, Su Shisan set down her bag of apples and the two bowls.
She pointed at the apples.
“Your food section clerk sold me rotten apples. What does the store have to say about that?”
Caught off guard, Yangtze No. 8 frowned. He’d already braced himself for trouble when he saw this customer, but didn’t expect the issue to come from another player.
“What would you like us to do?” he asked carefully—without realizing he’d just handed the upper hand to the customer.
Su Shisan pounced on that opening.
“Whoever made the mistake should take responsibility. I want these apples for free.”
Free?
That gave Yangtze No. 8 pause.
It wasn’t really his fault. Even if they gave the apples away, it would just be Mimi Zi’s problem, not his.
Still, denying the request would violate Rule #2: Unconditionally satisfy customer requests.
So technically, he should agree.
But… would waiving the cost hurt the supermarket’s bottom line?
Wasn’t it his job to protect the store’s interests?
After a moment’s thought, he tried to negotiate:
“I’m very sorry for the inconvenience. We’ll discipline the careless clerk. As for the apples, we can offer a refund or a new bag. How does that sound?”
“That sounds bad. If you don’t give me a refund, I’m going to file a complaint.”
Su Shisan had perfectly judged this player’s timid personality—and shut him down hard.
It worked. Yangtze No. 8 backed down—but not completely.
“Please wait a moment. I’m not authorized to make that call. I’ll go ask the store manager.”
Su Shisan scowled for show, but inside, she was calm—amused, even.
Ask the manager?
Perfect.
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