Alternate Dimension Game: Happiness is all that matters!
Chapter 164 - 153 A Whole New Life!

Chapter 164: Chapter 153 A Whole New Life!

"Ah, let’s not talk about that for now. Over the past month, I’ve started my own business! Pretty soon, I’ll be experiencing what it’s like to be a boss."

Wang Hao took Han Xiaoyue for a tour of the newly decorated internet cafe.

In the dim depths of the starry sky, it was as if great beasts tread forward.

Thick, grey fog rose from the ground, with eyes appearing and disappearing within it.

"Several kilometers" out, a gigantic creature as large as a mountain moved slowly towards the direction of the lights...

Han Xiaoyue stood frozen in place, goosebumps all over her body.

"How is it? Pretty cool, right?"

The girl’s startled expression made him extremely delighted.

Indeed, for a joyful life, one must first have their own business.

A life without a business is not fulfilling.

Although, the girl’s acting was a bit exaggerated, looking somewhat fake, with cold sweat breaking out on her forehead?

It’s just an internet cafe, isn’t it...

A drink vending machine disguised as a monster, is it really that frightening?

Wang Hao still happily accepted this joy.

...

But through Han Xiaoyue’s eyes, within the thick fog, pale hands reached out one after another, swarming towards her.

The darkness writhed like tar, staring at her with malice.

As if... it wanted to peer into her soul!

What... what kind of place is this?

In an instant, her face turned pale, and her heart began to pound.

...

It seemed that Wang Hao noticed the girl’s anxious emotion and smiled, "You can work here during the summer vacation as a network manager, how about that? Room and board included."

With these words, Han Xiaoyue gained a legitimate identity.

The fog dispersed.

The eyes and hands vanished.

As if the previous scenes were merely illusions.

But she knew in her heart that it was not an illusion.

"Even if I don’t work, you’d still have to provide room and board, right?" Han Xiaoyue relaxed and instinctively moved closer to Wang Hao.

Wang Hao immediately offered the terms, "A hundred yuan a day for wages, and free drinks. You can skip work if you don’t feel like working."

Han Xiaoyue glanced at the huge monster drink machine, pondered for a moment, and finally said, "Deal!"

Wang Hao was secretly thrilled, with beauty as bait, the internet cafe’s business was bound to boom.

Just the condition of "enjoying being the boss" on its own, three thousand yuan a month, was absolutely worth it!

Right then, he began to order his newly recruited subordinate around, "Ahem, new secretary, go to the supermarket next door and buy some vegetables!"

"Today, this boss will personally hold a celebration banquet for you!"

...

...

This was Han Xiaoyue’s first time stepping into a supermarket.

She was overwhelmed by the abundant resources and dazzling array of products, filled with excitement and nervousness, Han Xiaoyue felt like she was "Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden," having arrived at a new and fascinating world.

The air conditioning was a bit cold, causing her pores to slightly contract, making her sneeze involuntarily.

After the sneeze, her face showed a happy smile.

This real sensation... was truly wonderful!

"Little lady, the leafy greens aren’t very fresh in the afternoon," a kind-hearted supermarket auntie quietly warned her.

Perhaps because she was pretty and cute and was madly buying leafy greens.

"Oh, oh!"

Han Xiaoyue then realized that if she bought stale vegetables, she’d be in trouble!

So, she chose vegetables with a longer shelf life like carrots, winter melon, and onions.

She also picked out a big black fish weighing three pounds and asked the supermarket staff to help clean the fish and separate the meat.

Finally, she bought a bottle of cola—the kind with sugar!

Sugar-free soda, it really lacks soul!

The entire process went without any risks...

The interaction with people was also completely normal.

"So, I can live a normal life from now on?"

But Han Xiaoyue didn’t dare to be careless, holding her basket, she carefully sensed her surroundings.

The higher-dimensional game was long and enduring; she had only completed her first small goal...

Next up, there were several small goals and one real big goal...

"I’m back. Bought lots of vegetables!"

Returning to the cafe on the second floor, she found the game helmet placed on the table, flickering with blue light, pulsating rhythmically, stirring the soul.

Han Xiaoyue didn’t know what this blue light meant, but thought to herself, "I’m just a common person who happens to know a few things."

"I’m so pitiful, with nowhere to turn. You’re such a great God, do you really need to compete with me?"

The flickering blue light flashed violently a few times.

"Take the vegetables to the kitchen," came Wang Hao’s voice.

The light on the helmet disappeared.

Han Xiaoyue let out a sigh of relief. This damned ghostly place, one really couldn’t relax for a moment, "Boss Wang, you’re personally cooking... Do you need my help?"

The way she said "Boss Wang" was soft and cute like a voice actress’s, which made Wang Hao’s heart bloom with joy.

He waved his hand grandly, "Just put the ingredients on the table! Today, I’m going to show off my culinary skills, and surprise you over and over! You’ll gain five pounds in one night."

"Boss Wang, the jade pendant amulet you gave me last time accidentally cracked."

Han Xiaoyue then took a fragmented jade Buddha out of her bag.

Wang Hao was busy stirring some cornstarch and without turning his head, he said, "If it cracked, it cracked, no big deal. Anyway, it was a cheap piece of Qinghai jade from a temple. Don’t worry about it."

"Next time I’ll buy you one made of nephrite jade or jadeite... At first, I didn’t understand why, even though they are all stones, there’s such a price difference? Later on, I figured it out."

Han Xiaoyue glanced back at the game helmet that started flickering again, "Why?"

"It’s just that even the concept of price is something concocted by humans. So, the price difference between various stones can be explained as well."

"Even the human currency system is illusory and intangible. But without these illusory creations, human society wouldn’t be able to function normally, which baffles me."

"From the operations of a civilization to the individual, it’s all the same."

Han Xiaoyue vaguely felt that her big cousin was projecting something... These words gave her the creeps, any way she analyzed it felt very strange.

The helmet that was previously flashing blue lights at her suddenly became motionless.

However, she didn’t dare to sit back and enjoy the fruits of others’ labor, and quickly went to the kitchen to help.

This stripped eel had about a pound and two ounces of flesh. First, the head and bones were fried in oil to make a broth, with some tofu and bamboo shoots added.

Thus, a dish was completed.

A rich, savory fish soup that kept finding its way into her nostrils. Han Xiaoyue found herself greedily tempted, in the past... without enough reality, she didn’t dare to eat much.

Even more tantalizing were the fish slices!

The sliced fish was quickly scattered in boiling water, then scooped out with a strainer after 30 seconds and spread over the vermicelli in the dish.

Then, seasoned with prepared soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar to give it a dull yellow color, with just a touch of cornstarch mixture added.

Then in another hot pan, heating mixed oil until it reached about 70 percent heat, she poured in the big plate of fish slices. With a sizzle, the scent that haunted one’s dreams instantly emanated from the pan.

Mission accomplished!

"Hey, these stir-frying skills, ordinary people just can’t learn. Because the fish slices are so thin, they cook quickly. Stir too much, and they turn into mush, stir too little, and they easily burn," Wang Hao proudly exclaimed.

...

But in Han Xiaoyue’s eyes, the pot seemed to be filled with a misty spiritual fog and golden light that bloomed within the fish slices!

Even a mere whiff of this mysterious aura made her feel as if her soul was being elevated.

However, at the moment, Han Xiaoyue was breaking out in a cold sweat.

What... what’s going on?

This had never happened before!!

"Could it be that ’He’ has escaped?"

She swallowed her saliva in shock, barely able to resist the aroma of the fish, and quickly got up to wash her face in the bathroom.

He saw two black dots on the mirror again, as if two lasers had burned right through the high-quality glass.

A quick comparison revealed that the distance between the two black spots was just the same as the spacing between eyes.

Han Xiaoyue felt the rough edges of the holes on the mirror and could tell that despite the special material of the mirror, it was still burned through with two holes.

She laughed gleefully, "Almost lost control, huh?"

---

"Dinner is ready!"

Han Xiaoyue served herself a small bowl of rice; today marked the beginning of a new life for her.

"Actually eating dinner today, so no more dieting?" Wang Hao asked in surprise, though he never believed that Xiaoyue needed to diet in the first place.

What’s the point of dieting? You might end up losing the curves that make you look good. Men’s idea of beauty can be quite different from that of women’s.

The dinner table was adorned with a sumptuous spread of four dishes and a soup to celebrate the completion of Han Xiaoyue’s high school graduation exams.

"Cheers!"

The sugary Coke filled Wang Hao with a sense of guilt, characteristic of a happy couch potato, but... it was exhilarating!

"Can I eat this fish?"

Wang Hao teased her without stopping, "Even for this, you ask me... Go ahead, eat as much as you want! How about some red wine? Champagne? Or, could I interest you in some ice cream... Have you heard of the ’ice cream assassin’?"

---

The investigation of the mysterious "Jin Li" was long and ongoing.

There were still many unsolved mysteries surrounding "Jin Li".

Of course, given the low risk posed by "Jin Li" and the plethora of unresolved mysteries worldwide, the priority wasn’t too high.

It was merely a routine check by an unremarkable small team every once in a while, keeping tabs and asking the neighborhood aunties if anything new had occurred. The main responsibility fell to a lady from the Great Science Academy, referred to as Number 28, to summarize the recent situation with "Jin Li".

Basically, as long as there were no major disturbances, it wasn’t a problem.

"Oh, he recently opened an internet café, but it hasn’t officially started business yet. A VR café, very high-tech."

"Today, a pretty girl went to his shop, bought a bag of groceries—seems like they had dinner together? It’s perfectly normal for boys his age to find girlfriends, no big deal."

The young Investigator, clad in black, was questioning a helpful local supermarket auntie.

"Wang Hao really knows how to cook, I could smell the delicious aroma from far away."

"He is such a good kid! Not only is he polite, his way of speaking is pleasant, and he can cook, such a rarity!" The auntie was overflowing with enthusiasm, her speech torrential, "Nowadays, not many boys who can cook as well as him—he could even be a chef in Dubai."

"He’s a rich second-generation kid; how could he possibly go to Dubai to be a chef?" The Investigator couldn’t help but feel embarrassed. This auntie sure talked a lot, always going on about people becoming chefs... Sometimes Wang Hao cooked just for the fun of it.

"It figures that Wang Hao is a rich second-generation. Our community committee even tried to matchmake him with several girls, setting up blind dates for him, but he politely declined all of them."

The helpful community auntie gossiped about family matters: "Looks like he’s found someone prettier. The girl today did indeed look very beautiful, like she comes from a good family."

"And who might you be, always coming by to ask questions?" The auntie looked puzzled.

"Me? I’ve been asked by his relatives to keep an eye out for any bad company he might keep."