The Lucky Era Novel World.
Cold winds howled as thick snowflakes drifted down like feathers.
Jayda Miller pulled her puffer coat tighter around her, head down, trudging forward through the snow.
Just an hour ago, she learned that the place she'd spent over twenty years in was nothing but a fictional world.
And she? Just a background NPC.
The novel’s fake-rich female lead had gone all out to steal a man, even using some massive weapon that ended up wrecking the entire world.
Even though the Main System managed to pull her out at the last second, the damage leaked into other worlds too.
So when one of the system’s branches showed up asking her to patch things up in other messed-up worlds through energy missions, she barely hesitated.
Who wouldn’t? Stay away from love drama, keep the stress away.
And if she finishes her tasks, she gets to choose any world to retire in rich? Of course she said yes right away.
...
Following the system’s directions, Jayda found an abandoned hunter's cabin up ahead. She shoved the door open and stepped inside.
The place was drafty as heck. The wooden door was half falling apart, missing large chunks. Snowflakes floated right in through the gaps. Not much better than outside.
She hardly let out a sigh before a chubby calico cat popped its head out from her coat.
"Meooow!"
Jayda frowned. "Pretty sure normal cats don’t meow like that."
The calico leapt out, paws barely touching the freezing ground before it let out another loud yowl and scrambled back onto her body.
“Host, you’ve arrived at the assigned location. Please open the starter package.”
Jayda stared at the virtual prize wheel in front of her, took a deep breath, wiped off her hands, and smacked the button.
The wheel spun like crazy, then gradually slowed and stopped on the “Medium Prize Pack.”
Colorful virtual fireworks burst into the air. A prize box materialized out of thin air.
Jayda opened it.
A brand-new wooden cabin with tight sealing. One shop sign. One cash register counter. A glass display counter.
Fifty ten-pound bags of premium rice. Fifty ten-pound bags of flour. One hundred pounds of aged rice for bulk sale
safe to eat, no smell
. Plus a hundred plastic bags for packaging.
As the fancy lights faded away, the broken-down hunter's cabin quickly transformed into a neat, tidy little general store.
The white overhead light flicked on, making Jayda blink a few times before her eyes adjusted.
She looked over her shoulder—the rickety old door she'd come through was now nicely fixed. A new wooden door stood there, complete with a glass pane showing the snowy scene outside.
Right across from the entrance was the register.
Next to it, a waist-high swinging gate. Jayda pushed it open and walked behind the counter.
The register came with a digital scale and a wooden drawer with a lock underneath.Under the cash register sat an old-style iron chair, its seat covered with red quilted fabric.
Right next to it was a glass display counter.
Inside were sacks of old rice and flour, and hanging on the wooden frame behind the counter was a thick stack of sturdy-looking red plastic bags.
"This is the mid-level starter pack?"
Colette Feline leapt onto the glass counter. "Yep. The basic pack doesn't include food. The mid-tier gives you rice and flour. Premium gets you frozen meat and veggies. And the top-tier? You get all that plus extras like home appliances—heaters, air conditioners... stuff that'll really make you jealous."
Jayda Miller sighed. "......"
Colette flicked her tail. "Hang in there. Once you make some sales, you can buy whatever you want."
As soon as she finished, the system beeped with new tasks:
Task: Welcome and sell to 3 customers
0/3
– Reward: 5 boxes each of 3 instant noodle flavors.
Task: Welcome and sell to 20 customers
0/20
– Reward: Unlock frozen meat area, choose 3 types.
Task: Welcome and sell to 100 customers
0/100
– Reward: Unlock vegetable area, choose 10 types.
Jayda blinked. "A hundred people just to get to the veggies?"
"Yup," Colette said cheerfully. "When it's this cold, vegetables are like gold."
Jayda had to admit—it made sense.
Colette swished her tail again. "Now, what should we call the shop?"
Jayda thought for a second. "Let’s just name it Tiny Corner Market."
[Shop name updated: Tiny Corner Market.]
Owner: Jayda Miller.
Staff: Colette Feline
calico cat
.
Current sales: 0.
Current customer count: 0.
It was pitch dark out, but already six in the morning.
Jayda pulled the chair out and sat down, not bothering to rest. Might as well wait for the first customer.
...
George Carter wore a face full of worry, staring down at the chipped table with a bowl of rice water so thin you could barely spot a grain in it. He let out a long sigh.
Margaret Green nudged him, silently telling him to stop looking so grim.
"Old man, take Drummond and David back up into the mountain today. Maybe you’ll run into a rat burrow or something."
Drummond had just had a baby. His wife was starving and had no milk to feed the little one. The baby’s cries were thin and pitiful, like a cat’s mewl—it broke your heart.
Drummond nodded. "Mom, we’ll look harder today, we promise."
He couldn’t let this go on. His wife was starving, his baby not getting fed, and his daughter so hungry she could barely stay on her feet.
David, whose face was the spitting image of his father’s, also looked glum. "Snow’s too deep. Every household’s short on food. Probably won’t be the only ones heading up the hill today."
Just then, the kitchen door creaked open, and in burst Alex Carter, wrapped up tight against the cold. He slipped in before the wind could follow.
"Ma, Pa, big bros—I’m coming with you."Drummond didn’t even think about it before saying no. "No way. You're only fourteen. The mountain’s too dangerous."
Alex shot back, "Dangerous? Dad and both of you went, and I’m supposed to just sit at home doin’ nothing?"
David frowned. "That’s not the point. If all of us are gone, there won’t be a single man left here. That’d really worry folks."
Alex sat down reluctantly, pulling a long face. Margaret poured out another bowl of rice soup.
Once the three men finished eating, they met up at the village entrance.
Together, a group of them headed up the mountain. It wasn’t long before the falling snow erased every trace of their path.
By around seven, the women and kids started getting up.
The eldest two sons were married—Drummond had a daughter and a baby boy; David had a little girl.
The youngest, Alex, was still in school.
Drummond’s wife, Heidi, had a ten-year-old girl named Jeanette, and a one-month-old baby boy, little Jimmy.
David’s wife, Mary, had a five-year-old daughter, Becca.
Margaret divided the rice soup evenly.
Heidi got a bit more since she was in postpartum recovery, though not by much. Mary helped carry it over.
Heidi took the bowl, but before she even drank, tears slipped down her face.
Mary tried to comfort her. "You’ve gotta eat. The baby needs you strong. They all headed up the mountain. Maybe they’ll find something."
But even as she said it, Mary didn’t quite believe it. Life was just too hard now.
The snow was too heavy. They couldn’t even make it out of the village. And rumor had it the town was short on food too. How were they supposed to survive this?
Heidi forced down the rice soup, then tried nursing the baby—but it didn’t help.
The cold wind outside cut through everything. Even inside, it was barely warmer. This storm felt deadly, and they had no way to fight it.
In the tiny kitchen, Becca sipped the last of her rice soup, smacked her lips, and rubbed her tummy.
Jeanette kept watching her, clearly worried. She was the big sister—she had to look out for Becca.
"Becca, I’ve got a bit left. Want it?"
Becca shook her head right away. "No, that’s yours. You should drink it."
After Jeanette finished, she and Becca bundled up tight and crawled back into bed. As long as they didn’t move much, they could probably hold out till evening.
But then Becca suddenly opened her eyes wide, like she just knew something, and quietly slipped out to the woodshed.
There wasn’t much firewood left. In the corner sat an old bamboo basket and a hoe. She grabbed them both and snuck out.
The snow slapped cold and wet on her face as she pushed forward stubbornly, already veering off course before she even realized it.
With no idea where she was now, she picked a spot and started digging in the snow, hoping to find something—anything—to eat.
Right then, inside the general store, Jayda Miller heard a chime.
"Ding—"
[The Lucky Protagonist's Golden Finger has been delivered. World system is now active.]