People online love to joke that humans come with some kind of beginner’s protection buff.

When you’re in school, no matter how crazy things get, you somehow walk away fine.

But once you start working? One tiny slip-up and boom—your life can go off the rails.

On that, Stella Gates totally agreed.

So when the company announced their team‑building activity was going to be bungee jumping…

As an intern, Stella didn’t care how nasty her supervisor’s expression got—she shut it down on the spot.

Bungee jumping? No way.

Tying her life to one rope? Stella wasn’t signing up for that.

What if the rope wasn’t tied tight enough?

What if it snapped halfway?

Wouldn’t she be done for?

It felt great refusing in the moment, but the aftermath… yeah, not so fun.

After getting hassled eight times in a single day, Stella finally snapped and straight‑up fired her boss instead.

Eat, sleep, binge dramas, read novels, play games.

Stella spent a few days rotting at home in pure bliss before she finally forced herself to job‑hunt.

Sitting cross‑legged on the sofa as her computer slowly booted up, she focused on the coin in her hand.

It was the change she’d gotten the day she quit, from the small supermarket downstairs.

She hadn’t noticed anything weird at the time.

But once she got home, she realized—it wasn’t a one‑yuan coin at all.

On the front was a picture of a two‑story building, totally looking like some arcade token.

Stella was still debating whether she should drop by the supermarket tomorrow to exchange it…

When suddenly, the coin flashed—bright but strangely gentle.

The light wrapped around the coin and shot straight into her forehead.

“Ding. Congratulations. You have successfully activated System 007: the Multiverse Supermarket System.”

"With this, you get to hop between realms, check out all kinds of unbelievable worlds. Money, power, influence—basically all yours for the taking."

A… system? Did she just hit some cosmic jackpot?

Stella Gates’s eyes instantly lit up. She leaned forward a little, excitement bubbling in her voice.

"Multiverse Supermarket? So… it’s gonna help me open a supermarket? System, hey System, what exactly can you do?"

"This system aims to spread supermarkets across the multiverse. You, as the executor, will travel to various worlds to establish them," System 007 replied, crisp and straightforward.

Uh—Stella’s excitement froze mid-air. She blinked twice and immediately blurted out the real concern in her heart.

"Travel to other worlds to open stores? What kind of worlds are we talking about? Are they dangerous? Do you have any safety protections or not?"

What if she got thrown straight into a war zone? Or some kind of wasteland? Or a literal apocalypse?

With her combat ability basically at rock bottom, she’d be done before even unpacking her shelves.

"There are countless worlds in the universe. Only by going there can you know what kind of world it is. Once the host earns star coins through business, you may purchase defensive items in the System Mall."

Stella immediately caught the hidden meaning and shut it down on the spot.

"So basically, before I make any money, you can’t guarantee I’ll stay alive? Yeah, no thanks. I’m not going."

Sure, the system promised a glamorous life, but Stella still valued breathing a lot more.

System 007 clearly had never imagined someone would reject it this bluntly.

It went silent for a whole minute before sputtering back to life.

"Who said other worlds are definitely dangerous? Maybe you’ll be lucky and land in a peaceful one on your first try! Host, you can’t just jump to conclusions!"

This tone—totally different from its rigid program lines earlier. It actually sounded… emotional.

Stella raised a brow, a little surprised. Okay, so it was an intelligent system after all. That made communication easier.

"Yeah, maybe I’ll get a peaceful world. But maybe I’ll drop straight into a battlefield. That’s like a fifty-fifty chance. I’m not okay with my life also being a fifty-fifty gamble."

Anyway, there was no universe where Stella would risk her own neck for this.

"You’re seriously just scared of dying!" System 007’s voice was already cracking with frustration.

Stella Gates stayed calm, even nodding as she said, "Yeah, I am scared of dying. If you can’t stand it, go ahead and unbind yourself. Find someone braver."

The moment those words dropped, System 007 choked—then went dead silent.

After a long pause, a helpless sigh echoed in her head. "Fine. I’ll lend you the money for some protective gear. Happy now?"

Hearing that, Stella’s lips curled up ever so slightly.

So, turns out this thing couldn’t control her, couldn’t punish her on a whim, and probably couldn’t just unbind itself without paying some kind of price.

Thinking this through, she pushed a bit further. "Lend me the money? Why not just throw it in as a newbie gift?"

"Absolutely not!!" System 007 screeched, its sharp voice vibrating in her skull, making her frown.

Alright. Limits tested.

If they were going to be stuck together for who knew how long, she might as well not push the poor thing off a cliff.

She softened her tone. "Fine, fine. I’ll borrow it, okay?"

A cold snort rang out, and then a light screen popped up, filled with rows of items and descriptions.

Stella ignored System 007’s temper tantrum. When it came to staying alive, she never messed around. She carefully read through each intro, skipping the one-time-use props or anything with a protection cap.

At the bottom, she finally found something that clicked.

Smart Safety Subsystem: Once purchased, it integrates directly into the main system. The host is invincible within the supermarket.

Invincible. Within. The. Supermarket.

Those four words hit Stella right in the soul.

"This one!"

"You’re picking *that*? Do you know how expensive it is?" System 007’s voice shot up an octave in pure disbelief.

9999 star coins!

Even though Stella Gates still had no clue what a single star coin was actually worth, she could more or less guess from System 007’s tone that it definitely wasn’t cheap.

But expensive or not, she had to buy that thing. Staying alive was the real MVP here.

Afraid the system might suddenly go stingy, she purposely provoked it. “Don’t tell me you can’t even pull out that tiny bit of cash?”

As expected, System 007 fell for it instantly. “Of course I have money! It’s just that the amount is huge. If you want to borrow it, I’ll have to charge interest!”

Interest? She hadn’t expected that. So this system was basically a greedy little money goblin.

“Alright, how about five percent?” Stella asked, doing quick mental math on the side.

“With interest, that’s exactly 10,498.95 star coins. I’ll round it up for you—10,500. But I have one small condition.”

System 007, suddenly feeling triumphant, pretended to act cool. “And what’s that?”

“Well, star coins must be super useful to you. If I dump everything I earn into paying you back, the supermarket won’t develop at all.” Stella thought it over carefully before continuing, “So here’s my proposal: I keep half of whatever I earn, and the other half goes toward the debt until it’s fully paid off.”

System 007 analyzed her words for a moment, found the logic acceptable, and finally agreed.

Right after that, Stella watched as the light-screen in her mind flickered and automatically purchased the Intelligent Safety Subsystem.

“This time, Host,” System 007 said smugly, “you can finally travel between worlds with me, right?”