The Everlasting Debt Supermarket

The "Gallery of Condensed Skin" incident swept through the entire management of "Eternal Debt Supermarket" like a hurricane. News about the mysterious customer with white hair and heterochromatic eyes who held a black card from the underworld, as well as the S-class store manager Herak's terrified reaction, was spread with embellishments.

As a result, as Mo continued to stroll through the enormous supermarket carrying more and more shopping bags, he was treated more than a "VIP," almost like a "royal pilgrimage."

Whenever he approaches a new shop, whether it is "Starry Hall" which sells dazzling jewelry, "Time Gallery" which displays ancient artworks, "Gourmet Feast" which provides top-quality ingredients, or even "Strange Things Shop" which sells some strange and unusual items of unknown purpose, the shop manager and all senior staff will receive advance notice and line up neatly at the door to greet him with a bow.

"Welcome, Your Excellency!"

"Please feel free to browse. Do not hesitate to ask if you require anything!"

Their faces were plastered with the most humble and obsequious smiles, their voices trembling slightly with nervousness. The service was outrageously attentive, serving tea and water, providing detailed introductions, and even holding their breath, as if afraid of displeasing this person in the slightest.

Shi Mo remained calm about this.

He was like an emotionless purchasing machine, his gaze sweeping over the priceless goods—diamonds the size of pigeon eggs, ancient oil paintings containing faint energy fluctuations, strange fruits from an unknown world, and even some "collectibles" that looked like junk but were priced ridiculously high.

He'll click on anything that catches his eye, or simply because he hasn't seen it before.

"this."

"And that one too."

"wrap up."

There was no haggling, no hesitation.

His only action was to pull out the Black Card of the Underworld, a card that terrified all the eerie creatures. The transaction was completed silently, and the goods were respectfully packaged and handed over. In his system space, the accumulation of luxury goods and strange items grew ever larger.

In stark contrast to his unhindered and extravagant lifestyle are the candidates who are still struggling in despair.

They watched as Shi Mo strolled through his own backyard, effortlessly acquiring goods they might not be able to afford even after working for hundreds of years. Their inner torment and resentment reached their peak. The initial shock and awe were gradually replaced by a morbid desire and a desperate, all-or-nothing courage.

Finally, someone couldn't hold back any longer.

As Mo emerged from the "Strange Treasures Shop" and prepared to head to the next area, a man with tattered clothes and sunken eyes suddenly rushed towards him. Mo was stopped by an invisible mental pressure just five meters away, and with a thud, he knelt on the ground, wailing and weeping, "My lord! Please! Have mercy! Lend me some vouchers—no, just help me buy the cheapest thing! My wife and children are waiting for me at home! I can't be trapped here to die! Please!"

Once there's a first one, there's a second, and a third.

"Sir! My mother is seriously ill and bedridden; I must go back!"

"I'm still young, I don't want to be a slave here for the rest of my life!"

"If you help me this once, I'll repay you by doing anything for you!"

"Please! For our sake, we're all human!"

Cries, pleas, and the sound of kowtowing rose and fell.

They tried to move the seemingly limitless man before them with kinship, love, and a thirst for life. Some eyes were filled with pure despair and pleading, while others, in the instant they lowered their heads, hid a barely perceptible jealousy and resentment deep within their eyes—why could he be so carefree? Why did we have to suffer like this?

However, Shi Mo's reaction to all of this remained the same—no reaction whatsoever.

He didn't even pause for a moment, his heterochromatic eyes calmly gazing ahead, as if the kneeling figures and piercing cries were merely part of the air.

He felt no disgust, no sympathy, and no intention to give alms.

He is not cruel; rather, his level of existence and cognition determine how he views problems.

As one of the sources of the strange rules, he knew that any "gift" would inevitably come with a deeper "cost".

To him, unconditionally saving others was foolish and meaningless. Moreover, while these candidates were in a desperate situation, the rules were clear; as long as they didn't break them, their lives weren't in immediate danger. Working to pay off debts under these "fair" rules was, in his view, just another form of prolonged torture, far from warranting his intervention.

"[Host...]" the system's voice weakly sounded in his mind, tinged with a hint of pity, "[They...they look so pitiful...Can't we...can't we help them? Even just one or two?]"

Shi Mo coldly replied in his heart, "When did I ever say I was a good person?"

system:【……】

Shi Mo continued, "Moreover, I have no obligation to save these people... who might have initially been jealous or even plotted against me." He accurately pinpointed the initial mindset of some of the candidates. In his view, behind these pleas was not only pure despair, but also the darker side of human nature.

The system fell silent. It couldn't refute it. It recalled that when it first entered the instance, the candidates' gazes towards the host were indeed filled with jealousy and scheming.

Shi Mo ignored the system and the pleas, continuing forward. Wherever he passed, the kneeling candidates were gently pushed aside by an invisible force, unable to hinder him in the slightest. The strange figures lined up to greet him, however, remained oblivious to this scene, maintaining their most respectful posture.

As he walked through the fresh produce section, looking at the candidates working under harsh conditions, and then at the vast, orderly, and seemingly self-contained supermarket, a thought flashed through his mind like lightning.

This supermarket is essentially a "domain" governed by rules. Just like... that Class B [abandoned hospital].

He recalled how he had "paid" for the Hades Black Card to acquire ownership of the abandoned hospital.

Since the goods here can be purchased with a black card...

So, what about the supermarket itself?

Once the idea took hold, it quickly took root and sprouted.

What's the point of buying individual items? It would be more interesting if you could acquire the entire "Eternal Debt Supermarket".

This would not only completely solve the so-called "task," but also give him another "industry" that he could enter at any time and that had relatively complete rules.

For the first time in this instance, a genuine interest gleamed in their heterochromatic eyes.

He stopped his aimless wandering and turned his gaze to the supermarket's seemingly endless dome, as if searching for the "core" of the supermarket.

"Perhaps," he murmured to himself, his voice so soft that only he and the system could hear, "it's time to go talk to the 'boss' here and discuss a big deal."