The mascot of the wishing shop is a cat.

"According to news received last night, a large group of alien races, led by intelligent, advanced beings, have invaded our city, and the situation is extremely dangerous. Therefore, starting last night, we have implemented a city-wide emergency lockdown, requiring everyone to stay at home and await official personnel to conduct door-to-door testing before leaving. For everyone's safety, we hope you can understand. If you have any special circumstances, please call 031-357XXX-XXXX, and a specialist will assist you with issues such as urgently needed medicine or milk powder."

"I'll repeat it again..."

Early in the morning, radio, television, and all other means of receiving messages were repeating these kinds of messages. Some residential communities even used special notification channels to place these messages in every building's stairwell.

"This seems to be the first time I've encountered something like this in so many years. I only learned about these things in the danger notices taught in school. I heard that it was quite common more than ten years ago. At that time, the country had not yet developed a better protective shield to separate us from the alien race. I heard that you can't be sure if the people around you have been parasitized by the alien race when you walk on the street. They may transform and eat the people around you at any time. This is too scary."

Lin Xiyue sat bored on the sofa, waiting for the officials to come and test her. As she listened to the announcement, she idly recalled the knowledge she had learned from her school days.

Lin Xiyue got up very early this morning, without lingering in bed. This wasn't because she had a good sleep schedule now, or because she was very concerned about what happened last night, but because there was a machine with a city-wide loudspeaker right outside her house, which was incredibly noisy. And because it was a continuous alarm, she couldn't turn on the soundproofing diaphragm and had to just listen to it.

Thankfully, after the initial emphasis, the intervals between repetitions became longer and the volume decreased, finally allowing people to rest for a while.

I got up at six in the morning and waited until five in the afternoon before they finally detected Lin Xiyue's location on this street—a full eleven hours. To be honest, I couldn't really complain; I was just a little bored. But aside from not being able to go out freely, things were pretty much the same as usual with Lin Xiyue.

After all, this is a full-process test. It's already quite good if you can get a positive result by the afternoon of the same day. In some places, it might take until the evening to get a positive result.

During the inspection, whether Ling Yan and the others had given prior notice, no one checked Fu Gui, or perhaps they did but Lin Xiyue didn't notice. In any case, Lin Xiyue was inspected very easily and quickly.

........................

More than ten days have passed since that city-wide inspection, and no one has heard anything about the follow-up.

Everyone's life seemed to have returned to normal. Only when people were bored would they talk about the city-wide lockdown out of curiosity, wondering if the hidden alien race had been found.

However, in general, due to survivorship bias, the feeling that "I won't be so unlucky, it's just me" is quite distant from the lives of ordinary people. So, apart from being more cautious, it hasn't affected people's lives too much.

For the past ten days or so, Lin Xiyue has been running her shop as usual. The jewelry store is doing quite well; she already has many repeat customers, and many people are even too lazy to go out and order online instead, which has also improved the reputation of the online store.

Yes, Lin Xiyue also set up a small online store called Wishing Shop. The online store mainly sells handmade jewelry and small toy pendants, and also does custom orders. In general, except for the fact that you can make things on-site, the products sold online are almost exactly the same as those in the physical store.

Whenever Lin Xiyue creates a new product, she takes a picture, edits it a bit, and puts it on her online store. Once it's sold, she takes it off the shelves. Because it's a handmade store, it's almost impossible for two different items to be exactly the same. This is what makes it so appealing to many people, since most people don't like wearing the same clothes as someone else, and they certainly don't like having jewelry that's exactly the same as someone else's.

Besides, the jewelry in Lin Xiyue's shop isn't expensive, so it's quite popular. Lin Xiyue isn't aiming to make a fortune from it; she simply enjoys doing it and it makes her happy.

Lin Xiyue doesn't spend much each month, and she doesn't have a high desire to spend money. Besides, she owns the house. After deducting the necessary living expenses such as water, electricity, and gas, the biggest expense is food. She buys fresh meat and seafood for Guigui and Fugui to make cat food.

So Lin Xiyue's jewelry store is fine as long as it doesn't lose too much money, and she also has a monthly rental fee of five thousand for a card she rents out!

However, Lin Xiyue also advertises her wish shop on her online store, which is a photo of a small blackboard at the entrance, used as the cover of the online store.

Just like in reality, neither the online store nor the physical store has received a single "real" customer from the wishing shop in the past ten days.

"Waaaaah, not a single customer has come to the wishing shop in the past ten days or so! Am I really going to have to go outside with a sign and start looking for customers?!"

Lin Xiyue was doing handicrafts when she suddenly remembered that there were no customers, and she suddenly started to wail.

Oh right, I completed my last task, right? Did I level up?

[Yes~ ┗( ▔, ▔ )┛]

!! !! Does that mean I can add skill points?

[Yes, host. Which points do you want to add? Stamina or Spirit?]

Huh? I can only add two? That's ridiculous.

[→_→ Just tell me if you're adding me or not.]

Hmm... Add some mental energy, please. I didn't have enough stats when I used the hypnosis card last time. If it weren't for Meros's help, I might have messed up.

[Okay ヽ(￣▽￣)? Points added.]

System! Quickly open my personal panel.

[Name: Lin Xiyue]

Gender: Female

Level 1 (10)

Stamina: 7/8 (Maximum value for adult males is 10).

Health: 98/100 (Eat more vegetables!)

Mental Strength: 95/110 (He's been obediently going to bed early and waking up early lately.)

Ability value: 30 (10 points are from level bonuses, and 10 points are from additional points in mental strength).

Possible abilities: Card drawing, Eye of Truth, Summoning.

Card draw value: 210 (The ten-odds represents the increase in life cards last month—life cards are increasing slowly and are settled monthly.)

Package+]

After looking at her personal panel, Lin Xiyue suddenly remembered that she hadn't chatted with Molos for a long time. She didn't know if he was too busy or if he hadn't replied to her messages for reasons of confidentiality.

"I miss Moros a bit. He's probably the first friend I made here. Lingyan and Lingji definitely don't count, because we only met because of mutual interests and such. We can only be considered friends as long as our interests don't conflict."

Lin Xiyue stared at Molos's name on the terminal, muttering to herself. The last time they chatted was more than ten days ago, when they were watching the sunrise that early morning.

Should I message him?

"Send it! After all, he's a friend, so it's good to show concern."

With that thought in mind, Lin Xiyue sent a greeting message to Molos.

(Me: Melos, how have you been lately? It's been a while since I've heard from you.)

After sending the message, Lin Xiyue waited for another ten minutes or so. When she found that there was no reply, she got up somewhat disappointed and prepared to take a nap.

After Lin Xiyue left, Fugui, who had been dozing, suddenly got up and walked to a corner where a large potted plant was placed. It was the kind of easy-to-care-for indoor potted plant that didn't require much maintenance.

It swiped and swiped, pulling out its terminal from an inconspicuous corner of the flowerpot and connecting to it.

(Dream: I haven't been able to touch the terminal lately because of some things, (。?＿?。)? I'm sorry~)

"Ding-dong-"

Lin Xiyue had just arrived at the bedside and hadn't even lain down when she saw this message.

(Me: Oh, I see. You must be tired. (Kitten peeking out.jpg))

(Dream: It's okay. Are you missing me by messaging me like this? (*^▽^*))

(Me: Emmm, a little. Cat blushing.jpg)

(Dream: Then I'll come pick you up tonight. I'll take you somewhere where there are some good things~ヾ(@^▽^@)ノ)

(Me: Okay!)

After sending the message, Lin Xiyue's desire to take a nap vanished instantly. She jumped up, went to the wardrobe, and began picking out clothes to wear that evening.

Well, it's almost autumn now, but it's still quite hot, so I'll need to wear a sun-protective shirt. Should I wear a skirt or pants?

…………

Around 5 PM, Lin Xiyue prepared cat food for Fugui and placed it in its usual spot. She had originally planned to tell Fugui that she was going out, but then she couldn't find it anywhere.

Thinking back to how Fugui used to command the cats, Lin Xiyue always imagined that Fugui actually had an underground cat kingdom, and that his current disappearance was because he had gone back to handle government affairs.

Thinking this way, Lin Xiyue ignored it, left a note on the table indicating that she was going out for a while, and then went out with her small bag.

Outside the wishing shop.

Meros had been there for a while, and in less than ten minutes he had been standing outside, he had been approached by five people, including two men!

"Sorry to keep you waiting! I asked you to come inside and sit down; it's so hot outside."

Lin Xiyue finished getting ready and opened the door, just in time to see a man trying to chat up Molos. Molos's face was so dark that Lin Xiyue felt he was about to hit someone at any moment, so she quickly spoke up to help him out.

"You've finally arrived! (???)"

When Moros heard Lin Xiyue's voice, his eyes lit up. He instantly transformed from a cold and aloof god into a cute puppy with starry eyes, leaving the guy who had just been flirting with him stunned. Then he was dragged away by his companion.

"Yes, I'm here. Where do you want to take me?"

Lin Xiyue asked Molos curiously.

"Let's go, it's not far."

..............................

Lin Xiyue followed Mo Luosi through alleys she had never been before, winding and turning. The path was quite secluded, but there were quite a few people, giving it a lively feel.

An hour later, Lin Xiyue was led by Moros to a two-story building with a yard. It was close to the slums, but not actually in them. So, theoretically, it was safe, because if a problem arose and a protective shield needed to be activated, this was an impenetrable shield, while the slums only had an isolation shield. The safety levels of these two shields were completely different, judging from their names.

When I arrived, the light was already dim. A small, warm yellow street lamp hung at the entrance of the two-story building, illuminating the entrance and a small area in front of it. Unlike the main streets of the city, which are spotless and whose greenery seems measured by a ruler, the walls here were covered with unknown wildflowers and weeds, and moss grew in the cracks of the walls, giving the impression that life would find its own way.

This place seems to be a forgotten corner of the city, yet it grows tenaciously and wildly on its own.

"Boom boom boom——"

Moros and Lin Xiyue stood in front of the door and knocked. The door here didn't even have a doorbell.

"Who!"

A small child's voice rang out, its gender somewhat indistinguishable.

“It is I, Meros.”

Meros responded with a warm tone in his voice.

"crunch-"

The door opened, revealing a young but wary face.

"Brother Mo!"

Upon seeing that it was indeed Moros outside the door, the face revealed a joyful expression. Then, it manipulated something behind the door, and only some mechanical sounds could be heard before it opened the door wide and invited Moros and Lin Xiyue inside.

"Xiaolou, this is my friend, Lin Xiyue. Yueyue, this is Luo Xiaolou, the smartest child here. Xiaolou, I brought her to see you all today."

Moros introduced Lin Xiyue to the child, and also introduced the child to Lin Xiyue.

"Okay! Hello, Sister Lin! \(^o^)/~ I'll go call my mom!"

The boy named Xiaolou happily ran into the building, forgetting to invite Molos and the others to sit down.

"Come on, I'm quite familiar with this place. I'll take you inside and tell you about it."

Moros touched his nose and invited Lin Xiyue to come in and sit down.

"Is this an orphanage?"

Hearing Moros say that Xiaolou was the smartest child here immediately reminded Lin Xiyue of the orphanage.

"No, orphans are now cared for by special places. These places can't possibly get an orphanage license, and they're probably living much better lives in orphanages than here. This is kind of like a daycare center."

When Moros heard Lin Xiyue's question, he explained it to her.

"An alternative kind of daycare?"

"Yes, most of the children here are from the slums. Their parents don't have ordinary citizenship, and they might not even have a terminal. They might have to work three or more jobs a day to support themselves and their families. So it's impossible for them to bring their children to their workplaces. And because they don't have ordinary citizenship, they can't enjoy free benefits. So they've all pooled their resources here, in what's considered a relatively safe place, to run a daycare center together."

"Then all the children here are..."

"Yes, the parents of the children here are what is commonly referred to as unregistered residents, and they themselves are also unregistered residents."

"That……"