Who gave you permission to travel through time with Earth?

This is an old-fashioned general store.

Calling it a general store isn't quite accurate; it's too big, with four bedrooms, four living rooms, and a second floor, making it resemble a small villa with wooden floors and glass windows.

The shelves that should have been displaying items were now completely empty. The old shop windows were very clean, and the sunlight streaming in cast a warm glow, but this scene made one's chest tighten inexplicably.

"Squeak—"

Fang Jin's action of pushing open the door symbolized his entry into the general store. The scene that appeared before him surprised him. He never expected that the Jin brothers lived in such an environment.

He quickly explored the grocery store, the cabinets, the counter, and then the three bedrooms and study above, but found no trace of a third person living in the entire cabin.

"...Are they orphans? But why are there three bedrooms upstairs? Two teenagers who haven't become players yet obviously don't have the financial means to afford such a property."

Later, Fang Jin found the answer in Jin Fugui's room: a yellowed and creased diary locked in a compartment under the bed, with scratches on the open pages from pen strokes.

Each page was scribbled with only a few words before being stuffed into the clipboard; this was how the latter vented his pent-up emotions... and clearly didn't want anyone to see it.

"Mom...that wretched woman left us, abandoned Father! How could she?! How dare she?! Why do Grandpa and Uncle dislike us so much?!"

"My father died in the dungeon... and that woman doesn't care about us. Without players to support us as combatants, how can the general store survive in the black market? How are we supposed to live?"

"Once we enter the instance, even if we're just new players, having our talent abilities will allow us to establish ourselves in the black market and even earn equipment to supplement our family income..."

"...Why the hell am I getting scared?!"

……

After flipping through a few pages, Fang Jin gradually understood the Jin brothers' situation in the main world. Although it sounded pitiful, their family didn't run a perfectly good general store.

Instead, it is a transit point for the largest black market in the fourth region, specializing in handling items and equipment flowing from both the underworld and legitimate businesses, laundering them for sale and profiting from the price difference, and providing services only to players.

The brothers' father was a top-tier player who had reached at least level 30, which was why he was able to maintain this very lucrative business on the black market and even occasionally line his own pockets.

But this also means that he is the only obstacle for others to get a piece of this lucrative business. With the death of the Jin family father, no one can guarantee the safety of the equipment, and all the channels of the general store have been shut down.

Even the goods that were already left unsold in the shops were either taken back or snatched away at extremely low prices, causing the Jin brothers to lose almost all of their savings accumulated over the years.

Jin Fugui was unwilling to let his family's business decline like this, but to reclaim the shop's distribution channels, the player's identity was essential. Therefore, he gambled the lives of two people on the last of their evolution stones.

Attempting to clear the newbie dungeon and become a full-fledged player, even if your level and combat power are still insufficient, at least you can ensure that your shop won't disappear directly from the market.

"...He wasn't lying."

Fang Jin smiled wryly, never expecting Jin Fugui to have such a past, completely different from the impression he left before and after the reservoir incident. He sighed deeply, then casually burned the diary to ashes...

After all, sympathy is sympathy, and hatred is hatred, but he could not allow any trace of the Jin brothers to remain in this world, as they would be a potential threat to him.

Fang Jin has now inherited all of this, and to put it somewhat ruthlessly... he is very satisfied. This identity may bring him almost no trouble, and he doesn't even need much positive reinforcement.

Moreover, the channels for shops have only cooled down, not been cut off. After I replace Jin Fugui as a player, I can still pick them up again. They are excellent in terms of life skills, cultivation, and intelligence.

"New identity... black market merchant?"

Fang Jin couldn't help but laugh at himself, but thankfully he wasn't a student. If this old guy, who had been bored in the universe for centuries, were to go back to that boring school... Fang Jin would turn around and go back to the instance right now.

"Bang bang bang—!"

Just then, the door of the grocery store was slammed loudly, accompanied by the impatient chatter and shouts of four or five people. The old door was almost smashed open.

"Hey kid from the general store, are you dead or not? You've been in the dungeon for over 24 hours, if you're still alive and a player, hurry up and say something! Otherwise, this land will belong to our boss."

"Third Brother, those who are capable of returning have already returned. Didn't the announcement say that there is a difference in the time flow between the dungeon world and our world? Generally, a dungeon run will not exceed 24 hours."

"...After all this rambling nonsense, what do you mean? Can we have this prime land today?"

"What I'm saying is... that kid's dead meat. We'll just break down the door and storm in. The black market's rule is might makes right and first come, first served!"

"His mother should have said that earlier!"

Before the words were even finished, the man had already picked up a stone and violently smashed open the shop window. Then, a large, hairy hand reached through the hole and groped for the door lock handle.

"...Should I compliment you on being polite, that you even knew to knock?"

Fang Jin grabbed the stone that had almost hit his face, muttered helplessly to himself, and then stepped forward and slammed the wooden door open. The four or five people crammed in behind the door immediately tumbled in.

"Ouch!", "Ouch!", "Damn it!"...

The burly, hairy man at the head of the group was extremely irritable, having already rattled off several phrases of classical Chinese poetry. When he looked up and saw Fang Jin with a subtle smile on her face, he immediately burst into a tirade of curses:

"Who are you, Jin...?"

Then, his words were abruptly cut off in his throat. At the same time, white data streams flashed in the eyes of the four or five people traveling with him, and part of their memories had been quietly adjusted.

[Positive value -1, current remainder: 12]

This was certainly not the price of altering the memories of the few hooligans in front of her, but rather the bias in the scope of her memories. However, Fang Jin still couldn't help but curse under her breath, as the bias setting was truly insidious beyond measure.

"...Fang Jin, you're actually still alive?"

The hairy giant also clicked his tongue in surprise, then struggled to his feet from the group of people, looking Fang Jin, who was slightly shorter than him, up and down, almost to the point of grabbing the latter's head and rubbing it.

"Damn it, I bet you'd never come out alive! Now I'm going to lose to that woman from the money-losing shop! My money...!"