Snow Xi leaned wearily on a mop she had no idea where she'd found and looked at the enormous hotel she'd spent half the day cleaning. She pursed her lips.
Who could have known that she, a shut-in from the twenty-first century who loved good food, would set off to travel the country alone just to enjoy a delicious meal, following the crew of A Bite of China as they sampled delicacies from all over?
Then, while she was reaching for a copy of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Gourmet Catalog on a high shelf in the library, her terrible height got the better of her. She and the book toppled to the floor, and she landed on the back of her head. Everything went black, and she lost consciousness.
When she opened her eyes again, she found herself lying in a dusty hotel with a Red Grimoire resting on her chest. It was the Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Gourmet Catalog.
Perplexed, Snow Xi tried to call for help, only to find that this godforsaken place didn't even have a signal. The roars of beasts kept reaching her ears from all around, and Snow Xi's little face went pale as she clutched the Gourmet Catalog to her chest. Suddenly, the entire book blazed with a dazzling light.
Snow Xi instinctively narrowed her eyes. The light gradually dimmed, and she felt the book grow weightless in her hands. The Gourmet Catalog had vanished.
The next instant, a stream of data suddenly flooded her mind, and Snow Xi gradually understood everything.
This was no longer her original world. She had crossed over into Swallowed Star, her favorite series, and the Gourmet Catalog had undergone some unknown change during the journey. It now stood quietly in her mind.
To her surprise, Snow Xi discovered that she could see the Great Book in her mind just by closing her eyes.
Eager to explore, she tried opening the Red Grimoire. The first page turned easily, revealing a line of large characters:
Please set a Gourmet Anchor in a clean and tidy restaurant to unlock the rest of the catalog!
She tried turning to the next page, but sure enough, it wouldn't budge, as though the pages had been filled with concrete.
Snow Xi was a little scared, but she was still thinking clearly. In this Wilderness Zone, the catalog that had come with her was her only lifeline. Even if a Martial Artist team showed up, this place was beyond the law!
For the sake of her own life, Snow Xi decided that cleaning a single room was no big deal. She immediately set about tidying up the restaurant in the hotel, which had clearly been abandoned for a long time.
By the time she finished, it was afternoon. Snow Xi tossed the mop aside, rubbed her aching arm muscles, and sat down on a chair.
Fortunately, although she'd been a shut-in, she hadn't neglected exercise. Otherwise, after cleaning such a huge room, she'd have been better off letting one of the monsters outside gobble her up in a single bite.
After taking a breather, Snow Xi closed her eyes and returned to the Great Book. The button for setting a Gourmet Anchor had now become available.
She pressed it without hesitation. The next moment, with her eyes still closed, Snow Xi discovered she could see what was happening outside. The scene was divided into countless grids, and the Gourmet Anchor took up four of them. As her view shifted, its position changed too, much like the placement screen in the Serenitea Pot from some game.
Snow Xi knew exactly how to handle this. She moved the Gourmet Anchor to the center of the restaurant and hung it from the ceiling like a chandelier. Then, when her view stopped moving, she silently thought, "Place!"
Her eyes sprang open. A crystalline sphere with countless facets now floated where the ceiling had been empty before, casting a warm light.
Snow Xi couldn't spare a moment to admire the wondrous feat of creating something from nothing. She immediately looked back at the catalog. The words on the first page had vanished, replaced by a new message: "Gourmet Anchor successfully placed. Gourmet Restaurant established. Layout management is available on this page."
The page then displayed the restaurant's interior. Snow Xi tapped the Gourmet Anchor, and an explanation appeared beside it:
[Gourmet Anchor: The Gourmet Catalog restaurant's emblem. (Cannot be moved) Functions: ① Manage the restaurant's layout; ② The owner is protected from external threats within a 1,000-meter radius of the anchor; ③ The owner can charge for five seconds and teleport back to the anchor from anywhere in the outside world.]
Snow Xi immediately relaxed. This, too, was familiar: layout management, plus an Invincible Domain, with teleportation thrown in. The usual setup.
But the details remained to be seen. Was it Mastery of Time and Space, like a Universe Master, or simply an Invincible Domain? Snow Xi sprang up from her chair at once. She had to test it.
Snow Xi rolled up her sleeves and shouted at the empty air in front of her, "Mastery of Time and Space!"
The sky didn't darken, and the wind didn't whip up. Instead, an utterly quiet atmosphere settled over Snow Xi as she pointed at the sky with one hand. She could almost hear a few crows laughing as they flew overhead.
Snow Xi scrunched up her nose, then dropped the ridiculously chuunibyou pose without the slightest embarrassment. She thought to herself, Well, the experiment proves that Mastery of Time and Space was just something I imagined. Looks like it's simply an Invincible Domain. I was getting greedy.
She continued browsing the catalog. She now understood the management function and the Invincible Domain. She could experiment with teleportation later, when she had more time. For now, she wanted to see what was on the next page of the Gourmet Catalog.