The day after sending out the artifact, Amalia called Nil from the MegaGrocers Supermarket, to inquire if the boss had arrived. Once she received a confirmation, she headed out.
Upon reaching the entrance of MegaGrocers Supermarket, Amalia could already hear the sound of things being smashed from inside. Several female employees stood outside, their faces filled with anxiety as they looked into the chaos within.
"What's going on?" Amalia asked.
One of the female employees turned and recognized him, immediately grabbing his arm. "Amalia, you've come at just the right time. A group of people suddenly showed up this morning, claiming to be looking for the boss. They exchanged a few words and then started fighting. It's a mess in there now. Hurry and take a look; we can't let the boss suffer any losses."
Amalia immediately entered the supermarket, where a group of people was vandalizing the shelves. Food items were crushed underfoot, turning the place into a garbage dump. She walked over and flipped several of them onto the ground, then approached another group arguing in a corner. With a sharp slap, the leader of the group, received a heavy slap in the face from the female owner.
"I f***ing hate you women!" The leader spat out blood and a tooth as he spoke. Enraged, he raised his hand.
Beside her, Nil screamed in terror.
Before the slap could land, Amalia caught the man's wrist. If she had struck, it would have severely disfigured the owner face.
"Get the hell out of here!" the leader yelled, trying to pull away.
Amalia kicked at his knee, causing him to howl in pain and fall to the ground. His screams were so loud that it seemed like his knee had shattered. He turned to call his henchmen over, only to find them already lying on the ground, groaning in pain.
Amalia kicked the leader again, and he rolled away like a wheel, finally stopping when he collided with his henchmen. Several of them helped the leader up, their faces a mess of pain, and they staggered away.
The female owner of the store sat down on the floor, her face still in shock.
"What happened? Where's the manager?" Amalia asked.
Nil explained with a troubled expression, "These people came to collect a debt. It turns out that the manager secretly took some money from the supermarket's account two months ago. To avoid being discovered by the boss, he falsified the records. If it weren't for... if it weren't for the boss suddenly needing this money for an urgent matter, we wouldn't have found out so quickly."
"So the supermarket's special promotion isn't to boost sales but to reduce losses and sell the supermarket?" Amalia quickly grasped the situation.
Nil nodded slowly and discreetly informed Amalia, "Actually, the boss herself is also in debt."
"Call everyone in," the female owner calmly said, her mood having improved.
Nil immediately went out to call everyone inside.
"Everyone has seen today's situation. MegaGrocers Supermarket can't continue operating. I don't have a penny left, and I can't pay your salaries for this month. Consider the supermarket's items as compensation, take what you need," the female owner said while lighting a cigarette.
Any dissenting employees were restrained by others. In this situation, arguing wouldn't help, and it was better to take more items.
Almost everyone began loading items into two shopping carts each.
Nil hesitated as she looked at Amalia. "Amalia, you..."
"You go with them," the female owner told Amalia.
"Are you planning to sell this supermarket?" Amalia asked.
The female owner gave a bitter smile. "If we don't sell, we can't sustain the business."
"How much?" Amalia inquired.
The female owner looked puzzled. "For this supermarket?"
"What do you mean, don't tell me you want to buy MegaGrocers Supermarket? You're a broke student, even if you have some money, do you know how much this supermarket costs? At most, it's two million, more than you could ever afford."
Amalia quickly made a decision. "I'll buy it. If you agree, you can go home and get the contract. We can sign it immediately, and I'll transfer two million right away."
Nil, who hadn't left yet, was left in shock, perhaps thinking his ears was hallucinatings.
Until the contract was signed and two million Realm Dollars were truly in the account, the female owner couldn't believe it. She had been prepared to sell the supermarket at a low price.
Selling it quickly at a high price was nearly impossible in the short term, but this dilemma was resolved by Amalia, the student she had underestimated.
Amalia had no intention of explaining to the female owner. She had only decided to buy the supermarket today. After bidding farewell to the dreamy female owner, she hired Nil and others to clean up the damaged areas. It wasn't until the sun was about to set that they finished organizing everything.
"A-Amalia, are you planning to run the supermarket yourself?" Nil, pushed forward by the others, looked at Amalia with a complex expression. They used to be equals, but this person had somehow risen to a height they couldn't reach.
"I'm not running the supermarket. You can take as much as you want from the supermarket's items," Amalia replied. She didn't buy it to run a supermarket; she had her eyes on this location.
Nil silently put away his still-flickering hopes. They were probably already in two different worlds.
A few middle-aged women got the green light, not only clearing out items from the shelves but also raiding the warehouse. After their spree, each of them had filled almost three shopping carts. One or two of those carts were loaded with expensive items, obviously worth more than their monthly salaries.
Nil felt embarrassed and didn't take too much. One of the middle-aged women told him it would be foolish not to take advantage of the opportunity, but he just smiled and didn't respond.
"Is everything ready?" Amalia walked over, glanced at the bags full of items on the ground, and suddenly fixated on one of them.
"What's wrong?" The middle-aged woman who noticed her looking at her bag became nervous, thinking she might change her mind.
Amalia approached, picked up a bag with a nearly bursting pack of White Rabbit milk candies inside, and wondered why she had taken it. She suddenly thought of that man. "Weren't these candies sold out?"
"I found them in a corner of the warehouse. They were probably missed during previous inventory checks," the middle-aged woman explained with relief. She had intended to take them home for her grandson.
Amalia nodded and took the candies. She looked at the women and the pile of items at her feet. "Do you need someone to drive you home?"
"No need, we've already called our families for help. Thank you, ma'am," the middle-aged women replied. They had no complaints; they were the ones benefiting here.
Finally, when everyone had left, Amalia made a round through the supermarket. In no time, the once-bustling store was reduced to an empty shell, with everything stored in Solstice Ring's storage compartment.
Closing the supermarket, Amalia walked back home. She accessed a name on her communicator, hesitated for a moment, but ultimately didn't make the call. She decided to wait until she resolved the crisis with the Rodriguez family before telling the original owner's parents about this matter.
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