Can’t I Just Lie Flat as a Game NPC? [Food and Business]

【A modern office worker gets turned into an NPC in a food game. She was planning to lie flat, but then you tell her the game is shutting down?!】 Shi Yi, an overworked office worker who can’t keep up with the rat race, wins the lottery and plans to go home and open a cafe where she can lie flat. But just after the renovations are finished, she finds herself inside a VR food game, transformed into an NPC who can’t even control what she says. She figures she might as well make the best of it. Being an NPC is a roundabout way of realizing her dream of lying flat. But you’re telling me this lousy game is shutting down? Shutting down? For an NPC like her, doesn’t that mean her soul will be wiped out? Shi Yi rolls up her sleeves. “Then I’ll work myself to the bone! Nobody’s shutting this game down until I’ve spent all my prize money!” But she never imagined that a cup of traditional sour plum drink would make people in the interstellar age spend like crazy. No, not money: time. In the interstellar age, for the new humans who have moved to space colonies beyond Earth, money has become worthless. Time is the only currency that matters. People can drink nutrient fluids and stay full of energy all day. Gao Xu, a plant researcher, has had nothing but plain-water-flavored or sickly-sweet nutrient fluids his entire life. He only meant to revisit the food game he’d always played, for old times’ sake, before it shut down. But why does this game that’s on the verge of closing feel so strange? Why are the NPCs acting more and more like real people? Why has the menu been quietly updated? Full of questions, he orders a drink he often has. The moment it touches his lips, Gao Xu’s eyes widen in shock. “This… why is your drink sweet?” Shi Yi, doing her best to pass herself off as a game NPC, is baffled. What does he mean? Do people in the future… drink salty beverages? * But it seems the cafe doesn’t have to exist only in the game! The time she earns in the game can actually help her run a business across worlds. And so, in a scenic area in a remote town near Shi Yi’s hometown, a mysterious cafe appears. It’s said that after drinking one of its beverages, you can return to the past and make peace with your regrets. But the owner is elusive, and the cafe only opens every few days. If you could see someone you can never see again, would you still drink this cup of coffee, even if you couldn’t change how things turned out? 【Reader’s Guide】 A slice-of-life story with light sci-fi elements and plenty of original worldbuilding. The main plot is about running a business and food; the secondary plot focuses on healing and sci-fi. A laid-back, salty-fish heroine vs. a workaholic researcher hero. The romance is a very, very slow burn! The main focus is on their careers. Updating steadily every day. Thanks for leaving comments! Theme: If time became currency, what would you trade it for?