Chapter 991: A Dazzling Array
Lin Xue wandered around inside the Matrix Shopping Center, her eyes darting everywhere, unable to take it all in.
The first floor of the mall had all kinds of jewelry, accessories, and luxury goods—items that could be worn directly after purchase, essentially a form of appearance customization.
There was a dedicated tech zone in the mall, selling products like Lehui phones, Matrix glasses, Matrix game pods, and so on. Although there were many players here, most were just browsing out of curiosity. They’d achieve the “touching a Matrix game pod inside a Matrix game pod” feat and then leave, without actually buying anything.
Of course, this tech zone wasn’t really meant to get players to spend money; it was mainly to advertise the company’s tech products and boost sales.
As for clothing, there was even more. After this period of development, the Warm Wardrobe had grown into a fairly well-known clothing brand. Considering that they couldn’t just copy the designs of other clothing brands, the vast majority of clothes in the Matrix Shopping Center came from Warm Wardrobe. Fortunately, Warm Wardrobe had many designs that had only been conceptualized but never actually sold, which could be used to fill out the clothing inventory.
Players could grab clothes and try them on in fitting rooms, just like in a physical store. Additionally, all male and female players’ underwear was non-removable, so the Matrix Shopping Center didn’t sell underwear. If players wanted to change their underwear style, they’d have to go back to their Beachfront Mansion and order online.
In reality, the game also allowed instant outfit changes, so players could freely choose their preferred method of changing clothes based on their preferences.
Beyond that, there were all sorts of miscellaneous goods, like furniture, home decorations, and even aquariums and potted plants.
These items wouldn’t normally appear in a regular mall, but the Matrix Shopping Center was different.
For one thing, the Matrix Shopping Center didn’t charge rent by floor area, so there was plenty of space. For another, if they didn’t put these things there, there wasn’t much else to display…
Since there were no partnerships with any clothing brands at the moment, the number of clothing stores in the Matrix Shopping Center was limited, and they all sold clothes from Warm Wardrobe. It was a bit redundant—players could already try on clothes directly at their Beachfront Mansion, so why bother coming to the Matrix Shopping Center to buy clothes?
But, well, it filled up the space a bit, so the mall wouldn’t look too empty.
The same logic applied to furniture and decorations. The Matrix Shopping Center had many special furniture pieces and decorations, sourced from all over the place. Some were redesigned, some were recolored or slightly modified versions of existing props, and some were directly taken from other games—after all, the resource library was right there, catering to players’ desire to collect.
For example, many treasures and artworks from *Uncharted* were perfect for taking home and displaying on a bookshelf to show off, adding a bit of cultural flair to one’s room.
Other items like various potted plants and aquariums—these plants and animals could also be considered a type of decoration.
Lin Xue had originally come for the food, but once inside, she instinctively started browsing. Since wandering around in a virtual world never made you tired, time slipped by without her noticing.
After over an hour of browsing, Lin Xue reluctantly headed toward the food district.
But as soon as she arrived, she was dumbfounded—this place was huge!
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the entire food district took up nearly half of the Matrix Shopping Center. It was a dazzling array, all of it food…
Moreover, every shop in the food district had its own unique decoration style, giving the impression that famous food shops from all over the country—no, the whole world—had opened branches here.
In the domestic food district, many renowned dishes were prominently featured, like butter honey, tender tofu curd, belt noodles, pancakes, spring rolls, rice-flower fish, fish head with pancake, meat sandwich, rice cakes, gypsum tofu, and whole roasted lamb—all these signature foods were present.
As for traditional dishes, there were even more. The eight major cuisines—Sichuan, Shandong, Cantonese, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hunan, and Anhui—each had a large restaurant with distinct decoration styles full of regional characteristics.
At the shop entrances, famous dishes from each cuisine were displayed, like Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, Dongpo Pork, Squirrel-Shaped Mandarin Fish, West Lake Vinegar Fish, and Beggar’s Chicken… And these weren’t just pictures; they were actual sample dishes. As soon as you approached the door, the aroma wafted over, and Lin Xue almost couldn’t move.
After all, in the virtual world, these dishes wouldn’t go cold or spoil. Displayed as samples, they could stay there forever without issue.
The international food district was equally rich and varied, featuring things like French foie gras, Spanish ham, Swiss cheese fondue, Italian pizza, Austrian Wiener schnitzel, Argentine barbecue, Japanese sashimi, Thai tom yum soup…
It seemed like every cuisine from around the world had opened a branch in the shopping center, and the waitstaff all had local faces, speaking local languages (with automatic subtitle translation in the players’ view). When players entered these shops to eat, they’d feel a strange sense of time travel.
Of course, other foods were available too, like ice cream, desserts, various cakes, chocolate, fast food… These were scattered around the larger restaurants. It felt like every two or three steps, there was something tempting you.
Lin Xue had come prepared to feast, but after walking around a couple of times, she suddenly found herself suffering from decision paralysis.
With so many delicious options, which one should she try first?
Lin Xue stopped in front of a fast food restaurant and couldn’t help but complain: “Are you kidding me? Eating fast food in the real world is bad enough, but here too? Haven’t you had enough of that fat-guy happy drink?”
But when she looked inside the fast food restaurant, there were quite a few people, all chowing down on the biggest burgers, with fried chicken piled up by the bucket. The fat-guy happy drink was refillable, so they could drink as much as they wanted.
Lin Xue had to admit, well, being able to eat freely really did make a difference…
In reality, everyone’s stomachs were limited. If you ate fast food, you couldn’t eat anything better afterward, so when shopping, people usually went for Western food, Chinese food, or hotpot, rarely fast food. But the virtual world was different. Since players’ stomachs were unlimited, what was wrong with eating fast food? After finishing, you could just eat other food—eat as much as you wanted. You could even order every signature dish from the entire shop without any waste.
After all… it was all just data.
And in the virtual world, everyone let loose. Lin Xue had already seen several players drinking red wine and champagne in the fast food restaurant. Since the virtual world had no strict rules, you could do whatever you liked.
Price wasn’t an issue either. You couldn’t afford a 1982 Lafite, but you could still buy regular wine, and as much as you wanted.
Drinking in the virtual world wouldn’t get you drunk—at most, a slight buzz—so most players stopped chasing quantity and focused on savoring the taste.