Dimensional Store: Welcome to the Apocalypse Apartment - chapter 100

“I’m not your caregiver.” Gu Huaiwei already had the answer she wanted, and she didn’t feel like wasting effort on anything else.

“I was the first customer to ever walk into your hotel. To you, am I really not special at all?”

Xiao Youqi couldn’t shake the feeling that he was special.

Because when he’d been driven into a corner, someone had pointed him toward the Oasis Hotel. Back then, the Oasis Hotel had no guests. His meeting with Gu Huaiwei had been a first encounter that felt like fate.

“At least I remember your name,” Gu Huaiwei said. She felt like what Xiao Youqi really wanted was for her to reach out and help him.

Xiao Youqi was truly miserable. Sometimes, Gu Huaiwei even thought that dying would be a release for him.

But she knew perfectly well he didn’t want to die.

So there was nothing she could really do for him.

Xiao Youqi had chosen the wrong road himself and ended up like this. Gu Huaiwei didn’t want to step into his tragic cause-and-effect, much less empathize with him.

Xiao Youqi looked disappointed. He closed his eyes and stopped talking. Only the groans that slipped out every so often proved he was still alive.

He Xueyi had left a red ring-shaped mark around Gu Huaiwei’s wrist.

When Gu Huaiwei fell asleep, a red mist would drift out and coil around her.

For three days straight, only Qian Duoduo came to see Gu Huaiwei, bringing them a little Nutrient Solution.

At first, she stayed behind the glass.

Later, she pushed a wheelchair into the room.

Whenever Qian Duoduo entered, Xiao Youqi would roll over to face the wall. Not a single word passed between them.

Gu Huaiwei didn’t do anything to Qian Duoduo, either.

Xiao Youqi had once asked Gu Huaiwei what happened to Qian Duoduo’s legs. Gu Huaiwei told him she was the one who did it, and Xiao Youqi laughed-bright and unrestrained.

He said, “Serves her right. Now she’s just like me-she deserves it, too.”

On the fourth day, Professor Feng finally deigned to show up, along with the female secretary at his side.

Professor Feng stood outside the glass, silently watching Gu Huaiwei for a long time, like he was looking at a giant panda in a zoo.

Feeling that scorching gaze, Gu Huaiwei lifted her head and smiled at Professor Feng through the glass. “Thank goodness. You’re finally here.”

“You were expecting me?” Professor Feng sounded a little surprised.

Gu Huaiwei didn’t bother to hide what she wanted. She nodded, her tone light. “Yeah. I need a room with a bathroom. Can you arrange that for me?”

As she spoke, Gu Huaiwei was using her fingers to tug at the knotted ends of her hair. She didn’t want to keep fighting with it, but she’d been stuck here for days with no way to shower, and her hair was driving her crazy.

Professor Feng put a hand on the glass and frowned. “Miss Gu, are you asking me for a favor?”

In the Wasteland World, fresh water was expensive.

Even in the Upper District, where there was groundwater, taking a bath was a luxury.

A request like Gu Huaiwei’s was a bit like a prisoner still thinking about smoking, drinking, and having a feast.

“Call it whatever you want,” Gu Huaiwei said. The knot at the ends of her hair was enough to sour her mood.

That answer seemed to please Professor Feng.

It was as if Gu Huaiwei had flipped some dangerous switch in him.

He lifted his chin slightly and looked down at her with a kind of fake mercy. “I can satisfy your request, but only if you behave.”

“That’s easy,” Gu Huaiwei said. She could make up any line he wanted to hear.

“What’s your full name?”

“Gu Renjia.” Gu Huaiwei didn’t hesitate for a second before giving him a fake name.

The secretary had been taking notes the whole time. When she heard Gu Huaiwei’s name, her pen paused for a beat.
Professor Feng was full of suspicion. “Hm? That doesn’t sound like a girl’s name.”

“Who says it doesn’t?” Gu Huaiwei flipped her hair back and lied without so much as a blush. “If you don’t believe me, why’d you ask in the first place? Or are you unhappy with my name? That’s fine-just install a bathroom for me, and you can rename me to whatever you want. I won’t complain.”

Professor Feng said one sentence; Gu Huaiwei shot back ten.

On the surface, every line sounded cooperative. In reality, her words were laced with gunpowder.

Professor Feng’s brows drew tighter and tighter.

Maybe even he hadn’t expected it-two people with such similar faces, yet their personalities could be this different.

There was no doubt about it: Gu Changge was gentle. In how she spoke and how she acted, she always left room for others.

Anyone who’d dealt with her sister and approached Gu Huaiwei with the same expectations would inevitably feel a little disappointed, because she truly wasn’t the same type of person.

“So what kind of name do you think sounds nice? Yingge? Yanwu? Or should we add something like wind, flowers, snow, and moon?” Gu Huaiwei asked with relish, practically inviting Professor Feng to name her. The more she talked, the worse his expression became.

“Quiet. You talk too much.” Professor Feng stared at Gu Huaiwei, his voice cold and hard. “Seeing your face reminds me of an old acquaintance. That person wasn’t a chatterbox.”

Gu Huaiwei wore thick glasses, her bangs so long that the only part of her face you could really see was a sharp chin. She had no idea how Professor Feng had managed to tell.

She figured it had to be because her sister was too dazzling-people only needed to catch a glimpse of her outline to think of her.

“You two have exactly the same face.” Professor Feng paused. Nostalgia colored his tone, and his voice unconsciously softened a few degrees. “When Qian Duoduo gave me your photo, I thought Gu Changge had come back.”

Gu Huaiwei needed to toss out some bait to keep him hooked.

“Yeah. Gu Changge is my older sister.”

At Gu Huaiwei’s blunt answer, a sharp gleam flashed in the eyes behind Professor Feng’s gold-rimmed glasses. Like he’d finally gotten his hands on a treasure he’d longed for, his voice rose. “So you really are blood-related!”

“Yep. Full sisters, actually.”

The bait was salty and the hook was straight-come on, bite.

Professor Feng took a few steps forward, then-prompted by the secretary-retreated back into the safe zone. Suppressing what he felt, he asked as evenly as he could, “Where did Gu Changge go? Is she doing well now?”

“Changge isn’t in this world. She’s somewhere else, living very well. You don’t need to worry about her.” Gu Huaiwei put on an air of mystery, sighed, and looked terribly conflicted. “As for where she went, I can’t explain it to you. Because even if I told you, you wouldn’t understand.”

Half-true, half-false-vague and elusive, impossible to read.

“I understand,” Professor Feng said, adjusting his gold-rimmed glasses.

“What?”

Understand what? Gu Huaiwei had just been talking nonsense.

Professor Feng’s expression darkened. Shadows pooled beneath his eyes and along the sides of his nose. He stared at Gu Huaiwei, his gaze growing more and more feverish.

“You two, go out.”

As if he’d made some decision in his heart, Professor Feng waved a hand, sending Qian Duoduo and the secretary away first.

“Yes.”

Once everyone had left, Professor Feng pushed open the glass door to the laboratory.

His leather boots struck the marble floor as he advanced step by step, each footfall crisp and heavy-like it was stamping straight onto Gu Huaiwei’s heart.

What was this guy doing coming in?

Gu Huaiwei warily reached for her Jade Bracelet.

“Don’t be nervous.” Professor Feng leaned in close to her side, his breath within inches. At her ear, his voice was so light it was like a passing breeze. “I understand because I’ve been a Dimension Operator too.”