Dimensional Store: Welcome to the Apocalypse Apartment - Chapter 112

Chapter 112

Lin She didn’t like talking.

He Xueyi was the kind of person who was easy enough to communicate with.

But the moment those two started talking to each other, the air would turn sharp, like someone had opened a box of gunpowder.

It was as if they were just born incompatible.

But that was fine, too.

Let them wear each other down-better than them getting along too well and joining forces to give Gu Huaiwei a hard time.

“Enough, you two. Quiet for a second-I need to go to the appointment myself.” Gu Huaiwei cut off their argument with a tired sigh.

She lifted her phone, showing them the new invitation text. “Officer Zhou only asked to meet me. We’re meeting at Yuanjiu Cafe. Eight o’clock. I’ll be back early.

If you really want coffee, I’ll bring some back for you.”

This world ran on order. It wasn’t a world where violence solved everything. Gu Huaiwei didn’t need to have bodyguards glued to her side.

“I don’t need it.” Lin She didn’t drink things made by humans. He kept to his more primitive habits-raw meat and raw eggs were all he liked.

“I want a rose sea-salt extra-thick milk latte. No extra sugar.” He Xueyi understood how to enjoy human life.

“Mm.” Gu Huaiwei agreed.

After work, Gu Huaiwei changed into a casual knitted dress set.

On her way out, she spotted the Matchmaker God statue. A few crushed weeds were poking up from the base. She turned to He Xueyi, who had followed her out to see her off, and said, “The weeds here weren’t cleared properly. Clean it up again.”

“Okay.” He Xueyi smiled as he answered-and silently put the blame on Lin She.

Outside the glass window, the night flowed past; streetlights and Pseudo-Humans blurred together like overexposed film.

In the old cafe, warm yellow lighting fell across the wooden tables. A caramel latte sat in front of Gu Huaiwei. Her pale, slender fingers brushed the rim of the slightly hot ceramic cup. She caught the rich aroma of coffee in the air, threaded with a faint sweetness of caramel.

Zhou Chuanning, very much the gentleman, brought her condensed milk and rock sugar.

“Thanks.”

“I’m a little surprised you were willing to come, Miss Gu.” Zhou Chuanning had only tried inviting her-he hadn’t expected Gu Huaiwei to agree so easily.

After all, humans were really hard to make an appointment with.

Gu Huaiwei replied politely, “Officer Zhou helped me solve a big problem before. By rights, I should’ve been the one treating you to coffee.”

“The first time, I should be the one to take the initiative.” As a Pseudo-Human, Zhou Chuanning wouldn’t feel full from these drinks made for humans.

What they needed was Nutrient Solution.

Compared to those Low-Grade Aliens, Zhou Chuanning clearly had far more patience.

“Since you’re human, Miss Gu, you should try not to go out alone.”

“Is public security that bad here?” Gu Huaiwei had driven over. The Pseudo-Humans here obeyed traffic rules even better than in the Real World.

Zhou Chuanning lowered his head and stirred the coffee in his cup. “Miss Gu, forgive my bluntness, but you aren’t wearing any Contract Ring. It’s easy for you to be targeted by those Aliens who give in to their instinctive urge to reproduce.”

“And if I get caught, what happens? I get locked in a little dark room to lay eggs?”

“You’re not afraid?”

“It’s fine.” Gu Huaiwei’s tone was light. “If I really run into danger, I’ll call the police.”

Riding in a car could end in a crash.

Crossing a bridge, the bridge might collapse.

You couldn’t just stop stepping outside your front door because something might happen.

Zhou Chuanning lifted his gaze to Gu Huaiwei. His eyes were gentle, but there was a concealed aggression in them. “Miss Gu, on a personal level, I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“You really are attentive.” Gu Huaiwei ignored the ambiguous hint he’d tossed her and used it to steer the conversation where she wanted it. “With how considerate you are, Officer Zhou, I’m guessing you don’t lack humans under contract around you?”

Zhou Chuanning’s expression stalled in a subtle way. “No one special.”

Gu Huaiwei immediately perked up. She wrapped both hands around her coffee, now cooling, straightened her posture, and said, “No partner, then-want to go on a blind date?

I’ve got a female member here. She’s human, same as me.”
“She’s sixteen this year-younger and prettier than me. Her physical fitness score is forty, her Mental Value score is seventy, her projected lifespan is eighty. Chances are she’ll live even longer than I will.”

Gu Huaiwei kept gushing about how great He Jiarui was.

“All she asks is that her other half be used to living the human way, and that the Magnetic Value you can generate each year is no less than sixty thousand points. The requirements are very simple. Want to think about it?”

After rattling all of that off in one go, Gu Huaiwei’s throat was a little dry.

When Zhou Chuanning still didn’t respond, she asked, not entirely confident, “Sixty thousand points-you should… be able to manage that, right?”

He didn’t look like some impoverished Pseudo-Human.

“What about your requirements?” Zhou Chuanning wasn’t interested in the female member Gu Huaiwei was talking about.

Sixteen meant a human was close to adulthood, and would be preparing to sever ties with their original Keeper.

Humans like that were a headache. Their original Keeper was very likely unwilling to let go, and if things turned into a tug-of-war, he might end up clashing with the original Keeper.

Gu Huaiwei was different. She was already an adult, and she didn’t have a single Contract Ring on her-making her the best possible choice for Bonding.

“Uh…” Gu Huaiwei realized Zhou Chuanning wasn’t like those Low-Grade Pseudo-Humans. He didn’t get excited at the mention of “human.”

Zhou Chuanning pressed on. “If I provide you with sixty thousand points of Magnetic Value every year, would you be willing to do Bonding with me?”

“That’s kind of presumptuous, isn’t it? We’re not that familiar,” Gu Huaiwei said, covering her face with a headache. “Can I ask-what exactly did you take a liking to in me?”

After coming to this world, Gu Huaiwei had been harassed by far too many Pseudo-Humans. She needed to figure out how to avoid it more specifically.

Zhou Chuanning didn’t hide it. “You’re healthier than every human I’ve ever seen.”

A healthy body and a stable Mental Value meant a human could live longer and produce more eggs.

Gu Huaiwei started trash-talking herself. “Can you really tell who’s healthy just by looking? Maybe I’m hiding some genetic disease-or a mental illness.”

She thought: next time she opened up for business, she should put on some “starving ghost” makeup, and maybe go crazy every now and then.

“Want to test it?”

Zhou Chuanning pulled a small white, square device from his pocket.

Gu Huaiwei stared at it and asked curiously, “What does it do?”

Zhou Chuanning said, “It measures your physical fitness and Mental Value.”

“Sure. How do we measure it?” Gu Huaiwei’s playful curiosity flared up-she was always willing to try something new.

“Just put one drop of your fresh blood on it.”

“Alright. I’ll ask the waiter for a needle and a lighter.”

Gu Huaiwei was just about to raise her hand to call someone over when Zhou Chuanning stopped her.

“No need. I’ll do it.”

His neatly trimmed nails abruptly extended, turning razor-sharp.

He sliced open Gu Huaiwei’s fingertip, took her hand and set it over the device, then squeezed lightly. A bright red drop fell into the device’s blood slot.

The sweet, rich scent made Zhou Chuanning’s throat twitch almost imperceptibly.

Once upon a time, back in the era when Aliens could slaughter humans at will, they could have humans produce eggs and savor their flesh and blood at the same time.

But that glorious age had already passed.

As an enforcer of the law, Zhou Chuanning shouldn’t be indulging in nostalgia for it.

The device’s numbers began to spin wildly.

Gu Huaiwei watched her results pop up: physical fitness score 120, Mental Value score 101.

“Is that high, or low?”

Zhou Chuanning looked at the values, then lifted those pitch-black eyes to Gu Huaiwei and answered slowly, “For humans, the upper limit is 100.”

Gu Huaiwei tapped the device, suspecting it was malfunctioning.

She frowned. “Then what’s going on with mine? How did both of them break the cap?”