Dimensional Store: Welcome to the Apocalypse Apartment - Chapter 144

Chapter 144

“Relax. You have to be on camera tomorrow, and I don’t want your face getting bruised,” Gu Huaiwei said, leaning back leisurely on her lounge chair. She had no intention of making a move.

Lu Beijiu sat back in his original spot, legs apart. He lowered his head, thinking for a long time before finally speaking. “Are you willing to come back to the Dawn Alliance with me?”

“I don’t have the time right now.” Gu Huaiwei had to prioritize the shop’s affairs.

Her reaction was calm, leading Lu Beijiu to believe she wasn’t averse to the Dawn Alliance.

“If there was someone in this world who looked exactly like you, wouldn’t you want to know about that person’s past?”

Even though the Aliens had invaded and humanity had been domesticated for over two hundred years, Lu Beijiu had never found the Aliens charming. He only liked human girls.

Any intimate gestures with Chen Liuxiang were nothing more than a means to an end.

He felt no guilt in using an Alien.

Years ago, Gu Changge had appeared and told him to protect his fellow humans and defend the pure land beneath his feet. She told him never to be tamed, whether facing raw power or sugar-coated bullets. Her words had touched him deeply, and he had etched them into his heart.

He tried to find the shadow of that girl from years ago in Gu Huaiwei.

But unfortunately, Gu Huaiwei wasn’t the real Gu Changge.

Behind those similar faces were two completely different souls.

“I suppose I would,” Gu Huaiwei said, resting her finger on her chin and tilting her head. “Zhou Chuanning said his former Bonding partner is dead, but you look seventy percent like his partner. Are you twin brothers?”

“If you want to know, come to the Dawn Alliance. Once we become colleagues, I’ll tell you.”

Currently, Gu Huaiwei did not share his stance. She hadn’t undergone their initiation, and there were too many uncertainties surrounding her. Naturally, Lu Beijiu wasn’t going to tell her everything.

Gu Huaiwei hadn’t held much hope that he would be forthcoming anyway.

She asked, “There’s something I’m curious about. How did you target me?”

“When the Dawn Alliance was founded, it naturally established its own selection mechanism.” Lu Beijiu’s expression gradually grew serious. He stared at Gu Huaiwei’s profile, his gaze deep. “Between humans and Aliens, you eventually have to make a choice. Whether to be loyal to your own race or be a puppet for the Aliens-you should already have an answer in your heart.”

“An answer…” Gu Huaiwei would choose neither the humans of this world nor the Aliens. She didn’t belong here in the first place, and the conflicts of this world had nothing to do with her.

Once her work at the Matchmaking Agency was done and she had the clues regarding her sister, she would quietly wait for the world to transition and then head to the next one.

Lu Beijiu stood up to return to his room. He suddenly remembered something and turned back to ask, “I have a colleague named Wang Tao. He went missing in your shop. Do you know where he is?”

Gu Huaiwei toyed with the ends of her hair, then blinked and tilted her head, an innocent smile appearing on her face. “Wang Tao? Was he a customer who visited the shop? I’m sorry, so many people come and go every day that I don’t remember him at all.”

“His previous mission was also to bring you back to the Dawn Alliance, but he’s missing now, and I can’t contact him.” Lu Beijiu looked up, carefully examining the decorations in the Matchmaking Agency’s lobby.

The layout was warm and simple. Aside from that strange oil painting of a Ferris wheel on the wall, the rest of the decorations were festive.

Yet, Lu Beijiu felt an indescribable power here that made him uneasy.

“Is there some kind of curse on this Matchmaking Agency of yours?”

“Only a love spell that helps every customer who enters find their true soulmate,” Gu Huaiwei replied with a smile.
Just kidding-she couldn’t let anyone know the matchmaking agency was alive, or she’d scare off future clients.

For the next day’s shoot, not only did He Jiarui fail to return, but even Zhou Chuanning and Wu Ming were unable to participate normally due to a case at the station.

The morning livestream relied primarily on Lu Beijiu, Chen Liuxiang, and Gu Huaiwei herself, who were stuck awkwardly performing and playing mindless mini-games.

By the afternoon, Gu Huaiwei looked at the viewership numbers for the dating show, which were nowhere near the target. She decided to change strategies, instructing Lin She to edit the footage from the previous day and inform the audience directly about He Jiarui’s disappearance.

“He Jiarui is a key guest of this program. As many of our viewers already know, Ji Xuan is Miss He’s Keeper, and Chen Liuxiang is her former Bonding partner.

Is it a rekindling of old flames? Or a return to her original embrace?

Miss He originally intended to choose the Alien she truly wanted to spend her life with during this show.

Unfortunately, an accident has occurred. The police are currently investigating, and we have decided to shift the direction of our filming. Instead of the original romantic interactions, we will focus on the search for He Jiarui, allowing her to make her final choice.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the number of online viewers in the livestream room skyrocketed.

The task requirement for the Oasis Matchmaking Agency was to host a dating show and reach over 100,000 concurrent viewers.

With Gu Huaiwei’s pivot, the program deviated from the nature of a standard dating show.

She was worried that the Oasis Matchmaking Agency would judge her actions as a violation of the rules. Therefore, the focus of the upcoming filming wasn’t the case itself, but rather the attitudes of Ji Xuan and Chen Liuxiang toward He Jiarui.

She needed to use the show to emphasize their love and maintain the atmosphere of a dating show, rather than letting it turn into a true-crime documentary.

Gu Huaiwei revised the script overnight.

He Xueyi memorized the new host lines.

Lin She was responsible for releasing press releases online to build hype for the new direction of the livestream.

Bai Miemie tidied He Jiarui’s room, humming a nursery rhyme as she put everything back in its place.

The police had already searched the room once and found nothing unusual.

She sniffed around the room, eventually finding a circular symbol drawn in blood outside the window.

“There’s blood! How scary!” Bai Miemie immediately ran to the hall and pulled Gu Huaiwei over to see.

“Sister Gu, I’m the one who found it!” Bai Miemie leaned over the windowsill.

If she had a tail, it would surely be spinning like a propeller right now.

Gu Huaiwei used her phone to take a photo of the circular pattern on the exterior, then used a cotton swab to take a small blood sample, sealing it in a glass tube to hide away for later.

That night, knowing Gu Huaiwei was waiting, Zhou Chuanning brought the latest news.

“It’s possible that Miss He has already met with foul play.”

They had found He Jiarui’s shoes and phone in a nearby river. The phone was water-damaged and could not be turned on.

Lin She had a way to solve that problem.

“Until we see a body, there’s still a chance she’s alive.” Gu Huaiwei informed Zhou Chuanning about the symbol on the outer wall and asked if he could give her the phone, claiming her partner could fix it.

The phone was evidence, so Officer Zhou couldn’t just hand it over to her.

Instead, Gu Huaiwei had Lin She follow him back to the station to help.

“Lin She, make sure to assist Officer Zhou well.” Before he left, Gu Huaiwei quietly wrote the word “Copy” in his cold palm.

The night felt exceptionally long.

For many, it was a sleepless night.

In the darkness, He Jiarui gradually regained consciousness.

Her head was still groggy, and a wad of coarse cloth was stuffed in her mouth, making it difficult to breathe.