Dimensional Store: Welcome to the Apocalypse Apartment - Chapter 182

Chapter 182

The main building of the Oasis Sanatorium was not large, consisting of only three floors. The first floor housed the lobby, a small medical room, a kitchenette, and the Employee Dormitory and Childhood Dream Paradise Theme Room brought over from the previous Dimension.

The second and third floors were dedicated to Recovery Rooms. There were six rooms on the second floor and seven on the third. All the doors to the Recovery Rooms were black, except for the one at the very end of the third-floor hallway, which was red.

From the outside, the Oasis Sanatorium looked like an abandoned building. Every room appeared dilapidated, covered in withered vines.

However, once inside a Recovery Room, one would find it clean, with clear and intact windows. Sunlight even streamed in from the outside, making it feel like a completely different world from the exterior.

Gu Huaiwei gave the lobby a quick cleaning, preparing to open for business.

“Lin She, come over and help me connect the computer’s network cable,” Gu Huaiwei called out for her assistant, holding the computer plug.

The sockets in the lobby were scorched black, and there were mysterious burn marks on the walls.

Gu Huaiwei didn’t want to do it herself, so she roped Lin She into doing it.

Ever since arriving in this Dimension, Lin She had become even more taciturn. When Gu Huaiwei was settling scores with Bai Miemie and He Xueyi earlier, he hadn’t even looked their way, appearing to be in a foul mood.

Even when He Xueyi slacked off and handed him a broom, tricking him by saying it was Gu Huaiwei’s orders, he didn’t question it. He simply took it in silence and began clearing the trash from the yard.

Once the computer was connected, Gu Huaiwei opened the Oasis Sanatorium’s status page.

[Oasis Sanatorium: One-Star]

[Occupants: 0]

[Lifespan: 0]

[Business Objective: Successfully have twelve customers check in and earn fifty years of Lifespan.]

The currency for settlement in this Dimension was life expectancy.

There was no time limit for the first stage of the business objective.

As soon as the computer was connected, Gu Huaiwei tried searching for information about this world.

But unlike the previous world with its intact civilization and systems, all information about this world on the network had stopped several decades ago.

This silent city was called Gray Mist Town.

Decades ago, it had been a prosperous industrial town, famous for a rare ore called “Gray Crystal.” It had attracted a large number of gold prospectors, leading to a dense population, a booming economy, and very high property prices.

Later, a series of major accidents caused the city to completely vanish from the public eye.

Official records listed a “chemical plant leak” and a “Gray Crystal Mining Disaster,” but there were very few records of these two incidents, and they were rarely mentioned even in the news.

The internet only stated that after those two accidents, Gray Mist Town began to see widespread deaths among its residents. There were stories of crazed prospectors, missing children, and disemboweled young women… The town was filled with misfortune and disaster. The remaining residents moved away out of fear, and Gray Mist Town gradually became a Dead City.

“There are no customers in this city. How am I supposed to sell my Recovery Rooms?”

Gu Huaiwei rested her chin on her hand, looking at the information she had gathered on the computer, her brow furrowed in frustration.

She had originally planned to find a local to ask about the trading Rules of this world, just as she had in the previous Dimension.

However, she discovered that this was a deserted town where people rarely ventured. With no permanent residents left in the entire city, she had no source of customers at all.
Gu Huaiwei tried to open for business.

Unlike the previous Dimensions, not a single customer had come to the door of their own accord for seven consecutive days.

At this rate, she didn’t even have to worry about the curse of the first customer.

Because there were no customers at all.

Actually, it wasn’t just a lack of customers – there wasn’t a soul in sight.

Gu Huaiwei ran her fingers through her hair, feeling a bit irritable.

She had already paved the muddy road in front of the entrance with pebbles to create a clean little path.

The glass in the lobby had been polished over and over again.

As for the brand-new registration book, the visitor log remained completely empty, save for the date she wrote at the top each day.

He Xueyi spent his days feeding those Big Fat Worms brought over from the previous world. He had tried planting Sunflowers in this world, but the sunlight here was too weak; as soon as the Sunflowers were planted in the courtyard, they would rapidly wither and turn into a pile of sludge.

Ever since Bai Miemie made that mistake last time, she had been constantly trying to get back into Gu Huaiwei’s good graces. She would either run over offering to braid her hair or give her warm cashmere scarves.

Lin She kept himself locked in his room for self-reflection. He rarely went out during the day, but once night fell, he would head out with his red umbrella and not return until the early hours of the next morning.

The three of them were quite idle.

With no customers around, Gu Huaiwei couldn’t assign any work beyond cleaning and renovating the lobby.

This wouldn’t do.

She couldn’t just sit here and wait for death.

Accustomed to being busy, Gu Huaiwei had never felt this idle in her life.

If she kept sitting on this stool waiting for customers to show up on their own, she was going to turn into a moldy mushroom in a dark corner.

“Meeting!”

Gu Huaiwei pressed one hand on the table while holding a laser pointer in the other.

Her three Assistants sat below her.

Lin She maintained a proper posture as he opened his laptop, ready to record the meeting minutes.

He Xueyi yawned, poking at his little green fruit. A thin sheet of white paper sat perfunctorily in front of him, along with a pen that had already run out of ink during the last meeting.

This was Bai Miemie’s first staff meeting. She sat with her hands folded on the table, looking like a top student eager to perform well and catch the teacher’s attention.

“Our Oasis Sanatorium has only just officially opened, yet we are already facing the greatest survival crisis in our history: not a single customer has even walked past our door.”

Gu Huaiwei pulled up a PPT and pointed the laser at the large line of text in the center of the projection: No Customer Source.

“Based on my observations during this period, I’ve realized the lack of customers isn’t because the Sanatorium is in a remote location, but because this city is a dead, empty shell.

“In order for the Sanatorium to upgrade smoothly and achieve our first-stage business goals, I need each of you to exercise your subjective initiative and go out to discover clients.

“As long as they can shell out Lifespan as currency, I don’t care if they’re human, a mule, a horse, or some strange creature – you must bring them into the Sanatorium.”

The three Assistants below didn’t show any particular reaction.

Gu Huaiwei’s slender fingers tapped lightly on the table. Her gaze swept over them, her red lips parting slightly as she dangled a sweet bait: “To whichever of you can find our first guest, I will unconditionally grant one request unrelated to Paradise.”