Dimensional Store: Welcome to the Apocalypse Apartment - Chapter 184

Chapter 184

Back when she was taking the high-speed rail in the Wasteland Dimension, Gu Huaiwei had encountered an old woman while paying a fine for a damaged robot in the lead carriage.

In the Alien world, He Jiarui had once mentioned that a fortune-telling old woman had guided her to the Oasis Matchmaking Agency.

Gu Huaiwei wasn’t certain if those women and the old woman standing before her were the same person.

However, the person in front of her had handed her this note, presumably wanting to help.

The smile on the old woman’s withered, wrinkled face gradually deepened. Her clouded eyes stared at Gu Huaiwei, revealing a row of jagged yellow teeth.

From the look of it, she wasn’t going to answer any questions.

Should she just kidnap-ahem-invite her back?

Gu Huaiwei hesitated for a moment before abandoning the idea.

After all, the old woman in front of her looked like she didn’t have much Lifespan left, and she couldn’t speak. Even if she were brought back to the Oasis Sanatorium, she probably wouldn’t be able to pay much Lifespan.

Bai Miemie, on the other hand, was thinking about how to talk her into coming back.

If she could trick her into coming, she would fulfill the mission requirement of “finding the first customer.”

Although Bai Miemie’s marketing skills were still immature, she made up for it with proactive enthusiasm.

She swayed her head and said, “Granny, the environment at our Sanatorium is wonderful. Every room is a sun-drenched suite with a large bed. If you move in, I’ll bring you breakfast every day, put a fresh bouquet of flowers on your windowsill, style your hair, tell you jokes, and keep you entertained!”

The old woman didn’t spare a single glance for Bai Miemie. She looked at Gu Huaiwei and raised a hand, pointing in the direction of the Gray Mist Town Library.

Her mouth worked, and a raspy, strange sound emerged from her throat: “Jie-jie-jie… Over there… If you’re too late, they’ll all be dead.”

“Oh? You can talk.” Gu Huaiwei took a step forward.

She reached out, wanting to touch the old woman, but as her fingers made contact with the body, it felt like passing through a layer of shifting sand.

With a gust of wind, the old woman vanished into thin air.

“Huh? Why did she leave?” Bai Miemie ran to the spot where the old woman had disappeared, looking at the dust on the ground with immense disappointment. “We finally met someone.”

“Let’s go.” Gu Huaiwei rubbed Bai Miemie’s curly white hair. “That old woman was never going to be our customer.”

“Why not?” Bai Miemie pouted. She was very frustrated now and desperately wanted to dig at the ground with her sheep hooves, but she held back.

Her father had taught her that she must never reveal the parts of herself that were different from humans in front of an Operator. Doing so would scare them.

Gu Huaiwei’s fingers brushed over the rough surface of the yellow bell. She looked toward the Library from her high vantage point, her clear eyes blinking behind her lenses as her red lips parted slightly. “Because that old woman likely doesn’t belong to this small Dimension. I suspect she appeared before us just to guide us to our first guest.”

Bai Miemie looked up and asked, “Sister Gu, do you know that old woman?”

“I don’t,” Gu Huaiwei replied. “Is she someone from Paradise?”

“I don’t recall seeing her.” Bai Miemie cupped her face, feeling a bit regretful. “Well, since we can’t get her into the shop, let’s hurry to our next target.”

They headed down the stairs of the Clock Tower. Several sections of the staircase were broken in the middle, and Gu Huaiwei had to use both hands and feet to climb down. When she reached the last two or three meters, she simply flipped and leaped to the ground.
Bai Miemie skipped along behind her. Although she looked like a little girl, she was incredibly agile; climbing and jumping over obstacles was effortless for her.

Following the old woman’s directions, they arrived at Gray Mist Town’s only Library.

The Library was quite old, bearing the heavy marks of time. Its white marble exterior was mottled and worn, and the eastern wall still held the blackened scars of a past explosion.

Gu Huaiwei climbed the steps and pushed hard against the heavy wooden doors. A stale, decaying scent accompanied a cloud of dust that billowed out at them.

“Cough, cough…” She frowned, waving her hand to disperse the uncomfortably murky air. She then retrieved a black face mask from her Jade Bracelet and looped it over her ears to cover her nose.

“Do you want a mask?”

“Yes!”

Bai Miemie didn’t actually need a mask; she felt no discomfort in this environment at all. However, since Gu Huaiwei was showing concern for her, she accepted sweetly.

Gu Huaiwei tossed an identical mask to Bai Miemie.

Despite years of neglect, the Library did not appear completely dilapidated. A massive crystal chandelier hung in the center of the main hall, casting a dim, yellowish glow that illuminated the first-floor reading area.

Gu Huaiwei held her breath and listened intently.

The sound of hurried, light footsteps came from upstairs.

“They should be upstairs. Let’s go up.”

There was an elevator on the first floor, but in her search for the people, Gu Huaiwei chose not to take it. Instead, she opted for the wide staircase leading up from the hall.

The stairs were covered in dust, and Gu Huaiwei spotted several messy footprints.

She soon noticed a peculiar phenomenon: as she stepped onto the dust herself, she left no footprints behind.

It wasn’t just her.

Bai Miemie left no footprints either.

They were tracking others based on the prints on the floor.

The second-floor Reading Room was a world apart from the first.

While the first floor was clean and well-lit, the second floor’s ground was covered in discarded newspapers. Most of the lights were flickering due to poor connections, leaving the area in gloom.

Gu Huaiwei turned on her phone’s flashlight. The footprints led straight toward the Newspaper Reading Area on the right.

Bai Miemie gripped the hem of Gu Huaiwei’s clothes as they followed the tracks.

The floor at the entrance of the Newspaper Reading Area was covered in dark puddles that looked like undried blood. A small red light flickered on and off, and the entrance door was slightly ajar, with no light coming from the gap.

It felt like the kind of place where something foul would appear.

Gu Huaiwei told Bai Miemie to stay close. Then, she gripped her dagger, pushed open the door to the Newspaper Reading Area, and stepped inside.

Inside the Newspaper Reading Area, four people sat on the benches with their backs to the door. Each of them held a newspaper in their hands.

Sitting directly opposite them were four Non-humans dressed in library uniforms.

Gu Huaiwei’s entrance made a distinct sound.

Yet, none of the four people turned around.

Gu Huaiwei noticed that the hands of the young man sitting on the far right were shaking violently as he held his newspaper. A stream of liquid was trickling down his pant leg and onto the floor.

He likely wanted to turn around, but he didn’t dare.

The other three were just as tense.

Gu Huaiwei turned and whispered to Bai Miemie, “In our Oasis Sanatorium, there’s no rule saying customers have to be human, right?”