Dimensional Store: Welcome to the Apocalypse Apartment - Chapter 188

Chapter 188

Gu Huaiwei headed back the way she had come when the sound of hurried footsteps suddenly reached her ears.

Turning a corner, she saw a figure rushing toward her, their steps frantic.

“Careful-” Seeing that the person was about to collide with her, Gu Huaiwei immediately reached out to steady them.

Fang Zhao, gasping for breath, looked up. The moment he saw Gu Huaiwei’s face, his pupils contracted sharply. He stumbled back several steps as if he had seen a ghost, his voice filled with disbelief. “No… how are you still alive? Weren’t you just with that-”

The words died in his throat as his expression shifted violently. He scrambled to cover his own mouth.

The Library Director has no son.

Due to the restrictions of the Rules, he could not speak that name!

Gu Huaiwei explained calmly, “I was just sitting in his Office for a while. He mentioned his father was ill and went to check on him. Then I heard someone outside shouting about a fire, so I decided to come out and see what was happening.”

Unsettled, Fang Zhao’s lips trembled as he asked, “What are you exactly? A human? Or an Anomaly?”

“So that’s what you call those non-humans here-‘Anomalies.'” Gu Huaiwei adapted quickly; she needed to learn the specific terminology of this Dimension.

“Yes…” Fang Zhao nodded hesitantly, his gaze still sweeping over her suspiciously.

He felt the warmth of Gu Huaiwei’s arm, yet he remained skeptical. “Are you really human?”

“Of course.” Gu Huaiwei did a simple pirouette on the spot and spread her hands. “See? In what way do I not look human?”

High-level Anomalies could perfectly mimic human appearances.

Fang Zhao frowned, clearly baffled by the situation. “Are you a Trial-taker from the same batch as us?”

Drawing on his past experiences, he couldn’t understand why an extra person would suddenly appear in this Instance. His mind raced with wild theories, eventually landing on a terrifying conclusion: the teammate who had died at the beginning was a fake!

But that didn’t make sense either.

He had personally witnessed his classmate and teammate die in the first-floor elevator bay for violating the Rules.

The blood had been warm.

The ear-piercing sound of the body being crushed in half by the elevator doors was still vivid in his mind.

“Don’t overthink it. I simply came from outside. I run a place called the Oasis Sanatorium in town. Since I didn’t have many guests, I thought I’d walk around the town to scout for some customers.”

Every word Gu Huaiwei spoke was the truth.

“Oasis Sanatorium…” This was the second time Fang Zhao had heard this name from Gu Huaiwei.

He figured it out!

The human-looking girl in front of him wasn’t human at all!

She was trying to deceive him!

She was an Anomaly – an Anomaly trying to lure them into a new Instance.

And the name of that new Instance was the Oasis Sanatorium!

In various clear conditions, it was common to encounter scenarios where one could jump from one Instance to another.

This method of clearing a stage was usually a trap.

However, if one wanted to escape their current predicament, choosing such a path was a viable compromise.

How cunning!

He had almost fallen for it and believed she was human.

Fang Zhao mentally praised himself for being so clever. He then decided to get on good terms with this “Oasis Sanatorium Shop Manager” to keep a backup plan open.

“What star rating is your Sanatorium?” Fang Zhao was asking about the difficulty level of the Instance.

“One-star,” Gu Huaiwei replied, referring to the actual level of the Oasis Sanatorium.

Fang Zhao’s face lit up with joy. A One-star Instance? Wouldn’t that be a relatively easy, low-level Instance?

After all, the current Gray Mist Town Library Instance was a Three-star difficulty.
One slip-up, one violation of the Rules, and you would die inside.

To leave a good impression on her potential customer, Gu Huaiwei added with emphasis, “Our Sanatorium will be upgraded in the future. It can reach up to Five-Star status, guaranteed to bring you all an excellent new experience.”

“What?! This thing can even upgrade to Five-Star?”

Going up one level was one thing, but upgrading directly to Five-Star? What kind of god-tier Instance was this?

Gu Huaiwei clasped her hands and smiled. “That’s right. Our Sanatorium needs to constantly upgrade and improve.”

In a Five-Star difficulty Instance, even if he managed to form a Contract with a high-level Anomaly or obtain some kind of cheat, he wouldn’t be confident about making it out alive.

Fang Zhao’s spirit instantly deflated. He knew there was no such thing as a free lunch.

“Where are your other three teammates?” Gu Huaiwei asked, seeing no one behind him.

Although Fang Zhao found it strange that an Anomaly inside an Instance would care about such things, he still replied, “We got separated.”

“Then are you planning to look for Han Zhusheng?” This path led straight to his Office.

Fang Zhao shook his head. “I’m going to find the Library Director’s daughter. I need to use her Toy Room to hide through the night.”

The Rules stated: On the night of the fire, please find the Library Director’s daughter and persuade her to play hide-and-seek. Find an opportunity to hide in the Toy Room and do not be found before dawn.

“You mean the little girl the Library Director adopted? Han Zhusheng just told me about her. He said the girl’s parents are dead and she suffers from mania. If you’re going to look for her, be careful not to get hurt.”

Fang Zhao remained tight-lipped. He had to remain firm in his own perception and couldn’t let himself be misled by an Anomaly’s false information.

“The Library Director only has one daughter. His daughter is perfectly normal. She isn’t sick.”

Gu Huaiwei pursed her lips.

This man’s words conflicted heavily with what Han Zhusheng had said.

She wanted to get more information from a human’s perspective.

“Can I go with you?” She also wanted to meet this daughter of the Library Director.

“…Alright.” Fang Zhao didn’t want to bring Gu Huaiwei along, but out of fear, he was forced to agree.

The Rules hadn’t mentioned anything about a Shop Manager of the Oasis Sanatorium.

He was worried that the Rules he had were incomplete.

He was afraid that if he said the wrong thing, Gu Huaiwei might absentmindedly rip his head off.

Seeing him agree, Gu Huaiwei smiled. “That’s great.”

On the way to find the little girl, Fang Zhao kept his head down and walked quickly.

Meanwhile, Gu Huaiwei looked around curiously.

She was full of interest in this quaint Library.

She tried to strike up a conversation with Fang Zhao several times to build rapport, but he would only give a couple of “mhm’s” at most, remaining tense from start to finish.

Seeing Fang Zhao’s pace quicken, Gu Huaiwei kept up and asked, “Are you afraid of those Anomalies?”

Fang Zhao silently corrected her in his mind. It wasn’t “those Anomalies,” it was “you Anomalies.”

“That Han Zhusheng should be one of the Anomalies you’re talking about, right? I chatted with him in his Office just now, and I didn’t find him to be particularly aggressive.”

Fang Zhao screamed internally. That was because you’re the same kind, and you’re in the same Instance!

He was different.

He was a Trial-taker whose life was constantly on the line.

“You seem so nervous.”

Gu Huaiwei’s straight bangs were poking her eyes a bit, so she brushed them to the sides.

Seeing Fang Zhao’s silent, stoic expression, she tilted her head and thought for a moment before asking softly, “You aren’t… afraid of me, are you?”

Fang Zhao’s body gave a sudden, violent shudder.