Dimensional Store: Welcome to the Apocalypse Apartment - Chapter 194

Chapter 194

Gu Huaiwei reached a deal with them: if she helped them find their teammates and leave this Instance alive, they would follow her back to the Oasis Sanatorium and pay with their lifespans to stay as residents.

Xia Wenxin was barely able to walk, but her appearance was difficult to look at.

With extensive burns across her body, her originally healthy wheat-colored skin had been replaced by patches of shocking pink new flesh. The skin was uneven and lumpy, looking far from aesthetic.

Her hair and eyebrows had been burnt away, leaving only charred marks on her exposed scalp.

However, Xia Wenxin maintained a remarkably good attitude.

She felt that since she had broken the Rules, being alive was already a stroke of luck; as for her appearance, she didn’t care much about it.

Gu Huaiwei told the two of them to wait for her in a safe place.

Then, she took Bai Miemie to search for Wang Junru – the boy who had previously wet his pants – and the Learning Committee Member, Bai Yuzhen.

“Who are you looking for?” Han Zhusheng asked. He was wearing a classic Zhongshan suit, his buttons done up neatly and meticulously.

At the moment, he was holding several old books in his arms, placing them onto an empty bookshelf one by one.

Gu Huaiwei replied, “I’m looking for two friends. You’ve seen them. One had an ear ripped off by your staff, and the other is a girl, thin and pale, wearing a yellow sweater.”

Han Zhusheng’s hand paused on the bookshelf. With a grim expression, he said, “Reporter Wang is in Mother’s Painting Studio. Do you want to go see him?”

Mother?

That would be the wife of the Library Director.

If Fang Zhao were here, he would surely have warned her in terror that the Library Director was a pitiful single father who had no wife or son-only a daughter.

But Fang Zhao hadn’t given the Rules in his possession to Gu Huaiwei.

Firstly, because things like Rules were extremely important and couldn’t be shared lightly.

Secondly, because there were too many things about Gu Huaiwei that defied common sense; he felt that even without the Rules, she would certainly be able to handle it.

Gu Huaiwei didn’t feel the need to tip-toe around anything. She asked, “Where is the Painting Studio?”

Han Zhusheng continued to neatly arrange the books on the shelf. Once he finished, he said politely, “Allow me to lead the way.”

“Thanks.”

After walking a few steps, Han Zhusheng mentioned as if in passing, “I heard that last night, while you were playing hide-and-seek with Bella, you knocked out two of her teeth.”

“She’s at the age where she’s losing her baby teeth; they fell out on their own.” Gu Huaiwei spoke without batting an eye. Without evidence, she wasn’t foolish enough to just admit to it.

“Bella cried all night yesterday.”

“…”

“You did well,” Han Zhusheng said, possessing a certain quality unique to the black-and-white era. “Next time, you can just knock her head off or cut out her tongue. That way, she won’t cry and make a fuss day and night.”

His tone was as gentle as if he were suggesting how to prepare dinner, without the slightest hint of blame.

“Huh?” Gu Huaiwei had thought Han Zhusheng was going to settle the score with her, but she hadn’t expected him to think she had been too lenient.

“Mother needs silence when she’s painting.” The smile vanished as Han Zhusheng’s voice became low and slow, dripping with coldness. “I also hate family members who are too noisy.”

Gu Huaiwei didn’t respond. Instead, she sighed inwardly, thinking that this family’s relationships were truly complicated. It was better to stay out of it as much as possible.

Han Zhusheng seemed to have quite a grievance against Bella.

Along the way, Han Zhusheng seemed to open up, his tone carrying clear resentment: “Bella is out of her mind. She often tells people outside that she is Father’s only daughter. She won’t acknowledge me, and she won’t acknowledge Mother.”
Gu Huaiwei pursed her lips as she listened, offering no opinion.

“Even though it’s sad that Bella’s parents are dead, Father really shouldn’t have brought her back. Because of Bella, the relationship between Father and Mother has turned sour.

Mother suspects Bella is Father’s illegitimate daughter. To prove his loyalty, Father removed his own fibula and gave it to Mother to use as a painting brush. But after Mother got that brush, she locked herself in the Painting Studio and wouldn’t come out. She paints day and night, ignoring everyone.”

At this point, Han Zhusheng paused. He turned to look at Gu Huaiwei, his tone earnest. “If you can convince Mother to come out, I can sign a Contract with you. I still have a month of vacation left; we could leave the Library together and explore the world outside the town.”

Bai Miemie’s grip on Gu Huaiwei’s hand suddenly tightened.

*Is he trying to steal my job?*

Dim yellow lights flickered in the Corridor. Han Zhusheng’s silhouette reminded Gu Huaiwei of an old film reel; his face lacked any superfluous expression, as if he were perpetually trapped in a world of gray and white tones, exuding a sense of nostalgia.

Fang Zhao had explained to Gu Huaiwei that if one fulfilled the conditions set by an Anomaly, they could sign a Contract with it. There were Long-term Contracts and Short-term Contracts; the one-month deal Han Zhusheng mentioned fell into the category of a Short-term Contract.

Once a Contract was signed, the Anomaly would remain loyal to the human for the duration of the agreement.

It was essentially a powerful asset.

“If I sign a Contract with you, will you do whatever I tell you to do?”

“Of course,” Han Zhusheng replied, though he didn’t finish his thought.

Of course he would listen to her.

It was just that, when the time came, he would extract a small price.

For instance, those beautiful eyes Gu Huaiwei hid behind her glasses.

The Painting Studio was located on the basement level of the Library.

Han Zhusheng led Gu Huaiwei into the elevator.

The elevator car smelled strongly of blood, yet no bodies were visible.

They descended.

Han Zhusheng pointed toward a red wooden door at the end of the hall. “Wang Jizhe is inside. I won’t go in, so as not to disturb Mother while she’s painting.”

“Fine, I’ll go in myself.”

That red wooden door exuded an ominous aura.

Gu Huaiwei knocked, but there was only silence from within. No one responded.

When she looked back, Han Zhusheng had already vanished from the end of the Corridor.

The red wooden door was very flimsy.

Although there was a lock on the inside, the door swung open with a gentle tug from the outside.

“Sorry for the intrusion,” Gu Huaiwei said as she pulled the door open, then hooked the broken lock back into place.

The room was in total disarray. Tables and chairs were overturned, and half-eaten Meal Boxes were crawling with rats and maggots. Various Half-finished Product paintings were scattered across the floor, and the air was thick with the stench of paint mixed with rotting food.

A woman with disheveled hair, wearing a snow-white gown, sat before an easel. From the side, only her sharp, jade-like jawline was visible. Her hands were long and pale as she gripped a Bone Brush, her eyes glazed with a rapturous trance.

Wang Junru lay on the floor, covered in blood. The skin had been peeled from his entire body, yet he hadn’t died. He twitched on the ground like a worm.

The woman was talking to herself.

One moment she was crying, the next she was laughing.

“Without pain, how can I create a masterpiece that will shock the world?”

“Pain is my bait.”

“Grind the bones and mix them with blood to make dye; slice the skin to use as a canvas. Painful memories are my inspiration. The agony that tears me apart every second guides my hand to paint the most beautiful scrolls.”