Dimensional Store: Welcome to the Apocalypse Apartment - Chapter 211

Chapter 211

Gu Huaiwei dodged the falling debris.

Taking advantage of the chaos from the explosion, Bai Yuzhen snatched a key from the arms of a miner wearing a white hat. The miner’s head had already been crushed by a rock, his neck twisted to the side. As Bai Yuzhen reached for the key, he suddenly grabbed her hand.

“Ah! Let go, you filthy dog!”

Bai Yuzhen shrieked, picking up a jagged stone from the ground and smashing it down until the miner’s hand broke.

She then sprinted to Gu Huaiwei’s side, pulling her toward safety.

“Shopkeeper Gu, I got the key. Let’s get out of here.”

“He Xueyi, go dig out those two Anomalies who just accepted the lunch boxes from the rubble and bring them along.”

He Xueyi’s tone was somewhat languid. “As you wish, Shop Manager Miss.”

They moved quickly to leave the area.

He Xueyi dragged the Anomalies wearing yellow miner hats out from the ruins.

He had no interest in creatures devoid of life.

The two Anomalies seemed dead, allowing He Xueyi to drag them across the ground. Sharp rocks tore through their bellies, spilling out the sour, spoiled food they had just eaten. Their faces showed no sign of pain, like professional actors playing corpses.

As Anomalies, they were also subject to the restrictions of the Instance.

The chances of a Low-level Anomaly actually eating a human were slim to begin with. They simply wanted to stay peacefully within the Instance, waiting through one Samsara after another.

Normally, when the Mining Disaster occurred, they only needed to lie there.

They hadn’t expected someone to be bored enough to dig them out.

Clearly, once the rocks had finished falling, their work for this Instance should have been over.

Now, they were being forced to work overtime.

They couldn’t even die in peace.

As Gu Huaiwei ran, she thought about the connection between the Library Instance and the Mine Instance.

The entirety of Gray Mist Town was a massive Instance zone, containing countless smaller Instances that were all interconnected.

Han Zhusheng had told Gu Huaiwei in the previous Instance that the mine was controlled by a Black-hearted Merchant from out of town, who had hired a group of Bandits to manage the Mine Tunnels.

The Black-hearted Merchant offered meager wages to hire the townspeople as miners. These miners worked day and night in the mountains until they contracted Mist Lung Disease.

Once these miners lost their ability to work, the merchant would stage a fake Mining Disaster to bury all the workers alive.

“Bai Yuzhen, let me ask you something.

According to what you said before, the pollution in these Instances is formed by extreme human emotions. The best way to leave an Instance is to clear the pollution.

If the pollution is cleared, does that mean the Anomalies in the Instance can move about freely?”

“Uh, that…” Bai Yuzhen thought for a moment. “I don’t know. I’ve never tried it. Clearing the pollution is extremely difficult; that usually corresponds to an S-rank Clear Method, and I’ve never achieved one.”

“Would the two people on the Heavenly Ranking know?”

“They probably know better than I do, but they’re too arrogant. They might not give you a straight answer.” Bai Yuzhen had her own little schemes; she didn’t really want Gu Huaiwei getting too close to those on the Heavenly Ranking.

Gu Huaiwei only gave a low “Mhm” in response.

Bai Yuzhen used the key to open the door to the Overseer’s room and led Gu Huaiwei and the others inside to hide.

The Overseer’s room wasn’t large. Inside was a big bed where a woman in tattered clothes lay. Her feet were chained to the bed, and her messy hair covered her face. She was currently in a deep sleep.

Bai Yuzhen looked at the woman on the bed warily, licked her lower lip, and whispered, “Shopkeeper Gu, could you do me a favor? In exchange, once I enter the Safe House, I’ll help you promote the Oasis Sanatorium.”

“Tell me what the favor is first.” Gu Huaiwei needed to hear the terms before making a decision.
“It’s like this: I have to hide in the wardrobe first. The Rules state that only the wardrobes in the rooms are temporary safe zones. However, the wardrobe has to be locked from the outside… so…”

Bai Yuzhen trailed off, but Gu Huaiwei understood her implication.

A wardrobe in the room could hide two people at most.

This meant that if a Trial-taker wanted to hide inside this room, they would have to leave at least one teammate outside to lock the wardrobe.

The person locking the wardrobe would inevitably be in the most danger.

This kind of Rule was a direct test of human nature.

Gu Huaiwei looked up slightly. “You go in. I’ll just sit outside the room.”

Bai Yuzhen hesitated for a moment. “Those Bandit Overseers will be back soon. Are you sure you can handle them?”

“Don’t worry, they can’t do anything to me.”

“You could actually hide under the bed…”

Gu Huaiwei glanced under the bed. It was stuffed with clutter and long objects wrapped in plastic sheeting; it didn’t look like a pleasant place at all.

He Xueyi was a clean freak and definitely wouldn’t hide there.

Gu Huaiwei also intended to meet those Bandit Overseers, so she had no need to hide either.

“I have my own plans. Get in the wardrobe.”

“Okay.” Bai Yuzhen was incredibly relieved that she had chosen Gu Huaiwei. Before entering the wardrobe, she couldn’t help but offer one more warning. “Shopkeeper Gu, be careful of that woman. The Rules didn’t mention anyone else being in the Bandits’ rooms. People who suddenly appear in an Instance like this usually have something suspicious about them.”

Gu Huaiwei locked the wardrobe door from the outside.

There were no stools in the room, so Gu Huaiwei picked up the unconscious woman and tossed her onto the far side of the bed before sitting down on the edge herself.

He Xueyi took the two Anomalies he had just dug out from the ruins and tossed them at Gu Huaiwei’s feet like tattered rags.

“Shop Manager Miss, according to those Trial-takers, these Low-level Anomalies aren’t worth much.”

Gu Huaiwei tilted her chin up slightly. “We are in business. Our value assessment system is different from that of the Trial-takers.”

Trial-takers cared about an Anomaly’s combat power.

This was because, within an Instance, humans could not harm Anomalies.

Only an Anomaly could harm another Anomaly.

High-level Anomalies possessed overwhelming martial force over Low-level Anomalies.

But to Gu Huaiwei, combat power was irrelevant. As long as these Anomalies could pay with their Lifespan, they were good customers.

She raised her hand and lightly flicked the dust off her sleeve, her tone carrying the shrewdness unique to a merchant. “The conditions for a High-level Anomaly’s Contract are quite demanding. It’s much easier to bring Low-level Anomalies out of an Instance.

At this stage, our sales targets only require a certain number of customers, not a specific amount of money.

Starting with these low-level ones makes it easier to achieve our business goals.”

He Xueyi’s golden eyes flickered slightly. “You’re right, Shop Manager Miss. However, can these two Anomalies even communicate normally?”

“We’ll know once we try.”

Gu Huaiwei looked at the two Anomalies curled up on the ground, playing dead. They remained motionless, shrouded in black mist, the holes in their stomachs slowly regenerating.

“Sir, Ma’am, your daughter asked me to come find you. She doesn’t want you to work so hard anymore and wants to take you to the Sanatorium for a vacation.”

The two miners wearing yellow hats reacted as if a new plot point had been triggered.

Their limbs twisted unnaturally, and they sat bolt upright from the floor without any support.

“Krak… krak… the entrance to the Mine Tunnel has been destroyed. You are just like us… krak… you will never be able to leave…”

“Unless you find another passage… krak… our family of three will be waiting for you at the entrance of the Mine Tunnel…”