Dimensional Store: Welcome to the Apocalypse Apartment - Chapter 216

Chapter 216

Gu Huaiwei had spent a great deal of effort moving furniture and tidying up the room the day before.

All those new pieces of furniture had been brought from the Real World. After Mu Lingxi helped her pick them out, they had been sitting idle in her Jade Bracelet.

Gu Huaiwei had originally planned to wait for a new Employee Dormitory before using them, but now that the Childhood Dream Paradise Theme Room was ready, they fit perfectly inside.

By the time everything was finally settled, Gu Huaiwei had chased Lin She away. Exhausted, she collapsed onto the bed, pulled the covers over her head, and fell fast asleep, completely forgetting to set an alarm.

The early morning sun filtered through the worn curtains and spilled into the room. Gu Huaiwei woke up in a daze.

She reached for her phone, and the time displayed on the screen was already 10:00 AM.

“Ah, I overslept!” Gu Huaiwei frowned slightly, rubbing her aching shoulders as she sat up.

Bai Miemie was still waiting for her at the entrance of the Library Instance.

After locking her door, Gu Huaiwei hurried out.

On her way, she happened to run into Xia Wenxin, who was doing her morning exercises.

“Good morning, Shopkeeper Gu! Where are you heading in such a rush?” Xia Wenxin waved energetically. She considered Gu Huaiwei her savior; even though their relationship involved transactions, she was still deeply grateful for the kindness shown to her.

Compared to Fang Zhao’s suspicious nature and Bai Yuzhen’s calculated gambles, Xia Wenxin was clearly the most sincere of the three.

The Oasis Sanatorium had already unlocked the Trauma Treatment Room.

Xia Wenxin had undergone several skin restoration treatments there.

Although she had been disfigured by burns, after a few days of paid care, her wounds no longer pained her.

Lately, Xia Wenxin had been persevering with her rehabilitation training every morning. She wanted to restore her physical fitness so she wouldn’t hold her companions back.

Gu Huaiwei was pressed for time.

She simply dropped a quick, “Entering an Instance,” before rushing off.

She left a somewhat dazed Xia Wenxin standing there, muttering to herself, “I guess even with such a big business, you still have to enter Instances to earn Lifespan.”

Xia Wenxin mistakenly assumed that the Sanatorium’s current turnover wasn’t enough. She thought Gu Huaiwei was entering Instances to risk her life and earn Lifespan to subsidize the construction of more facilities.

Bai Miemie had been waiting at the entrance of the Library Instance for a long time. She stood on her tiptoes, craned her neck, and looked forward to Gu Huaiwei’s appearance.

Gray Mist Town was exceptionally cold in the early morning. She felt like her naturally curly hair had been frozen into stiff little hooks.

Bai Miemie stomped her feet and rubbed her hands together, huffing hot air to try and dispel the chill.

Following Gu Huaiwei’s instructions, Bai Miemie had stayed right by the entrance after the new Trial-takers entered the Instance. She had been incredibly sleepy last night, and the whistling cold wind made her hooves ache, but she had endured it by munching on a handful of grass, refusing to retreat inside to hide from the wind.

“Achoo!” She rubbed her reddened nose. A bit of runny nose unhelpfully escaped, sticking to her finger.

“Eww…” She wrinkled her small face, shaking her hand in utter disgust before crouching down to wipe it clean on the turf. She muttered, “Sister Gu, when are you coming? If you don’t show up soon, Miemie is going to catch a cold.”

From a distance, Gu Huaiwei spotted the little figure crouching on the ground, looking like a soft little ball of cotton.

“Sister Gu!” Smelling Gu Huaiwei’s scent, Bai Miemie leaped up and waved her hands excitedly. “You’re finally here! Miemie was almost frozen into a lamb chop!”

Gu Huaiwei walked quickly through the cold mist, wrapped in a thick brown coat. Seeing that Bai Miemie was indeed freezing, an apologetic look crossed her face. “Sorry, I overslept.”
Bai Miemie shook her head like a rattle. “It’s fine. Sister Gu’s beauty sleep is much more important.”

Gu Huaiwei’s gaze swept over Bai Miemie’s small nose, which was flushed red from the cold. She pulled a tissue from her pocket and helped her wipe it clean.

So, an Assistant from Paradise could still be affected by the freezing wind.

Bai Miemie used the hand that had just been stained with a bit of runny nose to tug at Gu Huaiwei’s hem, then stealthily wiped her hand on the fabric.

“Sister Gu, let’s go inside quickly. The new batch of Trial-takers arrived last night. Even before dawn, I could smell a thick scent of blood. I reckon some of them have already kicked the bucket.”

Gu Huaiwei’s primary goal was to take two Anomalies away from this Instance.

As for those Trial-takers, she could try to take them out as customers, but if it proved too troublesome, Gu Huaiwei would simply abandon them and choose the people in the Safe House instead.

She pushed the door open and entered the Library.

The layout and furnishings inside were the same as the first time she had visited.

The only difference was a corpse hanging from the chandelier in the Library’s main hall.

The body was still dripping blood, *patter-patter*, down the edges of the crystal chandelier.

Gu Huaiwei looked up to observe the corpse’s attire. The deceased was a short-haired girl whose abdomen had been skewered by the chandelier. Her hollow eyes were wide open, and her mouth was slightly agape; it looked like she had only just stopped breathing.

There were signs of a struggle on her arms.

Her clothes were torn, and there were drag marks on her black jeans.

Gu Huaiwei’s eyes scanned the floor. A winding trail of blood stretched all the way to the stairs on the second floor. She deduced that the victim had been dragged to this spot before being hoisted onto the chandelier.

Every time the Library Instance opened, five Reporters would enter.

Now, one member of the human side was already dead.

At most, four people remained.

If the Trial-takers all died, or if they escaped the Instance, the Instance would close once again.

Gu Huaiwei had to hurry. Before these people all died, she needed to fulfill Han Zhusheng’s Contract requirements and get him out of the Instance.

He had told her before that the reason he couldn’t leave the Library Instance was due to two lingering obsessions. Resolving either one would count as fulfilling the terms of the Contract.

Obsession one: Persuade the Library Director to drink a potion that he clearly knows is poison, allowing him to die early and be reincarnated.

Obsession two: Create some art to drag his shut-in, artistic mother out of her Painting Studio.

Gu Huaiwei didn’t have an artistic bone in her body, and her aesthetic sense differed from most people’s. She decisively chose to try the first option and headed toward the Library Director’s study to prepare to persuade him to drink the medicine.

Upon reaching the Corridor, Gu Huaiwei heard someone downstairs shouting, “Fire! Fire!”

And at the end of the Corridor, a Miner Doll was wiggling as it ran forward.

Gu Huaiwei stepped forward to investigate the situation.

Bella pounced out first, the Gray Crystal Gem on her chest swaying with her movements. She knelt on the ground, her hands tightly gripping the Miner Doll, a sinister smile on her face.

She smelled the scent of a living person.

Revealing a mouth missing two front teeth, she looked up. When she saw Gu Huaiwei, her smile vanished.

“Kaka… why are you back again?”

Clutching the Miner Doll, she turned to run.

Gu Huaiwei reached out quickly and hoisted her up by the collar from behind.

“Don’t run, little sister Bella. Don’t you want to play hide-and-seek with me anymore?”