Dimensional Store: Welcome to the Apocalypse Apartment - Chapter 239

Chapter 239

Rain fell in a steady drizzle. A woman in a dark brown dress as thin as gauze appeared at the shop entrance, moving slowly and looking somewhat bedraggled.

She was soaked through, the wet hem of her dress clinging to her legs. A strip of silk covered her eyes, her lips were faintly red, and she raised mud-streaked fingertips to knock on the glass door.

In her dream, Gu Huaiwei felt stifled by heat and damp. Around her was a suffocating tropical rainforest, heavy with the smell of rotting leaves.

Dark clouds blanketed the sky outside. She was camping alone deep in the rainforest, the torrential rain pounding against her tent amid explosive cracks of thunder.

In the dream, she opened her eyes and saw the tent fabric above her sagging inward under a heavy weight. Rainwater streamed down the outside of the tent, forming a blurred curtain of water.

She crawled over to the tent zipper and pulled it open a crack. Wind and rain lashed at her eyes. Through the storm, she saw a giant snail sprawled across her tent, slowly creeping along, its sticky, soft feelers reaching inward along the zipper.

That viscous fluid was about to drip onto her face.

Just then, a snow-white crane emerged from the trees. It spread its wings, lifted its elegant neck, and cried twice beside the snail. Startled, the snail shrank into its shell, transforming from a giant snail into a tiny one.

The white crane pecked at the snail shell, placed the snail in Gu Huaiwei’s palm, then beat its wings and soared away.

Another clap of thunder followed.

Gu Huaiwei felt her heart hammering wildly, and then she jolted awake.

She heard knocking coming from outside the Sanatorium.

Who would be knocking in the middle of the night?

Gray Mist Town was a Dead City. There was no one to be seen on the roads even during the day, let alone any customers coming to the door at night.

Confused, Gu Huaiwei slipped on her slippers and draped a coat over herself. Her fluffy hair fell over her shoulders as she yawned her way into the lobby.

Outside, wind and rain raged together. Gu Huaiwei seemed to smell that rainforest scent of rotting leaves from her dream again.

She unlocked the door. Cold wind rushed in, making her shiver and pull her coat tighter around herself.

“And you are?” she asked, sizing up the woman before her.

The soaked woman handed over an employment application. “Boss Zhou sent me.”

So it seemed the new Assistant had arrived.

Gu Huaiwei accepted the application. “It’s pouring out there. Come in.”

At some point, He Xueyi had appeared in the Sanatorium lobby. He was holding a dry bath towel, which he tossed to the drenched woman.

“Snail Girl, you’re late again.”

“Thank you. I should have arrived this afternoon, but the road was muddy in the rain, so my trip was delayed a little.” Guilt surfaced on the woman’s face. Her voice was exceptionally slow, and even the way she wiped herself dry was unhurried, like a kettle of water that refused to boil.

Gu Huaiwei glanced down at the name on the employment application: Mu Lanwo.

“Shop Manager, I look forward to working with you.” Mu Lanwo smiled at Gu Huaiwei, the two brown snail shells dangling from her ears swaying gently.

Silk covered her nearly blind eyes. The world she saw was different from what ordinary people saw.

She could not see appearances.

She could only see the colors of souls.

He Xueyi and Mu Lanwo seemed to know each other. His attitude toward her was warm and friendly. After Mu Lanwo entered the shop, Gu Huaiwei helped process her onboarding paperwork while the two of them stood off to the side, heads lowered, speaking in very quiet voices.

Lin She came out and gave them a cold glance. He seemed naturally solitary. Gu Huaiwei did not understand the ecology of Paradise, but she could sense that Lin She was on bad terms with everyone there.

Bai Miemie also ran over to the front desk in the lobby and secretly peeked out from behind the cabinet. Then it tilted its head up and asked Gu Huaiwei, “Sister Gu, could you not let her stay in the Employee Dormitory?”
“Why?”

“I’m already sleeping in the hall. If we add one more person, it’ll be way too cramped.” Bai Miemie’s eyes darted around. Whenever she lied, she curled her fingers, and her guilty conscience showed in every little fidget.

In truth, it wasn’t because of the cramped space. It was because each of them had different living habits.

Mu Lanwo liked damp environments.

If they lived together, the entire room would be filled with slime and moisture. The gaps between the floorboards would grow mold, and the one thing Bai Miemie absolutely could not tolerate was her hair being impossible to keep dry.

“Sister Gu, please?” Bai Miemie still had the temperament of a child.

With a new Assistant arriving, the Sanatorium simply didn’t have enough Employee Dormitory rooms to house everyone. Bai Miemie had already set up a bed in the Employee Dormitory living room, and now where to put the Snail Girl had become another problem.

“Make do for now. I’ll think of something.”

Since a newcomer had arrived at the Sanatorium, Gu Huaiwei planned to take her out for a while to get used to things when she did an invitation task.

She notified Mu Lanwo that they would be going out the next day.

But Mu Lanwo replied painfully slowly. Her personality was extremely mild and unhurried, always dragging her feet. The upside was that she never lost her temper with difficult customers. The downside, of course, was that Gu Huaiwei nearly died waiting for her.

He Xueyi saw Gu Huaiwei staring at her watch, her fingers tapping the tabletop with some impatience, and reminded her with a smile, “Shop Manager Miss, the Snail Girl is better suited to staying in the shop and doing meticulous, tedious work. She isn’t good at going out. I suggest you switch to someone else.”

“Switch to you?”

He Xueyi looked troubled. “Shop Manager Miss, there are still customers waiting for me in the greenhouse.”

Gu Huaiwei knew he was unreliable. She gave another instruction instead. “I saw a pile of old accounts in the Sanatorium before and never had time to sort them out. Give them to the Snail Girl and have her organize them.”

“Sorting out those long-winded bills and forms is indeed something she’s good at.”

“You two know each other well?”

“We just know each other.” A smile lingered at the corner of He Xueyi’s mouth. “My popularity in Paradise is much better than some antisocial fellow’s.”

Just then, Bai Miemie ran out at once, a comb hooked in her tangled hair. Looking terribly aggrieved, she showed Gu Huaiwei her hair.

“Sister Gu, the humidity in the living room went off the charts last night. I can’t even comb my hair out anymore. I don’t want to stay in the Sanatorium. Can I go out with Sister Gu?”

Such transparent little schemes only seemed adorable when they came from Bai Miemie.

Gu Huaiwei planned to go to Hot Spring Mansion first.

“Your junior is late, so I’ll take you instead.” Gu Huaiwei took a pair of scissors out of the Jade Bracelet. “Miemie, do you want me to cut off the tangled hair for you?”

“No need! I can comb it out slowly by myself.” Bai Miemie immediately covered her head with both hands. Her hair was her treasure.

She had deliberately rubbed her hair into tangles before coming out to complain.

If it really got cut off, her heart would ache to death.

Gu Huaiwei took Bai Miemie out. The Snail Girl did not reply until that afternoon, telling Gu Huaiwei that she was fully prepared and waiting in the hall. By then, Gu Huaiwei had long since entered the Instance.

Gray Mist Town, Hot Spring Mansion.

At this moment, the Instance was active.

And it had already entered its final stage.

The moment Gu Huaiwei stepped into the range of the Hot Spring Mansion Instance, she smelled the heavy stench of blood.