Dimensional Store: Welcome to the Apocalypse Apartment - Chapter 245

Chapter 245

“Me…? Actually, I heard about the Oasis Sanatorium Instance a long time ago.”

An Qiushui clasped her hands in front of her chest, her eyes sparkling as she talked about it.

She had received some false information at the Safe House, which had led her to believe Oasis Sanatorium was the only oasis in this polluted world.

“Oasis Sanatorium is the ultimate Instance hidden inside Gray Mist Town, right?”

“Uh… you’re overthinking it.” Gu Huaiwei felt there were so many things wrong with the phrase “ultimate Instance” that she didn’t even know where to start.

An Qiushui remained stubbornly convinced. She had her own understanding of this world’s pollution.

“You don’t have to hide it from me. I already know. The pollution in this world is spreading nonstop. One day, humanity’s habitats will vanish completely.”

“Instances descended many years ago. In the end, we will all become part of the Instances. So-called trial clearing is nothing more than prolonging our last breaths.”

“Since humanity is destined for extinction, then before that day comes, I want to choose a safe place where I belong.”

“Another world destined for extinction, huh…” Gu Huaiwei lowered her eyes, thinking about something else.

She had realized that every Dimension she had visited was on the brink of destruction.

Resources were scarce, evil creatures were everywhere, and humanity’s living environment was terrible.

The Dimensional Store took root in small Dimensions not as Redemption, but from a neutral position, harvesting the last remaining value of those small Dimensions.

“Don’t tell me you still think humans can eliminate all the pollution in the world?” An Qiushui smiled and shook her head. “That’s impossible. The Great Gods on the Heavenly Ranking already tried when Instances first appeared. The facts proved that all they could do was protect themselves. They couldn’t change the world.”

Gu Huaiwei looked up at her. “You have that little faith in humanity? You want to give up your identity as a human?”

“Before I saw you, yes. After seeing you, no.” An Qiushui made no attempt to hide her thoughts.

At first, she had taken Gu Huaiwei for a High-level Anomaly.

Having her own thoughts, memories of the past, being unable to die, and even traveling back and forth through Instances… In a way, wasn’t that happiness too?

An Qiushui had thought that as long as she became fear itself, she would never feel fear again.

Back then, she really had wanted to simply become an Anomaly.

But just now, when An Qiushui discovered that Gu Huaiwei was human, and was even preparing to sign a Contract with an Anomaly, her thoughts changed.

Someone this powerful was actually still human!

If that was the case, then it meant Zhao Lianxin had not lied to her.

“Back when I was at the Safe House, I met a warmhearted older woman. Her name was Zhao Lianxin. Not long ago, she told me that she had taken her husband to the newly appeared Oasis Sanatorium Instance.”

“Oasis Sanatorium healed her husband’s disabled legs. It has rooms full of sunlight, a professional medical environment, and employees who are both handsome and beautiful… To be honest, I didn’t believe it at first. But after seeing you, I believe it now!”

The scene of Gu Huaiwei catching Anomalies as easily as catching chicks had deeply shaken An Qiushui.

Right now, she worshipped Gu Huaiwei to an extreme degree.

“I think the reason the humans in Oasis Sanatorium can live so well must be because someone as powerful as you exists there, right?”

“If even someone of Zhao Lianxin’s level can survive in Oasis Sanatorium as a human, why can’t I?”

“These days, there are more people trapped in Instances than anyone can count. So what if Oasis Sanatorium is an Instance? So what if I can’t get out once I go in? As long as I can live there as a human, with food and water, and a place to be treated when I’m sick, then even if my life is short, I’ll be perfectly satisfied!”
Good news: she’d been praised.

Bad news: the praise had missed the point entirely. A perfectly nice, leisure-style Sanatorium had somehow been mistaken for an unbelievable Instance.

If Gu Huaiwei wanted to correct An Qiushui’s thinking, she would have to waste a great deal of breath.

Forget it.

Gu Huaiwei gave up and said, “I think your perspective is very profound. I accept.”

An Qiushui calculated how much Lifespan she had left in her pocket and booked a room for a year and a half on the spot.

“I know that in this Instance, there’s an Anomaly who has weight-loss pills on them,” An Qiushui said.

If Gu Huaiwei wanted the Library Director’s fat younger brother to lose weight, weight-loss pills brought in from outside the Instance wouldn’t work. She had to use an item from within the Instance.

“Who has them?”

“Xiaoyu’s deskmate.”

“Xiaoyu?”

An Qiushui explained, “She’s the girl who drowned in the basement hot spring. Her name was Xiaoyu.”

Gray Mist Town had two universities in total, one public and one private. Gray Mist University was a private university sponsored by the Black-hearted Merchant, and the students who attended it all came from families with status and influence in town.

The private university’s teaching resources far surpassed those of the public university.

Xiaoyu’s parents were both ordinary Miner workers. They were mediocre people themselves, but for the only child in their family who had a talent for studying, they did everything they could to lift her up.

With rough hands, they smashed stones in the mines and breathed in poisonous dust, all so their child could live with a little more dignity at school.

Xiaoyu herself was hardworking, too. She studied diligently, applied for financial aid as a poor student, and entered Gray Mist University on a public scholarship.

At first, she kept a low profile. But because she was the only poor student in the class and was also fairly pretty, she caught the attention of a group of idle rich young men and became the center of attention.

They wagered a Gray Crystal Gem on who could win her over within three months.

A joke became the beginning of a tragedy.

At first, Xiaoyu paid no attention to those bored boys.

She knew that only studying could change her fate.

She and they were not from the same world.

Romance was not a reliable path. She needed to rely on her own efforts to climb upward, leave this isolated little town, and find work in a big city. Only then could she have a different future.

But later, Xiaoyu’s parents were both diagnosed with Mist Lung Disease. The money they had earned at the cost of their health all ended up going to the hospital.

The compensation never came through, and the family could no longer afford Xiaoyu’s living expenses at university. The heavy burden fell on her thin shoulders, and she could only take part-time jobs outside of school.

At first, she handed out flyers and worked in a milk tea shop. Later, when those rich young men learned about her family situation, they offered high pay and invited her to tutor them.

Because her parents’ conditions were worsening and the hospital needed payment, she hesitated, but in the end, she still went to those boys’ homes as a tutor.

The result was that those boys had no intention of studying at all. They teased her, treated her like a pretty vase, gave her gifts, harassed her with inappropriate jokes, and even put their hands on her… She wanted to sell her knowledge for money, but what those boys needed was clearly not that.

So Xiaoyu gathered up her dignity and resigned in anger.

Entanglement would only trap her in an emotional web. In a situation like that, the right thing to do was to cut ties immediately and leave.

Dignity was necessary, but so was bread.

With an introduction from the girl who sat beside her, Xiaoyu went to Hot Spring Mansion to work part-time as a cleaner.

Unfortunately, the game was not something she could quit just because she wanted to.

Malice was everywhere.

She never had the right to choose at all.