Dimensional Store: Welcome to the Apocalypse Apartment - Chapter 251

Chapter 251

Gu Huaiwei did not need to sign a long-term Contract with the Hot Spring Mansion Director.

Holding the written guarantee, she found the Hot Spring Mansion Director in the sewer pipe passage leading to the outside world, where he was trying to hide, and successfully established the Contract.

By rights, once the Contract was established, the Hot Spring Mansion Director, as Gu Huaiwei’s contracted Anomaly, should have followed her everywhere and accompanied her through Instances.

But Gu Huaiwei couldn’t be bothered to bring him along.

“This Contract will only take effect after this Instance ends.” Her arrangement was so casual it was as if the Hot Spring Mansion Director were an object she could pick up or put down whenever she pleased.

The Hot Spring Mansion Director looked gloomy, but he had no way to voice his displeasure.

The Mayor of Gray Mist Town would visit Hot Spring Mansion in three days and host a charity gala there.

Gu Huaiwei told the Hot Spring Mansion Director to properly receive the mayor. Once this Instance ended, he would return to Oasis Sanatorium with her.

The Black-hearted Merchant needed a special medicine for Mist Lung Disease.

Gu Huaiwei went back to find Lulu.

She fiddled with the camera for a long time and played more than two full hours of blank footage before Lulu finally emerged from the image, visibly reluctant.

There was no special medicine for Mist Lung Disease.

As for how to make the fake medicine, Lulu did not know. That was in the hands of her father, the Dean.

“You don’t need to waste your effort here. My father doesn’t care about me… click, click, click…”

At least, that was what Lulu believed. Otherwise, she would not have been in the Hot Spring Mansion Instance instead of in her father’s Hospital Instance.

“Aren’t you an only child?” Gu Huaiwei asked.

“Click, click, click… So what if I am?”

“If that’s the case, he shouldn’t be completely indifferent.”

“Click, click, click… Do you have parents?” In the black-and-white image, Lulu raised a hand and stroked the birthmark on her face. “Do you know there is no such thing as unconditional love or hate in this world? Even between parents and children, it’s the same.”

“From the moment I was born, I disappointed them… click, click, click… I wasn’t as perfect as they imagined. The birthmark on my face reminded them every second of every day that I was a failed child.”

“They clearly knew I hated being exposed to cameras… click, click, click… They clearly knew… I didn’t want to go to school and share the same space as all those people with clean, unblemished faces… They clearly knew that when I walked out in front of others, I would be met with strange looks… click, click, click…”

“But they were always forcing me to go to crowded places, forcing me in front of cameras… click, click, click… Damn them. All they cared about was their business!”

Lulu had died in the Hot Spring Mansion Instance.

No one had collected her body.

So she could only remain in this Instance and become an Anomaly here.

Gu Huaiwei pressed her lips together. She had never had parents growing up, and her understanding of family affection was limited to the bond she shared with her older sister, the two of them depending on each other for survival.

Her sister’s love for her could be called selfless.

Then what about their parents, who had been missing for so long?

Back in the first Dimension, when Gu Huaiwei saw the photo her sister had tucked inside her diary, she had wondered whether their parents had their own difficulties, some reason why they had let the two sisters grow up in an orphanage.

Gu Huaiwei rarely took the initiative to care about what had happened to Anomalies, because it had nothing to do with her main mission of running the shop.

But Lulu’s resentment toward her parents stirred her curiosity.

She asked, “How did you die?”

That was tied to Lulu’s obsession.

Gu Huaiwei could roughly guess that her death had something to do with the camera.

“Do you want to Contract me?” The image flickered.

“That’s right. How about we skip all the complicated steps in between and just sign directly?” When it came to things she wanted to do, Gu Huaiwei was always frank.

Gu Huaiwei wanted to Contract Lulu, then take her to the Hospital Instance and find her parents, using her in exchange for the formula for making the fake medicine.
The Black-hearted Merchant wanted a miracle drug for Mist Lung Disease.

But the so-called miracle drug in this little town was nothing but a scam.

Gu Huaiwei, clumsy as she was, would have to get her hands on the fake formula first, then go find the Black-hearted Merchant.

On the screen, Lulu stood up. She walked over to the camera, stroked it, and as she pressed the button to turn it off, her lips moved toward Gu Huaiwei.

Her voice was soft and quick.

If one was not listening carefully, it would be easy to miss.

“Find that Videotape… and I’ll leave with you.”

“Don’t peek… click, click, click…”

“If you can’t find it…”

The screen went dark.

After that “if you can’t find it,” there should have been some kind of threat-something along the lines of losing an arm or a leg. But Lulu did not say it out loud. She probably knew that methods meant for ordinary Trial-taker were useless against Gu Huaiwei.

Gu Huaiwei sighed. Great. Another thing to look for.

Why was every Anomaly so obsessed with losing things all the time?

Lulu’s phone was in Gu Huaiwei’s hand.

In the chat history between Lulu and Lulu’s Fiancé, Gu Huaiwei found a clue about the Videotape.

Lulu: “What do you want? Give me back the things you recorded of me!”

Lulu’s Fiancé: “Don’t worry. I just want to keep them and admire another side of you. The videos have all been censored. Even if someone else accidentally sees them, no one will recognize it’s you.”

Lulu’s Fiancé: “You’re actually very photogenic. Don’t be so insecure.”

Lulu: “You’re threatening me.”

Lulu’s Fiancé: “Don’t think of it that way. Once we’re married, we’ll be one. How could I ever hurt you? Besides, don’t you think we’re a perfect match? Even our hobbies are so alike.”

Lulu: “Then when are you giving those things back to me?”

Lulu’s Fiancé: “On your birthday. They’ll be your birthday present.”

The date jumped forward by a few days after that.

Lulu’s Fiancé had sent the location of Room 421 in Hot Spring Mansion.

Attached image: a room decorated with streamers and birthday balloons. A cake sat on the table, with twenty candles stuck into it.

The room Gu Huaiwei was in right now was Room 412.

“That’s not right.” Gu Huaiwei counted the candles in the photo, then took out Lulu’s student ID.

Her date of birth was printed on the student ID.

Based on the timeline, Lulu should have been celebrating her twenty-first birthday. So why were there only twenty candles on the cake?

Bai Miemie was rummaging through cabinets and drawers, helping Gu Huaiwei search.

From under the bed, she hooked a pinky around the edge of a box and dragged out a cardboard box even bigger than she was.

The box was filled entirely with birthday decorations.

After An Qiushui met up with the white-haired old man, Zhang Guoqing, the two followed the clues and also arrived at Room 412.

The moment they set foot on the fourth floor, Gu Huaiwei noticed their footsteps.

“Someone’s here. Perfect. I was just short on hands. They came at exactly the right time.” The corners of Gu Huaiwei’s mouth lifted in delight as she looked at the messy pile of streamers in the box, preparing to drag those two over to work.

“Miemie knows how to set these things up too.”

Bai Miemie wrapped the streamers around her hand, guaranteeing she could recreate the room in the photo down to the last detail.

“When there are laborers around, you should slack off a little.” Gu Huaiwei put an arm around Bai Miemie’s shoulders, and Bai Miemie pressed her little face against Gu Huaiwei’s stomach and nuzzled her.

“Sister Gu really does care about me!”

Bai Miemie thought happily to herself that whenever He Xueyi slacked off, Sister Gu always scolded him. But when it was her turn, Sister Gu took the initiative to slack off with her.

Once they entered Paradise in the future, she absolutely had to show Sister Gu the way, so Sister Gu would not get tricked away by those carnivores in human skin.