Dimensional Store: Welcome to the Apocalypse Apartment - Chapter 3

Because of his rough movements, the garbage bag in Gu Huaiwei’s hand was knocked to the ground.

The tumor rolled out.

“Air… why does the air he filled into his oxygen tank disappear once it leaves the hotel?” After saying this, Xiao Youqi glared at Gu Huaiwei with those silver-gray eyes. Suddenly, he reached out, trying to grab her by the neck. “Damn it! Was this your doing?”

Gu Huaiwei instinctively stepped back, grabbed the sticky tumor from the ground, and hurled it at the man’s face in front of her.

Xiao Youqi was hit in the face by his own tumor, and the part of his skin that made contact immediately began to rot.

“You…” Xiao Youqi’s pupils shrank. He touched his face and stared at Gu Huaiwei’s unscathed hand, his worldview shaken once again.

He fired off a series of soul-searching questions.

“What exactly is this place?
Have you already undergone genetic modification?
Or do you already have antibodies in your body?
Impossible… with current technology, that’s just not possible…”

“Hm?” Gu Huaiwei tilted her head, puzzled.

She aimed for the face, not the head.

Has he lost his mind?

Fortunately, before Xiao Youqi could go completely berserk, the security robot reacted faster and stepped in front of Gu Huaiwei.

The robot emitted a red light, and its mechanical voice echoed in the lobby.

[Attacking staff, Level 1 alert triggered.]
[Please step at least 3 meters away from staff, or you will be forcibly removed.]

Gu Huaiwei pointed at the glowing robot and said to the guest, warning, “You’d better stay away from me, or your gold coins will be wasted.”

The rotten part of Xiao Youqi’s face was spreading. He needed to get back to his room for an injection of Inhibitor immediately.

Otherwise, in less than two hours, he would turn into a pile of rotten flesh.

He took a deep breath to calm himself, but the murderous intent in his eyes was as sharp as a blade and couldn’t be suppressed.

“No rush, we have time to talk.” He pulled a malicious smile.

A wise person knows when to bide their time.

There were too many things in this hotel that Xiao Youqi couldn’t figure out.

His injury hadn’t healed, so he couldn’t stir up trouble.

He had to get to the bottom of this place.

Xiao Youqi seemed to have made up his mind. He covered the intact half of his face with one hand, making the disfigured part look even more hideous.

He fixed his remaining gray eye on Gu Huaiwei, picked up the respirator from the ground, and retreated toward the elevator.

Because of the hotel’s defense mechanism, Gu Huaiwei wasn’t afraid of him. She propped her elbow on the table, flipping through the Employee Handbook.

Compared to her sister’s outgoing and sunny personality, she was much more reserved and calm.

Recalling the scene just now, she deduced that Xiao Youqi must have filled his oxygen tank with the hotel’s air.

This hotel didn’t allow zero-cost purchases.

Guests could enjoy free air inside the hotel, but if they tried to take it with them, the air would disappear once they left.

She sighed and looked up at the cobwebbed ceiling. This little three-story hotel looked shabby, but in some ways it was quite smart.

At noon, Gu Huaiwei received an unexpected message.

The message was sent by “Boss” to her sister.

The Boss’s profile picture was pure black. His social feed was just a single dash, with no personal signature, and even her sister’s note for him was just “Boss.”

Boss: A new employee is reporting tomorrow. Please receive them.

A new employee? Now that was a troublesome existence.

Gu Huaiwei was an impostor-the only employee, with no one to back her up, and it wasn’t easy to keep up the act. Now a newcomer, someone who knew the Boss, was basically a ticking time bomb right beside her.

She needed to think of a countermeasure.

Now was not the time to back out.

Her sister’s diary had mentioned the Boss.

Maybe that person knew where her sister was.

She had to be patient and find a way to meet the Boss.

For now, she had no choice but to accept the Boss’s arrangement.

Ever since Gu Huaiwei smashed his face with that strange tumor, Xiao Youqi had been hiding in his room and refused to come out.

For the past two days, there had been no new customers except for him.

Gu Huaiwei began to worry about the source of customers.

She rested her cheek on one hand and looked worriedly at the glass door. Outside, yellow sand filled the sky, and there were absolutely no new customers coming in.
If things keep going at this rate, it won’t be long before the hotel shuts down for good.

Meanwhile, in the world where Gu Huaiwei originally lived, things weren’t going well for her either. After her company went bankrupt, the villa she used to live in was auctioned off. Creditors made trouble every day, painting “Pay Your Debts” in red paint on the door of her rented apartment, which made the landlord unwilling to rent to her. She was evicted in the middle of the night.

Gu Huaiwei simply started staying at the hotel after work.

Late at night, when everything was quiet, she would sit in the staff storeroom, repeatedly reading through the diary her sister had left behind.

She noticed something odd.

The diary clearly stated that her sister was the only employee at the hotel.

But after she arrived, it hadn’t even been three days before the boss sent in a new employee.

Had the boss realized she wasn’t her sister?

If so, why hadn’t he exposed her? The thought sent a chill down Gu Huaiwei’s spine.

The next day, the new employee reported for duty.

The gloomy man wasn’t wearing a Protective Suit. He put away his red umbrella, took out his recommendation form, and walked up to Gu Huaiwei.

Gu Huaiwei noticed that his lips were black, and when he spoke, he barely opened his mouth. His messy black hair hung down to his eyes, and those dark green eyes were as cold as a snake’s. His skin was unnaturally pale, without a trace of color.

“I saw your job posting. Your boss told me to report here today.”

“Manager Zhou already told me.” Gu Huaiwei took his recommendation form. “Your name is…?”

He replied, “Lin She.”

What a strange name.

Gu Huaiwei asked, “What did the boss say to you?”

“Manager Zhou said my job is to follow your instructions.”

So easy? She couldn’t help but feel there was something being hidden.

Gu Huaiwei was cautious by nature. She looked up to study Lin She’s expression, but his face didn’t change at all, not even a twitch at the corner of his eyes. She couldn’t tell if he was lying.

“Nothing else?”

“Nothing else.”

Gu Huaiwei looked down at the recommendation form. Her slender fingers brushed over the signature in the recommender’s column. The ink was still wet, staining her fingertips-it seemed to have been signed just moments ago.

She squinted at it for a long time, until her eyes hurt, but still couldn’t make out the wild, scrawled signature.

The boss’s signature was like a doctor’s prescription-completely illegible.

She kept reading.

In the salary section, it only said: Meals and accommodation included, water, electricity, and air all free.

In short, not a single cent.

Gu Huaiwei secretly decided that from now on, she’d call the boss “Skinflint Zhou.”

“Since you’re here to work, I’ll give you your first task.”

Gu Huaiwei set the recommendation form aside, took out some white paper and colored pens from the cabinet, stuffed them into Lin She’s arms, and lifted her chin. “Here, as you can see, business at our hotel is pretty slow right now.

We need to make some flyers to attract new customers. Do you know how to do design? Make a sample flyer for me first.”

“Can’t I use a computer?”

“You can…” Gu Huaiwei scratched her head awkwardly. This man looked like an old-fashioned type, but his thinking was surprisingly flexible.

Unfortunately, Gu Huaiwei was flat broke.

She spread her hands, clearly ready to give up.

“The hotel’s computer is on a local network. It can only record business data, and can’t download new software. I live paycheck to paycheck, and lately I’m so broke I don’t even have enough to buy a new office computer.”

“It’s fine, I brought my laptop.” Lin She, as if performing a magic trick, produced a silver laptop, then seemed to remember something unimportant. “Oh, Manager Zhou asked me to tell you: The hotel operates under the Last-place Elimination System. You need to bring the shop’s revenue up to 10,000 Gold Coins and complete a shop upgrade within a month, or you’ll be fired.”

Gu Huaiwei frowned slightly.

Lin She seemed to notice her unease. His eyes narrowed to slits, and he patted her shoulder, sounding rather cheerful. “Don’t worry, we’re in the same boat. I’ll help you.”