Dimensional Store: Welcome to the Apocalypse Apartment - chapter 40

Gu Huaiwei returned to the Oasis Hotel, where her computer had already received a new upgrade email.

[Oasis Hotel: Three-star]
[Hotel Prosperity Level: 200]
[Congratulations on completing the second phase of hotel construction and sales tasks.]
[Unlocking the next phase of sales tasks: Please achieve a turnover of one million within one year, and a hotel Prosperity Level of 500.]
[After this upgrade, you may pay to unlock the following areas: Presidential Suite, Parking Lot, Bus Stop, Outdoor Vegetation Decorations.]

Within three days, the Oasis Hotel will complete its upgrade.

She checked her account balance. After deducting the 100,000 Gold Coin upgrade fee, she still had 177,988 Gold Coins remaining.

Gu Huaiwei scrolled her mouse, her gaze sliding to the bottom of the page.

This time, three room types could be unlocked for free: Childhood Dream Paradise, Triple Room, and Family Room.

Among them, Childhood Dream Paradise was a themed room gifted after applying for the Paradise Card.

The Triple Room and Family Room were new economy accommodations added after the hotel was upgraded to Three-star, suitable for family trips and group stays.

To celebrate this upgrade, Lin She brought over the iced fruit juice that Gu Huaiwei had placed in the staff lounge, pulled open the tab, and handed it to her. “Congratulations. In just over three months, you’ve completed a sales task meant for half a year.”

Ever since Gu Huaiwei had that dream, she had thrown herself into the store with all her heart, her mind filled with performance goals, and hadn’t returned to the Real World for several weeks in a row.

“Still too slow,” Gu Huaiwei said softly, a hint of dissatisfaction showing in her eyes beneath her glasses.

Lin She was taken aback, a little surprised. “How fast do you want to go?”

“As fast as possible.” She took a light sip of the cold juice, half-joking, “If I could finish all the upgrades tomorrow, I wouldn’t mind.”

“That’s just being greedy.” Lin She shook his head with a helpless smile.

“Isn’t a little greed good?” Gu Huaiwei propped her face with one hand, tilting her head playfully at him. “Greed is the driving force behind human progress.”

Lin She was silent for a moment.

He had always despised human greed, but in Gu Huaiwei, this unabashed desire seemed so natural, so justified, as if she was meant to be this way.

Gu Huaiwei raised her can. “A toast to my greed?”

Lin She said nothing more, just picked up his juice and gently clinked his can against hers. “To the Oasis Hotel.”

With that, he tilted his head back and finished the cold juice in one go.

“Beep beep beep.” The phone’s text message alert sounded.

Because Gu Huaiwei had applied for the Paradise Card, she received a message from the boss.

Gu Huaiwei grabbed her phone and lit up the screen.

A pure black chat window popped up.

Boss: [System feedback: You have engaged in cross-plane transactions without using the hotel’s official account.]

[The Board of Shareholders will hold a public trial for your violation. The trial will take place at 8:00 AM on September 4th, in the Childhood Dream Paradise themed room at the Oasis Hotel.]

[Please attend on time. Failure to do so will result in life imprisonment.]

Sounds pretty intimidating.

“Huh? People really shouldn’t get too complacent.” Gu Huaiwei frowned slightly and tossed her can into the trash.

Stopping the transactions with Xiao Youqi was the right choice!

Gu Huaiwei felt that her sister must be watching over her from somewhere.

She began to consider all the possibilities.

Her sister’s previous private account had a turnover of 23,760,000 Gold Coins in just fourteen days.

Could it be that her sister disappeared because the Board of Shareholders discovered her violations and sentenced her to more than ten years in the public trial?

No, that can’t be right.

If her sister had been imprisoned by the Board of Shareholders, how could the Oasis Hotel have allowed Gu Huaiwei to impersonate her and take over the job?

Or perhaps, this detected violation also included the amounts from her sister’s previous actions.

Her sister hadn’t applied for the Paradise Card before, so she’d never been checked.
After Gu Huaiwei applied for the Paradise Card, her sister’s previous actions were also discovered along with her own.

If it’s a blessing, it’s not a curse; if it’s a curse, you can’t escape it.

Her sister didn’t apply for the card, yet still disappeared.

Even if Gu Huaiwei were given another chance, she would still apply for the card and then follow the lead of Paradise to investigate further.

Lin She noticed the ever-changing expression on Gu Huaiwei’s face and asked, “What happened?”

“Bad news. You might have to change colleagues,” Gu Huaiwei said, showing him the text message on her phone.

From the moment she decided to get the Paradise Card, Gu Huaiwei had already prepared herself mentally for trouble.

“It’s a public trial, huh.” Lin She stood with his back to the light, his black hair slightly drooping, his face expressionless. “If you coax them a little, they’ll let you go.”

“Do you know what a public trial is?”

“I know a bit.” Lin She’s dark green eyes glinted coldly in the backlight. “Are you scared? I can go with you and put in a good word for you.”

“I’ll go by myself.” Gu Huaiwei was afraid that bringing someone along would complicate things further. Her gaze was resolute. “Before that, I need you to tell me everything about the public trial.”

“No problem.” Lin She’s black lips curled slightly. “After all, I’m your only loyal and reliable assistant.”

Before attending the public trial, Lin She advised Gu Huaiwei to demonstrate her loyalty to the Oasis Hotel as much as possible.

So Gu Huaiwei transferred the Gold Coin Xiao Youqi had previously settled with her into the Paradise Card.

For the shortfall, Gu Huaiwei made up the difference with her salary.

The public trial was scheduled for next month.

Taking advantage of the Oasis Hotel’s three-day upgrade period, Gu Huaiwei returned to the Real World.

Because of the mysterious buyer, Gu Huaiwei invited Mu Lingxi and Sister Jin to have a meal together at a rustic restaurant downstairs from her apartment.

Sister Jin picked up a piece of country-style chicken, placed it in her bowl, and used her chopsticks to poke off the chicken skin. It had been a long time since she’d eaten at such a down-to-earth place.

“Sister Jin, how did that mysterious buyer find you?” Gu Huaiwei frowned slightly, a trace of doubt flashing in her eyes.

Sister Jin glanced at Gu Huaiwei, smiled, casually lit a cigarette, and exhaled a puff of smoke, her tone tinged with mystery. “I posted the Gold Coin you sold me in my appraisal group.

Not long after, someone messaged me privately, saying they were willing to pay a high price to buy it.”

She paused, as if recalling the scene, frowning slightly.

“Because the amount was significant, I wanted to meet them in person to talk.” Sister Jin spread her hands and shrugged helplessly. “But they were all so secretive, absolutely refused to show up, and insisted on only trading online.”

“What about the account they used to transfer the money?” Gu Huaiwei pressed, her gaze sharp, clearly wary of the origins of this transaction.

“It was a virtual account.” Sister Jin stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray, her tone tinged with disdain. “Nothing useful could be traced. Those people were even more cautious than I expected.”

“Mu Lingxi and I also encountered a mysterious person before.” Gu Huaiwei recounted the incident with the voyeur across from their apartment.

Sister Jin raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t call the police?”

Mentioning the stalker, Mu Lingxi’s face darkened, her fingers gripping her sleeve tightly. “We did, but it was useless. When the police investigated, the place was empty-no clues at all.”

Neither incident yielded any leads.

Sister Jin concluded, “You’re being watched.”

“Yeah, and not just by one group.” Gu Huaiwei nodded slightly.

Recalling all the recent oddities, her expression grew complicated, a faint sense of unease rising in her heart.

Sister Jin noticed the change in Gu Huaiwei’s expression. Her gaze darkened as she lowered her voice and asked, “Did you figure something out?”