Dimensional Store: Welcome to the Apocalypse Apartment - chapter 69

Gu Huaiwei sat by the electric heater, eating eight-treasure porridge, without even lifting her eyelids.

“Do you believe what she said?”

In this world, killing was an utterly commonplace affair.

Karl hesitated for a moment and said, “Whether I believe it or not doesn’t matter. What matters is, I should thank her. Because of her, my business has been better lately.”

Recently, more people had come to Karl to buy guns.

Because winter had come to the Wasteland.

Wanderers didn’t dare to go out casually; they needed more weapons to protect themselves.

Gu Huaiwei scooped up a spoonful of sweet, nourishing eight-treasure porridge, put it in her mouth, then licked the spoon and asked, “Karl, since you’re selling guns to outsiders in my shop, shouldn’t you pay me an extra venue fee?”

“Huh?” Karl’s expression froze. “Wait, why did the topic take such a sharp turn?”

Weren’t they just talking about that mysterious woman? Weren’t they discussing the murder case?

How did it suddenly become about charging venue fees?

Karl realized that Gu Huaiwei was the type who could find a way to charge for anything. Her lifelong goal seemed to be putting the Gold Coins from other people’s pockets into her own.

He pitied himself, running back and forth to Black Tower Fortress, working hard to sell guns, wearing out his tongue pitching to customers, and only just saving up a little. Now, Gu Huaiwei wanted to charge him a venue fee as well.

He felt bitter inside!

Karl thought he should appear less in front of Gu Huaiwei next time, to avoid her coming up with new ways to charge him.

“Miss Gu, your business is so big, can’t you just ignore my meager earnings?”

Seeing him instinctively clutch his wallet, all his thoughts written plainly on his face, Gu Huaiwei stirred her porridge with the spoon and smiled. “Fine, then I won’t charge you.”

“Even if I did, it would be cheap-” Karl was a beat slow to react. “Wait, did you just say it’s fine not to charge?”

Why was she so easy to talk to?

He had prepared a whole string of complaints in his mind that he hadn’t even voiced yet.

“Eh? Aren’t you happy if I don’t charge you?” Gu Huaiwei looked at him, changing her attitude again. “Or should I charge you after all?”

“No!” Karl shot to his feet. He took a step forward, his solid abdomen accidentally bumping into the edge of the front desk, but he couldn’t care about the pain. “I’m happy! Miss Gu, I really think it’s better not to charge.”

Gu Huaiwei pretended not to notice his little scheme and deliberately said the opposite, “Seeing how gloomy you looked just now, I thought you weren’t happy.”

“No, no, I’m very happy.” Karl forced a smile as awkward as when he presented the banner.

He even added a few particularly awkward fake laughs.

Then, Karl found a lousy excuse about having diarrhea and quickly fled from Gu Huaiwei, in case she suddenly came up with some new idea to torment his wallet.

Watching Karl’s retreating, panicked back, Gu Huaiwei lowered her head, looked at the third of the eight-treasure porridge left in the can, tossed the plastic spoon in, and laughed happily.

Whenever Gu Huaiwei had free time, she got a little mischievous.

Teasing honest people was quite fun.

“You’re very happy?” Lin She, as always, appeared out of nowhere. He silently showed up at a diagonal behind Gu Huaiwei. Outside, it was eternal night; the hotel lobby was lit only by lamps. Lin She liked to stand in the shadows, making his whole presence seem even damper and colder.

“What?” Gu Huaiwei quickly hid her smile and started to play dumb.
“You were just laughing.”

Gu Huaiwei replied absentmindedly, “Mm, I’m a pretty cheerful and optimistic person. Did you come to see me for something?”

“Winter is coming. I’ll be sleeping longer. If you knock on my door and I don’t respond, you can come into my room.”

Lin She handed Gu Huaiwei a key to the library.

Gu Huaiwei wasn’t much of a reader. After letting Lin She move into the library, she fully respected his private space and had never set foot in the library since.

“No need. There aren’t many new guests in winter, and there isn’t much for you to do. If you have time lately, just upload those promotional ads to all the websites in the Underground City.

Hmm… The Oasis Hotel app also needs some optimization and maintenance. I want to make an electronic membership card. Do you think you can do that?”

None of these were urgent tasks.

“I can,” Lin She nodded, noting down the specific tasks and telling Gu Huaiwei how much time he’d need. His attitude toward work was very earnest.

Gu Huaiwei put the key in her pocket.

Lin She added, “The roads are very dark in winter. While I’m resting, don’t leave the hotel with anyone else, and don’t let any new employees in.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t keep too many idle people around,” Gu Huaiwei replied. The current staff was enough, and she had no plans to hire anyone new.

Lin She was worried that he’d wake up to find new faces in the hotel.

He looked out the glass window at the white ash drifting endlessly from the sky.

The ash looked like the residue of burned industrial waste, or as if the land itself was slowly burning and decaying, finally turning into endless dust that fell silently.

Deathly stillness, pallor…

It reminded Lin She of an annoying person who liked this kind of weather.

On Sunday, Gu Huaiwei returned to the Real World. Mu Lingxi had finished her coursework for the first half of the semester, and Gu Huaiwei went out to sing with her to celebrate.

The moon hid behind thick clouds, its silvery glow concealed.

On the way back to the apartment, Mu Lingxi held Gu Huaiwei’s arm and told her that she’d recently been confessed to by a senior who was skilled in hacking.

The two of them were chatting and laughing.

But after entering the apartment complex, Gu Huaiwei felt a strong sense of being watched.

Because the streetlights were under repair, the road was dim. Something seemed to be in the bushes nearby; the leaves rustled, as if blown by the wind, or as if something was hiding inside.

Mu Lingxi was still talking about the senior, when Gu Huaiwei suddenly gripped her wrist tightly.

“What’s wrong?” Mu Lingxi paused, alert.

Gu Huaiwei frowned slightly, lowering her voice, “I think someone’s there.”

“Huh? Where?” Mu Lingxi immediately tensed, her eyes scanning nervously.

Gu Huaiwei quietly drew her dagger, whispering, “Stay right here. Don’t move. I’ll go check.”

She held her breath, tiptoed lightly, and moved toward the bushes not far away.

The bushes rustled again.

Gu Huaiwei parted the thick foliage. Just as she was about to act, a figure scrambled out of the bushes in a panic.

“Wait… It’s me!” The person looked terrified, golden hair messy and covered in leaves, with dirt and grass clinging to their pant legs.”}