Dimensional Store: Welcome to the Apocalypse Apartment - chapter 71

Mu Lingxi emerged from the bathroom, her hair wrapped in a dry towel and slippers on her feet.

Droplets of water fell from the ends of her hair as she casually mentioned to Gu Huaiwei that the hacker senior had invited her to travel abroad.

Mu Lingxi had a gentle appearance and an easygoing personality, attracting many admirers; she had been in three relationships before.

Moreover, before her falling out with her family, she lived in comfort and had traveled the world with her ex-boyfriends.

So, the senior inviting her to Paris wasn’t particularly unusual.

But a layover? In Southeast Asia?

Gu Huaiwei frowned. “Do you know that hacker senior’s background well?”

Mu Lingxi was drying her damp hair. “I met him through club activities. I even asked him to help investigate the mysterious buyer’s account before.”

She was referring to the time when the mysterious buyer sought Sister Jin to purchase Gold Coins using a virtual account. Mu Lingxi had asked the hacker senior for help to uncover the buyer’s identity.

Gu Huaiwei’s intuition was always sharp; she sensed danger. “I think something’s off. Try not to go on this trip abroad.”

“Mm, I have to help you pick up goods and attend club activities. I don’t have time to travel with him anyway.” Mu Lingxi smiled, not taking it seriously. “It’s strange, though. We’re just regular friends, but last month he suddenly confessed to me. It really startled me.”

Gu Huaiwei didn’t smile. Her gaze grew heavy, her mind occupied with other matters.

First, Sister Jin encountered a mysterious buyer who wanted to purchase Gu Huaiwei’s Gold Coins at several times the market price.

Then, someone set up Jiang Xingyi, forcing him to seek Gu Huaiwei to buy Gold Coins and nutritional supplements.

And now, the hacker senior who had investigated the mysterious buyer’s account suddenly confessed to Mu Lingxi.

…

All these incidents seemed independent.

But if they were connected…

It was as if someone was deliberately targeting those around Gu Huaiwei, urging her to quickly bring goods from the Other World into this one.

Who were these people?

Why were they doing this?

Gu Huaiwei shared her concerns with Mu Lingxi, telling her to be wary of the hacker senior and to inform her immediately if anything unusual happened.

Mu Lingxi immediately assured her that she would be vigilant.

These past few months, Gu Huaiwei’s transactions between the two planes had been strictly by the book. Even though the Paradise Card’s fees were exorbitant, she had never made any private deals.

She was also grateful for the Paradise Card’s plane settlement feature, which allowed her to directly convert Gold Coins into money in the Real World, sparing her the risk of selling gold.

Wasteland World.

After the arrival of the polar night in winter, the abandoned towns stood like tombstones in the darkness. Only the Oasis Hotel was lit up, like a streetlamp guiding travelers through a graveyard.

Gu Huaiwei bought new down jackets for her employees.

Qian Xia wore the red down jacket Gu Huaiwei had bought for her, watching the ash outside fall like snow through the glass.

The weather was getting colder. Besides giving them nutritional supplements, Gu Huaiwei would also invite them to eat hotpot together.

Lin She was sleeping longer and longer.

During hotpot meals, only Gu Huaiwei, Li Niang, Qian Xia, and Bai Niao were present.

The three of them were ordinary humans. Having spent time with Gu Huaiwei, they had grown familiar and, over hotpot, began to share many stories about life in the Underground City.

Li Niang spoke of her bitter days as a slave. For as long as she could remember, she had been sold by one Master after another.

The first to sell her were her parents, then each successive “husband.”

Her first man claimed to love her and promised they would always be together, but he soon died from radiation poisoning, and she was sold by his son.
The second man had violent tendencies. He would hit her during the day, then hold her and cry at night. Later, when he couldn’t pay the rent for their place in the Underground City due to a lack of Gold Coins, he sold her to cover it.

The third man was that bearded fellow. He really liked her face, and she stayed with him the longest. But after Li Niang had a daughter, Qian Xia, and as Li Niang grew old and her beauty faded, she was once again dragged back to the Slave Market.

As she spoke, Li Niang started drinking. The liquor was spicy going down, but turned bitter in her stomach.

“Shopkeeper Gu, ever since I met you, my hard days have finally ended… *hic*… Oasis Hotel is truly a good place. Even if I were to die, I’d want to die here.”

Li Niang was drunk now, her eyes hazy and cheeks flushed, completely losing her former caution. The conversation drifted from her life as a slave, to hopes for Qian Xia’s future, and finally to how good life was now…

Qian Xia seemed to be in a good mood as well. She, like her mother, was very fond of Oasis Hotel.

However, Qian Xia was a little afraid of Lin She. She thought Lin She was too gloomy, like some forest monster from a fairy tale.

Earlier, Qian Xia had asked Lin She about some matters in the shop, but Lin She completely ignored her. She thought Lin She probably disliked her.

Bai Niao continued to act like an ordinary child. He drank milk and ate sweets, even though he actually preferred spicy and stimulating food. But with Gu Huaiwei around, he restrained himself.

On Christmas Eve in the Real World, it was just an ordinary winter night in the Wasteland World. The four of them raised their glasses, the sound of clinking glass crisp and clear.

“Here’s to a better tomorrow.”

“May business at the shop flourish.”

“May… we all be safe.”

Some were happy, some were troubled.

During this time, Lu Ziyi had searched every corner of Oasis Hotel, but found nothing.

In the end, Lu Ziyi couldn’t hold on any longer.

Her face was grim, her eyes filled with exhaustion, and she was forced to come to Gu Huaiwei and negotiate.

Gu Huaiwei had been sorting out the hotel’s accounts recently, straining her eyes a bit. She had just finished putting in eye drops and, seeing Lu Ziyi arrive, quickly put on her glasses.

“I admit defeat. You can do whatever you want with my father’s body,” Lu Ziyi said hoarsely, her exquisite makeup unable to hide her fatigue as she clung to her last bit of stubbornness. “Just give me back my brother. All the vehicles at the entrance are yours. We’ll leave here and never show up in front of you again.”

Gu Huaiwei turned slightly to the side, wiping the excess eye drops with a napkin, her gaze calm as she sized up Lu Ziyi.

She had thought Lu Ziyi didn’t care.

A crazy woman who could kill her own father-would she actually care about her brother by blood?

Human emotions truly are the most complex and most ironic thing.

“After all this time, do you really think your brother could still be alive?” Gu Huaiwei’s voice was soft, yet it pierced Lu Ziyi’s heart like a sharp knife.

Lu Ziyi’s face went deathly pale in an instant. Her fingers trembled and her breathing quickened.

“You-!” she gritted her teeth, but couldn’t say anything more.

Lu Ziyi had considered this possibility, but subconsciously, she felt that Gu Huaiwei seemed too clean to be someone who would kill.

Gu Huaiwei lowered her gaze, idly fiddling with the Copper Rabbit on the table, her tone calm as if she were discussing the weather: “You tried to harm me-why would you think I’d show any mercy to you or your brother?”

Her voice was gentle, yet every word cut into Lu Ziyi’s hope like a knife peeling away skin and flesh.

“Is it just wishful thinking?” Gu Huaiwei chuckled lightly, the chill in her tone making Lu Ziyi feel lost, “Or do you think I just look like someone easy to bully?”