Dimensional Store: Welcome to the Apocalypse Apartment - chapter 74

Gu Huaiwei returned to the Real World. Mu Lingxi was not in the apartment-the window in her room was open, and there were two teacups on the dining table. When Gu Huaiwei touched them, they were still warm, so Mu Lingxi must have just left.

It was already dark outside.

Gu Huaiwei sent Mu Lingxi a message to let her know she was back.

Jiang Xingyi kept pestering Gu Huaiwei about the Gold Coin.

In a law-governed society, Gu Huaiwei told him that if he ever encountered gangsters coming to collect debts, he should call the police right away. Gambling debts are considered illegal debts, so it wouldn’t really matter if he didn’t pay them back.

Not long after Gu Huaiwei texted Mu Lingxi, she called back.

Mu Lingxi brought two pieces of bad news.

First, Sister Jin had been detained at the detention center.

Second, Jiang Xingyi was now in the hospital, having had six fingers cut off. He had a high fever and was delirious, muttering nonsense.

In fact, the second piece of news didn’t really count as bad news.

After all, they weren’t close-Gu Huaiwei didn’t care if he was injured.

But Gu Huaiwei felt that it was odd. Simply because Jiang Xingyi failed to get the Gold Coin, those people actually cut off his fingers. They didn’t seem to be just after money.

It seemed more like a threat.

The kind of threat that says: if you don’t hand over what I want, I will really hurt you.

Gu Huaiwei couldn’t get into the detention center, so she immediately entrusted a lawyer to investigate Sister Jin’s case and keep her updated.

Then, Gu Huaiwei drove to the Jiang Family’s private hospital.

At the door to the hospital room, she saw Jiang Richen sitting in the corridor with a grim look on his face. His usually immaculate suit was a little wrinkled, his legs apart, arms resting on his knees, hunched over with his head bowed. He looked on the verge of frustration.

When he saw Gu Huaiwei approaching, Jiang Richen slowly stood up. He looked at her with a complicated expression. “I thought you wouldn’t come.”

“Don’t overthink it. I’m just here to bring Mu Lingxi some late-night food,” Gu Huaiwei said, raising the egg-stuffed pancake in her hand.

“Miss Mu is in the room,” Jiang Richen said, stepping aside to let her through.

Gu Huaiwei walked into the room and saw Mu Lingxi sitting in a chair by the bed, looking a bit dazed and as if she’d been badly frightened.

Gu Huaiwei handed her the bag. “I brought you an egg-stuffed pancake. Eat it while it’s hot.”

Mu Lingxi took the late-night snack but obviously had no appetite. She only took a symbolic bite before putting it down.

Gu Huaiwei frowned. “What exactly happened? Jiang Xingyi was hurt-why were you with him?”

Mu Lingxi’s voice trembled a little. “Jiang Xingyi stopped me and begged me to speak up for him, to get some Gold Coin from you.

Just then, a group of people suddenly rushed out, tied us up, and took us to a warehouse in the suburbs.

The leader, right in front of me, chopped off six of his fingers with a kitchen knife, then threw me a phone and told me to call the police.”

The scene at the time was extremely bloody.

Mu Lingxi would never forget that the leader, a young man with a numb expression, realized Jiang Richen hadn’t brought what they wanted, and didn’t say a single extra word.

He just raised the knife and brought it down.

He cut off half of his left palm and the middle finger of his right hand.

After doing all this, the man was still calm enough to tell Mu Lingxi to call the police.

Thinking of this, Mu Lingxi showed a pained expression. “Those people didn’t even try to run away. After doing all that, they just waited there for the police to arrive.”

Gu Huaiwei was silent for a moment, then asked softly, “You weren’t hurt, were you?”

Mu Lingxi shook her head.

Gu Huaiwei quietly slipped a Gold Coin into her palm and lowered her voice, “If you ever encounter a similar threat, give them this Gold Coin. Tell them, if anything happens, they should come for me. If anything happens to you, they’ll never get what they want.”
Mu Lingxi looked into Gu Huaiwei’s eyes, nodded, and gripped the Gold Coin tightly. “Actually… the person who did it, I think I’ve seen him before by Changge’s side.”

“What?”

“That person, I think he did business with Changge before.” Mu Lingxi herself wasn’t sure; she had only helped out a few times with Gu Changge, and couldn’t confirm whether the person she’d seen before was the same one.

Jiang Xingyi lay on the bed, his face deathly pale, both hands wrapped in bandages like zongzi. The palm of his right hand was already necrotic, and the index finger on his left hand had been reattached. He was still unconscious.

There was no use standing guard here.

Gu Huaiwei was about to leave the hospital with Mu Lingxi. Just as they reached the door, she suddenly saw Jiang Yingyue approaching with a stack of medical forms in her arms.

The moment Jiang Yingyue saw Gu Huaiwei, panic instantly flashed in her eyes.

Her face flushed, tears welled up in her eyes, and then, as if she had gone mad, she started tearing at her dress.

“Gu Huaiwei!” she screamed hysterically. “If you want your sister’s things, I’ll give them all back to you! You can have whatever you want, but please, stay away from the Jiang Family! I’m begging you!”

The accusation was utterly baseless and inexplicable.

Gu Huaiwei stood where she was, calmly watching her lose control. “Miss Jiang, calm down. I’m a law-abiding citizen. I didn’t send those people.”

Jiang Richen quickly stepped forward, took off his suit jacket, and draped it over Jiang Yingyue’s shoulders.

He held Jiang Yingyue by the shoulders and said sternly, “Yingyue, calm down! The perpetrator has already confessed!”

But Jiang Yingyue couldn’t hear anything, desperately shaking her head, clutching Jiang Richen’s white shirt with both hands, almost hopelessly pointing at Gu Huaiwei.

“Brother, no! It’s her! She and her sister are definitely not ordinary orphans!

We’ve investigated them for so long. The Gu Family is clearly bankrupt, Gu Changge is missing, but there’s always some force protecting them!”

Her voice grew more and more shrill.

“We took over their company, but we can’t find a single useful piece of information in the previous transaction records! Brother, they… maybe they’re from that family!”

“Impossible.” Jiang Richen’s expression was cold.

The Xiling Family was only a legend.

No way…

Gu Huaiwei almost laughed in the midst of such grief and anger.

What family?

Her whole family was only two people, and one was already missing. With so few people, could that even be called a family?

To keep the Jiang Family from losing their minds any further, Gu Huaiwei quickly dragged Mu Lingxi away.

After the lawyer finished meeting with Sister Jin, they arranged to meet Gu Huaiwei at the law firm.

In the conference room, the lawyer told Gu Huaiwei that unless someone had really set up Sister Jin and it could be proven that she truly had no knowledge of anything the entire time, Sister Jin would not be able to escape conviction.

Gu Huaiwei told Mu Lingxi to live on campus at all times for the moment and never to go out.

She returned to her apartment alone.

She put on plastic gloves and activated the Protective Shield.

Gu Huaiwei poured the slave-controlling poison from the Wasteland World out of its sealed jar, ground it into powder, dissolved it in water, and soaked the Gold Coin in it.

According to the Slave Trader’s introduction, only a tiny bit of this poison was needed to control a slave.

As long as someone touched this Gold Coin, the poison would pass through the skin on their fingers and enter their body.

Gu Huaiwei installed a hidden camera, opened the curtains, and placed the Gold Coin in a conspicuous spot on the windowsill.

After finishing all this, Gu Huaiwei immediately hid in the upgraded Oasis Hotel.

Not long after, a new video notification popped up on her phone.

Someone had entered the apartment.