Dimensional Store: Welcome to the Apocalypse Apartment - Chapter 9

Gu Huaiwei dragged the cart and wiped the thin layer of sweat from her forehead.

On top of it sat a five-liter oxygen tank, along with two five-kilogram barrels of mineral water.

Xiao Youqi opened the door. When he saw these items, a glint flashed through his gray eyes. “Please come in, Miss Gu.”

He helped Gu Huaiwei pull the cart into the room.

“This is the five-liter oxygen tank, and ten kilograms of fresh water.”

“You have to guarantee that these things won’t disappear once I take them outside.” Xiao Youqi still clearly remembered last time, when he took some of the free air from the hotel. As soon as he stepped outside, he nearly suffocated to death.

That kind of difficulty breathing, the pain of his lungs being squeezed from lack of air, every cell in his body starved of oxygen-he never wanted to experience that again.

Gu Huaiwei glanced at him. “Paid goods are, of course, more reliable than free ones.”

Xiao Youqi stroked the iron canister of the oxygen tank, cherishing it. “If these things work normally outside, I’ll want more.”

“Sure, but I’ll have to raise the price.”

Xiao Youqi frowned. “How much?”

Each barrel of mineral water was eight yuan, with delivery being a bit more expensive.

Each oxygen tank was two thousand, with a high cost price.

“Mineral water is one Gold Coin per barrel, each barrel is five liters.

Oxygen tank, ten Gold Coins per tank…”

“The price for fresh water is reasonable, but the oxygen is too expensive.” Xiao Youqi cut her off. “In the Underground City, oxygen is just one Gold Coin per can. With a respirator, one can lasts seven days.”

“Mm, that’s why I mainly sell water here.” In order to cut costs and maximize profit, Gu Huaiwei decided to only sell oxygen tanks to people who needed them for short-term emergencies.

As for those who could make it back to the Underground City on the oxygen they already had, there was no need for them to buy from her.

Xiao Youqi didn’t want to give up on the oxygen business and tried to persuade her, “All the air here is free anyway. Why not lower the price a bit? That way, we both make money.”

Gu Huaiwei refused flatly. “No, I have to consider my procurement costs.”

Xiao Youqi couldn’t say much more.

“I’ll need ten more barrels of fresh water. I’ll pay you in three days. Prepare the goods first.”

“Alright.”

“Miss Gu…” Xiao Youqi hesitated. He shouldn’t meddle, but for the sake of their transaction, he still gave a gentle reminder. “There’s a lot of wind and sand outside. Be careful, and don’t go far alone.”

“Are you worried about me?” Gu Huaiwei smiled faintly. “Even if you say nice things, I still won’t give you a discount.”

Xiao Youqi couldn’t see through her.

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul.

But the girl in front of him wore thick glasses, and her messy bangs were a bit long. He couldn’t see her eyes, nor could he read her thoughts.

After finishing her business, Gu Huaiwei didn’t leave immediately. Instead, she stood at the end of the corridor, silently looking toward Room 301.

Ten minutes later.

Room 301 quietly opened a crack.

A girl with pink hair had two little pigtails on her head. She poked her head out and, seeing that Gu Huaiwei hadn’t left, couldn’t dodge in time.

Gu Huaiwei shot her a look, signaling her to come downstairs.

Back in the first-floor lobby.

Qian Duoduo followed, feeling a bit uneasy.

“How did you know I was eavesdropping?” Qian Duoduo dropped her act, her smile vanishing as she stared at Gu Huaiwei with a hint of fierceness.

“Just a hunch.”

Lately, Gu Huaiwei’s senses had become sharper.

On the surface, Qian Duoduo looked like a young girl.

In reality, without her Protective Suit, Gu Huaiwei could see the rough lines on the back of her hand, and the skin below her neck was like a weathered, withered tree. Except for her face, which seemed frozen in time, the rest of her body was gradually withering and decaying.
“Don’t you want to do business with me?” Gu Huaiwei extended an olive branch. “Instead of thinking about selling me to that Black Spiral Research Institute, why not be realistic and cooperate with me?”

“How do you know about the Black Spiral Research Institute!”

Qian Duoduo instantly drew her gun, pointing it at Gu Huaiwei.

The hotel alarm was triggered.

Countless infrared sniper dots targeted Qian Duoduo.

Qian Duoduo’s body went rigid.

A bead of cold sweat slid down her forehead.

She couldn’t win.

Before she could even pull the trigger, the hotel’s security robots would turn her into a sieve.

She suddenly remembered Xiao Youqi’s warning.

She hadn’t suffered a setback in too long and had become a bit blindly confident.

The hotel’s defense measures were even stronger than she had realized!

Gu Huaiwei leaned leisurely against the front desk, arms crossed. “Pointing a gun at someone is rude, you know.”

“I…” Qian Duoduo didn’t want things to escalate to extremes. Seeing she was hopelessly outmatched, she quietly put her gun away, thick-skinned and feigning ignorance. “Why don’t we talk business instead?”

“Sure, but you’ll have to show me your sincerity. Otherwise, I can’t trust you.”

Special environments breed special people.

Gu Huaiwei rather liked the residents of this world.

Ambitious, yet pragmatic.

If they can win, they think about devouring their opponent, not even spitting out the bones.

If they can’t win, they obediently play the underdog and seek other benefits.

The hotel’s alert faded.

Qian Duoduo regretted her impulsiveness, realizing she’d missed a great opportunity to buy water from Gu Huaiwei.

She lifted her chin. “I’ll prove I’m more useful than that kid Ah Qi.”

With that, she turned and ran upstairs.

In the afternoon, Lin She returned after distributing all the flyers, dusty and travel-worn.

Five minutes later, six customers walked in.

“Welcome!”

Gu Huaiwei immediately stood up to greet them.

Wonderful, finally some customers.

Lin She’s work efficiency truly deserved praise.

However, Gu Huaiwei hadn’t been happy for long before an unexpected scene unfolded before her eyes.

A tall man kicked the person with the most tattered Protective Suit in the knee.

That person howled in pain, like a cow about to be slaughtered, his knee slamming hard onto the floor, hands bracing himself.

The others stepped forward and stripped the fallen man of his Protective Suit.

“No! Ahhh! I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!” the man screamed, his mask ruthlessly torn off.

Exposed to the dust on the Protective Suit, multiple spots on his body began to fester, yet he still desperately covered his mouth, his face turning the color of pig liver, refusing to breathe.

The people beside him pried his hands away and twisted them behind his back.

The pain was too much for him to bear.

Tears and snot smeared his face as he gasped for air, mouth wide open.

Once, twice…

Fresh air rushed in, flowing down his windpipe into his lungs, without the burning, corrosive pain.

Overjoyed, he cried and laughed at the people around him, waving his arms and legs. “I’m not dead! Hahaha! The air here is really breathable… No respirator, no Protective Suit, I’m not dead! I’m still alive!”

“Bang!”

With a gunshot, the joy on the man’s face hadn’t even faded before he collapsed straight to the floor.

Blood flowed from the small bullet hole in his head, staining the lobby floor.

Murder!

Gu Huaiwei’s eyes darkened.