Chapter 71
“Next chapter waiting? Get it now for 12 coins (that’s 15¢)!”
Shen You ran to the main gate to look outside.
Floating dust gave the sky a hazy yellow tint. Unfamiliar buildings stood in ruins. Standing in the courtyard, the sense of separation between two worlds felt extremely intense.
New plane time-limited mission: Complete a transaction within 48 hours by selling the storage pouches newly updated in the procurement mall.
Rewards include: an entirely new power grid functionality, a portable storage compartment x1, and an automatic warehouse management.
If the mission was not completed within the time limit, these rewards would be forfeited.
Looking at the storage pouch description, Shen You wanted to buy one herself, as it was slightly larger than the portable storage compartment.
Then she saw the price: goodbye.
Twenty gold bars, calculated by modern standards at fifty grams each.
This was the money the shop system required. Shen You figured she would need to earn some profit from reselling, and the system also charged her fees for currency exchange.
Closing the wooden door, she returned to the courtyard and continued eating at the small antique wooden table she had set up at the entrance, using fresh chopsticks.
This place truly seemed devoid of people. After finishing her dinner quietly, she stored the remaining char siu in the refrigerator.
During her several hours of waiting idly, the phoenix crown restoration was nearing completion.
Then she ate two of the lotus pods purchased that morning at the alley entrance.
However not a single customer had appeared.
Shen You was now somewhat worried about the time-limited mission rewards slipping away, though fortunately the shop had electricity and internet.
She was currently following a video to make ice snow cold yuanzi, muttering about adding water when there was too much flour, and flour when there was too much water.
When she suddenly heard impact sounds from outside the door. It was quite loud, although the door remained completely unmoved.
She checked the surveillance, then seeing what it was, she was stunned.
Some kind of bizarre creature had struck the door once before running away.
And it was figure over two meters tall with ugly pustules. Fortunately, it left no marks on her door.
This wasn’t any major problem. She removed her gloves, switched to watching a movie, and put the peeled mung bean and glutinous rice mixture dumplings in the pot to cook.
Meanwhile, in the ruined streets of [Lan City].
The stench was overwhelming, while mutated creatures occasionally went berserk, smashing severely weathered walls, with bones scattered across the ground.
Clean water and food could no longer be found here.
Several men in blackened old clothes, hands bearing calluses, carrying weapons, and looking fierce stood among the broken walls and ruins.
Beside them lay the corpse of an alien species, its tentacles severed in two, along with a terrified man and woman.
They had come out searching for supplies, encountered this group, had everything stolen, and if they could not find food soon, they would…
The thin man looked at the blade in the big man’s hand and his neck shrank in further.
“What the hell! Up ahead, up ahead…”
A big man with a windproof face mask hanging from his chin ran back with a horrified expression. Due to extreme shock, he could barely speak coherently.
Seeing his appearance, his companions showed disdain. “What scared you like this? Your courage is too small, it’s not even dark yet.”
“No, a door appeared up ahead!”
The masked man’s expression couldn’t hide his excitement, although his companions didn’t understand. What was so remarkable about a door? Doors existed everywhere.
“The door is very clean, with a lit sign. It seems to be an antique shop called ‘Everything Store!’”
The more he spoke, the more excited he became, while his companions thought he had gone mad.
After five years of apocalypse, how could there be a brightly lit antique shop?
What kind of lunatic would open a shop here. Were they selling alien species?
Faced with his companions’ laughter, the masked man became agitated. Only after repeated assurances did the leader take him seriously.
The group followed skeptically. However after walking about two hundred meters, in what used to be Lan City’s snack street, there really was a door.
“What… what’s happening?” Someone pointed at the door, staring in shock at the shop they had not seen during their last visit.
Then came wild joy.
Such a well-preserved building was rarely seen anymore. There had to be people inside!
Anyone capable of creating a glowing shop sign had to have supplies!
One big man grabbed his weapon aggressively, preparing to break down the door. However, unexpectedly, the door opened with a simple push.
Unable to control his momentum, he was tripped by the threshold, staggered several steps, and nearly fell to his knees upon entry.
He cursed as he stood up, looking at the clean, beautiful courtyard before him.
Everyone’s eyes gleamed with greedy light.
What a wonderful place.
They had not yet discovered that after entering, one person was missing. The physically weak woman walking at the back stared blankly at the tightly closed wooden door.
She tried pushing the door but couldn’t open it.
She looked around in panic, then quickly found a place to hide and observe.
Several unkempt men were appraising Shen You, while she was equally scrutinizing those who had entered the shop.
They didn’t look like they had twenty gold bars.
The leading man, who looked like a deranged thug, had excited flesh quivering on his face as he observed the clean water and living fish in the tank, along with the automatic circulation system.
The shop even had electricity! This was clearly paradise!
It appeared only one woman was here, without even weapons. This was like a gift delivered to their doorstep.
In these times, such fair and healthy women existed only in shelters where they were pampered by others, but they could never encounter such people.
“This is a shop?”
The leader looked toward the interior with bewilderment, still afraid that it was a trap as he concealed the greed and malice in his eyes.
“What else would it be?”
Shen You’s matter-of-fact tone left the several men stunned.
Wasn’t it bizarre for an antique shop to appear in this place?
“Miss, you have water in your shop, right? We’re really desperate. After barely escaping murderous bandits, could you give us some water?”
The big man was still probing. Water was a rare resource. Normal people would not give it away.
“I do, but exchange it for gold or jewelry.” Shen You said seriously to the thug. “I’m a conscientious merchant.”
In the apocalypse, gold and jewelry were unwanted, yet at her place they could still be exchanged for supplies. How conscientious indeed.
“Are there other people in your shop?”
The big man took two steps forward, his gaze constantly probing toward the interior.
It really was an antique shop, with the scent of incense inside. Fresh fruit and fragrant taro mochi sat on the table.
There was actually such good food here! How precious fresh fruit and sweets were!
The slight worry in his heart was finally completely dispelled by the comfortable environment with food and drink before him.
As for gold and jewelry, he had none. Who would carry such things around for no reason?
At the very beginning of the apocalypse, he had robbed a gold shop, but later discovered those items could not be exchanged for supplies and were less useful than a watermelon knife, so he had discarded them.
Not only would he not pay, he intended to claim everything here for himself.
The big man’s feigned kindness disappeared, his expression becoming fierce and cold, with a skin-deep smile.
“The current world is unsafe. Miss, as a woman running a shop here, you need several strong men for protection.”
As he spoke, his eyes looked toward the food on the table, then surveyed the surroundings with the bearing of a master, about to walk into the house.
“If you’re not buying anything, get out.” Shen You’s voice turned cold.
The big man was unconcerned, while his three subordinates laughed in response, their gazes scanning Shen You’s body, while a thin man cowered, not daring to speak.
“You still haven’t grasped the situation? After finally finding such a place, how could we leave? I advise you to be sensible.”
Shen You looked at his greasy smile, as if he wanted to intimidate her. He grabbed an axe and was about to chop at her chair.
She merely smiled coldly. Then the axe passed through the chair, striking only air.
Then the troublemaking thug was sent flying by an invisible force.