Chapter 8

Author's note:

None.

Chapter 8

Su Cheng took the hair dryer from the cabinet beneath the mirror and sat at the head of the bed to dry her hair.

The hair dryer whirred beside her ears. The room was comfortable and peaceful, leaving Su Cheng feeling utterly relaxed, as though she had returned to the real world, to her days staying in hotels.

After drying her hair, Su Cheng touched its uneven lengths. She hadn't expected to come back from a dungeon with a new hairstyle. "Once I find some scissors, I might as well cut it all short."

"Next, I'll sort everything out."

"Why is there a calendar on the wall now?"

Su Cheng looked at the calendar above the television: year 0, month 0, day 5, Friday.

"Could it be counting from when I entered the apartment? The apartment's time is synchronized with the dungeon, so it's been exactly five days..."

Su Cheng couldn't think of any other way the calendar might be counting.

Her gaze fell on the pile on the floor, and she first unwrapped a chocolate and popped it into her mouth.

The shovel was a little dirty, so she put it in a corner of the bathroom.

She took stock of the food she had brought back in her two storage slots: 30 small bread rolls, 24 chocolates in two boxes, 10 packets of biscuits, and six 550 ml bottles of mineral water.

She stuffed it all into the lower cupboard of the desk and put the medicine she had brought back in the upper drawer.

After taking out one pack of toilet paper, she stuffed the remaining pack and a half into the wardrobe for now.

After drinking half a bottle of water and eating a packet of biscuits, Su Cheng smacked her lips. "I want a nice hot feast... Sigh."

Su Cheng lay on the sofa and opened her phone.

There was an unread message in the apartment group.

Wednesday

[Group owner] The owners of 1203, 1207, and 1213 failed to complete their dungeon missions and have perished. The vacant apartments will be bound to new owners.

Thursday

[Group owner] The owners of 1219, 1222, 1226, 1227, 1240, and 1244 failed to complete their dungeon missions and have perished. The vacant apartments will be bound to new owners.

She checked the owners' group without the group owner. There weren't many unread messages from the past five days. Most people were either inactive like Su Cheng or still in dungeons.

Scrolling up, she found that most messages came from people who had returned from their first dungeon. Over the past two days, there were no longer any messages about not having entered a dungeon yet.

After all, there was no food in the apartments. Newcomers had no points, and without entering a dungeon, they would have nothing to eat or drink and wouldn't last more than a few days.

[49: I'm back from my dungeon. Extreme cold. I nearly froze to death, and I only got 200 points. The reward wasn't worth the effort!]

[01: You need a membership to enter the supermarket. It cost me 30 points! How many points do we even get from one dungeon? The apartment is forcing us into dungeons!]

[01: Everything in the supermarket is expensive too. And there's still the 1,000 for utilities every month... There just aren't enough points to spend.]

[25: My dungeon had acid rain. Not many points, but I was lucky and completed the mission by hiding.]

[43: Maybe someday I won't be able to take it anymore, and I'll get some sleeping pills and kill myself. I don't want to struggle to survive and run for my life in dungeons...]

As Su Cheng scrolled through the chat history, she remembered she hadn't added Yan Yu yet and searched for her name under Add Friend.

Several Yan Yu accounts from different apartments appeared.

Su Cheng added Zone D 3654 after the name, leaving only one Yan Yu account.

She sent a friend request.

I'm Su Cheng.

A minute later, the request was accepted.

[Yan Yu]: When are you planning to enter another dungeon?

[Su Cheng]: I haven't decided yet. What about you?

[Yan Yu]: Tomorrow.

[Su Cheng]: You're pushing that hard? Only resting for one night?

[Yan Yu]: My utility bill is due soon, and I bought some things too. I don't have enough points. I'm planning to enter a special dungeon this time.

Special dungeon...

[Su Cheng]: Good luck!

[Yan Yu]: You too.

Su Cheng sincerely hoped Yan Yu could complete the dungeon smoothly and return to the apartment. But she truly hadn't expected Yan Yu to push herself so hard, entering another dungeon right after finishing one without giving herself time to catch her breath.

Still, it also showed just how hard the apartment's prices were pushing people.

Speaking of prices, Su Cheng put down her phone. "Time to check out the supermarket."

Su Cheng had no change of clothes, so she could only go out wrapped in a bathrobe.

The elevator lobby happened to be empty, and elevators ① and ② were unoccupied.

Su Cheng entered elevator ② and pressed the button for basement level one.

The elevator descended.

Su Cheng didn't like riding this elevator. It always left her feeling stifled.

Perhaps it was because her memories of the dungeon weren't pleasant. The elevator was the passage into dungeons, making even the act of riding it unpleasant by association.

"Ding~"

The elevator doors opened.

A medium-sized supermarket came into view.

Its neon sign prominently displayed the words: Apartment Supermarket.

Besides the supermarket, basement level one also served as a parking lot. Su Cheng saw many vehicles parked around the supermarket.

There were bicycles, electric bikes, and cars, all parked in separate sections.

Su Cheng pushed open the supermarket door, and a sensor sounded, "Welcome~"

A line of people waited to check out. There was only one female cashier wearing black-framed glasses. A heart-shaped hair clip adorned her fluffy curls, and she looked about twenty.

Several people in line were wrapped in bathrobes like Su Cheng. Her arrival attracted little attention; everyone was occupied with their own thoughts.

Their expressions were similar, though, all worried to varying degrees.

A notice was posted on the wall beside the entrance.

[Shopping guidelines:

1. The Apartment Supermarket welcomes every member, but will not open its doors to owners without points.

2. Owners entering the supermarket for the first time must purchase membership at checkout. Standard VIP membership: 30 points. Premium VVIP membership: 300 points. Super Black Diamond SVVIP membership: 3,000 points.

3. To rent vehicles or purchase access cards, please visit the front desk.

4. Items in the supermarket are divided into supermarket exclusives and ordinary items. Different items are displayed in separate sections. To help owners quickly find what they need, please first consult the simplified supermarket layout below.

The supermarket layout was drawn very simply, divided into four main sections: food, daily necessities, medicine, and weapons, located in the upper left, lower left, upper right, and lower right respectively.

Blue symbols also marked the locations of search terminals in each section on the map.

Shopping baskets were stacked beneath the notice.

Su Cheng picked up a basket and headed toward the medicine section first. Medicine and weapons were in the same direction, and she planned to look at those sections first.

Like those in the real world, the supermarket shelves were packed with goods. A single glance was enough to dazzle her.

When she reached the medicine section, conspicuous yellow signs marked the shelves holding supermarket-exclusive medicines.

Su Cheng found that ordinary medicines were sold in boxed bundles, with descriptions and prices on their labels.

[Common medicine bundle-basic edition: contains one box each of ordinary cold medicine, fever reducers, anti-inflammatory medicine, and antidiarrheal medicine. Price: 200 points.]

[Common medicine bundle-upgraded edition: contains one box each of ordinary cold medicine, fever reducers, anti-inflammatory medicine, antidiarrheal medicine, antibiotics, allergy medicine, liniment, vitamins, and adhesive bandages. Price: 500 points.]

Besides those, items such as eye drops and ear drops cost between 30 and 50 points.

Emergency medicines such as adrenaline injections and painkiller injections, along with the insulin and vaccines in the refrigerator, were more expensive, costing between 500 and 800.

In short, every kind of medicine was available, but the prices were definitely higher than market prices.

Su Cheng looked around before finally turning her gaze to the supermarket-exclusive shelves.

She immediately spotted the white spray bottle Yan Yu had used on her before.

[All-purpose spray (30 ml): most effective for bruises, burns, scalds, and sprains. Avoid direct contact with tissue and mucous membranes. Price: 100 points.]

Su Cheng clicked her tongue. Such a tiny bottle cost 100 points?

She looked at the other items. None were cheap.

[Constitution supplement (5 ml × 7 vials): boosts immunity. Significant results can be seen after one month of continued use. Price: 150 points.]

[Muscle-building supplement (5 ml × 7 vials): increases muscle strength. Significant results can be seen after one month of continued use combined with exercise. Price: 150 points.]

[Energy supplement (5 ml × 3): relieves physical fatigue to a certain degree. Do not use repeatedly within a short period. Price: 100 points.]

[Nutritional supplement (5 ml × 9): vanilla flavor. Specially formulated for owners suffering from malnutrition or anemia. Price: 270 points.]

[Emergency injection: stabilizes vital signs when the body is in critical condition. Repeated use within a short period has no cumulative effect. Price: 800 points.]

Su Cheng kept looking around, but her basket remained empty.

It wasn't that she wasn't picky, but that she couldn't bear to spend the points.

"No wonder everyone says the supermarket is expensive! Why does everything cost hundreds of points? Do points grow on trees...?"

Remembering Yan Yu's warning, Su Cheng still picked up a bottle of spray and a box of constitution supplements.

Su Cheng really wanted the other kinds of supplements, especially the emergency injection, but she couldn't afford them... This was only the medicine section, and she had to make her mere 400 points last.

Su Cheng gave a wry smile. "Sigh... No wonder Yan Yu is pushing herself so hard. There really aren't enough points."

Sighing, Su Cheng turned and walked toward the weapons section.

The weapons section didn't disappoint her.

Daggers, machetes, axes, chainsaws, water hammers, bows and crossbows, handguns, long guns... It had everything.

Though she had braced herself, the prices on the labels still startled Su Cheng.

"Seriously... This dagger actually costs 100 points? Isn't it just an ordinary dagger?"

"A machete costs 300 points, an axe 500... Bows and crossbows cost 800..."

There was no most expensive, only more expensive!

And these were only the ordinary shelves.

The weapons on the yellow-signed shelves beside them had an entirely different look and feel, beyond reality and far more high-tech.

Every item was packaged in a transparent box.

[Laser gun: powerful enough to penetrate a wall. Limited uses. Please use with care to avoid injuring yourself. On sale!!! Price: 2,000 points.]

[Poison needle ring: conceals poisoned needles capable of paralyzing enemies and rendering them unconscious. Antidote included. Price: 1,000 points.]

[Storage Card: increases storage capacity upon leaving a dungeon by +2 slots. On sale!!! Price: 100 points.]