Ch 145: Guide to Running a Shop in Another World II

Xu Zhengrong and Ren You rode patrol motorcycles to the North District DIY Studio in the morning, each with a back seat for passengers.

On the way back, Xu Zhengrong carried the now-conscious Du Xiao, while Lu Yao rode on Ren You’s motorcycle.

The patrol motorcycles departed the DIY Studio, traveling along the street.

As evening approached, the streets grew livelier. Neon signs along both sides of the road flickered to life, their high-saturation, glaring beams blending with the golden hues of sunset, making the streets noisy and oppressive.

The North District was riddled with narrow alleys shared by pedestrians and vehicles. The patrol motorcycles weaved their way carefully, stopping frequently to avoid pedestrians, taking a long time to exit the crowded streets and enter the quiet, deserted circular path.

Ren You wiped sweat from his forehead with one hand and let out a long sigh of relief. “Only the North District is still this bustling.”

The section of the road they were on was flanked by red barricades. Apart from them, there were no other vehicles or pedestrians in sight.

With her keen hearing, Lu Yao caught Ren You’s remark through the engine’s roar and asked, “I’ve been to the East District once. It was desolate at night. Is the West District the same?”

Ren You’s back stiffened for a moment before quickly relaxing. He tilted his head slightly and replied, “Because of the committee building and the church, the East and West Districts haven’t been lively for a long time.”

To the visitors of Ghost Street, both the Street Committee and the church were seen as extensions of Him. People instinctively stayed away.

All living beings have an innate drive to seek benefit and avoid harm. Lu Yao had speculated that the East District’s desolation was linked to the Street Committee, and now it seemed confirmed.

Lu Yao continued, “Is the South District the same as the East and West?”

Ren You fell silent for a moment. After about ten seconds, he turned his head slightly and lowered his voice. “The South District used to be somewhat lively. About a month ago, something happened there that angered Him, leading to divine punishment. Many people died, and now it’s practically a ghost town.”

Lu Yao wanted to probe further, but Ren You shook his head. “Everyone involved in that incident is gone. No one knows the specifics. It’s best not to ask.”

Lu Yao lowered her gaze and chose not to press further.

The patrol motorcycles soon reached a slightly broader road. Red beams of light rippled like waves from above, sweeping over them repeatedly.

The light caused no pain, but Lu Yao felt an unsettling sensation, as though being watched.

Seeming to anticipate her curiosity, Ren You explained preemptively, “This road is a dedicated passage for Ghost Street staff, connecting the four districts and ensuring swift movement. See those bridges? That’s the Center City. The red purification beams emanate from there, covering this entire area. Daily exposure to these beams significantly reduces the risk of losing oneself.”

At regular intervals, the dedicated passage branched into narrow red bridges that twisted and turned toward what Ren You called the Center City.

Center City radiated a dazzling golden light, almost too blinding to look at.

Lu Yao squinted, trying to make out its details, but the brightness forced her to close her eyes. “Have you ever been to Center City?”

Ren You gave a wry smile and shook his head. “Center City is a restricted zone. You see all those entrances and bridges? No one has ever crossed them.”

An inaccessible restricted zone—it felt like a treasure chest hiding a monumental secret.

Lu Yao mentally marked Center City as a priority target.

As they exited the Center City’s perimeter, the motorcycles returned to the deserted circular path and reached the West District church in under a minute.

Lu Yao dismounted and looked up at the opulent church, its grandeur almost overwhelming.

The towering four-story structure, designed in a Western classical style, had soft ivory walls and a Capri blue dome with pointed spires. Translated on hololonovels. A massive, grotesque statue stood at the main entrance, flanked by two decorative hot springs. The sheer scale and luxury surpassed even the Eastern District’s committee building.

Xu Zhengrong led Lu Yao up the marble steps into the grand hall, through the long, quiet atrium, and up one floor before stopping at the Director’s office.

The office door was open. Qin Qiuming looked up, saw Xu Zhengrong and Lu Yao, and rose to greet them.

Lu Yao didn’t see Jiang Lin. After exchanging a few polite words with Qin Qiuming, she got straight to the point: “Where’s Jiang Lin?”

Qin Qiuming paused, leaning back into his chair. “Jiang Lin went on patrol with the team this afternoon. He hasn’t returned yet.”

Lu Yao tilted her head and glanced at Xu Zhengrong.

Xu Zhengrong lowered his gaze, avoiding Lu Yao’s eyes.

The church had finally encountered someone like Jiang Lin and was unwilling to let him go. However, they also didn’t want to offend the shopkeeper. After coordinating with Director Qin, Xu Zhengrong and Qin Qiuming had devised a delaying tactic: invite the shopkeeper to the church and have Director Qin convince her to give up on Jiang Lin.

Lu Yao had encountered far too many people in her time. With just a glance at their demeanor, she understood their intentions. She stood up and said, “If you never intended to let Jiang Lin go, you could’ve just told me directly. There was no need to waste my time.”

Qin Qiuming, caught off guard by her directness, awkwardly stood up. “It’s a misunderstanding, really. Let’s wait for Jiang Lin to return…”

Before Lu Yao could interrupt, a security officer appeared at the doorway, gasping for breath and looking distressed. “Director, something’s happened in the quiet room!”

Qin Qiuming’s expression darkened. He glanced at Lu Yao and Xu Zhengrong, then tried to steady himself. “What’s the situation?”

The security officer reported, “When Ren You came back earlier and said Du Xiao had regained consciousness, we prepared to take her to the quiet room for one more day of observation. But as soon as we opened the door, several tentacles reached out. Ren You, Du Xiao, and the guard on duty were all pulled inside!”

Qin Qiuming’s face turned ashen, and he nearly collapsed into his chair.

The quiet room had appeared unexpectedly in the church’s first-floor corridor two to three months ago, possessing a unique ability to either suppress or accelerate the progression of someone’s transformation.

They had hoped to use the room for their advantage, but now it seemed like it might have been a trap laid by Him all along.

Hearing that Ren You was involved, Xu Zhengrong’s face turned pale. Without waiting for orders, he rushed out.

As one of the longest-surviving members of the church’s staff, Xu Zhengrong had witnessed countless colleagues crumble into madness, optimistic coworkers succumb to transformation, and ordinary people swallowed whole by mutants in an instant. He had himself narrowly escaped death on multiple occasions.

From the first day he met Ren You, Xu Zhengrong had a nagging feeling: This guy won’t survive long.

Unlike ordinary people, security officers frequently interacted with mutants, increasing their risk of transformation. Ren You, however, had shown up on his first day of work brimming with enthusiasm, like a school kid looking forward to a field trip, completely unaware of the dangers of his job.

The saying goes, It’s often the skilled swimmers who drown. Similarly, on Ghost Street, it’s those unafraid of death who are the likeliest to die.

In his heart, Xu Zhengrong quietly made a decision: Let this be the time.

This time, I’ll be the sacrifice.

By the time Lu Yao followed Qin Qiuming to the end of the first-floor corridor, a dozen security officers had formed two defensive lines, raising their shields to fend off the massive tentacles occasionally lashing out from the quiet room.

The officers at the front line informed Qin Qiuming that Xu Zhengrong had been pulled into the room.

One of the tentacles had originally grabbed a young security officer in the front row. The rookie had been so terrified that he started crying.

Xu Zhengrong had rushed over, hacking off the tentacle with a fruit knife to rescue the rookie, only to be seized by two tentacles himself and dragged inside.

Qin Qiuming frowned, his face shifting through a range of emotions before he finally steadied himself and asked in a low voice, “A fruit knife can sever His hand?”

The reporting security officer was equally puzzled. “I don’t understand either.”

A security officer in the back row added, “That knife was unusually bright, definitely not something from Ghost Street.”

The reporting officer racked his brain to recall the details. “Right, the knife handle had a silver circular mark, and there seemed to be a word in the center.”

The officer in the back followed up, “It looked like the word ‘Yao.'”

As soon as he finished speaking, a deafening crash resounded.

The door of the quiet room shattered, and dozens of tentacles, each lined with golden vertical pupils, extended simultaneously from the room. A creaking sound followed, as if the wall between the corridor and the quiet room was about to collapse at any moment.

The security officers in the hallway were paralyzed with fear. Their legs wobbled, their grips on their shields faltered, and terror swept over them more violently than their instinctive urge to flee.

An awakened vessel—they stood no chance of resisting.

But the anticipated ferocious attack didn’t come. Instead, a golden barrier covered with strange symbols materialized in front of them. The thick tentacles slammed heavily against the barrier, producing dull thuds, but failed to penetrate the fragile-looking glasslike shield.

Qin Qiuming and the security officers held their breath, their faces a mixture of shock and confusion.

Lu Yao stood with her left arm covered in faint golden totems, her right hand gripping the Regulation Rod. She pressed against the protective barrier, step by step pushing the monster’s tentacles back into the quiet room.

“Lu Yao?” A familiar voice, tinged with strangeness, suddenly spoke.

Lu Yao turned around. The security officers stared at her in a daze, their eyes fixed, clearly unaware of the voice she had just heard.

The voice came again, this time filled with incredulity and joy. “You really came to save me!”

The voice was in her head!

The Dream Fulfillment System had been gone so long that Lu Yao had nearly forgotten what it felt like to have a little entity babbling and fretting in her mind. But this voice was different—there was a sobbing undertone, a far cry from its former snarky and arrogant tone. For a moment, she barely recognized it.

Lu Yao turned away, bowing her head to hide her expression, and spoke calmly to the system. “Where are you?”

Suddenly, a massive tentacle shot out from the quiet room, coiling around Lu Yao’s waist and yanking her inside with lightning speed.

At the same time, the system’s voice echoed urgently in her mind:

[I was tricked! I tried to come back to you, but I failed. He is about to notice me. Don’t say anything, just listen to me. He claims to be omniscient and omnipotent, but the knowledge and experience He has gained are far less than yours. After all, you’ve traversed so many worlds. You might be the only one in this world capable of defeating Him. But He has complete control of this world. If He discovers how unique you are, He will do whatever it takes to possess you. You would become His perfect vessel. You must stay hidden and avoid drawing attention. Don’t use phones or the internet in this world; He will detect you. This room is about to disappear. Ghost Street is just… Don’t go near the… ray zone… The true exit is at… I’m waiting for you…]

Lu Yao: “…”

The first time Lu Yao heard that the quiet room had appeared two or three months ago as a “special space,” she had secretly speculated that the timing was suspiciously convenient, coinciding precisely with the disappearance of the Dream Fulfillment System.

Her decision to visit the church was, first, to discuss Jiang Lin, and second, to take the opportunity to inspect the quiet room.

When the security officer reported that the quiet room was in trouble, she had followed without hesitation.

Her intuition had proven correct—the System had indeed left clues.

Unfortunately, the final few words had been cut off, leaving her without the critical information she needed most at this stage.

Inside the quiet room, rows of cylindrical transparent pods lined the walls, each containing slumbering, semi-transformed individuals.

Only the pod in the far corner was broken. The nearly fully-mutated golden octopus shrank back into the corner, looking like a boneless heap of rotting flesh. Its large, drooping head and gleaming golden eyes were fixed firmly on Lu Yao. Its tentacles wrapped around several people—Ren You, Du Xiao, Xu Zhengrong, and the gatekeeper.

Lu Yao took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She raised the Regulation Rod, ready to deal with the crisis at hand before analyzing the System’s cryptic message.

A few seconds passed, and her expression froze. She slowly lowered her weapon.

For reasons unknown, the golden octopus’s tentacle edges began to froth with a fleshy pink foam that rapidly expanded. In less than half a minute, the grotesque creature swelled like a balloon and then, with a loud “pop,” exploded into fragments.

A system screen abruptly appeared in front of Lu Yao, displaying a single, soundless line:

[Leave no one who has witnessed your abilities.]

The System’s sudden reappearance and disappearance was immediately followed by a startling transformation. The walls of the quiet room began to peel, shedding tiny, fingernail-sized blue diamond-shaped patterns that seemed like physicalized data fragments. Bit by bit, these fragments flaked away to reveal wallpaper adorned with pale gold designs beneath.

To Lu Yao’s eyes, this was a clear sign: the Dream Fulfillment System’s special subspace was being dismantled, and the room was reverting to its original state.

Along with this shift, the quiet room’s functionality ceased to exist entirely.

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