Dai opened her eyes to the darkness. She looked around, only to see a raised spot nearby where a strange, twisted figure stood. The Crooked man was smiling at her and somehow reminded Dai of her worm.
"Child. Child. Can you feel the pain? Are you enjoying the pain?" The Crooked man asked.
Dai blinked at the question. Does she enjoy pain? Absolutely not!
A huge, black, furry, clawed foot appeared above Dai and stomped on her. Dai opened her mouth in a mute scream as she felt her bones shatter and then rejoin within moments.
"What now, child? Isn't that a beautiful pain?" Crooked Man asked with passion in his voice.
Dai gasped. "You old pervert..."
*****
Dai woke up after a few hours, she couldn't feel her bones anymore, which meant they were healed. She remembered the dream and also remembered how she had once said that it was worth a little pain to have her bones fixed and let limbs grow back. How naive she had been! She certainly had no intention of going through that again! She just needs to avoid breaking bones and cutting off limbs.
She lay in the soft bed, looking up at the glass ceiling. She didn't want to get up. She didn't want to deal with anything. And she certainly didn't want to deal with Teru. Couldn't she just pretend nothing had happened and just sell normally? Selling is simple.
She began to think that perhaps it would have been better if the System had never appeared and she had continued to try on her own.
The System: "..."
A window popped up in front of Dai's eyes, bringing her uncomfortably back from her daydreams to reality.
System: New Task
Description: Get out of bed.
Reward: Comfortable Fluffy slippers.
Note: Cheer up, boss. It gets better.
Dai looked at the task description. Was the System trying to encourage or bribe her? It was kind of nice. Fluffy Slippers...
Dai opened her Status window.
Name: Keeper4
Alias: Dai
Profession: Shop Owner
Cultivation: Low Realm
Life Providence: None
Power: 10/ -1
Vitality: 10/ -2
Intelligence: 12
Speed: 14/ -2
Endurance: 10/ -2
Luck: 3
Injuries: Minor vitreous damage, blood clot
Abilities:
Appraisal: E->E+
System Management: A+
She saw that her condition was better. All that was bone-related was healed, but the rest remained. Even all the minuses got better. The rest will probably have to heal naturally.
She sighed and got out of bed. And it wasn't because she wanted fluffy slippers.
System: Task Completed
Description: Get out of bed.
Reward: Comfortable Fluffy slippers. Reward placed in your inventory.
Note: Getting out of bed is the first step to new beginnings.
Dai didn't delay, opening her inventory and pulling out a pair of fluffy slippers. They were a nice pale blue, which was good, finally, the System knew what she liked. And she really didn't like the pink color. She put them on and enjoyed the pleasant feeling for a while before going to the bathroom. If she was going to deal with the emotional gibberish she needed to prepare herself. Some might find Dai heartless. She wasn't, but she couldn't feel compassion for someone who tried to kill her. She felt pity for the loss Filn must have felt. But she wasn't really good at comforting anyone.
Dai went downstairs to the shop, only to see two men sitting on the threshold. Horn and Leonid. The two were quietly discussing something, but Dai focused on the empty lasagna wrappers lying around.
Dai frowned and looked at her balance sheet. After all the spending and no earnings, her SC count had fallen to a pitiful 76. It certainly hasn't added any new SC.
She made her way over to them. "Hey." She said, frowning.
Both men looked back at her, Leonid stood up, but Horn remained seated. "Dai. How are you?" asked Leonid.
Dai's brow smoothed as she heard Leonid's concern for her.
"Most of your injuries are healed. I'll just need some rest for a while, but I'll be fine." She looked at the empty wrappers again.
"Are you eating my goods?" She mentioned.
Horn shrugged. "Hey, we're stuck here. And we were hungry."
Dai sighed and asked the System about it.
System: "I'm sorry, boss. We have no protection against theft."
Dai turned her eyes towards the ceiling, and after a moment of perhaps finding comfort there, she looked at the men again.
"Fine. Never mind." At least it hadn't taken away her Star Coins while the two took what they wanted.
She looked around. "Where is Filn?"
Leonid paused before nodding his head outward. "He's mourning."
Dai rubbed the back of her neck, not wanting to do it at all. "Shall I talk to him?" She hoped he would tell her no, but Leonid nodded.
She sighed and made her way out. She glanced at the worm, which was about as small as a calf now, but then went to find Filn.
Filn wasn't far from the shop, sitting on the ground with his head down, plucking blades of grass.
Dai walked slowly up to him, making more shuffling noises on purpose so he could hear her and not startle him. She could tell he noticed her when he moved his head a little, so she walked over to him and sat down next to him. She was silent. She didn't know how to begin. What was she supposed to say? I'm sorry, but not sorry that your murderous wife is dead?
While she was deciding and gathering the courage to say something, Filn spoke himself.
"How did this happen?"
Dai wondered what to say. Should she tell the truth? Justify herself, but hurt him more in the process?
"The plan went well. We were both almost safe, but..." She hesitated. "I wasn't fast enough. The mutant caught me. I told Teru to close the door." The lie almost stuck in her throat.
"Then things didn't go so well. Thanks to Horn, I made it. But Teru... I don't know what happened. Worm had never been this aggressive, and I certainly never thought he could do something like this. Teru wasn't exactly a small fry." She chose to lie. In the end, the only one who knew what happened was her, so the truth will never come out.
Filn remained silent and continued to cut the grass. Dai hesitantly put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I did the best I could. This... no one expected this."
Filn nodded, and Dai wished she could know what he thought. Would she want to kill the worm? She could hardly defend the creature if she was already lying. But the worm hadn't really done anything wrong. Weird, yes. But not bad.
Dai withdrew her hand and sat with him a moment longer, but no further words were spoken.
Finally, she stood up. "If you need anything, you know you can turn to me. Feel free to stay. I have a spare room you can use." She told him. Filn raised his head. "I think... I'd like to lie down." He agreed, so Dai took him back to the shop and let him use the spare room for the staff.
She walked back to the two men and put her hands on her hips. She had to start doing something and get rid of this whole bad taste of failure.
"Leonid. Come with me. I need your help getting the door in the right place. The customers are probably already wondering where we went." Leonid nodded.
Horn pointed to himself. "What about me?"
Dai glared at him. "When we place the door, you can go."
Horn glared at her. "What, no reward for saving your sorry ass?"
Dai's face twitched. "Don't worry, I'll think of something." She didn't make excuses.
Horn grinned. "That's more like it." Dai turned away from him and walked with Leonid to the door, which was still hanging in the air. Horn stopped grinning and looked behind them before looking back at the shop.
Dai watched the door above her and asked System in her head.
"What about the bat-woman? What did you do to her?"
System: "I sent her away. But she'll be back. Sending her off-planet is not in my competence now. You won't see her for a while, boss."
"How long?"
System: "About a week."
Dai longed to smack her forehead. "Then what am I supposed to do when she gets back?"
System: "Work hard, boss."
Dai could see that System had reverted to his scumbag nature.
She shook her head and turned to Leonid. "Can you get us in there?" she asked as she gestured to the door.
Leonid nodded. "No sweat." He said before grabbing Dai and before she could protest, he leaped into the air with her in his arms and through the door.
Within moments Dai was back on her feet in the ruins of her once home. She looked at the devastation and felt a little sad.
"It was quite a fight huh?" asked Leonid as he was also looking around.
Dai shook her head and headed out.
"More like wiped the floor with me. I didn't stand a chance."
Leonid followed her. "But you made it, didn't you? It's already a success."
Dai paused. "It would be a success if I could solve the whole thing. But it didn't. She'll be back. And Teru is dead. Hopefully, Filn will get over it and not get too hurt." Dai waved her hand as if trying to dismiss it all.
"Let's go. We have work to do." She said, and she and Leonid headed back to the inner circle. Dai made the Dragon Door disappear again. She was glad she didn't have to pay anything for this option. Otherwise, she would have been broke by now.
In the end, Leonid had to take Dai again anyway to get them over the inner wall together, neither of them really wanting to linger in line.
They were just walking down the main shopping street when Dai heard a call.
"Owner Dai! Owner Dai!" They both stopped and looked back for the voice.
An emissary from the Ninth Clan of the Moon Serb Clan was rushing towards them, followed by about ten other people.
"Bran. What's going on?" Dai asked him as he approached them.
"What's wrong? Owner Dai! You've disappeared! We already thought you had decided to leave. Miss Demofang had you searched for!" Envoy Bran felt relieved that he had found Dai, but he knew that this whole search had not remained a secret from the other clans. They would discover the mysterious deal and their advantage would be lost.
Dai wasn't happy about all this, but she had to act like a businesswoman.
"I'm sorry to have troubled you. My shop had to go through some changes, but if you come to the usual place in an hour, everything will be fine." She answered.
Emissary Bran patted his chest in reassurance. "Glad to hear it, owner Dai. I'll let our lady know right away." He turned to his men, who were watching the whole thing curiously. They had been tasked with looking for the mysterious shop owner but had never seen her, as only the leader Bran had been in contact with her. Most were confused and some were even disappointed. They were expecting some mysterious beauty. This isn't quite what they expected.
Dai just nodded and walked with Leonid back to his shop. Soon, she re-created the door, and Dai felt a little better for it. She just needed to get back to normal! That's the best way to forget everything. Soon, she re-created the door, and Dai felt a little better for it. She just needed to get back to normal! That's the best way to forget everything.
She looked at Leonid. "Same as usual." She said to him before entering the Shop area.
Horn looked like he hadn't moved from his spot, but Dai frowned, feeling like something was different. And yes... Horn was grinning wryly.
Dai fixed him with a look. "What did you do?"
Horn stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets before heading for the door. He shrugged. "Nothing."
Dai watched him suspiciously. "Later, dumbass." He said farewell and walked out the door.
Dai looked at the worm, who was still resting, and then checked the shop. She didn't like Horn's behavior. What had he been up to?
But no matter how much Dai looked, she couldn't figure out what Horn had done.
So she began to focus on what she had. She cleaned and restocked. She desperately needed to earn more Star Coins.
She stood behind the counter and looked at the System Window where she had the Connection options. If the wench came back in a week, she might be able to get away from her. Her spirits lifted a little. Her next goal had been determined! Shelter 1 get ready! Dai is coming!
And with her all kinds of trouble...