"Stop yelling. It's so annoying," Charlotte said, pinching her earlobe and rolling her eyes. "Don't worry about the door. The zombies can't get in."
"What? Are you living in a fairy tale? If you want to die, don't drag me with you!" Belle thought this person was simply unbelievable.
Did zombies even recognize who you are?
Leaving the door wide open was practically inviting zombies in!
She must be crazy! A crazy woman!
"Don't worry, you won't die in my shop. Bear, open the door."
Bear, standing by, walked to the door as instructed.
Belle then noticed the stuffed animal in the corner. When Bear approached to open the door, she panicked and cursed.
The bear wasn't as soft as it looked. No matter how much she struggled, she couldn't escape, and could only watch helplessly as Bear opened the door.
The zombies outside would surely pounce as soon as the door opened and bite her to death. Belle closed her eyes in despair, regretting running in here.
The heavy creak of the glass door opening was heard.
Belle felt as if she could already smell the stench...
"Hello, welcome to the vacation inn. Would you like to check in?"
Charlotte said with a mischievous smile, propping her chin up.
Belle: ???
She cautiously opened her eyes to look outside, and to her surprise, the zombies did not rush into the shop. Instead, they gathered a meter from the door, swaying aimlessly as if they had lost their target.
"This... is this your special ability?" Belle's face remained pale as she instinctively took a few steps back.
After the apocalypse, many survivors gained special abilities. She had seen various types, from controlling the elements to blending with the environment, taming beasts, manipulating plants, and even creating bubbles to protect oneself...
But she had never seen an ability like this one!
"...What kind of ability is this?" Belle, seeing that the zombies indeed could not hear or see them, collapsed onto the ground in complete exhaustion.
Charlotte tilted her head slightly. "Special ability? I guess managing a hotel counts?"
Belle's eyes widened. What kind of ability was that?
With confusion, she looked around the shop, her gaze landing on the three machines in the corner. She jumped up in surprise.
"There's... there's food?!"
Charlotte nodded.
"Can I eat it? How do I buy it?" Belle's face was almost pressed against the machines, eager to get her hands on every piece of food inside.
Who knew how long it had been since she had eaten a proper meal?
Every day was just compressed biscuits soaked in water, and even those were hard to come by.
But now, food here was actually available?!
How to buy it? Charlotte had forgotten about this aspect. As the shop owner, she didn't need points to purchase items, so she hadn't thought about it...
"Wait a moment."
She opened the mall interface, searched for a combined payment and redemption machine, and on the last page of options, selected the free version.
Charlotte pretended to bend down and placed the bulky cash register on the counter.
"Do you have any crystal nuclei?"
Belle searched her pockets and found only a level one crystal nucleus.
What could she buy with a level one crystal nucleus? The food looked expensive... She asked reluctantly, "Can I buy anything with a level one crystal nucleus?"
Charlotte smiled mysteriously and told her to insert the crystal nucleus into the small slot on the machine.
Belle followed the instructions, watching the screen closely.
Soon, the screen displayed: Level one crystal nucleus can be exchanged for 100 points. Do you wish to redeem?
Belle clicked "Yes" impatiently.
The machine spat out a card.
"Is this it?"Belle took the card and examined it. It looked just like a supermarket points card from before the apocalypse.
Charlotte walked away from the counter, curious about the prices of the food machines.
Belle selected a barbecue rice meal from the lunch machine.
[Requires 15 points. Please swipe your card.]
Belle's eyes widened in disbelief. With trembling hands, she swiped the card. In just a few seconds, a box of rice was dispensed.
"This is... incredible!"
She eagerly opened the box. The golden barbecue meat was coated in sauce, accompanied by bright-colored shredded potatoes and tender green lettuce, all served over a bed of plump rice. It made her mouth water.
Without hesitation, she opened the chopsticks and began eating.
At the first bite, she was almost moved to tears. She had forgotten how long it had been since she had eaten such delicious food. Was she dreaming? Had she gone to heaven?
No matter if she was dead or alive, she needed to fill her stomach.
Charlotte watched the 15 points from the meal transaction. The shop's business performance was finally not zero.
Seeing how much Belle enjoyed the food, she wondered if she should specialize in selling boxed meals. With only two single rooms available for rent, at 20 points per room, it would take a while to accumulate 500 points.
If she used both the lunch and breakfast machines, upgrading would be just around the corner!
With this thought, Charlotte looked at Belle with shining eyes, thinking, "You're a walking advertisement!"
As she was about to kindly offer her a glass of water, she realized the water dispenser only allowed her to drink for free; other customers had to pay one point.
Oh, so the shop was a bit of a scammer, huh?
Nice, very much to her liking.
In a friendly manner, Charlotte reminded her, "There's also a water dispenser. It only costs one point."
Belle, cheeks puffed like a hamster, nodded and went to the water dispenser. Holding her food box, she filled a glass with clear water, unable to express her emotions.
In the outside world, not only was food scarce, but even water was polluted. Major bases could only extract water from deep underground, with low pollution levels, and had it purified by special ability users before distribution.
However, there were too few purifiers, making them a protected group. The purified water was limited to 3 tons per day, and with tens of thousands in each base, it wasn't enough.
Water ability users were in high demand, often staying at the center of their teams during missions, making them envied.
Water was also sold in the bases, with a 500 ml bottle costing up to one level one crystal nucleus.
Those who couldn't afford water had to drink lower-pollution water, which gradually led to their bodies reaching a critical pollution level, eventually turning them into zombies. But that was life—just live day by day...
She never expected the water here to be so cheap...
Belle filled another glass of water, her eyes lowered, her thoughts scattered.
"Customer, would you like to stay here for the night?"
"Huh?!" Belle jumped in surprise, her heart racing, thinking her inner thoughts had been discovered. "Y-yes, how much is it?"
Tapping the table, Charlotte said casually, "20 points per night. Do you want to stay?"
You fool, did you really think I couldn't see that guilty look on your face?
Recalling the system's hint, Charlotte smiled slightly. Bring on more strong customers. She was going to make a fortune.