Chapter 20: The Convenience Store

“Master, box! It’s a box!”

Little stars sparkled in Lim’s eyes as she almost slipped out from under Lin Ran’s arm.

“I know it’s a box! Calm down already!”

Lin Ran pressed her back down, growing more alert.

He had just received a notification that the special enemy for the third wave was a Box Monster, and now, a box had spawned right in his dorm room.

It felt like watching a horror movie, turning around, and finding the ghost girl from the film standing behind you.

It was weirdly exciting… No, just weird.

As for the box in front of him, was it a Box Monster or a real treasure box?

Lin Ran thought of his -11 Luck stat.

Mm… The answer was obvious.

Better toss this thing out as soon as possible.

“It can’t be opened. At least not for now.”

Lin Ran shook his head, patting Lim, who was still struggling under his grip.

“You’re a monster yourself. Don’t you know you have a colleague called a Box Monster? What if this thing is a Box Monster?”

“Then what should we do?”

Lim tilted her head, her whole body going limp in disappointment.

But after Lin Ran’s warning, she felt a bit scared too.

If she had rushed up and opened the box just now, she might’ve become the Box Monster’s dinner.

No, wait… As a Slime, wouldn’t she be more like dessert…?

Then a Box Monster wouldn’t even be full after eating her!

Because of that, a vengeful idea slipped into her mind.

“I got it! Didn’t Master previously detect an Air Wall outside? Just toss it out through a Portal!”

Lim suggested seriously, proposing a terrifying method that would make her former coworkers burst in horror.

That won’t do!

What if this thing is also a capture target? Wouldn’t that be like killing your own wife with your own hands?

Still, the idea had its merits.

Lin Ran stroked his chin, a plan quickly forming in his mind.

His original goal in returning to the dorm was to get something from the convenience store, since the Portal had already been upgraded.

But who could guarantee there wasn’t an Air Wall on the other side of the Portal?

The previous toothpaste probe method definitely wouldn’t work, and the store was closed now.

It was pitch dark inside.

Sending a tube of toothpaste in, he wouldn’t be able to see what happened at all.

But a box is big! If it gets crushed, there’ll be a sound!

Perfect—use this suspicious box to probe the path.

Mm… Although there was still the risk of accidentally killing a wife.

But it was better than letting this thing stay in his dorm.

Let’s do it.

Lin Ran asked Vera to release some control threads.

As a self-disciplined puppet, she had been the core monster controlling the small puppets.

In the dream, she used these invisible threads to command the Infinite Evolving Puppets in battle.

Utilizing Vera’s ability, Lin Ran carefully wrapped the box.

Then, he activated the Portal.

Vera controlled the threads, steadily pushing the huge box into the Portal.

The box disappeared inside the Portal, but no sound of anything being crushed came from the other side.

Success!

Lin Ran felt a rush of joy.

It seemed that Air Walls really didn’t generate indoors, which greatly expanded his usable space.

There were other places next door—phone repair shops, barbershops.

Their value couldn’t compare to the convenience store, but maybe he could still steal from them…

No, it should be “make reasonable use”!

Reasonably utilize the remaining value of things born from human scientific civilization that would never be used by people again.

That was something to be proud of!

…Probably.

Thinking this, Lin Ran grabbed Lim and Vera by the hands and stepped through the Portal without hesitation.

The scene before his eyes twisted.

The next second, they found themselves in a dim space.

It was the familiar convenience store.

The giant box sat intact in the aisle of the store.

Even so, a pile of goods had been knocked over by the suddenly transported box, with snacks scattered all over the floor.

“Master, what do we do with the box now? Should we open it?”

Lim’s attention was still fixed on the box.

“Don’t rush.”

Lin Ran stopped her and looked around.

“First, move the fragile and edible items back to the dorm to avoid damaging them in case a fight breaks out.”

One of his goals was to keep the Box Monster outside the dorm, to prevent his own place from being destroyed.

As he spoke, Lin Ran glanced at Vera.

Vera immediately understood and summoned the group of small puppets from the wooden hut.

They put down their fire axes, lined up, and started moving goods off the shelves.

Lin Ran joined in, as he always preferred hands-on work.

But as he passed the corner of a shelf, something caught the corner of his eye.

At the bottom of the shelf was an ice cream wrapper.

The key point was that there was still some unmelted ice cream sticking to it.

No way!

Someone else was here!

Lin Ran’s body tensed instantly.

He drew his Goodwill Pistol, ready to fire at any moment.

Lim also switched from lazy mode to serious mode, using her Slime bounce to leap onto the ceiling for observation.

Vera was even more direct.

Countless threads silently spread throughout the convenience store.

Yet, even with all this, no one appeared.

That left only one place.

—

The small storage room behind the convenience store.

He held his breath and crept closer step by step.

“Stop hiding and come out. I mean no harm.”

Lin Ran tried to sound friendly.

He wasn’t sure if anyone was actually hiding in the storeroom, but by speaking first, he could keep the upper hand.

At the same time, he tried to make his voice as gentle as possible.

Whether he truly meant no harm depended on who emerged.

But even after two or three minutes, there was only dead silence behind the door.

Seeing no response, Lin Ran sighed.

He transformed into a Slime and slipped through the gap under the door.

As expected, inside the storage room, a girl in a white shirt stood, gripping a knife and trembling as she pointed it at the door.

Her appearance was ordinary—about average or slightly above among the girls at school.

She was worlds apart from Lim and Vera.

Even Xia Li, who was also human, was several leagues more beautiful.

At the moment, the girl looked utterly disheveled.

Her hair was messy, her face streaked with tears and dust…

With those terrified eyes, Lin Ran could tell.

This woman had no trust in anyone, only despair in the apocalypse.

If he had entered through the door, the knife would’ve stabbed him without hesitation.

Now, what about her love potential value…?

[Target: Zhou Qingqing (Human Female)]

[Love Potential Value: 10 (Passerby)]

What amazed Lin Ran most was this 10-point love potential value.

After all, he had the godly passive [Cupid’s Hatred]!

Yet this woman’s love potential value wasn’t zero, nor was it negative!

Was she actually… a normal person??!

But… why was she so afraid of him?

“Is it really that bad…? I thought my voice sounded gentle enough…”

Lin Ran muttered inwardly.

But seeing her unstable emotions and the weapon in her hand, directly communicating was too risky.

It would be better to subdue her first, then ask questions slowly.

Since that’s the case, don’t blame me for being impolite.

He squirmed through the gap in the wall and climbed up to the ceiling.

Then, he turned into a huge net and pounced!