The Walk-in Closet Safehouse CH19
Chapter 19: Means of Transportation
The Ticket Office and the shelter being at the exact same location—with their announcements appearing almost simultaneously—was absolutely no coincidence. Cui Ye suspected that the authorities possessed some method of discovering these locations ahead of time, whether through a specific system item or the guidance of an experienced veteran player.
There were far too many possibilities. But speaking of veteran players, the first person who crossed Cui Ye’s mind wasn't Senior Qiu Ke, who she had met at the hotel that day, but rather that strange mother and son pair she had encountered inside the subway on the second day of the apocalypse.
Back then, she still hadn't been entirely sure why her heart had filled with unease, making her want to flee that train car. It wasn't until she met Qiu Ke that she finally found her answer. Cui Ye could now be absolutely certain that the mother and son pair were no ordinary players, but veteran players just like him.
However, a new question surfaced. If the other party consisted of veteran players, why did [Friendly Tip] work effectively on Qiu Ke, yet show absolutely zero response toward that mother and son?
Cui Ye’s perception of emotions was exceptionally sharp. Back then, the subway car had been sparsely populated, yet the pair had chosen to sit directly opposite her. Their gazes—feeling as though they were locking onto a piece of prey on display—stayed pinned to her, making her intensely uncomfortable. This had absolutely nothing to do with friendliness. Then, what was the reason [Friendly Tip] failed to trigger?
Although she couldn't obtain an answer for the time being, she had already blacklisted that mother and son as highly dangerous figures in her heart. She was still far too weak right now, not having cleared even her very first game world—a beginner level server. If she rushed blindly to the Ticket Office, it would likely be a case of a sheep walking straight into a tiger's mouth.
"Draping herself in a tiger's skin" like Mr. Rabbit via the [Receiver] was a bluff she could only pull off once. She absolutely couldn't afford the consequences of infuriating an entity like that.
According to the official rescue route map, it would take up to a week before the military reached Xingfu Community—and that was assuming zero accidents occurred along the way. However, there were only five days remaining before [Dank Rain 1] came to an end. She couldn't afford to just sit tight and wait for the rescue team; she had to head out on her own, which meant she still needed to make a few preparations.
* * *
The early morning of the eleventh day of the apocalypse.
Inside the damp, gloomy corridor, the sound of splashing water echoed as a water monster crawled ashore, heading directly toward Cui Ye. Right at that moment, her phone vibrated wildly. It was a message from He Fangzhou, asking if she wanted to head to Gongze University together to search for the Ticket Office.
Had this been two days ago, she might have agreed to travel with them. Instead, she simply expressed her gratitude and declined. He Fangzhou was somewhat surprised but told her the exact time he and Wang Wei would be setting out anyway. Since they were leaving one of their rubber boats for their remaining two roommates, he and Wang Wei would be sharing the other, launching at exactly 9:00 AM tomorrow.
[He Fangzhou: You are welcome to join our squad at any time. See you at Gongze University.]
After reading the final text message from He Fangzhou, Cui Ye pocketed her phone while smoothly raising her other hand. A grayish-white bone blade cleanly sliced through the water monster’s neck. With a dull thud, its head dropped to the ground, and another gold coin was credited to her account.
At that very moment, the one hundred gold coins required to upgrade to a Level 3 Safe House had also been completely pooled together. She would be setting out for Gongze University today. The precise reason she had declined the invitation from He Fangzhou and Wang Wei was entirely because of the bone blade in her grasp—even if it currently served as nothing more than an umbrella handle.
The foot-long bone blade retracted into the umbrella sheath, causing the complete [Bone Umbrella] to materialize. Gripping the unopened umbrella, Cui Ye easily leaped onto a head-high boundary wall. Below her was a sheer drop of over ten meters. She unfurled the [Bone Umbrella] and vaulted straight down into the open air.
Of course, she hadn't lost her mind and decided to jump to her death just to feed the water monsters.
A light breeze drifted past. Beneath the slanting, pouring ribbons of rain, Cui Ye’s silhouette experienced a brief plunge before soaring upward once more, drifting slowly toward the main structures of Xingfu Community. After practicing this high-altitude diving for two consecutive days, she had finally achieved preliminary mastery over the [Bone Umbrella]—even if her landings were still a bit rough.
Outside the residential structures of Building 11, suspended in mid-air, Cui Ye held the umbrella as she drifted toward the location of the 15th floor. Ever since she acquired this item, she hadn't climbed a single flight of stairs.
[Bone Umbrella (Achievement Item): A specially manufactured umbrella. Can utilize wind currents to fly.]
This item was the reward she had obtained when her [Water Monster Butcher] achievement upgraded to Level 2 upon her one-hundredth water monster kill. Ever since her boning knife had gone out of commission, she had been stressing over her lack of a proper weapon, forced to make do with the [Spiked Mace] for the past few days instead.
Although the increase in her strength finally allowed her to swing the [Spiked Mace] at will, abruptly switching weapons after growing so accustomed to the boning knife inevitably left her feeling a bit awkward and out of sync.
Furthermore, a single strike from that mace would cause a water monster's head to completely explode into a blossoming mess; both the visual and the stench were incredibly overstimulating. She was forced to discard and replace her raincoat every single night after working her overtime shift, causing her inventory to drop drastically. Sure enough, the [Spiked Mace] was far better suited to be stuffed inside the life-sized mirror of her Safe House to guard the home.
Just as she was pondering whether she should purchase a new weapon from the game shop, she unexpectedly obtained the achievement item: the [Bone Umbrella]. Not only did she gain a handy weapon, but she also secured a means of transportation in one fell swoop. The only issue was that maneuvering it was incredibly difficult.
Cui Ye controlled the umbrella to fly upward flush against the building's exterior. Unfortunately, the umbrella in her hand constantly acted against her wishes, attempting to rub her forcefully against the wall paint at every turn. Because of its stubbornness, she had already chafed through several more raincoats, dealing yet another blow to her dwindling inventory.
A sharp scraping sound echoed as the umbrella ribs ground against the building's surface. Cui Ye looked up at it. It truly was a bone umbrella in the literal sense—grayish-white skeletal ribs supporting a matching grayish-white canopy, with the frame subtly flashing a metallic luster. The material was all too familiar; having been gifted so many gold coins by the water monsters, how could she possibly fail to recognize their bones?
Originally, she had worried that wielding a weapon made of bone would mean it was just as brittle as a Level 1 water monster’s skull. However, after using it to cleanly slaughter a Level 2 water monster, she no longer harbored that concern.
One hundred gold coins deducted; the Level 3 Safe House upgrade was complete.
Looking at the completely refreshed walk-in closet and its newly unlocked functions, Cui Ye suddenly felt that those one hundred gold coins had been exceptionally well spent.
First was the Safe House itself: the area of the walk-in closet had expanded once more, completely shedding its original, cramped confines. It now appeared practically identical in size to her twenty-square-meter rental apartment. The narrow, single-person cushion had transformed into a proper sofa bed; from now on, she no longer had to worry about rolling straight onto the floor the moment she turned over in her sleep.
Furthermore, a brand-new mirror had appeared upon the bare exterior wall. Positioned to perfectly overlay the original window, it functioned like a one-way monitor, leaving Cui Ye’s ability to observe external conditions completely uninterrupted.
Ever since upgrading to Level 2, Cui Ye had been able to utilize the room's mirror surfaces to observe the environment surrounding her Safe House with a 360-degree, blind-spot-free view. After ascending to Level 3, this observation range doubled. The scenery within a ten-meter radius of the Safe House was now completely brought into view. Even if someone attempted to launch an attack from a blind spot the window couldn't capture, she would detect them instantly from inside the room.
Meanwhile, the two mirrors on the exterior had thoroughly fused into a single entity with the wardrobe. Without reaching out to touch them physically, it was completely impossible to tell where the mirrors ended and the wardrobe doors began. Its concealment properties had undergone a massive upgrade. Cui Ye stood outside the Safe House sizing it up for a long time, deeply satisfied with the effect.
Now, with a brand-new mirror slot available to store weapons, Cui Ye opened the game shop to inspect the three items randomly generated for today.
[Today's Items: Food Voucher (1 Gold Coin), 1-Star Appliance Upgrade Card (20 Gold Coins), Electric Rice Cooker (5 Gold Coins)]
She didn't see an appropriate weapon, but she did spot the rice cooker she had been constantly yearning for. However, compared to the cooker itself, a [1-Star Appliance Upgrade Card] priced at twenty gold coins was far more eye-catching.
So, appliances could actually be upgraded. It turned out that the dehumidifier she had spent twenty gold coins on was not only a "three-noes product" lacking any official brand credentials, but also a bottom-tier, zero-star appliance.
[1-Star Appliance Upgrade Card: Are you still vexed by underperforming appliance functions? Utilize the 1-Star Upgrade Card to easily resolve your worries.]
Since there was a 1-Star rating, it implied that even higher tiers existed. Cui Ye instinctively cast a glance at the Safe House data. Fortunately, there were zero anomalies.
[Walk-in Closet: Level 3 Safe House]
[Defense: 400]
[Durability Loss: 0]
[Indoor Environment: Normal]
[Special Trait: Randomly acquire 5 clothing items daily]
[Equipped: M-Family High-End Luxury Vintage Linen Necklace]
The indoor environment being normal indicated that the dehumidifier’s functionality was still sufficient to cope with the current ambient moisture. As for the future... her wallet temporarily didn't permit her to contemplate matters so far down the line.
Chapter Notes:
The Ticket Office and the shelter being at the exact same location—with their announcements appearing almost simultaneously—was absolutely no coincidence. Cui Ye suspected that the authorities possessed some method of discovering these locations ahead of time, whether through a specific system item or the guidance of an experienced veteran player.
There were far too many possibilities. But speaking of veteran players, the first person who crossed Cui Ye’s mind wasn't Senior Qiu Ke, who she had met at the hotel that day, but rather that strange mother and son pair she had encountered inside the subway on the second day of the apocalypse.
Back then, she still hadn't been entirely sure why her heart had filled with unease, making her want to flee that train car. It wasn't until she met Qiu Ke that she finally found her answer. Cui Ye could now be absolutely certain that the mother and son pair were no ordinary players, but veteran players just like him.
However, a new question surfaced. If the other party consisted of veteran players, why did [Friendly Tip] work effectively on Qiu Ke, yet show absolutely zero response toward that mother and son?
Cui Ye’s perception of emotions was exceptionally sharp. Back then, the subway car had been sparsely populated, yet the pair had chosen to sit directly opposite her. Their gazes—feeling as though they were locking onto a piece of prey on display—stayed pinned to her, making her intensely uncomfortable. This had absolutely nothing to do with friendliness. Then, what was the reason [Friendly Tip] failed to trigger?
Although she couldn't obtain an answer for the time being, she had already blacklisted that mother and son as highly dangerous figures in her heart. She was still far too weak right now, not having cleared even her very first game world—a beginner level server. If she rushed blindly to the Ticket Office, it would likely be a case of a sheep walking straight into a tiger's mouth.
"Draping herself in a tiger's skin" like Mr. Rabbit via the [Receiver] was a bluff she could only pull off once. She absolutely couldn't afford the consequences of infuriating an entity like that.
According to the official rescue route map, it would take up to a week before the military reached Xingfu Community—and that was assuming zero accidents occurred along the way. However, there were only five days remaining before [Dank Rain 1] came to an end. She couldn't afford to just sit tight and wait for the rescue team; she had to head out on her own, which meant she still needed to make a few preparations.
* * *
The early morning of the eleventh day of the apocalypse.
Inside the damp, gloomy corridor, the sound of splashing water echoed as a water monster crawled ashore, heading directly toward Cui Ye. Right at that moment, her phone vibrated wildly. It was a message from He Fangzhou, asking if she wanted to head to Gongze University together to search for the Ticket Office.
Had this been two days ago, she might have agreed to travel with them. Instead, she simply expressed her gratitude and declined. He Fangzhou was somewhat surprised but told her the exact time he and Wang Wei would be setting out anyway. Since they were leaving one of their rubber boats for their remaining two roommates, he and Wang Wei would be sharing the other, launching at exactly 9:00 AM tomorrow.
[He Fangzhou: You are welcome to join our squad at any time. See you at Gongze University.]
After reading the final text message from He Fangzhou, Cui Ye pocketed her phone while smoothly raising her other hand. A grayish-white bone blade cleanly sliced through the water monster’s neck. With a dull thud, its head dropped to the ground, and another gold coin was credited to her account.
At that very moment, the one hundred gold coins required to upgrade to a Level 3 Safe House had also been completely pooled together. She would be setting out for Gongze University today. The precise reason she had declined the invitation from He Fangzhou and Wang Wei was entirely because of the bone blade in her grasp—even if it currently served as nothing more than an umbrella handle.
The foot-long bone blade retracted into the umbrella sheath, causing the complete [Bone Umbrella] to materialize. Gripping the unopened umbrella, Cui Ye easily leaped onto a head-high boundary wall. Below her was a sheer drop of over ten meters. She unfurled the [Bone Umbrella] and vaulted straight down into the open air.
Of course, she hadn't lost her mind and decided to jump to her death just to feed the water monsters.
A light breeze drifted past. Beneath the slanting, pouring ribbons of rain, Cui Ye’s silhouette experienced a brief plunge before soaring upward once more, drifting slowly toward the main structures of Xingfu Community. After practicing this high-altitude diving for two consecutive days, she had finally achieved preliminary mastery over the [Bone Umbrella]—even if her landings were still a bit rough.
Outside the residential structures of Building 11, suspended in mid-air, Cui Ye held the umbrella as she drifted toward the location of the 15th floor. Ever since she acquired this item, she hadn't climbed a single flight of stairs.
[Bone Umbrella (Achievement Item): A specially manufactured umbrella. Can utilize wind currents to fly.]
This item was the reward she had obtained when her [Water Monster Butcher] achievement upgraded to Level 2 upon her one-hundredth water monster kill. Ever since her boning knife had gone out of commission, she had been stressing over her lack of a proper weapon, forced to make do with the [Spiked Mace] for the past few days instead.
Although the increase in her strength finally allowed her to swing the [Spiked Mace] at will, abruptly switching weapons after growing so accustomed to the boning knife inevitably left her feeling a bit awkward and out of sync.
Furthermore, a single strike from that mace would cause a water monster's head to completely explode into a blossoming mess; both the visual and the stench were incredibly overstimulating. She was forced to discard and replace her raincoat every single night after working her overtime shift, causing her inventory to drop drastically. Sure enough, the [Spiked Mace] was far better suited to be stuffed inside the life-sized mirror of her Safe House to guard the home.
Just as she was pondering whether she should purchase a new weapon from the game shop, she unexpectedly obtained the achievement item: the [Bone Umbrella]. Not only did she gain a handy weapon, but she also secured a means of transportation in one fell swoop. The only issue was that maneuvering it was incredibly difficult.
Cui Ye controlled the umbrella to fly upward flush against the building's exterior. Unfortunately, the umbrella in her hand constantly acted against her wishes, attempting to rub her forcefully against the wall paint at every turn. Because of its stubbornness, she had already chafed through several more raincoats, dealing yet another blow to her dwindling inventory.
A sharp scraping sound echoed as the umbrella ribs ground against the building's surface. Cui Ye looked up at it. It truly was a bone umbrella in the literal sense—grayish-white skeletal ribs supporting a matching grayish-white canopy, with the frame subtly flashing a metallic luster. The material was all too familiar; having been gifted so many gold coins by the water monsters, how could she possibly fail to recognize their bones?
Originally, she had worried that wielding a weapon made of bone would mean it was just as brittle as a Level 1 water monster’s skull. However, after using it to cleanly slaughter a Level 2 water monster, she no longer harbored that concern.
One hundred gold coins deducted; the Level 3 Safe House upgrade was complete.
Looking at the completely refreshed walk-in closet and its newly unlocked functions, Cui Ye suddenly felt that those one hundred gold coins had been exceptionally well spent.
First was the Safe House itself: the area of the walk-in closet had expanded once more, completely shedding its original, cramped confines. It now appeared practically identical in size to her twenty-square-meter rental apartment. The narrow, single-person cushion had transformed into a proper sofa bed; from now on, she no longer had to worry about rolling straight onto the floor the moment she turned over in her sleep.
Furthermore, a brand-new mirror had appeared upon the bare exterior wall. Positioned to perfectly overlay the original window, it functioned like a one-way monitor, leaving Cui Ye’s ability to observe external conditions completely uninterrupted.
Ever since upgrading to Level 2, Cui Ye had been able to utilize the room's mirror surfaces to observe the environment surrounding her Safe House with a 360-degree, blind-spot-free view. After ascending to Level 3, this observation range doubled. The scenery within a ten-meter radius of the Safe House was now completely brought into view. Even if someone attempted to launch an attack from a blind spot the window couldn't capture, she would detect them instantly from inside the room.
Meanwhile, the two mirrors on the exterior had thoroughly fused into a single entity with the wardrobe. Without reaching out to touch them physically, it was completely impossible to tell where the mirrors ended and the wardrobe doors began. Its concealment properties had undergone a massive upgrade. Cui Ye stood outside the Safe House sizing it up for a long time, deeply satisfied with the effect.
Now, with a brand-new mirror slot available to store weapons, Cui Ye opened the game shop to inspect the three items randomly generated for today.
[Today's Items: Food Voucher (1 Gold Coin), 1-Star Appliance Upgrade Card (20 Gold Coins), Electric Rice Cooker (5 Gold Coins)]
She didn't see an appropriate weapon, but she did spot the rice cooker she had been constantly yearning for. However, compared to the cooker itself, a [1-Star Appliance Upgrade Card] priced at twenty gold coins was far more eye-catching.
So, appliances could actually be upgraded. It turned out that the dehumidifier she had spent twenty gold coins on was not only a "three-noes product" lacking any official brand credentials, but also a bottom-tier, zero-star appliance.
[1-Star Appliance Upgrade Card: Are you still vexed by underperforming appliance functions? Utilize the 1-Star Upgrade Card to easily resolve your worries.]
Since there was a 1-Star rating, it implied that even higher tiers existed. Cui Ye instinctively cast a glance at the Safe House data. Fortunately, there were zero anomalies.
[Walk-in Closet: Level 3 Safe House]
[Defense: 400]
[Durability Loss: 0]
[Indoor Environment: Normal]
[Special Trait: Randomly acquire 5 clothing items daily]
[Equipped: M-Family High-End Luxury Vintage Linen Necklace]
The indoor environment being normal indicated that the dehumidifier’s functionality was still sufficient to cope with the current ambient moisture. As for the future... her wallet temporarily didn't permit her to contemplate matters so far down the line.
Chapter Notes:
- "To pull a tiger's skin to drape over one's own body" 扯上...虎皮披在身上: Derived from the idiom Hú jiǎ hǔ wēi (the fox borrows the tiger's awe). It means to use the terrifying reputation or authority of a highly powerful entity to scare off enemies.
- "Three-Noes Product" 三无产品 : A widely recognized Chinese consumer slang term for poor-quality counterfeit or sketchy goods that lack an official production date, a quality certificate, and a manufacturer's name.
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