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章 8: Wei Xiaoyan

編集者: EndlessFantasy Translation

The next day, Su Jin took the subway to the exhibition as usual. She arrived earlier than almost everyone else, but there was one person even earlier than her. Su Jin did not know who it was, though.

Wei Xiaoyan had felt uncomfortable from the moment she saw Su Jin for the first time. She had purposely dolled up nicely to report for her first day, thinking that she should have the spotlight today, but this newcomer had instantly outshone her.

Su Jin looked at Wei Xiaoyan, who was glaring at her extremely viciously. She did not know this overly-tanned girl, did she?

Was this Wang Linda's recommended newbie?

Just then, Wang Linda walked in, wiping her hands with a paper napkin. She greeted them as she tossed the napkin into a trash can by the wall. When she actually saw Su Jin, though, she felt her heart thump in her chest. Since when had Su Jin been so pretty? She could barely pull her eyes away. In comparison, her cousin looked like an ugly duckling.

Wang Linda had been rather unhappy with Wei Xiaoyan's appearance today to begin with. This was an exhibition, not a banquet, yet Wei Xiaoyan had caked her face with make-up. The thick eyeshadow and heavy mascara made her look like she would melt if anyone threw water on her. Wang Linda had to resist a strong urge to spray her face with make-up remover.

However, the moment Wei Xiaoyan saw her, she ran up to Wang Linda and hugged the latter's arm. "Cousin Linda, I've been waiting for you! But who is that woman? She's not part of your company, is she?"

"Didn't I tell you not to call me 'cousin' here?"

"Yeah, yeah. Sis Linda it is." Wei Xiaoyan hurriedly let go of Wang Linda's arm. Wang Linda had told her in advance that it would be best if the company did not find out that they were related. That would shine a bad light on them.

Su Jin rolled her eyes. So Wang Linda's new recommendation was her cousin? Figures.

Wang Linda hastily told Su Jin, "Lil Jin, this is Xiaoyan, your replacement. Her full name is Wei Xiaoyan. Please don't tell anyone what you just heard, alright?"

'You want me to keep a secret, but you won't pay me a fee for my silence? Well played,' Su Jin thought mischievously.

"I get it, Sis Linda. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Besides, I'll be leaving in a few days, so you two will have to keep the show running without me." It felt good to know their little secret and have some leverage on them. Su Jin did not hold back with her eloquent nonsense.

"You're leaving in a few days, Big Sis Su Jin? What a shame." Wei Xiaoyan instantly felt relieved when she heard that Su Jin would not stay here for long.

Big Sis Su Jin, was it? Oh-hoho~

Wang Linda was feeling slightly awkward too. Wei Xiaoyan was far from fair, and her features were plain and flat. Add that to her thick make-up today, and it would not be hard to believe that she was in her thirties. In comparison, Su Jin's skin was as fair and smooth as porcelain. How could Wei Xiaoyan call her 'Big Sis' as though she was so much younger?

Seriously, cousin, open your eyes and use your brain!

Su Jin did not bother holding it against this newly-graduated little snake, either. By then, their other colleagues from the branch were arriving in turn, so they could not just stand around chatting any longer.

Assistant Zhang ran up to Su Jin and asked her on the sly, "Tell me, did you go to the spa and get a facial done? Why're you so pretty today?"

"As if! I just used a facial mask and took a shower." She was not lying. She had simply taken a shower and then had an extremely foul-smelling homemade 'clay mask'.

"What miraculous mask did you use? Send me the link!" Assistant Zhang immediately behaved like a squealing girl friend, asking Su Jin for her secrets excitedly.

"..." Why was he, a grown man, behaving like this?

To be honest, though, Su Jin always thought Assistant Zhang exuded some real bottom energy. He was the spitting image of the silly bottoms she would read about in BL novels. It was just a shame that there was no one else for her to ship him with.

"Um, the mask is my homemade recipe. I'll teach you when I find the time." Su Jin hastily tried to pull the wool over Assistant Zhang's eyes.

"Okay, okay! Don't forget, alright?" Assistant Zhang had faith in Su Jin. For some reason, from the very first time he saw her, he had the feeling that she was a very reliable person. Later, when they somehow ended up becoming great friends, he realized that Su Jin was more than just reliable. She was practically the ticket to the top that everyone wished they could hitch a ride with~~

All morning, Su Jin patiently taught Wei Xiaoyan everything she needed to know. Wei Xiaoyan's basic English was decent, but she was lacking when it came to the actual practice.

For instance, there was a foreign client who tried talking to Wei Xiaoyan for a while, but a few lines later he just shook his head and turned back to chat with Su Jin. As the two of them conversed away happily, Wei Xiaoyan felt so embarrassed that she flushed bright red, even if it was slightly difficult to see under all her make-up.

Su Jin wanted to whip Wei Xiaoyan into shape as soon as possible too, because that meant she would have more time to slack off. She had not seen the displays in the other halls yet, and time was running out. Now that she had her dimension, there were plenty of things she wanted to buy.

Wang Linda was anxious as well. After all, she had recommended Wei Xiaoyan for the job, and she relied on Wei Xiaoyan's communication skills to secure her own sales commissions. She could only pray that her decision would not backfire on her now.

During the noon break, Su Jin went to the restroom at the exhibition center and snuck into the dimension. She had bought an extra set of stir-fried glass noodles that morning and thrown them into the dimension. Even at noon, they were as hot as they were in the morning when she bought them. Oh, and there was the ice cream from last night too. Su Jin ate her noodles as she looked at the ice cream she had tossed in here last night.

The ice cream had not melted at all. Did the dimension really have preservation properties? Before this, she just assumed that the food would spoil at a slower rate in here, but it seemed that the dimension had other surprises in store. In that case, she could make more food and keep them in here from now on.

She did not want anyone to suspect anything, so she left the dimension as soon as she was done eating. A glance at her watch told her that only two minutes had passed.

While it was still noon break, Su Jin headed to the blades stall she had visited yesterday.

The bespectacled man at the stall ran toward her the second he saw her. "Miss Su, ya really came!"

He had thought that she had just been browsing yesterday. While she did say that she wanted to make an order, she was just a dainty young lady. Why would she want so many knives?

"I told you I'd drop by, didn't I?" Su Jin said with a smile.

The bespectacled man rubbed his eyes. Phew, he thought her beauty would blind him for a second there. She had not been this pretty yesterday… Whatever, his business was more important.

Su Jin was still looking at the knife that had cut her yesterday. In order not to arouse suspicions, she had put a bandage on her wound before leaving the hotel that morning. After all, her colleagues had seen her injury yesterday, and there was no way it would recover completely overnight.

The bespectacled man hurriedly introduced the knife to her, but no matter how he tried to sell it, it was just a normal watermelon knife in anyone else's eyes. At the most, it might be used for killing pigs.

As the rest of the crowd that had gathered began to dissipate once more, the man grew desperate and told Su Jin that he would give it to her at a discount.

Su Jin played with the watermelon knife in her hands, feeling quite happy with it. The blade was light, decently sharp, and longer than usual. That way, she would not dirty her hands if she used it to behead zombies.

Su Jin asked for the price and decisively booked all of the man's existing stock.

The bespectacled man was stunned. Their knives were high quality, but they had limited uses. These days, knives were not allowed on high-speed trains, planes, or buses, so many people did not dare to buy them even if they were interested. How were they supposed to bring them home? That was why the company had arranged a deal with the delivery services and offered a full delivery package to try and boost their pathetic sales.

Yet here this young girl was buying 362 of these knives. Could she be part of some underworld gang? Su Jin smiled at him sweetly, and the bespectacled man immediately dismissed that possibility. The lady looked so weak and dainty, there was no way she would be involved in such violent things.

The weak and dainty walked into the booth and looked around at the other knives. Common ones like vegetable and fruit knives were all displayed outside, because there was a higher demand for them. What Su Jin really wanted were the blades inside.

She read the labels for each of the blades. There were deer horn knives, jade folding knives, Damascus steel knives, Damascus hand knives, bayonets, Cold Steel knives, butterfly knives, katanas, Tamahagane knives, karambits, and even some faux-traditional machetes, crescent blades, and swords.

There was an especially eye-catching blade called the Demon Claw. Its hilt and blade were merged into one, and the blade had a nice sleek shape that curved beautifully up to the tip.

The bespectacled man was all smiles as he introduced the blade to Su Jin. The Demon Claw was an in-house design. Although the blade and hilt looked conjoined, they were actually made of different materials. The hilt was made of carbon fiber and the blade was made of Damascus steel, a famous metal that made great long-lasting blades.

As the man was getting more and more carried away with his sales pitch, Su Jin asked for the price and was relieved to hear that it was only 5000 yuan per sword. She made an order for twenty of those and then got a few other blades, including a pretty Mopp folding knife. It was lightweight, cute, but also sharp. Su Jin got one for her younger cousin Mao Qiqi too.

Although he did not know why Su Jin wanted to buy so many knives, the bespectacled man never expected to make such a big transaction out of nowhere. The total bill came up to 630 thousand, and he only breathed easy when Su Jin swiped her card without a moment's hesitation.

"Miss Su, may I know your delivery address?" The bespectacled man's manner of speaking turned polite without him even realizing it.

Tsk, how could she forget about that? She had a magic dimension now, so she would not need to send anything back home. That would save her a lot of potential trouble.

"Don't bother with the delivery, I have a friend who can help me transport them. Right, could you just tell me where your factory is? I'll get my friend to pick the stuff up in their car."

Was that really orright? They get ta save another big bill in delivery fees like that. The bespectacled man was delighted, writing down their factory address as he asked, "Ya'er such a pleasure ta do business with, Miss Su. May I know when you'll be coming to pick up the goods?"

"Let's make it this Saturday morning. I'll tell you once we head out." Su Jin already had someone in mind to go there with her.


章 9: An Unnatural Phenomenon

編集者: EndlessFantasy Translation

Over the next few days at the exhibition, Su Jin frequently snuck off to the other halls to look for supplies she could hoard.

After getting off from work on the third day, she pulled Assistant Zhang away, saying that she wanted to treat him to a meal. In actual fact, she led him to an empty warehouse in the outskirts. She had contacted the person in charge of the warehouse in advance and rented the warehouse at the last minute for a month, paying three times the usual price. She only asked for a month just in case, because she was planning to put away everything she was getting delivered here within five days.

Assistant Zhang drove to the place Su Jin entered into his navigation system. Once there, he watched as Su Jin paid up, signed the contract, and received the warehouse keys, all the whole feeling completely mystified.

Su Jin saw the utter confusion in his eyes and burst out laughing.

"I'll tell you why later. Come on, dinner's on me."

That finally snapped Assistant Zhang back to his senses. Su Jin said she was buying dinner, but he was the one who chose the venue. After all, he knew the area better and could determine which stores were tastier.

Eventually, they settled on a local cuisine restaurant closer to Su Jin's hotel. The place was relatively quiet too, without too much bustle.

Assistant Zhang's full name was Zhang Chuyang. Over dinner, there were several times when he had to resist the urge to ask what Su Jin rented the warehouse for, but he held his tongue. He was waiting for Su Jin to broach the topic herself. 

The roasted goose at the restaurant Assistant Zhang chose was just too delicious. Although the goose skin was thick and fatty, it was not cloying to eat and even tasted faintly of a fruity smoke. When Su Jin bit into it and reached the tender flesh underneath, she could feel her taste buds singing.

The way Assistant Zhang looked so hesitant to talk opposite her made the food taste even better. He looked just about good enough to gobble up.

Once she was about eighty percent full, Su Jin decided to put the man out of his misery. She gave him the story she had thought up in advance.

Su Jin told Assistant Zhang that she was planning to start a supermarket back at H City. Since she was in G Province now, she thought she might as well buy some stock in advance and store them in a warehouse, so she could move them to her supermarket once it opened.

It was a bit of a stretch, but to her surprise, Assistant Zhang seemed to buy it completely.

"I see, I see. So that's why you're in such a rush to go back, because you're opening a supermarket soon. Then your store must be pretty huge, huh? You wouldn't need such a big warehouse otherwise."

"It's not that big, but it is two stories tall. I can display plenty of stuff." Su Jin was finding it easier to lie through her teeth these days.

"You're richer than I thought. If I'd known, I would've asked you to treat me to a meal at a five-star hotel." Assistant Zhang acted dismayed.

The two of them teased each other for a little longer, and Su Jin told Assistant Zhang that she would give him the keys to the warehouse before she left so he could return it to the owner on her behalf.

The truth was she knew that no one would care about a measly warehouse key a month later. Before that, she would leave some supplies in the warehouse for Assistant Zhang. Hopefully, he would be able to reach them, and she would be able to repay him for saving her life back then.

After the two of them were done eating, Su Jin secretly noted down the restaurant's delivery hotline. The food tasted great, so naturally she had to take some away and share them with her family.

Back at the hotel, Su Jin called the bespectacled knife seller again, asking him to send her goods directly to the warehouse on the outskirts. It was in the same city and not that far away, so the bespectacled man repeatedly told her that it was "no problem at all". What did she think he would say? She was his biggest customer, such a minor request was nothing to him.

Now that she had a warehouse to go back to, Su Jin became even more unrestrained with her buying. She bought a few paddy huskers, flour processors, and even some small-sized oil presses at the designated hall. At the AI-themed hall, she bought a few of the newest generators, the type that worked well on solar power alone.

With these, they would have electricity even in the dimension. She was happy just thinking about it.

After all that, she only had slightly over a million left from all the money in both her and Lu Hao's savings. Su Jin sighed. Money was too easy to spend, and there were still a bunch of things she had yet to buy. Lu Hao mentioned that he had some stocks on the market, right? Once she got back, she would ask him to cash in on them, or else they would be reduced to scrap paper once the apocalypse hit.

Over the past few days, Wei Xiaoyan's performance at the exhibition steadily improved. Someone must have given her advice, because she stopped slathering on the make-up and stuck to professional suits instead at work. Su Jin guessed that it was Wang Linda's doing.

Anyway, that meant Su Jin barely had anything to do anymore. Whenever she had time, she would sneak off again to see what she could buy.

Finally, it was Friday, the last day of Su Jin's work at the exhibition. On that day, even the ever-busy Wang He dropped by the exhibition and gathered everyone before the workday ended. Since they were off tomorrow, he said the company would treat everyone to dinner that night.

The atmosphere at the branch company had always been very relaxed.

It was probably because they had an open-minded general manager in Wang He. He was really lax in his management, all things considered, usually allowing his employees to work as they pleased. He even set up a reward system to encourage everyone to perform better, and every so often he would organize a routine dinner or karaoke session.

The branch company was relatively new, but their sales accomplishments were not lower than those of the HQ, which had a large factory behind them. Su Jin was certain that if it were not for the apocalypse, the branch would definitely be able to overtake the HQ in sales within a year. For that, Su Jin actually had a healthy amount of respect for Wang He.

As everyone was dismissed, Wang He purposely called out to Su Jin and asked her to attend the dinner that night.

Wei Xiaoyan was standing behind Wang Linda, her hands trembling as they gripped the hem of her clothes tightly. She had thought that the dinner would be to welcome her as the newest member of the team, but Mr. Wang had not even mentioned her name. It was so unfair!

The dinner was held at a seafood restaurant closer to the exhibition center. It was only two streets away, so everyone just walked there.

Su Jin walked with Assistant Zhang, who constantly chattered about how famous the restaurant was. He even listed out the celebrities who had eaten there before, showing Su Jin pictures of their signature dishes on his phone.

Su Jin truly felt that Assistant Zhang would make for a great travel and shopping bestie.

When they were almost at the seafood restaurant's doorstep, they suddenly heard a loud crash followed by some screams. Su Jin immediately saw a man covered in blood collapsed on the curb.

The man lay face-down, one of his legs all mangled from his fall. He looked, for all intents and purposes, dead.

Some in the crowd screamed, others murmured among themselves, while yet others whipped out their phones to take pictures.

No one noticed that the man's finger had twitched slightly.

Everyone from the branch company witnessed the gory scene too. The female colleagues had all turned white, but when Wang He happened to spy Su Jin's expression, he noticed that she was shocked but not at all afraid.

Su Jin was indeed stunned. The man was covered in blood and wounds of all sizes. They were clearly bite and scratch wounds, too.

Were there already zombies this early?

Just then, the man on the ground suddenly began to stand up, his head lowered and his movements slow. Although he moved slowly and rather unsteadily, as though he would fall at any time, he still managed to get on his feet and take two steps forward.

Assistant Zhang was still wondering how he managed to stand on his broken leg.

All of a sudden, the man revealed his half-mutilated face and pounced at Assistant Zhang, his mouth wide open.

Behind Assistant Zhang, Wei Xiaoyan was so scared that her knees threatened to buckle. She was right behind him, so when she saw the man running toward their direction, she instinctively pushed Assistant Zhang.

Assistant Zhang stumbled forward from the force of the push and saw that the blood-covered man was just ten centimeters away from home. Without a word, Assistant Zhang closed his eyes. It was so unbelievably smelly and disgusting! This man was clearly going to bite him, but who had been heartless enough to push him?

Su Jin finally reacted. The man was undeniably a zombie. Although she did not know why one showed up this early, she could not just watch as Assistant Zhang was bitten.

All she had was her sling bag. She had no suitable weapons with her, so she just grabbed a red fire extinguisher from the roadside and swung it at the man!

The fire extinguisher smashed right into the man-- no, the zombie's head.

Su Jin had not used her full strength, only exerting about a tenth of her power. If she went all out, she was worried she would smash a hole in the pavement under the zombie's feet.

The crowd screamed again, not because of Su Jin's violence, but because the man was still trying to get back on his feet after his head was smashed in.

Assistant Zhang was frozen in fear, so Su Jin pulled him behind her and looked at the struggling zombie. She resisted the wood-type energy begging to be set free inside her body and picked up the hole around a fire reel next to the extinguisher. She then quickly ran to the zombie and wound the hose around him a few times, tying him up tightly with it. 

As of right now, Su Jin did not dare to finish off the zombie just yet. She could already hear the police sirens in the distance and she did not want to be arrested as a suspect in a crime.

Seven or eight police officers, armed to the teeth, got out of the police cars and rapidly began maintaining the order in front of the crowd.

Next, an ambulance arrived at the scene. Two male doctors jumped out with a stretcher, as did a few female nurses.

One of the nurses saw the man covered in blood, tied up into a knot and gagged with the hose. She could not help but exclaim, "Who did this?"

The patient was already covered in blood, and yet here he was tied up so tightly. There was even a terrifying hole in his head. Who could have been so violent?

"It was her, she did it! She swung a fire extinguisher at the badly-injured man and even tied him up with the fire hose!" Wei Xiaoyan jumped out of the crowd and pointed at Su Jin.

"He was trying to bite me first. That's why my friend tied him up."

Assistant Zhang could not just stand by and let the nurse misunderstand Su Jin either.

"How could he bite you with his leg in that shape?" the nurse insisted.

Su Jin shrugged helplessly. The other people in the crowd had witnessed the scene too, and they knew that she had not harmed the man for no reason. Plenty of passionate passersby vouched for her.

Then there was that Wei Xiaoyan. Did she try to frame Su Jin? Hah, Su Jin was going to remember this!

The colleagues from the branch company had seen Wei Xiaoyan push Assistant Zhang, and then she had stepped out to accuse Su Jin, who had saved him. This newbie was way too cold-blooded. They decided to stay away from her from now on.

Even Wang He was starting to wonder if he should hire her after her probation. More than that, though, he was shocked at Su Jin's fighting skills. She was definitely a trained martial artist!

Just then, one of the men holding the stretcher tried to break up the fight, and the nurse finally let it rest. The first thing she did, though, was to turn around and pull the hose away from the man's mouth.

Su Jin could not stop her in time. Once the hose was removed, the zombie took a large bite out of the nurse's face!

He ripped a huge chunk of flesh from her right cheek, and everyone who saw that took a sharp intake of breath. Even those who thought that Su Jin had gone too far earlier understood the wisdom of her actions now.

The nurse did not understand why the patient she had defended earlier bit her. She fell to the ground and yelled in pain. Meanwhile, although the zombie's upper body was still tied up, he nevertheless stood up on his broken legs and tried to pounce at the others!

There was the sound of a gunshot, and the zombie finally collapsed. It was one of the armed cops who had shot the zombie squarely in the head.

Such great aim. Su Jin almost wanted to cheer for him.

The nurse who was bitten was now too worn out from the pain to yell anymore. Her medical colleagues hurriedly put her onto the stretcher and took her away.

Su Jin wanted to say something, but she knew that even if she told them that the nurse had been infected now, no one would believe her. That was why she wisely closed her mouth.

After that, the policemen asked Su Jin, Assistant Zhang, and the others to stay, while the rest of the crowd was dismissed.

The cop who had shot the zombie in the head approached them, biting the cap off his pen. He recorded testimonies from Su Jin and the others in a notebook, then he gave Su Jin one more long look before turning and leaving.


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