Welcome to the Ability Shop!

Chapter 191 Pretending to be the Store Manager

……

Elori didn't know why she didn't choose to break down the door and escape immediately; perhaps it was because the other person was very good-looking.
Here, your coffee.

Lin Qing placed a slightly steaming latte on the coffee table.

“Thank you…” Elori stared at her figure, looking left and right, trying to figure out where she came from.

"What's wrong?" Lin Qing put down the plate and sat cross-legged on the floor opposite her.

"N-nothing," the angel said, turning her head away somewhat shyly. "Your hair color... is very beautiful."

"It's not bad, I like it too." Lin Qing smoothed her bangs. "Colors reflect mood, changing them often helps maintain a happy mind and body."

Elori nodded, but unfortunately not everyone is suited to such a vibrant color. If she dyed her hair such a bright color, she would definitely look like a high school dropout.

To maintain the image of angels, their every word and action is taught by special etiquette teachers.

She took a sip of coffee, and the warm, milky aroma combined with the slight bitterness of the coffee immediately spread in her mouth, causing Elolie's tense expression to relax a little.

"Your name is Elori, right?" Lin Qing said.

"Hey, how did you know?" she asked in surprise.

"Since you are a customer of this store, of course I know something about you."

"guest?"

Right… this person just said there was a reason the shop was here, and the source seemed to be herself. However… Elori couldn't understand what connection she could have with the shop. “But I… don’t know what to buy?”

"It's quite late now," Lin Qing said with a smile.

Judging from the situation in the corridor outside, it seemed that it was already late at night.

"Yeah." She nodded slightly.

"Then why aren't you asleep? Why are you wandering around in the empty corridor all by yourself?"

"..."

Although she didn't answer, Lin Qing saw her hands clench tightly.

This relieved her a little; thankfully, he wasn't just wandering around aimlessly at night.

"Because you have something on your mind and can't fall asleep. You want to walk around to relieve your stress and anxiety, and then you come across our store. You think it's just a coincidence, but in fact everything is predestined. The question that you can't answer is the reason why our store appeared."

Lin Qing imitated Chen Xuan's rambling tone and spoke in one breath.

Elori's eyes widened. "Is that so?"

She smiled slightly, "You said you didn't know what to buy? That just means you don't know what our shop sells. Simply put, our shop sells abilities... specifically, abilities that can help you resolve your inner confusion."

Although everything had gone smoothly so far, Lin Qing knew that the biggest difference between her and Chen Xuan was that she wasn't the store manager! She couldn't use the computer—that seemingly outdated antique actually had extremely high anti-intrusion capabilities, even Xiao Lü couldn't hack into it, and she didn't have a barcode scanner, so she couldn't let the other party see the ability trading interface in person.

Without concrete evidence, it will undoubtedly be more difficult for her to gain the other party's trust.

Sure enough, Elori said in disbelief, "Abilities can be traded? I've never heard of such a thing!"

If Chen Xuan were here, he could simply sweep his gun across the room and present irrefutable evidence.

Lin Qing, however, needs to think of another way.

“And this isn’t the only thing you haven’t heard.” She feigned a sigh and stood up from the floor. “Come with me.”

She first went to the counter, took out room key number 201 from the drawer, and then led the curious Elori upstairs.

If it were anyone else, Lin Qing would never have allowed her into the core area of ​​the shop. However, Elori was a customer chosen by the Ability Shop.

She had discussed this with Chen Xuan in casual conversation. Although the shopkeeper still didn't know the criteria for selecting customers, there was no doubt that these customers wanted more than just a single ability from the shop. For her, what she wanted was to save the world from its misguided path, preventing humanity from being destroyed by the nanobots. Chen Xuan had taken her to a timeline before the destruction and assisted her in fighting the Dimensional Aggregate—a help she couldn't have received from anyone else.

She believed that Elori was the same.

The angel was astonished when the room key was swiped to open the door. "How...how did you do that?"

Behind what appeared to be an ordinary door lay a natural cave with flowing water! Above the cave was an open skylight that offered a direct view of the heavens. Through the skylight, she saw a magnificent, glittering Milky Way slowly unfolding in the night sky…

Unlike the electronic screen windows in the palace, this is definitely not a special effect deliberately displayed!

Not to mention the trickling stream above the courtyard, Elori could even feel the fresh, cool breeze blowing in from outside the cave.

"This is child's play for us." Lin Qing walked across the clear pool and came to the back door of the room. "Come on, push it open and take a look."

Elori cautiously pushed open the door, only to find a completely different room on the other side. This room was much more normal, with a square shape and classic antique-style furniture. But she quickly realized that they weren't just imitating antiques; they represented antiquity themselves.

Through the mahogany window, she could see that the exterior of the house was also in an ancient style, and there were people cleaning the courtyard. They were all wearing long gowns and coats, looking exactly like ancient Easterners.

Elori suddenly realized that she had arrived in another world.

Lin Qing then took her to Fu Jiaolu's room, where they caught a glimpse of the vast, desolate wilderness—if the previous world could be explained by the existence of a film studio, the scale of this world was clearly beyond comprehension. Furthermore, they were obviously operating according to their own timeline; for example, the ancient world seemed to be in the early morning, while the wilderness nestled against the mountains was already approaching dusk.

They are not even points of entry.

According to the organization, anyone capable of crossing the intrusion point would cause ripples of disturbance. However, she went in and out several times without encountering anything like that.

Besides, how could the intrusion points of the two worlds be so close together?

Overwhelmed with awe, Elori had come to believe one thing—she was indeed too ignorant, and the world was truly full of wonders!
The methods employed by this very shop were beyond her imagination.

No one would use a gold bar to cheat someone out of a one-euro coin.

Although she admits it's a little sad, she herself is that coin.

Back at the coffee table on the first floor, Elori sat up straight, staring at Lin Qing with an extremely serious expression. "I want to buy abilities."

"Ah."

"But I don't know what kind of capabilities I need to buy to solve the problem."

“That’s normal. Helping you solve your problems is part of our service.” Lin Qing chuckled. “Tell me about the trouble you’re facing—or your worries. We’ll tailor the most suitable capabilities based on your specific situation.”

Elori took a deep breath.

"that……"

Lin Qing waited quietly.

"Do I need to pay for the consultation? I don't have much money right now..." the other party asked cautiously.

She swayed and almost fell. "Consultations are free. Only transactions based on ability require customers to pay something of equal value. Don't worry about not being able to afford it. Anyone who comes to this shop is definitely not penniless."

Elori felt relieved. "I am an angel."

what?
Lin Qing wanted to laugh inside, but her face remained serious. "To be the opposite of the devil, is that it?"

“Yes!” Elori breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Elori wasn’t mocking her. “Of course… that’s just a common way of calling them. In Jiangcheng, they’re all called ability users. I tracked the demon to your world and joined the Dimensional Authority to try and get help…”

She recounted her experiences in detail, most of which Lin Qing already knew.

When she talked about flying to the top of a building, being swallowed by a black light, and waking up to find herself in her hometown a hundred years later, and even encountering two wanderers, Lin Qing's heart was immediately stirred!
"Tell me about those two," she asked casually, feigning nonchalance.

(End of this chapter)