Chapter 152: Feeling at Home (Part 2)
After that, the voice of the Elementary School student was no longer heard in the convenience store.
He just vanished like that.
Liu Sheng didn't need to get up and move.
A Little Tentacle came to the door, where there was a large iron shelf with strings of small snack packs hanging on it, like little rabbit gummies, small packs of spicy strips, crispy noodles, and milk tablets.
This was a consumption trap specifically prepared for Elementary School students; each pack wasn't expensive, hung by the door so they'd see it as soon as they entered, immediately crave it, casually tear off a pack, and then look for other snacks they wanted, and it wouldn't hurt their wallets when they paid for them all together.
Bit by bit, unknowingly, it emptied the children's pockets.
The Little Tentacle searched the iron shelf from bottom to top.
But it didn't take too much time, because one string of crispy noodles clearly had one more pack than the string next to it.
In front of this string of crispy noodles, the Little Tentacle paused for a second, then moved down, stopping at the end, staring at the very bottom pack.
Soon, another customer arrived.
"Boss, can I eat this lollipop?" a little girl's voice rang out in the store.
Even though the Little Tentacle was crawling by the door, it still couldn't see how the little girl came in, nor where she was.
Liu Sheng even heard the tearing sound of candy wrapper being peeled off.
"I'm going to eat it!"
Too late!
Then, the tearing sound suddenly stopped, as if a pause button had been pressed.
Liu Sheng knew that the little girl had also disappeared into it.
The Little Tentacle came to the shelf where the lollipops were, and looked for a long time.
But before it could figure anything out, the sound of a car suddenly came from outside the door.
The Little Tentacle poked its head out to look, but it was just a blur of mist.
The sound of the car engine was clearly beyond that invisible boundary.
The car engine turned off, car doors opening, footsteps.
Then, the Little Tentacle finally saw them: two people appeared in front of the convenience store.
A man and a woman, middle-aged, normal build, ordinary appearance, wearing raincoats.
Was it raining in the outside world?
Liu Sheng received the Little Tentacle's perspective and wondered doubtfully.
They were not Elementary School students first, nor did they look like teachers.
But the answer was quickly revealed.
"Baby, how's business today?" The middle-aged woman smiled and stepped into the convenience store, lunging towards Liu Sheng.
But this smile seemed forced, her bright red lips stretched wide, and her eyes were full of disdain.
Yet, deep down, a twisted obsession and a sense of regret would sometimes flash through them.
It seemed as if she was looking through Liu Sheng's face, searching for something.
The middle-aged man, on the other hand, said nothing, anxiously rushing past Liu Sheng, lifting the bead curtain, and ducking inside.
From beginning to end, he did not spare Liu Sheng a glance.
The middle-aged woman seemed afraid that Liu Sheng would feel disappointed, so she explained, "Your dad, he's just anxious."
Soon, the middle-aged man came out.
"Useless."
He sneered, spitting out these two words.
His cold gaze swept over her, like an icy blade lightly scraping her skin.
Liu Sheng didn't understand, but she knew he must have found something in the back room.
Then he stomped out the door and left the convenience store.
Got in the car, disappeared.
The smile on the middle-aged woman's face also disappeared.
"How can you not even do such a small thing well?"
"We spent money and used connections to let you open a convenience store, not for you to be an idler and a slacker."
"But what about you? You hide in your room all day and don't even try! I can't even look at your room, it stinks terribly, it's suffocating, you clean it up yourself."
"You're already so old, and still useless."
"Not even as good as when you were a child; at least you were cute and fun back then."
"Now, you're just useless."
A string of insults, her spittle almost spraying all over Liu Sheng's face.
【Cannot kill her, observe and adapt.】
【But it's so hard to bear!】
【Clearing the stage is more important.】
So, Liu Sheng endured.
Then the woman, seeing that she had been scolding for a long time without any response, also found it uninteresting.
She spread her hand and said, "Where's the ledger?"
Liu Sheng knew she was probably referring to the small booklet under the counter.
So she pulled it out and handed it to her.
The woman also took out a shoulder bag from under her raincoat, pulled out a very large ledger from it, licked her finger, and flipped it open to a certain page.
Liu Sheng leaned in to look; it was densely written with categories and quantities of incoming and outgoing inventory.
With just a glance, Liu Sheng roughly memorized it.
Then the woman took the two ledgers and began to cross-reference them little by little.
"You didn't sell much..." The woman held the ledgers and began to wander around the convenience store.
Liu Sheng suddenly realized something and quickly sent the Little Tentacle out stealthily.
Must be before she finds out!
The Little Tentacle took advantage of the woman looking at the shelves in the back and came to the door.
Then, it pulled down that somewhat conspicuous string of crispy noodles, tore off the topmost pack, and then re-hung the string.
Then it went to the lollipop row, searching rapidly, calculating at the same time in its mind.
It's this box!
According to the inventory, there was one extra.
The Little Tentacle picked out a large, round swirl lollipop with a red and white spiral pattern.
...
"You're really something. You didn't sell anything all day, even worse than yesterday," the middle-aged woman said mockingly after looking around.
"Opening a convenience store in a school and failing so miserably, you're truly one of a kind."
"Looks like there's no need to restock, you can't sell it anyway."
"Good thing you don't even have the guts to steal and eat. You really are trash."
"I'm leaving. You continue being trash."
...
The two middle-aged individuals, possibly the fat shop owner's parents, finally left the convenience store.
Liu Sheng observed for a while before letting out a soft sigh of relief.
She silently tucked the crispy noodles and swirl lollipop handed to her by the Little Tentacle under her clothes, between her belly fat.
It was soft there, perfect for hiding many things.
Just as she had finished hiding them, she suddenly felt a sensation.
The Little Tentacle by the door caught sight of two faces pressed tightly against the door, abruptly, pallid.
Their bloodshot eyes bulged out, staring into the convenience store, fixed on Liu Sheng.
The Little Tentacle had no idea how these two faces appeared.
It also didn't dare to poke its head out to see how twisted their postures were.
It could only stiffen, pretending to be a black wire, not daring to move.
【They are weird objects, very strong, very evil.】
【Our current body is too weak, we can't defeat them.】
Liu Sheng knew this from the moment they appeared.
So now she could only stiffen on the plastic stool, her flabby flesh trembling, and the plastic stool emitting a barely audible groan.
After an unknown period of stalemate, the two terrifying faces disappeared.
Then came the sound of car doors closing, coming from beyond the mist.
The sound of the car starting, then the sound of tires driving on the concrete, gradually fading into the distance.
Only then did Liu Sheng truly relax.
She pulled out the pack of crispy noodles from her belly and silently looked at it for a while.
She tore it open, broke off a piece, and put it in her mouth.
Salty, fragrant, and crispy, it crunched deliciously, making her crave more.
The small pack was quickly finished.
Liu Sheng casually crumpled the packaging bag into a ball and threw it into her room.
Anyway, there was already a pile of packaging bags there, one more wouldn't matter.
Then she pulled out the swirl lollipop, which had slightly melted from her body temperature on her belly, tore off its wrapper, and licked it with mixed feelings.
She couldn't help but sigh, eating something sweet after something savory doubled the happiness.
She even wanted another pack of crispy noodles.