"You're okay, that's really great. Shirley was talking about you. She said she missed her big sister. If anything bad had happened to you, she would be very sad," Cris said.
"I miss Shirley too. She's so cute. Anyone would like her," Tracy replied.
"I'm off this weekend. Shirley keeps asking me to take her to the amusement park. Do you want to come with us?" Cris asked.
He didn't even think before saying it. But after he said it, he didn't regret it. He really liked Tracy. Shirley liked her too. If Shirley saw her, she would be very happy. Just thinking of Shirley's smile made Cris feel he made the right choice.
"Sure, as long as I won't bother you," Tracy said.
"You're not a bother at all. Shirley likes you the most. I'll pick you up. It's late. I'll take you home so you can rest," Cris said.
The next morning, someone from the real estate company called. They found three shops that matched what Tracy wanted. She got ready right away and went to see them.
Hiring the real estate company was the right decision. They found shops so fast. If she had looked by herself, it might've taken a long time.
Tracy didn't need a shop with a lot of customers. It was just a cover. So she didn't want a place in a busy area. Those were too expensive. She had some money now, but she didn't want to waste it.
"Miss Tracy, what do you think of this shop? The size and location meet your needs. It's near a college and the transfer fee is cheap. It's better than the other two," the agent said.
Tracy did like this shop. It cost more than the others, but it was bigger. There was even a small storage room. If she cleaned it up, she could even put a bed there to rest.
"I like it, but isn't it a little expensive?" Tracy asked.
"The rent is a bit high, but the space is large. It has two floors and a storage room. It's a good deal. The last owner wants to transfer fast, so the fee is not high," the agent said.
Tracy thought about it. She liked it, and the price wasn't that bad. So she chose this one. The agent looked very happy. He would get a good commission from this deal.
Thanks to the agent, Tracy signed the contract quickly. Now this shop was hers.
The shop was empty. Nothing was inside. Tracy needed to order shelves and contact suppliers.
She hired people to clean the shop and put up the shelves. Talking to suppliers and setting everything up took three days. Since it was the first time working with them, they asked for payment right away. Later, if they trusted her more, she might get the goods first and pay later.
When it was all done, Tracy looked at the shop and felt happy. Since she got the dimensional store, her life kept getting better.
Now she had a real shop too. It wasn't something she had to hide. This was a shop that could be out in the open.
While working on the shop, Tracy didn't forget to check the other world. The rain there had finally stopped yesterday.
Kei's team had come by yesterday. Tracy wasn't there. But she had left a message box. That night, when she checked it, she saw a note from them.
They said they would come back today. Tracy had already prepared what they needed. Her real-world shop was ready too. She just needed to get the licenses and choose a good day to open.
Tracy didn't plan to run the shop herself. She would hire people to do that.
She had only one body. It was already a lot to manage the dimensional store. She couldn't take care of both shops by herself.
Yesterday, when Kei's group came to the store in the other world, the door was closed. They got worried. If they hadn't seen her note on the wall, they might have broken the door to go in and look.
Today, they left the base early. They didn't want to miss her again. When they saw the store was open, they felt a big relief.
"Tracy, it's so good to see you. The virus rain kept us inside for days. Yesterday we came, but you weren't here. We were scared something happened," Kei said.
"That's my fault. But I can't be here all the time. If you come and I'm not around, write what you need and when you'll come next. Put the note in this box. I'll check it often," Tracy said.
"Okay, that's good. We brought enough gold this time. Did you prepare the supplies we asked for?" Kei asked.
They were still very curious. Where did Tracy get all these supplies? It was the end of the world. How could she get so much stuff?
If she had that much power, why didn't she do something big?
Why only run a small store?
But they didn't ask too much. As long as they got what they needed, that was enough.
Before, they struggled to survive. Even getting full meals was hard. Now they had a strong team and lots of supplies. This was the life they wanted. No need to dig for answers.
Because Kei and the others got sick before, they now understood how important medicine was. This time, the supplies they wanted included many types of medicine.
If it had been someone else, finding these medicines would have been very hard. But for Tracy, it was very easy.
When Kei and his group saw the medicine, their eyes lit up. In the base, medicine was even more valuable than food.
Before, Kei and the others got sick, but after surviving that hard time, they awakened special powers.
Even though their powers were still weak, they had strong potential to grow.
They now knew powers existed. They also guessed that Tracy might be someone with powers too.
They thought if she didn't have powers, how could she be so strong and run a shop in such a dangerous place with zombies around?
Also, her shop was different. When the sun outside was very hot, her shop felt like another world.
They didn't see any air conditioner. At the time, they didn't know why. Now that they knew about powers, they believed it must be because of Tracy's ability.
They didn't know what kind of power she had, but she had clearly awakened much earlier than them, so they believed she must be strong.
Today, besides buying supplies, the most important thing for them was to ask Tracy how to train their powers.
They had awakened their powers, but they didn't know how to make them stronger.
"You need these, right? I already prepared them for you. They are right here. There are other things in the store too. If you see anything else you need, feel free to take it," Tracy said.
"That's great. How much do we need to pay in total?" Kei asked.
"Medicine costs more. The food, spices, and other things are the same price as before. I'll remove the small change. Altogether, it's five thousand grams of gold," Tracy said.
After Kei and his group gave her the gold, Kei looked at her and said, "Tracy, sorry if this is rude, but are you someone with powers?"
"Why are you asking?" Tracy asked.
"You probably know about the virus rain a few days ago. After that rain, the zombies outside changed. Even normal zombies are now stronger and faster.
It's getting harder for humans to live. During this time, the three of us awakened our powers. When we saw how different your shop is, we thought you must have powers too," Kei said.
After hearing his words, Tracy understood why they believed she had powers.
What they felt was just the special effect of her store from another world.
She was only a normal person. She didn't have any powers.
But when she heard that Kei and the others had awakened their powers, she felt a little jealous.
Her shop kept her completely safe and protected from any virus, but that also meant she had no way to awaken any powers.
The only way she might gain powers was if she left the shop. But she didn't want to take that risk and become a zombie.
So even if she had the chance, she didn't want to go outside.
"Sorry, I don't have any powers," Tracy said.
Even though she said that, Kei and the others didn't believe her.
They thought she just didn't want to reveal the truth. Since she didn't want to talk about it, they didn't push her.
They had hoped to ask her for help with training their powers, but it seemed they couldn't.
"I understand. We just awakened our powers and we don't know how to train. If you happen to have any training methods, we can pay you for them," Kei said.
"If I had something like that, I would tell you. But I really don't," Tracy said.
When Tracy heard Kei talk about what was happening outside, she could imagine how hard things were now.
Even before, it was very difficult to live with zombies everywhere.
Now after the virus rain, zombies became stronger, and humans had even less space to survive.
If she really knew how to train powers, she would help them. The future of humans might depend on people like Kei.
But she truly didn't know. She was just a normal person.
So when Kei and the others looked disappointed, she couldn't do anything about it.
Kei and his group brought a large amount of supplies back to the base. This caused a big reaction.
Last time they returned with a lot of supplies, some people thought it was just good luck.
But now they came back with even more, and everyone realized it wasn't luck. It was strength.
Things were very different now.
After several days of virus rain, most zombies had changed. Even the ones that didn't change became faster and stronger.
Even powerful teams didn't dare go deep into the city anymore.
When the rain stopped yesterday, most teams left the base to look for supplies.
They met many evolved zombies and then realized how serious the virus rain really was.
The base suffered huge losses.
Most teams found nothing and lost many team members.
Now Kei and his group returned with a lot of supplies.
Everyone saw this as a sign of real strength.
Some people who knew Kei before were full of regret.
They had already been suspicious the first time Kei returned with so many supplies.
They had thought about secretly following him to find out where he got the supplies.
But the virus rain caused problems in the base.
Yesterday, when people went out to look for things, many teams suffered. They were still fixing their teams.
They had no time to watch Kei.
Now it was too late. Kei and his group had already come back again with even more supplies.