The next day, during White Day, at exactly ten o’clock in the morning.
Taking advantage of the moment while hot porridge simmered in the kitchen, Bai Tang returned to the front room of the general store. She removed the bolt and pulled open the shop door. This officially marked the start of business hours.
White Day lasted three hours and Long Night another three hours. These were the general store’s regular operating hours. The rest of the time was relatively free.
“Mmm~ haaa~”
Outside there were no annoying ghouls and none of that rotting-flesh stench they carried. The air itself felt refreshingly clean.
She had changed out of yesterday’s dirty clothes. Today Bai Tang wore a medieval-style outfit: a khaki checkered overcoat that fell all the way to her knees over a white fitted undershirt that hugged her figure and highlighted the perfect proportions of a girl in her teens.
Below that, a latte-colored pleated skirt stopped halfway down her thighs. It made her smooth, shapely legs look both long and pleasantly full — neither too plump nor too thin.
If this near-perfect appearance had belonged to her back on Earth, it would have outshone every beauty influencer in existence. Her natural pure aura combined with rare heterochromatic eyes would have made her the undisputed campus queen. She could slay hearts of any gender.
Unfortunately this was the hell world. The bizarre creatures here did not care how pretty Bai Tang looked. They only wanted to eat her — literally.
Standing at the doorway, Bai Tang gazed into the distant sky.
This world had no sun. Although White Day was not as pitch-black as Long Night and allowed normal activity, the sky remained gloomy and oppressive.
Still, she had almost grown used to it by now.
“At least it’s another brand-new day, right?”
Bai Tang gave herself an affirming nod. In this dangerous, madness-inducing world, maintaining a good mindset was very important.
Just as the girl stared outside and let her thoughts drift, a sound came from behind her.
“Teacher, you’re awake!”
“Mhm.”
Claire gave a faint nod. She wore the same black-and-white European medieval-style long dress as yesterday, her waist-length smooth gray hair cascading freely.
If she went out, Bai Tang guessed her teacher would probably add a tall, pointed round hat.
“How did you sleep last night?” the Witch asked, her gaze carrying a hint of inquiry as she looked at Bai Tang.
Bai Tang froze for a second. For a moment she even wondered if she had misheard.
The previous Night Demon Teacher would never have asked something that sounded like concern. He would only urge her to finish her work faster and secretly hope she made a mistake so he could eat her as an excuse.
In the diary, the right eye that had been gouged out as punishment for accidentally breaking a porcelain bowl had gone straight into the Night Demon Teacher’s stomach without any waste.
And now her new Witch Teacher was showing concern?
Bai Tang could hardly believe it — especially after yesterday when the Thousand-Handed Demon who had shown her malice had been allowed to leave unharmed.
“Mhm, thank you for asking, Teacher. Your student slept very well last night.”
Bai Tang flashed a sweet smile. No matter what, she still had to keep up appearances.
“That’s good.”
Claire looked thoughtful. Judging by Bai Tang’s energetic appearance, last night’s “relaxation” seemed to have worked quite well.
“Is breakfast ready?” Claire changed the subject.
“It’s almost done. I’ll go serve it right away.”
Bai Tang headed toward the kitchen, secretly relieved that at least her new teacher’s taste in food was far closer to human standards than the previous Night Demon Teacher’s. She could finally eat something normal.
……
The short breakfast passed quickly.
Throughout the entire morning the general store had no customers, so both the shopkeeper Claire and Bai Tang had nothing much to do.
Claire lay on a recliner with her large round hat covering her face, dozing.
Bai Tang sprawled bored across the counter, toying with two bottled potions in her hands. One held deep-blue liquid, the other a vivid red. They looked exactly like the classic “mana potions” and “health potions” from Earth games.
These were the new items that had just arrived at the general store today.
She focused her mind. Under the gaze of her right eye’s Eye of Breaking Delusions, the item information slowly appeared.
[Item Name: Mysterious Witch’s Handcrafted Potion (Blue/Red)]
[Item Effect: After consumption, temporarily and significantly boosts mental strength, clears the mind, removes minor negative status effects, and restores a small amount of mana (or health) every five seconds for five minutes.]
[Item Evaluation: A magic potion casually made by a certain mysterious Witch. From a potionology standpoint, the purity of the liquid is a rare treasure.]
Even though her teacher had made them casually with no intention of mass-producing them for profit, they were clearly on a completely different level from the other goods on the shelves.
Judging from the Eye of Breaking Delusions’ description, carrying these two potions with her might save her life at a critical moment in the future!
Alright, to be honest, Bai Tang was a little tempted…
The girl patted the pocket of her coat. She still had some ghost coins left from quest rewards.
“Teacher~”
“Speak.”
“May I use ghost coins to buy these two potions you made, Teacher?” Bai Tang gathered her courage and asked.
Even though they had not known each other long and her teacher was far stronger, the new Witch Teacher somehow felt friendlier than the previous Night Demon Teacher.
If the former Night Demon Teacher had belonged to the [Chaotic Evil] camp, then her Witch Teacher probably fell into [Lawful Neutral]. Whether she was good or evil was hard to tell, but she clearly followed her own strict set of rules and held herself to them.
After a moment, her teacher’s reply came slowly, her tone carrying no particular emotion, as if the matter was of no importance.
“Whatever you want.”
“Thank you, Teacher!”
Bai Tang first emptied every ghost coin from her pocket into the counter drawer, then carefully slipped the two potions into her coat.
Her chances of survival had just increased by another notch!
Time passed in idleness.
She glanced at the old wall clock.
12:35.
The general store’s White Day business hours were about to end. At that moment, Claire, who had been dozing on the recliner, finally spoke. She assigned Bai Tang her task for the day.
“Bai Tang, there is a letter that needs to be delivered to the owner of the Goat Tavern at No. 17 Undead Street. Go deliver it later and make sure you return before Long Night begins.”
“The letter is on the counter to your left. Remember to have the recipient sign for it.”
[Your teacher ‘Witch’ has issued you the quest ‘Deliver the Letter’.]
[Quest Requirement: Deliver the ‘Letter’ to the designated person ‘Barrel Butcher’ within the specified time and survive.]
[Quest Completion Reward: +250 EXP, 250 Ghost Coins, recognition from your teacher the Witch ‘Claire Charlotte’.]
Staring at the quest information that slowly appeared in her right eye’s vision, Bai Tang’s breath caught.
It had finally come.
Her first time going outside!