Seeing he was about to leave to get what he needs, her expression became slightly more thoughtful. "You came because of the rain, didn’t you?"
Dan stopped. "The rain?"
She pointed toward the glass entrance. "The blood rain."
Dan looked outside.
Crimson droplets continued falling steadily from the sky.
"Oh."
She leaned back in her chair smiling. "Don’t tell me you’re one of those people."
"One of what people?"
"Those maniacs who think the red rain is some kind of sign that the world is about to end."
Dan gave her a strange look. "Can you really call them maniacs?"
She shrugged. "Maybe not."
Her eyes drifted toward the rain again. "But you have to admit it sounds ridiculous. Blood raining from the sky and suddenly everyone thinks it’s the end of the world."
Dan smiled faintly. "You can’t exactly say the blood rain isn’t real."
"Obviously it’s real." She gestured toward the windows. "We’re both looking at it."
"I mean you can’t say the phenomenon itself is normal."
That made her pause.
For a moment, she simply looked at him. Then a small smile appeared.
"That’s true." She rested her chin against one hand. "Strange things happen."
Her tone had changed slightly. Less playful. More thoughtful.
"Sometimes they’re just strange things. Sometimes they’re signs that something bigger is coming."
Dan raised an eyebrow after saying that...
"You actually believe that?"
Dan shrugged, "Yes, I do and one can never be too careful."
"Whatever." She grinned. "Besides, if the apocalypse really does come, I’m confident in my ability to survive."
Dan couldn’t help smiling. "Oh, really?"
"Very." She straightened in her chair with exaggerated confidence. "I may not look like it, but I’m actually skilled at a lot of things."
Dan glanced at her. "Such as?"
"A lot..." She smiled proudly. "And I’m pretty good with a kitchen knife."
Dan glanced at the knife block displayed behind the customer-service counter.
"I’ll choose to interpret that as a cooking skill."
"It is." She smiled sweetly. "Mostly."
Dan laughed again. The conversation was unexpectedly pleasant.
There was something refreshing about her personality. She was outspoken without being obnoxious, confident without seeming arrogant, and she seemed perfectly comfortable talking to a complete stranger.
Eventually, she noticed the empty cart beside the entrance.
"You aren’t actually here just to browse, are you?"
Dan looked at the cart. "No."
"Stocking up?"
"Something like that."
She nodded knowingly. "See? You’re one of them."
"One of who?"
"The apocalypse people."
Dan shook his head. "I just like being prepared."
"Same thing."
"It isn’t."
She grinned. "Whatever you say."
Dan placed one hand on the cart. "Well, I’d better get started before the other apocalypse people beat me to everything."
"Good luck."
Dan nodded and began to push the cart away. He had taken only a few steps when he stopped and glanced back toward the receptionist.
"Hey."
She looked up.
Dan studied her for a moment before speaking, his tone noticeably more serious than before.
"You seem pretty nice."
She blinked, clearly not expecting the compliment. "Uh... thanks?"
Dan gestured lightly toward the windows, where the crimson rain was still falling steadily outside.
"You should probably take the apocalypse thing a little more seriously."
Her playful expression faded slightly.
"I’m not saying you need to panic or start screaming that the world is ending. But blood rain isn’t exactly something you can explain away with normal logic."
He paused. "Maybe nothing happens. Maybe tomorrow comes and everything is perfectly fine. But if something really is coming, being prepared is better than having nothing at all."
The receptionist didn’t immediately respond.
For the first time since Dan had walked through the doors, she seemed to have run out of witty remarks.
Her eyes drifted toward the windows. The red rain continued to fall against the glass.
She stared at it for several seconds, apparently turning his words over in her mind.
Dan smiled faintly. "Anyway, that’s just my opinion."
He turned the cart around. "Take care."
The receptionist remained silent. She watched him push the cart toward the first aisle, her expression thoughtful.
Dan didn’t look back. He had said what he wanted to say.
He wasn’t trying to convince anyone that the apocalypse was coming. He simply didn’t want to see someone he had just met caught completely unprepared if the System’s warning turned out to be true.
As Dan disappeared between the aisles, the System suddenly spoke.
[She would be a good addition to the Ultimate Family.]
Dan’s footsteps stopped for half a second. His expression immediately flattened.
’Shut up.’
[System was merely making an observation.]
’I didn’t ask.’
[Understood, Host.]
Dan rolled his eyes and continued pushing the cart.
’Unbelievable...’
Despite the seemingly dismissive response, there was no real annoyance behind it. Dan was simply teasing the System, and the System understood that perfectly well.
Their exchanges had gradually developed into something resembling casual banter. Dan enjoyed deliberately provoking it, and the System had apparently learned to recognize when he was genuinely irritated and when he was simply messing with it.
Still, as he pushed his cart deeper into the supermarket, Dan couldn’t completely dismiss what it had said.
The woman had certainly made an impression on him.
She was outspoken, confident, friendly, and seemed to possess a surprisingly capable personality beneath her playful attitude. More importantly, she hadn’t laughed off his warning entirely. The moment he spoke seriously about the blood rain, she had actually stopped and thought about it.
That alone made Dan curious about her.
He didn’t know her name yet, though.
’I’ll ask her later.’
For now, he had more important things to worry about.
There was an entire supermarket waiting to be emptied.