Chapter 16 - 15: Doctor Jenkins

The two Guards exchanged glances and decided to temporarily close the gates. They would take Sev Steele and her supplies to the special window as quickly as possible.

Sev was slightly on guard, afraid they might kill her for her newfound wealth. She discreetly brought up the emergency SOS icon on her watch. If anything unexpected happened, she would alert the authorities immediately. As for whether calling for help would actually do any good, she had no idea.

No slum-dweller in the safe zone dared to brawl or rob anyone within its borders. Out in the wilderness, however, no one cared if they fought to the death. But Sev didn’t know if the Guard Corps would intervene if law enforcement themselves broke the law.

The two Guards walked on either side of her, each carrying a burlap sack on her behalf, while the last one remained tied around her waist. Full of apprehension, Sev followed them into a small two-story building next to the gates, walking up the stairs step by step.

This floor looked like an office building. After passing through a long corridor, they arrived at the door of the final room. Sev’s heart was practically in her throat from the tension. The room looked incredibly secluded at first glance—the perfect place to murder someone, steal their goods, and dispose of the body.

Guard A knocked gently on the door, his demeanor extremely respectful. An impatient voice rang out from inside. "Come in!"

Guard B hurriedly pushed the door open, allowing Sev to see a bespectacled man sitting inside. He looked to be around thirty, with messy black hair and a scruffy beard. Although his clothes were made of decent material, they were completely wrinkled. In short, he was a slovenly man.

Seeing his appearance, Sev inexplicably let out a sigh of relief. He looked refined, and his eyes were filled with nothing but impatience. He didn’t look like someone preparing to commit murder and robbery in the slightest.

"Hello, Doctor Jenkins! We wanted to ask for your help in appraising some special supplies," Guard A said cautiously.

"What special supplies? It’s not just more pre-war scrap, is it?" the bespectacled man snapped.

"Apologies! As you know, Doctor Jenkins, we don’t have the clearance to inspect special supplies," Guard B explained.

Doctor Jenkins stood up and snatched the Tactical Backpack. He cast a cold glance at the two Guards. "Fine, you can get lost now!"

The two Guards immediately looked as if they had been granted a sudden reprieve. They turned and bolted like rabbits, leaving Sev standing there dumbfounded.

She wondered what was going on. Could this mild-mannered man with glasses actually be a demon in scholar’s clothing?

"Why are you still standing there? Afraid I’ll eat you?" Doctor Jenkins said, glancing at the stunned Sev.

Sev hurriedly dragged her three large burlap sacks behind her, struggling to squeeze into the room that was supposedly an office.

"Why did you bring that junk into my office?" Doctor Jenkins stared at the tattered burlap sacks with a look of disgust.

"Uh, well, the contents of these sacks are actually from the same source as the items in the Tactical Backpack," Sev answered, carefully weighing her words.

Doctor Jenkins frowned. He reached out, unzipped the Tactical Backpack, and dumped everything inside onto his desk. Instantly, the spacious desk became a bloody, chaotic mess.

Sev frowned. This guy really had no standards. He didn’t even put down a mat or anything before dumping it all out, making the place look like a gruesome murder scene. Before figuring out his character, she decided to remain calm. She would not make a move until he did.

Doctor Jenkins was clearly immune to the bloody spectacle before him. Without so much as a flinch, he began to study the Mutant Snake’s Poison Sac with great interest.

"Hmm, not bad, not bad. A Third Tier Mutated Coral Snake’s Poison Sac, and completely intact, too.

"Heh, consider yourself lucky. This thing’s venom is an ultra-powerful neurotoxin.

"If this Poison Sac had even the slightest tear, and a single drop of venom got into the cut on your finger, you’d likely be a corpse right now."

Hearing this, Sev broke out in a cold sweat. She had somehow skirted the edge of death completely by accident!

She didn’t doubt the scruffy man’s words in the slightest. The respectful attitude the two Guards had shown him earlier was enough to prove that he held a high official status in the safe zone. A person like that wouldn’t stoop to scaring a common slum-dweller like her.

"This Poison Sac happens to be exactly what Harris urgently needs. I’ll give you a thirty percent premium on top of the standard base price. Any objections?" Doctor Jenkins said, his tone casual, completely unaware that he had just scared the life out of her.

"Okay, no objections," Sev nodded woodenly, not even bothering to ask what the price was.

She was still immersed in the lingering fear of almost dying. The wilderness was indeed full of danger, especially when it came to Mutant Beasts. The next time she encountered one, she would stay as far away as possible.

But in reality, she had originally wanted to hide, too. However, as an ordinary person, she simply had no way to sense danger in advance. In a situation like today’s, it would have been impossible for her to dodge. If she hadn’t been clever enough to climb up high during the chaos, she would probably be dead by now.

"The Mutant Coral Snake’s fangs are front-fanged and relatively short, but its venom is potent, and the quality is excellent. They can be used to forge daggers. Let’s value them at twenty thousand points each, so two fangs would be forty thousand points. Do you agree?" Doctor Jenkins asked as he pried open the snake’s mouth with a pair of pliers and examined it carefully.

"I agree," Sev continued to nod. Because she was still reeling from shock, she remained unfazed by this sudden windfall.

Seeing her unruffled demeanor, Doctor Jenkins regarded her in a slightly higher light.

"The Mutant Coral Snake’s scales offer strong defense and are suitable for forging armor. There are thirty-six scales here in total. I’ll give you two hundred points a piece," he said, pointing at the scattered scales on the desk.

"Okay," Sev nodded again.

"I’m guessing you have even more scales in those tattered sacks of yours? Would you consider selling them all?" Doctor Jenkins cast a glance at her burlap sacks. By now, he had guessed that they contained the rest of the Mutant Snake’s remains, not the garbage he had initially assumed.

"Okay," Sev replied. She opened one of the sacks and pulled out the Snake skin she had hastily peeled off.

The moment he saw the Snake skin, Doctor Jenkins couldn’t help but frown. "What did you do? This skinning technique is far too crude!

"Fortunately, only the flesh underneath is mangled; the Snake skin looks relatively intact."

Seeing that the Snake skin wasn’t torn, a rare smile appeared on his face. "I can offer you one hundred thousand points for this Snake skin. It’s enough to forge two complete sets of close-fitting armor."

In just half an hour, Sev had heard the phrase ’ten thousand points’ several times. She was truly numb to it by now. She just nodded mechanically. "Okay!"

Doctor Jenkins’ gaze swept over the chunks of chopped Snake meat in her sack, and he frowned again. "Are there any Ability users in your family?"

"No," Sev shook her head.

"Then I advise you to dispose of all of this. Ordinary people will go mad if they eat Mutant beast meat." Doctor Jenkins’ expression grew uncharacteristically serious.

Sev finally realized with hindsight that her original body’s memories contained this knowledge. It was just that she had been so frightened by the fierce battle between the two Mutant Beasts that she had forgotten. At the time, her mind had been filled with a single thought: so much Snake meat! Snake meat was delicious, and her cubs would have meat to eat for a whole year. And so, in a daze, she had brought back everything she could carry.

"Alright, I’ll listen to you. I’ll dispose of it all," Sev nodded agreeably.

At that moment, however, Doctor Jenkins’ eyes darted toward Silvy, who was cradled in her arms. A sharp gleam instantly lit up his eyes.

"Haha! I never thought I’d see a mutant bamboo rat pup with my own eyes in my lifetime!

"You must understand, this species protects their young as fiercely as they would their own eyes. Even if it meant perishing together, they would never let anyone raid their nest," he laughed aloud.

Sev, however, took a half-step back in alarm. She shielded the little creature tightly in her arms, looking for all the world like a mother beast protecting her cub.