Chapter 36: 50-50 Split

"Mmm! It smells so, so good!" little Rose slurped her drool, an utterly captivated expression on her face.

Hayden Hanson actually wanted to say the same thing, but he was too embarrassed. He simply nodded along. "It really does smell good."

"Let’s not waste any time. Dig in!" Sev Steele waved her hand dismissively and began scooping portions into everyone’s bowls.

Skipping the filtering process left a lot of honeycomb-like steam holes on the surface of the egg milk custard, but this didn’t affect its texture. With one spoonful, the custard’s smooth tenderness instantly captivated the taste buds.

With another bite, the rich, milky aroma lingered in the mouth for a long time. Rose let out a contented sigh. "Mmm! It’s so delicious. Mom, is this what Heaven tastes like?"

Sev thought, "Kiddo, are you obsessed with Heaven or something?"

On the other side, Hayden was equally stunned by this ultimate delicacy. That unique fruity aroma perfectly blended the flavors of egg, milk, and salt. It was refreshing and smooth, making even him, a guest mooching off their meal, unable to stop taking spoonful after spoonful.

Fortunately, Sev had made plenty—four liters of milk mixed with two kilograms of egg wash, adding up to a full six liters! She had served Hayden using the very basin he had used to hold the eggs, giving him a full liter’s worth. Hayden had even declined at the time, claiming he couldn’t eat that much, but the more he ate, the faster those words came back to slap him in the face. He licked the basin clean!

As for the children, Sev scooped about two hundred milliliters for each of them. Since the ingredients came from Mutant Beasts, she was still worried they might have an adverse reaction if they ate too much. However, she specifically added an extra hundred milliliters for Rose; after all, she had already awakened her Ability. Ability users had a far greater demand for Energy than ordinary people, so she should have a good tolerance for Mutant Beast milk and eggs. But given her young age, eating too much would definitely still leave her overly stuffed.

Hayden hadn’t yet realized that Rose had awakened an Ability. Seeing Sev scoop the most into her bowl, he merely assumed she favored her youngest daughter. Plus, considering she had cooked so many precious ingredients in one go today and shared a portion with every child, he felt that despite occasionally beating and scolding them, this woman truly loved her children deep down. Hayden’s impression of his neighbor had now completely changed.

"I made a lot today. Since you enjoy it so much, Hanson, take a bowl back with you when you leave," Sev said.

"How could I?" Hayden’s face flushed slightly. His ravenous eating habits just now had been embarrassing enough; how could he take food to-go after eating his fill?

"You’ve given the kids bird eggs before. It’s just courtesy!" Sev replied.

Seeing her put it that way, Hayden stopped declining.

A day and night on Planet Veridia was twenty-four hours, exactly the same as on Azure, Sev’s original home. It was probably because the author wanted to avoid confusing the readers and make it easier to write. It was currently autumn, and the sun set around seven o’clock. When Sev and Hayden walked through the door today, it was almost eight. Now that they had eaten and drank their fill, it was already a quarter past nine.

Having eaten the mutated egg milk custard, Rusty and Zephyr had fallen into a drunken stupor. Firestone felt warm all over and started getting drowsy. Rose, on the other hand, was quite energetic, looking as though she was brimming with strength.

Sev took out the Mutated Small Juniper they had brought back and told her to help water it, conveniently mooching some of her Wood Ability. Rose happily hugged the vacuum bag containing Curly, took it out, and planted it in the same wooden box holding the Mutated Lemon Tree.

"You guys have to be good. Don’t fight! You’re both plants, so you should love each other!" Rose said with a smile. While she was at it, she used her will to guide two equally thick rays of green light, showering them over their branches.

Curly thought, "Who said plants have to love each other?" Mutated Quillworts were natural-born predators; not only did they eat Mutant Beasts, but they could also devour the Vitality of other plants. However, considering the green light provided by this human cub was too delicious, it would reluctantly hold off on sucking the Vitality out of the little sapling next to it.

The Mutated Lemon Tree was currently shivering in fear. The newcomer was too terrifying! An instinctive fear of predators let it know that the other party could take its little life at any moment. It cried out inwardly, "Big Master! Little Master! Save this little sapling!"

Unfortunately, Big Master Sev couldn’t hear its cries at all. As for Little Master Rose, after giving them two streams of her Ability, she got so sleepy that she simply lay down and fell fast asleep.

Now that they had eaten their fill, Hayden decisively got to the main point. "Sev, let’s discuss how to split today’s haul."

"Alright. You used two Crystal Cores during the fights today, so that cost must be deducted. Moreover, we mainly relied on you to win both battles. How about a seventy-thirty split for today’s harvest? You get seventy, and I get thirty," Sev said.

This was the fairest distribution method she had come up with on the way back. Hayden’s performance today had earned her recognition; from now on, they could be partners who trusted each other with their backs. She would continue going out in the future, and she hoped for the chance to travel with him again.

"No. As a grown man, I can’t take advantage of you. These two First Tier Ice Attribute Crystal Cores are worth seventy thousand points each. After deducting their value, we’ll split the rest of the harvest evenly," Hayden said earnestly.

GASP! Seventy thousand points?!

Sev was a bit shocked. Even though she already knew from the promotional pictures at the trading hall that a First Tier Crystal Core was worth over Fifty Thousand Points, she had assumed it was somewhat exaggerated and that they were actually worth ten or twenty thousand points at most. She hadn’t expected Hayden to willingly use two such precious Crystal Cores just to save her life!

With Hayden’s skills, even if he couldn’t win, his chances of escaping were extremely high. It was only because he was burdened by a weakling like her that he was forced to stay and fight the Mutant Beasts. Thinking about how he had brought out precious Crystal Cores worth one hundred forty thousand points to save her, she almost felt the urge to pledge herself to him in marriage.

Ahem! She was just letting her imagination run wild; pledging herself was completely unrealistic! After all, as someone who was practically on death’s door, he would definitely want to spend his remaining days carefree. How could he possibly want to get tangled up with a woman hauling around four burdens!

"Ahem! Well, I actually only provided a little support during the battles..." Sev wanted to argue, but he cut her off.

"You provided far more than a little support. In the first battle, you risked your life to kill the most dangerous female frog, which secured our victory. In the second battle, you disregarded your own injuries to buy me time to launch the Ice Mist, saving us from being overwhelmed by the ant swarm. Without you, I might not even have made it back alive today, let alone brought back a harvest," Hayden said.

"Alright, since you put it that way, we’ll split it fifty-fifty. However, do you think we should take everything to the trading hall, or find someone we know to sell it privately?" Sev asked.

"The trading hall could definitely fetch a high price, but it’s also easy to be targeted. When people from The Slums sell goods worth under Fifty Thousand Points at the self-service trading counters, they don’t catch the attention of Ability users. But if the items sold exceed one hundred thousand points, we could be targeted by unscrupulous Ability users, bringing fatal trouble upon ourselves. If it were before my genetic collapse, naturally no one would dare mess with me. But right now, I can’t even beat a random Second Tier Ability User..." Hayden grew more depressed as he spoke.

The reason he hadn’t gone directly to the Guard at the safe zone entrance to sell everything was to keep a low profile. After all, when they headed out this morning, he had pushed a wheelbarrow and explicitly told the Guard that they were going to Virenswood to chop bamboo. Upon returning, they had also told the Guard about encountering the rainstorm.

Although Sev had been dragging three worn-out sacks, since they hadn’t rented a Tactical Backpack, their collected goods weren’t subjected to mandatory inspections. Outsiders looking at them would naturally assume they had merely gathered some worthless wild vegetables. If they really had valuable goods, they would have definitely stuffed them into Hayden’s Tactical Backpack. When purchasing something like a Tactical Backpack, it was always bound to a biometric chip, meaning others couldn’t open it even if they stole it. Even though Hayden was now down and out, waiting for death, no one would bother trying to rob him.