Chapter 47: Sev Steele Wants to Cry Again!

After picking out clothes for the children, Sev Steele chose an outfit for herself. Her priority was keeping a low profile so she wouldn’t stand out in the Slums, while also making sure the outfit was suitable for camouflage in the wild.

She selected a matte gray-green tactical suit. The top was a hooded windbreaker made from a high-tech thermoregulating composite material that was waterproof, windproof, and scratch-resistant. Its oversized hood perfectly concealed her face. The bottoms were harem-style pants made of the same material, designed for ease of movement with wear-resistant reinforcements on the knees and seat. The gray-green color was ideal for blending into dense forests. Paired with lightweight, soft-soled trail shoes of the same color, her footsteps would be completely silent. The shoes had excellent slip resistance and elasticity, providing an extra boost for running and jumping.

The entire outfit lacked any unnecessary decorations; its sole purpose was to blend into the environment and avoid drawing attention. This set didn’t come cheap either, totaling 31,800 points. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to buy something cheaper, but adult clothing simply didn’t have any promotional discounts. Furthermore, she was buying a rugged style meant to withstand the harsh conditions of the wilderness. This was the absolute best she could do.

Even with the twenty percent employee discount Bubbles offered, these clothes still cost her 109,280 points in total. Sev Steele couldn’t help but sigh. She thought, "Money really does disappear in the blink of an eye!" But with winter approaching, buying clothes to keep out the cold was an absolute necessity. She couldn’t afford to skimp on this.

Soon after, Sev Steele and Rusty moved on to the general merchandise section.

Since Sev Steele had generously spent over 100,000 points on clothing—even if some were discounted items—the way the sales clerks looked at her completely changed. The previous disdain and contempt were replaced by anticipation and longing. They hoped she would spend more so they could earn higher commissions. Take Bubbles, for example: even after giving out her employee discount, her commission rate was only one percent, yet she had still earned over a thousand points from this single transaction.

Although they worked in the Gilded Ward, those who took jobs as supermarket guides were never truly wealthy themselves. Their basic monthly salary was a mere 8,000 points. Without commissions, they wouldn’t even be able to afford the cheapest piece of clothing in the store.

Sev Steele looked at the pots and pans first. Given the recent torrential rain in Virenswood, the bamboo there would be highly radioactive for the foreseeable future and completely unusable. As for chopping down trees to make furniture herself, Sev Steele honestly lacked the skills, so she planned to buy ready-made items instead.

They only had one large alloy pot at home, so she urgently needed a large steamer and a small wok. After looking around, she was shocked to discover that there were no woks here! She wondered, "Do people in the Wasteland not eat stir-fried dishes at all?"

After carefully sifting through the original owner’s memories, she realized that this was indeed the case. In the Wasteland, food preparation was strictly limited to steaming, boiling, or roasting, and the methods were universally simple and crude. Of course, higher-level chefs might exist, but since the original owner was hopelessly poor and of low status, it was only natural that she had never heard of them.

Failing to find a wok made Sev Steele feel miserable. No wok meant there was a high probability that cooking oil didn’t exist here either. How could an Azurean’s diet possibly lack stir-fry?

Sev Steele wanted to weep but had no tears. Beside her, Rusty was completely bewildered. His adoptive mother had been so excited just moments ago; how did she suddenly look like she was about to cry? He wondered, "Did she finally realize how much of a spendthrift she has been and start regretting it? Is it too late for us to run away from this supermarket?"

Sev Steele quickly adjusted her emotions. When she first transmigrated here, wasn’t her primary goal to correct the four cubs’ moral compasses and escape her destined fate of being tortured to death? In just a few short days, she had already amassed enough money to ensure the four children wouldn’t starve this winter. Now, she was even able to take her kid supermarket shopping on a massive spending spree. What did she have to be sad about?

Since there was no wok, she selected a large steamer instead. It was forty-six centimeters in diameter with a two-tier steaming basket, allowing her to cook more food at once and save on firewood. For everyday use, she could make soup in it, ensuring the whole family could drink until their bellies were full. Oh, wait, with Silvy joining them, they were now a family of six.

The steamer cost 560 points. Initially, Sev Steele had mentally equated one point to one dollar back on Azure. However, after experiencing the sticker shock of those clothes, she felt that this steamer couldn’t possibly be any cheaper.

Following the steamer, she picked out four large plates. They were ten-inch soup plates—highly practical and capable of holding a lot of food—priced at 32 points each. She selected eight rice bowls; since they came in a set of eight, buying the whole set was cheaper, costing 268 points in total. Then she chose soup spoons, also in a set of eight for 98 points. For the bowls, plates, and spoons, she exclusively opted for alloy materials. Ceramics and the like were far too expensive and fragile; no matter how beautiful they were, she refused to buy them.

Having selected her tableware, she headed to the condiment section. There was no vinegar, soy sauce, peppercorns, pepper, cumin, or star anise here. The shelves only stocked salt and sugar.

Sev Steele felt the urge to cry again. She thought, "How am I supposed to survive in a world without Azure’s culinary delights? Argh!" The only silver lining was that she spotted some Mutated Lemon Fruit. Although fruit acid couldn’t truly replace vinegar, it was better than nothing.

Finally, Sev Steele turned her attention to the bedding section. There was no cotton here, which explained why she hadn’t seen a single piece of cotton clothing. The bedding materials were all woven from extracted flax-like plant stems, processed using specialized techniques. The filling inside was the catkin of a mutated plant—fluffier than cotton, but inferior in heat retention.

Because of this, people in the Wasteland had to sleep in thermoregulating clothes during the winter, relying on charcoal fires for extra warmth. The original owner had never spent money on bedding. She would harvest enough mutated flax stems herself and take them to the trading hall to exchange for finished duvet covers from small processing workshops. As for the filling, she would gather it from the wild herself. These catkins were seasonal, blooming right around early October every year.

Today was already September 30th. Sev Steele decided to set a reminder on her watch so she wouldn’t forget. When it was time to be frugal, she absolutely refused to be wasteful.

She bought five hundred grams of sugar for 32,000 points and two kilograms of refined salt for 1,600 points. Sugar in the Wasteland was absurdly expensive! Sev Steele noticed that although it was also a white crystal, it clearly wasn’t standard white granulated sugar. She dabbed a little bit and tasted it; it was cloyingly, overwhelmingly sweet.

According to the sales guide, this sugar was extracted from the fruit of a plant called honey fruit. The honey fruit wasn’t originally this sweet, but after mutating, its sweetness had increased tenfold. However, honey fruit couldn’t be artificially cultivated; the market relied entirely on Scavengers foraging it from the wild. Because the harvest was incredibly unstable, the price was exorbitant.

Sev Steele finally concluded her shopping trip for the day. Bubbles led her to the checkout. After scanning the front desk’s 3D code, the shopping list projected directly onto her watch’s virtual screen—

Discounted children’s clothing (5 sets): 56,800 points.

Regular-priced children’s clothing (1 set, including cloak): 48,000 points.

Regular-priced women’s clothing (1 set): 32,000 points.

Alloy tableware (steamer, bowls, plates, soup spoons): 1,614 points.

Condiments (sugar 500g, salt 2000g): 33,600 points.

Total purchase amount: 172,014 points.

After employee discount (20% off): 137,611.2 points.

After over-100,000-point spending bonus (5% off): 130,730.64 points.

Once verified, please click "Confirm Payment"!

The words "Confirm Payment" were displayed in bold, bright red text to ensure the customer wouldn’t miss it. After carefully reviewing the receipt, Sev Steele tapped to pay.

On their way out, Rusty consciously took charge of carrying all the clothes, while Sev Steele carried the pots and pans. Bubbles enthusiastically escorted them out of the supermarket, waving continuously as they parted ways.

"Please come again!" she called out.