Chapter 62 - 61: Prophetic Dream

Having slurped down an entire large bowl of mushroom and shepherd’s purse soup, Rick Kaye licked his lips, clearly wanting more, and looked at the already empty pot on the stove.

"Miss Steele, what exactly did you use... to cook this soup? It’s simply too delicious!" Rick Kaye’s eyes sparkled.

Standing to the side, Seth Jennings felt her lofty image of the man completely shatter. Wasn’t a Judge supposed to be the decisive and ruthless figure from the legends? Could someone please tell her how this man was actually such a foodie?

"I just used dried mutated mushrooms and dried shepherd’s purse, plus a little dried yam," Sev Steele replied.

"Did you say... mushrooms? I didn’t hear that wrong, did I?" Rick Kaye’s expression drastically changed. Though the soup was incredibly delicious, risking death by poisoning for a tasty meal was way too steep a price to pay.

"Relax, it’s non-toxic. I tested it a long time ago," Doctor Jenkins said with disdain.

"Mr. Quinn, the reason I didn’t tell you the ingredients before you drank the soup was to teach you a lesson.

"From now on, before eating anything given by others, it’s best to test it for toxicity first, even if the food comes from those closest to you.

"After all, you can never truly know what’s in someone’s heart. No one can guarantee that they won’t be backstabbed by the person they trust the most," Sev Steele half-joked.

The original novel mentioned that his sweetheart, Lana Florian, had set up numerous traps to kill him. One of those traps involved him eating meat that Lana Florian had personally roasted for him, which had been laced with mutated poppy pollen. The mutated poppies had a strong hallucinogenic effect. She constantly whispered in his ear, inducing him to believe he was incredibly strong, an invincible hero. As a result, he fought in subsequent battles with complete disregard for his own life, charging forward blindly and feeling absolutely no pain even when injured. It wasn’t until his injuries were too severe and he had lost too much blood that he finally felt the true agony. Only then did he snap back to reality, but unfortunately, it was already too late.

"Thanks for the reminder! However, you are Jared Jenkins’s friend. What do I have to worry about?" Rick Kaye laughed.

Seeing him act like this, Sev Steele realized he clearly hadn’t taken her words to heart. The man before her had just saved a room full of people; she truly couldn’t just stand by and watch him blindly walk into a death trap. After much hesitation, she turned to Rick Kaye.

"Mr. Quinn, you saved all of us. As a token of my gratitude, I’d like to give you some snacks I made myself.

"I stored them over in the woodshed. Could I trouble you to come with me for a moment?"

Her request sounded reasonable enough. After all, Rick Kaye had a Space Button; if he went with her, he could just store them directly, saving her the trouble of carrying them over.

"Then I won’t be polite!" Rick Kaye readily followed her.

The woodshed wasn’t sturdy to begin with, and after the rat tide, it had been smashed to pieces. Rick Kaye was just about to lend a hand to clear the debris when Sev Steele suddenly turned around, her expression solemn.

"Mr. Quinn, please set up a sound insulation barrier. I have something important to tell you."

Rick Kaye was stunned, but he quickly did as she asked. She was just an ordinary person right in front of him. As a Seventh Tier Strong Person, he had absolutely no fear that she could pose any threat to him.

"Mr. Quinn, I wonder if you have ever heard of a Prophet?" Sev Steele asked.

"I heard similar stories when I was a kid, but I never believed them," Rick Kaye answered frankly.

"Whether you believe it or not, before you arrived, I had a prophetic dream.

"In the dream, I saw this rat tide, and I also saw you descend from the sky in an aircraft carrier to save everyone.

"But in the final part of the dream, I saw you go deep into a dense forest intertwined with vines.

"There, you fought a powerful Mutant Beast. After being heavily injured, you managed to slay the Mutant Beast and harvest a rare medicinal herb.

"However, you were ultimately ambushed from behind, and you died right there," Sev Steele finished, her voice choking with emotion.

Of course, half of her sadness was genuine, while the other half was an exaggerated performance meant to increase her credibility. Sure enough, Rick Kaye’s eyes widened; he didn’t harbor the slightest suspicion that she was lying. He wondered if that was the reason she had been inexplicably warning him to beware of being backstabbed by those closest to him just moments ago.

"Miss Steele, in your dream, did you get a clear look at the person who ambushed me? Was it a man or a woman? What exactly did they look like?" he couldn’t help but ask.

"I didn’t see it clearly. Aside from you, everything else was blurry, as if shrouded in a layer of mist.

"You clearly had no defenses up at the time, which shows it was done by someone closest to you.

"I know this because I clearly saw the expression on your face when you turned around after being attacked—it was a look of unbelievable shock and sheer agony," Sev Steele said.

This part was entirely conjured up by her own imagination based on the plot. But after saying it out loud, even she believed eighty percent of it. As the person involved, Rick Kaye was even more thoroughly convinced. He had only met the woman standing before him by sheer chance. Their encounter today was purely accidental; there was absolutely no way this could have been planned in advance. Furthermore, she was merely offering a well-intentioned warning and didn’t specify who was trying to murder him, so she couldn’t possibly be accused of trying to sow discord between him and those around him.

"Miss Steele, I hope you won’t mention what happened today to a third person.

"Your Special Ability might make certain dark-hearted individuals feel threatened, which could endanger your life," Rick Kaye said seriously.

A cold sweat immediately broke out on Sev Steele’s back. She had only wanted to warn him to avoid this fated death, completely neglecting to consider the more profound implications. It was fortunate that this cannon fodder bigshot possessed upright character. Otherwise, he might have just captured her directly, imprisoned her in his territory, and forced her to predict the future exclusively for him. Thinking of this, she hurriedly tried to do some damage control.

"Actually, in all my life, I’ve only ever had this kind of dream once.

"If it weren’t for the rat tide happening right as I saw you, I wouldn’t have even dared to believe it was a prophetic dream."

Seeing through her worries, Rick Kaye comforted her, "Don’t worry. I absolutely won’t tell a third person about this, and that includes Jared Jenkins."

With him saying this, Sev Steele’s impression of him improved quite a bit. If a bigshot like him managed to survive this ordeal, there might be a chance to ride his coattails in the future. And since she wanted to get in his good graces, merely offering a verbal warning was obviously not enough.

"Mr. Quinn, among the items you carry with you, do you have a Blue Tears Spray Bottle?" Sev Steele asked.

"I do, and it’s not just regular Blue Tears. It’s a highly concentrated Special Level Blue Tears. It’s enough to make any Mutated plants below the Fifth Tier keep their distance," Rick Kaye replied.

"If you can stay here for another half a day, I have something I want to give you. At a critical moment, it might just save your life," Sev Steele said.

Her words caught Rick Kaye a little off guard. What kind of treasure could an ordinary person possibly have that could save the life of a Seventh Tier Strong Person like him? And why would it require him to stay for another half a day? However, the prophetic dream the woman had just mentioned greatly increased his trust in her, so he nodded.

"It’s four in the morning right now. I can wait until two in the afternoon to set out," Rick Kaye said.

Although the remote message from Lana had urged him to hurry over as quickly as possible, she had also mentioned that the Mutated Seven-Star Grass would take another seven days to mature. To meet up with her as soon as possible, he had traveled day and night after receiving the message, arriving a full twenty hours earlier than she expected. After intercepting the distress signal from the Ninth Security Zone, he had made a detour to come here, which had taken up about three hours so far. Staying for another ten hours wouldn’t delay his rendezvous with her.