Chapter 67 - 66: A Free Gift Delivered to the Door

The Mutant Rat swarm had left nothing in its wake. With food practically non-existent in these rooms, the two of them focused primarily on firewood.

In a relatively intact side room, Hayden Hanson dug through the clutter and dragged out two single wooden bed boards in perfect condition. "Keep these," he said. "They’ll come in handy when the kids get a little older and need to sleep in separate beds."

In the corner of the yard, Sev Steele discovered a thick, waist-high earthen water vat. It had luckily survived the rat swarm’s destruction simply because it was too heavy and cumbersome.

"This is good stuff," Sev said, patting the side of the vat. "We can’t go out to forage for wild vegetables in winter, so we can use this to pickle sour cabbage. It beats chewing on dried vegetables every day."

Hayden hooked a rattan hanging basket down from the exposed rafters of one house. To their surprise, it still held half a basket of dried shepherd’s purse and goosefoot that the rats hadn’t ruined—an unexpected bonus.

The Mutant Rats had gnawed and dug everywhere, leaving many courtyards piled with loose soil. Considering they had Rose, a Wood Ability User, at home, Sev specifically asked Hayden to help shovel a full cart of loess to haul back to their new residence. Seeing Sev digging soil, Hayden had an epiphany and ended up hauling two more carts of it. Yellow mud mixed with grass clippings would be perfect for patching up walls gnawed through by the rats.

Finally, they scavenged a pile of scattered bed boards, over a dozen large wooden trunks for clothes, and seven or eight alloy pots that, while deformed, were still made of decent material.

"I’ll take the bed boards back and modify them," Hayden planned. "I’ll see if I can build another two wheelbarrows, or maybe some simple tables and chairs."

Sev looked at the large wooden trunks, already forming a plan in her mind. The wooden trunks were breathable, making them perfect incubator boxes for Rose to grow fruits and vegetables. As for the alloy pots, they were prepared as "practice material" for Rusty.

In the original novel, the boy grew up to awaken a Gold Ability. With Rose as a living example, Sev believed Rusty could awaken his early too. She had even started fantasizing about it. When Rusty mastered his Gold Ability, could he conjure up a wok, a frying pan, or even... the oven of her dreams out of thin air?

In addition to these primary resources, Hayden casually picked up some discarded iron nails, screws, hinges, and lighters. Sev had good luck; she found a few rusty saw blades, an old pair of scissors, and two tightly sealed alloy canisters. One of the canisters still had over a pound of wild honey left inside!

Before finishing up, they tore down a few heavy old curtains and two frayed, curling rugs. These items would be great for keeping warm during the winter.

"Unexpected windfalls really do come easily!" Sev sighed before leaving Area D, almost reluctant to go.

Hayden couldn’t help but laugh as he watched her keep looking back as they walked.

Suddenly, Sev pointed at an open courtyard gate. "What’s that?"

Hayden followed her finger. Under the dim streetlights, a dark lump faintly shimmered as their line of sight shifted. He set down his wheelbarrow, jogged over, and bent down to pick it up. Once he got a clear look, he was slightly disappointed.

"It’s just a damaged alloy wire Beast Catching Net. It probably wouldn’t even fetch 10 points at the scrap yard."

"This is good stuff! I absolutely won’t sell it. I can fix it!" Sev snatched it away and hugged it to her chest.

"You... know how to mend nets?" Hayden was a bit surprised.

"Of course. There’s plenty more this lady knows how to do," Sev said with a hint of smugness.

After a full day and night of labor, both were exhausted to the bone. They didn’t even bother to divide their loot; they just went straight to their respective homes and crashed.

The next day, the whole family slept in.

Sev was woken up by a message notification on her watch. When she opened her eyes, it was already past eleven in the morning. Rose was still asleep, but the three boys had long since woken up and were quietly organizing the things Sev and Hayden had "picked up" the night before in the courtyard.

Sev tapped open her watch and saw three identical, repeated messages:

Jadewind: Esteemed customer, are you there?

Sev couldn’t help but laugh. Skinny was truly a sly one. He was actually trying to test the waters to see if she was still alive. Area D had suffered a ninety percent mortality rate last night, so he definitely suspected she was dead. She had ordered Mutated Milk for a month for a total of 20,000 points, and the platform had made a one-time deduction of 6,667 points for the first third of the payment. The first phase lasted ten days, and only three days had passed. If she were dead, Skinny naturally wouldn’t have to refund the rest of the money.

Hmph! Trying to embezzle her money? No way!

She immediately sent a reply:

Sev Steele: I’m here. I just woke up. When do you plan to deliver today’s milk, boss?

Jadewind: Delivering it right now. Please send me your new address.

Sev immediately sent him the address to her new home. A quarter of an hour later, Skinny actually rode over in a motorized wheelchair.

Opening the courtyard gate to this sight, Sev asked curiously, "Where did you get that thing? Was it expensive?"

"Incredibly expensive! This is a treasure left over from before the Great War, and it’s solar-powered. I had to drop a full 300,000 points to buy it." Skinny looked a little smug.

Sev took her daily three liters of Mutated Milk, but Skinny didn’t leave. Instead, he leaned in and lowered his voice.

"Miss Steele, I have an extra liter of milk every day now. If you want it, I can give it to you for half price."

"Why do you suddenly have an extra portion out of nowhere?" Sev asked.

"To tell you the truth, this portion was originally ordered by a young master in The Gilded Ward for his Contracted Beast’s cub.

"But unfortunately, the cub snuck out to play last night and ran straight into the rat swarm. It was eaten until nothing was left but its fur and bones. Sigh! It was really tragic!

"Everything’s a chaotic mess everywhere lately, so it’s not easy for me to find a new buyer either. So..."

He trailed off, but his meaning was obvious. If he couldn’t find a new buyer, he’d have to consume the extra milk himself. But since the milk was so expensive, Skinny certainly wouldn’t bear to drink it himself. A cow’s daily milk yield had to be maintained at a balanced level; disrupting this routine would cause a drop in production, so he had no choice but to milk it.

Sev thought of Hayden Hanson and Doctor Jenkins and figured ordering an extra portion of milk wouldn’t be a bad idea. But it was impossible for an Azurean not to haggle. She feigned a troubled look.

"Mr. Forrester, the price of your milk is simply too high. I was tempted by the discount you gave me the other day and impulsively ordered a month’s supply. If it weren’t for the rule that fresh ingredient orders can’t be easily canceled, I would have returned it outright. Now you want me to order another portion? Where would I get that kind of money?"

"Miss Steele, you’re not planning to renew your subscription next month?" Skinny asked, shocked.

"Mhm!" Sev nodded, though she put on a hesitant expression.

Skinny was highly skilled at reading people. The moment he saw her face, he knew she was actually reluctant to cancel the subscription.

"Miss Steele, I know your family must have suffered heavy losses in last night’s rat swarm, but drinking Mutated Milk is truly beneficial. Tell you what. Seeing as we hit it off pretty well, as long as you renew next month, I’ll give you this extra portion as a free gift!" Skinny said, gritting his teeth.

There had been very few babies born in The Gilded Ward recently, and two more competitors raising mutated cows had popped up. The competition was far too fierce. Finding a major client like Sev, who took three liters a day, was incredibly rare. If she canceled her subscription, his losses would be astronomical.

Sev had originally just been trying to haggle the price down; she hadn’t expected such an unexpected windfall. She suppressed the joy bubbling in her heart and put on a show of twisting her fingers. After hesitating for a long time, she finally gritted her teeth and said, "Fine, then I’ll renew for another month!"

"Phew! I almost lost a major client. Thank goodness I reacted quickly," Skinny muttered, finally breathing a sigh of relief.