Chapter 84 - 83: Even Scavenging is Highly Competitive!

In the original owner’s memory, the opportunity to dig for Mutated potatoes came only once a year. People would fight tooth and nail for a spot, yet they were incredibly hard to come by. At least, the original owner had never managed to secure one. Therefore, even though she was worried about leaving Rose alone, Sev Steele couldn’t bear to miss this chance.

She set an alarm for five in the morning. After taking one last look at Rose, who was fast asleep beside her, and Silvy, who was sprawled out by her collarbone snoring softly, she closed her eyes and fell into a deep slumber.

In the morning, Sev was woken up by her alarm. She glanced at the still-sleeping Rose and Silvy, turned off the alarm, and quickly got up to wash her face and brush her teeth. The moment she entered the kitchen, she found Rusty already busy starting a fire.

"Why are you up so early?" Sev asked in surprise.

"I heard the alarm, so I got up," Rusty replied.

The mother and son worked together in perfect harmony. Rusty added firewood while Sev took out the daily four liters of milk from the milk crate, along with the remaining two liters from yesterday. She then grabbed six Nutrition Blocks and threw them into the pot to boil. While that was cooking, she instructed Rusty to wash half a basin of mutated shepherd’s purse. Sev chopped the vegetables, sprinkled them into the pot, and added a pinch of refined salt. Soon, a large pot of shepherd’s purse milk porridge was ready.

Sev ate a large bowl herself and instructed Rusty to divide the rest among his younger siblings later. She also made sure to leave one roasted ant egg and one roasted Mutated Aphid for each of them. Then, she stuffed three Nutrition Blocks into her backpack. These were the rations she had prepared for herself.

After moving into their new home, Sev had found time to visit the trading hall and buy one hundred Nutrition Blocks. Although these things were coarse and hard to swallow, they were essential staple foods for scavengers. Just in case, she also packed five roasted ant eggs in a small vacuum-sealed bag and hid them in her inner pocket. They were far more filling than Nutrition Blocks.

Sev had deliberately worn new clothes today. After all, most of the people heading out with her would be the families of mercenaries. Most of them lived in Sector A with their mercenary relatives, enjoying much better living conditions than the scavengers in Area D, Area C, and Zone B. Since she was taking up one of Seth Jennings’ friends and family quotas this time, she was afraid of embarrassing him by dressing too shabbily.

Early that morning, Hayden Hanson had sent her a message, agreeing to depart exactly at 6:15. When Sev walked out of the courtyard gate at 6:14, she saw Hayden already waiting for her. Sev noted with satisfaction, "He has a strong sense of time. That’s a good quality."

It was still dark outside. When Hayden saw her under the dim streetlights, his eyes lit up. This was the first time he had seen Sev looking so refreshed and brand-new. She wore a matte grayish-green windbreaker paired with matching harem pants and a pair of lightweight, soft-soled trail shoes of the same color, making her look capable and sharp.

The ponytail she usually wore high up had been braided and draped over her shoulder. A few loose strands of hair fell by her ears, swaying gently with her steps and adding a touch of feminine softness.

"Morning, Hanson! Let’s go!" Sev greeted with a smile, her eyes bright and expressive. Hayden’s breath hitched slightly, but he quickly regained his composure.

The two walked shoulder to shoulder toward the gathering point. Considering this was Sev’s first time going out to forage with a Mercenary Guild, Hayden gave her a brief overview of the situation. The main gathering area in District Nine was The Murkwood, but there were no Mutated potatoes there at all.

The only two places where Mutated potatoes grew were hundreds of kilometers away. One of them was Cindervale, and the other was The Sundown Cliffs. Because of the unique terrain in these two locations, the protruding rocks had blocked most of the intense radiation during the nuclear war back then. The wild plants and animals there had suffered relatively low levels of radiation, and most had survived.

As a result, both locations were rich in species and were the most suitable for gathering. However, they were quite far from District Nine, and a large number of Mutant Beasts gathered in the surrounding areas, making the danger index extremely high. Only under the protection of a Mercenary Guild could scavengers safely gather supplies there. Their destination today was Cindervale.

When they arrived at the gathering point by the main gate, Sev raised her watch and took a look. It was exactly six-thirty. She thought they had arrived early enough, but to her surprise, hundreds of people had already gathered there.

Most of these people were young and able-bodied men and women. There were also a few children and people in their forties and fifties, but they all looked agile and capable. Given how precious this opportunity was, no family would send their old, weak, sick, or disabled.

At this moment, the vehicles from The Azure Owl Mercenary Corps had not yet arrived. The scavengers were gathered in small groups, chatting casually. Sev noticed that the crowd was clearly divided into two groups: those on the left were dressed relatively neatly, while those on the right wore shabby, worn-out clothes.

Hayden explained, "The ones on the left are the families or friends of mercenaries. Like us, they’re considered internal personnel.

"Their names are registered in advance, and they don’t need to buy a ticket to board the vehicles. The harvest is split forty-sixty, meaning they get to keep forty percent for themselves.

"The ones on the right are scavengers who caught wind of the news and are waiting here on standby. They have to pay a fifty-point ticket fee to get on board, and the harvest is split thirty-seventy. They can only keep thirty percent."

"What does ’standby’ mean?" Sev asked.

"Before digging for the potatoes, the Mercenary Guild will send people ahead to clear the area of Mutant Beasts and check this year’s potato yield," Hayden explained. "If the yield is high, the mercenary families definitely won’t be able to harvest it all in a single day, so they can bring along some ordinary scavengers.

"There are also some scions from noble families in The Gilded Ward. They have private vehicles and will form small groups to follow behind the Mercenary Guild.

"The weaker ones will follow the Mercenary Guild to scavenge the leftovers, while the stronger ones will venture outside the area cleared by the guild, treating it as a training exercise.

"The reason these small groups bring along scavengers is that the authorities have set up a checkpoint at the entrance to Cindervale.

"During the maturation period of the Mutated potatoes, any vehicle entering Cindervale must hand over one hundred catties of Mutated potatoes to the authorities for every passenger in the vehicle.

"Those scavengers who couldn’t get a friend or family quota wait here early in the morning just to secure a standby spot."

Sev thought to herself, "Even scavenging requires fierce competition!"

"When these standby scavengers head out with the smaller groups, their safety is almost entirely unguaranteed if they encounter large Mutant Beasts," Hayden added. "But the opportunity to gather Mutated potatoes is rare, and they’re willing to take the risk.

"After all, with the Mercenary Guild around, the chances of an accident happening are relatively small."

As Hayden led Sev over, many mercenary families cast peculiar glances their way. Some eyes held pity, some held disdain, but most were filled with curiosity.

Hayden used to hold a fairly high position in The Azure Owl Mercenary Corps, so most of these families recognized him. Back then, those with daughters of marriageable age had even considered marrying them off to him. Unfortunately, Hayden had been entirely focused on raising his Power Level and had zero interest in romance.

To their surprise, now that his genes had collapsed and his Abilities were unusable, leaving him to count down the days until his death, he had suddenly had an epiphany and taken a woman by his side. Sev’s face was relatively unfamiliar to them, prompting everyone to speculate that she must have used her pretty face to latch onto Hayden. Otherwise, how could she afford new clothes worth tens of thousands of points?

While the mercenary families were whispering among themselves, Sev looked up and saw a massive juggernaut of a vehicle approaching from the distance.