Next morning, Chrome opened his eyes, feeling refreshed from cultivating the whole night.
“Morning.” Chrome said softly as he rubbed Altyria’s ears.
After he got his ‘Alti dose’, he brought her out of the room and placed her on the small coffee table before washing his face. Because the living room was small, Chrome had to step over Dylan and Yilan, who were still sleeping in their sleeping bag.
After washing, he sat down at the small coffee table, put Altyria on his lap, and turned on the laptop. He quickly browsed through what the twins had bought last night. Seeing that almost everything was bought, he started thinking about what other items would be helpful.
Chrome petted Altyria’s back as he pondered.
They each had their own weapons, so it would be meaningless to buy them. Clothes could be taken from the department stores after D-day arrived. Yilan had purchased some medicine, but they could also stop by the nearby pharmacy stores around here later. If this world was the same as the two other apocalyptic worlds that they had experienced, then some antiques and jades would contain world essence after the red rain fell. If these antiques and jades did contain world essence, then it would be a good opportunity to restock his stash since he had used them to help Altyria recover.
After finalizing his plans, he used his spatial power to slightly squeeze the twin’s faces.
“Wha…Whab habbebing?” Dylan and Yilan immediately woke up.
Looking around, they noticed their Boss sitting at the small coffee table staring at them while caressing Altyria’s little white head.
Dylan coughed, “Good morning, Boss. You’re up early.”
Chrome glanced at the clock hung on the wall. Approximately 10:30 in the morning.
The twins also glanced at the clock and knew that it was not early. They quickly scrambled out of their sleeping bags. Yilan went to wash first, while Dylan went to make breakfast for them. Of course, Dylan was aware that Chrome would not be eating; otherwise, Chrome would have made breakfast himself. Unlike Chrome, they can’t live without eating and drinking. After Yilan finished washing, she took over the kitchen and sent Dylan to the bathroom to wash.
After half an hour, Dylan and Yilan sat at the coffee table and ate their breakfast while reporting what they did last night.
“Boss, are we going to settle in one area for the whole 3 years? If so, we can rent a villa that is out in the suburbs. There should be fewer zombies out there compared to the city.” Yilan wiped her mouth with a napkin.
“There were several villas for sale near the warehouse that I rented last night.” Dylan added.
Chrome tapped his finger on the coffee table as he thought.
Staying in one place was a good idea if they had a lot of supplies and were powerful enough to fend off high level zombies. Additionally, they wouldn’t have to deal with other people often. However, it was not known how fast the zombies would evolve. If a high leveled zombie appeared, it could summon a zombie tide, which they would not be able to stop with just the three of them.
Staying at a base also had its pros and cons. They would get the cooperation of other ability users when a zombie tide came, and they could trade supplies with other people as well. However, they would have to accept tasks and might even have to obey the higher up’s orders. For someone like Chrome, he would absolutely not lower himself and take orders from others. Furthermore, conflicts would occur frequently when their opinions differed too much.
Naturally, if they were to stop by various jade and antique shops, then they’d need a car. At the same time, when they travel, they would always have to find a safe place to rest or even have to camp outside.
Suddenly, a thought flashed in his mind. Yes, they could buy that. Chrome opened the system menu and browsed through the system mall. His eyes paused at a certain item. After a moment of hesitation, he bought it and continued on to a certain section of the system mall.
Dylan and Yilan had finished their breakfast and washed the dishes while Chrome was thinking. Right when they sat down again, Chrome looked at them and said a sentence.
“Let’s buy an RV.”
“An RV? Are you sure? Although it would be handy while traveling, I don’t think it can last against zombies banging on the car like crazy fans trying to see their idols.” Dylan said with surprise.
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“We can modify it, but none of us have modified an RV before.” Yilan slightly frowned.
“We will be buying the RV from the system mall. It is sturdier than the cars in this world.” Chrome said as he showed them the RV he had chosen.
Anfalen’s RV (Upgradable)
Speed: 86 kmph
Defense: Rank D+
Storage Space: 1 cubic meter
Item Description: Anfalen, a well-known hunter loved to travel. To meet his needs, he modified his 23 meter RV for protection against danger and ease while driving through rough terrain. Once in a while, Anfalen would upgrade his RV when he gathered enough materials.
Price: 50,000 solstice coins
“This is the second cheapest RV, and the one we can afford. Not to mention, this Anfalen’s RV can upgrade as long as we have the right materials. The cheapest RV is 28,000 solstice coins, but the RV is not worth the price or suitable for our situation.” Chrome paused, and then continued, “If we combine our solstice coins together we’d be able to buy it. Ownership of this RV would be everyone who contributed to the payment.”
Although they were a team, Chrome never took advantage of Dylan and Yilan. When they first joined him, Chrome often used his solstice coins to buy items they needed, even if he received nothing in return.
“I have no opinions.” Yilan expressed her approval.
Dylan excitedly rubbed his hands, “Let’s get it! Boss, I want to be the driver!”
Seeing that they did not reject getting this RV, he had them transfer their solstice coins to him to make the purchase. Chrome paid 12,000 solstice coins, Dylan paid 20,000 solstice coins, and Yilan paid 18,000 solstice coins. Dylan and Yilan did not care that they had to pay more since Chrome had bought expensive items for them in the past. In fact, they were happy that they could finally return the favor to Chrome in this way since Chrome never accepted their money.
An RV icon appeared on their item’s menu. When one of them was using it, the icon would darken. Additionally, a new space storage was available to the team. It was the team storage. Any items placed in the team storage would be available to all team members. Yilan and Dylan placed some daily necessities, food, tools, blankets, and clothes into the team storage. Dylan used 300 solstice coins to increase the space of the team storage, so they could fit more things inside. They still kept some supplies in their personal storage just in case the team storage was unexpectedly unavailable to them.
*************
Several days passed and all the supplies they bought were delivered to the warehouse. Dylan made trips to the warehouse to place the supplies into the team storage. When there was not enough space, he would text Yilan and Boss to take some items from the team storage and place it into their personal storage.
Chrome looked up locations of antique and jade shops. He also researched jade mines and museums in various cities. Yilan sat at the side and wrote down the locations of those places in a notebook.
“Boss, should we look up hospitals and medicinal stores? If possible, I’d like to find a store that sells medicinal herbs.” Yilan said as she wrote down an address of a jade shop.
Chrome did not say anything, but he searched up Chinese herbal shops in various cities.
During these few days, Altyria’s condition had been the same. She was still in a coma, sleeping peacefully.
Unknown to Chrome and the others, Altyria was actually aware of her surroundings. Her mind was awake from time to time, and she heard everything they said. Unfortunately, her body was still recovering and was not able to wake up. If she absorbed world essence from several more spiritual items, Altyria might be able to wake up for a period of time, but Chrome ran out of them.
On the night before D-day arrived, Chrome stood by the window in the bedroom and stared outside. After a couple minutes, he walked to the bed. His expression softened as he gazed at the person laying on the bed. The person on the bed was a young girl wearing a windbreaker over a long-sleeved shirt with an amethyst necklace resting on her chest and skinny jeans. She had rosy lips and white creamy skin. Her platinum blonde hair was soft as Chrome combed through her hair with his hand. His fingers slowly moved down and gently caressed her flawless face as he kissed her petal-like lips. His other hand played with the necklace on the girl’s neck.
“Alti…” Chrome sighed softly as he called out her name.
Two days ago, Chrome placed the necklace that was worth 10,000 solstice coins he had bought from the system mall around Altyria’s neck. She changed into human form, but was, of course, still in a coma. She was not wearing anything when the changed into human form, so he had carefully dressed her with the clothes that he had bought from the previous world.
Chrome glanced at the timer on the task menu.
Main Task
1. Survive for 3 years in this apocalyptic world. The apocalypse will begin in 15 minute(s).
Branch Task
* N/A
Seeing that only 15 minutes were left, Chrome gently held Altyria in his arms and walked out of the bedroom.
Dylan and Yilan were in the kitchen cooking as many dishes they could to put into their space storage. Hot food placed in the space storage would stay hot and cold food would stay cold. The twins wanted to cook as many hot dishes that they could since they did not know whether there would be time to cook later on.
In the living room, there were 3 backpacks filled with food and water. These were what they were going to use as a camouflage when they walk around in the city looking for supplies. People would be suspicious if they took things out from nowhere.
“The time has come.” Chrome said to the twins in the kitchen.
“Huh? Already? Lan Lan, hurry and cook the last dish. I’ll put these into the team storage.” Dylan quickened his movements.
“Got it.” Yilan turned up the fire and stirred the meat in the pan.
In the next moment, the sound of heavy rain pounding on the room of the apartment could be heard. Chrome walked to the window in the living room and glanced outside. It was 12 at midnight. Outside was pitch-black as the red rain fell from the sky.
Chrome moved away from the window and sat down. He adjusted Altyria’s body so she would be comfortable in his arms. After that, he rested his head on her head and closed his eyes.
Soon. Very soon, D-day will arrive.