Chapter. 10 Lead and Silver Coins (1)
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‘When was the last time you came out of the connector? Since the time ratio is 5:1…. a week? No, about 9 days ago?’
He came out occasionally while playing games, but Ian was so busy that he didn’t even bother to show up at home, and Bex and Cynthia didn’t stick around the house because they were so excited, and even when they came out, they didn’t have much to do, so they ended up not coming out for a while.
“Hehehehe… The shelter has changed a lot, hasn’t it?”
“If this has changed ‘a little’, how much does it have to change?”
The most noticeable thing. The shelter became brighter.
The original shelter is a bit dark. To save electricity, it goes into power-saving mode during the day and relies only on the natural light from the greenhouse that protrudes from one wall.
However, as soon as I came out of the room where the connector was located, it was so bright that it felt open and spacious.
“The wall… is gone?”
correction. It wasn’t an open ‘feeling’, but a real open space. The wall in front of the connector disappeared, and a glass passageway was in its place. At the end of the passage was the medium-sized shelter that Ian and Bex were building last time.
“yes! Originally, Ian and Bex were going to live in the new residence, and Cynthia and the owner were going to live in our shelter, but Bex insisted on living here too, so we just connected the two buildings. The current one is used as a residence where everyone lives together, and the newly built one is used as a warehouse and garage to store materials related to caravanning activities. For the passage, I purchased and used an ‘n-type greenhouse’ sold in the marketplace, and since it is the exact same model as the original greenhouse except for the shape, it is fully functional as a greenhouse. “I was thinking about growing potatoes, but the temperature seemed to be dropping a bit, so I planted some cabbage and radishes.”
“Hmm… Now that I think about it, I only planted crops that were plentiful and grew well, relying solely on the performance of the greenhouse, but last year the crop was poor. That’s a good idea. This time, let’s grow fall vegetables according to the temperature.”
September. Summer and fall in the wasteland are short enough to pass by in an instant, and winter is long enough to make you beg for it to pass until your hands become dry and worn out. There is no spring. The explosion of the nuclear missile not only took away billions of lives.
The professor felt the cool air of the shelter and plunged the spoon into a steamy claw the size of an adult’s head.
Clatter, rattle.
“Radioactive scorpion, it’s been a while since I’ve had one. I ate everything near my house and it became extinct. “Did you buy it?”
“Ah, Bex and Cynthia went all the way to catch it. “Recently, Bex has been working hard to teach you many things.”
“No, what are you teaching a 10-year-old to catch radioactive scorpions the size of a small car as a by-product of his education? When kids say they’ve made something at school, isn’t it something like carnations or crayon drawings?”
“I know the exact details….”
no. As expected, these guys are bad. I was relieved that Ian wasn’t home, but I didn’t expect Bex to teach me something strange.
“Sickness. I’ll have to check when I get home. Let’s keep it for now. Has anything important happened so far? Please check your message. Because there are a few important things. And this, bring me a torso, not just a leg. “It’s been a while since I ate it, so it tastes good.”
“yep! I don’t eat much anyway because they say it’s dry, so I have a lot left over! “Please wait a moment!”
Along with Corduroy’s cheerful voice, I heard the sound of the kitchen’s automatic cooker turning on.
“Let’s see… there’s a lot of stuff to worry about.”
The professor looked at the waves of black messages flooding the screen and sighed deeply.
Most of them are spam emails, but there must be a message among them that needs to be delivered to me.
Today, I felt like I would stay up all night just checking this.
****
“Ugh! finished!”
Seven o’clock in the afternoon. It ended sooner than expected, perhaps because Corduro was there to help.
“Why didn’t I know that simple thing? ‘Cyojunim’ / ‘♥’ / ‘Open recruitment’ / Half of the money was lost just by finding and removing the words containing these three words.”
“I guess the master has achieved success. “I can’t believe I’m getting so many spam emails.”
“Because the people in the community are so thirsty for issues.”
Clatter, rattle.
“Would you like to have that again?”
“hmm? “You have to eat dinner, right?”
“You’ve eaten half a scorpion by yourself since morning until now?”
“I? already?”
“yes! “You said it was tantalizing in the afternoon, and you lit a fire yourself and roasted it in a bucket!”
Did you eat that much? I had my doubts, but the scorpion shells piled up next to the drone that displayed the personal message did not lie.
“I really ate a lot. “I don’t feel bloated or anything.”
“Maybe… it’s because of ‘that’? “Already, when you were in the connector, I thought you were putting in more calories than usual.”
Hearing Corduro’s words, he slowly raised his left hand. An organ completely different from the human body. Incredible hardness and strength. If it had the same output as a hydraulic press, it would consume that much energy, right? Even if it looks like that, it’s a part of my body, so of course I have to provide that energy, right?
“….Tsk. “Go and get everything that’s left.”
Thinking to himself that this could be the case, the professor put a period in the file where he was organizing his personal messages.
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– Ian: Going to make a deal with Dom. According to the news sent periodically, a big deal is being made with ‘Life and Murder’ company. The return date is September 5th. It’s 20 o’clock now, so about 34 hours later.
– Bex: Teaching Cynthia something. According to Corduro’s records, she took a wide variety of firearms from the warehouse and also purchased a number of items from the Dome with her own money. Go check and stop them as much as possible.
– Dome / Department of Biotechnology and other research departments: 238 messages roughly expressing expectations of a visit. If you have to go to the dome, just visit the biotechnology department. +++ Rapid energy consumption? upkeep expenses? Fuel efficiency? Please visit and check as soon as possible. Possible side effects or rejection.
– Soy Sauce Gay Bar / Ezel: A long apology for selling tickets to Room 1. I spent a lot of money, but in the end, ‘I can’t give you a 30% commission because all of the sales costs have already gone into Dome’s business.’ The contents. Go and collect it. Additionally, what ranker conference? There will be GG Ranker information exchange and social meetings, so be sure to participate. Let’s go and ask what it is.
– Inspector General: He said he would like to visit in the near future. [Attached image: Dalmore.jpg] It’s like asking for money for drinks. A man like a raccoon.
– Speed Wagon: Send a line to 40.227.90381. coordinate? Contact area? + What is this guy doing?
Area 40 is quite remote. Let’s meet.
========
Crunch, crunch!
“Um, uhm… Is this the important content?”
“Are you going to stop here?”
“uh. “I think I’ll find more spam emails if I look for them, but if I add more here, I’ll die.”
From ten in the morning to eight in the afternoon, I felt like my eyeballs were going to pop out as I was just staring at the tiny text on the screen without moving for 10 hours.
“I think it would be ten times harder to eat an entire scorpion in 10 hours.”
“Don’t keep highlighting it. “Because I’m a little scared too.”
In my mind, I thought, ‘Is this really okay?’ While I was thinking this, my hand was scraping the last remaining scorpion shell as if it were scooping up ice cream.
“Let’s go to the hospital first. “First of all, you need to know why this is like this so you can deal with it.”
The professor was about to collect all the eaten scorpion shells and throw them in the trash, but thought for a moment and poured the remaining shells into the kitchen.
“master? Where are you going to use that? Radioactive scorpions have weak shells, so they are not particularly useful…”
“It’s delicious when fried. “Let’s have breakfast tomorrow.”
I couldn’t understand it myself, but as soon as I let go of the food, I became hungry again. I felt like I had to go to sleep early to stop this endless hunger.
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[05:59]
Tick. Tick. Tick.
[06:00]
Tick-
Jump up!
Six o’clock in the morning. Yesterday, I was strangely tired and my eyelids felt like they were going crazy, but when I woke up, I woke up at the same time as usual.
[Ugh, please get some sleep! Can’t you wake up a little bit better? Because of that damn sleeping habit, you even woke me up!]
As always, Hyde’s screams fill the morning. After his entire left arm fell into the guy’s hand, Hyde fell asleep just like me. He was a heavy sleeper, so he always complained when I woke up early in the morning.
“Hwaaaam. Yes, good morning to you too, Hyde. You’re still sleeping even when playing games. What makes you so sleepy? “Without even moving.”
[This means that all my activities when I am not using my body are the same as brain work. People who work hard all day are sleepy, but people who just read books all day are just as sleepy!]
“Is that how it works?”
The time when you wake up and feel a bit dazed and think of meaningless thoughts. Personally, this is my favorite time. Not having to worry when you wake up means you’ve achieved some success as a wastelander, and that’s a small blessing in itself.
At that time, a rustling sound was heard through the cool morning air.
‘The sound of footsteps with a light and narrow stride. Is it Cynthia? ‘Why is he up at this hour?’
As I lay on the sofa in the dark connector room and listened, I heard the sound of fabric brushing against the sound of people moving around the shelter. The sound of sturdy, rough outdoor activity clothing rather than the soft cotton worn at home.
[I see you are thinking of leaving? And that too alone. You can’t hear Vex’s footsteps.]
‘No, if that guy decides to move, I won’t be able to listen. But if he came home yesterday, he would know I came out, so I’m not the type of guy to leave without saying anything… Wait a minute. Did the Vex come in yesterday?’
[uh. The two of them ran in excitedly, looked for you, and when they saw you sleeping, they turned off the light and went in?]
‘You mean I didn’t wake up even though there was so much commotion?’
[I guess I was tired. I didn’t really dream and just slept like I was dead. Speed Wagon is right. You need to get some rest.]
‘Hmm… I guess I’ll have to go to the dome today and find out for sure.’
[hey! Why are you wearing clothes while saying that? I told you to rest!]
‘Still, a wasteland person can’t lie in bed while the sun is rising.’
The professor roughly put on a shirt for outdoor activities, tied his shoelaces tightly to keep his walker from wobbling, and then quietly peeked his head out of the interface room.
Push!
A scene was seen where Cynthia, who was on tiptoe at the exit of the shelter, was so startled by the sound of the air in the decompression chamber escaping that she almost lost the large sack she was carrying on her back.
Honestly, I thought it was kind of cute, like a Disney cartoon character.
‘Seeing that there was nothing in front of the decompression room other than my jacket… Vex must have gone out somewhere at dawn, too.’
Anyway, it went well. If Cynthia had moved with the Vex, no matter how hard I tried to stealth, it would have been meaningless.
“It’s stealth… Reminds me of the old days?”
[When was it a long time ago? When you live alone? Military days?]
“The military side. “Every time the operation area overlapped with another company, I went to rob their supply depot, and even then, I moved while being bathed in the early morning dew.”
Even though she was careful, I was following Cynthia, who still couldn’t even hide her footsteps, and old memories came flooding back to me.
The professor quickly and quietly slipped out of the decompression chamber that Cynthia used before it closed. He grinned when he saw Cynthia, who had gone out of the shelter, return to the warehouse instead of the front door and retrieve the items she had brought.
[Isn’t this the cart in the warehouse? The one I use to shop at that large supermarket.]
‘I also cut and welded it to make it several times larger. ‘There are also smaller ones than that one, so why use that one?’
At first glance, the cart alone seemed quite heavy for the body of a 10-year-old girl, but Cynthia didn’t care and walked out the front door pulling the large cart.
‘Are you planning on doing some farming?’
[I guess that’s all there is to it, right? Since he is a child who has lived a difficult life, he may have felt responsible for eating and playing at home…]
‘Umm…. You’re amazing. I guess I should secretly follow him and give him a reward-‘
Geu-geu-geu-!
The professor, who was full of thoughts of praising Cynthia for her unexpected appearance, momentarily forgot what he was saying when he saw the outside of the shelter revealed when the front door was opened by manual operation.
‘no….’
[When did so many people gather together?]
Under the dim light of dawn, wasteland people dressed in practical rags were walking around dismantling old buildings or rummaging through collapsed buildings by pressing things like crowbars.
At a glance, there was a clear difference between the dirty streets around our shelter and the area that had been thoroughly swept by professional wasteland cleaners. An unoccupied ruined area arranged in a circle around the shelter, as if there were a line that should not be crossed, and people wandering around outside that line.
‘No way… I said we should live at a safe distance from each other, but they sat all around us, except around us?!’
Karruk, karruk!
While the professor was embarrassed by the ‘crowd’ that was rarely seen outside of Area 47, Cynthia, who was sweating profusely and pushing a large cart out of the restricted area, took off her goggles, wiped her sweat, and spoke energetically.
“Hello everyone! Good morning!”
Wasteland and Scavengers. And a lively girl.
People who encountered a completely incompatible combination greeted Cynthia, who, contrary to the professor’s expectations, was pulling a cart as tall as herself.
“Oh my, girl! good morning!”
“Did you come out today instead of the adults? “At such a young age, he is already performing the duties of one person!”
“Hehehehe. Oh, I brought some snacks from home today!”
“hmm? “A snack?”
“yes! “Dad says if you have something good, you should share it!”
“scent! “There are still people like that left in this world!”
“It seems there aren’t as many variations as I thought, and I think I did a good job of moving into the BDSM area.”
It’s friendly. I never thought I’d use this expression in the wasteland, but people covered in sweat and dust were chatting really amicably while chewing leftover fried shells.
Of course, this was the first time the professor, who was known to have created the situation, had heard of it.
[dad? Doesn’t his father know you? No, Cynthia’s father is your colleague, that Luwil? Are you talking about that dad?]
‘Not me either, but especially not Ruwil? ‘If she had something good, she would hide it and eat it alone, and she wasn’t the type of person to share it with anyone.’
Whoosh!
Cynthia made an incomprehensible sound and poured out what was in the bag onto the cart.
“braided! “You must be hungry, so eat this!”
“Oooh! thank you!”
“Tell the professor that I ate well!”
“Ha, this is it.”
The professor was scratching his knuckles at the sight, not knowing whether to laugh or be angry.
This is because each person who received the fried radioactive scorpion shells that Cynthia took out of the bag was taking out scraps from their own bags little by little and putting them into Cynthia’s cart.
Gurgling-
“Are you selling my breakfast?”
Somehow, Cynthia seemed to have learned her own way of survival.
****
fantasy,
