Chapter 241
After a three-day break, Ste was back on her grind.
She had spent over a month collecting wood, stone, sand, steel, and bricks, steadily umting
60,000 points in the process.
As she browsed the list of items she could exchange for her points, she was disappointed to find it
mostly consisted of food, clothes, and alcohol - items she had no use for. This made her reconsider
her n of umting more points.
With the materials she had handed over, a significant amount of space was freed up in Arcadia,
allowing for more cultivation.
Jasper, concerned about Ste''s workload, suggested, “Why don''t we find Monkey? Maybe we can
trade for a nting and harvesting machine?”
“Fine,” Ste agreed, “I have nothing better to do while we wait for Newtown to bepleted.”
But to her surprise, Monkey was nowhere to be found.
After several fruitless days of searching in the trading street, Ste remembered that Rob lived near
Eastwood Eden. With Rob''s help, they finally tracked down Monkey.
“How can I help you?” Monkey asked, dust caked on his face and a sense of urgency in his voice.
“I''m in the middle of scavenging.”
He exined that his wife was nagging him about moving to Newtown, and despite his best efforts,
he couldn’t umte enough points. So, he had no choice but to risk his life scavenging.
Ste frowned, “How did you end up in this situation?”
Monkey sighed heavily, exining that the sea had been contaminated by a prehistoric virus,
cutting off his main source of ie.
With the extreme heat over, the weather was bing cooler each day, reducing the water
scarcity.
A massive earthquake had buried nearly everything under rubble, leaving only the survivors. With
the construction of Newtown, the government was fleecing the rich, persuading them to donate as
much as they could. This frightened them into living frugally— even the rich were running out of
supplies.
The lower ss couldn’t afford the goods, and the rich dared not consume them. This hit the
middlemen like Monkey hard.
In response to Ste''s concern, Monkey reassured her, “Austin has suffered even greater losses.
Many of our supplies were destroyed in the earthquake.”
Despite his struggles, Monkey was still loyal to his boss, “He''s trying to buy a vi, but he can''t feed
all of us. We have to fend for ourselves, and the boss makes up for any shortfall.”
Ste then asked, “How much can you make in a day scavenging?”
“Just a few tens of points, I guess.” Monkey replied, exining that things had be more difficult
recently.
Ste made a proposition, “If you can get the nting and harvesting machine, I''ll give you half a
truckload of steel.”
Monkey’s jaw dropped, “Are you serious?”
“Absolutely,” Ste confirmed, amused by his stunned expression.
Half a truckload of steel was around two tons, which made Monkey’s heart race. “I’ll get it for you in
three days.”
“Three days?” Ste questioned, “Isn’t that a bit rushed? I’m not in a hurry.”
“Two days and a half,” Monkey hastily replied, worried that someone else might take the job.
“Alright,” Ste agreed somewhat hesitantly, “just remember to keep this a secret.”
Three days passed in a sh, and true to his word, Monkey delivered the machines. Although they
were smaller than expected, they were in perfect working condition.
Satisfied with the delivery, Ste gave Monkey an extra two rolls of steel, bringing the total to three
tons.
Jasper quickly learned how to operate the machine and asked, “What should we nt?”
Ste considered the cooling weather and suggested, “Potatoes should be fine.”
And so, they nted potatoes in the freed-up space, keeping it low-key to avoid attracting any
unwanted attention.
With hundreds of pounds of seeds left over, Ste suggested, “Why don’t we give them to Mark and
his group at Eastwood Eden?”
They agreed to lend the seeds to Mark and his group. In return, they would get back the seeds and
an additional 20% of the yield.
The next day, they traded the potatoes for a sr generator from Eastwood Eden.
With the generator gone, life would be a bit inconvenient, but Mark reassured his group, “We
can harvest the potatoes in three months. Besides, we might not even be able to use the generator
in Newtown. Let''s think of this as early adaptation.”
Their optimism didn’t wane, and they quickly got to work. Jasper reminded them, “Mark, be careful
when nting. Make sure no one steals the potatoes.”
Exclusive content ? by N?(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.
And so, they took turns guarding their crops.
...
After dinner, while washing the dishes, Rosie nced outside, "Ste, why isn''t it dark yet?"
During the height of summer, it usually got dark around 7:30 PM, but now it was already 8 PM.
Ste stared outside for a long while, then pulled out a thermometer, 28 degrees Celsius.
The extreme heat came to an end, and the pr day arrived.