Chapter 284 - 274: One Billion

What qualified as a Code One emergency? Any situation involving SoySauceDrunkard was classified as a Code One emergency.

Sure enough, SoySauceDrunkard didn’t beat around the bush and replied quickly.

[SoySauceDrunkard: A production line for nutrient liquid. You guys should be mass-producing Soldier Food Rattan by now, right? If not, you can also buy the raw materials from me. The price is negotiable.]

Redlight completely missed the second half of the message, his eyes fixed on the words "nutrient liquid production line."

Ever since they brought nutrient liquid back from the game, they had been researching it.

After obtaining Soldier Food Rattan, they tried even harder to produce nutrient liquid. But the results were either complete failure, or they succeeded, but the amount of Soldier Food Rattan consumed could feed ten or more people for a day.

Such a wasteful nutrient liquid was better off not being produced at all.

Moreover, the nutrient liquid they produced tasted even worse than the finished product brought back from the game.

The original nutrient liquid, though it tasted bad, was at least drinkable.

The version they developed themselves was completely undrinkable.

It was gooey and gave off a foul odor, like a thick glob of phlegm someone had just coughed up.

Even if you forced yourself to swallow it while fighting back nausea, you would inevitably throw it back up.

After settling on a price with Redlight, Moira Lynch handed the matter over to Patience to handle.

She also listed some of the Intelligent Brains in her shop. She had no choice; the demand was just too high.

After arranging everything, her mini hotpot was just about ready.

Just as Moira Lynch was about to eat, a voice sounded in her ear again.

[Um, Master, I’d like to request some funds.]

Moira Lynch paused, asking curiously, "What do you need to request funds for?"

[To upgrade the system. After the upgrade, I’ll be able to better help you manage the shop and the other planets.]

Hearing Patience’s words, Moira Lynch was very tempted.

But on second thought, ’An upgrade like that won’t be cheap.’

So she asked, "How many Gold Coins will this upgrade cost?"

[One billion.]

’How much?’

’One billion!’

’Are you sure this price wasn’t set based on the contents of my wallet?’

But despite that, Moira Lynch still agreed to Patience’s request.

The reason was simple: she didn’t have many things to spend money on right now.

Keeping so much money on hand, aside from looking at it when she was bored, served no other purpose.

Besides, after experiencing an apocalypse and hoarding supplies, Moira Lynch had always felt that money was better spent.

She still had a lot of unspent cash stored in her personal space.

With Moira Lynch’s approval, her bank account balance shrank significantly.

[DING! The Federal Bank reports: Your bank card has just been debited 1,000,000,000.00. Current balance: 24,367,549.43]

She looked at the new balance, down to the last cent. After counting the digits, she thought, ’Hmm, that’s still quite a bit.’

’On Caelus, at least, I must be the richest person... No, wait.’ She suddenly remembered someone else had a wallet that could spit out money on command. ’I guess I can’t be the richest after all.’

’Second richest is fine, too.’

And so, after getting Moira Lynch’s approval, Patience immediately began the upgrade.

[The upgrade is estimated to be complete in five days. During this time, I will activate automatic mode. Please wait patiently, Master.]

After saying that, Patience’s voice completely vanished.

Moira Lynch briefly looked into this "automatic mode."

Simply put, it retained only the most basic functions; all others were shut down.

It was similar to the batch of Intelligent Brains she had brought back.

The only difference was that Moira Lynch’s Intelligent Brain could still connect to the star-net, and its previous commands were still being executed.

"Finally, I can eat."

After being busy for so long, she could finally have a hot meal.

Just as Moira Lynch was about to pick up her chopsticks, a loud BANG came from behind her.

Turning around, she saw Kai York bursting out of his room, his face alight with excitement.

Seeing Moira Lynch eating in the living room, Kai York paused for a moment. "You’re awake?"

Moira Lynch took a bite of vegetables from her hotpot and nodded. "Just woke up. Where are the other two?"

"Hugh Finch went out. He was acting all mysterious this morning, saying something was calling to him and that he had to go find it. The boss went to the base. We brought back a lot of good stuff this time, including a small production line, supposedly for making nutrient liquid."

Kai York said this while walking into the kitchen. He quickly came back out holding a self-heating rice meal.

He sat down across from Moira Lynch, took out a Water Storage Mushroom to add water to his meal, and continued, "Originally, we were going to keep that production line for ourselves, but the taste of the nutrient liquid is just..."

Kai York gave Moira Lynch a you-know-what-I-mean look.

"We’re not short on food, so why suffer like that? Besides, making nutrient liquid requires a huge amount of Soldier Food Rattan. We have a decent amount, but the supply isn’t growing. That production line would be a complete waste in our hands."

After he finished speaking, Kai York looked at Moira Lynch and asked curiously, "What did you bring back this time?"

At his words, Moira Lynch gave him a sly blink. "You want to know?"

’From the looks of it, it must be something good.’

Kai York’s eyes lit up, and he nodded eagerly.

Meeting Kai York’s expectant gaze, Moira Lynch slowly uttered a single word: "Sugar."

Kai York waited for a moment. "And?"

"What do you mean, ’and’? Isn’t sugar enough for you?"

Moira Lynch shot him a look that seemed to say, ’You’re being a little too greedy, kid.’

On Caelus right now, sugar was an absolute rarity. Forget sugar—even red dates were sold one by one.

’What’s wrong with bringing back a bunch of sugar? Absolutely nothing.’

Seeing the disappointed look on Kai York’s face, Moira Lynch decided to stop teasing him.

"Here, this is for you."

Moira Lynch pushed a blue metal box toward him.

"What’s this?" Kai York asked, taking the metal box curiously.

Moira Lynch, still eating her hotpot, replied without turning her head, "An Intelligent Brain."

Hearing this, Kai York’s eyes shot wide open. "An Intelligent Brain! Isn’t this the same thing that SoySauceDrunkard sells in their shop?"

"She’s not the only one who can enter the game. Why couldn’t I get something she can get?" Moira Lynch said nonchalantly.

"Now that you mention it, that makes sense. So how did you get an Intelligent Brain?" Kai York asked, curious.

Hearing this, Moira Lynch looked up, gave a mysterious smile, and said, "Because I ran into an acquaintance, of course."

"An acquaintance?" Kai York looked puzzled. "What kind of acquaintance could you run into inside the game?"

Knowing Moira Lynch’s homebody personality and how she never went out, he figured she probably didn’t have many friends. Even if she did, they were likely just casual acquaintances.

Kai York subconsciously assumed that the "acquaintance" Moira Lynch mentioned was a player.

But what kind of player could possibly help Moira Lynch get something like an Intelligent Brain?

"You didn’t run into SoySauceDrunkard, did you?"