Chapter 313 - 303: One Year

Redlight grimaced in pain as his ear was pulled, begging for mercy. "OUCH, OUCH, OUCH, OUCH!!!"

"So you *do* feel pain. What exactly is going on? How did you manage to piss off SoySauceDrunkard?" Chase Shepard demanded.

"What makes you so sure I’m the one who offended him?" Redlight grumbled, rubbing his ear.

"If you didn’t offend him, why would you post a message like that?" Chase Shepard was still furious.

Those were robots, after all!

"Captain, just hear me out! Who said I didn’t work things out? Mr. Lynch said he’d save half for us."

Hearing Redlight say this, Chase Shepard’s attitude finally softened.

「Meanwhile.」

While the others were still out, Moira Lynch unblocked the clogged chimney flue.

A large clump of insect corpses fell down the chimney and straight into the fireplace.

Luckily, Moira Lynch was prepared and didn’t get a face full of soot from the chimney.

After cleaning up the area, Moira Lynch lit the fireplace.

As the flames grew stronger, the once-frigid house finally had a touch of warmth.

Moira Lynch went upstairs and changed into a set of fluffy coral fleece pajamas that looked incredibly warm and comfortable. She grabbed a coral fleece blanket, dragged a beanbag chair over to the fireplace, and clutched a warm, cozy pillow.

Although she wasn’t bothered by the cold, that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy the fire.

’Some barbecue skewers would be perfect right about now.’

But Moira Lynch was so comfortable in the beanbag chair that she couldn’t be bothered to move.

She took out a mug of hot cocoa from her inventory, sipping it slowly as she pulled out her tablet and started watching a previously downloaded anime.

After about two episodes of the anime, the front door pushed open. Shane Rhodes and the other two returned, bundled up tightly and looking travel-worn.

The moment they returned and saw Moira Lynch relaxing contentedly by the fire, Shane Rhodes remarked, "You sure know how to enjoy yourself."

Moira Lynch extended a sincere invitation. "Want to join? There are three new beanbag chairs over there."

After they took off their outer clothes, Hugh Finch, who was completely white with frost, stood out from the group.

However, Hugh Finch didn’t seem to mind at all.

He glanced at the three obviously brand-new beanbag chairs in the living room and asked curiously, "Did you just buy these?"

"Sort of. I bought them online in the game."

The moment Moira Lynch finished speaking, Shane Rhodes and the other two fell into a collective silence.

Game?

Online shopping?

’What kind of obscure terms are these?’

"You can shop online in a game?" Kai York asked.

Moira Lynch nodded. "To us, it’s a game world, but it’s also a real world. They even have shopping festivals, so why wouldn’t you be able to shop online?"

The three of them were speechless.

"Did you use the Intelligent Brain to shop online?" Hugh Finch asked.

"What else would I use? A cell phone?"

"But doesn’t online shopping take time? How did you make sure the delivery would actually get to you?"

Moira Lynch shrugged. ’It was simple. Just confirm the delivery address, ask in advance when it can be delivered, and pick the same-day delivery option.’

’It seemed... plausible... that there was nothing wrong with that logic.’

’So why hadn’t they thought of it?’

After a moment of silence, the three of them decisively returned to their rooms, shed their heavy clothes, and changed into warm loungewear.

With their temperature-regulating clothes and Extremely Hot Mushrooms, they wouldn’t feel cold even without having advantages like Moira Lynch.

And so, the four of them sat in a circle around the fireplace on the beanbag chairs. They hugged the pillows Moira Lynch had provided, each holding a mug of hot cocoa, and chatted as they drank.

"It’s a good thing we listened to Moira and put up that insulated plastic shelter outside. It really is much warmer."

They had just returned from the base, where it was nowhere near as warm as it was in their house.

"Oh, right, Moira," Shane Rhodes said. "Here’s the stuff we traded the energy cores for. Take it. The ice cream you wanted is inside."

Moira Lynch took the Space Button from Shane Rhodes and casually put it away.

"Moira, the same kind of energy cores you gave us are being sold at SoySauceDrunkard’s shop," Shane continued. "That must mean you two went to the same place. Did you see him?"

Hearing this, Moira Lynch shook her head. "I didn’t see him." ’I didn’t look in a mirror, so how could I have seen myself?’

"Everyone around was a stranger."

"By the way, where on earth did you get so many energy cores?" Shane Rhodes asked curiously.

Moira Lynch turned and blinked at him. "I think you’re better off not knowing."

Her words piqued Kai York’s curiosity. "Why? Is it some big secret?"

She took a sip of her hot cocoa. "It’s not that I can’t tell you. I’m just afraid you won’t be able to handle it."

"We’re living through the apocalypse," Kai retorted. "What could we possibly not be able to accept? Just tell us."

Seeing their insistence, Moira Lynch slowly uttered three words. "A garbage dump."

Shane Rhodes and the other two wondered if they had misheard.

Unconvinced, Kai York repeated, "A garbage dump?"

Moira Lynch nodded. "What, you look down on garbage dumps? Before the apocalypse, collecting trash was more profitable than working an office job."

As Moira Lynch said this, she looked incredibly proud.

’What’s wrong with trash? Ever heard of turning waste into treasure?’

"By the way," Shane Rhodes said, "on our way back, Captain Chase Shepard told us the temperature might drop even further. He said we should take precautions and not go outside unless it’s necessary."

"What more can we do?" Kai York said. "We’ve already made all the preparations we can. All that’s left is to wait."

Moira Lynch watched the flames burning in the fireplace and said slowly, "Judging from the previous extreme heat, we might be headed for an ice age. I have no idea how long this deep freeze will last."

"Based on the past few disasters, this extreme cold will probably also last for several months."

A few months. Not that long, but not that short, either.

During that time, who knows how many more people would die.

Although Moira Lynch had plenty of heating supplies in her inventory, even that amount was nothing compared to the population of Caelus. She could only prioritize her own people.

As for everyone else, she was powerless to help.

Just then, Hugh Finch, who was sitting to the side, looked at a Tarot Card in his hand. "This disaster might last even longer than the others."

Moira Lynch was the first to react. "What did your reading say?" she asked.

"My reading shows that this disaster will last for at least a year. And that’s the best-case scenario."

His words fell into the room, and everyone present fell silent.