Chapter 452 - 442: Finally Back

After settling the Ghost Cat Owl and releasing all the fish caught in the game into the sea, she found a suitable place to plant the enormous Xisuo Vine, which was as massive as a city wall.

It was worth noting that fish loved to lay their eggs on the Xisuo Vine, so the one Moira had brought into her space was covered in a frightening amount of roe.

However, since they had been out of the water for a while, the survival rate of the eggs had dropped drastically.

This wasn’t an issue for Moira, though.

’If one hatches, I won’t have lost anything. If two hatch, that’s a bonus.’

After getting everything in order, Moira had Patience list a new batch of items in the shop to announce her return to everyone.

The Xisuo Vine was simply too massive. All its nutrients were being supplied to the old vines, which would hinder future growth.

So, Moira decisively took all the old, withered vines to sell, leaving only the new shoots.

Once all this was done, Moira’s consciousness finally left the space.

On her way out, she grabbed the interstellar express package that had arrived.

A ray of sunlight fell across her face as Moira slowly opened her eyes.

Her absence this time had been unprecedentedly long, so at first, Moira didn’t notice anything amiss. Not until she habitually picked up her phone, which was charging on the bed, and glanced at the time.

To her shock, the time displayed on the phone was 12:00 AM.

Moira rubbed her eyes and took another look, just to be sure she wasn’t seeing things. Then she looked up and out the window.

’The sun is shining brightly. It’s definitely daytime, right?’

’Is my phone broken?’

"Patience, what time is it?"

[12:00 AM]

Hearing the same answer that was on her phone, Moira fell silent for a moment. Her phone wasn’t broken.

"What’s the situation outside?"

[Six days ago, Caelus began to experience polar days and nights. Cathaya is currently experiencing a polar day, which is predicted to last for one month.]

"So that’s what it is."

Moira went to the window to look at the scene outside.

Even though she’d been gone for several days, the snow hadn’t piled up outside; in fact, there wasn’t a single trace of it on the ground.

She thought about the plan to lay underfloor heating that had been in motion before the game started. ’Could it have been completed this quickly?’

Just then, the sound of a duck quacking suddenly came from below.

’It’s a Snow Duck!’

Moira was about to go take a look. She had just poked her head out a bit when a plump, dewy mushroom appeared right before her eyes.

Looking out into the yard, she saw that such mushrooms were everywhere.

It seemed the mycelium hadn’t been idle during the days she was away.

Since they hadn’t been harvested in time, most of the mushrooms had grown old. They were still edible, but their texture was far from ideal.

’Oh well. I’ll dry them out later or use them for feed.’

With that thought, Moira opened the door and headed downstairs to the first floor.

...

As everyone knew, Moira’s shop, "Don’t Miss It," received worldwide attention, with an endless stream of customers every day.

Even while Moira had been in the game and the shop was empty, people had still been watching it twenty-four seven.

And sure enough, the moment Moira listed a new item, it was discovered.

People were moved to tears with excitement.

New goods being listed in the shop didn’t just mean that they had food; it also meant that the players who had disappeared were back.

Considering she had been gone for several days, most of the items Moira listed this time were food. The most eye-catching among them was, naturally, the Xisuo Vine.

The vines of the Xisuo Vine grew thicker over time.

The Xisuo Vine Moira brought back was over a thousand years old, so one could only imagine how thick its oldest vines were.

To avoid scaring people, Moira had Patience process it before putting it on the shelf.

First, the inedible outer peel was removed.

The Xisuo Vine was a plant, after all, so the discarded peel could be used as feed for pigs, cattle, and sheep. The guiding principle was zero waste.

But that wasn’t all.

Without the peel, the "noodle-like" core inside was still a bit too thick.

So, another processing step was needed: cutting them to the thickness of actual noodles.

As for who did the cutting, you would never guess.

It was the lion that had been living in her space, freeloading off her every day, along with Moon Wheel.

Only after these two steps was it finally put on the shelves, becoming the product people now saw.

"Whoa, a new type of food! Is this... green noodles?"

Everyone flooded into the shop and started grabbing things without a second glance. They had no time to see what they were getting—as long as it was edible, that was all that mattered.

After all, the items in the SoySauceDrunkard shop were restocked in limited quantities each day. Once they were sold out, you had to wait until the next day.

Of course, Moira noticed this frenzy.

This time, however, the food supply was plentiful. In addition to the Xisuo Vine, there were fish from Cloudsea Planet and mushrooms from her personal space.

Especially the mushrooms.

Although only six days had passed on Caelus, several months had actually gone by inside the game.

The mushrooms planted in her space could be harvested every day and a half on average. After several months of this, her space was already overrun with them.

Most importantly, after that first planting, Moira had never needed to sow any more mycelium—the mushrooms all propagated on their own.

Watching the numbers in her space drop rapidly, Moira thought to herself, ’Go on, buy it all. There’s plenty more where that came from.’

The return of Moira and the others was like opening the floodgates. Other players began to return one after another, and the people’s restless, anxious hearts instantly calmed down a great deal.

After all, in the eyes of many ordinary people, these players were their only hope.

If something were to happen to the players, then all hope would be lost.

The moment they saw the players returning, the various nations couldn’t help but breathe a collective sigh of relief.

If these saviors hadn’t come back soon, they wouldn’t have been able to hold on much longer.

From these returning players, the public also learned the reason for their late return this time.

"A three-month mission?"

Inside an office, a gray-haired man’s brow was tightly furrowed.

"If the time spent in the game is going to be this long from now on, that’s not good at all."

This time they were only gone for six days, and all of Caelus was nearly thrown into chaos.

The man was silent for a long moment before finally heaving a heavy sigh.

Oh well. It wasn’t as if he could control the situation, much less stop it.

All they could do now, aside from actively trying to survive, was learn to adapt.

At this thought, the man clenched his fist. ’Just a little longer! A little longer!’ he told himself.

"By the way, is SoySauceDrunkard back?" the man suddenly asked.

The person standing across from him nodded. "They’re back. The ’Don’t Miss It’ shop has already started selling food."