Chapter 465 - 455: Invitation

Moira Lynch placed the Verasi Potion in the center of the Medical Ring.

The potion quickly vanished.

Seeing this, Moira Lynch’s face lit up. The potion’s disappearance meant the Medical Ring could replicate the Verasi Potion.

However, her production quota for the day was already used up. If Moira Lynch wanted to see the results, she would have to wait until tomorrow.

To avoid any mistakes, Moira Lynch immediately used a reserved slot for it.

Given the Verasi Potion’s effects, it had to be produced in large quantities. Not only was the potion incredibly useful and rare, but most importantly, it was no longer in production.

With the destruction of the Verasi System, every Verasi Potion used was one less in existence.

By afternoon, she was the only one home. Moira Lynch was sitting on the sofa, bored out of her mind, when she suddenly thought of something. She shot up from the sofa and hurried off toward the storeroom.

A moment later, Moira Lynch reappeared, lugging a huge, television-like device.

That’s right. This was another item Kai York had gotten from a blind box: the Nebula LCD Cloud Display, or "Interstellar TV" for short.

Moira Lynch seemed to recall that this type of LCD TV was part of a series.

It was called the Nebula series, with each model’s design inspired by a different star system.

Back when Kai York was opening blind boxes, he had been just one hidden model away from completing the entire Nebula series.

’It’s just a different case, isn’t it?’ Moira Lynch thought.

After she set it up, there was, as expected, no signal.

But Moira Lynch wasn’t worried. After all, she had downloaded plenty of TV shows, movies, and anime beforehand.

Even though she’d downloaded so much content, Moira Lynch had rarely found the time to watch any of it. Now, she finally could.

’But what should I watch?’

After a moment of indecision, Moira Lynch settled on a combo of anime and a movie.

"It is dinnertime. I will prepare the meal. What would you like to eat today?" Zion suddenly asked from the side.

Moira Lynch thought for a moment. "I’d like... actually, never mind. I’ll make dinner myself tonight," she said.

With that, she headed for the kitchen.

A little while later, Moira Lynch came out with several prepared dishes.

Scrambled eggs with tomato, stir-fried bok choy, stir-fried eggplant with pork, shredded potato stir-fry, smashed cucumber salad, egg drop soup, and a salted duck egg.

The vegetables were all from the small courtyard at her old place; she had harvested everything before the move, so they were incredibly fresh. The duck egg had been cured from a Snow Duck egg.

The first time Moira Lynch had tried a Snow Duck egg, she’d noticed that its yolk was particularly large.

Kai York had casually remarked that they would be perfect for making salted duck eggs. As it happened, Moira Lynch had been thinking the exact same thing.

She sliced the salted duck egg open. Its orange-yellow yolk, rich and oily with a perfectly grainy texture, looked incredibly appetizing. The yolk, after all, is the soul of a salted duck egg.

Just as Moira Lynch was settling in to eat while watching her shows, the door was suddenly pushed open from the outside.

Shane Rhodes, Kai York, and Hugh Finch walked in, looking travel-worn.

"Weren’t you supposed to come back tomorrow? Why are you here today?" Moira Lynch asked curiously.

After all, moving was a big deal. Not everyone had spiritual power to make it as effortless as Moira Lynch did. Even with the Elf Tree House, packing everything away would surely take a significant amount of time.

Besides, Kai York, Shane Rhodes, and Hugh Finch all came from large, prominent families.

For them, a household of a dozen people was considered small.

"My mom was worried you’d be all alone on the island and have a hard time, so she basically kicked me out and sent me over," Shane said.

The other two didn’t say anything, but from their expressions, it was clear they’d all had a similar experience.

"By the way, Moira," Hugh Finch said, "my grandfather would like to invite you over. It was inconvenient before because of the weather, but now that we’ve moved, he wants to have a housewarming gathering and also thank you for taking care of us."

Before Moira Lynch could respond, Shane Rhodes and Kai York chimed in, "Our grandpas said the same thing!"

Moira Lynch looked at the three of them, opened her mouth, but eventually just said, "There’s no rush to talk about that. Have you guys eaten? Come, join me."

During the meal, Moira Lynch’s mind kept wandering. She couldn’t even focus on the anime she had so carefully selected, her chopsticks just poking aimlessly at the rice in her bowl.

Hugh Finch noticed her distraction. "You don’t want to go, do you?" he asked. "You don’t have to force yourself, you know."

Having known her for a while, they had a pretty good sense of her personality.

It wasn’t quite social anxiety, but she was definitely reluctant to interact with people, which was likely related to her upbringing.

"It’s not that I feel forced," Moira Lynch said, looking up with a conflicted expression. "It’s just... I’m not good at talking with elders. Things could get awkward. And I’m not suited for overly enthusiastic gatherings."

The thought of a group of elders fawning over her and asking a million questions made her tense up.

She didn’t mind being an observer, but if she was the center of attention, Moira Lynch felt she’d need to mentally prepare herself first.

’Especially at a family gathering. What would an outsider like me even do there?’

’Just stick out like a sore thumb?’

"Besides, all three of you invited me at once. Whose house would I visit first? The other two families wouldn’t say anything, but they’d be unhappy. So... maybe we should just forget it for now. We’re all still settling in, so let’s postpone any gatherings for a bit."

Moira’s strategy was simple: put it off for as long as possible.

Shane Rhodes saw right through her attempt to dodge the invitations and sighed. "Moira, you can’t be like this. Why are you so timid? You should be more like me—bold and confident in everything you do."

Moira Lynch looked at Shane Rhodes, who was puffing out his chest like a proud rooster, and shot him down without mercy. "Bold and confident in everything? Then why were you acting so sneaky, like a thief in the night, when you stole the collector’s edition potato chips Kai York brought back from the game?"

Hearing Moira expose his secret, Shane Rhodes’s eyes widened in shock. "How did you know about that?"

’I was so careful!’

But he quickly realized his mistake. Slowly, he turned his head to meet Kai York’s furious gaze.

"Boss, didn’t you say I ate my chips while I was sleepwalking?"

With deadpan expressions, Moira Lynch and Hugh Finch watched the agitated Kai York. Only someone like Kai, who trusted Shane Rhodes completely, would have believed such a ridiculous excuse.

"It’s just one bag of chips! Big deal, I’ll replace them!"

"Replace them with what? That was the only bag of Helion System-flavored chips! They tasted like the sun! They were one of a kind!"

As he was being chased around, Shane Rhodes yelled, "What ’one of a kind’? They just tasted like regular chips! You must’ve gotten scammed!"

Back then, Kai York had treated that bag of chips like a priceless treasure. If he hadn’t, Shane wouldn’t have been inspired to get up in the middle of the night and steal them.