Chapter 19: Activated Charcoal

Chapter 19: Chapter 19: Activated Charcoal

In that case, a monster must have gotten in during the last black mist surge.

Seraphina Sinclair was lost in thought. ’Looks like my guess was correct,’ she mused.

That meant she could probably expect a Supply Box drop from that monster.

During the third black mist surge, the Sunflower once again warned her of a monster.

It was a Rotting Corpse, which Seraphina Sinclair easily took care of.

And with that, the black mist surge was over.

As Seraphina Sinclair was organizing her haul, she noticed an extra Supply Box by her bed—an E-level one at that!

Her first reaction wasn’t joy. Instead, she thought, ’Have E-level Supply Boxes gotten this cheap? How could a monster that just jumped to its death drop an E-level one?’

Seraphina Sinclair frowned, belatedly realizing this was likely no ordinary monster.

Or rather, what she had encountered might have been an E-level monster.

She drew in a sharp breath. ’Thank goodness that thing jumped on its own,’ she thought. ’Otherwise, it’s anyone’s guess who would’ve survived today.’

Seraphina Sinclair lined up the Supply Boxes. She didn’t rush to open them. Instead, she went to the composter to retrieve the nutrient liquid produced over the entire previous day.

100ml in total.

Enough for the mobile cabin to move for another hour.

The Sunflower’s Growth Rate was now at 60. It still needed 40 more, so it was unlikely it would evolve today.

Seraphina Sinclair pressed her lips together in silence for a moment, then sighed and pulled herself together.

’I’ll feed the Sunflower first. We have to keep moving today, whether it can evolve or not.’

The containers for the nutrient liquid were glass jars that came with the composter. There were three of them in total, and each could hold 100ml.

In other words, Seraphina Sinclair could store up to three days’ worth of nutrient liquid.

’Still, with resources, the sooner you get your hands on them, the more useful they are!’

Without hesitation, she fed the nutrient liquid to the Sunflower.

The Sunflower’s reaction was adorable as always. It swayed its head, and from its exposed stem, she could see its roots quietly straining.

’So yummy... (GLUG GLUG GLUG) It smells so good... (GLUG GLUG GLUG)...’

Watching from the side, Seraphina Sinclair couldn’t help but let out her first chuckle of the day.

The Sunflower’s wide-eyed innocence was actually kind of cute.

She tapped the rim of the Sunflower’s pot with her finger and said softly, "You’ll get this every day from now on."

The words had barely left her mouth, but the Sunflower’s Speed didn’t change one bit.

Seraphina Sinclair wasn’t sure if the Sunflower could understand her, but she already knew how rebellious this Sunflower was.

’Perhaps even if it could understand, it would pretend not to.’

In any case, Seraphina Sinclair wasn’t going to give up talking to it.

After the Sunflower finished eating, it started chanting in its mind again: ’Want more... yummy... more, more!’

’Like hell.’

Without a moment’s hesitation, Seraphina Sinclair put it on the floor and turned to grab the Hand-cranked Sunlight Lamp.

’If you eat my food, you’re going to contribute!’

’Little Sunflower, shine bright!’

An hour later, Seraphina Sinclair was once again collapsed on the floor, exhausted.

’I’m just saying, couldn’t they pick a different survival world to kidnap all of humanity next time?’

This damned place... these damned mechanics... in any case, Seraphina Sinclair couldn’t make sense of it!

Seraphina Sinclair rubbed her aching arms. Once she’d relaxed a bit, she initiated the day’s second move.

This move was unremarkable. There was one surge with no monsters, and two surges that each produced a single Rotting Corpse. In total, she received three F-level Supply Boxes, and...

Seraphina Sinclair snatched the slime that was frantically trying to seep into the cracks in the floor. She was proficient now, her movements to feed it to the Sunflower clean and efficient, not at all fumbling like the first time.

[Current Sunflower Growth Rate: 80/100]

Only 20 more to go.

’Tomorrow for sure.’

Seraphina Sinclair felt that her days had something to look forward to again. Humming a little tune, she went to check the supplies she’d gotten this time.

The first one she opened was, of course, the E-level Supply Box!

[Obtained: Activated Charcoal x3, Self-heating Rice x3, 330ml Cola x6]

Activated charcoal!

Seraphina Sinclair’s eyes lit up. She didn’t even glance at the other two items, immediately scooping up the three pieces of activated charcoal in both hands!

’What does this mean?’

’It means I’ll never have to worry about drinking water again!’

Seraphina Sinclair’s heart pounded with excitement. She opened the regional channel for a look, then closed it. She switched to her private messages page and scrolled through, but after realizing she didn’t have a single friend to share the news with, she suddenly strode over to the Sunflower...

She suddenly reached out, cupped the Sunflower’s flowery face, and gently unfurled the plant from its curled-up ball.

"We don’t have to worry about water anymore! Do you understand? We’ll never have to worry about water again! You can drink as much as you want!!!"

All of Seraphina Sinclair’s excitement was poured into her words, but the Sunflower wasn’t even the same species as her. Of course, it couldn’t understand what kind of emotion this was.

It couldn’t understand this human’s words, nor could it understand her actions... But there was one thing the Sunflower felt very clearly.

’Hot... It’s burning hot!’

Seraphina Sinclair flinched and abruptly pulled her hand back.

Suddenly losing its support, the whole Sunflower flopped heavily onto the Earth.

If the Sunflower could talk, it would have undoubtedly cursed Seraphina Sinclair out right then and there: "Between the two of us, who’s the one acting inhuman?"

Seraphina Sinclair also noticed something was wrong. She carefully checked the Sunflower several times and only relaxed after confirming the little guy had no damage at all.

’How strange...’

Seraphina Sinclair didn’t know why, but she just had a feeling.

Sunflowers were definitely not as fragile as this one in her home acted. As for why hers shrieked at the slightest touch...

Seraphina Sinclair reckoned she had probably ended up with a very spoiled baby Sunflower.

’Oh, well.’

’It’s not like I can throw it out.’

Seraphina Sinclair was still in a great mood. She skipped back to where she’d opened the box and only then noticed what the remaining two items were.

The self-heating rice needed no introduction; this stuff was common in her previous world, and one box was a full meal.

In her past life, Seraphina Sinclair might have been a bit picky, thinking self-heating rice was unhealthy, not tasty, and so on.

But ever since she’d experienced the bread in this damned place, everything looked delicious to Seraphina Sinclair, to say nothing of a rare hot meal like this!

Seraphina Sinclair carefully put away the self-heating rice and turned her gaze to the last item.

Cola, six cans in total.

She wasn’t a huge fan of it.

To her, it was less valuable than mineral water.

But there were plenty of people who loved this stuff. It would definitely be a hot item on the trading channel!

’Good stuff!’

Seraphina Sinclair put the two items together, then went to open the remaining F-level Supply Boxes.

She didn’t have high hopes for these kinds of boxes.

Although she had only been in this world for three days, Seraphina Sinclair had already noticed a pattern: the supplies in F-level Supply Boxes seemed only sufficient to keep a person alive.

Alive, but just barely.

They were stuffed with either disgusting food—like bread so hard it could be used as a brick, or compressed biscuits with the texture of cement mixed with sawdust—or just a few basic materials or some mineral water.