Chapter 20: Drinking Water Freedom

Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Drinking Water Freedom

When it came to the most useful thing you could get from an F-level Supply Box, it was definitely blueprints!

Seraphina Sinclair rubbed her hands together, muttering, "Please, just one more blueprint."

She closed her eyes for a moment, then reached out and lifted the lids off several boxes.

[Obtained: Metal Fragments x10, cloth x5, wood x10]

[Obtained: Compressed biscuits x3, mineral water x5]

[Obtained: Stone x10, Earth x10, bread x2]

[Obtained: Broken Lens Fragment x1, Broken Lens Fragment x1]

[Obtained: Flowerpot x1, Flowerpot x1, Flowerpot x1]

Seraphina Sinclair’s gaze swept over the items.

’Metal Fragments, good. Cloth, good. These materials are all decent, just what I expected.’

There were also compressed biscuits and bread. Even though it was food, Seraphina Sinclair couldn’t bring herself to be happy seeing them.

The contents of the last two boxes were...

Huh?

Seraphina Sinclair picked up the irregularly shaped piece of glass from the ground and frowned as she read its Description.

[Broken Lens Fragment]

[Description: Just like its name says, it’s a fragment! A piece of a pair of glasses, to be precise. As for what it can be used for, that depends entirely on the owner’s imagination. But... how did this thing get mixed into a Supply Box? Wasn’t this supposed to be thrown out as trash last time?]

Seraphina Sinclair: "..."

’So... after all that talk, it’s really just trash, isn’t it?’

So you can actually get trash out of Supply Boxes.

Seraphina Sinclair fell silent.

She knit her brows, examining the lens fragment closely. It was transparent, about half the size of an egg.

’What could this possibly be used for?’

Seraphina Sinclair couldn’t think of any good use for it right away. Pinching the fragment between her fingers, she set it aside in a corner of the stone platform.

Its broken edges were quite sharp; it would be easy to cut her hand if she left it with the other supplies.

Now it was time to check the contents of the last Supply Box. Seraphina Sinclair picked up a flowerpot, examined it for a moment, then set it back down.

She couldn’t help but glance over at the Sunflower, then back at the three flowerpots she had just obtained.

’Wait a minute...’

’Why do these look exactly like the flowerpots from Plants vs. Zombies?’

The Sunflower looking the part could be written off as a coincidence. After all, there are only so many classic designs for a sunflower. A resemblance isn’t plagiarism, it’s an homage.

But flowerpots were a different story!

The variety, material, patterns... There were far too many unique elements!

To be this blatant about it...

Seraphina Sinclair frowned and suddenly muttered to herself, "Did they even pay the licensing fees? How dare they use this."

’No, wait.’

’I’m getting sidetracked!’

’The real question is, why give me three flowerpots?!’

[Flowerpot]

[Description: The smallest sliver of hope in The Black Mist World. Add a little Earth, plant a seed, and perhaps one day, your very life will depend on it.]

Oh.

’So they’re for planting crops.’

Seraphina Sinclair was so exasperated she actually laughed. Did the system think she didn’t know you could plant things in them? Her point was, why give her the flowerpots but no plants?

The plant is the most important part, isn’t it? What’s the difference between this and a five-dollar coupon for a Rolls-Royce?

Exasperated or not, Seraphina Sinclair certainly wasn’t going to throw them away. She silently gathered the "useless" items she’d just unboxed and tossed them into a corner of her mobile cabin for now.

’They might come in handy someday. I’ll just keep them.’

She had all the other materials for the simple water filter. Seraphina Sinclair arranged everything together and selected "Craft."

Soon, a water filter that was clearly more advanced than the one she already owned appeared!

[Simple Water Filter]

[Description: A standard device crafted from fully compliant materials! Introduce wastewater into the intake pipe; after passing through the entire filtration system, potable, pure water will be dispensed!]

’Pure water!’

There we go.

Her water problem was solved. Seraphina Sinclair had now basically achieved water security, putting her way ahead of the others.

Seraphina Sinclair was very satisfied with her progress. She lay back on her bed, intending to rest for a bit, when she suddenly received a message.

Puzzled, Seraphina Sinclair opened the chat, only to find that someone had @’d her in the regional channel.

"@Blacktiger Ford, everyone’s calling you a pro, so you should live up to that responsibility, right? Come on, share some information we don’t know and help lower the death rate. Just a few words from you could save so many lives!"

This comment immediately drew a chorus of agreement.

"Yeah, I’ve been dying to know how you caught E-level ingredients, pro. Did you go in the water? Which body of water? C’mon, tell us! We’re all just poor souls trying to eat a little better. We’d never dream of trying to steal food from a pro like you!"

"@Blacktiger Ford, you’re the only one who’s gotten a server-wide announcement so far! You’re obviously on another level, so you can’t be that stingy, can you? Just share a little, everyone will be so grateful."

"Forget about ingredients! Eating better can wait. The most important thing right now is figuring out how to survive! @Blacktiger Ford, you must know a ton of details we don’t! Just share one or two tips to help us stay alive! We’re all in this together! No need to keep all the secrets to yourself!"

How eloquent... Seraphina Sinclair was almost moved to tears. And so considerate, too...

Too bad not a single one of them had considered her perspective in the slightest.

Seraphina Sinclair sneered. She despised this sort of thing more than anything—ganging up on one person and morally blackmailing them into sacrificing for the "greater good."

Sacrifice?

That word wasn’t in Seraphina Sinclair’s vocabulary.

Well, it used to be, back when she was a good, civic-minded student who’d gone through the public school system.

But now...

’Just take a look at what kind of hellhole this is.’

Seriously?

Seraphina Sinclair wasn’t the type to stew in anger. With a cold laugh, her fingers flew across the virtual screen as she fired off a message:

[Blacktiger Ford]: You want intel? Fine. Trade me E-level or higher supplies. One item per question. Prices are firm, no exceptions.

The regional channel instantly erupted:

"Holy shit, what a rip-off!"

"We’re all in this together! Do you really have to be like that?"

"You’re really going to charge just to answer a question? How uncool is that? So petty."

Reading the passive-aggressive comments in the regional channel, Seraphina Sinclair scoffed and fired back a scathingly sharp reply:

[Blacktiger Ford]: Let’s get one thing straight. First, I’m not your mommy or daddy. I have no obligation to hold your hand and teach you how to survive. Second, this is The Black Mist World, not some utopian society. If you want to live, you do it by your own strength, not by begging for handouts.

And that was her being gentle.

Seraphina Sinclair’s fingers moved at lightning speed. The moment she sent that message, the next one was already queued up.

[Blacktiger Ford]: You talk a big game about "solidarity" and being "in this together." Fine. So yesterday, when someone was so hungry they traded a rare material for a single piece of bread, where were all of you shouting about sharing resources? Today, when someone was being attacked by a monster and begging for help, where were you heroes rushing in to save them?