Chapter Nine: The Above Conditions Apply Only to Humans

“Sigh...” Mu Chen let out a long breath.

He turned his head to look at the small group huddled together. Deep down, he felt uncertain—survival, the goal he’d silently reminded himself of since childhood. After years of hard work, life had finally begun to move toward something better, but now, unexpectedly, he was back at square one, and the challenge seemed to have become hellish.

He shook his head. No matter what, at least his sister was by his side. For himself, and even more so for her, he had to strive to survive.

Silently, he broke off his own musings. Everything had to begin with the practical. If they wanted to live, resources were essential. Mu Chen began to pull Mu Jiu’er over to inventory their backpacks, dividing them into four categories: food, materials, tools, and strange items.

First, he needed to estimate their food supply. Previously, it had just been him and his sister—he knew exactly how much they consumed. Now, with Saad and Lilian added, he had to calculate the daily needs for four people.

Flour: 25kg per bag, two bags.
Rice: 25kg per bag, three bags.
Compressed biscuits: 0.5kg per bag, two bags.
Mutton: 20kg.
Beef: 16kg.
Potatoes: 29kg.
Carrots: 14kg.
Other vegetables combined: less than 10kg.

When he finished counting, Mu Chen realized the food far exceeded his initial expectations. Earlier, he’d thought the supplies would last four people a week; that estimate had been conservative—these provisions could easily sustain them for half a month. The real crisis, as always, was drinking water: all water and beverages together amounted to only 30 liters.

An adult needs 2–3 liters of water daily; for four people, that’s 8–12 liters a day. Food can be stretched, but water, if not replenished, would inevitably affect everyone’s health.

Still, they could last three days. In three days, perhaps they’d find more.

He then turned his attention to the materials.

Iron ingots: 32.
Wood: 69.
Copper ingots: 5.
Industrial gears: 16.
Industrial fuel: 10 liters.

The materials were clearly limited, but he had a premonition: a major rush for supplies would soon occur. He remembered that territories could block the red mist, and building one would require lots of basic materials. The conditions for unlocking a territory weren’t high—just level 5. Judging by the leveling speed from killing juvenile aberrations, it wouldn’t be long before someone started constructing one.

“Brother, what about these tools? Should we use them as weapons?” Mu Jiu’er’s message flashed on the family channel.

After sending the message, she pulled two wrenches from her backpack. Looking at them, Mu Chen felt helpless. He wasn’t sure if they’d be useful later, and he’d never thought of using a wrench as a weapon.

Weapons and tools weren’t a priority for now. Aside from Saad’s butcher knife and Lilian’s fruit knife, they still had two kitchen knives and a switchblade in their backpack—enough to face juvenile aberrations. If they encountered other monsters, they wouldn’t foolishly rush in with knives.

“Pack them away for now. We’ll deal with them later, or just break them down if necessary.”

After Mu Chen’s reply, Mu Jiu’er chose not to dismantle them and simply put the wrenches back in her backpack.

Once they finished sorting food, materials, and tools, only the strange items remained.

These puzzled him most. Although the number wasn’t large, he wasn’t sure about their functions.

Fresh aberration corrupted meat: 11.
Twisted bones: 3.
Source of murk: 6.
Dark matter soul: 2.
Basic recovery card: 1.

The basic recovery card was a reward for Mu Jiu’er completing her novice quest, reminding Mu Chen of information he’d received earlier.

The basic recovery card had minimal effect on missing legs; what about the universal recovery card? He opened the quest list, and one task lay before him.

Era Participation Quest: Kill one adult aberration.
Note: Permanently unlock the exchange, reward one universal recovery card, one random recruitment scroll.

Multiple pieces of information referred to juvenile aberrations as “little ones,” so the “big one” was self-explanatory—the adult aberration!

Just as he was pondering, information appeared in his mind:

You realize that hope for restoring your legs is within reach, but with your current strength, the “big one” would turn you all into mincemeat at the cost of only light injuries.

...

It was certain—his legs could be restored!

He clenched his fists, recalling the dark times after losing his legs, nearly driving him to despair. For any normal person, such a blow would create an overwhelming urge to recover. Now, with the world enveloped in red mist and monsters rampant, survival had become a hell-level challenge, but in this moment, he saw a glimmer of hope.

However, to restore himself, he had to kill an adult aberration. As a servant, such strength wasn’t enough.

Making a Carrion Beast Recruitment Scroll was urgently needed.

He took out the Dark Matter Soul. In his hand, the amorphous dark purple object piqued his curiosity—it had no weight, felt like a shadow, and his fingers passed right through it. This was one of the materials mentioned for making the Carrion Beast Recruitment Scroll.

Mu Chen focused and silently recited the scroll’s name in his mind. Soon, information appeared.

Carrion Beast Recruitment Scroll: Summons a creature of the lowest rank from the abyss. Skill 1: Burrow. Skill 2: Toxic Rend.

Materials required: Dark Matter Soul x5, Twisted Bones x5, Tumor Meat Mountain’s flesh x3, Ten-Death Beast’s hand bone x1.

Note: The Carrion Beast needs to consume 10kg of anything edible per day.

You realize that with its help, the “big one” will no longer be your nightmare.

Mu Chen frowned. He didn’t know what the Ten-Death Beast or Tumor Meat Mountain were, but their names alone suggested they weren’t friendly. He could only memorize the material names for now and deal with them when encountered.

He looked up at the countdown in the sky. This was already the fifth hour since the red mist outbreak.

The world remained blood-red. If he calculated by normal hours, it should now be dinnertime.

Yet the sky hadn’t changed at all. This could only mean that there would no longer be any distinction between day and night. All that remained was... crimson...

Mu Chen raised his arms, stretching in his wheelchair.

“Saad, Lilian, come here,” he called.

Hearing his summons, the two servants bowed respectfully before him.

He glanced at their status: Saad was slightly satiated, Lilian was hungry.

“Jiu’er, it’s time for dinner. Come here,” Mu Chen said, his face full of affection.

He took out the workstation. He wasn’t sure if ingredients could be synthesized, but he wanted to try. If it failed, they’d just eat biscuits and raw ingredients tonight, he thought.

He placed a handful of flour and a bottle of water on the workstation.

Sure enough, a prompt sounded: Synthesize?

He confirmed.

Instantly, a fragrant aroma wafted out, and two plump loaves of bread appeared on the workstation.

Watching Mu Chen, Mu Jiu’er’s eyes widened.

Saad and Lilian swallowed quietly nearby.

With the previous experience, Mu Chen grew bolder. He placed a piece of beef and some vegetables on the workstation.

In the blink of an eye, a rich aroma filled the air—a portion of beef and vegetables that made everyone’s stomachs rumble. But, lacking any dishware, the meal spilled onto the ground from the workstation.

Mu Jiu’er looked regretful; Saad and Lilian were visibly excited.

Mu Chen rubbed his forehead and took two iron pots from the backpack.

Saad, recognizing the moment, quickly took the pots.

After repositioning the workstation, he placed the same ingredients on it. This time, the delicious food landed perfectly in the iron pot.

While Mu Chen pondered how to divide the meal, Mu Jiu’er had already found two branches to use as chopsticks and mischievously picked out a piece of meat from the pot, popping it into her mouth as her eyes sparkled.

Mu Chen: “...”