Chương 33: Canned Beef

Jack paused.

"Already?" He glanced through the kitchen window at the Dustchucks digging in the distance.

"Was it because they decided to settle here?" he asked the system. No answer came.

"LOSS?" Jack called again.

"Say something." The system remained silent. Jack watched the Dustchucks for another moment, then gave up.

"Fine. I'll assume it was them." The task was complete either way, and that meant another reward. What Jack did not know was that the Dustchucks had nothing to do with it. The real answer lay beneath the soil surrounding the convenience store. After days of steady watering, the dry, hardened ground had begun to change. Water had seeped deep below the surface, reaching seeds that had lain dormant for countless years. Now, for the first time in ages, some of them were beginning to wake.

That tiny sign of life was enough. The local environment was no longer moving deeper into desertification. Even the slightest shift in the other direction was enough for the system to mark the task as complete. Jack could not see any of that. And at the moment, he did not care. He wanted his reward. The system's voice sounded again.

"Task reward unlocked."

"You may choose one existing resource and convert it into an unlimited supply." Jack already knew what he wanted.

"Canned beef." The idea had come to him soon after Marlin arrived. He still did not know much about what people ate in this world, but that hardly mattered. Canned beef kept for a long time, tasted good, and required almost no preparation. In a wasteland, something like that would always have value. And with merchants like Marlin passing through, Jack might eventually be able to trade those cans for things the convenience store did not have. The system responded at once.

"Selected resource: canned beef. Confirm?"

"Confirm." Jack waited for a moment, but nothing happened around him. He did not bother checking. The system had never made much of a show when delivering rewards. Jack did not even bother going downstairs to check. He could already picture the extra cans appearing beside the shelves. For now, dinner came first. Outside, Susan was examining Cass's wound. Elias quickly explained what had happened while she removed the bandage and checked the cut underneath.

"It's nothing serious," she said at last.

"Just a surface wound." This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Then she looked at Marlin's earlier dressing.

"This was enough to stop the bleeding, but it needs to be cleaned and wrapped again. Otherwise, it could get infected." Marlin rubbed his nose but did not argue. He had never claimed to be a doctor. Stopping the bleeding was about the best he could manage.

"Then I'll leave it to you." He handed her the first-aid kit. Susan opened it—and paused. Inside were gauze, bandages, disinfectant, hemostatic supplies, and several smaller medical items she had only ever found in rare Old World supply crates. There was not much of any one thing, but the kit was remarkably complete.

"These supplies…" she murmured. Ray immediately tensed.

"What's wrong? Is there not enough?" Susan shook her head, still looking through the kit.

"No. It's the opposite." She picked up one of the sealed packets and turned it over in her hand.

"If we used everything carefully, there would be enough here to save every person in our settlement at least once." Ray and Cass both stared at her. Even Elias looked surprised.

"Really?" Susan nodded. Marlin was the only one who did not look surprised. By now, he had learned better than to be shocked by anything Jack brought out. Susan returned to Cass's wound. She cleaned the cut, applied fresh dressing, and wrapped it properly. Ray stayed beside her the entire time, watching closely. Only when Susan finished did she finally relax. Ray seemed ready to scold Cass, but before she could start, she paused and studied him instead. Cass shifted in his chair.

"What are you looking at?" Ray ignored the question and turned to Susan.

"Doesn't he look different somehow?" Susan took another look at Cass.

"He does." That only made Cass more uneasy.

"What do you mean? Is there something on my face?" Ray moved around him, trying to work out what had changed.

"I don't know. You just don't look the same as before." Cass stared at her.

"I hurt my leg, not my face." Before either of them could figure it out, Elias picked up a towel and the clean clothes Jack had prepared and headed toward the outdoor shower.

"He just took the first shower of his life and washed off more than twenty years of dirt," Elias said with a laugh.

"Of course he looks different." Susan and Ray both turned toward him.

"Now it's my turn to wash off several decades of dirt." Still laughing, Elias stepped into the outdoor shower, leaving Susan and Ray staring after him. Cass explained what had happened while they were gone. Jack had set up the outdoor shower and told everyone to wash before changing into clean clothes.

"He said we shouldn't keep wearing dirty clothes," Cass added, scratching his head.

"Especially me, since I have a wound on my leg." Susan nodded seriously.

"He's right." Ray nodded too. A moment later, Susan and Ray both turned toward the outdoor shower. Cass immediately had a bad feeling.

"Can we use it too?" Ray asked. Susan did not say anything, but the interest in her eyes was obvious. Cass hesitated.

"You'll have to ask Jack. It's his shower, not mine." Ray nodded, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Right." Reed, who had been listening nearby, suddenly added, "I want to wash off more than twenty years of dirt too." Cass turned to stare at him.

"Why are you joining in?" Before Reed could answer, Jack came out of the convenience store carrying dinner. He slowed when he saw Susan, Ray, and Reed all looking at him while Cass sat there with a troubled expression.

"What happened?" Susan hesitated before asking, "Jack, would it be all right if we used the shower too?" Jack blinked. He had thought something serious had happened.

"That's all?" He looked at Cass.

"Then why do you look like someone gave you an impossible problem?" Cass was about to explain, but Ray spoke first.

"He said we should ask you. This is your place, after all." Jack rolled his eyes.

"Of course you can—" Then he stopped. His gaze moved between Susan and Ray, and his brows drew together. Both of them misunderstood his hesitation at once.

"If it's inconvenient, forget it," Susan said quickly. Ray nodded beside her. Jack finally understood and gave them a helpless smile.

"No, that's not it. You can use the shower. The problem is that I don't have any women's clothes for you to change into afterward. Reed can wear mine, but you two can't exactly wash up and put the same dirty clothes back on." Susan and Ray looked at each other, unsure what to do. Cass, however, waved the problem aside.

"That's what you were worried about? Just give them two dark shirts. That should work." Jack paused, then slapped a hand against his forehead.

"Right. Why didn't I think of that?" He gave Cass a thumbs-up before turning back to Susan and Ray.

"Wait here. I'll find something for you." With that, he headed upstairs. Far across the wasteland, Valkyrie and the others trudged on in silence. Ever since they had abandoned Barak, a heavy tension had hung over the group. After a while, Scar finally spoke.

"Valkyrie." She stopped and turned to face him.

"You said you'd come back and avenge Barak," Scar said. Valkyrie studied him coldly.

"What are you trying to say?" Scar gave her a humorless grin.

"You already know." Her expression hardened.

"What were we supposed to do? Stay there and die with him?" Scar's grin vanished.

"Then who will you leave behind next?" Wind swept across the wasteland, carrying a thin veil of sand between them. Valkyrie did not answer. Beside her, Mort glanced down at his injured left leg and slowly wrapped his thick fingers around the cold chain at his waist. No one said another word.