Chapter 69: Utter Poverty (Thanks to the silent supporters, Soul Gamer, and the encouragement from Soaring Kite—much appreciated)

"Keep this treasure for yourself; it’s of no use to me," Xiao Hongyu added, worried Wang Keyue might not believe him. He reached into the box and took out the miniature crossbow, speaking as he tried to fit it onto his wrist.

"Look, this is designed especially for women. Me, a grown man with fists the size of soup pots—I couldn’t wear it even if I wanted to! Ah, tsk tsk tsk!" He stroked the tiny crossbow with a look of regret and reluctance, then carefully placed it back into the wooden box.

Wang Keyue couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

"Alright, then I’ll reluctantly keep it safe for you," she said, tucking the box away inside her clothes.

That evening, the two shared another meal together, chatting comfortably about the delicacies and scenic wonders of ancient nations before the apocalypse.

When night fell, Wang Keyue returned to her small courtyard and matched herbs to create ten packets of Plague-Clearing Powder, planning to give them to Xiao Hongyu before leaving tomorrow. Since he had been willing to spend large sums for the powder before, it must serve a vital purpose—she might as well gift him extra, as it wasn’t much trouble to make.

After preparing everything she needed for the journey, Wang Keyue lay in bed, her consciousness sinking into the system.

"9538, are you there?" she called out in her mind, but the space in her sea of consciousness remained blank; it seemed 9538 had not yet returned.

Wang Keyue brought up the electronic screen and switched to manual mode.

She checked her current gold coins: one thousand, still a reward from the last mission.

Clicking on Gratitude Hearts, she was surprised to find as many as four hundred and fifty. She immediately exchanged four hundred Gratitude Hearts for four thousand gold coins, bringing her total to five thousand.

She reviewed her current mandatory mission: treat five hundred patients within ten days. The task was marked as completed but not yet submitted.

Wang Keyue had already treated six hundred and nine patients for her mandatory mission. According to 9538, she should wait until the last day to submit, as the extra patients might earn her additional rewards.

So, she decided to postpone submission until the following afternoon.

She checked her main quest progress, which had quietly risen to eight percent.

Her other temporary task, to establish a hundred-person combat team with each member’s stamina, speed, and endurance averaging above ten, was only at five percent completion.

That meant only five members had met the requirements so far. She wondered who those five were; once she returned, she’d have to train them thoroughly.

Wang Keyue wanted to see if her own stats had improved. She clicked on her personal data.

After days of training, improved nutrition, and regularly taking strengthening pills in the system space, her stamina had reached eight, her speed eleven, and her endurance fifteen.

With a few more days of exercise, she would definitely reach the stamina target.

Next, she entered the system shop and opened the skills section.

The skills available were still basic ones. She found Introductory Traditional Medicine for two hundred gold coins and bought it without hesitation.

Her current persona was that of an old physician with a cheap apprentice, so this skill was essential.

Then she opened the technology section, searching for the communicator she’d seen before—something like a super long-distance visual wireless communicator.

But after flipping through two pages, she found it had vanished from the listings. Had it been removed? Wang Keyue couldn’t understand; with 9538 absent, there was no one to explain.

She had thought herself a little rich with five thousand gold coins, but seeing the new tech items, she instantly felt utterly poor.

What was this? The latest retro-chic FV Nano Evening Gown—price: fifty thousand gold coins.

If she opted for installment payments, she might barely afford it.

Then she looked at another item—what?! The name was cute: Pure Green Air Rice Baby. What on earth was that?

The description said it could extract certain elements from the air, set your preferred flavor, and automatically cook a pot of delicious porridge. Yes, porridge!

The price—another fifty thousand gold coins!

Feeling like a broke loser, Wang Keyue idly browsed through the system shop. No matter how many items she flipped through, only one word echoed in her heart: poverty.

Unable to afford anything new, she checked the second-hand trading section. And there, lying in the listings, was the very item she had been longing for!