Workers' Home — Coffee Shop.
The décor was stylish and modern, but the person running the place was an elderly Caprini with goat horns and silver hair.
Beside the coffee shop, three Tianshi from Wuling City were gathered in a corner, talking quietly.
"Let's see where we can help."
"Order's recovering fast…"
As they spoke, they kept observing the area.
It seemed they'd happened to be passing nearby, and after witnessing the anchor's fall, they'd come to the Hub Zone Base out of goodwill, intending to lend a hand.
But the situation here was much better than they'd expected—at the very least, there hadn't been any chaos.
"Wuling City Tianshi… I don't think I've seen any since we came to No. 4 Valley," Chen Qianyu noted sharply, and a nostalgic look surfaced in her eyes.
She'd lived in Wuling City for a while before, and the place had left a deep impression on her—though it had been a long time since she'd gone back.
She couldn't help wondering: Is Dragon Boba still popular?
But for now, eating came first.
"This steak's pretty good—real satisfying," Chen Qianyu said.
She sat at the coffee shop's reception table, ordered a coffee with extra sugar, and happily dug into a dark, almost black-looking slab of steak.
Of course, the coffee shop didn't sell anything like this.
Earlier, after Perlica shared the Seshka Wind Steak recipe with Maggie, she'd asked Maggie to cook it for them.
Four servings total.
Hao Fan. The Administrator. Perlica. Chen Qianyu.
After a full day of running around, the four-person crisis response team finally got to sit down and eat something hot.
Sometimes they'd bite into little bone fragments, but the flavor was unexpectedly decent—chewy, hearty, and once it went down, warmth spread through the body, filling them with strength.
The fatigue from earlier fights was swept away.
"By the way," Chen Qianyu said, picking a topic, "the Integrated Industrial System isn't only meant for use in the valley, right?"
She turned toward Perlica, who was seated beside her and enjoying the steak, and asked with open curiosity.
Perlica didn't exactly love being interrupted mid-meal—but she still answered patiently.
"No. 4 Valley is only the first stop for the Integrated Industrial System. In the future, we'll promote it across the entire frontier."
"And after that?"
"Uh… after that?"
"Once you enter the frontier, what kind of landscape do you want to see?" Chen Qianyu pressed, eyes bright. "Cities rising? Or everyone living and working in peace?"
That made Perlica fall silent for a moment.
Then she organized her thoughts and continued.
"...I want to see all of it."
She swallowed the food in her mouth and smiled gently.
"But I've never really thought about that question. Maybe… I just want to see the moment a long-standing wish finally settles—when it becomes real."
Hearing that, Chen Qianyu blinked and smiled too.
"Perlica's wish has to be something proper and kind."
"N-no," Perlica said softly, sneaking a glance at the Administrator across from her. "It's not my wish. It's… someone else's."
"Someone else's wish… that was given to me."
At the same time, the Administrator was eating her steak while eavesdropping on the table next to them.
A Ursus operator was talking to a Lupo operator, pouring out their feelings.
"Th-this time, we really escaped death… thanks to the Administrator."
"Yeah. Once things settle down, let's find somewhere and drink properly—celebrate surviving."
"You're right… when this is over, I'm going back to propose to my girlfriend!"
The Ursus operator swore it with a determined face.
Which instantly made Hao Fan—also listening—choke.
"Cough—cough cough cough!"
He covered his mouth, coughing with a speechless expression.
When he looked at that Ursus operator, his gaze had the same vibe as an old general onstage—already covered in back banners.
Brother, you can't say stuff like that. That's a death flag. Don't curse yourself with that kind of talk…
Hao Fan complained internally.
Still, even with that little incident, he was in a good mood.
Because the buckwheat-flower powder he'd delivered had successfully filled the medical supply gap.
As for Doctor Miguel, he'd already gone off to distribute the powder to other doctors and the wounded.
That responsible "Gray Doctor" looked truly busy.
Even so, before leaving, Miguel still made sure to hand over a simple booklet—basically a crafting manual containing formulas for common items and consumables.
If you spent any amount of time in the field, there would definitely come a day when you needed it.
For example: the Buckheal Capsule formula.
This kind of easy-to-make capsule worked better for treating injuries than buckwheat-flower powder.
Powder could spill during travel and lose potency, but capsules were still highly practical.
To make Buckheal Capsules, you needed buckwheat-flower powder and a Violet Crystal Bottle—the cost wasn't high.
Miguel would probably make some as well, to distribute to operators with more severe injuries.
That was what Hao Fan thought.
Then he and the Administrator went right back to eavesdropping on passing operators' conversations.
For instance: a Perro operator was boasting to a Feline operator.
"I'm not even bragging—those angels don't scare me at all. I held out until I ran completely out of ammo."
"For real? I heard when they found you, you were shaking all over."
"That wasn't shaking! That was fighting spirit and hot blood surging through my body!"
"I think that was just adrenaline…"
Hao Fan agreed.
It sounded like pure bragging to him—like someone claiming they "barely got dirty" after walking out of a life-or-death situation.
Of course, he only thought that. He wasn't going to say it out loud and make the guy awkward.
For now, eating was the priority.
"This meat is way too chewy…" Hao Fan mumbled through a mouthful.
"Feels like my jaw muscles got a workout!"
…
Half an hour later, the four of them finished eating, drank their fill, and got enough rest.
Next, they needed to deal with other matters.
Namely: retrieving Andre's prototype machine parts. That was still pretty urgent—they had to get to the Originium Byproduct Center as soon as possible…
"Huh—what's that?"
Just as they were about to leave Workers' Home, Hao Fan noticed something while stepping up the stairs.
In a dim corner nearby sat a dusty storage crate, like it had been abandoned for ages.
"Treasure 발견! Let's go check it out!" Chen Qianyu lit up immediately and rushed forward, eager as ever, flipping it open.
Then she found it was just a bunch of Beginner Combat Records—stuff she couldn't use.
They were storage devices containing combat footage, used to help new operators learn combat knowledge.
In plain terms: newbie training materials.
If you didn't know how to fight, watching beginner combat records would make you a little better.
But for someone as skilled as her, it was just a waste of time.
"Doctor, you take these," Chen Qianyu said, handing the beginner combat records to the hooded man. "They're useless for us."
Hao Fan didn't refuse.
As a total novice, he really did need them to get more familiar with how combat worked.
So he stored them directly into the Protocol Originium on his Protocol Synchronizer.
The thing Perlica had helped him apply for was seriously convenient.
His previously acquired Tide and Howling Guard were also stored in the Protocol Originium now—he could take them out anytime.
On top of that, Hao Fan found an old paper document inside the crate—
"Peddler's Memoir."
When I first arrived, my stock would sell out the moment I opened shop. Choosing to come to No. 4 Valley was definitely the right decision!
Among those early customers, merchants from the Ring-Tower Chamber of Commerce always praised the gear they bought from me as genuinely sturdy and reliable.
And those Seshka mercenaries—if I run into them again, I really ought to thank them properly. If they hadn't helped me haul my crates, I'd probably still be standing at the Valley Fortress Station not knowing what to do…
After seeing how prosperous things were when I first arrived, I made up my mind: once I was fully rooted in No. 4 Valley, I'd apply to open a branch in the Vein Source Area. The workers there had been complaining forever that my shop was too far—going back and forth was a pain.
…
After the Originium Great Tree got blown up, I kept questioning what I'd been thinking—why did I ever plan to stay in No. 4 Valley?
There are far fewer caravans than before. The Union workers don't buy from me much anymore—they all run off to the quarry. I can only hope those Sarkaz mercs show up to restock soon, or I'm not going to make a single sale…
Looking at my empty shop, I had an idea: maybe I should file feedback and let someone else run the store instead!
…
Hey—while I'm writing this, I just got news that Endfield is coming to deepen cooperation with us.
I'm not leaving (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧!
Perlica leaned in to read it, and couldn't help feeling emotional.
"This paper record was probably left almost twenty years ago," she said. "Back when Endfield's industry signed the contract with the Alliance Union and began building the Hub Zone Base…"
"Time really does pass fast."
....
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