Chapter Eighty-Eight: The Mouse in the Wall

A system notice had triggered the completion of a mission: “Rats in the Walls.”

The mission had been issued.

Rats in the walls... Colin narrowed his eyes, glanced at the corpse of the giant rat, and took out the parchment scroll.

“Rats in the Walls”

Mission briefing: Within the Vought Manor, a ritual was once held in despair and disappointment toward the Church of Suffering. No one knows what became of that ritual, but after it ended, a harsh, shrill sound was often heard coming from inside the walls, and soon after that, the first rat plague broke out...

During that disaster, young Cadis revealed his “miracle” and suppressed the plague by himself.

Everything was sealed away beneath the manor, but later, that seal seemed to loosen.

Many years passed, and when the second rat plague erupted, the Church, for unknown reasons, concealed the disaster here. It was not until the priest escorted the final group of children through this place that he learned what had happened. He understood then that the events here had to be suppressed.

In the end, he largely quelled the second rat plague, but this left him on the brink of death, powerless to reinforce the seal.

Mission duration: 1 day, 23 hours, 56 minutes.

Mission objective: Reinforce the seal once more and prevent the ominous corruption within from seeping out.

Hint: You suspect that reinforcing the seal will require a large quantity of radiant stone. The method is not difficult; it should be enough to place a great many radiant stones within the seal.

After reading the mission details, Colin rubbed his chin at last understanding why the rat had seemed so familiar.

In the “Twisted Soul” vision concerning the priest, he had once slain a great beast, then gone mad, staggering away from here...

“I didn’t expect the place where he killed the monster to be underground. But how exactly did he get out of here?”

The white mist had already vanished, and there was now no way to turn back. Colin still did not know how to leave this place.

Still, it seemed that whether it was the priest or the Keeper of Silent Vigil, once they left this place they appeared directly in the outside world rather than emerging through the tunnels.

“Once I find that source of light, I should be able to figure out how to get out of here. As for this mission...”

Colin shook his head. He had only skimmed it, and after failing to spot any mention of a custom blueprint, he lost all desire to complete it.

After all, the urgent matter now was how to reach the High Court as quickly as possible and gain mastery over the extraordinary to face the troubles ahead.

Yet when Colin lingered on the mission rewards for a few seconds, he could not help but freeze.

Mission reward: 30 raw potatoes, 1 recovery card, 1 contaminated eyeball.

Raw potatoes...

Colin’s breath caught. He suddenly realized the system had handed him a reward impossible to refuse.

Beside him, Li Chou noticed his odd reaction and glanced at the mission list as well, his expression shifting in surprise.

“Did I read that right? Raw potatoes? Is the system broken? Shouldn’t it be hard black bread times ninety-nine?”

“This food... is it very important?” Sana asked with clear interest.

She had always been interested in food, and she was the only woman Colin had seen who could identify which wild roots were edible and even dig them up as emergency rations.

Even now, though food was not especially scarce, whenever she came across withered roots she would still pull them out, clean them off, and tuck them into a Bible...

“Very important. If this item can be issued, then the system is probably acting up and trying to ease the difficulty of survival...”

Colin fixed his gaze on the potatoes and could hardly tear himself away. A raw potato, if it had sprouted eyes, could simply be cut into small pieces for planting; the method was not difficult.

Do not be fooled by the fact that there were only thirty raw potatoes here...

Once they sprouted and were planted, they could probably fill every field in the entire territory.

The fields attached to a level-three territory had a “forced growth” function. By spending mist points, one could accelerate crop growth. So long as one was willing to pay, harvest could be obtained in a very short time.

Their main problem at present was the lack of seeds.

Or rather, seeds did exist, but they were all wild grass seeds, of little edible value...

So much so that the upgraded functions of the territory currently seemed almost like decorations.

Colin had originally thought this was a matter of exploring on their own and finding suitable wild seeds to cultivate into crops.

After all, that would better fit the concept of “survival.”

But he had not expected that the system really would issue seeds, and when it did, it had drawn a royal flush: potatoes.

Once he planted them and then used mist points to keep accelerating their growth, he might even secure a harvest within a single day. After that, he could sell large quantities of sprouted potato pieces...

Perhaps in an extremely short time, everyone would be able to eat his potatoes...

Eat them until they were sick of them, just like black bread!

To say it plainly, these few potatoes looked insignificant, but they might solve the food problem for more than half of all survivors across the entire world.

In the early stages, by directly forcing them to ripen, the mist-point cost of taking potatoes from sprouting to maturity was undoubtedly enormous...

But what did high cost matter?

At this moment, in the eyes of Colin, who harbored compassion, what he saw were not crops but a field of ripe prey...

No, it was those survivors still struggling on the edge of starvation, going hungry every day, living off hard black bread under the system’s cruel oppression, reduced by hunger and hardship to little more than skin and bone...

As the saying went, with great power came great responsibility...

When people were still suffering in misery, how could he alone indulge himself?

At this moment, the significance of these few potatoes had become immeasurably great. They might greatly ease the survival pressure on all survivors.

“By tomorrow, the prey should be ripe again, right?” Colin mused.

Today was already the third day. Those who had survived until now had basically grasped certain survival skills in the mist.

In many regions, alliances had already begun to form, with numbers even exceeding his own, reaching dozens.

This also meant their rate of resource acquisition was far faster than on the first two days, and the supplies they carried were greater as well.

And sharing was a virtue. If the mission went smoothly, tomorrow Colin would personally lead the charge in sharing.

Just as he had done yesterday...

“Boss, isn’t the field function only available to level-three territories?” Li Chou asked.

Colin glanced at him and said, “With so many survivors in one region, if everyone gathers together and each contributes a little money, wouldn’t they be able to jointly afford one?”

A level-three territory was expensive, yes, but if about ten survivors pooled together, then dividing the cost among them made it far more acceptable.

“Besides, this way, whether the survivors want it or not, they’ll have to start banding together. Though that will bring some problems and conflicts, it also means humanity as a whole will become stronger...”

Colin slowly explained that the value and impact of a level-three territory capable of continuously producing food was worlds apart from one that could not.

Once he sowed the potato seeds, human strength would surely rise in yet another wave.