Chapter 512: The Deal

Chapter 512: Chapter 512: The Deal

Kyle Kane paused, his gaze turning even colder.

"Besides, haven’t you noticed? They know nothing about this world. They’ll believe whatever we tell them.

This is the perfect chance to take advantage of fools like them."

The man with glasses opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end, he just sighed and said no more.

They had already made too many mistakes in the name of survival.

’What difference would one more make?’

While Kyle Kane was directing his people to nervously prepare their defenses against the Demonic Tide, Seraphina Sullivan was not idle either.

She began to survey her surroundings.

’What is a Demonic Tide?’ she wondered under her breath, her gaze sweeping over the Native People huddled in the depths of the cave.

’A tide of mutated monsters?’

’Or some kind of periodic disaster?’

Soon, she had her answer.

The ground began to shake.

It wasn’t an ordinary earthquake, but a dull, rhythmic tremor, as if countless feet were stomping on the ground in unison, or as if something massive was burrowing through the earth.

The tremors grew stronger. Loose stones trickled down the cave walls, and the flames in the oil lamps flickered violently.

Seraphina Sullivan, Crystal Lynn, and Flora stood steady, their expressions unchanged.

A tremor of this magnitude was nothing to them. They had been through so many dungeons and had seen far more terrifying sights.

But the reaction of the Native People was completely different.

The old clutched the children tightly, women shielded toddlers in their arms, and everyone huddled together in the deepest part of the cave, pressed close to one another.

Their bodies trembled, and their eyes were filled with terror. Some even covered their mouths, afraid to make the slightest sound.

This fear wasn’t an act.

It was a genuine, bone-deep terror.

Seraphina Sullivan’s gaze narrowed. She silently activated her Eye of Resume, scanning the Native People.

’Strange.’

’Very strange.’

These old people, women, and children huddled in the corner—they showed no trace of any Awakened Ability.

They were completely different from Kyle Kane and the man with the glasses.

Kyle Kane had [Earthquake Perception], and the members of the bespectacled man’s hunting party each had their own Awakened Skills.

But these ordinary people...

...had nothing.

’Can only the hunting parties awaken?’

’Or is there some condition required for awakening?’

’Or...’

A thought flashed through Seraphina Sullivan’s mind.

’Could it be that, like becoming a Player, there’s a limited number of "slots" for gaining an Awakened Ability?’

As she was pondering this, Crystal Lynn’s worried voice reached her ears.

"It’s so dangerous outside. I wonder how Dexter Luther and the others are doing..."

Seraphina Sullivan snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Crystal Lynn.

The normally cheerful girl’s brow was furrowed, her eyes filled with worry.

"Don’t worry," Seraphina Sullivan said, patting her shoulder. "Didn’t you two get a bunch of life-saving items from the Treasure Chest event? Relax. Dexter Luther is tough as nails; he’ll be fine."

Crystal Lynn was taken aback for a moment, then she remembered what she’d gained from the Treasure Chest event, and her nerves calmed a little.

She had indeed gotten quite a few good things—a defensive Shield, an Instant Teleportation talisman for escaping, and...

She subconsciously thought of the giant egg she had gotten from a Treasure Chest.

It was a huge pet egg, its shell covered in strange patterns.

From the moment she got it, the egg had been bound to her. She could clearly feel the heartbeat of the life inside, feel it calling out to her.

Crystal Lynn didn’t know when the egg would hatch, but she had a gut feeling—it would be soon.

Once the life inside the egg broke free from its shell, she would no longer be a Beast Tamer who could only rely on Beau and ordinary mutated deer.

...

The tremors gradually subsided and then disappeared completely.

Kyle Kane let out a long breath, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and turned to walk toward Seraphina Sullivan and the others.

He was already wearing that gentle expression again, looking like a completely different person from the stern commander who had been ordering the cave sealed just moments before.

"Are you all right? You weren’t scared, were you?" he asked with concern.

Seraphina Sullivan gave a faint smile. "No. Shall we continue our previous discussion?"

A troubled look flashed across Kyle Kane’s face. He rubbed his hands together and began, a bit sheepishly:

"Well... we’ve told you all this information, and we’d like to make a deal with you.

I was wondering if you had any food you could spare for us?"

Seraphina Sullivan raised an eyebrow.

She had wanted to ask about this earlier.

"There are so many animals in the forest outside. How could you be short on food?"

Kyle Kane shook his head with a bitter smile. "We are. In fact, we’re extremely short. Not just on food, but on water, too."

A thought instantly flashed through Seraphina Sullivan’s mind.

"Is it because of the Demonization?" she asked.

Kyle Kane nodded grimly.

"That’s right. The animals outside have all undergone Demonization. Their meat... it’s inedible."

He paused as if recalling some terrible experience. "We didn’t know at first. When the Demonization first broke out, someone hunted a Demonic wild boar and thought they’d hit the jackpot. They happily roasted and ate it. But..."

His voice dropped. "The person who ate the meat went mad in less than half a day. They started biting anyone they saw, became incredibly strong, and eventually died as their own body rotted away."

"Since then, we haven’t dared to touch the meat of any Demonic Creature."

Crystal Lynn’s face turned pale as she listened. "What about the water? Can water undergo Demonization too?"

Kyle Kane nodded. "The water sources are contaminated too. It’s not a visible contamination, but... anyway, if you drink the water from outside for long enough, you’ll slowly go mad. The water we drink now is all drawn from deep underground. Only the water here is still clean."

He pointed toward the back of the cave, where a man-made well could be faintly seen.

Seraphina Sullivan was silent for a few seconds before asking the most crucial question:

"Then what have you been living on until now?"

A flicker of something passed through Kyle Kane’s eyes, but he quickly returned to normal.

"We have rations. The ones we stored before the Demonization outbreak. And..." He paused. "Sometimes, other outsiders pass through, and we can trade with them."

’Outsiders.’

’Players.’

’Or other survivors?’

Seraphina Sullivan didn’t press the issue, but she mentally filed away this detail.

"We can give you some food," she said calmly. "But I want to know the whole truth."

A flash of joy crossed Kyle Kane’s face. "Of course! We’ll tell you everything we know!"

He turned and called to his people behind him, "Go, bring out the dry rations we’ve stored to treat our guests!"

Seraphina Sullivan watched his back, her expression profound.

’A trade.’

’It sounds fair.’

’But I can’t shake the feeling that something is being deliberately hidden.’

.....

「Elsewhere」

The scent of blood filled the air.

Sean Chandler retracted his fist. The Demonic Creature before him—shaped like a wild boar but covered in bone spikes—crashed to the ground. It twitched a few times and then lay still.

He flicked the blood from his hand, his gaze passing over the corpse to land on something not far ahead.

It was a survivor camp.

To be precise, it was a fortification built from thick logs and steel plates.