Free Web NovelChapter 36: Treasure Trove
The door creaked open slowly, revealing a hidden room bathed in soft, eerie light. The trio of adventurers stepped in cautiously, their weapons ready and their senses heightened.
The dimly lit room was cluttered with rows of metal shelves, each packed full of supplies. Boxes of packaged food, bottles of water, and medicines lined the shelves from top to bottom, with a few weapons scattered throughout.
The room was vast, and the air was heavy with the scent of preserved food and the tang of metal from the weapons. Shinon’s eyes widened with surprise as he took in the sight.
’So, this is what the chest icon on the map meant,’ he thought to himself. ’Resources, but not in the literal sense of a chest. This is incredible!’
Rico looked around keenly, assessing the situation.
"It seems too good to be true," he remarked, his hand instinctively reaching for a bottle of water. "There must be a catch."
Kira moved gracefully as she scanned the room for hidden traps or threats. However, she found none. It seemed nothing weird was happening there, even though they remained sceptical.
Shinon, on the other hand, had hundreds of thoughts rushing through his head. He finally connected the dots. The reason why the Phoenix’s settlement was so well off and why the raiders were carrying a similar key to the one the Smasher dropped. Everything made sense now. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
’They have been farming these areas and claiming everything for themselves.’ he thought. ’No wonder they had no shortage of supplies, unlike the other people I have encountered since coming to this world.’ freewebnovёl.ƈom
As the trio made their way further into the room, they noticed that the packages were meticulously labelled with dates and contents. There were rations, medical supplies, and various weapons, ranging from swords and bows to firearms and explosives.
Just then, a voice rang throughout the room. Shinon immediately recognised it. It was the ’Voice Of The World’, or so they called it back in his time.
It was the same voice that started everything from granting special abilities to humans to creating dungeons filled with monsters. The only thing was that despite not having a system, Rico and Kira could hear it as well.
"Greetings, survivors. You have entered the resource room of the facility. You are allowed to choose two kinds of items each, or a total of six items per person. Please make your selection and leave the room so it may shut down till the next activation."
The trio looked around, surprised by the sudden voice. They hadn’t seen any electronic devices or computers in the room, so they were unsure where the voice was coming from.
"Did you guys hear that too?" Kira asked, looking around for the source of the voice.
Rico nodded in agreement. "Yeah, where is it coming from?"
However, Shinon knew the voice was inside their head and didn’t have a physical outlet such as a speaker to talk through. But he didn’t inform the rest about it, and it wasn’t like they’d believe him either way.
"Hello?" Kira said, trying to get a reaction from the ’speaker’.
The mechanical voice replied, "Hello, survivors. I am the Voice of the World, the system that controls this facility. I have been programmed to assist survivors in need of resources."
Then it repeated the same thing: "You may choose two categories of items each, for a total of six items for each person. Please make your selection and leave the room so that it may shut down."
"This is amazing! We can choose any items we want!" Kira exclaimed; her previous doubts had miraculously disappeared.
"Let’s start gathering what we need. We should choose carefully, as we don’t know when we’ll find another resource room like this." Rico continued.
Little did they know Shinon had at least a dozen more such locations marked on his map, waiting to be claimed. But for now, he was content with one such room.
"Rico, you grab the weapons and ammunition we’ll need and bring them here. No need to put them in your backpack." Shinon instructed the Mexican brute before turning to Kira. "Kira, you do the same with medical supplies. Take painkillers, antibiotics, bandages, anything that we need."
"What will you take?" She asked.
"I’ll look for some materials to craft with or some food and seeds to a constant supply of food."
"Got it!"
As they gathered their items, the Voice of the World continued to speak, providing them with information about the facility and its resources.
"You are currently located in the Level 3 resource room. The higher the level of the room, the more valuable the items. Please make your selections and leave the room before the time limit expires."
The trio worked quickly, selecting their items and bringing them to the centre of the room as Shinon wanted.
Rico promptly made his way to the weapons section of the room, his eyes scanning the array of firearms and ammunition neatly stacked on shelves. He picked up a box of a dozen grenades, a shotgun, a rifle, and several boxes of bullets.
He also wanted to pick a crossbow, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get a hold of it. It was then the voice informed him that he had fulfilled his quota and that if he wanted to grab more items, he would have to let go of the ones he was carrying.
"Nah, I think I’m done." Rico smiled, leaving the rest behind.
On the other hand, Kira headed straight to the medicine section of the room. She began examining the various vials and bottles, carefully selecting the ones she deemed necessary.
She picked up some antibiotics, painkillers, and anti-inflammatory drugs. She also grabbed some bandages, antiseptics, and a few surgical instruments, just in case they needed to perform any emergency medical procedures.
Meanwhile, Shinon was busy examining the different materials that were present in the room. He picked up a few pieces of metal and some scrap parts that could be useful for creating or repairing weapons.
He then turned his attention to the food section, carefully selecting some canned goods and dried fruits that would last for a long time. He also grabbed a handful of seeds that could be used to start a small farm in their base.
As they gathered their items, the electronic voice spoke again, "You have 30 seconds remaining. Please make your final selections and exit the room."
All of them rushed to the centre. Kira and Rico were still determining how they would transport so many things back to the base when their bags were packed. That’s when Shinon smiled and raised his hand.
"Relax, I got this." He said, and a massive black hole appeared below the items swallowing everything they had gathered. "Perks of being able to manipulate shadows. Let’s get going."
As they stepped out of the room, the door behind them closed with a hiss, locking them out before disappearing into nothingness.
[The room will be available to unlock in - 6 days: 23 hours: 59 minutes]
Breathing a sigh of relief, Shinon turned to his companions and said, "Well, that was certainly unexpected. But at least we got what we came for. Now let’s head back to our base and see what we can make with all these resources."
Rico grinned and said, "Yeah, I can’t wait to try out these new weapons."
Kira nodded in agreement, "And I’ll organise all the medicines properly. We never know when we might need them."
And with that, the trio made their way back to their base, eager to see what they could create with their newfound resources.
