Chapter 169. Spare Me a Penny (2)
The three sat on a secluded beach, staring at the dwindling campfire.
Crackle, crackle.
The fire they had made by gathering whatever wood they could find nearby gave off less warmth than expected.
It even flickered weakly as though it might go out at any moment.
Victoria held her hands toward the tiny flame, as if afraid even that small amount of warmth might escape.
“Cold.”
Nova muttered weakly,
“We already burned everything around here that could be used as firewood.”
“Then this fire’s going out soon too.”
Victoria answered gloomily.
For a while, none of them spoke.
They had no money.
Nowhere to go.
And once the fire went out, what were they supposed to do?
While all three were thinking about it, Yukgap forced himself to sound cheerful.
“At least we didn’t lose the bag with our original clothes.”
“I guess we should be grateful for that much.”
Victoria nodded.
Before stopping at the clothing store earlier, they had packed their original clothes into a large backpack just in case.
They had lost the bag containing their money, but somehow managed to hold onto that one.
At least they had been able to change out of their soaked clothes.
If they had continued wearing wet clothes, they could easily have suffered from hypothermia.
It was a small bit of luck in the middle of all their misfortune.
“We shouldn’t sit around like this.”
“Let’s look around.”
“We need to find some way to survive.”
After sitting there for a while, Victoria suddenly stood up as though she had thought of something.
“Do you have some brilliant idea?”
Yukgap asked flatly.
Victoria answered with determination.
“Not really.”
“But we have two supreme genius beauties here, plus an Archon containing the pinnacle of Abraxas biotechnology.”
“If we actually use our abilities properly, what can’t we do?”
Yukgap desperately wanted to argue with the part where she had called herself a supreme genius beauty, but he understood what she meant.
“She’s right.”
“If we’re going to keep running from Abraxas, we can’t stay helpless like this.”
“Let’s find some way to make money.”
Nova agreed with Victoria.
At that point, Yukgap could hardly remain sitting down.
“Then I can’t just sit around either.”
“Let’s try something.”
The three rose with renewed determination.
Victoria first turned to Yukgap.
“Yukgap, are there any houses or people nearby?”
Yukgap closed his eyes and focused his senses.
His senses, enhanced through his animal traits, were several times sharper than those of an ordinary person.
Before long, distant human voices reached his ears.
The smell of food reached his nose.
“I can sense people not too far from here.”
“Looks like there’s something over there.”
“Great.”
“Then let’s go!”
The moment Yukgap finished speaking, Victoria marched forward like a commander.
After about ten minutes of walking, a quiet harbor village appeared farther along the coast.
Victoria looked around.
“Just an ordinary fishing village.”
“There are sashimi restaurants around, so people must visit fairly often.”
Just as Victoria said, restaurants were scattered throughout the area.
The village was larger than expected.
Nova quickly analyzed the surroundings in case Abraxas was tracking them.
“Fortunately, there don’t seem to be many internet connections or CCTV cameras here.”
“At this level, we should be able to avoid Alpha’s tracking for a while.”
Perhaps because the area was relatively underdeveloped, there was little surveillance technology in sight.
After circling the village once, Nova stopped at a fork in the road.
“Let’s split up here.”
“In one hour, if any of us finds food or money, bring it back.”
Victoria looked surprised.
“Will that be safe?”
“The Archons might be tracking us.”
“Even Archons probably won’t openly cause chaos in a crowded place.”
“And the three of us walking around together would stand out too much.”
Victoria and Nova already attracted attention anywhere because of their foreign-looking appearances.
If they traveled together, people would inevitably notice them.
Victoria reluctantly admitted the logic and nodded.
“Nova, don’t push yourself too hard.”
Yukgap also warned her.
“We’ll figure out the money and food somehow.”
“You should rest.”
“Leave this kind of thing to the adults.”
“I heard you.”
“Worry about yourselves.”
Nova forced the two of them forward.
Victoria and Yukgap waved back at her.
“See you later!”
“Leave it to us!”
After repeating those assurances, the two disappeared toward the other side of the village.
Nova watched them.
Only after confirming they had completely vanished from sight did she clutch her head and collapse to the ground.
“Ughhhhh...!”
A groan she had been suppressing finally escaped her throat.
She had been desperately pretending everything was fine, but the pain clawing through her skull had been so intense that even breathing had become difficult.
If she showed them, Victoria and Yukgap would obviously worry.
So she had used every bit of strength she had to act normal.
Gulp.
Nova swallowed the medicine from her pocket without even using water.
Before long, the drug began taking effect.
The pain slowly subsided.
Breathing heavily, Nova counted what medicine she had left.
“At this rate... I can last about a week.”
They had escaped in such a hurry that she had not been able to bring much.
More importantly, the medication had been specially manufactured for her through the Herrington Convent’s laboratory.
There was no way to make more of it now.
What happens when the medicine runs out?
Nova thought that far before muttering weakly,
“Someone useless like me...”
Yukgap and Victoria were strong.
They had already fought Abraxas’s Archons several times and survived.
Compared to them, all Nova knew how to do when danger came was hide.
Then maybe...
“Dear, what’s wrong?”
