“Potato chips, cherry cola, Sprite… Oh, right, can’t forget the jelly drinks.”
The cart was instantly filled with snacks and drinks Hill threw in, every gap stuffed to maximize the space.
Volvo Large Supermarket in the Dungeon Commercial Street.
The siblings were doing a big shopping trip before entering the Dungeon.
“You don’t need to buy this many snacks…”
“Please call them emergency rations. Besides, aren’t you buying a lot of ingredients too, Brother?”
Hill poked the high-gluten flour in the other cart.
In addition, Siloque bought fresh vegetables and fruits, bagged rice, bottled drinking water, potatoes, soy sauce, raw meat, and other ingredients.
Anyone who didn’t know better would think they were going on a picnic.
“This is to ensure a balanced nutritional diet while eating in the Dungeon.”
“Hill thinks it would be better to just source food on-site. There are normal animals in the Dungeon, and Hill can help process the meat.”
“That… seems true.”
However, the ingredients in Siloque’s cart did not decrease.
For him, having more food stockpiled brought peace of mind.
Part of the money from the previous Crystal Core exchange was given to their mother, Cohen, who was grinning from ear to ear.
Another part was used today to get new Equipment, mainly a Storage Bracelet with more space for Hill.
She could finally put away the big backpack filled with various games.
In the subsequent shopping, they only bought a few Recovery Potions.
Since they would be visiting Asmodi soon, they would buy more supplies there — potions for resisting abnormal statuses and such — at cheaper, more affordable prices.
The only problem was that her medicine always had a brewed taste and didn’t taste very good.
Siloque always felt it had the herbal smell of an old person (he didn’t dare say this to her face), but the efficacy was indeed good.
They visited a few more shops after that.
Hill went into a game store and bought several new games released this month.
The shopping lasted until 12:32 PM before it finally ended.
They ordered crunchy burgers at McDanlaw for lunch and took a short break.
“I’m going to the restroom.”
“Mm-hmm!”
Siloque went to the bathroom, leaving Hill sitting by the window playing on her Mobile Phone.
She drank her McFloat while scrolling on her smartphone, simultaneously operating five games on a split screen to clear daily tasks like stamina, endurance, and sanity points.
“Gold, gold, gold… Yes! I got it!”
Hill smiled as she pulled the newly obtained character and checked the Skill descriptions on the panel.
Clatter, clatter.
She heard a sound, followed by a voice.
“Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?”
It was an old and slightly hoarse voice.
Hill looked up reflexively.
It was a very kind-looking… old man?
A man around 50? Maybe early 60s.
His face was covered in weathered wrinkles, with a large circle of grayish-white beard connected to fluffy grayish-white hair.
It didn’t look messy; instead, it was very clean, clearly well-maintained.
From his thin neck, he seemed quite thin.
He wore long clothes and pants with a waterproof, wear-resistant cyan jacket.
On his back was a massive backpack that looked heavier than he was.
Hill’s impression of him fluctuated between a mountain climber and a drifter.
However, several Staffs were clipped to his backpack, so he was clearly an Explorer.
“Sorry, someone is sitting here, Grandpa.”
Hill glanced around with the corner of her eye.
This was indeed the only empty seat besides the one her brother left.
The rest were basically full.
“Well, then there’s no helping it.”
The thin old man shrugged.
He took a cup of Extra Rich Chocolate Snow Ice from his tray and placed it on the table.
“This was from a buy-one-get-one-free promotion. I can’t drink this much, so consider it fate. It’s yours. If you don’t want it, you can throw it in the trash.”
“Eh? I don’t want it.”
The thin old man acted as if he hadn’t heard.
He took a sip of the remaining cup, put down the tray, and walked light-footedly through the crowd, leaving.
What was going on?
Did someone just give her a free drink right after she finished her gacha pulls?
Soon, someone else walked up to Hill.
“Ah, Brother, an old man just…”
“It’s fine. I saw him when I was coming back.”
Siloque stared at the Extra Rich Chocolate Snow Ice with apprehension.
“Hill, you probably don’t want to drink this.”
“You shouldn’t drink things given by strangers, right?”
“Correct reaction.”
“Hill was planning to just leave it here.”
“…We still have to deal with it.”
“Deal with it? Oh, you mean throw it in the trash?”
Siloque looked at the beverage droplets running down the side of the cup.
He took out gloves from his Ring Chart, put them on, and then carefully picked it up.
“Brother, is there an antimatter bomb in that drink?”
“…Follow me, move fast. I’ll show you something.”
“What? Did you pull a limited character too, Brother?”
“Too? You pulled one?”
“That’s right. Got it in 5 pulls. But the skills aren’t very useful, so I can only use it as eye candy.”
‘My sister is so strong. Even Dio would envy this luck.’
The two walked to the sinks in the restroom.
A cleaning lady saw the two of them huddling around a cup and prayed they wouldn’t litter.
“Hill, watch my hand.”
“? You’re wearing gloves, Brother. I can’t see your handsome hand.”
“…Pay attention to the straw in my hand, because this thing disappears very quickly.”
Siloque opened the lid, pressed his fingertip against the straw’s opening, and slowly lifted the straw —
“Eek —! Is that… alive?”
At the sight, Hill looked like she wanted to vomit, as if she had just eaten a piece of Greenland shark meat that had been air-dried for a year.
A Purple-Yellow Centipede with only half a body coiled at the bottom of the straw.
Countless small legs were wiggling, and its body was constantly dissipating and melting into the ice.
The moment the two of them saw the centipede, it completely turned into powder and vanished.
After all, this was a small toy made by Lielman…
No, it should be said that Lielman made it from the dregs of mana residue, and he had thoughtfully added a self-destruct magic spell.
“Despite how this centipede looks, it actually tastes like gummy candy.”
“Brother, have you eaten one?”
“No.”
‘That’s what the setting collection says.’
“That old man… No, that rotten old geezer, he wanted Hill to eat something like this. It seems I can’t let him die peacefully.”
Her pupils naturally lost their highlights, and the corners of her mouth curved into a dangerous arc.
“Well, it’s a good thing you didn’t eat it. If you consumed this, you would become an irrational puppet within 24 hours.”
“Ho… I see.”
Hill’s expression turned cold and murderous.
“Is that rotten old man from the Evil Demon Society?”
“Yeah.”
“Then there’s no problem. We can logically eliminate him.”
Siloque ignored whether his sister’s words were true or false for the moment and shook the cup.
A faint shape left by the centipede remained in the cup, but the melting ice and chocolate soon covered it.
No one would believe there had been an insect inside.
If this cup were taken to a professional Institution for testing, no trace of the centipede would be found.
Theoretically, the drink was safe after the insect was removed.
But neither Siloque nor Hill were interested in drinking it, and they threw it into the trash.
The cleaning lady nodded in satisfaction.
It would have been interesting if Hertanid were here.
She could have eaten the centipede directly without any side effects, and it would have even increased Cass’s poison resistance.
“Speaking of which, that old man got that insect from Lielman. He’s on good terms with Lielman.”
“Lielman… I remember you mentioned him, Brother. He’s a pervert who plays with bugs, right?”
‘No, I didn’t say he was a pervert. Though that guy isn’t exactly a good person either.’
“Brother, why did that rotten old man give Hill this drink? Are we being targeted?”
Hill’s eyes scanned the surroundings guardedly.
Siloque said calmly, “Relax. This is just a chain effect around a protagonist.”
“?”
“Just think of it as stepping in dog poop after leaving the house — a random coincidence. He didn’t target us on purpose. What he’s doing is scattering them, an indiscriminate poisoning experiment similar to the poison cola.”
“Indiscriminate… poisoning… experiment… Brother, Hill doesn’t think those are very nice words.”
“In any case, don’t pick up things given by strangers or things you see on the side of the road. You don’t need to worry too much; he probably hasn’t been doing this for more than two days.”
“Ugh… what is he trying to achieve by doing this?”
Hill asked with deep disgust.
“He probably saw that you weren’t an ordinary Explorer and wanted to recruit you.
He wouldn’t even spare a glance for regular people.”
In the Game, if the party had members above Level 20, the probability of encountering this old man would increase.
It wasn’t that the old man had any specific skills.
It was a skill honed through years of experience to judge someone’s strength by intuition alone.
Preventing it was simple: just refuse anything he gave.
Unless there was a dim-witted character in the party, it was generally hard to eat the bug the old man planted.
However, this behavior was still utterly heinous.
“So that old man just wanted to try his luck and drug Hill?”
“Yeah.”
Hill’s expression darkened further.
The cost of the crime was only 12R.
If he succeeded, the old man would gain a useful puppet.
If he failed… he lost nothing, as the evidence of the crime would disappear on its own.
Siloque’s gaze turned slightly gloomy.
‘You actually dared to plant a bug on my cute little sister. I won’t show any mercy when I kill you.’
Beside him, Hill used Soap Bubbles to wash her hands twice, inside and out.
“That rotten old man, is he paying homage to the parasite doctor from A5? Next time Hill sees him, I’ll definitely crush his head.”
‘If you see Lielman, that guy is the real “parasite doctor.”‘
Although Siloque definitely didn’t want Hill to run into Lielman.
Siloque also washed his hands and left the restaurant with Hill.
On the way, he shared information about the old man — Andre Modell.
An Evil Demon Society Believer they would have to deal with next.
A scumbag who was prepared to kill Tiana in the original Line.
Since he was carrying a backpack, it seemed he was preparing to head into the Dungeon to perform a Pastoral Service.
Compared to Siloque’s planned schedule, his movement was one day faster.
But it didn’t matter.
It was still within a controllable range.
According to the Plan, they would first go see Tiana and the others to confirm if everything was normal there.