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'So…bright.'

He squinted his eyes.

Once he has adjusted to the lighting, he slowly pushed himself up.

"Where am I?"

The middle-aged man mumbled to himself.

'But this place looks like a hotel…'

The interior of the room he just woke up in was luxuriously decorated.

He turned his head to his left.

"Wife!"

He sluggishly got out from his bed.

The last thing he remembered was intense pain and fainting.

He caressed his wife's slightly wrinkled face.

Click!

While checking his wife's conditions, he heard the room's door open.

"Little brother!"

A younger man entered the room and called him 'little brother'.

"Little brother? Who are you?"

He was wary and cautious.

"It's me, Zayf!"

"T-T-Third brother?!!"

Upon waking up, this was the first shocking incident he experienced.

...

When the team returned, it was half-past one.

They carried Sixth Uncle and his family to the 20th Floor.

With just a floor below them, they could rush immediately in case of an emergency.

As their conditions stabilized, they would let them rest and slowly recover.

They installed a motion sensor camera in the room to notify them when they've woken up.

"Phew! Glad Sixth Uncle is safe!"

Feera exclaimed in relief.

Four hours of hard work paid off.

"Now that Sixth Uncle is here, we could have restaurant grade meals?"

Sixth Uncle Yoon is a chef turned restaurant owner.

Bucky was drooling thinking about his cooking.

"Don't you need to watch your weight, Bucks? Haha!"

Erza teased his youngest brother.

Drastic physical changes happened to each of his family members.

Bucky is no longer a plump, tanned skin and short male.

He lost tens of kilograms and grew to 175 cm.

His face was also fairer and sports a full beard now.

Feera grew taller, and muscle definitions starts to appear.

Mr. Zayf no longer has acid reflux, and most of the wrinkles he had were gone!

Additionally, his looks reverted to his early 40s.

Mrs. Numee is no longer allergic to certain food types.

She lost more kilograms than Bucky and she has a figure of a beauty pageant queen.

Erza served food on the dining table.

As they have just returned from their maiden outing, he decided to make something special.

"Lunch is served!"

They happily ate the black pepper beef, clear vegetable soup and stir-fry asparagus that Erza made.

"Son, do we have enough food for your uncle's family?"

Mr. Zayf curiously asked Erza while eating.

Erza said that he prepared easily digestible food like porridge for Sixth Uncle's family.

'Their stomachs need to gradually adjust.'

Giving someone who just recovered from food poisoning heavily nutritious meal would have an adverse effect.

After they are done with lunch, they sat on the living area.

Splash!

"Dessert time!"

They had a huge haul.

"We have a total of 283 beads here. I need to take out a few to pay Big Mark and Kara their 'salaries'."

Erza took out 12 Evolution Nectars.

'Standard pay rate is 10% of the Evolution Nectars harvested.'

Kara handed him 49 beads while Mark turned in 78 beads.

Dissecting bodies is not an easy job for an unevolved human.

Their stamina hasn't reached the level of an Awakened yet.

'If we were to let these two harvest everything, it will take them hours.'

Prolonged harvesting would attract 'Vultures' or even Infected, who smelled blood.

"Big brother, how much more Evolution Nectars for you to evolve to Class-9?"

Bucky recommended him to split the beads after he, Feera and Mr. Zayf reach the next level.

'A collectively strong team is better than a team with only a single strongest person.'

After the distribution, the whole family are now a strong Class-9 Awakened team!

"Let's take the evening off. Let me know once Sixth Uncle is awake."

Erza let his family have some free time.

He went down to the 2nd Floor.

Ding dong!

He rang Room 202's bell.

After a few moments, the door opened.

"H-hi, Zeta."

Kara appeared from the door.

"Here's your payment for today."

He handed her five shiny pink pearls.

She took the pearls but she didn't dare to look at Erza's face.

She was still embarrassed from the 'incident' during the mission.

"If you need anything from me, you're free to trade it with me using these."

He explained to her that she can buy food or weapons from him using Evolution Nectars.

"O-okay, thank you!!"

She immediately shuts her door.

Erza didn't mind her erratic behavior.

He rang Big Mark's room.

He used the same script like he did with Kara.

"What can I buy with these?"

He was skeptical at first.

'Why is this bead so valuable to him?'

"What do you need?"

Immediately, they made business transactions.

Big Mark wanted food, water, medicine, weapons, gears and a vehicle.

"One bead for 100 grams of rice, or any food items equivalent with it. Two beads for a 500 ml bottled water. Three beads for a dose of medicine. Four beads for a knife, and it increases with the type of weapons. Five beads for a piece of armor, oh, and for a motorcycle, I think you would want to wait for a while first."

Erza's price made Big Mark gasp.

'How am I going to survive with such little beads?'

He has only eight Evolution Nectars currently, and if trade everything for food items, it won't even last for three days.

He understood that resources are limited, but this feels like daylight robbery!

"I don't know, Zeta. What do you suggest?"

He was looking for Erza's opinion.

"One bead."

Erza raised up a finger.

"Huh?!"

Big Mark didn't get his gesture.

"One Evolution Nectar for advisory fees."

What the hell!

Your advice costs a bead, equivalent to a single precious meal of rice?!

Capitalism!

Big Mark had a frown.

"So what's it gonna be? I need to be somewhere else."

Erza's tone was relaxed but his sentence urged Big Mark to make a decision.

'This guys know how to handle the situations like the back of his hand.'

After a few seconds, he decided to pay Erza 'consultation fees'.

'Sigh, my hard earned money.'

Erza then told him all the crucial information about the Evolution Nectar, the Infected and how to get stronger.

In the future, Big Mark would realize how big his profit was by 'investing' just a mere Strain-1 Infected Evolution Nectar for a life-saving information that made him thrive in the apocalypse.

Bzzt!

Erza picked up his phone.

'Dad.'

Mr. Zayf's caller ID appeared on his phone's screen.

His father's relieved and excited tone urged him to rush back upstairs.

…

After Sixth Uncle Yoon woke up, everybody in Erza's family rushed to meet them on the 20th Floor.

They hugged and cried.

They thought they could never see each other again.

Growl～

"Um, do you guys have anything to eat?"

A young woman said embarrassingly. It was her stomach growling.

"Yes, yes! We packed a lot for you, Wei Wei! Oh, my poor niece!"

Mrs. Numee took her hands and led her to the dining area.

Wei Wei is Erza's female cousin, Uncle Yoon's daughter.

On the dining table, variety of dishes were packed food was laid out.

Sixth Uncle Yoon, his wife Sixth Aunt Kim ate with tears of gratitude.

"Third brother Zayf, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Another wave of melancholy struck the family.

After they've ate their fill and calmed down, they engaged in a series of questions and answers.

It was mostly related to how did they managed to brave through the sea of 'monsters' outside their house.

Erza and family didn't withhold any information back, revealing almost everything.

'Let's keep the fact that I have memories from the future a secret.'

To avoid further deviation of the current timeline, Erza asked his family to keep any information about the Awakened a secret.

He also had another motive for that.

"Sixth Uncle, everyone, have a good rest and we'll meet for dinner again tonight."

He advised them to take relaxing showers, change into fresh clothes and watch the hotel's in-house prepaid movies.

Erza gestured to his family to return back to their floor.

"Let Uncle Yoon's family have their own time."

Whispered Erza slowly to his father.

Mr. Zayf nodded.

Ring! Ring!

A few moments after Erza's family arrived in their suite, the room's phone rang.

'Either Kara or Big Mark.'

Erza did not gave them his phone number for privacy reasons.

They can contact him through their room's phone.

"Hello."

Erza picked up the call.

A tiny voice greeted him.

She said Big Mark told her everything about his 'consultation' session.

'How kind.'

Big Mark has a big heart for a rough and unscrupulous guy.

"Meet me at the 1st Floor. I'll bring what you need."

Kara told Erza what she and Big Mark needed.

He then hung up the phone.

"Who was that?"

Feera was beside him the whole time.

He was curious who would call their room in the middle of this situation.

Erza then explained to Feera and the family.

"Wow big bro, you're such an opportunist."

Bucky snickered on his brother's price list for resources.

Erza rolled his eyes.

'Once you guys realize how hard it is to secure resources, I'm afraid you'll charge ten times more than I'm currently charging!'

"Bucks, don't tease your brother. You know that it's hard to get food around nowadays."

'Thanks, Mum.'

Erza shot a grateful glance at his mother.

"Son, why don't you ask Big Mark and Kara to join our family dinner tonight? They seemed like good kids."

Mr. Zayf suggested that they open up to them.

"I'll think about it, Dad."

They only knew them for less than a day.

'Earth Princess would undoubtedly be a reliable person, but Big Mark…'

Erza still had his hesitation.

He puts the matter behind his head as he needs to prepare a feast for a dozen people.

…

6.30 pm.

Joyful laughter could be heard in a restaurant on the 1st Floor.

Ten people were dining and drinking merrily.

"Son, did you invite those two?"

Mr. Zayf is a hospitable person.

"They said they didn't want to intrude on a family occasion."

Before their dinner, he met Big Mark and Kara to perform the transaction of goods.

"I, I need some time for myself."

Kara declined politely.

"Thank you, Zeta, but I would like to respect your family's time!"

Big Mark made his remark.

Kara exchanged three Evolution Nectars for three packs of instant noodles and a bottle of water.

Big Mark exchanged five Evolution Nectars for three instant noodles and two water bottles.

"Do we have work tomorrow?"

Before leaving for their rooms, Kara asked Erza.

Erza nodded.

Big Mark breathes a sigh of relief.

That way, they could continuously earn and buy food.

They ate the remaining two Evolution Nectars.

'It's true! Zeta did not lie!'

Upon feeling their overall strength increased, they had a new goal now.

'Let's be as strong as Zeta!'

…

"Everyone, it's almost 7.30pm. Before we rest for the night, I need to ask you a very important question."

Before the dinner, Erza told Sixth Uncle's family that they must head back up before dusk falls.

'Those creatures are more active at night?!'

The days they spent hiding at home affirmed to Erza's statement.

Screams and shrieks were louder at night.

"Uncle Yoon, Aunt Kim, Cousin Wei, Cousin Yie, and First Aunt Chey. Will you join us to save our other relatives tomorrow?"