Reborn One Week Before the Apocalypse

Chapter 101: Chapter 93: Utterly Ruined

”Th-then what if I don’t have the money?” Tang Mo asked weakly, raising her hand.

She was in the wrong, and she knew it. What she’d done was completely out of line, so she didn’t dare speak any louder.

”If you can’t come up with the money, you’ll work for the base until your debt is paid in full.”

The captain’s eyes held a hint of sympathy. This wasn’t the first time someone had deliberately led a horde of mutant beasts to the base.

No one could afford the cost of all those bullets. In the end, everyone who lured a mutant beast horde became an Alliance laborer.

Every base had its share of Alliance laborers.

The bases no longer had prisons. Nowadays, a place where you did nothing all day while being fed and housed wasn’t a punishment—it was paradise.

’Who would even dream of it?’

These days, people who broke the rules would temporarily become Alliance laborers. The length of their service was determined by the severity of their transgression.

They were fed the worst, cheapest nutrient solution, yet they were forced to work like beasts of burden.

Their tasks included clearing weeds and trees from the base’s perimeter, hauling mutant beast corpses, and repairing the perimeter walls.

Twelve hours a day, rain or shine. If you worked yourself to death, that was just the end of the line.

The captain made a quick, conservative estimate. For what Tang Mo had done, she’d probably have to work for eighty years to clear her debt.

”How many Crystal Cores?” Tang Mo asked, her voice trembling.

Jingjing, perched on Tang Mo’s shoulder, began to tremble too. Jingjing understood that the man was demanding Crystal Cores.

It could also see Tang Mo’s reaction; the number of Crystal Cores he was demanding was clearly no small amount.

’It’s over. We’re finished.’

These four words were a perfect reflection of what both human and beast were feeling.

”Thirty thousand.”

The captain held up three fingers.

Calculating the exact number of bullets wasn’t easy, so their fee was based on the size and strength of the mutant beast horde.

Thirty Basic-level Mutant Beasts and one Intermediate Beast came to this price—fair and square.

”Get changed and report to the Labor Camp with me.”

The captain pulled out a wristband and walked toward Tang Mo. Every laborer had to wear one, and it was impossible to remove on your own.

If you failed to return to the Labor Camp on time each night, the wristband would automatically detonate. It was a highly effective way to manage the prisoners.

”Don’t! Wait a second! Uh, sir, hold on!”

Tang Mo started to panic as she watched the captain approach, wristband in hand.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t beat the captain, but she knew she had to take responsibility for what happened.

That was just the kind of person Tang Mo was. If something was her duty, she would see it through to the end.

As for things that weren’t her responsibility? Whether she did them or not depended entirely on her mood.

Tang Mo had no desire to be a ”good person.” She lived by a single principle: to have a clear conscience.

”I have the money! Sir, I have the money!”

Tang Mo’s words brought the guard captain to a halt.

He eyed the young woman suspiciously. He didn’t believe Tang Mo could possibly come up with thirty thousand Crystal Cores.

There were people in S Base who could produce thirty thousand Crystal Cores on the spot, but not many. You could count them on two hands.

Others might be able to scrape that much together by pooling their entire family’s resources, but this girl before him...

The captain sized up Tang Mo. She was wearing a filthy tracksuit, and her hair and face looked like they hadn’t seen water in days.

No girl from a remotely well-off family would look like this.

While the captain was still lost in thought, Tang Mo had already started pulling Crystal Cores out of her Space.

’It’s only thirty thousand! If I scrape everything together, I might just have enough!’

In reality, there was a much simpler solution to her problem. A single call to either Wen Jianshu or Qin Ling would have resolved it instantly.

But Tang Mo didn’t want to. She refused to be the kind of person who made a mess and expected her family to clean it up.

That was just pathetic.

Tang Mo pulled out bag after bag of Crystal Cores, piling them on the ground.

The Intermediate Crystal Cores had already been removed from these bags; each one now contained exactly 30 Basic Crystal Cores.

”One hundred...”

”Two hundred...”

...

”Seven hundred...”

”Eight hundred...”

After counting to eight hundred, Tang Mo paused.

She paused for a moment before continuing to pull out more.

”Sixty-five more bags...”

A grand total of 865 bags of Basic Crystal Cores were now piled on the ground—a truly spectacular sight.

Tang Mo’s expression, however, was not nearly as impressive. Her face was a picture of tragic resolve.

Jingjing’s eyes, meanwhile, were brimming with tears.

”865 bags, a total of 25,950 Basic Crystal Cores.”

Tang Mo channeled her inner eight-year-old math whiz to arrive at the number.

’Nope, not enough.’

”What’s the current exchange rate between Intermediate and Basic Crystal Cores?” Tang Mo asked the captain.

The captain, however, was still staring at the massive pile of Crystal Core bags, unable to snap out of his stupor.

He never imagined someone could actually produce so many Crystal Cores.

And all by herself, at that!

’She’s loaded.’ That was the captain’s first thought.

’A Space Ability User. No wonder she’s so rich.’ That was his second thought.

”One to thirty.”

The captain gave the answer. It was the Alliance’s official exchange rate; on the black market, you could get an even better price.

With a grimace, Tang Mo began pulling out Intermediate Crystal Cores.

She’d already used up a lot of her Intermediate Crystal Cores. Now, she dumped the rest of them on the ground in one go and started counting them one by one.

”One hundred and forty-five Intermediate Crystal Cores in total, which exchanges for 4,350 Basic Crystal Cores. Perfect. A grand total of 30,300 Basic Crystal Cores.”

After doing the math, Tang Mo picked out 10 cores from the pile of Intermediate Crystal Cores and put them back into her Space.

”There, that should be enough. Take them.”

Tang Mo stared wistfully at her mountain of Crystal Cores.

’Oh well. Crystal Cores can be earned again. If that boar had gotten me, I’d really have nothing,’ Tang Mo comforted herself.

”Hey, send a couple of guys over. Yeah, that’s right.”

The captain put away the wristband and started making a call.

”To move Crystal Cores. Yes, you heard me right, move Crystal Cores. Mmm-hmm. Right. Make it quick.”

......

When Tang Mo walked out of the small, dark room, she was utterly dejected, as if all the life had been drained out of her.

’Everything’s gone. Back to square one in a single day.’

For once, Jingjing wasn’t perched on Tang Mo. Instead, it trudged along beside her, looking just as dejected.

”Just go. I’m broke now. I can’t afford to keep you.”

Tang Mo said to Jingjing.

”WHIMPER, WHIMPER...”

Jingjing pointed to itself, then to the small, dark room, then toward the base’s main gate. Finally, it nuzzled its head against Tang Mo.

Tang Mo understood. It was trying to say that it shared the blame for what happened, so even with all the Crystal Cores gone, it would stay with her.

The gesture almost moved Tang Mo to tears.

In truth, Tang Mo had completely misunderstood. What Jingjing actually meant was that Tang Mo had lost all her Crystal Cores and was now a pathetic, penniless wretch. It figured it should probably stick around, lest the blow be so severe that she couldn’t recover from it.

”Momo, is that a new pet?”

Tang Mo hadn’t gotten far from the small, dark room when Qin Ling’s voice sounded beside her.