"A miner..."
Tsunade's eyelid twitched violently. Granted, she had already decided to put her life as a ninja behind her and retire from the profession entirely.
But never in her wildest dreams did she imagine she would end up as a miner—or worse, a construction worker.
At the very least, she expected to be a doctor or something similar. Yet here she was, entrusted with a "vital mission" by Li Ke to dig up dirt, leaving her completely at a loss for words.
"Well, a massive horde of zombies is going to swarm us in a few days," Li Ke quickly explained, flashing a placating smile. "We can only rely on your incredible strength to harvest enough materials so we can build up our base and defenses... Of course, I'll be helping out too."
"Fine. Given my current condition, it's not like I can help you guys fight anyway."
With a heavy sigh, Tsunade hoisted the shovel Li Ke had handed her onto her shoulder. She nodded reluctantly, accepting her new reality.
"What about me, handsome?"
Kiri suddenly hopped forward, clapping a hand onto Li Ke's shoulder. Her face was practically glowing with anticipation.
"Well, it's pretty much the same story for you. Since you guys can't accept quests right now, your only option to level up is to mine alongside her. But don't worry, as soon as I finish my quest, I'll join you guys down in the pits. Plus, most importantly, you bear the critical mission of keeping Miss Tsunade safe."
Li Ke reached into his inventory once more, pulling out another iron shovel and iron pickaxe. He placed them squarely into the hands of a very eager—and now very disappointed—Kiri.
Kiri: "..."
Staring down at the pickaxe and shovel in her hands, Kiri exchanged a helpless look with Tsunade. Both women let out a synchronized sigh.
"Alright, alright. I guess we just have to play by the rules of this bizarre world. But you mentioned building a fortress earlier—aren't we starting on that right now?" Kiri asked curiously, propping the pickaxe against her shoulder.
"Yes, that's the ultimate goal. But first, we need to hoard a massive amount of raw resources before we can even craft reinforced concrete. Long story short, just keep mining. Here are your supplies—eat whenever you get hungry."
Li Ke smiled warmly as he handed Kiri a hefty stash of food and water, along with two short iron pipes and over a hundred rounds of ammunition.
He then swallowed the last bite of roasted meat from his bowl and pointed toward the trader's compound not far away.
"I'm heading out to do a quest first. Once you guys mine enough iron ore, you can start crafting some robotic turret ammo. You can sell those to make a bit of money and buy whatever you want from the trader."
"Fine, fine..."
Kiri rolled her eyes, gulping down the rest of her meat broth before tossing the empty can back toward their campsite.
"Basically, we prioritize farming and scaling up first, right?"
"Exactly."
"Got it."
Kiri and Tsunade made their way together toward the mining pit Li Ke had previously dug out. Once Li Ke watched them descend into the mine, he turned on his heel and walked over to the trader's compound.
Following his usual routine, he barred the front door, greeted the female trader, and fluidly vaulted over her counter. Opening his character UI, he began allocating his new skill points, and then...
"What on earth is that guy doing in the trader's shop? He's been in there forever and still hasn't come out," Kiri muttered, staring curiously at the tightly shut doors of the trader's compound.
"No idea, but it's probably nothing wholesome," Tsunade grunted, pausing her movements. In her eyes, Li Ke was hardly a disciplined, noble warrior. Left alone to survive in a desolate world like this, what else would a man be doing?
"Oh... I think I catch your drift."
A look of pure disgust crossed Kiri's face. While she considered herself a woman of high standards, she had spent enough time surviving in war zones to know exactly how male soldiers blew off steam when the stress piled up too high.
At least back in the Empyrean, soldiers had music, basic video games, manga, novels, and the company of comrades.
But this guy...
"I mean, it's not like I can't understand it, but... wait, does that female trader he mentioned actually offer that kind of service?"
Kiri patted her pockets. Finding no cigarettes, she let out a helpless sigh. She had been dying to get her hands on some tobacco earlier, but unfortunately, she couldn't find a single leaf. This world was incredibly uncanny—it clearly looked like a place where people used to live normal lives, yet a bizarrely vast number of everyday items were inexplicably missing.
For instance, she had desperately searched for a lathe, pliers, or any basic gunsmithing tools, but came up completely empty-handed. She was stuck marching around with the machine gun Li Ke had given her, utterly unable to mod it or even craft herself a pair of signature revolvers.
"I wouldn't know," Tsunade replied.
She was diligently shattering the ore veins before her. Boulders that would take Li Ke three or four heavy swings to break apart exploded in a single strike from her. The shockwave from her blows even damaged the surrounding ore deposits, making her mining speed phenomenally fast.
She finally understood why Li Ke wasn't rushing to build the fortress yet. At this rate, if they truly wanted to erect a stronghold, they could probably finish it in a single day.
As they were talking, Li Ke finally emerged from the compound. He waved a hand at the two women before quickly rushing off toward his quest location.
Watching his figure fade into the distance, Kiri pondered for a moment before turning to the woman beside her.
"Hey, are you interested in going to check it out?" Kiri pointed toward the female trader's shop.
Tsunade cast a flat, speechless glance at the female gunner, whose figure was just as impressive as her own, and sighed.
"I have absolutely zero interest."
"Well, I do!"
Kiri tossed her pickaxe straight into the dirt and bolted right toward the trader's shop. Tsunade watched her retreating back for a second before reluctantly following behind.
The two women quickly stepped into the trader's room. Though they caught a whiff of a rather unique, lingering scent in the air, the female trader's clothes were perfectly intact, showing no unusual signs of dishevelment whatsoever.
"Wow, she really is completely frozen in place."
Kiri stared at the motionless female trader, curiously waving a hand right in front of her face. She even gave the woman a gentle nudge, but no matter what she tried, she didn't get the slightest hint of a reaction.
Tsunade stood by the doorway, her arms crossed right beneath her remarkably massive chest. Watching Kiri basically frisk the poor trader from head to toe, she finally spoke up, sounding entirely exasperated.
"Just what exactly were you hoping to find? Aren't you worried about accidentally touching something nasty?"
The lingering scent in the air couldn't fool a skilled medical ninja like her. The very instant Kiri had cracked the door open, Tsunade figured out exactly what kind of "business" Li Ke had been conducting in here, which was why she had flatly refused to step inside.
Kiri, on the other hand, was a hardened soldier completely used to all kinds of foul warzone stenches. She was nowhere near as sensitive to smells as Tsunade, who had only recently planned to leave her village behind. She simply kept checking the trader's clothes and pockets before letting out a dejected sigh.
"Man, she doesn't carry any cigarettes."
She grumbled in disappointment, but then she suddenly noticed a major blind spot.
"Wait a second... it actually looks like he didn't do anything inappropriate to this trader at all?"
Staring at the trader's perfectly neat and undisturbed clothing, Kiri blurted out her realization. Her words caught Tsunade off guard.
Tsunade glanced over while Kiri was tugging at the trader's jacket. True enough, there wasn't a single trace indicating the woman had been touched. Once she realized what this meant, she instantly smacked her own forehead in sheer disbelief.
"Why on earth are you spending so much mental energy obsessing over this?"
"To figure out exactly what kind of guy he is, obviously," Kiri replied casually. "Look, it might sound like I'm bragging, but you and I are both very attractive women with pretty great figures. If I get sent away on a task one day and you're left all alone, and he decides to use your fear of blood against you... I won't be there to bail you out. That's why I wanted to see if he's the type who lets his base desires run his brain, and whether he already has a way to let off steam. But looking at things now, this kid is almost aggressively innocent. I mean, the calluses on his hands..."
Recalling the rough calluses and fresh wounds decorating Li Ke's hands, Kiri couldn't help but shiver slightly.
Tsunade fell silent. She couldn't argue with that, because it was a cold, hard truth.
"It doesn't matter," Tsunade finally said, her voice dripping with profound indifference. "For someone like me, it wouldn't even matter if things actually degenerated to that point."
She spoke as if she truly didn't care. In her mind, she was already essentially a ghost who had abandoned her own world. She would keep living as long as she didn't die, but if she ever ran into a truly fatal situation, she wouldn't shed a tear over it.
"How can you say something so depressing?" Kiri chided, waving her hand dismissively. "As long as you're still drawing breath, there's always a chance for things to turn around. Besides, you must have people back home who still deeply care about you, right?"
Kiri tapped on the trader's digital inventory menu and purchased two cold mugs of beer.
She bought them using the robotic turret ammo she had just crafted from her freshly mined scrap iron. Her main goal, however, had been to check if the trader sold the specific firearms she was accustomed to using.
The answer was yes.
The catch, however, was that they were astronomically expensive—costing well over ten thousand tokens, which was a far cry from the few hundred bucks a gun used to cost in her memories.
"Ha..."
Tsunade let out a hollow, bitter laugh, choosing to stay silent.
The people she loved, and the people who loved her back, were practically all dead.
But Kiri was entirely different from her.
Kiri stepped over and handed one of the beer mugs to Tsunade, flashing a bright, determined grin.
"After all... I fully intend to make it out of this place alive and go back home."