Inside the cabin!
"The haul is not bad this time. Mr. Beckett really didn't lie; Clive really was hiding good things."
"That is only natural. No matter what, he was once an imperial soldier."
"..."
Joey gritted his teeth and walked away silently. As for what they were saying next, he did not want to listen.
Damn Beckett!
It turned out that he was behind everything. He had wondered before why a group of bandits would suddenly break in to rob the place. He and Old Tony had lived there for over half a year in complete peace. So all this time, those bandits and Udir were in it together.
Back when Old Tony was uninjured and still an imperial soldier, he had some friendship with Udir Beckett. The two of them were the only magicians in the small town, and they had plenty of conflicting interests.
Because of this, Joey had the privilege of visiting the farm's backyard and knew where the important things were kept.
Although the human body adapted to a world without light, crops did not. Exposed to polluted air, food mutated.
To cultivate safe, non-toxic food, one could only use a sealed, sterile space. Udir's reserves were all inside a spherical incubator.
He searched all around and did not find the Foundation Stone. Aside from seeds and some semi-ripened crops, there was nothing else.
He had taken a risk to break in, only to end up with zero gains, which made Joey's expression extremely ugly. As time passed, he grew increasingly restless.
Damn Udir, where on earth did he hide the thing?
In the end, with nothing to show for it, he could only steal some seeds, wipe away his tracks, and leave quickly. It would not be long before someone discovered that all the seeds in the storehouse incubator had been completely plundered.
As for those semi-ripened items, he took what he could carry and directly destroyed what he could not.
Although he did not find the Foundation Stone, Joey was still quite satisfied.
This can be considered returning things to their rightful owner.
With his harvest full, his steps grew brisk as well.
Returning to the cabin, Old Tony lay on the bed with his eyes tightly closed, and only the magic paper figurine fluttered around Joey.
"I smell the scent of seeds on you!"
Joey excitedly took out his harvest, which was a small woven bag filled to the brim with seed embryos.
The facial features painted by the paper figurine's brush furrowed tightly together.
"Joey, you shouldn't steal! The gods will forsake a marauder!"
"Clive, I didn't steal anything. I only took back what rightfully belongs to us. Udir is a complete and utter liar. He lied to you, to Dad, and to those bandits. They are all his subordinates, and it was he who destroyed our Foundation Stone."
Joey told Old Tony everything he had seen at the farm. After listening, Old Tony merely let out a gentle sigh.
"Joey, Beckett committed a wrong, and naturally there will be gods to punish him. That is not a reason for you to choose thievery."
"I don't care. I don't understand your big principles. Since there is divine punishment, why hasn't Udir been punished? All I see is that he is exploiting commoners and living better than all of the rest of us."
When all was said and done, before transmigrating, Joey had been nothing more than a boy in his early twenties. The rigid rules and constraints of this world were hard for him to accept.
Because there was no Foundation Stone, the two of them had to move to the basement for the night.
Although the town had Night Demons, fortunately they were only low-grade beasts. As long as they exercised a little caution, there was not much danger.
Early the next morning, Joey prepared to head out and sound out the situation.
By the time he reached the farm, the scene was already in complete chaos. The slaves were gathered together, and a ferocious-looking Udir was beating them with a leather whip. Their wails could be heard from far away.
There were also some small farm lords around, and from them Joey learned another piece of news: Udir's guards had stolen while guarding, plundered everything on the farm, and even destroyed the entire culture room.
He blended into the crowd and quietly slipped away.
That is ruthless!
He had only slipped away with some seeds, but he never expected that group of people would actually destroy the culture room as well. They had gotten what they deserved, more or less.
The black earth was barren and desolate.
Joey had walked a long way and still had not found any trace of food.
Suddenly!
A roaring sound swept down from overhead! An unidentifiable black object plummeted straight down.
"What is that?"
He looked left and right. In this uninhabited, godforsaken place, such a sudden occurrence left him unsure whether it was good or bad. After much deliberation, he still decided to go over and take a look.
The black smoke was far away, but following the trail, Joey discovered a person.
Golden hair soaked through with bloodstains, wearing a lavish gown.
"An aristocrat?"
An aristocrat actually appeared in the outer city, and judging by the situation, she seemed quite heavily injured.
Judging from the surrounding tracks, she must have fallen from midair.
"An aircraft?"
He had never seen such a thing before, and he did not know how it compared to the airplanes of the Blue Star.
"Roar!"
The explosion had ultimately still attracted the attention of beasts. Although he very much wanted to go up ahead and look, he had to leave now, or it would become dangerous once the beasts gathered.
He glanced at the unconscious young girl, tested her breathing, and saw she was still alive. He hoisted her onto his back, cleared away his tracks, and left swiftly.
The cabin basement.
The paper figurine and Joey stared at each other in blank dismay.
"Joey, didn't you go looking for food?"
What was the meaning of bringing back a live human?
"Dad, do you think she's an aristocrat!"
The paper figurine flew around in a circle, unable to make up its mind either. Although he had previously been an imperial soldier, he had never even been qualified to enter the inner city, so naturally he had never seen a real aristocrat.
After briefly treating the injuries on the girl's body, Joey discovered that her looks were truly very pretty, enough to be a proper major celebrity back on the Blue Star. But here, without status and position, no matter how pretty the vessel, it was merely someone else's plaything.
After waiting a moment, the girl slowly regained consciousness.
Azure-blue eyes, resembling a pool of deep spring water, looked around her in astonishment, finally fixing their gaze on Joey.
"Did you save me?" Her voice was gentle and delicate.
Joey nodded, then asked right after, "Are you an aristocrat?"
If he really had rescued an aristocrat, things would get interesting. Perhaps he could even use this opportunity to leave the town and go see what the inner city was actually like.
Truth be told, having come to this world and stayed for over half a year, his takeaway was simply this: it was no different from the remote Gobi Desert of the Blue Star's Northwest. The only difference was that one had blowing sand everywhere while the other had black soil everywhere-both equally devoid of life.
"Help me."
The girl abruptly grabbed Joey's shoulder, her tone laced with a sob and her expression full of entreaty.
"Don't panic yet. Just tell me whatever you need!"
The girl was named Alyssa Daniel, and there had been another person with her. Halfway through, the aircraft met with an accident, and she wanted Joey to go look for the other person.
He actually did not want to go back; that place was probably already surrounded by beasts by now.
Seemingly seeing Joey's dilemma.
Alyssa stated bluntly, "I can trade a Sequence 9 potion formula for it."