Reborn with Nothing but My Farm and Vengeance in the Apocalypse novel Chapter 55

Chapter 55: Chapter 55: The Party

The bayberries in The Arcadian Woods had ripened over the past few days. They were perfectly sweet and sour. Melody Summers climbed a tree and ate several in one go, then listed the bayberries in her shop.

After listing them, she casually checked her shop’s status and found several new reviews:

"User xxx: A friend recommended this shop, and the quality is indeed great. But could you please stop using drones for delivery? My bodyguard thought it was an airdropped bomb and almost opened fire."

"User xxx: This fish is delicious! The meat is fresh and tender, nothing like the ones from those high-tech indoor farms. It feels very natural."

"User xxx: This pork is amazing! It’s nothing like the pork on the market—not gamey at all. It’s incredibly fragrant when stir-fried. I was just about to reorder, but how is it already out of stock?"

What surprised Melody Summers the most was the honey. A few customers were reordering it by the dozens of jars. After considering her production capacity, Melody decided to take the honey down for the time being.

Melody Summers grabbed her tools and went to The Arcadian Woods to harvest some honeycomb.

Thick, golden honey dripped from the edge of her knife onto the ground. As Melody Summers glanced down, she noticed clumps of yellow mushrooms at the base of the tree.

"Are these... chanterelles?" Melody Summers climbed down from the tree, puzzled, and squatted to take a closer look. ’Did these just sprout? They definitely weren’t here before.’

Melody Summers quickly searched around the base of the trees and discovered all sorts of mushrooms growing beneath many of them—large and small, in a variety of shapes and colors.

"Yes! We have mushrooms to eat!" Melody Summers forgot all about the honey. She excitedly rolled up her sleeves and prepared to start picking. Though she had stockpiled plenty of dried mushrooms before the cataclysm, they were no match for fresh ones.

Afraid of picking poisonous ones, Melody Summers used a phone app to identify the mushrooms as she went. She gathered a large quantity of porcini, matsutake, morels, termite mushrooms, and red-staining boletes... By the time she grew tired and looked back, she saw that the mushrooms she had picked were piled up into a small mound.

There were far too many. She decided to keep some for herself and list the rest in her shop.

Since there were so many different kinds, Melody Summers couldn’t be bothered to sort and list them individually. Instead, she created a "Wild Mushroom Medley" bundle, which included a mix of all the varieties. She packed them into boxes and set the price at 80,000 per unit.

These mushrooms weren’t easy to cultivate indoors. Matsutake, in particular, had been incredibly valuable even before the cataclysm!

The moment the mushrooms were listed, ten units sold out instantly. The order came from a single ID, netting her 800,000 in a flash. Melody Summers had Albus hurry up with the delivery while she climbed a tree again, cut down two more pieces of honeycomb, and took them to her workshop to be processed into honey.

After dealing with the shop orders, Melody Summers glanced at the community group chat and saw that it was already buzzing with activity, even though it was early in the morning:

"6-501 Suzy: What was all that commotion over at Building 6 last night? So much crying and shouting. Don’t tell me it was another home invasion."

"6-702 The Lover: I know what happened. It was my neighbors across the hall fighting. The husband used both his and his wife’s quotas to go shopping for supplies at the supermarket and came back with only cigarettes and alcohol. When his wife found out, they had a massive argument. She’s threatening divorce. She took their child and left for her parents’ house first thing this morning."

"4-1209 GoofingOff: Unbelievable! Buying booze and smokes at a time like this? Is he trying to starve to death?"

"6-702 The Lover: They must still have some food stored up. In any case, they were fighting viciously yesterday. It sounded like it even got physical."

"2-1908 Coco: We’re all running out of food, and he’s pulling this crap? That man has some serious nerve."

"6-501 Suzy: That’s how a lot of people are. When the craving for a smoke or a drink hits, they forget all about food."

"4-1209 GoofingOff: Fine if he wants to starve, but why drag his wife and kid into it? He actually used his wife’s quota for booze and smokes. How selfish!"

"..."

Melody Summers thought of the man who had bought the cigarettes and alcohol yesterday and shook her head. ’One person’s indulgence, the whole family’s starvation.’

’A selfish person like that will have a hard time surviving the later stages of the cataclysm,’ she thought. ’I just hope he doesn’t cause any trouble for the community.’

As Melody Summers was scrolling through the group chat, a private message suddenly popped up. She opened it. It was from Sophie Thorne:

"Melody, a friend in Unit D06 is hosting a party today. Want to come with me?"

Before Melody Summers had a chance to reply, she got a phone call. It was Zane Simmons. After a moment’s thought, Melody answered it.

"Hello?"

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