Chapter 310: Escape the Desert 14

"A Pass Token can only be used by one person. If two people try to use a single token, the one without the token will be considered a stowaway.

"I’m not sure what happens to stowaways, but the person holding the Pass Token who helps them will be severely punished."

After hearing Perry Yates’s explanation, Candice Sawyer frowned. "If that’s the case, then why would the Oasis Guards openly accept bribes?"

The words had barely left her mouth when Candice realized, "They plan to double-cross them."

As long as they didn’t actually lead the people who bribed them out of the desert, they wouldn’t be breaking any rules.

And with all the dangers on the way out of the desert, getting rid of someone would be all too easy.

After the two of them briefly exchanged clues, their focus inevitably returned to the Pass Tokens.

To leave this desert, Pass Tokens were essential.

But how to get the tokens was the problem. After all, they were so important that losing one would likely cause a huge uproar. If the Oasis Guards got desperate, who knew what they might do.

Back at her lodging, Perry Yates learned some news from the shopkeeper: tomorrow was water-fetching day.

Because Perry Yates had her Water Collector, she didn’t usually worry about water. When the shopkeeper suddenly mentioned water-fetching day, it took her a moment to understand what that meant.

According to the shopkeeper, everyone in their Oasis got their water from a massive lake in the center.

As the only water source in the Oasis, it was guarded by the Oasis Guards twenty-four hours a day, and no one was allowed near it at other times.

Anyone caught approaching would be beaten at best, or at worst, thrown out of the Oasis and permanently banned from re-entry.

Water-fetching day was once every three days. Each person was only allowed to collect one bucket of water. To get more, you had to pay extra.

And even if you paid, the absolute maximum was five buckets.

The shopkeeper told Perry Yates this because she wanted her help fetching water.

Since the shopkeeper ran the store alone and could only fetch five buckets herself, she wanted Perry to use her quota to help fetch more water for the shop, and it wouldn’t be for free.

The shopkeeper would pay for the water Perry fetched, and after they brought it back, Perry could take an extra bucket for herself.

Perry Yates readily agreed. She hadn’t been to the lake yet anyway, so this was a good chance to check it out.

At the same time, in order to get even more water, Perry sent her three Clones out during the night to have them blend into the water-fetching queues.

「The thirteenth day of the game.」

Early the next morning, Perry Yates was woken by the shopkeeper, who promptly handed her a carrying pole.

Perry saw that the shopkeeper also had a carrying pole, from which hung five dark-colored, lidded buckets.

On the ground were five more buckets, presumably for her.

The two of them shouldered their buckets and headed outside.

Once outside, they saw many other people carrying the same kind of poles, all heading in the same direction.

And the closer they got to their destination, the more people they saw.

After walking for about ten minutes, the shopkeeper suddenly stopped.

Perry was confused. She looked ahead. ’Aren’t we still far from the lake? Why are we stopping?’

But before she could voice her question, she saw that a long line had already formed a short distance ahead.

Perry had thought they’d come early, but it turned out others had come even earlier.

They had barely taken their place in line when they saw people already heading back, shouldering full buckets of water with brisk steps and chatting as they walked.

Perry sent her Spiritual Body flying ahead, and soon, a crystal-clear lake appeared in her view.

The lake was vast, its water so clear that she could even see the shadows of fish swimming within.

’With a lake this big, it seems like they’d never have to worry about a water shortage.’

However, perhaps because she was flying so high, Perry noticed that the lake’s water level seemed to be dropping rather quickly. It was clearly a good deal lower than it should be.

At the same time, through her Spiritual Body, Perry overheard people’s conversations.

From them, Perry caught a crucial piece of information: the price of water had gone up by fifty percent.

Everyone was very unhappy about it, but there was nothing they could do.

After all, the Oasis Guards were in charge, and the people still depended on them to protect the peace of the Oasis.

Then she heard another piece of news: other shops were preparing to raise their prices too. The reason was simple—the price of water had increased.

To balance their costs, they had no choice but to follow suit.

Hearing this, Perry decided that after fetching water, she would buy more supplies before the prices went up—especially salt, spices, medicine, fruit, sand potatoes, and meat.

’If prices really do go up, I can resell these things at a profit. It’s a kind of investment,’ she mused.

Soon, it was Perry’s turn to get water.

When she reached the water’s edge, Perry finally understood why the Oasis Guards hadn’t noticed the falling water level.

They had built a small structure on the shore of the lake, with a long pipe extending from it. People fetching water had to use this pipe to fill their buckets.

According to the shopkeeper, this small structure had only recently been built.

The story was that not long ago, someone in another oasis had maliciously poisoned the water source—and succeeded. As a result, everyone in that oasis died. Not even the plants survived.

Although the perfectly good Oasis didn’t vanish immediately, its eventual disappearance was already a foregone conclusion.

So, to prevent such a thing from happening again, the Oasis Guards built this structure and had people get water from the pipe.

If people couldn’t access the actual water source, they naturally couldn’t poison it.

Hearing this, Perry Yates nodded. ’Even with this setup, it’s still possible to poison the water,’ she thought, ’but this method does prevent the source itself from being poisoned.’

After fetching the water and returning to her lodging, Perry put her two buckets in her room and headed out again.

News of the price hikes hadn’t spread yet, so she still had some time.

Perry’s main targets were salt and medicine, followed by spices and raw food ingredients.

After moving the water her three Clones had collected into the Safe House, Perry gave them some gold and sent them out to buy things.