Chapter 268: Birth of factories.

They were still holding each other when the bright light faded, revealing the dark, open ground of the factory location. They stood close, smiling awkwardly like two teenagers that had done something they should not have done.

Zyra cleared her throat, and she made a few nervous ’ha-ha’ sounds. It was dry laughter. In her mind, she was screaming, ’why did you do that?’ It was the second time she was kissing him. Was she taking advantage of the fact that he was her legal husband or did she actually desire him? Such questions passed through her mind.

Hunter, meanwhile, glanced around at the quiet, pitch-black surroundings, choosing to focus on something else. His brows rose in curiosity as he looked down at Zyra. "What are we doing out here at this time of the night?" He could hear a few roars in the distance, miles away from where they were. But other sounds were closer. Being out and about in the wild lands at night was never a good idea.

Zyra giggled softly, leaning her head against his shoulder for a quick second. "I couldn’t raise giant factories during the day with everyone watching, silly. People would lose their minds and kneel at my feet again or call me a Somnivore and burn me to death." She shuddered, recalling all too clearly that feeling of heat eating away at her skin in her last life.

Hunter chuckled, nodding in instant understanding. "Fair point."

Zyra straightened up and cleared her throat, speaking directly into her mind. Beauty, can you construct the factories here? We need one for sugar, another for salt, and one for soap.

A mechanical chime echoed in her head, followed by Beauty’s flat, robotic voice.

[I can_ but I will not.]

Zyra’s eyes bugged out. "What?!" she gasped out loud, completely shocked by the blatant rejection.

Hunter looked at her, he figured that she was talking to Beauty. So, he went into protection mode, assessing their surroundings.

[Host, the system debt for that would just be far too huge even for you and you do not want generation debt,] Beauty explained, popping up a holographic list of glowing numbers in Zyra’s mind. [The money in all your bank accounts combined cannot fund this entire setup right now. Besides, these factories are meant to benefit humans, not beasts. If the situation were reversed and this was for your beasts, the system cost would be significantly cheaper.]

Zyra placed her hands on her hips and scoffed loudly that Hunter could hear her argument. "What do you mean ’for humans’? Tyrant is literally obsessed over sugary stuff! He steals candy every chance he gets! And what about Red Sun?" She waved her arms dramatically. "Red Sun loves salt like nothing else in this world! That monkey literally dips its bananas in raw salt before eating them!"

Hunter snorted, trying_ and failing_ to hold back a laugh at the image of the hot-tempered monkey dipping fruit in salt.

"And don’t even get me started on soap!" Zyra continued her passionate argument with Beauty. "The beasts waste mountains of soap during their showers! They love the bubbles!"

Beauty hummed softly in Zyra’s head, sounding entirely unimpressed and unbothered.

Seeing that logic wasn’t working, Zyra narrowed her eyes and brought out the heavy weapons. She raised her voice inside her mind. "Fine! If you won’t help me set up these factories, then I will personally ban all sugar from the beasts. No more treats! And when they get dirty, they will wash with plain, freezing water. I bet you’ll whine endlessly watching the poor beasts suffer without their favorite things."

A heavy silence hung in the air for three whole seconds.

[_Alright, Host. I get it,] Beauty grumbled, sounding defeated. [How about this then? I am going to materialize one small factory for sugar and another for salt for the beasts. As for the soap_ well, humans and beasts can live without fancy soap, times are hard.]

Zyra smiled in victory, but then her brows furrowed in caution. "Wait. What’s the cost?"

[I will only charge you for the actual machinery inside,] Beauty replied. [The structural shells will be covered under the beast-welfare discount.]

Zyra nodded, satisfied with the compromise. "In that case, I’ll just buy the building materials for the soap factory, and we can have our workers build the physical structure themselves."

[That works too. It is much cheaper for your bank account. However, you will be left without points after this transaction.]

"Go ahead then!" Zyra commanded with a grin.

In an instant, the dark night sky seemed to ripple.

The ground shook gently beneath their feet. Hunter instinctively reached out and wrapped a protective arm around Zyra’s waist as wood sprouted from the soil. Sparks of wild energy danced through the air like fireflies.

Right before their very eyes, big steel beams and smooth grey concrete sprouted from the earth, rising high into the sky. Walls formed in seconds as if invisible giant hands were stacking magical building blocks. Two towering, sleek industrial buildings materialized out of thin air, complete with shimmering glass windows and giant exhaust pipes.

Beside the two completed buildings, a big mountain of high-grade bricks, steel beams, bags of cement, and shiny tools materialized, stacking themselves into neat, perfect piles for the soap factory.

Surrounding the entire huge complex, a giant, formidable fence made of solid, jagged black rock shot up from the ground, locking the whole perimeter in a fortress-like wall.

The glow faded, leaving the night quiet once again but with bright lights this time.

Hunter stared at the giant structures, his jaw practically hitting the floor. "Well_ I’ll be damned. So, that’s how you built the shelter."

Zyra smirked, feeling accomplished. She raised her hand, and Hunter instinctively high-fived her, his hand clapping firmly against hers.

"Let’s go check them out," Zyra said, pulling him toward the double doors of the first factory.

They stepped inside, and automatic white lights flickered on one by one, illuminating a hall filled with giant silver vats, pipes, and automatic control panels that looked like they belonged to a futuristic world.

Hunter walked up to a giant conveyor belt, running his hand over the polished metal. "This is incredible. Sugar and salt can start being produced immediately, while the construction workers can start building the soap factory right next door tomorrow."

"Yup, that’s the plan," Zyra said proudly, leaning against a control desk. "We don’t need a thousand workers like Alma suggested, just one hundred will do."

Hunter turned around, looking at her glowing, triumphant face under the bright factory lights. A soft, affectionate smile touched his lips. He stepped forward, caught her by the waist, and pulled her flush against his chest once again.

"You’re amazing, you know that?" Hunter murmured, his thumb lightly brushing her cheek.

Zyra nodded, "I know."

"Now, take us back. I want my wife all to myself before morning comes." Hunter whispered

Zyra could hear her system protesting his praise of her as ’amazing,’ after all, it had accomplished everything. Unfortunately for Beauty, Hunter could not hear her, and that was the system’s daily dilemma.

Barely two minutes after they left, a bird king beast landed on a tree beyond the factory wall--watching and waiting.