Chapter 93: Keith Griffith’s Investigation, Time to Eat

Chapter 93: Chapter 93: Keith Griffith’s Investigation, Time to Eat

Sean Chandler’s reaction was lightning fast. The moment the knock sounded, the little black cat flickered and instantly reverted to his human form—his completely naked human form!

Seraphina Sullivan’s attention was entirely focused on the sound. She walked cautiously toward the door, never looking back.

Thus, she completely missed the frantic, clumsy scene behind her: Sean Chandler snatching up the clothes he hadn’t yet changed into and haphazardly trying to cover himself.

Sean Chandler: ...

"KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!"

The knocking persisted, sounding particularly abrupt and jarring in the silent, rainy night, carrying with it a relentless quality.

Seraphina Sullivan’s heart tightened.

’Who could be outside?’

Seraphina Sullivan approached the peephole and looked out.

A figure stood outside: Keith Griffith, the resident from 808, the man who claimed to be from property management and whose stare always made Seraphina Sullivan uneasy.

Right now, however, his face wore a look of contrived urgency.

’Why him?’ Seraphina Sullivan wondered.

’What’s he doing here so late at night?’

"Who is it?" Seraphina Sullivan called out, deliberately raising her voice, her tone tinged with the annoyance of being disturbed.

Hearing her response, Keith Griffith immediately adopted a worried tone. "Ms. Sullivan? Oh, good, you’re home! Are you all right? I was just on patrol downstairs and I think I saw a stranger sneak into the building. He was acting suspiciously and seemed to be heading for this floor! I was worried about the residents’ safety, so I rushed up here to check!"

His gaze seemed to casually sweep over the still-damp patch of water on the floor in front of Seraphina Sullivan’s door, a flicker of hard-to-detect inquiry in their depths.

Seraphina Sullivan froze.

’This guy has sharp eyes. Did he see Sean Chandler come up? But he’s just property management. Would he really get this worked up over seeing a resident’s visitor? Enough to come knocking on my door to check?’

She felt Keith Griffith’s reaction was over the top, almost staged.

Since he might have seen something, Seraphina Sullivan couldn’t be bothered to invent an excuse. She simply replied coolly.

"Oh, it’s fine. Thanks for your concern. A friend of mine just came over."

Outside the door, Keith Griffith seemed to pause for a moment. His tone then shifted, becoming somewhat peculiar. "Ah... a friend, you say? Well, that’s good, that’s good... I was just worried about your safety. A young woman living alone, and with how things have been lately..."

His voice held a hint of imperceptible disappointment, an emotion he quickly tried to mask.

Seraphina Sullivan: ?

’Worried about my safety? Seriously? I don’t buy it!’

Keith Griffith didn’t press the matter. Mumbling a "Sorry to bother you, stay safe," he turned and left.

As he walked toward the elevator, Keith Griffith’s expression instantly darkened. He gritted his teeth and cursed under his breath.

"Damn it! Of all the times for her to have company! I thought since she lived alone and seemed to have no one to rely on, she’d be the perfect one for me and Morton... Looks like I’ll have to find a new target."

Behind the door, although Seraphina Sullivan couldn’t make out his final words, her intuition screamed that there was definitely something wrong with Keith Griffith.

Beneath that "helpful" facade, she feared, lay an ulterior motive.

With the advent of the Doomsday Game and the increasing number of Players, the world was bound to grow more and more chaotic.

’Whatever, it’s not like he’s come after me yet.’ Seraphina Sullivan temporarily pushed her suspicions aside. This wasn’t the time to look for trouble.

Even with the emergence of Players, none had yet become too brazen.

She turned to face Sean Chandler, who had already scrambled into his clothes.

She had learned that Sean Chandler was also alone in the real world. His parents had passed away long ago, leaving him with no attachments.

"In that case, you can stay here for now," Seraphina Sullivan decided.

Having a powerful and completely loyal Player by her side would be beneficial, both for dealing with potential crises in the real world and for preparing for the next instance.

Besides, there was another idea she wanted to test.

’This is perfect. I want to test a theory before the next instance begins,’ she thought, her gaze falling on Sean Chandler.

’If two Players stick together, will they be assigned to the same instance world when the next one begins?’

If her hypothesis was correct, then forming a reliable team of Players might just be the key to surviving the increasingly dangerous doomsday instances.

And Sean Chandler would be her first test subject.

Having decided to let Sean Chandler stay for the time being, Seraphina Sullivan began to organize the massive haul from her last instance.

She didn’t let Sean Chandler stay idle, either, directing him to clear out more space in the area of the room she had designated for planting.

The most important items, of course, were the Growth Potatoes Trees she had acquired.

Looking at the strange, man-high saplings hung with brownish-yellow fruit, Seraphina Sullivan felt both joy and anxiety.

’If only my Storage Space had a planting function,’ she mused. ’I could just grow them in there. It would be completely safe and so convenient.’

She sighed. In so many novels, spaces came with their own spirit fields and what not. It was a shame hers seemed to be nothing more than a simple warehouse.

However, she quickly thought of an alternative.

’Looks like I’ll have to find some time to go out and get some oversized pots or planter boxes.’

She decided to plant the trees on her indoor balcony and in the corner of the living room for now. It would be a tight squeeze, but it was better than leaving them in her Space indefinitely. After all, plants needed light and air.

Next, she let Flora out as well.

The menacing vines immediately began to curiously probe their surroundings. Only after receiving Seraphina’s mental command to "be still" did they obediently curl up in a corner, resembling an excessively wild houseplant.

As for the live Cluckers in her Space, they were looking rather listless by now.

Seraphina Sullivan checked on them, confirming they were still alive, but she didn’t dare release them.

Their crowing was quite loud, which would easily attract trouble in an apartment building. She could only let them remain cooped up in the Space for a while longer and figure things out when she had a better setup.

Once she was done with all that, a powerful wave of hunger washed over her.

She had been on high alert in the instance, subsisting on dry rations and simple roasted meat. Now, back in the safety of her apartment, she was desperate to reward her stomach.

’I’m starving! I have to make something good!’

She immediately retrieved the freshest pork belly and tenderloin from her Space—loot from the slaughterhouse instance.

She recalled some recipes she’d learned from food bloggers, combined them with a few of her own "heretical" techniques, and got to work.

She whipped up a few dishes. Then, worried it wouldn’t be enough, she decided to make hot pot as well.

She boiled some water in a large electric pot, added the hot pot soup base, and soon, a spicy and fragrant steam filled the room, making her mouth water.

"Mmm, that smells amazing!" Seraphina Sullivan took a deep breath, a feeling of pure bliss washing over her.

She dropped a thinly sliced piece of pork belly into the bubbling red broth, swished it for a few seconds, then dipped it in a sauce of sesame oil and minced garlic before popping it into her mouth.

The meat was incredibly tender, bursting with rich, savory flavor and the numbing spice of the broth. It was so good she could have swallowed her own tongue!

This was absolutely top-tier meat, the kind you couldn’t buy in the real world for any amount of money.

"Come on, don’t be shy. Eat up!" she said to Sean Chandler, while also tossing two large, cleaned chickens from the instance toward Flora in the corner.

Flora immediately snatched them up with its vines. Its bud-like head opened, and it began to make soft, contented chewing noises.

And so, late on that stormy night, a strange scene played out in the small apartment: a young woman and a silent man huddled around an electric pot, cooking slices of uncanny, top-tier pork in a bubbling hot pot, while in the corner, a terrifying plant gnawed on whole chickens.

「The night passed in this brief and bizarre tranquility.」