Chapter 36: This Is Not A Drill!

"Oh, hey! Do you need some credits?" Saddie waved at Summer from a distance. "I can leave one roach for you if you want!"

Summer honestly wasn’t short on credits, especially with all the gifts from her livestream. But if someone was offering free money?

"Sure!" she replied quickly.

At first, Summer thought Saddie would simply leave the last roach for her to hunt. Instead, Saddie grabbed the metal pipe and suddenly drove it straight through the roach’s body.

The creature let out a loud screech and struggled wildly, but the pipe had pinned it to the ground.

It wasn’t dead, but it definitely wasn’t going anywhere.

Oh, well. That worked too.

Summer casually raised her rifle and fired straight at its head. In less than a second, the last roach was finally dead.

[You killed ×1 D-Rank Mutated Creature: 5,000 Credits]

Saddie let out a small yelp when black blood almost splashed onto her clothes again.

To be fair, her clothes were already dirty. But apparently, there was still a limit to how dirty she was willing to get.

"Sorry!" Summer shouted from afar.

Saddie quickly waved her hand while taking off her outer jacket. "It’s fine! It’s fine! I’m already dirty anyway!"

Then, as if nothing had happened, Saddie turned toward her streaming camera. The disgust on her face disappeared in an instant and sweet smile appeared instead.

"Guys," Saddie said sweetly, clasping her hands together in front of her chest. "You all saw that, right? I just gave you a full performance."

The comments immediately started moving faster.

[Here she goes.]

[HAHAHA SHE’S ABOUT TO BEG.]

[At least she’s honest.]

Saddie ignored them and pointed at herself with both hands. "This poor fox fought disgusting giant cockroaches for your entertainment. I jumped, I spun, I almost got black blood on my face—"

[You screamed too.]

"That was part of the performance."

[LIAR.]

Saddie’s smile didn’t even shake. "So if any of you enjoyed the show..." She brought her fingers together in a tiny begging gesture. "Maybe send a little gift?"

Summer watched Saddie from a distance, quietly studying her like a junior learning from a senior streamer.

So this was how people made money fast.

For now, BaronB often sent her huge gifts, but Summer knew she couldn’t depend on one person forever. There was no guarantee he would keep watching her livestreams all the time.

That was why it would be better if she could win over more people and get them to send her super gifts too.

If she could win over enough people, then maybe becoming rich in this world wouldn’t be that hard after all.

On the other side, Saddie continued shamelessly, "This fox still needs to pay her rent, you know." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

[SADDIE, NOT THE RENT CARD!]

[Mods, help her!]

[Unfortunately, Mods are also poor.]

[WE’RE ALL STRUGGLING TOGETHER!]

[Nah, it’s just you. Don’t worry, Saddie, some of us are still rich!]

Not long after, the gifts finally started pouring in.

A few wealthy fans sent her super gifts, while many others sent smaller gifts as a way of comforting her for all the bad luck she had gone through.

Saddie’s smile slowly grew wider and wider.

At this rate, she could finally go home with enough money to pay her rent, buy food, and maybe even waste a little on something nice to heal her emotional damage.

Honestly, after losing both her money and her girlfriend, she felt like she deserved it.

Far from her, Ilya finally jumped out through the broken window and walked toward Summer. "Good work again, Miss Beaumont."

Summer’s rabbit ears twitched slightly. "Do I get high points this time?" she asked. "I didn’t even get hurt."

Ilya smiled. "Actually, your score is even higher this time."

"Really?" Summer tilted her head to the side. "But I didn’t even kill most of the roaches."

"You didn’t," Ilya said. "But that’s not the only thing I’m judging."

He stopped in front of her and continued, "You used the information from your live chat and became alert right away. You also didn’t panic when you saw a whole group of polluted creatures running toward you."

"And you didn’t get greedy," Ilya added. "You didn’t try to take every single kill for yourself."

Summer raised one eyebrow. "Isn’t killing more polluted creatures better?"

Ilya chuckled softly. "Not always." He crossed his arms. "Some trainees get too stubborn. They think they have to do everything alone, take every kill, and prove how strong they are and sometimes, that kind of thinking gets people hurt."

Odd.

Back then, everyone kept telling her to kill as many monsters as possible. Even if she got badly hurt, her kill count was still considered more important.

"Knowing when to let someone else join the fight is also important. It means you can work with other people." He looked at her for a moment before adding, "That’s a good quality for a teammate."

A good quality for a teammate?

To be honest, this was the first time anyone had ever said something like that to her.

Back then, her teammates usually said the opposite. They called her heartless and they said she ruined the bond between teammates. So most of the time, they worked together while Summer was left to handle her own part alone.

Even outside missions, it was the same.

They ate together without her. They talked together without her. Sometimes they even made plans right in front of her without asking if she wanted to join.

But well... it wasn’t like Summer cared about eating with them anyway.

At least, that was what she always told herself.

"But I don’t have any teammates right now," Summer said at last.

"For now," Ilya replied. "Who knows what will happen later? Besides, even two people working together can already be called teammates. Don’t you think so?"

Summer turned her gaze away. For some reason, she suddenly found it hard to look at him. "I guess so."

Ilya smiled softly. He lifted one hand, almost like he was about to pat her head. But halfway there, he seemed to change his mind, so instead, his hand landed on her shoulder.

He gave it a few light pats. "You’ll be fine," he reassured her.

Summer lifted her head, noticing how gently Ilya was looking at her. But that gentle moment was suddenly broken by the loud sound of a siren.

[ALERT! ALERT!]

[A burst of Pollution Energy will arrive within five minutes!]

[Everyone, please seek temporary shelter!]

[This is not a drill! Repeat, this is not a drill!]