"I’m simply curious. Apparently, some products in our vault had been missing..."
Farrah’s expression didn’t change as he heard these words from the young man.
However, she immediately understood what the man was implying.
The atmosphere inside the shop had already become noticeably quieter. Several customers who had been browsing the shelves were now pretending to examine the products in front of them, although it was obvious that they were listening to the conversation.
Farrah calmly placed the item in her hands back onto the counter.
"Are you saying that we stole something from your faction?"
The young man’s smile widened slightly.
"I didn’t say that."
"Then what exactly are you saying?"
The man’s smile slowly faded.
He had probably expected Farrah to become nervous after hearing his accusation, but her reaction was completely different from what he had anticipated. She wasn’t angry, and she wasn’t frightened either. Instead, she simply looked at him with an expression that seemed almost bored.
That made the situation slightly more difficult.
The man glanced around the shop before looking back at her.
"I’m only saying that some of the products you’re selling appear to be similar to items that recently disappeared from our storage facilities."
Farrah tilted her head.
"Similar? Then what does that have to do with us?"
The young man paused.
Farrah immediately continued before he could answer.
"If your faction lost something, shouldn’t you investigate the people who had access to your storage facilities? Why are you coming here and questioning me?"
The man’s expression became slightly stiff.
Farrah could tell that she had hit the problem directly.
If the items had truly been stolen from their vault, then they should have evidence of the theft. They should know exactly what was missing and when it disappeared. Most importantly, they should have some idea of who could have accessed their storage.
Simply walking into Kai’s Shop and claiming that their products looked similar was meaningless.
The man didn’t seem particularly bothered, however.
"You’re right. We should investigate the matter properly."
"Then you should do that."
Farrah nodded.
The man’s eyebrows twitched.
He had clearly expected the conversation to go in a different direction.
"You don’t seem concerned."
"Should I be?"
The young man stared at her for several seconds.
Farrah calmly stared back.
The customers inside the shop had become increasingly uncomfortable, but nobody wanted to leave while the conversation was still happening. After all, everyone knew that the twelve factions controlled a significant portion of Cameron City’s resources.
Even the neutral factions were not people that ordinary survivors wanted to offend.
The young man finally let out a quiet laugh.
"You’re quite calm."
"If I became nervous every time someone came in and asked me a strange question, I wouldn’t be able to do business."
That answer caused several customers nearby to quietly chuckle.
The man’s expression darkened for a moment.
However, he quickly recovered.
"Perhaps I should explain myself more clearly."
"Please do."
The man stepped closer to the counter.
"Our faction recently discovered that several items were missing from one of our storage facilities. Among those items were emergency supplies, medical equipment, and several other products that are not particularly easy to obtain."
Farrah found this interesting as she listened carefully...
"Then, shortly afterward, those same types of products began appearing in your shop. Don’t you think that’s a strange coincidence?"
"Not particularly."
The man’s expression changed, "Why?"
"Because there are hundreds of thousands of survivors in Cameron City."
Farrah gestured toward the entrance.
"People are constantly moving supplies around. They trade with one another, they explore ruins, they search abandoned buildings, and they recover items from places that have been left untouched since the apocalypse began."
She looked directly at him.
"Why would you assume that the products in my shop came from your vault?"
The man didn’t immediately answer.
Farrah’s response was perfectly reasonable.
In fact, that was exactly the problem.
The man had no proof, and he was simply trying to see how she would react.
Farrah didn’t know exactly what they were planning, but she was certain of one thing.
They were trying to investigate them... They wanted to know the source of their endless products.
’Well... I guess it’s just a matter of time.’
They had already expected that some people would want to know about their secrets.
Still, the young man smiled again.
"Your shop is selling products that are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. You have a steady supply, your prices are reasonable, and you somehow manage to introduce new products every few days."
His gaze swept across the shelves.
"That isn’t normal."
Farrah smiled.
"Neither is the apocalypse."
The man stared at her.
Farrah continued smiling.
"Perhaps our suppliers are simply better than yours."
A few customers immediately turned their heads away to hide their laughter.
The young man’s face became slightly unpleasant.
However, he didn’t lose his temper.
That was probably the reason he had been sent here in the first place.
He understood that openly causing trouble inside Aries Faction’s territory would be foolish.
Kai’s Shop was still operating under their protection.
As long as Farrah paid the rent and didn’t cause trouble, Aries had no reason to allow another faction to intimidate or harm one of their renters.
The young man knew this.
"I’ll probably come back."
"You’re welcome anytime. As long as you don’t disturb my customers."
The man’s smile disappeared slightly before he finally walked out.
The moment he left, the customers inside the shop immediately began talking among themselves.
Farrah waited until the door closed before finally releasing a quiet breath...
***
Meanwhile, Temet could only frown as he left the shop...
He had not been acting on his own. He was a member of the Cancer Faction, one of the twelve major factions that controlled Cameron City. Unlike outsiders who had to reach Level 40 and complete the required breakthrough before they could officially join a faction, Temet had been born into Cancer.
His parents were already members, which meant that his position within the faction had been established from birth despite being Level 29 only.
Nonetheless, because of that, Temet had been given an important task, to investigate Kai’s Shop.
At first, the task seemed simple.
However, several weeks had already passed since he began investigating the strange shop, and he still hadn’t discovered anything useful.
No matter how many products they purchased, the supplies simply kept coming.
There were times when certain items disappeared from the shelves for several days, but they always returned eventually. The shop might have a delay in its supply, but it never completely ran out of products.
Temet had even tried buying large quantities of the merchandise.
It made no difference.
The more they bought, the more convinced he became that Kai’s Shop had some kind of extraordinary supply chain.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t find it.
They had investigated the people working in the shop, followed some of the customers, and even tried tracing the products after purchasing them. However, everything eventually led to a dead end.
There were simply too many possibilities.
The supplies could have come from another city. They could have been recovered from abandoned facilities, exchanged with survivors outside Cameron City, or obtained through some hidden trading network.
Eventually, Temet was summoned to a private meeting.
Several elders of the Cancer Faction were already waiting inside.
"Still nothing?"
Temet lowered his head slightly.
"Nothing conclusive."
One of the elders frowned.
"Not even after all this time?"
Another elder slowly tapped his fingers against the table.
"Then there is only one possibility."
Temet looked up.
"Conversion Node."
The words immediately attracted everyone’s attention.
Temet’s expression changed slightly.
The Conversion Node was a device capable of transferring certain items obtained or traded within the VR world into reality. It was extremely valuable, but it had several restrictions.
Normally, it was used for special items such as gene enhancements, blueprints, consumables, or crafted equipment.
One of the elders slowly shook his head.
"I don’t believe it."
"Why not?"
"Look at what they’re selling."
He gestured toward the reports.
"Instant noodles. Water gallons. Folding bicycles. Sleeping bags. Flashlights. Raincoats. Stainless steel tumblers. Even canned food."
His expression became increasingly skeptical.
"Those aren’t the types of items that can normally be materialized through a Conversion Node."
Another elder nodded.
"Even if it were possible, the energy required to transfer such a massive quantity of ordinary goods would be absurd. They would need an enormous supply of cores just to maintain their inventory."
Temet remained silent.
That was exactly the problem.
The Conversion Node was the only explanation that made sense, yet it also didn’t make sense at all.
If Kai’s Shop was truly using one, then they had somehow overcome restrictions that even the elders considered impossible.
And if they hadn’t...
Then where were the products coming from?
After a long silence, one of the elders finally spoke.
"Regardless of the source, we cannot continue investigating from the outside."
Temet looked toward him.
The elder’s eyes narrowed.
"Capture Kai."
Temet’s expression immediately became serious.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter