Without wasting another second, he grabbed the marker and hurriedly wrote a response, his fingers shaking from urgency.
anwhile, far away, the clerk could not stop glancing toward the board as he worked.
His mind kept drifting back to that strange ssage.
And then, it appeared again. The words ford slowly, as if written by an invisible hand.
The clerk’s eyes widened. "It’s back!" he muttered under his breath before rushing toward the board.
As he read the ssage, his expression turned grim.
’Drake... Ronak... they’re trapped... Please contact Ivy and Silas and let them know we need help.’
Without hesitation, he turned and sprinted down the corridor, his footsteps echoing loudly as he rushed to find Ivy and Silas.
He knew that if soone was capable of taking Ivy’s and Silas’s nas so casually... they must be acquaintances!
At that mont, Ivy and Silas were still inside, assisting Bella and Jade with their awakening process.
Suddenly, a guard knocked urgently and spoke from outside. "There’s a clerk here with an important ssage from the grocery store!"
Ivy frowned imdiately. "The grocery store?" she repeated before stepping out.
The mont she saw the clerk, she asked sharply, "What happened?"
The clerk quickly explained everything: the board, the ssages, and the desperate plea for help.
As he spoke, Ivy’s expression darkened, and Silas, who had followed her out, stiffened.
"It must be Drake and Ronak," Silas said, his voice firm.
Ivy nodded without hesitation.
Then she turned to the clerk, her tone calm yet decisive. "Thank you for bringing this to us," she said. "You’ll be rewarded with one million Mudcoins."
For a second, the clerk froze.
"One... million?" he repeated, his voice cracking slightly.
His face lit up instantly, excitent flooding his expression so intensely that he looked like he might burst into laughter or start dancing on the spot.
Ivy and Silas wasted no more ti.
In the next instant, they appeared near the board. Ivy picked up the marker and wrote quickly:
"Is it you, Ronak and Drake?"
Monts later, a reply appeared. Yes.
Relief washed over Ivy’s face, though her eyes remained sharp.
"We’ll find a solution," she wrote back imdiately.
Back in the flooded store, Drake and Ronak exchanged a glance, a silent understanding passing between them.
Hope surged within the crowd, but they held back from making any announcents yet, not wanting to cause chaos prematurely.
anwhile, Ivy turned inward, communicating with the temporal storage.
"Is there a way to upgrade the grocery store?" she asked ntally. "Can we create a teleportation link between different stores?"
The response ca after a brief pause. "Feature locked. Requires ten billion KB points."
Ivy inhaled sharply, her chest tightening. She thought of the trapped people... of Silas’s concern... of the rising water.
She was about to agree, but Silas stepped in.
"If it takes that much, then so be it," he said firmly. "But let try negotiating mine first. It might give us the feature for one billion KB points."
Before he could proceed, the storage interrupted coldly.
[No storage will agree to five billion. That is too low.]
Ivy’s eyes flashed. She seized the opportunity imdiately.
"Five point five billion," she countered.
Silence. Then the storage replied, [Ten billion.]
Ivy didn’t back down. "Six billion," she said firmly. "Not a single point more."
A long pause followed. Then...
"Deal accepted."
Both Ivy and Silas were stunned.
’That... was too easy...’ Ivy thought, suspicion flickering briefly.
Still, there was no ti to dwell on it. The transaction completed instantly.
The feature is unlocked. For a mont, everything felt still.
Then suddenly, Ivy felt a force push her backward, and in the next instant, she was thrown out of the grocery store.
The sa thing happened on the other side.
Inside the flooded store, everyone was abruptly expelled outside.
"What’s happening?!"
Panic erupted instantly.
Voices overlapped, fear spreading like wildfire. Outside, the floodwater had already reached their feet, cold and relentless. Those who had been waiting outside stared in horror as the people inside were thrown out.
Despair surged. So people trembled, others cried, and a few even collapsed, their minds breaking under the pressure.
’Is this... the end...?’
But then, sothing changed. Before their eyes, the building began to transform.
A new layer ford above it. Then another. And another.
The structure rose rapidly, floor after floor, until it stood ten stories tall.
Walls extended, windows ford out of nothing, and doors appeared as if summoned by an unseen force.
The scene was surreal. No one spoke. They simply stared. Then instinct took over.
People rushed forward but were stopped by an invisible barrier.
At first, panic returned, but soon they realized the building was still changing. The final touches settled into place, the air humming faintly as the transformation completed.
Then, the doors opened.
Without hesitation, people rushed inside. Staircases stretched upward, leading to higher levels.
Ronak and Drake stood frozen, watching in disbelief. People kept entering. And entering.
Yet the building never seed to fill. Minutes passed. Then more.
Even after everyone had entered, the space remained vast and empty.
"It... expanded," Drake whispered, his voice filled with awe.
anwhile, Ivy frowned slightly, her mind still lingering on sothing.
"We asked for teleportation," she muttered, "so why did we get construction instead?"
The temporal storage responded calmly.
[Teleportation across multiple locations requires significantly higher authority. Minimum requirent: one trillion KB points.]
Ivy let out a slow breath, rubbing her temples. "Forget it," she said. "The apocalypse is ending anyway. I probably won’t need KB points anymore."
There was a sudden urgency in the storage’s voice.
[No. You will need them.]
Ivy’s eyes narrowed instantly.
A chill ran through her.
She lifted her head slightly, her gaze turning sharp and probing.
"Is there sothing you’re not telling ?" she asked quietly.
The temporal storage fell silent for a long mont before its voice finally echoed in her mind.
[If you trust even a little, then believe what I am saying. Do not throw away the KB points. Continue collecting them.]
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