Enemies Are All Nourishment for My Fungi..

Chapter 67: Chapter 67 The newly bought car was stolen
 

It’s only November now, and the peak season for sales promotions isn’t until December, before the New Year. Ye Nai didn’t want to wait that long; she was set on buying a nuclear battery at half price, not knowing whether the offer would still be available next month.

Racing back and forth in the city and by noon, she finally chose a store that offered a winter full-coverage helmet, albeit last year’s model. However, it was still a branded item, and a quick image search on the shopping app showed that the brand’s flagship store priced it at over a thousand.

It was a giveaway, so she wasn’t picky.

Once she had picked the giveaway, the rest was quick. When the salesperson asked her to choose a color, she bypassed various rider-personality-expressing options and directly picked orange-red, a blend of orange and red on the body of the bike, resembling blazing flames.

Next, it was time to pay, buy insurance, take the receipt and other documents, and then she carried the helmet to the storeroom to pick up the motorcycle. They unwrapped and installed a brand-new battery on site, and after making sure the power worked without issues, she put on the helmet, hopped on the bike, and left to handle the remaining formalities.

When she reached the vehicle administration to get a license plate, she had two options: either apply for a temporary plate and later exchange it for a regular one back in East Ridge City, which was the civilian format, or get an Awakener license plate right away, with a white background and yellow letters, starting with the character “异” (which means ‘different’).

Ye Nai, of course, chose the Awakener license plate.

An hour later, with the license plate fitted, her legally-roadworthy electric motorcycle shone brightly. Ye Nai took a selfie with the bike and posted it to the team leader chat group.

[Got the bike! Picture, picture.]

[Congratulations!]

[Applause!]

Clapping and cheering emoticons followed in succession in the group chat, indicating that quite a few people were idling at home.

[When are you coming back?]

[Playing around for another couple of days. I’ve been busy shopping these last two days. Do you want me to make purchases for you?]

[Yes, yes, yes!]

[Privately, privately!]

[Make a list of what you want to buy and give it to me. I’m going to find somewhere to eat now, and I need to use my phone for navigation, so I won’t be checking messages.]

[Wait, wait, let’s create a group and open a collaborative document.]

An hour later, after sating her hunger, Ye Nai returned to the inn, changed into homewear, and settled into bed to check her phone.

As expected, there was a new group called Anyuan City Purchasing, and a link to a collaborative document. Ye Nai clicked in to see that in just an hour, there were already over a hundred entries, and each refresh added a few more.

They had listed the exact product names and store addresses of the items they wanted to purchase. If it was available, she would buy it; if not, no big deal. The advance payments had also been transferred to her Awakener account.

Ye Nai’s response was to start a new page at the bottom of the document, listing their names and advance payments, setting it to be editable by her alone for accounting purposes.

After resting for a while, the restless Ye Nai started to assemble a computer with assistance from a group video call and multiple technical advisors.

Two hours later, everything, including the cabinet, was installed. She used hardware to integrate the cabinet with the desk. The nuclear battery and converter fit snugly in the lower layer of the cabinet, and the dual-network modem on the upper layer ensured she could connect to the internet even in the Secret Realm. With two data cards inserted, she could also connect to home broadband.

After ensuring all the cables were correctly connected, she powered up the computer for the first time. The main screen in the center lit up first, and once it had booted to the desktop, the secondary screens on either side lit up too, indicating no issues so far.

The system disk was preassembled, simply slot into the mainframe, and it stored all the system files, automatically clearing junk files. Users were advised not to tamper with it, as crashing the system would mean having to replace the disk, and there was no longer a service for on-site system installation.

Ye Nai usually heeded advice, and her understanding of computers was still limited to a week-long introductory course. Fortunately, her technical support was strong; they guided her to download and install a software management tool which was more than enough for a novice like her.

Apart from some essential software, she also installed a typing program to improve her typing speed.

When she opened the Awakener desktop app on her computer, she no longer wanted to touch her phone.

The computer was just more comfortable to use.

The collaborative document for purchasing was also easier to deal with on the computer. The more she thought about it, the more she regretted the effort she had put into typing out the accounting page on her phone.

Beyond regular software, she installed professional software for viewing medical images and 3D visuals. She went with one commonly used by medics, registered with their recommended medical database which had images and literature – she could find anything.

Her diligent studying was outwardly justified by her goal to earn a first-aid certificate within a year. She didn’t want to drag it out because then she might lose motivation.

She had paid tens of thousands in tuition fees, so naturally, she wanted a return on her investment.

Everyone was supportive of her eagerness to learn.

She spent the whole afternoon and evening so engrossed in her work she barely left her computer, only stopping because she was hungry.

The next morning, she set out for the purchasing trip.

Fortunately, everything people wanted to buy was quite specialized, only available in specific malls, and she didn’t have to run around the entire city from one place to another, circling the city seventy or eighty times just for a few items.

First, she went to the auto parts city which was actually two markets – one for car parts and the other for motorcycle parts. She had to visit both, buying spare tires, various oils, and tools for others, and also a list of motorcycle parts for herself, essentials like tire tools.

These were all based on past experiences; she just had to follow the list. Being prepared was never a mistake as anything could happen in the Secret Realm. News of new bikes getting into accidents on their first day in the Secret Realm wasn’t uncommon, but if she ended up not using the items, it would mean her days had been without trouble, not even minor issues like bike repairs.

By noon, once she had completed her purchases, she returned to the entrance of the auto part city, where there was a commercial street with food and accommodation. The plan was to have lunch there before continuing on.

Choosing a restaurant that looked lively, she parked her bike and was perusing the wall-mounted menu. She casually scattered spores on both the handlebars and the seat. Of course, the spores wouldn’t root on her bike, but they were for theft prevention – if someone touched her bike, the spores would transfer onto them.

As she was looking at the menu and deciding on her favorite dishes, she sensed that the spores had taken root, signaling her through the fungal threads.

She turned around and saw that her motorcycle at the door was gone.

There was no point in eating now!

Immediately, Ye Nai stepped out onto the street, took out her electric scooter, and followed the sensation conveyed by the fungus tracking down a dusty van that had a clean rear license plate.

The scooter was slow, and she managed to get a bit closer at the traffic lights but quickly fell behind again. The streets were busy with traffic, and she didn’t want to risk causing a massive accident by commanding the fungus to attack. She suspected that the thief was most likely a Space Awakened since her bike disappeared so quickly.

If she caused an accident and the thief ended up dead, that would be a serious problem.

So, she restrained herself, following them, waiting for them to stop before taking any action.