Apocalypse Arrives: I Become a Powerhouse by Scavenging
Chapter 11: High Fever

Chapter 11: Chapter 11: High Fever

Despite the fever, Moira Lynch was perfectly lucid.

Since she couldn’t move her body, she could only use her mind to organize the supplies in her spatial inventory.

Food items like cheese and milk were all stored inside the warehouse.

Time was static inside the warehouse, so even food on the verge of expiring could be stored there indefinitely.

’It’d be great if I had a few more warehouses. Then I could store the food separately.’

The current warehouse was spacious, but the food inside was a jumbled mess. Everything was piled together chaotically, and finding anything took a long time.

The moment she had that thought, the entire space began to tremble, and Moira Lynch suddenly felt a piercing pain in her head.

Immediately after, warehouses shot up from the ground one after another. There was even a cellar specifically for storing vegetables.

But Moira Lynch had no time to concern herself with any of that. The sudden, stabbing pain in her head made her feel like a fish out of water, gasping as it dried out under the sun.

Moira Lynch rolled off the sofa and onto the floor. She clutched her head tightly with both hands, panting heavily. Sweat quickly drenched her clothes, but she was completely oblivious.

The excruciating pain almost made her black out, but Moira Lynch refused to let herself faint. Instead, she fought to stay conscious. ’Don’t ask why. It’s just what I’ve learned from novels. All the protagonists do it.’

After what felt like an eternity, Moira Lynch felt the headache gradually subsiding. She slowly opened her eyes and sighed in relief. She had made it through.

’Heh, you little punk. Thought you could take me down? A mere headache trying to defeat me... Today, I’ll show you who’s the master of this body.’

After she picked herself up off the floor, she realized her clothes had been soaked with sweat and then dried, over and over again, an unknown number of times. Moira Lynch felt sticky all over.

She hurried upstairs to her bedroom for a shower, then checked her temperature again. It was 103.1 degrees. Higher than it had been at noon, yet she felt incredibly energetic. Even her earlier weakness had vanished.

Remembering the headache, Moira Lynch quickly checked on her spatial inventory. She fell into deep thought when she discovered the newly added warehouses and the cellar.

’Could my headache be related to the changes in my space?’

’But I didn’t feel the slightest discomfort the last few times the space changed.’

Unable to figure it out, Moira Lynch decided to stop thinking about it. With so many new warehouses, she had to quickly categorize and sort all the items in her inventory.

Grains like rice and flour went into one warehouse. She didn’t have much processed grain yet, but the crops in her space were about to ripen. She had even spent a fortune on specialized processing equipment for them.

She put all the various seasonings, tea, tobacco, and alcohol together. Daily necessities and general goods went into another. Medicines were stored in their own separate warehouse, as were meat and dairy products. Any excess fruits and vegetables went into the cellar.

There were also some unknown items she’d brought back from Serene Ranch. She placed them all in another warehouse, deciding to study them later once she learned the interstellar language.

Once everything was sorted, the once-crammed warehouse suddenly seemed much more spacious. But that was fine. Moira Lynch was confident that one day, she would fill all of these new warehouses to the brim.

That evening, Moira Lynch lay in bed, taking a moment to scroll through the news notifications on her phone.

Unsurprisingly, the entire world now knew about the "game." Overnight, gamers had become a hot commodity.

Moira Lynch noticed that nearly all of these players were developing fevers, though the severity varied. Some just felt unwell, while others were admitted directly to the hospital.

The government had also acted swiftly, calling on all players to register at their nearest police station in exchange for certain benefits.

However, very few people responded. After all, the game system had stated that only those who successfully awakened a talent would retain their player status.

What if they registered but failed to awaken?

Moira Lynch figured there was another reason, too. While the weather was hot, it hadn’t yet reached the point where survival was impossible.

Registering might get them benefits, but it also meant being under someone else’s control.

Moira Lynch could understand their mentality. After all, the apocalypse had arrived, they’d been chosen by the game, and now they could awaken special talents. It was the classic protagonist setup. Who wouldn’t dream of becoming an all-powerful hero?

She swiped past that news item to the next one.

With the game’s arrival, everyone had started hoarding food, causing prices to skyrocket.

Moira Lynch clicked her tongue as she saw prices that had multiplied several times over, in some cases even by several dozen times. Yet even at these prices, demand still far outstripped supply.

Thinking about the money she had left in her account, Moira Lynch decided it would be best to convert it all into supplies.

Right before bed, she checked her temperature again. She stared in silence for a moment at the reading on the thermometer gun: it had successfully broken the 104-degree mark.

She was no stranger to such a high temperature. A few months ago, when she’d first transmigrated into this body, her fever had been just as high. She had almost died a second time back then.

But now, Moira Lynch felt completely lucid, as if she wasn’t the one with a 104-degree fever.

She touched her own forehead, then glanced at the thermometer gun in her hand. ’This thing isn’t broken, is it?’

Unfortunately, Moira Lynch didn’t know how to read a mercury thermometer, so her only option was to unbox a few more thermometer guns and test them.

The results of her experiment indicated that the previous thermometer gun had indeed been inaccurate... because her temperature had risen even higher.

Staring at the 107.6-degree reading on the new thermometer, she was tempted to take a fever reducer, but she resisted the urge.

As for calling an ambulance, the thought didn’t even cross Moira Lynch’s mind. For one, it could expose her identity. For another, the hospitals were already packed to the gills. Even if she went, the doctors probably wouldn’t have time for her.

At most, they’d just give her a couple of fever reducers. After all, aside from her sky-high temperature, she felt completely normal. In fact, Moira Lynch felt even more clear-headed than usual.

Still, being lucid was one thing; having a dangerously high fever was another matter entirely.

Moira Lynch thought for a moment, then got up and went downstairs.

Half of the first-floor living room was taken up by a massive swimming pool. To avoid drowning in her sleep, she put an inflatable ring around her neck and strapped on a life vest, then jumped in without a moment’s hesitation.

The cool water sent an involuntary shiver through Moira Lynch.

After adjusting to the temperature, Moira Lynch yawned and quickly fell into a deep sleep. But it was not a restful one.

She had a strange dream, filled with bizarre and surreal visions.

Her senses felt as if they had been magnified infinitely. She could hear everything around her with perfect clarity—even the sound of the wind rustling through the grass.