Chapter 4: Prove It to Me

The afternoon slipped away quietly.

The sun tilted westward, casting faint, golden light through the narrow slits of the tightly sealed metal door and window, painting long, warped shadows across the freezing floor.

Since bringing Mili to this room, Seraphina had not returned.

Mili had no idea where she’d gone.

The entire palace seemed shrouded in an eerie silence, pressing down on Mili until she could hardly breathe.

The room was unnervingly quiet, so quiet that hunger and exhaustion began lulling her into a drowsy haze.

Her stomach growled again.

Back in the slums, hunger was a familiar companion, and she’d grown somewhat accustomed to the burning ache in her gut.

But now, in this unnaturally pristine “prison,” the hunger felt sharper, almost unbearable.

Not even a sip of water or a scrap of food had been brought…

Was she really going to be left to starve here?

Mili hugged her knees, burying her face in her arms, teetering between sleep and wakefulness, comforting herself against the wall.

Just as her consciousness began to blur, the metal door, silent for so long, let out a soft creak and was slowly pushed open.

Seraphina appeared in the doorway once more.

She still wore that charcoal-black combat uniform, her posture ramrod straight.

But her heterochromatic eyes, under the dimming light, seemed even more piercing and profound…

A faint trace of menace, barely noticeable, now lingered between her brows.

Her cool gaze fell on Mili, curled up in the corner, sizing her up.

“You seem quite comfortable in your new surroundings,” she said abruptly, her voice betraying no hint of emotion.

Startled by the sudden sound, Mili’s body gave a slight tremble.

Summoning her courage, she suppressed her fear and responded in a voice as faint as a mosquito’s hum:

“I… I’m just a bit hungry…”

“Hungry?”

Seraphina echoed the word, a playful curve tugging at her lips, as if she’d heard an amusing joke.

“With the grand title of [Saintess of Abundance], surely satisfying hunger is a trivial matter for you.”

Mili: “…”

This woman was definitely no good!

Seraphina didn’t step into the room but tilted her body slightly, revealing the corridor behind her.

“Get up. Follow me.”

Mili didn’t dare disobey.

Though her legs wobbled from prolonged crouching and hunger, she struggled to her feet from the icy floor, curling her toes and trailing cautiously behind Seraphina.

She was the fish on the chopping block, and the gap between them was an unbridgeable chasm…

With her frail little body, any resistance would be futile.

Not being tossed to the dogs with her corpse intact was already a grand burial by comparison.

Seraphina led her through several dim, oppressive corridors, finally stopping before a metal door over two meters tall.

As the woman pushed it open, a wave of dusty, decayed air rushed out, making Mili cough lightly.

Beyond the door was a vast, ruin-like room, larger than she could have imagined.

It was filled with relics of the old era: rusted appliance shells, broken furniture remnants, dust-covered crates, and scattered, unidentifiable machine parts…

The room was a chaotic mess, as if a storm had just torn through it.

Seraphina stepped slowly to the center, her back to the door, her silver hair tied simply behind her, revealing a slender, snow-white neck.

“Come here,” she said, her voice low but piercingly clear in the sealed room, sounding to Mili like a shout.

Mili shuffled forward reluctantly, stopping a few steps away from Seraphina, too timid to draw closer.

Unnoticed until now, several armed guards had appeared silently at the door, sealing off her only escape.

Seraphina’s cold gaze swept over the heaps of junk, then settled back on the trembling Mili.

“This is a storage room from the old era.”

“After the Cataclysm, our people scoured it countless times—there’s nothing of value left, that much is certain.”

Her voice paused, a glint of intent flashing in her half-lidded eyes.

“Those rumors out there… the myths… about your ability to ‘always find food’…”

“Now, prove it to me.”

Mili lifted her head slightly, her sky-blue eyes filled with confusion and daze:

“Prove… prove what…?”

“Find something edible in this room…”

“Anything will do.” Seraphina pointed toward the endless piles of debris, a trace of impatience creeping into her tone.

“…Here?”

Mili looked around in disbelief, her eyes brimming with helplessness.

This room looked abandoned for decades… centuries, even!

How could there possibly be anything edible in a junk heap scavenged countless times?

She wasn’t a miracle worker—she couldn’t conjure food out of thin air!

Wasn’t this just a death sentence?!

“I… I really can’t… There’s nothing here…” Mili’s eyes reddened instantly.

Her voice trembled with fear as she stammered, trying to distance herself from the absurd “Saintess” title.

Seraphina ignored her protests, fixing her with a cold, unyielding stare, her disdain and disgust unmasked.

“Can’t?” Her tone turned dangerous.

She stepped forward, her towering figure casting Mili entirely in shadow, like a beast about to pounce:

“I don’t have the patience for your nonsense.”

“Prove your worth.”

“Or… [Eisenburg] doesn’t keep useless things.”

A chilling, murderous intent locked onto Mili, freezing the blood in her veins.

“You have one hour.”

Seraphina’s voice was a verdict from the depths of hell.

“Fail… hmph.”

This was no joke…

Seraphina’s icy, merciless gaze and the energy pistol at her waist, glinting with cold metal, made it abundantly clear to Mili—

If she dared say “no” or failed this impossible task, her fate would be far worse than the starved drifters in the slums.

This was her final ultimatum.

She had no choice.

Mili took a deep breath, the rusty air stinging her lungs.

With trembling steps, she approached the decaying pile of junk and began fumbling through it in a daze.

She reached into the nearest crate, half-collapsed, lifting the lid only to find damp, rotting wood chips and thick dust under her fingertips…

She tugged open a tattered canvas bag, its zipper long gone.

Inside were only a few rusted, jagged metal fragments…

There was nothing here…

Absolutely nothing!

Her meager “luck” was useless in a place like this, abandoned and picked clean countless times…

It was utterly impossible!!