Suzy glanced into her space with a sweep of her consciousness. As expected, the house upgrade card was already there.

She let out a soft breath and moved to sit on the edge of the bed.

"System, can I claim the max favorability reward now?" she asked.

[Yes.]

"Then I’ll take it." Suzy rubbed her hands together, anticipation flickering in her eyes.

This time, it had better be something good.

The system did not respond again, but three options appeared before her.

[Reward One: Weapon Card]

[Reward Two: 60 kg of Gold]

[Reward Three: Item Enhancement Card]

Her gaze swept across them, and her eyes immediately lit up.

As expected of a max favorability reward, this batch was clearly better than the last.

Comparison really did highlight the difference. This time, the rewards actually looked reliable.

She began examining them one by one.

The first was a weapon card. Once used, it would grant her a randomly generated powerful weapon.

A powerful weapon... that was undeniably useful.

The description even emphasized that it would be an SSS-grade weapon with immense destructive capability and top-tier quality.

The game-like wording made her heart stir.

But after no more than two seconds of excitement, Suzy forced herself to calm down.

There was a problem.

It said random.

What if she ended up with something like a dagger or even a farming tool? The value would drop instantly.

Besides, her space was already stocked with plenty of firepower. Weapons were not exactly something she lacked.

She exhaled and set it aside as a tentative option.

Next, she looked at the second reward.

Sixty kilograms of gold.

Gold. A lot of it.

Extremely practical. It could be used to upgrade her space.

But whether this amount would be enough to push her space to the next level in one go was still uncertain. Suzy had a feeling it would not be that simple.

Before the apocalypse, this would have been incredibly tempting.

But now?

Gold had lost much of its value. With enough effort, she could still scavenge it or trade for it using food or supplies.

After weighing it carefully, she shook her head.

Gold was something she could obtain in the real world. System rewards were not.

Better to prioritize functional cards.

Her gaze shifted to the third option.

Item Enhancement Card.

The moment she opened the details, her interest sharpened.

It could enhance any item, with three uses in total.

Weapons, vehicles, even houses.

Anything.

The instant she read that, she eliminated the gold reward without hesitation.

This card had far broader applications.

She did not yet know exactly when she would use it, but overall, it was clearly the better choice.

Between the weapon card and the enhancement card, the decision was obvious.

Three uses. That alone made it worth it.

"System, I choose Reward Three," Suzy said quickly.

[Exchange successful.]

[Reward has been issued. Please check.]

Suzy immediately checked her space. Both newly obtained rewards were already there.

"Not bad," she murmured, standing up.

Her mood lifted noticeably. Neither reward was exactly what she had hoped for, but they were far from useless.

And who knew? They might prove invaluable someday.

With that thought, she turned and walked out of the room.

Leonard and Thomas had not returned yet, so Suzy decided to go look for them.

The distance from her apartment to the one across the hall was short. She only needed to pass through the emergency stairwell.

She reached for the handle of the stairwell door, just about to pull it open, when it swung open from the other side.

Leonard saw her and paused for a moment. He said nothing, only waved at her, signaling for her to go back first.

Suzy understood immediately and nodded.

The three of them returned to her apartment before Leonard finally spoke.

"What a pity. No key. And that door is pretty solid."

Suzy twitched at the corner of her mouth. "Finding a key was never realistic to begin with."

How lucky would Leonard have to be to just pick one up outside the door? And he had actually been hoping for that.

"We’ll probably need tools to break it open, right?" Leonard glanced at Thomas.

Thomas nodded. "It’ll take some effort."

Suzy frowned slightly. "If we use tools, won’t it make a lot of noise?"

That was what worried her most.

"Probably," Leonard admitted with a sigh. "If only I knew how to pick locks."

If he did, they could open it quietly without all the trouble.

Suzy fell silent for a moment, her thoughts drifting to the house upgrade card she had just obtained.

She quickly checked with the system and learned that to use the card, she first needed to bind it to the target property.

Once the upgrade was complete, she would become the owner of the house and could open the door freely.

Convenient, almost absurdly so.

And after submitting the materials, the entire upgrade could be completed silently.

"I’ll go take a look," Suzy said.

She wanted to bind the house now and see what materials were required.

Before Leonard or Thomas could respond, she had already slipped out.

She moved quickly and arrived at the apartment across the hall without obstruction.

There was only one unit on that side, the entrance clean and clearly maintained.

Suzy activated the house upgrade card, binding it to the apartment and instructing the system to match it to the specifications of her own safe house.

[Binding successful.]

With the binding complete, she pulled up the list of required materials.

There was quite a lot. Wood, stone, cement, and more.

Fortunately, they were all common construction materials. The only issue was the quantity, not availability.

Suzy stared at the interface for a long moment.

It seemed she would have to make a trip to a building materials market.

She remembered there was a large one nearby where practically anything could be found. Whether it had already been flooded was another question.

Still, there was no rush.

A typhoon was raging outside. Going out now was impossible.

There was still some time before the extreme cold arrived, and there would be a brief transition period.

She could gather everything during that window.

The system had also mentioned that the upgrade would only take twenty-four hours. Simple and efficient, almost like a game. Once the materials were submitted, all she had to do was wait.

With her thoughts settled, Suzy turned and headed back home.

If time ran short, letting Thomas stay with them temporarily was not out of the question.

When she returned, Leonard and Thomas were already in the living room, each holding a game controller.

Leonard looked over at the sound of the door. "You’re back."

"Yeah," Suzy replied.

He pointed at her phone on the dining table. "Your phone rang earlier."

Suzy walked over and picked it up.

Sure enough, there was a missed call, along with several unread messages.

All of them were from Derek.