Thomas nodded out of politeness.

Jason then turned toward Leonard. "Suzy, who’s this?"

"My uncle, Leonard," Suzy introduced. Then she pointed at Thomas. "And this is Thomas..."

Jason immediately picked up the conversation. "Your uncle too?"

From his perspective, Leonard and Thomas looked about the same age. Since Leonard was Suzy’s uncle, then Thomas had to belong to the same generation. Calling him "uncle" seemed perfectly reasonable.

Suzy nearly choked on her own saliva.

Thomas’s expression visibly stiffened for a second. Beside them, Leonard silently turned his head away, shoulders shaking as he struggled not to laugh.

"More or less," Leonard replied with a grin.

Jason immediately looked enlightened.

"I knew it."

Then he enthusiastically greeted them both. "Uncle Leonard! Uncle Thomas! Nice to meet you!"

Leonard nodded cheerfully. Thomas’s face remained taut as he gave a restrained nod in return.

After greeting them, Jason turned back toward Suzy. "So, Suzy, are you still in contact with Derek?"

The sudden mention of Derek caught Suzy off guard.

She instinctively nodded.

At the same time, Thomas’s back visibly tensed the instant he heard the name. Suzy noticed immediately and hurriedly lowered her voice.

"He’s fine. Nothing happened to him."

Jason sighed in relief. "Then that’s good."

Suzy glanced at Thomas again. He had his back to her, making his expression impossible to read. Only the tension in his shoulders gave him away.

Jason smiled and sighed. "As long as he’s okay... That’s good."

He and Derek had been fairly close and had kept in contact often before the apocalypse, but after everything collapsed, he had completely lost contact with him. Knowing Derek was still alive and doing well finally eased his worries.

Grrrrrrr..

A loud growl suddenly came from Jason’s stomach. Suzy instantly relaxed and seized the opportunity to change the topic.

"Hungry?"

She absolutely needed to stuff food into this guy’s mouth before he continued asking questions about Derek.

Jason nodded awkwardly, a faint blush rising across his pale cheeks. He hadn’t eaten anything in who knew how long. His stomach was practically cramping from hunger.

Suzy reached for her backpack and rummaged through it for food.

"It’s normal to be hungry." She smiled at him and pulled out two palm-sized loaves of bread before handing them over. "Eat something first. At least fill your stomach a little."

But Suzy’s generosity only made Jason feel even more embarrassed.

This was the apocalypse. Food was unimaginably precious now. And yet Suzy was casually giving him two large loaves of bread.

To Jason, the gesture felt far too heavy. He hesitated, unwilling to accept them.

Suzy raised an eyebrow. "Take them already. Why are you being so awkward with me?"

His stomach growled again, even louder this time.

Jason wanted to disappear from embarrassment.

Suzy simply shoved the bread into his hands. "Hurry up and eat. Stop refusing."

Under Suzy’s insistence, Jason finally accepted the bread and devoured it hungrily.

The bread was soft and fragrant. After going so long without food, his stomach had already been aching badly. Only after finishing both loaves did the discomfort ease slightly.

"Thank you, Suzy."

"Alright already. You don’t need to be so polite with me."

After eating, Jason sat quietly to the side to rest. The crisis had been resolved smoothly enough.

The group they encountered hadn’t possessed anything especially valuable anyway. They had clearly come out intending to rob others, only to discover that Suzy’s group was far tougher than expected and end up destroying themselves instead.

The only thing remotely valuable was probably their inflatable boat. But after taking a closer look, even the boat had plenty of issues.

Suzy had no interest in it; she already had several stored in her space. Right now, the priority was getting to the building materials market.

"Let’s move."

Thomas nodded and restarted the inflatable boat, steering it toward the market.

Not long after they departed, another inflatable boat slowly emerged from around the corner nearby.

The people aboard stared in the direction Suzy and the others had disappeared.

Then, one after another, they let out relieved breaths.

They were the same group Suzy had encountered earlier. At first, they had planned to leave. But after hearing the madman’s shrill screams, they doubled back.

Unfortunately, they arrived a step too late.

Rather than jump directly into the conflict, they decided to wait in the shadows and reap the rewards afterward, hoping to play the mantis stalking the cicada while acting as the hidden oriole behind them all.

But after witnessing the fight, none of them dared show themselves again. They had never expected Suzy’s group to be such terrifying opponents.

And since the prey looked impossible to chew through, they decisively gave up the idea altogether. A wise man knew when to bend and when to stand tall. So they stayed hidden in the corner, quietly waiting for Suzy and the others to leave.

Still, once Suzy’s group departed, they did manage to profit from the situation. At the very least, the bald man’s inflatable boat now belonged to them. The group happily drove away in their newly acquired boat.

After dealing with that troublesome bunch, the rest of Suzy’s journey toward the building materials market went surprisingly smoothly.

The route ahead remained completely unobstructed, and they encountered no more hostile groups along the way.

Finally, after turning another corner, they arrived at the building materials market.

Suzy had visited the place long ago. The moment she saw the familiar structure, joy flashed through her heart.

The market was enormous, a massive cube-shaped building with a large sign hanging from the upper right corner that read: Building Materials Market.

The terrain in this area sat higher than most places, so the flooding was not too severe. The water had only swallowed a small portion of the second floor.

There should still be plenty of usable materials inside.

Suzy had already discussed things with Jason beforehand. Once they finished gathering the supplies they needed, they would take him to Ocean Plaza to look for his companions.

After parking the inflatable boat, Suzy and Thomas prepared to enter the market.

Jason volunteered to stay outside and guard the boat, and Leonard decided to remain with him.

Suzy readily agreed. With Leonard and Jason watching the boat outside, she felt much more at ease.

Besides, if Jason stayed behind, she could use her space freely without worrying about exposing it, making things far more efficient.

After reminding them to stay alert, Suzy and Thomas stepped inside the market.

The entire building had long since lost power and lay submerged in darkness.

The whole market specialized in construction materials, while the upper floors sold furniture and home furnishings.

The upgrade materials Suzy needed did not require fixed quantities. The system itself was flexible and capable of converting resources automatically. That meant she only needed to locate one type of qualifying material in sufficient quantities. Any excess could be converted by the system.

If absolutely necessary, she could substitute other materials instead, but the required quantities would become absurdly high and terribly inefficient.

After entering the market, Suzy and Thomas immediately split up and began searching.

But after sweeping through the area with her flashlight, the excitement in Suzy’s chest slowly turned cold.

Everything she needed was on the first floor.

One of the required upgrade materials was cement, and all of it had been stored downstairs.

Unfortunately, the entire first floor had already been submerged underwater.

As for the second floor, it mostly contained precision tools and lumber, none of which were useful to her current needs.

Suzy tried contacting the system, hoping to ask whether waterlogged materials could still be submitted.

If they could, she would not hesitate to dive underwater and retrieve them herself. She had prepared plenty of diving equipment in her space for situations exactly like this.

The system’s answer was simple: No.

Suzy instantly gave up on the idea.

She and Thomas searched the second floor thoroughly anyway, collecting anything that might prove useful in the future and storing it inside her space.

Then they moved to the third floor.

The third level resembled a miniature furniture city, packed with sofas, beds, tables, chairs, and all kinds of furnishings. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Suzy picked out anything that caught her eye and stored it all away. The two of them quickly swept through the remaining floors as well.

Anything that seemed remotely useful went straight into her space. The entire process took less than half an hour.

Her space became significantly fuller, yet Suzy felt no happiness whatsoever. None of the things she truly wanted had been found, which meant she would not be able to upgrade the house before the buffer period ended.

On the way back to the inflatable boat, Suzy’s mood sank visibly.

Thomas was not good with sweet words or comforting speeches. He simply tightened his hold on her hand and spoke softly,

"Don’t worry. Maybe we’ll find them somewhere else."

Suzy nodded lightly. "Yeah..."

She would study the map again and keep searching. There had to be somewhere that still held the materials she needed.

The two of them returned to the exit.