Chapter 5 Helen and Stella’s Plan
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Fined
Reina had no idea Easton had started targeting her. She just went back to her room.
She grabbed two pieces of underwear and went to the public bathroom for a shower. She even filled up two jugs of clean water, leaving her with exactly 2 points in her account.
After drying her short hair, she just lay down on the bed when her smartwatch started beeping nonstop.
She picked it up. It was her mom.
Reina frowned, then answered the call.
Helen’s image popped up. The moment she saw her daughter, she started yelling, “Reina! Where the hell have you been? Why didn’t you come home?”
Reina said calmly, “I’m out in the wilderness. Why would I go
home?”
“In the wilderness? You always come back at night!” Helen asked, trying to hold back her anger.
Reina said, “It’s a hassle to go back and forth, and I have to pay for the ride. I’m not going back anymore.”
“What? Not coming back anymore?” Helen panicked. “Then what are we supposed to do? Your brother and sister start school in about ten days. Their tuition isn’t paid yet-”
“What does that have to do with me? I’m not their mom.” Reina cut her off. “I’m busy. Bye.”
She ended the call.
Seeing her eldest daughter hang up, Helen exploded with anger. “That ungrateful brat! A backstabber! I raised her all these years, and now that she’s older, she wants to dump us?”
Stella, sitting nearby, didn’t look happy either. She had made a deal with someone. If she sent Reina to the Catgirl Club, they would give her an ability awakening potion.
If Reina never came home, the plan would fall apart.
No way. I have to get her back here.
Stella sent Reina a message: “Mom got sick because you made her upset. Come home and check on her. My brother and I don’t need you to pay our tuition.”
She hit send, but a red exclamation mark popped up.
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Chapter 5 Helen and Stella’s Plan
Reina had blocked her.
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Stella’s face twisted with anger. After thinking for a moment, she grabbed her mom’s smartwatch and tried sending a message too. Another red exclamation mark.
She gasped and turned to Helen. “Mom, Reina blocked both of us!”
“What?” Helen snatched the smartwatch back and tried sending a message herself. Another exclamation mark. She’d been blocked.
“That bastard!” Helen exploded in anger, her whole body shaking. “I should’ve raised a dog instead of her!”
Earlier, when she tried to transfer money from Reina’s account, she found out Reina had removed the family link.
She didn’t believe it at first and called her brother, who worked at the bank. He told her the family link had been removed a few days ago.
That damn brat was just like her father-cold-hearted and ungrateful.
As Helen screamed and cursed, a wave of fear hit her.
What should she do? If Reina stopped supporting them, who would the three of them rely on in the future?
How were Stella and Colton supposed to live?
The more she thought about it, the more she cried, crying as she complained about all the hardships she’d suffered.
Seeing her mom break down, Stella’s eyes gleamed as she thought of something. “Mom, since she’s being so heartless, why don’t we settle this once and for all? We can trade her for enough retirement money to last a lifetime. You never have to deal with her attitude again.”
Helen paused and wiped her tears. “What do you mean?”
Stella leaned closer and whispered, “I heard Catgirl Club pays a high price for young women with abilities. For someone like Reina, they’ll pay 100,000 points.”
The real price was 200,000. But Stella planned to keep half for herself to buy an awakening potion.
Helen’s eyes went wide. “That much? What are they buying her for?” Even if someone worked at a club, no one would pay 100,000 just like that.
“It’s not like they’re going to kill her,” Stella said with a smirk. “We can use the money for our
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Chapter 5 Helen and Stella’s Plan
tuition, and you can keep the rest.”
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Helen’s eyes slowly lit up, but then she hesitated again. “But what if Reina refuses? If she makes a scene and pisses off a client, the club will come after us for the compensation.”
Stella pouted. “Mom, you think people in those clubs are saints? A girl like her can’t do anything once she’s inside.”
If she put up a fight, they’d just beat her. If that didn’t work, beat her a few more times. Her body wasn’t stronger than iron rods or electric batons.
Helen thought about it and found it made sense.
When she was young and reckless, she’d worked in places like that. She knew how dark those places could be.
Later, she met a powerful ability user from another base and got out in time.
Still, even in that kind of place, it was strange for someone to pay 100,000 just to buy a person.
Helen couldn’t figure it out.
But since she couldn’t, she stopped thinking about it. Right now, her problem was Reina had blocked the whole family. How were they supposed to pull this off?
She sighed. “Who knows when Reina will come back. School starts so soon. I don’t know if we’ll make it in time.
“Stella, do you have contact info for any of her classmates? Maybe ask someone to pass her a message and tell her to come home earlier?”
Stella already had a plan. She whispered, “Mom, give me some cash. I’ll hire some guys to go into the wilderness and bring her back.”
The moment money was mentioned, Helen frowned. “How much? Let me tell you first-I’m not paying a fortune. I don’t have much left.”
“Give me 2,000 first. Another 2,000 after the job’s done.” To make sure nothing went wrong, Stella wanted to hire two mercenaries-cash on delivery.
“What? 4,000? No way! That’s too much!” Helen winced in pain at the thought of the money. “How about we go to the wilderness to find Reina tomorrow? We can save the 4,000.”
After all, their family only spent 800 points a month to live. Four thousand points were half a year of living expenses. She couldn’t bear to spend it.
Stella didn’t want to spend that much either, but going into the wilderness herself was
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Chapter 5 Helen and Stella’s Plan
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absolutely out of the question. “Mom, we don’t even know which camp she’s at. Where would we even start looking?”
Helen fell silent.
After a long struggle, Helen finally transferred 2,000 points to Stella. She warned her, “Go straight to the mercenary groups’ mission hall and hire them there. Make sure you sign a proper contract. I’m not losing 2,000 credits to some scammers who take the money and run.”
“Got it!” Stella said happily and ran out of her mom’s room. She went back to her own room to make a call.
The next day, Reina woke up early. After washing up, she suited up in her protective gear, grabbed her bag, and headed out.
The weather was gloomy. Thick black fog had already drifted into the camp yard.
Along with the fog came countless flying bugs. They tried to crawl into people’s eyes, mouths, and ears.
The people living in the yard were in trouble. Some of them weren’t wearing protective suits and were covered in bugs. Panicked, they ran into the building to hide.
Reina walked past the crowd and left the yard, heading straight toward the direction where she had found the thistle yesterday.
She wanted to get there before anyone else and harvest the entire plant.
But the farther she walked into the wilderness, the thicker the black fog became, forcing her to slow down.
Weather like this was when crazed mutant beasts showed up the most. Even mutant plants could go wild when the bugs in the fog kept disturbing them.
Reina watched the ground and her surroundings carefully, swinging her spiked metal staff back and forth like a cane to clear the path.
Suddenly, a huge black python appeared ahead, thrashing and rolling on the ground. Its tail, thick as a soup bowl, slammed into the dirt right next to her.
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My Harvest Skill for Wasteland Survival
