Chapter 4: Putting facts together.

[Successfully repaired broken cup--10 points.] [Successfully repaired a jewelry box--25 points] [Successfully repaired a bicycle--50 points] In the system space, Sunshine hammered away and worked all night. She worked until five in the morning, and she accumulated six hundred eighty points altogether. "System, how many points do I need to upgrade the space?" "Two thousand points for a second-level space, from there it doubles to four thousand points, and then it is multiplied by three. Hos, do not forget that points can be used to upgrade anything you repair. Do you wish to upgrade the things you have fixed?" She looked at most of those things and deemed them useless. "No." She was about to leave the space when she saw a notification. Big yellow letters appeared in the space that appeared out of nowhere. [Congratulations on accomplishing your first task and unlocking the phone booth and connection to other worlds.] A large square-shaped wall appeared in the space; it was very colorful, with four rows and columns. In each square was a telephone. "What is that?" "That is the phone booth host. When it rings, it means someone needs your services. You will be able to hear the ringing in your mind, and you can use the earbud to answer. If you accept the task, what you need to repair will appear in the space. Payments can be made in any currency you wish, monetarily or through bartering." "So I can accept payment in the form of goods from another world." "Yes, host." Sunshine almost bent down to thank the universe. With this, she would never run out of supplies. She could even purchase weapons. No wonder the fool or eighth king, as he was known in the apocalyps, managed to create new weapons. Weapons powerful enough to kill the alien monsters that came through the mist. A broken laugh came from deep within her. She could not believe that he had used the bracelet she gave him and never gave her any benefits at all. But again, why would he? It was a dog-eat-dog world anyway. But even then, she had saved him from death hundreds of times. Why had he never shown her his special abilities and allowed her to come so close to death at least ten times while she was protecting him? "Forget it." She told herself. She left the space, putting inside all of the things that were important to her. One thing was missing: a lottery ticket that she had bought in her last life. She had won twenty million dollars with that ticket. That money had gone a long way toward helping her in the apocalypse. She had told Moon about the ticket when they reunited. Was it possible that her cousin had already stolen it? Determined to know what had happened to Moon during this time, Suni made her way to the main house to conduct detailed research [gossip with the servants]. Servants of QuinnManorr rose as early as 5:00 A.M to get a head start on their chores. Even though she was now the mistress of the house, they all knew each other well since they had grown up as a maid’s daughter on the property--hence she was half a maid as she had to contribute in some way. So, she knew who to go to for answers. "Jill, Cathy, Savanna, Rakel, good morning." She started with the kitchen maids. "Good morning, Mrs. Quinn." They responded nervously. "Do you need something?" Cathy asked her. "Does master Quinn need something?" "Don’t be too nervous. I just need some information quickly. I bumped my head, so I have forgotten a few things. What has Moon been up to in the past week?" Jill, who was eager to gossip, was all too happy to share all the weirdness that she had noticed. "She quit her new job at the fancy hotel three days ago. She woke up like a crazy woman and started eating like a starving ghost." "She vomited, washed her mouth, and kept eating," Rakel said, with disgust on her face. Jill abandoned the flour she was kneading and came closer to Suni and said in a conspiratorial voice. "She has been stealing food from the pantry. She thinks nobody has noticed, but I did. She took some flour, oil, spices, powdered milk, spaghetti, and other things. I am surprised she has not stolen tomatoes and onions, too." The maids snickered. "What else?" Sunshine asked them. She realized that Moon was already hoarding supplies. "She joined that weird church...uh..." Savanna scratched her head, trying to recall the name. Her eyes lit up suddenly with a loud clap accompanying. "The last beacon church!" She screamed as she was exposed. Brows almost launched off their faces because Moon did not care for anything religious. She was a proud atheist, so her joining a church was weird. "Of all churches? I mean, those people are just odd, always talking about how judgment day is near, and we are all going to hell." Jill commented, her face twisting with disapproval. Narrowing her eyes, Suni massaged her chi, wondering Moon’s motive for joining the church. In the apocalypse, pastor Salem, the leader of the Last church, had created a cult following. He used those people as gatherers for the supplies that he needed to survive. He also had some followers with superpowers, and they called themselves the redeemers of fallen earth. The cult reached fever pitch when Pastor Salem awakened as a supernatural, gs, and he declared himself an angel. He created a strong base, and it was strong in terms of population. Suni could not remember Moon and Pastor Salem joining hands. If they had, she would not have met Moon in such poor condition when they reunited. It seemed her cousin was already making all the right connections. During that same conversation,nSuni found out from Maris, who was Cassius’ caretaker, that Cassius was going out more often; it was believed that he was visiting his psychologist and speech therapist. Marissa highlighted that his hard work was paying off because Cassius was speaking now and becoming more aware of his surroundings. It was a joke to Suni, who let out an abrupt, hearty laugh. He was not becoming aware; he was already aware. Cassius was very normal and was only playing to be a fool. Now that Hades was down, more of his true colors were going to be revealed. He may have no knowledge of the past like her, but he was still the same selfish prick. After gathering all the information she needed, she asked the maids if there was anything that needed fixing. The question was not that much of a surprise, and Sunshine had always been handy around the manor. But the fact that the mistress of the house was wearing a tool belt around her waist and working man boots was very eyebrow-raising. The maids pointed her to the garage. And when she left, they started whispering about her. "Talk about rags to riches, Suni hit it big." Jill was the first to gush. "Have you forgotten about the master’s condition? They say it is permanent. And there is the fact that he has four sons. Suni is twenty-four, and she has a twenty-five-year-old foolish son who is also her ex-boyfriend. I don’t think she hit it big." Savanna whispered. Jill scoffed. "The boss is only thirty-five; the age difference between him and Suni is only ten years. I will take that deal any day if I can escape a life of scrubbing floors and waking up at five every morning to cook food I rarely get a taste of." "Mr. Cassius is not Suni’s ex-boyfriend. Savanna, stop saying that nonsense, especially now that Suni is Mrs. Quinn and she can fire us." Cathy hissed at the youngest maid, Savanna. "Great, we are out of sugar; all ten sacks are gone." Jill slapped the kitchen counter angrily. "Miss Moon’s thieving habit is getting out of hand. I am going to tell elder Mrs. Quinn about this." The maids shook their heads and continued to gossip, and the gossip traveled from window to window. The news that Moon was a thief was known to all the staff and other Quinn relatives by 8 a.m.