Chapter 4: Prove It to Me

An entire afternoon quietly slipped away.

The sun gradually tilted westward, its dim light filtering through the thin cracks in the tightly sealed metal doors and windows, casting long, twisted shadows on the freezing floor.

Since Seraphina brought Mili into this room, she had not appeared again.

Mili had no idea where she had gone.

The entire palace seemed to have fallen into an eerie silence, pressing down on Mili so heavily she could barely breathe.

The room was terrifyingly quiet—so quiet that she began to drift into drowsiness from hunger and exhaustion.

Her stomach started growling again.

Back when she struggled to survive in the slums, hunger was almost a daily companion, and she had barely gotten used to the fiery pain of her stomach being burned from hunger.

But now, in this overly clean “prison,” the hunger felt especially sharp and unbearable.

Not even a sip of water or a bite of food had been brought to her…

Could she really starve to death here?

Mili hugged her knees, burying her small face in her arms, half-asleep and half-awake, leaning against the wall, comforting herself.

Just as her consciousness began to blur, the long-silent metal door made a faint sound and slowly opened.

Seraphina finally reappeared at the doorway.

She was still dressed in that charcoal-black combat suit, her posture straight.

Only her heterochromatic eyes, now dimmer in the fading light, looked even deeper and more captivating…

There seemed to be a faint trace of cruelty between her brows that wasn’t there before.

Her indifferent gaze fell on the curled-up Mili in the corner, scrutinizing her from head to toe.

“You seem quite adapted to your new environment,” she said abruptly, her voice betraying no emotion.

Mili was startled awake by the sudden voice and shivered slightly.

She struggled to suppress the panic in her heart and replied in a tiny, timid voice:

“I… I’m just a little hungry…”

“Hungry?”

Seraphina repeated the word, a playful curve appearing on her face as if she’d heard a funny joke.

“With the glorious title of [Fertile Saint], I suppose satisfying hunger must be easy for you.”

Mili: “…”

That woman really was no good!

Seraphina didn’t enter the room but slightly turned aside, revealing a corridor behind her.

“Get up. Come with me.”

Mili dared not disobey.

Though her legs felt weak from long curling and hunger, she struggled to rise from the cold floor, curling her toes as she followed Seraphina step by step.

Like a fish on the chopping block, utterly powerless.

Especially with such a huge gap between them, like a chasm impassable by mortal means…

With her small frame, no matter how much she resisted, it would be futile.

Not being thrown to the dogs and left alive was already a blessing.

Seraphina led her through several dark, oppressive corridors and finally stopped before a two-meter-high metal door.

The woman pushed the door open, and a stale, decayed smell wafted out, causing Mili to cough lightly.

Behind the door was a huge, ruinous room beyond imagination.

It was piled high with all kinds of discarded items from the old era: rusty electrical casings, broken furniture remnants, dust-covered boxes, and scattered unknown electronic parts littered the floor.

The entire room was a chaotic mess, as if just swept by a storm.

Seraphina walked to the center of the room and turned her back to the entrance, her silver hair simply tied back, revealing a slender, snow-white neck.

“Come here.” Her voice was low but echoed clearly in the enclosed room, sounding almost like a shout to Mili.

Mili hesitated as she shuffled forward, stopping a few steps from Seraphina, shrinking back, afraid to come closer.

Unnoticed, several guards with guns silently appeared at the door, blocking her only escape route.

Seraphina coldly scanned the mountains of clutter, then fixed her gaze again on the trembling Mili.

“This is an old era storage room.”

“After the catastrophe, our people have thoroughly cleared this place countless times—I can assure you, there’s nothing valuable left inside.”

Her voice paused, and her slightly closed eyes flickered with deep meaning.

“The rumors about you outside… the myths… about how you ‘always find food’…”

“Now, prove it to me.”

Mili raised her head slightly, her clear, sky-blue eyes filled with confusion and numbness.

“Prove… what…?”

“Find something edible in this room…”

“Anything will do.” Seraphina pointed toward the endless junk in the back of the room, her tone growing impatient.

“…Here?”

Mili looked around incredulously, her eyes full of helplessness.

This room had been abandoned for decades… maybe hundreds of years!

After being ransacked so many times, how could there still be anything edible?

She wasn’t a goddess; how could she conjure food out of thin air?

Wasn’t this just asking for her death?!

“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 that ridiculous “Saint” title.

Seraphina ignored her protests, only coldly watching her, her contempt and disgust fully revealed in her gaze.

“Can’t?” Her tone suddenly became dangerous.

Then she turned and stepped forward, her tall figure casting a deep shadow over Mili like a predator ready to strike.

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

“Either prove you’re worth it.”

“Or… [Eisenberg] doesn’t keep trash.”

The icy, bone-chilling murderous intent locked onto Mili, freezing her blood.

“I’m only giving you one hour.”

Seraphina’s voice sounded like a sentence from hell.

“If you can’t find anything… hmph.”

This was no joke…

Seraphina’s cold, merciless eyes, and the metal-cold energy pistol at her waist all clearly told Mili—

If she dared say “no,” or failed this impossible task, her fate would be even more miserable than the starving vagrants in the slums.

This was the final ultimatum.

She had no choice.

Mili took a deep breath; the rusty air stung her lungs.

Trembling, she took a step forward toward the pile of decayed junk and began to search through it, lost and confused.

She first reached into a nearly collapsed box nearby, lifting the lid. Her fingertips only touched damp, rotten wood chips and thick dust…

Then she struggled to open a battered canvas bag with the zipper long gone.

Tearing it open, inside were only a few rusty, jagged metal scraps…

There was nothing here…

Absolutely nothing!

Her tiny bit of “luck” had no effect in this utterly abandoned, repeatedly scavenged hellhole!!