"What?!" Ivy exclaimed, her eyes widening in shock and excitement. "One thousand, one hundred and forty-eight?! That’s massive!"

"Whoa!" Darren blurted out in astonishment. "I didn’t even know we managed to kill that many monsters. During all the battles I’ve fought with my previous group, we’ve never achieved anything close to that in a single day. The highest we ever got was around a hundred cores."

He shook his head in disbelief before asking,

"What are you even going to do with so many monster cores?"

"That’s easy," Ivy replied with a light chuckle.

Her attention returned to the system interface.

"I want to convert one thousand monster cores into points. Exchange each monster core for one hundred points."

Ding!

{Request Accepted.}

{Every monster core obtained by the Host is worth one hundred points. All converted cores are Level-Ten Monster Cores.}

A thoughtful expression crossed Ivy’s face.

"Actually, make that one thousand and forty monster cores," she corrected. "I’ll keep the remaining one hundred and eight for Evolution Liquid Extraction."

Darren frowned slightly.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Of course."

Ivy nodded confidently.

"In the apocalypse, points are the real currency. With enough points, you can purchase almost anything from the system shop. Keeping monster cores around isn’t nearly as useful as turning them into points."

She folded her arms and continued,

"Besides, monster cores can always be collected again. As long as there are monsters out there, I’ll never run out of them."

Darren slowly nodded in understanding.

"I suppose that makes sense."

Ding!

{Converting 1,040 Monster Cores into Points...}

A bright glow flickered across the system panel.

{Conversion Successful.}

{Congratulations, Host. A total of 104,000 points have been credited to your account.}

"Yesss!"

Ivy clenched her fists excitedly.

A broad smile spread across her face as she stared at the enormous number of points now displayed in her account balance.

One hundred and four thousand points.

Her gaze gradually shifted toward a particular item within the system shop.

Integrated Reconnaissance-Strike Drone System.

A faint smile appeared on her lips.

"It wouldn’t be a bad idea to buy it now that I finally have enough points, would it?" she thought inwardly.

The drone system would significantly improve the safety and combat capabilities of her base.

Still, after a moment of consideration, she shook her head.

"I can always purchase it tomorrow."

Turning toward Darren, she smiled warmly.

"Anyway, we should check on the children and prepare dinner. We’ve had a long day, and we all need some rest."

She stretched her arms slightly before continuing.

"We need to recover our energy. Tomorrow is another day, and who knows what challenges it might bring."

"You’re not planning to buy anything with all those points tonight?" Darren asked, raising an eyebrow.

Then he paused.

"Actually, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you."

"And what’s that?"

Ivy tilted her head slightly, curiosity flickering in her eyes.

"As for the points, there is something I want to buy. I’ll probably purchase it tomorrow. Whether it’s before we head out or after the battle depends on the situation."

A mysterious smile appeared on her face.

"But trust me, when you see it, you’ll trilled. It’s going to help us tremendously in this war against the monsters."

"Alright, I understand."

Darren let out a small sigh before becoming serious.

"My question is this..."

He hesitated briefly.

"Why did you refuse to help those people on the rooftop earlier?"

His gaze narrowed.

"And I’m not talking about the troublemakers we dealt with. I’m talking about the innocent ones."

The moment he finished speaking, Ivy let out a scoff.

"You can’t afford to show too much sympathy in the apocalypse, Darren."

A faint smile appeared on her face, but there was little warmth behind it.

"If you do, sooner or later you’ll be dragged down along with the people you’re trying to save."

Darren frowned.

"Even so, they looked helpless."

"Helpless?" Ivy repeated.

The word sounded almost amusing to her.

"What if I told you that those couples are actually more dangerous than the people we killed today?"

Darren’s eyes widened.

"What?"

"And those survivors on the second rooftop?" Ivy continued calmly. "The ones who stayed silent and pretended not to get involved?"

Her smile became colder.

"They’re even crueler."

Darren stared at her in confusion. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"What do you mean by that?"

Ivy merely looked away.

What do you know?

A cold sneer surfaced in her mind.

Those people had appeared weak and pitiful but I know exactly what kind of monsters they are.

And since fate had given me a second chance, I am not going to waste it.

This new life belonged to me and my children. To survive and if course to revenge.

"Don’t worry about it," Ivy finally said as she rose up to her feet.

She turned around and began walking toward the entrance of the base.

"Just get some rest. We have another battle waiting for us tomorrow."

Before Darren could ask another question, Ivy had already walked through the door.