A Trash Novel's Only Reader-Chapter 48: Unexpected Guest

Shu woke up to sunlight on his face and the rare feeling of not wanting to punch something immediately.

’Wow,’ he thought, staring up for a second. ’I slept like an actual human.’ The blanket got kicked off in one lazy motion, and he sat up without his ribs complaining.

Normal stiffness cracked away when he rolled his shoulders, and that alone put him in a stupidly good mood. He rubbed his stomach, looking at the marks on his arm as he walked towards the bathroom.

’These tattoo is so creepy,’ he thought, then smirked. ’Well, whatever, I am sure it will come in handy.’

A small system window popped into his vision and his blood pressure rose for a moment.

[Internal status audit available.]

[Run audit?]

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered, rubbing his eyes as he tapped [Yes].

[Body Status:]

[Condition: Normal]

[Fatigue: Cleared]

[Core lock: Stable]

[Admin privileges: Limited]

After he was done with cleaning up, he put on new clothes and head out of the room.

"Alright," he said. "Breakfast time."

The moment he stepped into the living room, he saw Nari on the couch watching cartoons with her legs tucked under her. She looked up fast when she heard him, then smiled in a way that made him feel weirdly responsible.

"Good morning, Sir Shu," she said, sitting up straight.

"Morning," he said, scratching the back of his neck as he headed to the kitchen. "Go sit at the table, I’ll make food."

She hopped off the couch and headed for the table, but stopped behind the chair instead of sitting, hands clenched in front of her.

"Are we really going today?" she asked, voice small.

He paused with the fridge handle in his hand, then turned his head just enough to meet her eyes. No teasing, no dodging, just a simple answer so she would not overthink it.

"Yeah," he said. "We go today, and we don’t half-ass it."

She nodded fast, then sat down, her legs bouncing under the table, showing how excited she was.

He looked at her for a second, then opened the fridge and started pulling things out one by one. Eggs, leftover rice, sausage, and a few small sides landed on the counter while he rolled his shoulders once.

’Good,’ he thought, reaching for the pan. ’Breakfast first, then I deal with the rest of yesterday’s bullshit.’

That thought reminded him of something immediately.

’Oh right,’ he thought, cracking eggs into a bowl. ’I never actually checked the full dungeon rewards.’

That wasn’t even him forgetting. Yesterday just got hijacked halfway through by fake hearts, Authority nonsense, Raniel, demon problems, and him passing out the second a bed entered his line of sight.

’Honestly, the fact that I woke up without a new curse or surprise organ is already a win,’ he thought, whisking the eggs with one hand.

The pan heated up while he pulled up the mission log.

[Mission: Dungeon Outbreak]

[Status: Complete]

[Objective: Clear the Crimson Forest dungeon within 48 hours]

[Result: Completed]

[Bonus Objective: Eliminate the source of corruption]

[Result: Completed]

[Primary reward package delivered.]

[Bonus reward processed through authority event chain.]

He paused for a second, then clicked his tongue.

"Authority event chain?" he muttered under his breath. "That is such a scam way to say ’we already spent your bonus on the weird ruler surgery.’"

It wasn’t wrong though.

The fake heart, the forced seizure, the counter-claim, the mark on his arm, the sealed cores, the whole Admin mess, all of that clearly counted as the bonus route. Normal people got extra loot, while he got spiritually mugged in an underground tunnel.

’Beautiful,’ he thought, pouring the eggs into the pan. ’I clear one bonus objective and unlock premium trauma.’

The eggs started sizzling right away, and he clicked into the primary rewards while breaking them apart.

[Reward Summary]

[Credits: +15,000]

[Item Acquired: Skill Upgrade Token x1]

[Item Acquired: Domain Expansion Material Pack x1]

His brows went up a little at that.

’Okay, that is actually decent,’ he thought, pushing the eggs around with the spatula. ’Credits, a token, and a Domain pack. At least the system didn’t completely waste my time.’

He had just dumped the rice into the pan when a new notice opened on its own.

[Admin Notice:]

[Ruler-class qualification confirmed.]

[Restricted system threshold satisfied.]

[Delayed Domain functions are now eligible for release.]

He stopped stirring.

’...Hold on,’ he thought, staring harder at the screen. ’Delayed release?’

The next lines appeared one after another.

[Unlocked: System Shop]

[Unlocked: Domain Function - Utility Relay]

For a second, he just stood there in silence.

Then he laughed once, low and offended.

’No way,’ he thought. ’This scam skill really showed me the word shop on day one, then sat on it until I became ruler-qualified?’

The more he thought about it, the more annoyed he got.

’So it wasn’t false advertising,’ he thought, scraping the rice together again. ’It was delayed false advertising, amazing.’

He ignored the system’s disrespect for a second and opened the first unlock.

[System Shop]

[Domain-linked exchange interface.]

[Credits may be exchanged for survival goods, utility packages, medical stock, food, water, fuel, repair supplies, and authorized special stock.]

[Available inventory scales with Domain level, authority growth, and ruler access.]

[Current Shop Tier: Restricted]

[Current Categories]

[ - Food]

[ - Water]

[ - Medical]

[ - Power]

[ - Construction]

His eyes sharpened immediately.

’There it is,’ he thought, a grin tugging at his mouth. ’The actual cheat menu.’

He opened the food tab first.

[Food]

[Rice Bundle x10]

[Bread Crate x12]

[Egg Tray x30]

[Instant Meal Pack x20]

[Preserved Meat Set]

He flipped over to water right after that.

[Water]

[Bottled Water Crate x24]

[Water Drum]

[Purification Tablets]

[Portable Filter Unit]

Then medical.

[Medical]

[Basic First Aid Kit]

[Bandage Pack]

[Disinfectant Set]

[Low-Grade Recovery Injection]

He stared at the categories while the sausage browned in the pan, and felt a very specific kind of relief settle into his chest.

’Yeah,’ he thought, exhaling slowly. ’Now this is the real survival stuff.’

Food was one thing when he still had leftovers from his old life, but that luck wouldn’t last forever. Water, medicine, power packages, repair supplies, all of that mattered way more now that he had a whole block and a kid depending on him.

’This changes a lot,’ he thought, eyes moving over the prices. ’No more pretending my fridge being full is some miracle that will carry me forever.’

The shop still wasn’t free, which made sense because the system hated letting him enjoy anything too easily, but the prices weren’t insane either. Expensive enough to matter, cheap enough to use.

’Good,’ he thought. ’If the costs were stupid, I would’ve started cursing immediately.’

The smell from the pan snapped him out of it before the eggs burned.

"Tch."

He killed the heat a little and mixed everything together properly, then opened the second unlock.

[Domain Function - Utility Relay]

[Allows the owner to route electricity and water to selected structures within Domain territory.]

[Valid targets must be inside Domain borders and recognized by Domain mapping.]

[Activation may be maintained per structure or per floor.]

[Cost scales with structure size, load, and duration.]

[Current Ruler-stage Allowance]

[External active utility targets: 0/3]

He blinked once.

’Oh,’ he thought, then looked toward the window. ’Now we’re talking.’

That was way better than just having one apartment glow in the dark like a suspicious miracle box. If he could spread power and water to other buildings, then his block stopped being just a safe house and started becoming actual territory.

Empty buildings could turn into storage, fallback shelters, bathrooms, kitchens, safe sleeping spots, or places to hide people later. Even just having running water in more than one place was huge.

’So the Domain finally remembered it covers a whole block and not just my living room,’ he thought.

A sharp ping cut through his thoughts.

[Alert: Unauthorized entry attempt detected at Domain boundary.]

He froze as absolute Surveillance snapped west, to the outer edge of the block.

A tall man with white hair stood at the barrier, one hand pressed against it while his brows pulled together in open confusion.

Shu’s eyes narrowed right away.

’Huh,’ he thought, rubbing his chin. ’Isn’t that...’