"Ah, you're talking about those things... After the nuclear explosion, most electronic devices probably stopped working. However, if you take apart the key components from these, you can still trade them for a small amount of useful stuff at quite a few survivor bases."

Hearing this, Jason Carter sighed and had to give up on the idea of taking these devices back to the modern era to sell.

But since these things once existed, it means someone must be able to make them again. Jason Carter believed that if he used food as a bargaining chip, there would definitely be plenty of "elite types" in this world scrambling to work for him. After all, in this post-apocalyptic world, those luxurious civilian technologies really weren't worth much at all.

Technicians with weak bodies, unless they possessed high-end skills like making weapons, were mostly doomed to eke out a living in the slums.

Grace Bennett didn't know what exactly about this villa had caught Jason Carter's eye, but since her employer had given her an order, she naturally wouldn't refuse.

"To be honest, there's not much point in reinforcing this building. As long as you don't make too much noise, those brainless zombies won't be able to get in at all. There aren't any powerful mutant creatures roaming this area, so what you're doing is purely..."

"Enough, I'm not guarding against zombies. I know that as long as I don't provoke those disgusting things, they won't come looking for trouble with me. I'm trying to prevent uninvited guests from sneaking in, understand? You wouldn't want to have your throat slit while you're sleeping, would you? We need to stay in the city for a while, and this place will serve as our supply point." As he spoke, Jason Carter shot Grace Bennett a fierce glare.

"Alright, boss." Grace Bennett rolled her eyes and hammered the last nail into the wooden board. In fact, she wanted to retort: no one would bother sneaking into a building that's so obviously been looted.

As for why she was here... that was her secret.

"Do you have a map of the area?" Sitting cross-legged on a slightly moldy sofa, Jason Carter felt no guilt at all about making this beauty do manual labor. This woman had almost given him an SM-style interrogation just now—being held at gunpoint was not a pleasant experience.

Grace Bennett was clearly very skilled at this kind of work, and soon she had thoroughly reinforced the first floor of the villa. As for the materials for the modifications, of course, they were all sourced on the spot...

"Where's your Epaid? I can just send it to you directly."

"Epaid?" Jason Carter was momentarily stunned.

"This thing." Grace Bennett tapped the wrist-mounted computer strapped to her arm, grinning as if she'd just heard a funny joke. "Don't tell me you don't have one?"

"...I can buy one." Jason Carter gave an awkward laugh and rubbed his nose, feeling like a caveman in front of this girl.

"Hard to imagine... you actually dared to explore the city without an EP. Aren't you afraid your internal radiation levels will go off the charts?" Grace Bennett sighed, pulled something out of her portable backpack that looked like an oversized digital watch, and tossed it to Jason Carter. "Put it on and try it."

"Seems to fit pretty well... Where did you get it?" Jason Carter fiddled with it, amazed at the advanced technology of this world. This thing called an EP was extremely lightweight and unobtrusive on his wrist. The pale yellow fluorescent screen displayed all of Jason Carter's physiological indicators—it seemed to be a health monitoring device.

"Took it off a dead guy." Grace Bennett grinned. Her smile was bright and sunny, but it still made Jason Carter shiver involuntarily.

...

Username: Jason Carter

Physical Status:

[Muscle Strength: 12

Bone Strength: 10

Reflexes: 11

Brain Cell Activity: 14

...

Radiation Level: 11 (Safe)

Abnormal Status: None]

...

When he saw the radiation level, a bead of cold sweat slid down Jason Carter's forehead. He had almost forgotten—this world was full of radiation, and if he stayed here too long, he was doomed. He had no idea what a radiation level of 11 actually meant; all he knew was that before coming to this godforsaken place, he would never have been exposed to radiation!

"Oh, none of your stats are above 20... Tell me, are you really a man?" Grace Bennett glanced mischievously at Jason Carter's lower body.

"Want to find out?" Jason Carter said fiercely.

"I'm standing right here—why don't you try?" Grace Bennett planted a booted foot dominantly on the armrest of the sofa, her eyes full of challenge as she stared at Jason Carter.

Damn, how could anyone put up with this? If not now, then when?

...Or maybe now's not the time.

Jason Carter immediately chickened out.

No joke—even if he could beat this "barbarian" (which was impossible), he'd probably have to worry about her biting his dick off while doing the deed. Jason Carter was pretty sure Grace Bennett was the type who'd actually do something like that.

That kind of fun was better saved for the modern world—once he had money, would he ever have to worry about women?

For some reason, Jason Carter suddenly thought of a certain woman—the one who fired him, the one who nearly cut off his financial resources and almost made it impossible for him to survive in Shanghai, the one who always wore that cold, stony face...