The Workers' Home — the bakery.
A Liberi middle-aged man with sunglasses and black hair ran the shop.
His name was Roman, a member of the Union Guild. Plenty of guild workers frequented the place, but the shelves were looking bare—there wasn't much bread left.
Hao Fan noticed too, but…
"Uncle Roman, have you ever seen a red-haired Sarkaz girl?"
He decided to ask around first. In his hand was a loaf he'd just traded for using a Low-Capacity Valley Battery.
Of course, he wasn't expecting much—just asking casually.
What he didn't expect was that he'd actually get a lead.
"A red-haired Sarkaz girl? Wait… yeah, I remember."
Roman's expression turned thoughtful.
"Not long ago, I was delivering goods to the Originium Research Park. Halfway there my vehicle broke down, and I got ambushed by the Rifthollowers. I thought I was dead for sure…"
"I don't know if it's the person you mean, but a girl showed up at the right moment. She chopped their axes clean apart—every single one. That's how I survived."
"Oh, right. This is the record from that day."
Roman turned around, rummaged through his driving logs, and handed Hao Fan a file.
"This has the detailed information from that incident. Might be something in there you need…"
Then he added, earnestly:
"Also… we heard about how you helped replenish medical supplies. Dr. Miguel told us. So take it—don't worry about it."
Under normal circumstances, he would never hand life-saving information over to some suspicious hooded man.
But the batch of buckwheat flower powder Hao Fan had brought back earlier had treated a lot of injured guild members—and earned him trust.
Roman was one of the people who'd benefited.
That was why he was willing to hand over his driving record so readily.
And as it turned out, Miguel had also taken the opportunity—while distributing the buckwheat powder yesterday—to publicize who had helped restock the medical supplies.
Hao Fan hadn't known any of that.
So now, he couldn't help looking surprised.
"So Miguel… he really went and did something unnecessary."
With complicated feelings, Hao Fan accepted the driving record.
If nothing else, there should be information inside—maybe even the red-haired girl's Originium reaction parameters, enough to further confirm her identity.
Still… getting solid intel this easily felt unreal.
He'd honestly assumed he'd come up empty.
"I'll give this to Perlica later. She should be able to extract what I'm looking for…"
Hao Fan murmured as he stored the driving record into his Protocol Originium.
But for now—
"Uncle Roman, it's not much of a repayment, but… I noticed your stock's running low. Did something happen?"
In other words: Hao Fan wanted to help.
It wasn't meddling. He just didn't want the Union Guild members at the Workers' Home to end up unable to get even bread in a few days.
And if that happened, it would affect his own life too, wouldn't it?
So of course he wanted to solve it.
"Yeah… there's been a problem," Roman said, looking troubled. "Can you help me ask Erik? The Kuranta guy with goggles."
"I've got to watch the shop—I really can't leave."
"No problem. Leave it to me."
Hao Fan nodded and agreed without hesitation.
He finished his bread quickly and went to find the goggle-wearing Kuranta.
"Let's see… I think I heard Miguel mention him before… Ah—found him."
The Workers' Home wasn't very large, so finding someone was easy.
And the other man recognized the suspicious hooded guy right away.
"You're… Doktah? You here to help?"
"More or less. The bakery's short on supplies. I came for Uncle Roman to ask what's going on."
"I see… I'm Erik. This is Lou. We're organizing the nearby recovery work."
Erik introduced himself. Beside him stood a black-haired Feline woman.
Then he explained the current situation at the Workers' Home.
"A lot of workers are temporarily housed here. Mostly light injuries, thankfully—and because of the medical supplies you helped replenish, we're managing."
Clearly, he'd heard about how a hooded man had risked going into the wild yesterday to gather buckwheat flowers.
That was why, despite how busy things were, he was still willing to spare time and talk.
"But after a disaster, everyone's emotions get heavy. As the person in charge, I have to pay attention to psychological well-being… like Fia used to."
Erik's expression turned nostalgic.
Hao Fan understood the topic was serious, but he still couldn't help complaining internally.
Who's Fia?
I don't know her!
Also—aren't we drifting off-topic?!
Lou, hands on her hips, pulled the conversation back where it belonged.
"You're right, but when you actually get your hands dirty, you start with people's practical needs."
"Material first—then you can build the spirit. So let's solve the supply shortage. For that, we should ask the courier station."
Yes. Exactly.
Hao Fan gave her a mental thumbs-up—this was what he'd come to ask about.
So Erik, agreeing, led Hao Fan to the courier station across from the bakery.
The person running it was an elderly silver-haired Lupo man named Wilbur. He looked like his eyesight had gone a bit dim.
"Hello. How can I help you?"
Erik stepped forward to speak, trying to figure out whether something had gone wrong.
But Wilbur didn't seem to recognize him immediately.
"Oh… you're called… Erik? Where's that little girl from before?"
"You mean Fia? She got hurt. I'm filling in for her for now."
Only then did Hao Fan understand why Erik had suddenly mentioned that name earlier—he'd taken over Fia's work.
Wilbur continued, his words slow and careful.
"Oh… hurt… too many people got hurt. My old partner Eston got hurt too. He's the logistics station chief."
His pace was sluggish—maybe he really was getting senile.
But even so, he provided a crucial clue.
"He told me a batch of supplies should arrive soon, told me to keep an eye out for it… but I don't know why, there's been no word at all…"
"Don't worry. It'll get better," Erik said seriously.
"I'm here to help everyone… A delayed shipment—I'll note it down."
Wilbur sighed.
"Alright… young man, you've got passion. But if it's only you who has passion, you won't be able to take care of everyone."
He sounded like he was sharing life experience.
"I just hope old Eston gets better soon. If this were back when I was young, I'd go check the transport line myself… Hah. Time doesn't spare anyone."
After saying that, Wilbur turned back to his work, clearly done talking.
And with the clue he'd provided, Hao Fan basically understood what had happened.
"Transport line… that's it. The delayed supplies probably got scattered outside. That's why the bakery's short on stock."
He pieced together the cause and effect almost instantly.
"Erik—where's the transport line? I'll go take a look."
"…Sorry to trouble you," Erik hesitated, then finally nodded in gratitude. "I really can't leave my post either."
"I've marked the location for you. Thanks—please go check it out first."
"No problem. Leave it to me."
Hao Fan nodded without hesitation.
"Consider it paying back Uncle Roman."
....
My Patreon : patreon/RuneA
If you want to read the novel in advance, you can subscribe for early access. I also have many more novels in my collection that you might be interested in
I upload ten novels a day, with 3 to 4 chapters per title depending on the length. If you're following a particular series, please wait your turn a little
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it