The woman didn't understand what he meant and subconsciously replied, "3000."
"In this kind of situation, how much are you willing to pay for this half-bucket of water?"
Dylan lifted the bucket to make it clearer for the woman to see.
The woman licked her lips and thought for a moment before saying, "I can offer 1000, no, I can offer 2000."
Dylan said, "That's 20 days' worth of salary. Alright, transfer 20 days of your time to us, and this half-bucket of water is yours!"
The woman extended her left arm from the quilt and saw that she still had over 354 days left.
She didn't know what this was, but she felt that exchanging 20 days for half a bucket of water was worth it.
It would prevent herself and her child from dying of thirst.
"Okay!"
Under Dylan's guidance, the woman transferred 20 days of time energy to Alberta, and she also got the half-bucket of water contentedly.
As they were leaving, the woman suddenly asked, "Um, could you tell me what exactly this time represents?"
Without turning his head, Dylan replied, "It represents life. Just remember, don't let it become zero.
Otherwise, you'll die!"
The woman stood still in astonishment!
...
In the camper, Dylan saw Alberta hesitating to speak and smiled, "Are you wondering why we didn't help them for free?"
Alberta nodded, "It would've been effortless for us."
Dylan put away his smile and said solemnly, "Alberta, you must remember, there's no such thing as a free lunch in this world.
If you want to get what you need, you have to pay the appropriate price.
To survive well, we must become stronger.
And the only way to become stronger is to acquire more time energy. Do you understand?"
Alberta carefully pondered Dylan's words and understood his intentions.
If, as Dylan had said before, the world was on the brink of complete destruction, then surviving gave them a chance to find a way out.
Showing mercy to strangers would be highly irresponsible to oneself.
Besides, without Dylan, perhaps she would have needed that half-bucket of water even more!
Inside the Seaside Hotel.
Dorothy and a female attendant were trapped in a small room on the second floor.
This was a room Dorothy had reserved for herself to rest, equipped with a bed and a sofa.However, there was only one blanket in the room.
Dorothy wrapped the blanket around the female attendant and took the mattress from the bed, wrapping it around herself.
They huddled side by side on the sofa.
At this moment, Dorothy stared blankly at the door, lost in thought.
She recalled the night when the cold wave struck.
That night, after Dylan left, she indeed didn't allow anyone else to go upstairs.
Thinking that Dylan might come back, she had left two attendants to work overtime.
Conveniently, there was still a table of diners downstairs who had been drinking and showed no signs of leaving.
As time passed until midnight, the drunken diners downstairs were about to leave after settling their bill when suddenly, everyone felt a headache.
After the pain subsided, they all noticed changes in their bodies.
Just as everyone was confused, the cold wave struck.
They had been dressed lightly due to the hot weather, so the sudden cold wind made them shiver.
Although they didn't know what was happening, Dorothy kindly allowed the diners to take shelter inside the hotel and closed the door.
They had thought it would pass after a while, but the temperature kept dropping until it became bone-chillingly cold.
Fortunately, there was no power outage, so Dorothy adjusted the hotel's air conditioning to warm the place up.
However, the effect was minimal.
Unable to do anything else, Dorothy and the two female attendants could only hide in their own rest area on the second floor, while the diners stayed in a storage room downstairs.
Although it was cold, the hotel wasn't short of food, and they could warm themselves with some white wine.
Dorothy checked the private rooms on the second floor and found that all nine rooms were empty, without even a table.
This left her baffled.
But she couldn't dwell on it; luckily, there was still one table of untouched food in the last room, which helped them survive for several days.
Everything seemed relatively peaceful until the power outage.
The temperature in the room plummeted to a level humans couldn't endure.
The five diners left downstairs were obviously not good people.
After finishing the white wine, they drunkenly attempted to cause trouble by forcing themselves into the room with the women.
Dorothy knew they had ulterior motives in wanting to enter the room.
Despite Dorothy's firm refusal, the five men persisted.
When one of the female attendants went to the bathroom, they forcibly dragged her away and subjected her to violence.
Exposed to the air for too long and sweating heavily, the attendant eventually succumbed to her injuries.
Afterward, the five men became even more brazen, turning their attention to the other female attendant.
But she was already severely ill with a fever and cold, teetering on the brink of death.
So, emboldened, they began to prepare to attack Dorothy.The reason they didn't dare to act against Dorothy initially was because she still had some background in Bluewater Bay.
They were the local big shots in this area, accustomed to bullying others.
Plus, they were drunk every day—what couldn't they do?
Fortunately, Dorothy had taken precautions, and the door was sturdy enough.
They didn't succeed in their attempts.
But today, the temperature suddenly rose again, and the five men finally became restless once more.
Just the thought of Dorothy's voluptuous figure made their desires burn.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" They violently kicked the door.
Dorothy trembled in fear and quickly picked up an empty wine bottle from the ground, holding it defensively as she watched the door.
"Hurry up and open the door, you stinking bitch!
Let us release our... urges.
We promise to make you feel comfortable!"
one drunken man outside yelled.
"Yeah, you're already old, but you still act like you're some pure maiden!
What a pretense!"
"I'm telling you, in this area, we're the bosses.
What can't we handle?
Serve us well, and we'll protect your little hotel in the future!"
"Hurry up! Can you hear me?
If we have to break down the door to get in, we won't be so kind anymore!
Do you know how that little waitress died?"
Listening to them from inside the room, Dorothy seethed with anger.
She shouted, "You beasts! I kindly sheltered you, but you repay me with enmity!
I'm telling you, none of you will escape.
You will get what's coming to you!"
"Retribution? It's been days, and we haven't seen any retribution! We can't even make phone calls, let alone see anyone!"
"Don't waste your breath with her.
Hurry up and break down the door. I can barely stand hearing her voice!"
The men outside stopped talking and began to violently pound on the door.
Under their relentless assault, the door began to crumble, and it seemed it wouldn't hold much longer.
Dorothy's expression turned resolute.
She directly smashed the wine bottle on the ground, leaving her with a half-broken piece with sharp edges in her hand.
She was ready to fight.
If she couldn't avoid it, she would fight back.
Even if she died, she would take a few of them down with her.
With a loud crash, the door finally couldn't withstand the continuous pounding and collapsed.
The men outside had sinister expressions and eagerly rushed into the room.
The first person to lunge at Dorothy suddenly felt a sharp pain in his stomach.
He yelled out and quickly backed away, looking down to see a gash on his belly.
"Anyone else coming?
Whoever does, dies!" Dorothy's eyes were determined as she gritted her teeth.
"You bitch! How dare you hurt my brother! Watch how I torture you in a moment!"
One of them gestured to the remaining three, and they split up to surround Dorothy.