Li Ke's mood instantly brightened up significantly. After all, this outcome finally proved one thing.
It wasn't that his own drop rates were cursed; it was just that Kiri's luck was completely off the charts.
This woman was clearly blessed by the gods of fortune. Granted, considering her tragic background and past experiences, it was hard to call her life "lucky," but as of right now, she was undisputedly the most blessed person in their entire group.
"How utterly humiliating. To think my own luck was just outclassed by a mere human," Rias murmured, her voice tinged with surprise. She stared at Kiri, her eyes wide with sheer disbelief.
Rias had always considered herself to be among the most fortunate elites, but even she stood no chance when compared to Kiri.
'What a shame,' Rias couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
It truly was a massive pity that someone like Kiri couldn't be recruited into her peerage. A broken, rule-bending level of luck like that could easily secure countless treasures.
As for calling luck a silly superstition...
She was literally a devil. Superstition didn't apply to her.
"To possess a stroke of fortune strong enough to completely eclipse the luck of the Gremory Clan... Miss Kiri, you must have been a highly influential figure back in your original world, right?" Rias couldn't resist asking.
In her eyes, someone endowed with such an impossibly high luck stat could never be a minor character in any universe.
However, Kiri's response took her completely by surprise.
"Of course not! I'm just a nobody—the kind of small fry who blends right into a crowd without anyone batting an eye. Alright, enough chitchat. Let's speedrun these quests!"
Kiri laughed it off with a casual brush-off. With that, the four-person party pushed forward to grind through the rest of their objectives.
Thanks to their blistering clear speed, they swept through all eight quests in less than an hour. Once that was taken care of, they immediately shifted their focus back to reinforcing their defensive fortifications.
Even though Tsunade was no longer around to help carry the heavy loads, Rias was still perfectly capable of taking flight for short durations to assist.
Meanwhile, Kiri went ahead to set up some rudimentary defensive traps around their base, aiming to provide extra protection for their relatively flimsy front door.
As for Li Ke, he and Lux headed down into the pits to start mining.
Mining was a soul-crushingly tedious and boring chore. Fortunately, the new forge Kiri had crafted allowed their backbreaking labor to be instantly converted into tangible rewards. At the same time, the newly acquired workbench blueprint in Li Ke's inventory ensured those raw steel ingots could be processed into far more solid and reliable equipment.
While tossing a fresh batch of materials into the forge, Li Ke happened to glance over at Lux, whose skin was covered in a light layer of dust. A sudden thought crossed his mind.
'I'll be able to leave this place soon...'
He stared at Lux. Even though he did his absolute best not to let any lingering desire for her body show in his eyes, Lux still visibly flinched the moment her gaze met his.
It wasn't because of Li Ke's look, but rather because of the frantic thoughts racing through her own head.
Because of Rias's earlier warning about the system contract, a cautious Lux hadn't allocated a single point into her 7 Days to Die stat sheet. Consequently, every single swing of her mining tool drained her actual physical stamina. Because of this, Li Ke had already run back and forth to empty his inventory several times before he finally caught her taking a breather.
By now, Lux was nearly operating on fumes. She had walked over to the forge with the sole intention of grabbing a quick rest.
Yet, seeing Li Ke looking completely energized and barely breaking a sweat, she couldn't help but wonder about a very specific, underlying detail.
Namely...
Just how many rounds could Li Ke handle in a single night?
It was a highly practical question. Even though Lux had never spared a single thought for such intimate matters in her entire life, she was now backed into a corner where she absolutely had to calculate the logistics.
Unable to contain her anxiety, she nervously stammered out a question.
"M-Mr. Li Ke... is your stamina holding up okay? You must work out quite often, right...?"
Her hesitant, stuttering demeanor was incredibly endearing, and Li Ke instantly put two and two together, realizing exactly why she had flinched earlier.
"Huh? Ah... well, not to brag, but with my current stats, this manual labor doesn't really phase me anymore."
Li Ke tried to keep his voice as casual as possible, desperately hoping his answer wouldn't sound double-edged.
"As for working out, that was a long time ago. Though I will say, surviving in this place lately has definitely done wonders for my physique."
Li Ke was quite proud of this fact. Forced into accidental fasting, weight loss, and non-stop physical cardio in this post-apocalyptic world, his beer belly had vanished entirely, even if his six-pack hadn't fully materialized yet.
If he kept up this brutal routine, it wouldn't be long before he transformed into a shredded, jacked powerhouse.
"I-I see..."
Lux's face burned an even deeper shade of crimson.
Just as the atmosphere threatened to devolve into an painfully awkward silence, the roaring whine of a motorcycle engine echoed from above. Before long, Kiri—rocking a leather jacket, tight jeans, and a sleek pair of sunglasses—sauntered down into the mine and stopped right in front of them.
"Hey, Li Ke. The pond over by the gas station was practically choked full of drowned zombies earlier. There's no way in hell I'm drinking that water, so grab your gear and come upstairs with me. We're going on a water run. Miss Lux, mind heading up to keep watch for Rias?"
Since Rias occasionally needed to take flight to construct the upper layers of their new steel fortress, she required a spotter on the ground to keep tabs on any incoming threats.
Without giving it a second thought, Lux readily agreed.
"Yes, of course, Miss Kiri."
With a polite nod, Lux obediently made her way up the stairs. Kiri watched her go before flashing a sly grin at Li Ke. Slipping off her sunglasses, she used the edge of the frame to playfully tilt Li Ke's chin upward.
"Alright, handsome. Give mama a smile."
Li Ke had a pretty solid idea of what she was planning to do next.