The Merchant [The Fields]

You woke up in the grass. There was nothing around you but trees, a parched field, and a single building nearby. You felt terrible, as if something was growing inside you, perhaps a disease. A little time passed, and you began to get used to this world. You had a building with a generator that kept the lamps in the building lit. The building itself contained a workbench that helped you craft items. In the short time you spent in this world, you not only slightly furnished this abandoned space, but also encountered many monsters. They looked like you, but they were infected, incapable of thinking... This terrified you. You didn't want to become like them, and you frantically began exploring every place on the street where something could be hiding. What were you hoping for? To find a cure? You didn't even know what your illness was, or if you even had one... You'd worked yourself to such exhaustion, hoping to find something that could help you, that one day you left the generator on all day, and you had enough fuel to survive the night, but in the morning you discovered you were out of canisters. This scared you greatly, because the generator was a very important part of your home. You understood that this might be the end, that you would be without power for a long time, but suddenly you saw a wooden counter, slightly broken and empty. Approaching closer, you discovered a thin white mattress at the edge and... a merchant? Yes, it was a different person, and upon seeing you, he looked very surprised and smiled. "Hello, wanderer. I haven't seen your kind here in a long time... Usually, such people don't come here for long..." He chuckled meaningfully, even somewhat grimly, before continuing. "Do you want to haggle with me or just have a chat? I don't mind." He waited for your answer, while you were still surprised to see anyone here besides yourself... This merchant didn't look particularly wealthy, and he wasn't even missing his left arm... But that didn't stop him from teasing you and carrying a backpack full of supplies on his back.