The three of them passed through several scenes of tragedy, their faces tense.
Among the humans were ability users, and among the zombies, there were also ability user zombies. Those with ranged abilities could hit the RV, and if they weren’t avoided in time, the exterior wall would suffer serious damage. At that point, the RV would automatically deduct stamina points to repair the outer wall.
Xin Xiaoru winced with every deduction. Since the upgrade, the RV’s stamina had dropped from over 7,000 to over 6,000, and now it was down to just over 5,000, a completely unsustainable state.
Just as she was about to curse the ridiculous upgrade system again, the system suddenly spoke up: “If someone entering the RV has a five-star rating in their heart for the RV, you can gain 1 popularity point even if they sit for just 5 minutes.”
Xin Xiaoru’s eyes brightened slightly, but she spoke cautiously: “No other traps, right? Don’t tell me that if it’s not a five-star rating, it’ll deduct a ton of stamina?”
“No, no,” the system replied sheepishly. Its credibility with the host was probably deep in the negatives.
Xin Xiaoru let out a breath. She knew the system was trying to encourage her to save people, but she couldn’t think too much about that. Stamina points were like the balance on a bank card, if it didn’t increase, it always felt like it was dropping.
When it kept dropping with no incoming gains, her heart twisted like tangled hair. Once a method of gaining points appeared, she didn’t care about the motive, she just rolled up her sleeves and went for it.
She happened to see a person in an apartment building, back pressed against a window, staring fearfully at the banging bedroom door. Obviously, a zombie was outside and there was no escape.
She maneuvered the RV to hover outside the window: “Hey, want a ride? I’ll take you with me.”
The boy turned, shivering from the sudden voice. Through the gloom, a shaft of sunlight pierced the clouds, illuminating the windowsill. In the RV hovering in midair, a head peeked out, and if he looked closely, two more people were at the co-pilot seat and the rear doors, both looking at him.
At that moment, he couldn’t put his complex surge of emotions into words. He burst into tears and his language system failed, he could only nod frantically.
Zhao Changyue opened the door for him.
The boy climbed onto the windowsill and jumped eagerly into the RV.
He had expected the RV to shake when he landed, like a bus or an elevator would when stepped on heavily. But it was completely stable, like a metal box sitting on solid ground, without a single ripple.
Seeing this, his heart steadied just like the RV.
He gave Zhao Changyue a grateful, tentative smile, wiping away snot and tears with dirty hands, not sure where to put them.
Xin Xiaoru said, “There’s a sink on the table cabinet. You can wash your hands with it, and the water is safe to drink. Relax, the RV used to be a public bus; it’s handled all sorts of difficult passengers. You’re not a problem.”
The boy finally washed his hands and face, gulped down several mouthfuls of water, and carefully sat down on the sofa.
Xin Xiaoru looked at the satisfaction feedback on the prompt board. Good, just as expected, saving a life was the best way to get a five-star rating. Five minutes later, the stamina points started increasing.
“Where do you want to go? Any place you need to be?” Xin Xiaoru pulled a few lollipops from the snack box and handed one to each person, including the boy. “If not, you can come stay with us and work on the farm.”
Zhao Changyue picked up the explanation, speaking enthusiastically.
The boy felt dizzy listening, only catching a few key points: there’s a communal dorm with air conditioning, food is available, but you have to farm and raise chickens and ducks. If you can’t farm or raise animals, you can’t pay the rent, and you’ll starve.
This…
Could there be a more straightforward way to survive?
Nope!
“I’m willing to learn to farm, to raise chickens and ducks!” the boy said immediately. “I’ll pay the rent too! My family still has 500,000 in cash at home!”
Xin Xiaoru: “…Well, then! Turns out he’s rich!”
The RV immediately turned around and returned to the bedroom where the boy had been.
Outside the bedroom, there were no more zombies banging on the door, probably because they couldn’t smell any living humans and had moved away.
The boy got out of the RV, quickly opened the large wardrobe in the bedroom, and pulled open the middle drawers.
The cash in the drawers made everyone blink in surprise.
The boy grabbed a black garbage bag and, without thinking, stuffed all the money into it, returning to the RV before any zombies could detect the scent.
He looked eagerly at Xin Xiaoru: “Is this enough for me to stay for 500 days?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll pay now!”
Xin Xiaoru was delighted.
She had just gained another stable tenant for a year and a half: “Welcome home~”
However, although the RV system could accept money as a form of transaction, cash was useless now. No one would be foolish enough to trade supplies for inedible paper money.
So… what was this money even for?
The notice board in her mind seemed to have come alive, triggering a limited-time offer: she could spend 500,000 in cash to expand the RV’s space from 5 square meters to 50 square meters.
Xin Xiaoru’s eyes lit up!
Good system! This is basically selling her a whole apartment at pre-apocalypse prices, albeit flying in midair!
It was a bit over the top. And she couldn’t drive it on the public road like this.
The system gave her the perk, and now she felt a surge of excitement. She asked eagerly, “It won’t show outside, right? It still looks normal from the outside?”
“Nope. From the outside, the RV still looks the same. Only inside can you experience the full 50 square meters.”
Xin Xiaoru: !
Excited~ All the painstaking upgrades she had done before had only given her 16 square meters of storage and a collective dorm for 30 people. Now, just by picking up this little rich kid and taking his 500,000, she suddenly got a much bigger space, this boy was her lucky star!
System: “B-but, this is a perk I worked hard to give you… it has nothing to do with him…”
Xin Xiaoru ignored it and immediately clicked “trade.” The RV visibly expanded at an astonishing speed! Even the height increased to five meters, the view opened up instantly, enough space for a dozen people to sing, dance, rap, and play basketball!
At the same time, the money in the garbage bag she had taken from the boy disappeared.
Xin Xiaoru smiled at him: “Thank you for your patronage. For the next 500 days, you can stay in the collective dormitory, and I’ll cover all your living expenses. If you’re satisfied, please give a five-star review.”
The boy stared blankly at the RV’s transformation. Realizing it was his money that had made it happen, much of the anxiety in his heart immediately disappeared.
Fortunately, the money actually had a use, and he didn’t have to worry about being kicked out by the landlord.
Still, even though he didn’t have to worry about food or lodging for the next year and a half, he silently resolved to plan his future carefully. Whether farming or exploring other ways to make money, he had to seize this chance and survive.
With the RV space enlarged, Xin Xiaoru’s process of rescuing people became somewhat easier. It was no longer like before, when the RV was crammed like a bus, guests piled on top of each other until they barely fit.
But this ease wouldn’t last long.
There were simply too many people to save. About 95% of those who got on the RV automatically gave five-star ratings. The remaining 5% either hated seeing others living well, or were numb and incapable of gratitude.
If it was the former, Xin Xiaoru would signal Zhao Changyue to take a detour and kick the person off. If it was the latter, unable to provide a five-star rating, they were useless to her; she admitted her selfishness, unwilling to let them take up space in the RV or the dormitory, and would put them down in a corner with few zombies.
But probably, such people wouldn’t survive long elsewhere either.
The dormitory had only 30 beds—Xin Xiaoru couldn’t take everyone. Zhao Changyue would chat with the people, and He Guying would occasionally bring up topics to probe what they had done before.
Elderly people who are alone, not from a farming background, without special skills, and unable to work were not accepted; children under six who are not awakened and require excessive care were not accepted; people who are too clever or too independent-minded, making it difficult to maintain a five-star satisfaction rating, were not accepted; and those with poor mental states, constantly restless or frenzied, were not accepted either…
Excluding these groups, as well as those who already had ideas or somewhere to go, there were still many people left.
Xin Xiaoru sent the others away and then explained the current situation of the Youzhuang terraced fields, asking the homeless and displaced people for their opinions.
As expected, everyone was instantly delighted and expressed a strong willingness to go.
Those carrying backpacks immediately unzipped them to offer food and money, begging to be taken in. The rest, who had nothing at all, could only look on, hoping to get a spot.
Xin Xiaoru had already made up her mind. She accepted the money and food, reserved spots for the eight who offered contributions, and decided the remaining spots by drawing lots.
“For those who don’t get picked, I can still take you to Youzhuang,” Xin Xiaoru said. “My ability-operated dormitory requires people who acknowledge it. If someone doesn’t recognize it, I can feel it, and my ability-based management will be affected. If any guest is dissatisfied, I will remove them and replace them with new guests. You can farm near Youzhuang, and I can prioritize finding you, if you still want to stay in the dorm later.”
Everyone agreed immediately! They all quickly promised they were willing to go to Youzhuang to farm.
Finally, the 30 dormitory spots were fully assigned. In addition, twelve more people joined, they were locals from Zaoyue City who knew where warehouses storing dried dates were located and asked Xin Xiaoru to take them there.
“If we can get dried dates, boss, just reserve enough for us to eat for two months. In these two months we’ll farm crops and vegetables, we’ll definitely make progress!”
These people spoke with conviction. Their families likely farmed dates, and they knew something about farming themselves. Even if they felt uncertain inside, they forced themselves to be strong and determined.
Farming had to succeed.
Xin Xiaoru agreed.
She followed the twelve locals to several date-collecting warehouses. However, other locals, especially local awakened ones, knew the locations even better. Many warehouses were already occupied. After visiting three or four warehouses in a row, there was no one inside.
Xin Xiaoru thought for a moment, gave up on the food warehouses, and said, “Forget the dried dates, we need fertilizer.”