[009] Hope of Survival
“Holy crap, am I seeing things? The Doomsday Apartment is actually recycling items now?”
“Can we trade items for points? That’s amazing!”
“It’s actually real!”
“I knew it—Heaven never seals off every path!”
“This damn game actually left us a way to live after all!”
“This time, we don’t have to sit around and eat through our savings until we’re broke.”
“I was just saying earlier! Wondering if we could exchange items with the game for points, and who knew it’d come true this fast!”
“…”
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Every single player inside the Doomsday Apartment was immensely excited.
They knew very well what the existence of the Recycling Cabinet meant for them.
Some of the players who had originally been idling inside the apartment could no longer sit still.
In just a short while, the number of players staying inside the apartment thinned out significantly once again.
Those remaining were mostly the elderly or the very young, who still needed time to adapt to the harsh environment.
Meanwhile, Gu Weiwei, after confirming that all her newly released features were working without error, went back to lying flat in the lounge area, continuing to surf the web on her phone.
Her first task, as usual, was to check the player forum.
Although the place was a bit of a mixed bag, it was at least a prime central hub of information. The players who managed to get phones and get online within the first two days of the game were either sharp-minded or quite capable; the information coming from this group was relatively fast.
And on the forum right now, all kinds of news were indeed being actively discussed.
#Many shops are closed today#
#The higher-ups are trying to suppress the news, but they can’t suppress it at all!#
#News of being cut off from the outside is flying everywhere!#
#A lot of people couldn’t hold back and committed robbery, but got caught by the police#
#Friendly reminder: now is NOT a good time for robbery#
#Actually, while you can’t target NPCs right now, you can target other players! Points are the ultimate key to survival#
#A friend of mine got scammed by a player who robbed all his items and points—do NOT trust players! Do NOT trust players! Keep your identity hidden!#
#…#
Shielded behind screen walls, messages on the forum were remarkably reckless.
The word “robbery” appeared with significantly higher frequency.
Some players had even begun turning on and killing one another.
This was only day two of the game?
It seemed the word “game” had truly magnified the malice in many people’s hearts.
Purse-lipped, Gu Weiwei returned her focus to the forum screen.
Regarding this current state of affairs, she had zero power to intervene anyway—she would simply focus on running her Doomsday Apartment properly.
At the very least, under her domain, she would not allow such things to happen.
Anything beyond that was out of her hands.
Soon after, she began publishing posts under her own forum account:
#Doomsday Apartment introduces Tent Area: Only 2 points per day#
#Doomsday Apartment adds a new machine: Recycling Cabinet. Recycles second-hand items for point exchanges#
#Doomsday Apartment opens new Restaurant: Plain porridge, steamed buns, and mung bean soup for only 1 point; dry-pot cabbage rice set for 2 points; braised pork belly set for 3 points. High quality, cheap price—welcome to come eat!#
#…#
Gu Weiwei ran her advertisements without hesitation.
Currently, user traffic on the forum was fairly solid.
Before long, people began replying underneath her threads.
“Where on earth is this Doomsday Apartment?”
“I heard it’s a safe zone?”
“Looks like this safe zone costs money for everything though.”
“Yesterday someone went to rob it—what happened to them?”
“Oh right, whoever went to rob the place, speak up—is this Doomsday Apartment really that great?”
“It’s honestly pretty great.”
“Was the robbery successful?”
“Who would dare! There’s a heavyweight NPC there, likely an official NPC, possessing mysterious powers in the game. Anyone who dares act out in the Doomsday Apartment gets thrown out out of thin air, just like an invisible hand tossing them out.”
“Is she really that insane?!”
“Yeah! A tenant of the Doomsday Apartment stepping in here to confirm.”
“That really sounds pretty safe.”
“Are there still rooms left in the Doomsday Apartment?”
“You’re dreaming—gone long ago. The Doomsday Apartment can only host a few hundred people right now, and all spots are taken. But if you make a purchase, you can stay inside for 6 hours.”
“Does it HAVE to be points? Would cash work?”
“It didn’t work before, but it should work now! You buy goods with cash, let the Recycling Cabinet recycle them into points, and then spend those points in the Doomsday Apartment.”
“Where is the location? I want to check it out.”
“Scroll through past records! It’s all there!”
“Does anyone know what items fetch a higher price in the Recycling Cabinet?”
“It just came out, so it’s not clear yet. But news should come out real soon.”
“…”
Seeing that feedback was pretty positive, Gu Weiwei exited the forum contentedly and began searching for news regarding the game zone itself.
Just as discussed on the forum, the news of this place being cut off from the outside world could not be hidden at all.
The moment the news broke, it stirred up a massive uproar.
Some shops closed down urgently, hauling all the goods from their stores back to their own homes.
They all relied on fixed suppliers; local suppliers had already confirmed they had no stock left, while out-of-town suppliers couldn’t be reached at all.
The authorities were unable to give them a straight answer either.
After all, even if F City wasn’t a tier-one metropolis, it was still a major tier-two city. Losing contact with everywhere else for a full day and night with zero response was already terrifying enough.
With merchants refusing to sell goods, ordinary residents—no matter how much they trusted the government or the nation—felt intensely panicked inside. Today, many people took leave from work directly to hoard supplies alongside their families.
All online shopping apps had completely collapsed—never mind unplaced orders, even orders already paid for were not guaranteed to be delivered.
Unable to buy supplies, citizens were already beginning to plunge into panic.
What Gu Weiwei was currently watching was a live stream from a large supermarket chain.
Due to government mandates, large supermarkets didn’t dare close shop, relying instead on limiting purchase quantities per citizen.
Yet even with purchase limits, the supermarket had been completely overrun by residents, with queues stretching incredibly long.
If armed police equipped with live ammunition hadn’t been standing guard on the scene, many people would likely have surged forward in a frenzy.
“The government will guarantee the daily living needs of all citizens, opening shopping access at set times daily… We will maintain attempts to contact the outside and secure rescue as early as possible.” The stream host filmed scenes of the crowd while reciting official boilerplate statements—clearly having received instructions from official authorities.
Yet even while holding a sunshade umbrella, sweat droplets rolled down the host’s face continuously.
Swiping to other video streams, the situations were essentially much of the same.
Evidently, the government was still attempting to control public sentiment; but while yesterday relied heavily on information blackouts, today focused on stabilizing public morale. What had caused them to change their stance?
Gu Weiwei knew very well that this level of control was likely only temporary.
While Gu Weiwei continued exploring the news, the advertisements she posted were seen by quite a few players as well.
Zhang Jingze happened to be among those who saw them relatively early.
Today, he was still out leading his team to make money.
What he hadn’t expected, however, was that in just one day, earning money had become far more difficult than the day before.
First was the temperature: heatwaves over forty degrees Celsius made walking outdoors sheer agony every single second. Their clothes were soaked through with sweat, and without realizing it, they had already chugged down half their bottled water.
Next were prices: a bottle of bottled water that cost 10 yuan yesterday had surged to over 20 today. Beverage prices were even more expensive, while food was facing across-the-board price hikes—yet at these prices, goods were still swept clean by crowds of people.
Finally came jobs: many shops closed down outright today. Even those remaining open were unwilling to hire part-time workers to add to their financial burden, making jobs far harder to find.
During this span of time, out of yesterday’s twenty-plus team members, fewer than ten had managed to find work—and even for those who did, the pay was absurdly low.
Zhang Jingze hadn’t found work, nor did he plan to look for now. After all, he had hoarded enough supplies. The reason he brought his team out was firstly to inspect conditions outside, and secondly to avoid standing out.
Although the inside of the Doomsday Apartment was exceptionally safe, its rules and regulations outside its boundaries could not restrict human nature.
The interior of the apartment hosted a mixed crowd; if he were to simply sit back and enjoy luxury right away, who knew if he’d be targeted by malicious individuals.
Under current circumstances, being targeted by others was definitely not a good thing.
Therefore, Zhang Jingze was currently taking shelter from the sun inside a shopping mall.
There were quite a few people like him.
This mall possessed its own power generator and had specifically announced it would turn on air conditioning during certain hours to attract customers.
Although it wasn’t as cool as normal days, it was still several degrees cooler than outside.
It was under these conditions that Zhang Jingze scrolled through his phone.
He similarly checked various news updates on the game zone first, only entering the player forum after getting a grasp of the situation.
The moment he entered the player forum, however, his eyes caught multiple familiar posts referencing the Doomsday Apartment.
When he saw the ad-like content inside, Zhang Jingze was completely dumbfounded.
Is this real?
Zhang Jingze instinctively assumed someone was playing a practical joke.
After all, the things described inside sounded far too good to be true.
The addition of a Tent Area and a Restaurant drastically lowered the renting costs for players at the Doomsday Apartment.
Meanwhile, the Recycling Cabinet offered players a brand-new way out, granting an extra source of point income.
His fingers trembling slightly, he began swiping through the post replies.
Upon seeing people inside confirming the truth of these claims, Zhang Jingze instantly grew thrilled.
Either way, he wanted to head back right now to check it out.
If he made it in time to cancel his room booking and switch to a tent, he could save half his money!
Before heading back, however, Zhang Jingze visited several spots to notify his team members one by one.
“I can’t confirm for sure if this is real, but I’m willing to head back and check it out. You guys decide for yourselves!”
After giving notice, Zhang Jingze was the type to take off immediately.
Naturally, a few quick-witted individuals followed right behind Zhang Jingze from the start.
Yu Siyu was one of them.
“You were still working your part-time job! Leaving on short notice… can you really bear to part with it?” Zhang Jingze asked, internally feeling that Yu Siyu was giving him immense respect by supporting him first in everything he did.
“I think it’s worth taking a gamble,” Yu Siyu stated directly. “Besides, hardly anyone could fabricate such a specific good thing out of thin air.”
The existence of the Doomsday Apartment was still only known to a small circle among players.
In a city this massive, 100,000 players amongst 5,000,000 NPCs were far too inconspicuous.
By the same token, the Doomsday Apartment was equally inconspicuous within this giant city.
“I think so too.”
Afterward, more and more players joined them on their return, and they even bumped into a few others along the road.
The group returned to the Doomsday Apartment carrying eager anticipation in their hearts.
The moment they caught sight of the Doomsday Apartment building, they knew they had made the right call returning.
Because on the left side of the Doomsday Apartment, three prominent words met their eyes: Tent Area.
In that instant, their hearts beat wildly.
The Doomsday Apartment was truly their hope of survival as players in the future!