The mayor had never thought there was anything wrong with her decision.
She had already anticipated that all of this would happen, so tonight, she decided to evacuate ahead of time.
She had deliberately increased this year’s firewood tax. She knew that in order to make up for the additional tax, these people would have to increase their working hours. If they didn’t increase their working hours, how else could they make up for the extra tax?
—Abandon some of the elderly.
She wasn’t the one making that decision, but she was forcing the people of the town to make it themselves.
No one understood Lingfeng Town’s situation better than she did. This year’s autumn had been far too short, and the food reserves were insufficient. Many people would die during the winter.
Resources were simply too limited. If they didn’t reduce the population, the coming winter would drag everyone down.
But if they reduced the population too much, there wouldn’t be enough laborers in the spring of the following year to deal with attacks from raiders or the possibility of another zombie horde.
If too many people died, there would be even fewer people available the following year. And if an entire settlement were wiped out, merchants and wanderers in the surrounding areas who learned of it would no longer come here.
Merchants needed a basis for trade, while wanderers needed the assurance of safety.
The mayor had decided to control the population while ensuring that the able-bodied labor force remained intact. Thus, she had increased the cost of surviving the winter.
Wastelanders couldn’t see anything in the long term. Their attention wasn’t focused on the future, and they might very well be dead by tomorrow.
They couldn’t understand what the mayor was doing. The only thing they could see was the scars on her face.
So no one had ever called her cold-blooded.
On the contrary, many residents thought she was extremely compassionate.
After all, the scars on her face had been caused by protecting the town, and she had lost her eye while fighting raiders to protect the townspeople.
From the moment the Night Demons appeared, the entire town scattered and fled for their lives.
Wastelanders didn’t have much luggage. They could put on all the clothes in their homes, take all their food and sources of fire, and leave immediately.
The mayor had already traveled some distance. She had bought three UV lamps, used two of them in the town, and taken one with her.
She was heading to Shelter 199. She would return in the spring of next year.
Things had been like this in previous years as well. She would take her trusted followers with her, leaving one or two people behind to keep watch so that she could return and take over again once spring arrived.
……But she was stopped.
On a small road not far from the town, moonlight spilled across the ground, and a person stood in the middle of the road.
The person wore a hood, with a long rifle strapped to her back.
Under the moonlight, it was faintly possible to make out who she was.
“Bei You?” The mayor looked at her. “Why are you here? Are you planning to leave with us?”
“I thought you’d already left for the shelter. I didn’t expect you not to go after all.”
She gave Bei You a kindly smile.
“Then hurry and come along.”
At a time like this, Bei You was a valuable fighter, so of course she was more than welcome.
“I’m not here to leave with you.” Bei You shook her head. “I’m here to stop you.”
“You intend to stop me from leaving?”
The mayor couldn’t help but laugh in exasperation.
“You’re a sniper! At this distance! You can’t even draw your gun in time!”
“What if you add me?”
As soon as she finished speaking, an extremely tall figure stepped out from beneath the shade of a nearby tree.
It was at least two and a half meters tall, clad in sleek silver-gray armor. In situations where concealment was necessary, the robot had switched to a more suitable camouflage coating.
“I should at least be able to hold her off until she gets a shot off, right?” Type-I Sentry asked.
The mayor’s pupils contracted, her expression filled with shock and uncertainty.
She had never seen anything like this—not even at Shelter 199!
Even if they had something like it, someone of her position would never have been allowed to see it!
“What exactly do you want?” The mayor put her gentle smile back on. “Nuts? Or something else?”
The sounds of fighting and killing behind her were becoming increasingly intense. If she didn’t leave now, the townspeople and the Night Demons would catch up with her. By then, she wouldn’t be able to leave.
“I need you to sign a contract.”
Bei You took a stack of papers covered in densely packed writing from her shoulder bag.
……
“Bei You, here’s your contract.”
Unable to find anywhere else to go, Bei You had returned to that shelter a few days ago.
Inside the shelter was still that same woman who looked completely out of place in the Wasteland.
Bei You wanted a place that would accept her.
After leaving Lingfeng Town, she had thought of this place.
Because the owner of this place had chosen only her.
Not Tang Yuan, who had more experience.
Nor Lin Xiao, who was stronger than her and had traveled all over the Wasteland.
Bei You wanted someone to see her and acknowledge her worth.
Only this person…
She had rejected everyone else and chosen to keep Bei You alone.
“An overdue introduction, my first employee.”
Bei You took the contract from the woman. She watched as the woman cleared her throat and said,
“My name is Ling Zhao. I am currently the only person in charge of this shelter and the chairwoman of Noah Corporation.”
“Everything I can currently provide you is written in the contract.”
Bei You opened her mouth.
“Um… I can’t read.”
“Then I’ll have my assistant explain it to you,” she said.
Immediately afterward, a gentle yet somewhat strange voice sounded beside Bei You’s ear. Every word had exactly the same rhythm and intonation.
“Bei You, let me introduce myself. I am Sistrom, the Chief Assistant. You are now an official P1 employee. At present, you may only move around the surface and the first underground level.”
“Your current position is Director of External Affairs. Later, we will gradually separate the various jobs that require going outside, because the shelter has only just been unsealed, and we have a tremendous shortage of personnel in every area.”
Sistrom stopped halfway through.
It had almost started making an elaborate sales pitch.
“Your employee dormitory is currently being prepared. For now, we can only provide you with three meals a day and five minutes of bathing time each day,” Sistrom said. “Your specific salary will be calculated and paid next month. For now, you can only accumulate employee points. Employee points are an important indicator for employee advancement… Do you have any other questions?”
“No.”
Bei You shook her head, then asked, “Is there anything you need me to do?”
She didn’t want…
She didn’t want the only place that had accepted her for now to discover that she was useless, and eventually decide that she was dispensable after all.
“Not for now.” Ling Zhao said to her, “Wait two days. I’ll have something for you to do then.”
“Because I just received an unexpected guest, and she brought me quite a lot of interesting information.”
“What happened?” Bei You asked.
“The mayor who stopped you,” Ling Zhao said. “Then… have her sign this contract, no matter what method you use.”
It was an agreement transferring full authority over Lingfeng Town to Noah Corporation of Shelter 999.
The term was this winter.
Bei You spent two days feeling restless and unable to eat or sleep peacefully inside the shelter. Finally, she was given this mission. She immediately perked up, put on the clothes she had cleaned until they were spotless, and headed out.
She had already made up her mind: even if she had to break the mayor’s hands, she would press them down and make her sign the contract.
Watching Bei You leave, Sistrom couldn’t help but sigh. “You’re really ruthless.”
There wasn’t a single thing in that contract that Shelter 999 would provide to Lingfeng Town. It was entirely composed of obligations for Lingfeng Town.
Most importantly, there was one particular clause.
Employment Agreement.
Shelter 999 would provide the residents of Lingfeng Town who accepted employment with it with basic living supplies and security.
“I can’t help it. After all, I have nothing,” Ling Zhao said with a smile. “Food, energy, manpower—I’m short on everything. Don’t even mention nuts. I don’t even have a single screw.”
“If I don’t take advantage of this opportunity, I don’t know how long I’ll have to wait before I get another chance to acquire manpower legitimately.”
Ling Zhao knew exactly what she wanted, and she also knew exactly what she was doing.
She had hired only Bei You while persuading the other people to leave because, at the time, she only needed Bei You to complete her employment mission.
At that time, she had only enough food for herself and Bei You to eat for a few days without arousing suspicion.
Over the past few days, she had received a Wasteland merchant and traded her remaining water for a large amount of food, which had alleviated her immediate crisis and brought her transaction count to 50.
Now, she had unlocked another mission.
[Your first official employee has joined. How could you not provide your employee with proper benefits? The Shelter Company Module has been unlocked!]
[This module only supports internal shelter development and has been unlocked to ensure employee welfare. It cannot be used as an external trade commodity and is unrelated to your business operations. Please take note.]
[Would you like to issue a Shelter Company exclusive mission?]
Ling Zhao created and issued a mission according to the minimum requirements.
[Shelter Mission: Build a small enterprise with 25 employees. Reward: Two basic facilities, selectable from the cafeteria, restroom, employee dormitory, employee training room, and employee medical room.]
[Note: The cafeteria will not produce food out of thin air, nor will it provide free water. There is also no free chef. Please act according to your capabilities and do not recruit too many employees at once simply to complete the mission.]
Ling Zhao chuckled softly. “Just as expected.”
“Hmm? You’re not angry?”
“Why would I be angry?” Ling Zhao tilted her head. “Isn’t this a good thing?”
“No… I thought…” Sistrom stopped halfway and paused. “Never mind.”
“You thought I would complain that you don’t provide me with anything?” Ling Zhao rubbed her temples. “You don’t have an obligation to solve every single problem for me. Solving problems is my responsibility.”
“Hmm… I’ve heard systems serving other [data deleted] say that some hosts would demand that their systems solve every problem for them.”
That included, but wasn’t limited to, clean water, an unlimited and uninterrupted food supply, basic energy, and so on…
“Listen, Sistrom.” Ling Zhao said, “I will take responsibility for all of my employees. Naturally, that includes you. I will take responsibility for you too.”
“You bring up the problems. I’ll solve them.”
“Now… let’s first see whether my little employee can complete her first assignment.”
Ling Zhao smiled.
“As for this manpower… I’m determined to get it.”
Lingfeng Town was simply too close, practically blocking the southern side of the shelter.
The moment Ling Zhao learned the location of Lingfeng Town, she had already made her decision.
This was the southern gateway of Shelter 999. Since it had been built right outside her front door, then it had been prepared for her.
—At least, that’s what she said.
[But your little employee hasn’t come back yet.]
“Yeah… Let’s switch to the Type-I Sentry’s perspective. I want to take a look.”
Author’s Note:
I’ll get back to the merchant’s side after I finish writing this part.