The family of four entered the base carrying their registration forms.
As they walked through the three-meter-long passage within the city wall, the siblings curiously looked around under the dim yellow lighting. Jiang Shu even reached out and knocked on the wall.
“What a strange material. It doesn’t seem like stone, steel, or iron.”
Jiang Zhi touched it as well. The wall was indeed smoother than ordinary stone.
“Maybe it’s made from the bones of some animal.”
Jiang Shu rolled his eyes at her.
“My dear sister, that’s giving me the creeps.”
If bones this large really existed, his fear of gigantic objects would be kicking in.
Jiang Shan had been a construction engineer before the catastrophe. His professional instincts took over as he examined the internal structure of the wall.
“A project like this would have taken quite a bit of time in the old days. But if it really was built from the modified bones of some giant animal, it would save a lot of time.”
What puzzled him was how the base leadership had managed to capture such an enormous mutated beast in the first place.
After entering the base, staff members conducted a simple decontamination procedure, issued them temporary residence permits, and then allowed them through.
Before leaving, Jiang Shan asked one of the staff members, “Comrade, is there a department that helps transport large items?”
“What kind of item are you transporting?”
“An off-road vehicle.”
The staff member gave the family another look, and his attitude immediately became much friendlier.
“Where is the vehicle parked?”
Jiang Shan briefly explained the location.
After listening, the staff member said, “Tomorrow morning, you can go to the Information Hall and ask members of the Exploration Team for help. As long as you’re willing to pay enough, they’ll do it.”
Beside him, Ye Qingyun shamelessly pressed for more information.
“Comrade, we’re new here and don’t understand much. Could you recommend someone in particular?”
The staff member replied, “Look for Captain Luo. His team is the strongest, and he’s a decent person too.”
Having obtained useful information, Ye Qingyun beamed.
“Thank you so much, Comrade!”
The staff member smiled as well.
“My name is Chen Li. When you go looking for Captain Luo, you can mention my name.”
Jiang Shan thought a little deeper than the others.
“Comrade Chen, is there something you’d like us to do for you in return?”
Jiang Shan didn’t like the idea of owing someone a favor for no reason. There was no guarantee they would be able to repay it later.
Chen Li, however, was very straightforward.
“Don’t worry. There’s nothing I need you to do. If you ever decide to sell your vehicle in the future, just give me first consideration.”
Ye Qingyun immediately felt a little awkward. That off-road vehicle was their family’s only significant private asset. Unless they were absolutely desperate, they had no intention of selling it.
“Sorry, Comrade Chen, we weren’t planning to—”
Before she could finish her refusal, Chen Li continued,
“Don’t be so quick to turn me down. It doesn’t matter if you don’t sell it. Let’s just consider it making a friend.”
“My wife works as a real estate agent in District D. She has access to internal pricing. If you need anything in the future, you can come find me.”
Jiang Shan and Ye Qingyun exchanged a glance before politely responding,
“That sounds great. Thank you in advance, Comrade Chen.”
Chen Li waved his hand dismissively and added another reminder.
“You arrived pretty late. The Information Hall is probably already closed by now. You can head to District D and register for a rental room first, then sort out the rest of your arrangements tomorrow.”
As soon as he heard that, Jiang Shan had already made up his mind.
He called out, “Qingyun.”
Having lived together for so many years, Ye Qingyun immediately understood what her husband was thinking.
She took out the insulated food bag from her hiking backpack.
“Comrade Chen, I was wondering if you’d be interested in buying some animal organs?”
The weather was hot, and they had arrived at the base late at night. If they waited until the next day to sell the organs, there was no telling whether they would still fetch a good price.
The moment Chen Li heard this, his expression visibly tightened.
He quickly glanced around. Seeing that no one was paying attention to them, he led the family into a corner.
“What kind of animal is it from?”
Being cautious, Ye Qingyun only took out the two kidneys that had tested as moderately toxic.
“They’re from a tusked rabbit. We tested them ourselves. Both are moderate-toxin level. If that bothers you—”
“Not at all!!” Chen Li interrupted loudly.
Noticing the strange looks from the family of four, he realized he had gotten a little too excited and coughed awkwardly.
“What I mean is, moderate-toxin organs are already quite good.”
His words were restrained, but his actions were anything but. Afraid that Ye Qingyun might change her mind, he immediately snatched the kidneys from the plastic bag.
A soft electronic voice sounded a moment later—
“Beep. Moderate toxin level. Recommended for limited consumption.”
Chen Li’s breathing became noticeably heavier.
The key point was that they were fresh.
He could still smell the fresh scent of blood coming from them.
“I-I’ll go get a scale!”
Without waiting for a response, he rushed into the office and began rummaging through drawers and cabinets.
Jiang Shu couldn’t help muttering quietly,
“Why does it feel like they’re even worse than me?”
Sure, he craved meat too, but at least he wasn’t this embarrassing.
Ye Qingyun smacked him.
“Shut up!”
A short while later, Chen Li came back carrying a small electronic scale.
The weight was about what they had estimated, three point two pounds in total.
Chen Li was grinning from ear to ear. His eyes had narrowed into slits, and there wasn’t a trace left of his earlier cold and aloof demeanor.
“Brother, the market price for meat is ninety points per pound, and organs go for eighty-five points per pound. I’ll give you ninety per pound.”
Now he’s already calling us “brother”?
Jiang Shu felt that his own skin simply wasn’t thick enough, certainly not as thick as this man’s.
Judging by the size of these kidneys, Chen Li’s eyes grew even brighter.
“The tusked rabbit you ran into must have weighed at least fifty or sixty pounds, right? Do you have any other parts left?”
Jiang Shan gave a wry smile.
“No. Out of the entire tusked rabbit, only the two kidneys were edible.”
Chen Li looked somewhat disappointed when he heard that, but being able to get two kidneys today already left him quite satisfied.
“Where did you run into it?”
“On the road.”
“On the road?” As soon as Jiang Shan said that, Chen Li’s gaze became even more enthusiastic. “Brother Jiang, don’t tell me you hunted it yourselves? Are you Evolvers?”
Seeing him fire off several questions in a row, Jiang Shan quickly denied it.
“No. We came to Ancheng Base with another group. Being able to kill that tusked rabbit was partly due to luck.”
The family all knew what Jiang Zhi was capable of, and they had no intention of revealing it.
Chen Li looked a little disappointed.
“Well, you were lucky. If you get any more meat in the future, you can come to me.”
Seeing that the Jiangs didn’t respond, Chen Li suddenly slapped his forehead.
“Look at me, I forgot you haven’t gotten your IDs yet.”
The “ID” he was referring to was actually the wristwatch detector.
Jiang Zhi raised her hand.
“Will this one work?”
Chen Li looked surprised.
“Where did you get that?”
Jiang Zhi replied, “I picked it up on the road.”
Chen Li glanced at it and gave a discreet warning.
“It’ll work, but you’d better find time to have the information registered to it canceled. Every six months, the base reclaims accounts that haven’t renewed their magnetic authorization. If you keep using it for too long, it could attract attention during an inspection.”
Jiang Zhi and the others immediately understood.
So this thing could only be used unofficially.
That made sense. If people could openly use abandoned wristwatches, it would probably encourage all sorts of crimes and make the base much harder to manage.
The family silently felt relieved.
Chen Li’s warning had come at just the right time. If they had carelessly used the device around the base, it could easily have caused trouble for them later.
Chen Li directly transferred 288 points to Jiang Zhi.
Including the points already on the detector, the balance now totaled 658 points.
That was enough to rent a low-cost apartment in the base for a month.
Jiang Zhi was delighted.
It felt great to earn money the moment they entered the base.
Jiang Shu, on the other hand, was fascinated by how the detector worked.
It was even more convenient than the QR-code systems of the old world. After selecting a recipient, all you had to do was tap two wristwatches together to transfer points.
“Director Chen, what happens if someone accidentally loses their detector? Wouldn’t anyone be able to spend the points inside?”
Chen Li was clearly pleased by Jiang Shu’s form of address. Smiling, he explained,
“They can’t. When you register your identity, you have to set a password and complete a scleral scan. Generally speaking, unless the owner unlocks it personally, nobody else can use it.”
“The fact that Miss Jiang was able to use that one is already incredibly lucky.”
The moment they heard that, the entire Jiang family turned in unison to look at Jiang Zhi.
Jiang Zhi wore an innocent expression.
“I told you all that I’ve had koi-level luck ever since the catastrophe [1] “koi-level luck”, incredibly good fortune, in Chinese internet culture the koi/锦鲤 is a symbol of a person who is impossibly, enviably lucky jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2742483_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2742483_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, but none of you believed me.”
Then they heard Chen Li continue,
“Oh, right. I live in the southern part of District D. If you ask around a few times, you’ll be able to find me. If you come across any good items in the future, feel free to bring them to me. We can always negotiate the price.”
Jiang Shan nodded in agreement.
With the transaction completed and both sides satisfied, the family of four stopped delaying and headed deeper into the base.
It was around seven or eight o’clock at night.
The entire base was brightly illuminated.
For a moment, they all felt as though they had stepped into another world.
Jiang Shu said, “Mom, hurry up and tell me, did I somehow travel back in time?”
The lights shining through the windows of the residential buildings were merely the yellow glow of tungsten bulbs from what looked like the seventies or eighties, nothing like the neon lights that existed before the catastrophe.
But after spending years at their small scenic-area settlement using nothing but candles and flashlights, seeing a functioning electrical grid again was enough to make anyone emotional.
For once, Ye Qingyun didn’t ridicule her silly son.
“Alright, alright. While the power’s still on, let’s hurry up and rent a room to rest in. We’ve got plenty to do tomorrow.”
The back of the registration form contained various base regulations.
One of them specified the electricity schedule: power was supplied from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. After 10:00 p.m., all areas except the clinic and guard stations would have their lights turned off.
Jiang Zhi glanced at the pitch-black entrance of the Information Hall.
A sign hanging above it read, “For Assistance, Contact the Duty Staff.”
An arrow beneath the words thoughtfully pointed toward the base store on the left.
Looking in that direction, Jiang Zhi saw a staff member sitting at a table outside the store, chatting casually with one of the sales clerks inside.
Jiang Zhi: …
It seemed that being a public employee at the base wasn’t a bad deal at all. A nine-to-five schedule was practically a dream.
After taking a quick look around, Jiang Zhi realized the base’s layout was far more impressive than she had imagined.
A main road extended directly from the city gate for about a kilometer before reaching the Information Hall.
The base store stood on the left.
On the right was a designated parking lot.
Beyond that, on both sides, were residential districts that looked much like apartment complexes.
Almost every building was only three stories tall, with roughly a dozen units on each floor.
From a distance, wisps of cooking smoke drifted through the air.
As the family walked past, they looked inside and found that the buildings’ interior layout was very similar to the dormitory-style apartments common in the seventies and eighties.
The corridors in the shared areas were crowded with cooking supplies. Every household had a stove and cookware set up outside their door. During meal preparation, oily smoke filled the hallways, and all sorts of smells mixed together before drifting outside.
The bathrooms were communal as well, and there were usually too few of them, meaning people often had to wait in line.
The buildings also had poor lighting and ventilation, making them feel dim and damp.
After observing for a while, Jiang Shan sighed.
“It seems that after the catastrophe, humanity’s standard of living has regressed by several decades.”
Ye Qingyun replied, “Being alive is already something to be grateful for. Once we settle down, we might not even have it as good as they do.”
Jiang Zhi pouted.
“Mom, why can’t you think a little more positively? Our family of four, no, once we find Grandpa, Grandma, and the others, our whole family, is definitely going to live well!”
Jiang Shu immediately chimed in.
“Exactly! I still want to live the kind of life where I can eat meat every day.”
A smile appeared on Ye Qingyun’s face.
“Alright, alright. Ah Zhi is right. As long as our family stays together, we’ll eventually have a good life.”
“Mom!” Jiang Shu protested. “You’re playing favorites again! You ignore me every single time!”
Laughing and chatting, the family paid 10 points to the duty staff and rented a temporary single-family room.
According to the staff member, several nearby residential buildings were designated as low-cost rentals. There were single rooms, double rooms, and even suite-style units suitable for larger families, all specifically provided for residents who couldn’t afford to buy homes.
Naturally, the prices varied as well, ranging from 5 to 50 points per day. Monthly rentals were more economical.
However, Jiang Shan and Ye Qingyun were still worried about the vehicle they had left outside the base. Since they had only just arrived and would need points for many things, the couple wanted to stretch every point as far as possible and had no intention of paying for a monthly lease.
Soon, the duty staff led them to a room at the far end of the second floor.
The room was only about twenty square meters in size.
It was completely bare. Aside from two wooden sleeping platforms on the floor, there was nothing else inside.
A yellow tungsten bulb hung from the wall, casting a warm yellow glow throughout the room.
“If you want to renew your rental, you need to go to the Information Hall and pay at least one hour in advance. Otherwise, our staff will clear out the room on schedule.”
After saying that, the staff member left.
Once he was gone, Jiang Shu couldn’t help grumbling,
“Why isn’t there anything here at all?”
Jiang Zhi crouched down to inspect the two wooden platforms.
They looked fairly clean and didn’t have any noticeable odor.
Seeing this, Jiang Shu seemed to realize something, and his expression changed slightly.
“Don’t tell me these two wooden boards are our beds?!”
Once the room was closed off from the view of other tenants, Ye Qingyun shot him a glare.
“It’s not like we’ve never slept in places worse than this. What, were you expecting to live like an emperor?”
Jiang Shu immediately shrank his neck.
His mother might look gentle and delicate, but her iron-palm technique was no joke.
“I was just saying. I thought conditions would be a little better after we got to the base. Who knew it’d be like th— Ow! Ow! Mom, take it easy! I haven’t gotten married yet! If you pull my ear off, where am I supposed to find you a daughter-in-law?!”
Ye Qingyun twisted even harder.
“I think you’re getting too comfortable. You can’t even keep yourself fed, and you’re already thinking about dragging some poor girl into it. Stop talking nonsense and hurry up and make the beds!”
Jiang Zhi immediately seized the opportunity and raised her hand.
“Mom, I’d like to request sleeping with you and Dad tonight. Let Brother sleep farther away. His snoring is way too loud.”
Jiang Shu laughed in exasperation.
“Why don’t you just have me sleep outside the door while you’re at it!”
Jiang Zhi blinked.
“…That’s not a bad idea.”
Jiang Shu indignantly turned to the other man in the Jiang family.
“Old man, you’re really just going to stand there and watch them bully me?! Since when has our family been run by the women?!”
While taking supplies out of his hiking backpack, Jiang Shan leisurely replied,
“This is a proud tradition of the Jiang family.”
The family laughed and joked together as though they had returned to the days before the catastrophe.
Working together, they quickly finished tidying up the room.
Each wooden sleeping board was only one meter wide, completely crushing Jiang Zhi’s hopes of sleeping separately.
In the end, they pushed the two boards together. The four of them could just barely fit by sleeping crosswise.
Jiang Shan moved the boards against the wall and spread a thin mattress over them. Their folded clothes were piled up to serve as pillows.
Meanwhile, Jiang Zhi took out a folding table and chairs and set them up.
Although they didn’t have much luggage, they lacked none of the essentials. Most of their supplies had originally been purchased before the catastrophe for family camping trips and road travel, but now they had become some of the family’s most treasured survival tools.
Jiang Shu placed a small pot and a camping stove frame by the window. After organizing the rest of the luggage, he looked at Ye Qingyun, who was taking inventory of their food supplies.
“Mom, what are we eating tonight?”
References[+]