“Indeed it’s expensive,” Jiang Zhi said. “But you can take loans like before. The condition is that able-bodied young adults in the family must sign up to do hard labor for the base’s infrastructure projects.”
Ye Qingyun clicked her tongue, those requirements were far too harsh.
Jiang Shu couldn’t help asking, “Ah Zhi, how many points can you repay per day by doing that kind of labor?”
Jiang Zhi was about to answer when Ye Qingyun immediately objected.
“No, no, absolutely not. What kind of hard labor? That sounds like ancient frontier exile. No one in our family is allowed to go. Worst case, we just keep living in the low-rent housing. Even if it’s not great here, it’s still better than our old outpost.”
Jiang Shan tried to calm her down.
“Don’t rush. It might not be a bad thing. Let’s go learn more about it tomorrow first.”
Ye Qingyun saw through his intentions immediately and said angrily,
“Jiang Dashan, don’t think I don’t know what you’re thinking. If you dare take Dashu to sign up, I’ll make sure you don’t have a wife anymore!”
She wasn’t afraid of hardship, but she was afraid the father and son would be assigned to construction work outside the city walls.
She had heard that Ancheng Base was constantly expanding outward.
She would rather live a slightly harder life than let them take that risk.
Jiang Shan quickly smiled to appease her.
“How could I? Without your approval as the head of the household, how would I dare act on my own?”
He then shot a look at their youngest daughter.
Jiang Zhi caught the signal and quickly smoothed things over.
“Mom, you know Dad, and you understand my brother even better. Do you really think he’s the type who can handle moving bricks?”
Jiang Shu was displeased.
“Ah Zhi, you’re really underestimating me, hey! Why are you pinching me?!”
Jiang Zhi glared at him and quickly changed the subject.
“Oh right, Dad, I remember our toolbox came with us, right?”
She had specially prepared it in the past in case their car broke down during their road trips.
“Yes, it’s in the backpack. Why?” Jiang Shan asked.
“My brother just bought a weapon. It’s high-toxin, so we need to process it.”
“Right, right, it does need processing.” Jiang Shu said, still oblivious to anything wrong in her wording, happily pulling out the bone staff. “Ah Zhi said this bone is very hard, better than the daggers we have. Dad, can you sharpen one end into a point for me?”
Jiang Shan put on gloves and examined it for a moment.
“It’s not difficult, just a bit time-consuming.”
He took out the toolbox and selected an electric grinder to start working.
The tool was solar-powered and had been a long-time “regular” in the Jiang family’s equipment.
Ye Qingyun stopped dwelling on the loan issue and, while cleaning up the dishes, asked,
“This doesn’t look that special. Are you sure it’s better than an iron rod? How many points did it cost?”
“Seventy,” Jiang Zhi replied.
A production cost of 50 meant she’d have to add at least another 20 to make any profit.
Then she heard her mother’s voice shoot up eight notches.
“What?! 70?!”
With a sharp slap, Ye Qingyun slammed down her bowl and chopsticks, then smacked Jiang Shu on the back of the head.
“Jiang Dashu, have you grown some guts now? You actually pressured your sister into buying this thing for you? Don’t you know what our situation is right now?!”
Jiang Shu yelped, “Mom! I didn’t ask her to buy it, it was Ah Zhi who bought it and gave it to me!”
Ye Qingyun sneered. “And you think I’m stupid enough to believe that?”
A flurry of sharp slaps followed, sounding painful just to hear. Ye Qingyun gritted her teeth. “If I ever find out you tricked your sister into buying things for you again, I’ll deal with you properly!”
Jiang Shu turned pleading eyes toward Jiang Zhi.
Jiang Zhi calmly looked away and pretended not to see.
Jiang Shu could only swallow the injustice in tears.
As the biggest “victim” of the Jiang family, he could not expose his beloved sister, but that 20-point margin from his labor still had to include his share.
The four of them bickered for a while. After the smell in the room faded, they each took a warm bath in the washroom before finally lying down on the wooden boards to rest.
By then, it was already nine in the evening.
The base switched off the power on schedule.
From their small window, they could faintly see the opposite buildings.
Many people were still lighting candles and continuing their nighttime activities.
The family didn’t plan to keep organizing things, each of them had tasks for the next day.
Two wooden boards were used as beds: Jiang Zhi and her mother shared one, while her father and brother shared the other. The parents lay in the middle area.
They didn’t have many belongings, but the twenty-square-meter room had already started to feel like home.
The rare calm of the night made Jiang Zhi think of the rest of the Jiang family.
“Dad… do you think Grandpa, Grandma, the uncles, and Suisui are still alive?”
Suisui was her cousin Jiang Jun’s son.
Eldest Uncle Jiang Hai and Aunt Wu Xiu had a son, Jiang Jun, their cousin. Before the disaster, Jiang Jun had married and had a son and a daughter, the elder, Jiang Sui, had been only six the last time they saw him.
When they were young, the siblings grew up with their cousin Jiang Jun, and their bond was almost like real siblings. Jiang Jun later divorced, and Jiang Zhi had even helped take care of the children for two years.
Jiang Shan opened his eyes after a long silence. After a moment, he said, “Your uncles are capable and dutiful. They’re definitely still alive.”
Jiang Zhi pursed her lips.
The next second, her hand was taken by Ye Qingyun.
“Ah Zhi, don’t think about it. Go to sleep early.”
Jiang Zhi knew this was her mother comforting her. She softly responded with an “mm” and closed her eyes.
Perhaps because too much had happened during the day, her body had reached its limit, and she quickly fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning at five, the sky was just beginning to brighten.
In recent years, the weather had been getting hotter, and midday temperatures could reach an astonishing sixty degrees Celsius.
Because of this, the base’s working hours were from five in the morning to ten, and then from four in the afternoon to seven in the evening.
When Jiang Zhi woke up, Jiang Shan had already gone out.
Ye Qingyun was preparing to start cooking.
Breakfast was leftover rice soup cooked with instant noodles.
The gap between the bed and the door had been stuffed with clothes by Ye Qingyun, and she had also sprayed deodorizing agent around the room.
Jiang Zhi rubbed her eyes. “Where’s Dad?”
“The Information Hall is already open. Your dad went to line up to collect the detection device, and also to ask that Captain Luo about things.”
Today, their family’s top priority was naturally to retrieve the off-road vehicle.
“Call your brother too. We still have a lot to do today,” Ye Qingyun said.
She didn’t even need to call him, just the smell of the instant noodles was enough to wake Jiang Shu’s appetite.
“Mom, we’re eating something this good today?”
For their family of four, even a single serving of instant noodles now counted as “good food.”
Ye Qingyun felt a bit bitter inside, but afraid the children would notice, she kept a stern face.
“Everyone has tasks today. Hurry up and get ready.”
The siblings got up and washed their faces using the clean water they had fetched the night before.
“I’ve already discussed it with your dad,” Ye Qingyun said while speaking. “We’ll go together to collect the detection devices first, then figure out how to arrange everything next.”
As she spoke, she divided the breakfast.
In fact, there wasn’t much, mostly just the leftover rice soup from yesterday.
Jiang Zhi couldn’t tell if it was her imagination, but ever since eating the meat porridge yesterday, her body felt noticeably lighter. Her mind was clearer too, as if she had endless strength. If she focused her attention, the terrain map in her mind could even cover a radius of five hundred meters around her.
What stood out most was that even after a full night had passed, she still felt a strong sense of fullness in her stomach.
But this oddity was only present in Jiang Zhi.
Ye Qingyun and Jiang Shu only felt noticeably full, otherwise, they were no different from usual.
At that moment, Jiang Shan returned from outside.
Ye Qingyun handed him a bowl of noodles. “Dashan, how was it? Did you ask?”
Jiang Shan handed out the identity detection devices he was holding to the others as he spoke. “We were lucky today. Captain Luo wasn’t out on a mission. He agreed to go with us to retrieve the car, but the payment is 2,000 points.”
Ye Qingyun was startled. “2,000 points?! We don’t have that much!”
Jiang Shan smiled. “I came back to discuss selling the car with you all.”
“I’ve thought it through. Ancheng Base seems quite safe for now. We can settle down here completely.”
“Our off-road vehicle is still in excellent condition, and the base is in need of this kind of resource. If we can successfully bring it back, selling it should not only cover the 2,000 points, but likely even be enough for us to buy a plot of land.”
Jiang Shu felt a pang of reluctance. “Do we really have to sell it? Can’t we use it ourselves? Maybe we’ll find Grandpa, Grandma, and the uncles today. If they already have land and a house, wouldn’t buying one now be a waste?”
In Jiang Shu’s memory, their family’s uncles, especially Eldest Uncle and Second Uncle, both technical experts, wouldn’t have ended up in too bad a situation.
Jiang Zhi pouted. “Even if we don’t sell it, once the car is brought back, we might not be able to keep it anyway.”
That was indeed the main reason Jiang Shan intended to sell it.
A vehicle wasn’t a small item. Once it was brought back to the base, their family would immediately become a target.
Jiang Shan smiled. “Exactly. Selling it is what maximizes our benefit. Of course, that’s assuming we can safely bring the car back.”
Ye Qingyun asked, “So you’re planning to sell it to that Chen Li?”
“I asked around. The price he offers is fair. He’s a good trading partner.”
Jiang Zhi was curious. “How can he afford something so expensive as our car?”
Jiang Shan explained, “His older cousin is an Evolver and part of an Exploration Team. They have a large group of people and happen to be short on transportation.”
What’s more, their vehicle was an off-road model, easier to modify, otherwise it wouldn’t fetch such a high price.
Jiang Zhi understood. It seemed Chen Li was also a kind of middleman.
The family ate breakfast while binding the detection devices to their wrists.
The device was very convenient, only requiring iris and fingerprint registration for activation.
Jiang Zhi transferred the points from the picked-up detection device to Ye Qingyun.
A total of 460 points.
Ye Qingyun was skeptical. “Are you sure that’s all of it?”
Jiang Zhi remained expressionless as she handed over the picked-up device. “Then Mom, you can check it yourself.”
Her calm, open demeanor made Ye Qingyun drop her suspicion. “Alright, I’ll trust you.”
Seeing the second-hand detection device, Jiang Shan still felt uneasy. “Ah Zhi, later make sure you delete the account bound to this picked-up device. If it gets traced later, it’ll be troublesome.”
Jiang Zhi nodded.
After deciding to sell the car, the family quickly assigned their tasks for the day.
Ye Qingyun and Jiang Zhi would stay in the base to gather information and also look for members of the Jiang family.
Jiang Shan would take the Exploration Team’s Evolver with him to retrieve the vehicle.
As the only able-bodied man left at home, Jiang Shu was assigned to guard the rented room.
He wanted to object, but Jiang Zhi quickly spoke up first. “Brother, without Dad at home, you’re the pillar of our family. If anything gets stolen, only you can hold the fort.”
Their belongings weren’t few, just their full set of camping equipment alone was worth a significant number of points.
Hearing this, Jiang Shu felt it made sense and reluctantly agreed. “Alright then.”
This family really couldn’t function without him.
After the discussion, each of them set off.
Before leaving, Jiang Shu handed Jiang Shan the bone staff. “Dad, help me test this new weapon.”
The previous night, Jiang Shan had ground one end of the bone staff into a sharp cone. It wasn’t razor-sharp due to its hardness and was still unfinished, but once he put on gloves, it was already more practical than a short dagger.
Jiang Shan understood his son’s intention and chuckled, half-scolding him: “You little brat.”
After Jiang Shan left, Ye Qingyun and Jiang Zhi also went out.
Before leaving, Ye Qingyun reminded her son, “Stay at home. If you have time, fix the broken items. Contact us directly if anything happens.”
The detection device also had a very important function, it could be used as a communication tool within the base.
Before the disaster, Jiang Shu had studied mechanical repair, which, in this “make-do-and-mend” wasteland era, turned out to be quite useful.
He responded listlessly.
At that moment, when Ye Qingyun wasn’t looking, Jiang Zhi quietly transferred 10 points to Jiang Shu.
Then she leaned in and whispered, “I’ll come pick you up later.”
Jiang Shu immediately brightened up, giving her an approving “you’re on point” look.