Stirring Things Up in the Wasteland 244

Chapter 244

Before the Corpse Slayers had appeared, the major bases had not conducted full-body inspections. But now they had to. It was necessary to ensure that those entering the base were safe and healthy.

This was also for the responsibility of the survivors inside the base.

It was just a matter of whether it was strict or not. In this respect, the large bases and the small bases were also very different.

Normally, when a newcomer arrived at a new base, they had to pay an entry fee. And for the old-timers, when they entered and left the base, they had to hand over one-third of their income in supplies.

Anyone, needed to.

These supplies had to be registered and paid for when entering the gate. If you didn’t have them and wanted to get through, if you weren’t caught, then so be it. But once you were, not only would all your supplies be confiscated, but once it had accumulated to a certain number of times, you would be expelled from the base.

This rule seemed inhumane, and indeed, it was quite inhumane. But this was all to ensure the basic food and drink of the ordinary human survivors.

Otherwise, what would happen to these ordinary survivors who had no ability to go out and hunt mutated animals and plants?

Without food to eat or drink, were they to wait for death?

The base was responsible for the minimum guarantee, but compared to the number of ability users, the number of ordinary people was still much larger. The base could not afford to support so many people for a long time.

So there was no other way. They could only do this.

It was not certain whether the small bases had this rule, after all, they were all private. But the large bases had been like this for several years.

Song Xun and her group also understood, but they were newcomers, so they naturally didn’t have to worry about this rule. In a large base with strict management, although there were many private matters, basically no one had the guts to cheat the system here.

Each gender had its own people to check. It took some time, and when everyone was done, the gate opened, and the group was let into the base.

As far as the eye could see, a straight bluestone road led to the distance. Looking up, you could still see a series of small buildings extending to the end of the field of vision. And at the entrance, on both sides of the road were rows of temporary shacks. These shacks were all built with the roots of various trees and other things, and they were densely packed together.

They were separated by curtains, one by one, with no doors, no windows, and no tables, chairs, or stools. It was just in time for dinner, and the survivors were in ragged clothes, a mess, just like primitive people, sitting on the ground, either alone or in groups of two or three, eating.

They were all eating tree cakes, a cake made from a kind of “mutated white tree” ground into flour. It was relatively coarse, but the quantity was large. It was the most common source of food after the apocalypse, besides meat patties.

There were many survivors here. They were running around, and the clamor was endless. Looking over, their faces were either filled with hostility or numbness.

Violent hostility.

Desperate numbness.

“Isn’t this a bit too chaotic?”

Ji Jinyu frowned. She had grown up on Ning Mountain since she was a child. Although she still had memories of the first base, she had been there for too short a time.

But in her memory, it didn’t seem to be this chaotic.

But this scene was already the norm for the others, even Zang Huairu.

“These are all ordinary survivors without abilities.”

Shi Tou said, and Ji Jinyu was silent.

Ordinary survivors without abilities were the bottom of the society in the apocalypse. Although the major bases also had policies to protect them, what they protected was only their most basic right to live.

How do you live?

Good or not?

That was not something they could consider.

But this matter could not be blamed on the base. After all, compared to the ability users, the majority of the survivors were still ordinary people. If they were to consider these matters every day, then they would not be able to do anything else.

“Let’s go in. Let’s not stay here.”

Xia Jin beckoned to Zhao Ji and the others. “Let’s go and find the mission hall.”

Of course, they had to find a house to live in here.

Although with their identity, if they were to go and find the base leader of the Xifeng City base, Han Wangshan, there would definitely be preferential treatment, but they didn’t want to do that.

For one, they didn’t have much of a deep friendship. And for another, the news that Ningcheng had grain had already spread. If he found out and didn’t break the casserole and ask to the end, and then didn’t join, and just wanted to be a fisherman, that would be a real headache.

Zhao Ji and the others nodded and were about to go and ask for directions, but Song Xun called out to them. “Come with me. Let’s go and see the mission hall first.”

“You’ve been here before?” Xia Jin asked in surprise.

Song Xun thought for a moment. “I guess so.”

After all, she had lived here for so many years in her past life. Although it had been a long time since the apocalypse, and her memories of so many years had already become a little blurry, returning to her old haunts had awakened her blurry memories.

Although Song Xun didn’t know if the mission hall had moved or not, thinking about it, it probably hadn’t.

The group walked on the main road of the base, which was bustling with people. The people on the road saw them, each of them dressed cleanly and neatly, with a hiking backpack on their backs. Just from imagining it, it was full of all kinds of supplies. But the discerning would take the initiative to avoid them and not dare to provoke them, just staring at them with envious and eager eyes.

Song Xun’s group had seen this kind of gaze too many times and didn’t have much of a change. They just continued on their way.

Don’t think they are friendly. If it weren’t for the fact that there were many of them, and they all looked like they were not to be trifled with, even the bags on their backs might have been pounced on by these greedy people.

Only strong strength can make people revere. If your strength is weak, you will inevitably be oppressed.

The apocalypse, this is an era where the weak are the prey of the strong.

For example, while Song Xun’s group was walking in front, Zang Huairu was walking slowly and had fallen behind.

And so she had also successfully become the target of these people. Although she wasn’t carrying a bag, she was good-looking, and she was weak. At a glance, she was a soft persimmon.

In an instant, seven or eight people, a dozen or so hands, all reached out at the same time. Zang Huairu was startled, and with a stumble, she fell to the ground, and she let out a cry.

Ji Jinyu had actually forgotten about the person behind her. She was looking left and right, like an restless monkey in a zoo. But suddenly hearing the sound behind her, she was in a daze for a moment and then immediately reacted.

She quickly turned and ran.

“Stop! What are you doing?”

She was so angry she was about to explode. Her hands were not polite either. With a raise of her palm, her level seven mental power was directly activated, and in a second, she had sent the seven or eight people who had rushed at Zang Huairu flying.

She was so angry, she didn’t show any mercy.

In two or three steps, she ran to Zang Huairu, who had fallen to the ground, and helped her up. “How are you? Are you okay?”

Zang Huairu had no strength in her body. She was helped up and bit her pale lip, looking at her. She shook her head and said in a low voice, “It’s fine.”

She was wronged in her heart.

After all, this person had been very concerned about her on the car, but…

They had nothing to do with each other. What right did she have to ask Ji Jinyu, to condemn her?

None. So she could only be silent.

And besides, this person was just a child.

Ji Jinyu was big-hearted and didn’t understand Zang Huairu’s thoughts at all. Seeing that she was fine, she was relieved. She let go of her and pulled her wrist forward.

Song Xun and the others were waiting in front. Although they didn’t say anything, in Zang Huairu’s eyes, those gazes were like needles, and it was very uncomfortable.

By the time she had gotten close, she quickly broke free of Ji Jinyu’s hand and nodded and apologized. “I’m sorry. I was walking too slowly. I’ve held everyone up.”

Song Xun nodded faintly, didn’t speak, and turned to lead the people away.

In reality, they didn’t care about her. Zang Huairu was very self-aware. It was only for Ji Jinyu’s sake.

Now that they had arrived at the official base, did she want to stay here?

This thought suddenly came to Zang Huairu’s mind.

“Let’s go. What are you thinking about?”

This time, Ji Jinyu slowed her steps a little and was by her side.

Zang Huairu immediately came to her senses and followed. As for the thought that had just come up…

We’ll talk about that later.

After the shack area, on the left of the main road, private houses and small buildings gradually appeared. They were basically five or six stories, and the security here was much better. And the people who lived here were mostly ability users, as well as researchers, base staff, and so on.

And on the right were neat and uniform large household buildings, few, but with patrolling guards. Here was the base’s mission area, canteen, exchange area, and some other official institutions.

It seemed not much had changed.

Song Xun looked up at the scene, and the group followed the crowd in. The layout of the Xifeng City administrative hall was more or less the same as that of the first base. The only difference was probably the various facilities inside.

And the general process was also more or less the same. You exchanged based on points, and everything depended on points.

To get points was simple. Any supplies, including but not limited to various crystal cores and spirit stones, could be exchanged for points. The points varied depending on the type and purpose.

There was nothing much to say about this. It was basically the same everywhere.

But looking at the exchange points details posted on the pillar of the hall, and calculating, Song Xun and the others took out enough crystal cores to exchange. As for grain, forget it. This thing was more eye-catching than crystal cores.

They didn’t want to attract attention.

The points exchange was done. The base clerk found the rental houses and said with regret that there were no adjacent ones, so they had to live separately.

“Then let’s have a separate two-story small building. Are there any empty ones?”

Song Xun spoke, and the clerk was taken aback for a moment, but he quickly reacted. At any time, there would be no shortage of wealthy people. This was also very normal.

“There are.”

The clerk flipped through the records. “But your points are not enough. You’re still short by a factor of one.”

“Then let’s go and exchange again.”

Song Xun nodded and called for Shi Tou to take his men and exchange points again. The price of a two-story independent small building was indeed higher than an ordinary room.

This was also normal.

Shi Tou hurried to take his men and went again. But because there were a few more people, they had to wait for a while before they came back. The points were enough, and they had also left a deposit before they got the key. They had rented for a total of three days.

Three days later, they would come back with the key to get their deposit back. If they didn’t come, and if it was past noon, the base would forcibly ask them to check out, and the deposit would not be returned.

The time was calculated from the moment they got the key.

After finishing the rental procedures, just as the group had left, someone immediately came over. It was a survivor who was doing this for a living, and they came over to volunteer as a guide.

But Song Xun refused.

There was no need for that. They also didn’t need one.

It would just be a waste of a little time to find it. They would just treat it as a walk. Anyway, they knew the general direction.

And so, by the time the group had turned and twisted and had stopped in front of a two-story small villa and had confirmed that this was the address, about half an hour had passed.

Song Xun opened the door, and before she could even go in, she heard the base’s universal loudspeaker ring. “It’s twelve o’clock noon. It’s lunchtime. All survivors, please go to the first canteen to get your food as soon as possible.”

The loud voice repeated three times before it stopped.

“There’s still a loudspeaker here.”

Ji Jinyu pinched her ears and complained, “Isn’t that a bit too sudden?”

The eternal day had no concept of time, and it would not get dark. To remind everyone of the time like this was the right thing to do. In fact, Ningcheng would also do this.

But they didn’t use a loudspeaker, but rather a timer clock that Old Gu and the others had invented. And with the increasing popularity of mobile phones, and with a signal, even a clock might not be needed in the end.

With the three sounds, you could clearly feel the entire base boiling up, especially the ordinary survivors in the shack area.

But that was also to be expected. It was time to eat, so of course they were enthusiastic.

If you’re not enthusiastic about eating, there’s something wrong with your thinking.

Song Xun knew that the Xifeng City base had two canteens. The first was a public canteen for the survivors, and the second was a special canteen for the base staff, managers, and the bigwigs with plenty of points.

Although the required points were high, the things were also worth the price.

Song Xun suddenly turned her head. “Do you want to go to the canteen and see?”

The others looked at each other, and then one by one, they also became interested. Although they knew that there wouldn’t be anything delicious in the base canteen, they were curious.

“Sure, Mommy. I want to go.”

The usually restless, fun-loving Ji Jinyu was the first to raise her hand, and the others also all agreed.

And so it was happily decided.

Ji Jinyu suddenly seemed to have remembered something. She turned to look at Zang Huairu. “Then you shouldn’t go.”

Zang Huairu nodded and didn’t express any opinion.

Ji Jinyu pushed open the locked door. “Mommy, you guys go ahead. I’ll go and settle her in first.”

“It’s fine. Let’s go together.”

Anyway, it wasn’t a big difference in time.

Ji Jinyu didn’t waste any words and took Zang Huairu in. She didn’t carefully look at the decorations in the room but directly put her own backpack next to her. “There’s water and food inside. You can make do for now.”

After speaking, without waiting for the person to speak, she rushed out.

Zang Huairu wasn’t surprised. She had long gotten used to Ji Jinyu’s windy, fiery, and childish nature.

Although the backpack only contained some simple food, and not much, it wasn’t a make-do. At least for Zang Huairu, this was already a very good meal.

Just as she didn’t know why Song Xun’s group had such good food, but very wisely, she didn’t ask, and she wouldn’t ask.

Some things were not for her to inquire about. Zang Huairu was very self-aware.

Song Xun’s group quickly arrived at the second canteen. You also needed points to eat here.

They still had some left after renting a house. It should be enough. It didn’t matter if it wasn’t. They would just go back and eat. They had just come here to see, and they weren’t expecting to get full.

How to put it? There weren’t many kinds of things in the second canteen. Basically, other than the meat of mutated animals, it was just the trunks and leaves of mutated plants and other food. Not to mention whether the taste was good or bad, just looking at it made one lose their appetite.

Of course, this was just them. In the eyes of others, this was already very good.

After wandering around for a while, they got some plain cakes and meat soup, and also a few steamed buns made of three-flour mix. The so-called three-flour mix was not white flour or millet flour, but also a kind of mutated plant. It was ground into flour and could be eaten.

Although it didn’t taste very good.

Ji Jinyu barely ate half of it and couldn’t eat anymore. But Song Xun and the others were not picky. Not to say they ate very well, but at least their faces were expressionless.

“Mommy, this is so unpalatable. You guys can really eat it.”

Song Xun smiled and swallowed the steamed bun in her mouth, feeling the hard feeling that pulled at her throat. “When I was hungry before, I could even eat insects raw. What do you think?”

Ji Jinyu scratched her head, unable to imagine.

“You’ve just been protected too well by your Mommy.”

Xia Jin shook her head. “In this day and age, it’s good enough to have food to eat and to be alive. Who cares what you eat? As long as you don’t die, it’s fine.”

The others also spoke up one after another.

Ji Jinyu sighed. Alright, she was indeed spoiled. She admitted it. But there was no other way. Who told her she had a capable mother?

You can’t just eat something bitter for no reason, right?

The second canteen didn’t provide much food. Even if Song Xun’s group had points, the staff limited the food. If they didn’t buy it, there was nothing they could do.

After eating, they went back.

When they passed by the first canteen, Ji Jinyu curiously went in to take a look. The food was not as good as the second canteen.

By the time they returned to the small two-story building, Zang Huairu had also just finished eating. The backpack also contained steamed buns and flower rolls, but they were made of white flour, and the texture was definitely better than the tree flour.

Not to mention they were also sweetened.

The eternal day was also hot, so there was no need for extra heating.

Ji Jinyu sat down on a chair with a thud and reached out to take an apple, wiped it, and then gnawed on it. She wasn’t full, but she wasn’t particularly hungry either.

Song Xun glanced at her. “After such a long journey, you must all be tired. Go and rest for a bit. We’ll go and see the market here later. Who’s going?”

Ji Jinyu’s eyes immediately lit up. She bit into her apple and raised her hand with a “crack.” “Me, me, me! I’m going.”

She loved a lively scene all her life.