Zuo Qingya tidied up the room, but there wasn't much to tidy up; a cleaning spell was all it took.

"It's still vacuum-sealed! I wonder if they sell furniture outside. I'll go check it out later."

After getting ready, Zuo Qingya followed the signs and found the market. She went inside and found it quite lively, but the people here weren't as energetic as those in Hope City.

Zuo Qingya was surprised to find nutrient solution for sale here. Looking at the packaging, she exclaimed, "Huh? Isn't this something I sell in my own shop? How come it's here?"

It's quite expensive here. She's buying junk, while others are buying crystal cores. A pack of 10 level 1 crystal cores is enough!

Zuo Qingya touched her chin, wondering if it was possible to open a branch here? There must be a lot of garbage around here, right?

Without hesitation, Zuo Qingya opened the shop. There was a plus sign next to the shop name. Zuo Qingya pressed it, and the number next to the shop name changed to two. Since she was in the city, the shop was naturally opened in the city as well.

The two shops share the same items; they both receive junk. As long as there is stock, they can be sold. If there is no stock, it will show "sold out," and Zuo Qingya can restock.

I wonder how Hope City is doing. More than half a year has passed. Before I left, Hope City had a small general store, so they shouldn't be starving. It should be much better than here. At least they don't have to worry about food. As long as they work hard, they can support themselves by picking up trash. Even a child can do that, right?

Zuo Qingya only needs to open the shop. She doesn't need to worry about finding a shop; the system will handle that. She also doesn't need to hire any staff. Since the shop is right there, the higher-ups will take care of everything. She's happy to have a leisurely life.

At night, a small general store suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the city. The name of the store was all too familiar. Whether it was the radio or people with superpowers or ordinary people who had been out and about, they had all heard about the small general store.

This little general store existed at the very beginning of the disaster, and most importantly, it was only in Hope City; it didn't exist anywhere else. I never expected that a little general store would appear here in Iron Fortress now.

They really only accept trash here. As long as you have trash and it weighs enough, you can exchange it for nutrient solution. It's much cheaper than the nutrient solution in other shops. There's trash everywhere, so as long as you're diligent, you won't starve.

Inside the steel fortress, a trash-collecting mode was activated. Within a single day, all the previously visible trash in the city was cleared away, and in an instant, the city became much cleaner and tidier.

Someone got greedy and wanted to take over the small general store, but before they could even make a move, they were immediately blacklisted and couldn't use anything in the store.

Having learned from past mistakes, no one had the same idea again. However, order in the city still needed to be maintained. The higher-ups discussed it and decided to manage the order outside the small grocery store in the same way as the City of Hope.

Zuo Qingya drank a packet of nutrient solution and then went out. Today he wanted to explore this steel fortress properly. He had just bought the necessities yesterday and returned home, so he hadn't had a chance to really explore it.

Zuo Qingya walked and came to a coffee shop. "Do they still have coffee?" she wondered. "There are so many people inside."

Just as Zuo Qingya was about to go in, she was stopped by a woman who was dressed very nicely, but had a sallow complexion and looked a bit malnourished. However, she had applied a lot of powder to her face, and Zuo Qingya felt that if she touched it, she might get a handful of powder on her hand.

How did Zuo Qingya notice her sallow complexion? Huh? Did she even need to look? Her neck and face look different.

"Go away, go away, don't let just any Tom, Dick, or Harry come in."

Huh??? Am I being discriminated against? I don't think I'm dressed that badly! I'm just covering myself up, is that why I'm being discriminated against?

"Huh??? Why won't you let me in?"

"Look at how shabby you are! Look at the people inside, are they dressed like you? Do you even have the right to come in?"

Zuo Qingya looked at her clothes and compared them to what was underneath. Hmm? They were indeed a bit tattered. Oh well, Zuo Qingya didn't want to cause trouble, so she turned and left.

The woman scoffed, "Country bumpkin."

"They really are looking down on people."

Zuo Qingya continued browsing and walked to a small general store. There was already a line of people there, and it looked very orderly. Zuo Qingya didn't stay long and followed the crowd out of the city to look for trash. After all, she was also a poor person and wanted to do as the locals do.

There were people everywhere outside, and small general stores were there. It felt like people were full of hope.

Zuo Qingya released Hu Zi after getting away from the crowd, and rode on Hu Zi's back into the deep forest.

He sighed, "Sigh... I wonder how Mom is doing. She's a fortune teller, she should be able to find me, right?"

Looking at the mango tree in front of him, at the fruit on the tree, he licked his lips and prayed, "Positive mutation, positive mutation, positive mutation."

I checked the fruit in the product listing and was quite disappointed; it wasn't a positively mutated plant.

"It's alright, there are so many mango trees here! Surely one of them is a positively mutated plant!"

Zuo Qingya, feeling discouraged after trying every tree, said, "I've always had good luck. Don't be afraid."

"What's going on? The mangoes here are all inedible. What a waste! It's such a pity."

From afar, Zuo Qingya spotted a jackfruit tree and her eyes lit up. "It feels like it's been so long since I've had jackfruit. I'm really craving it."

As Zuo Qingya approached the tree, something flew towards her, startling her. Fortunately, she was wearing the defensive robe given to her by Zuo Haijia, which saved her from the attack. The creature that attacked her was a tiny insect, so tiny that Zuo Qingya mistook it for a long, thin black worm, somewhat like the long black worm that crawls out of the belly of a dead mantis.

Zuo Qingya was attacked by these tiny black insects all over her body. They were so dense that anyone with trypophobia would definitely not be able to get out of here. Luckily, she was wearing a defensive robe, otherwise, being covered in insects would be terrifying to even think about.

Zuo Qingya conjured a fireball, intending to burn the insects to death, but to her utter surprise, the insects were not afraid of fire and even grew larger. Seeing this, Zuo Qingya's scalp tingled.

They had no choice but to give up on burning them. What kind of insects were these? They couldn't be burned with fire, nor could they be drowned with water. Zuo Qingya used all the spells she knew, but she still couldn't kill these insects.

Zuo Qingya released her defensive shield to keep the insects away. Only after they were a little further away did Zuo Qingya breathe a sigh of relief. Zuo Qingya wasn't afraid of insects, but there were just too many of them, which made her feel uneasy and gave her goosebumps.

Looking at the jackfruit in the distance and then at the insects on the ground, I felt a bit nauseous, and the thought of eating jackfruit was dispelled.

Let's get out of here quickly! These bugs are terrifying.