After leaving the ration store, Jiang Ling went straight home without turning. The territory she had explored before the war was only the first floor, and she was not very familiar with the second floor and below.

Even if she wanted to go to places where private transactions were conducted in a gray area, she would have to find someone who knew the business to accompany her. Otherwise, she would become a lamb to be slaughtered and would be cheated out of all her money no matter how much she had.

If you ask if there's anyone in the family who's well-informed, there's probably one. Jiang Ling plans to explore her mother's network; she thinks one of her colleagues might know someone who knows reliable businesspeople.

Her outing didn't actually take long. When she returned home, the strange couple was still blowing bubbles in bed. "The terminal's been taken care of. Now we have two options: one is to find a chance to sneak out to the outside world and test the power of the weapons, and the other is to find a chance to visit those illegal markets." Jiang Ling realized that the end result of both steps seemed to be to discover the value of the weapons she had, but they were just different paths to the same end.

"Going outside to test its power directly requires some preparation, like getting a protective suit and gathering information on mutants. Li Wenjia said A-level access would be more convenient, but I don't have any points. As for going the merchant route, building relationships would take a lot of time, and would I really be able to communicate well with others?" Everything starts out difficult, then gets even harder, and finally becomes incredibly difficult. Jiang Ling decided to take it one step at a time. Everything here was new to her, and taking in too much information at once would overwhelm her.

After returning to the room, Jiang Ling first sorted out the weapon boxes and ammunition boxes piled on the floor. Then she opened a can of "Green Claw" drink and began to check the terminal.

It's the same as Jiang Wenwen's, the only difference being the color; hers is the Asuka color scheme. It's shaped like an 8cm x 16cm x 4cm brick, with a perfectly fitted surface. Aside from the display and the cover for the pass, it looks like a single piece. Perhaps the cover is printed. The buttons appear to be touch-sensitive, with a border and small text sprayed on the edges.

As mentioned before, this model of terminal doesn't have a touchscreen. Jiang Ling read in the instructions in the box that the original designers had chosen a relatively safe approach to make it resistant to electromagnetic pulses and radiation. In other words, the fact that so many functions could be integrated into this heavy shell was truly an excellent design.

Jiang Ling inserted her pass into the terminal's card slot, and the screen immediately lit up. She recognized the first two logos: the national emblem and the Baoli (Defense Divine Beast, those who know know) Group. She had no idea what the others were. Some looked like military insignia, but they were very different from the ones she was familiar with.

After waiting for several dozen seconds, the screen froze to a single interface displaying the time, battery level, weather, and ambient radiation levels. Following the instructions in the manual, Jiang Ling pressed a spot on the side, and the display instantly shifted to several sections. The initial sections were: Communication, Email, Maps, Weather, Network, Transactions, System, and Photography. These included almost all common functions, but the usual entertainment apps were missing.

"The battery is at 20 percent. Let's charge it first!" She couldn't find any socket on the terminal, so she could only plug it into a dedicated charger. There was only one socket in her room, so she moved the desk lamp away and replaced it with the terminal.

The time that followed became meaningless. Ever since Jiang Ling came to the underground world, her perception of time has been in chaos. Her physical strength was too good. If there was no distinction between day and night, then time would not exist for her. Perhaps a day for others was equivalent to an hour for her? After leaving the terminal, she felt different again. She was a little scared, afraid that others would go through the endless cycle of life, old age, sickness and death, while she could only witness it. This made her feel like she was seeing flowers in the fog, as if there was some kind of barrier between her and the world. She was on this side, and they were on the other side. Sleeping for a month was fine, but what if it was a thousand years?

Once again, she recalled her previous need—a watch that would constantly remind her of the time. It wasn't that she was pressed for time; she simply wanted to feel the passage of time. She needed to establish some rules for herself, otherwise, she would be misled by her own body and become neither human nor ghostly.

"Ding!" The terminal on the desk beeped, interrupting Jiang Ling's brainstorming. She glanced at the screen, which displayed an email. Only then did she realize the terminal's battery was fully charged.

"Hi! Did you miss me? This is my message for you. When you receive it, you must have got your own terminal, right? Because this email is sent on a scheduled basis! Um, actually, I want you to do me two favors! I buried the old, uh, damaged exoskeleton you saw in the old place. If you are on your way, you'd better go and have a look. Ahem, there is another one. There is a young lady pursuing me. I don't know to what extent she likes me. What should I say? If possible, please help me reject her! You also know what I do. She and I are not suitable. Her name is Song Qiaoying, and she lives in Room 303, Building 3, Row 4, District 2. Well, bye~"

"Ah, this guy's so friendly?" Jiang Ling immediately recognized it as an email from Li Wenjia. Only he would throw a few difficult tasks at you with just one sentence, and she didn't really have many close friends to chat with. Since this guy had helped her so much, Jiang Ling reluctantly added the two tasks to her plan.

Just as she was about to use the terminal to download some offline maps, she heard rustling outside the door. Huang Yun and the others must have woken up. She checked the time on the terminal, casually tucked the device into her waist, opened the door, and greeted them: "Mom and Dad, good afternoon!"

"Ah, are you awake already?"

"Good morning!" Jiang Wenwen yawned, stretched and let out a strange cry.

"Is there something wrong with you?" Huang Yun quickly felt that Jiang Ling was a little abnormal. If it were in the past, she should have closed the door immediately.

"Well, does any of your colleagues know any knowledgeable businessman?" Jiang Ling said this in a coquettish voice that she had never used before, which made Huang Yun frown.

"Speak properly and don't do this again! Let me think, there seem to be a few. Wait, what are you going to do?" She suddenly grasped the point.

"No, nothing, I just want to understand the market situation."

"If you want to do business, let me give you some advice!" Jiang Wenwen seemed interested.

"You?! Forget it, don't lead my child astray." Huang Yun immediately pushed Jiang Wenwen away. She knew that this guy could not do business.

"I'm not doing business. I want to check out the market first. I want to find someone reliable to accompany me!"

"Is that so? Then I, a colleague, can do it. I'll ask for you first. Don't run around!"