"This place is awful!"
A woman in her forties looked disdainfully at the city outside the balcony after nightfall, then drew the curtains.
The living room had dim lights, and the entire house was covered with sand brick flooring, which, although neat, was of a rough texture.
The electrical wires were all exposed on the outside of the walls. Her family had only moved in a few days ago, and their living experience was really not good.
The few decorative touches were the soft furnishings moved from their home in Zone 1: a genuine leather sofa, two plush rugs, and a precious wooden coffee table where the whole family ate dinner every evening.
After the door opened, a middle-aged man took off his coat and placed it on the ornament hanging on the door.
"Why are you only getting back now?" The woman was setting out food on the coffee table.
The aluminum plates were exquisitely crafted, and the spoons and chopsticks were made of stainless steel. The only exception was the man's chopsticks, which were white, as if they were made from the fangs of some wild beast.
A teenage girl came out of the next room and sat on the sofa, looking bored.
"I'm very busy with a big meeting today."
"Didn't you not go?"
"I didn't go, but I was assigned more tasks."
The woman sighed and handed a damp towel to the man so he could wipe his face.
"Sit down and eat."
"Um."
Zhou Qing sighed helplessly, walked over and sat down. His daughter, Zhou Yue, frowned and asked, "Dad, when are we going back?"
Zhou Qing glared at her: "Go back for what? You'll be living here from now on."
"Huh?! I don't want to!"
The daughter was clearly still in her rebellious phase; upon hearing this, she immediately put on a stern face.
"Eat your food! Be quiet, your father is already very tired!" the woman scolded.
Zhou Yue got up angrily and ran back to her room, slamming the door shut.
The woman shook her head: "Never mind her, let's eat first. She'll come out and eat when she's hungry."
Zhou Qing nodded, scooped up a spoonful of the hot, thick paste, hesitated for a moment, and then swallowed it.
The woman said, "This stuff really doesn't taste very good, but the grain and oil store doesn't have any rice to sell, so this is all they have."
"Yes, as long as I can eat my fill, that's fine."
Besides the handmade paste, there are also vegetables and meat. The only seasonings are salt, sugar, and vinegar. Unlike the inner city walls, you can't buy pepper, soy sauce, or even chili sauce and jam here.
The flavor was so bland that it made one want to vomit.
Sugar is a syrup obtained by converting starch.
Vinegar is produced in the black market. It is made by first converting liquid carbohydrates into alcohol, and then using biological enzymes to synthesize acetic acid and water with oxygen, which is a process of further oxidizing alcohol.
Even so, this vinegar is noticeably different from the vinegar in the first district, and it doesn't taste very good.
After all, the vinegar in the first district is made from natural grains through fermentation.
But it's enough as a seasoning.
As for salt... including Sandcastle, most of the surrounding cities rely on 'Lingbi No. 2 Salt Lake' to produce salt, which is managed by a few extraordinary bigwigs and supplied to the surrounding cities.
That's right, salt is a monopolized commodity in Lingbi City.
The salt lakes in the desert are all the property of Lingbi City.
As the woman served him food, she asked, "I've never understood why you moved here. Couldn't you have worked just as well in the first district?"
“It’s different. When Elder Jiang was still alive, we were able to have a place in the First District thanks to his protection. Now… we’ve been given away as a gift to that extraordinary lord. We moved here to put his mind at ease, and also to be closer to him for easier supervision.”
"Regulation? You're the only scholar in Sandcastle, why aren't they giving you any courtesy at all?"
"If I were just a craftsman, that would be one thing, but what can I do? I'm a biochemist."
The woman asked worriedly, "Can't we just leave?"
Zhou Qing rolled his eyes at her: "With my family in tow, how could I possibly leave?"
The woman sighed.
In fact, Zhou Qing usually doesn't talk to his family about work-related matters, especially the research projects related to human biochemical experiments, which he has to keep confidential.
However, after moving to the Black Street Ring District, the supply of living materials has decreased significantly.
I heard that from now on, only the most vicious prisoners and enemies from foreign forces will be brought in for him to study.
With more corpses available, there's naturally less living material.
For Zhou Qing, this was of course irrelevant.
He's just trying to make a living... he doesn't have many ambitions.
He just remembered that before the incident, he had the research lab destroy the materials for 'Project Zero', and he wondered if they had discovered them.
Zhou Qing still remembered all those materials and information, but he couldn't do it anymore because Jiang Tianshu was dead, and the only people who knew about it were the two of them.
Zhou Qing has been feeling very uneasy lately.
He didn't know whether he should tell that extraordinary man about it.
He doesn't want so much work. The current workload is just right. He can come home every night to reunite with his family, unlike before when he would spend dozens or even hundreds of hours in the research lab.
As for courtesy, it was indeed given.
The apartment building where Zhou Qing and his family live has an excellent location and environment.
However, the best dwellings outside the city walls were like this: no floors or stone bricks, and no furniture whatsoever.
"This is already pretty good. Be content. Do your best to talk to Xiaoyue these next few days. Before the reforms, 40% of the Black Street population lived in shacks. Now they've all moved to the surrounding area, and there are more houses, but most people don't have furniture or electricity. We can at least have hot water, so that's good enough."
The woman frowned and said, "She doesn't dare to step out of the house every day now. I'm afraid she'll be kidnapped. Besides, you can run into prostitutes every few steps on these streets. The environment is so bad. How do you tell me how to keep her from working?"
Actually, she was wrong.
It is precisely because this place has the best conditions and is the most prosperous that there are so many prostitutes...
That's the unique feature of the Black Street.
However, this family of three from the first district of the inner city wall couldn't quite understand why this was happening.
Zhou Qing, somewhat impatient, said decisively, "The matter is settled, and nothing can be changed no matter what!"
"You only know how to criticize me. Then go and talk to Xiaoyue." The woman's eyes were moist and slightly red, and she couldn't help but feel aggrieved.
"Sigh, I'll talk to her about it tonight."
While we were eating, there was a sudden knock on the door.
The couple stopped eating at the same time, looked at each other, and Zhou Qing said in a low voice, "Don't say anything."
He got up, went over and opened the door.
Three or five burly men stood outside, holding iron-pipe guns, looking fierce and menacing. They stood beside the semi-open stairwell, surrounding two people. One of them was the current administrative director, Shan Shu, who had a smile on his face, was wearing fine knitted clothes, and looked kind. He said, "Director Zhou, the master wants to see you."
Zhou Qing was taken aback and looked at the young man. His eyes were azure and deep, and he stood in front of the gerbil with his hands clasped over his abdomen.
It was Qin Che.
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