(Note: From now on, the character names will be based on the pass. If there are any aliases or self-proclaimed names, they will be specially marked.)
Jiang Ling and his group are now on the ground floor. Although it is the ground, it is actually covered by some things. If they really run up there, they will find nothing.
The crowd paused, then continued forward. A loudspeaker blared from the front: "Attention, citizens! Our station has exceeded its capacity. Please comply with the transfer!"
"What is adjustment?" Jiang Ling heard someone in front ask the staff nearby.
"The rooms on the second floor have been allocated, so you have to stay in the tents on the first floor. When the road is open, you will be able to be assigned to a larger site."
“When will it be open to traffic?”
"After the war!"
The crowd ahead was in an uproar; many were still terrified of death. The underground level's nuclear defenses were slightly inferior to those of the second level, but for Jiang Ling, the difference wasn't that significant. Given the station's defenses, if it were directly hit by a nuclear bomb, few would survive. And if they were hit by a burrowing missile, well ...
The riot was quickly quelled. Future possibilities are always inferior to present inevitability. The few who led the riot were now taken to the security office on the side. Facing the black muzzles of guns, they were politely drinking tea.
"Beep!" After passing through a sensor door, a man in uniform stopped Jiang Ling and the others: "There are metal objects in your bags. Please cooperate with the inspection!"
This made sense. If the standards at previous subway stations were anything to go by, their belongings would likely be confiscated. To avoid suspicion, and since they didn't have much to hide, they left the throng and followed the uniformed man into a room with one-way light-transmitting glass.
"Hmm, canned food—that's rare! You're carrying something so heavy?" They placed four bags, three large and one small, on the alloy table. They immediately made several creaking noises under the weight. The two guards inside continued to search: "Hey...why are you carrying a food processor?"
Jiang Wenwen looked at the two people on both sides of her and smiled mischievously, but she quickly concealed it.
"Aren't you afraid of the weight? This thing weighs dozens of kilograms!" After saying this, the man looked at the glass behind him and nodded. The tightly closed door suddenly opened a crack.
A man in a retro suit walked in. He nodded to the people inside and said, "Hello, I hope I'm not disturbing you. Can you sell me your food processor?"
"You still accept this?" Huang Yun asked back. She herself used to be in the system and originally thought that they had everything they needed.
"Haha~ We just wanted to buy two to improve our food supply, but the higher-ups didn't provide any." The man laughed and continued, "We can offer a very good price."
"No, let's not consider it for now. We haven't used this machine many times. Why not give you a few cans of food?" Jiang Ling planned to keep the machine. She also brought a roll of aluminum foil, which could completely prevent the electromagnetic pulse under a nuclear explosion.
"Give it away? No, we'll pay you with points." Although the man didn't get what he wanted, if he got some canned food, it seemed like he could get away with it.
The man initially picked canned fruit, but later traded it for a few cans of soup. After discovering the wine in the bag, he traded it for a few more bottles. "That's a total of 22 cans and 6 bottles of wine. I'll give you 500 points, enough for each of you to upgrade your permissions."
"My cans are rare, 800%!" Jiang Ling tried to raise the price.
The man didn't expect to bargain, but 800 points was still too much: "It's not easy to get some points nowadays! Five hundred and fifty!"
"About 600 points. We'll probably have to change to something else later. We didn't bring anything else." Li Wenjia said something pertinent.
The two investigators looked pleased and winked at the man in the suit.
The man in the suit looked delighted and immediately replied, "Deal! I hope you'll consider us first when you want to sell that machine in the future!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Ling knew that Li Wenjia had sold the item at a low price, but she remained calm: "Okay, but how do I pay with the points?"
"That's easy. Just give us your pass number. We can authenticate you immediately and upgrade your permissions."
After a quiet discussion, they finally decided to use Jiang Wenwen's pass to upgrade her authority by one level, which could be considered a form of protection.
"By the way, how do we check?"
"For those with a terminal at level B or above, you can use it to check. You can use it like a mobile phone, but it can only be used within the range of a signal station."
Their efficiency was surprisingly high. During the few minutes everyone waited, they also learned some basic information. Their station was a medium-sized node in this super-underground network, covering approximately 100,000 square meters. According to them, the entire system had already certified 300 million people, representing 20% of the country. It was unclear how many would remain in a few years.
"Here, this is the terminal!" A staff member brought them a small black box. It wasn't as big as they'd imagined. They explained that it had some protection against electromagnetic pulses and could also function as a Geiger counter. While it didn't have as many functions as a smartphone, it did have basic communication capabilities.
This little thing was about the size of a palm. While not very heavy, it was much thicker than a regular cell phone. It had a screen on the front, but no touchscreen functionality. The buttons reminded Jiang Ling of a role-playing game she'd played before—PP Boy, only a bit more agile and lacking the life detection and portable storage. There was a flap on the side that opened to hold the pass.
"Stop playing around, let's study it slowly when we get to where we're staying!" Huang Yun snatched the terminal from Jiang Wenwen, who was walking slowly behind them. After they were delayed for a while, there were very few people in the corridor.
Before them was a wide slope, open to vehicles in the middle and pedestrians on either side. There were only a few people left behind them. As they passed a bridge-like junction, they suddenly heard the roar of several jeep engines behind them. At about the same time, sirens began to sound in the passage, making a loud noise in this relatively enclosed area.
"Did two hours pass so quickly?" Jiang Ling asked suspiciously.
"It's been less than two hours, but I guess something must have happened again. Why are you pinching me?" Li Wenjia screamed.
"Do you know where here is that leads to the ground?" She asked in a low voice as she watched the huge alloy door behind her gradually closing.
"Why would you want to go up there for no reason? Yes, there are, but you'd have to go through the sewers. I mean, the sewers up there."
Got it, it’s the subway, but 2052.
"I want to try that!"
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