68 Supply Station - Day 2
New Rules
Old man Zhao spoke slowly, his voice sounding a bit heavy.
It turns out that on the same day they were sent into the survival game by a mysterious force, the Earth also ushered in an unprecedented disaster.
"High-rise buildings collapsed in an instant, flowers and trees withered rapidly, and even the crops in the fields were completely destroyed. Moreover, all this happened without an earthquake or a meteorite hitting the earth. It was as if the world had changed in an instant. It was very strange."
When talking about the scene at that time, Old Man Zhao still felt scared.
"At first, we could still observe what was happening outside through satellites. There were reports that many countries had mysteriously vanished from the Earth, including Japan, the United States, Africa, India, and South Korea. Later, we discovered they had simply sunk into the ocean. It was so pitiful, so many people were lost."
Yan Lan and her companions nodded sadly after hearing this. This all explained why there were only one billion players in the survival game—it turned out that most people had already left this world before they were even transferred to the game.
Old Man Zhao continued, "We're the country with the largest number of survivors, but subsequent in-depth investigations revealed that almost 100% of the survivors are men over sixty and children under ten. It's as if you, the young people who should be the backbone of society, were wiped out by some supernatural force."
"The situation was extremely difficult at the time. The few remaining national leaders called for a fight to rebuild their homes, hoping to stand up again from the ruins."
"But the good times didn't last long. A few days later, the satellites observing the outside world ceased to function, and all communications systems on Earth were paralyzed. The reconstruction plan had to be suspended. But at this moment, an even more bizarre phenomenon occurred—a mysterious panel inexplicably appeared on every survivor."
"Panel?" Shi Yuanyuan couldn't help but blurt out when he heard it.
"That's right, that panel calls itself 'Survival Game' and says it's our compass in this new world." Old Man Zhao said as he skillfully opened his own panel, and the information on the screen was clearly visible.
Seeing this, Shi Yuanyuan hurriedly opened his own panel. People around him gathered around and compared their respective interfaces.
"Wow, the functions of this panel are exactly the same!" Shi Yuanyuan exclaimed in surprise, "It's just that the areas are different. We are in Area H-38, and you, Uncle Zhao, and the other elderly people and children are in Area Zhongshen-2."
Old Man Zhao nodded gravely. "Indeed, the zoning mechanism of this survival game seems to be based on the situation of countries and cities. The number of each zone directly reflects the number of survivors in our respective areas."
"Even though it's the same panel and has the same functions, it's still two different things. You and I can't communicate through the world channel."
This group of elderly people once tried to find their children through this panel, but failed.
Shi Yuanyuan frowned, puzzled, and said, "Doesn't this division forcibly separate us from the elderly and children into two different worlds? Young people are categorized into one category, and the elderly and children are in another. What's the point of this arrangement?"
Old Man Zhao glanced at the child beside him who was listening attentively. "The game says that when these children turn ten, they will be transported to another place. It seems that they will be transported to your place."
After hearing this, Yan Lan couldn't help but curse the crappy system. The elderly and children have low survival abilities, and yet they are deliberately separated. It's really shameful.
"By the way, is your world safe? Have you encountered any danger?" asked Old Man Zhao.
As soon as this question was asked, the elderly people around all turned their attention to Yan Lan and the others, their eyes full of concern and worry. On the one hand, they were worried about their own children, and on the other hand, they were worried that these little kids would not be able to handle it.
Seeing everyone's eager gazes, Yan Lan took a deep breath and decided to be frank: "Uncle Zhao, and all the elders, to be honest, the death rate was quite high at the beginning, but after gradually adapting, the death rate dropped a lot, and some people even acquired skills and professions."
She briefly explained the rules and current situation of the survival game. After listening to it, several elderly people fell silent. They were just ten-year-old kids, how could they resist that cannibalistic world.
The old man who had initially led the group saw the change in atmosphere and quickly stepped forward. He spoke calmly and soothingly, "How can you be so discouraged before we even begin? Starting tomorrow, every child over three years old must go out with us to gain experience. We need to start young so we won't have any difficulty adapting to that world when we get there."
The others nodded after hearing what he said. This was the best way at the moment.
Old Man Zhao introduced at the right moment: "This is the leader we elected. Everyone calls him Lao Li."
Yan Lan hurriedly called out respectfully, "Hello, Uncle Li!"
Old man Li smiled. The arrival of Yan Lan and others was like a ray of light in the darkness for them. It not only solved the mystery that had puzzled everyone for a long time, but also brought spiritual comfort to those elderly people who thought they had lost their children.
Yan Lan replayed their training scenes in her mind, and thought of the "work points" the child had mentioned earlier. She couldn't help but ask, "What are work points?"
Speaking of this, Old Man Zhao sighed, "This is a really hard thing to explain. Since the advent of the game, the abundant food and daily necessities on Earth have been drastically reduced. We've tried everything, trying to farm and raise chickens and ducks to be self-sufficient, but strangely, those crops and poultry always die inexplicably within a day, as if they were intentional."
"Then, numerous mysterious glowing doors appeared in the suburbs of many cities. We called them 'Gates.' Every day, the Gates would issue various tasks, all of which required manual labor, on a first-come, first-served basis. Besides being a bit tiring, it was otherwise fine. After completing these tasks, the game would reward us with something called 'Work Points.' These Work Points became our currency in this new world, and we could use them to purchase various necessities in the in-game mall."
So that's how it is. No wonder we saw them coming back from the suburbs so late.
The Space Key will stay there for 24 hours after being activated, and will end at noon tomorrow. Yan Lan and the others agreed with the elders to go to the "door" together tomorrow to take a look.
Now that you have learned what you need to learn, it's time to take a break.
Old Man Li and Old Man Zhao led the three of them to an open space in the underground shelter, which was their temporary resting place for tonight.
The elderly didn't have beds for guests, but Yan Lan and the others had everything they needed in their backpacks. They took out light bedding from their backpacks and quickly set up simple beds.
Due to limited space, they could only sleep on a large bunk bed with almost no privacy from each other. It was not a big deal for the day, so everyone slept in their clothes.
After the three of them lay down, the old people and children returned to their beds reluctantly, turned off the lights, and slowly lay down.
The next morning, just as the sky was getting light, a subtle sound quietly woke Yan Lan up.
She turned over, and Ji Zhoushi and Yuanyuan beside her also woke up. The three of them smiled at each other, stood up in tacit understanding, and began to make the bed, carefully folding the bedding and putting it back into the backpack.
Looking around, more than half of the people have already gotten up, even the children are dressed neatly.
Seeing this, Old Man Zhao hurried over with an apologetic look on his face. "I'm so sorry. I wanted to let you sleep in a little longer, but a few of my old friends have to go to a distant 'gate' to receive a mission today, so we have to leave early."
Yan Lan and the others smiled and shook their heads, expressing their complete understanding.
The underground space was small and could only be used as a resting place, while daily washing and toileting had to be moved to the ground. The three of them walked up a few stone steps and lightly stepped out from behind the rock barrier.
Yan Lan and her two companions took out water cups, toothpaste and other necessities from their backpacks, washed up quickly and orderly on the roadside, and then found a toilet nearby that had not been completely destroyed to use the toilet.
The conditions here are very simple. There is only one toilet nearby. One person goes in and the others have to queue outside and wait.
While waiting, Yan Lan did not waste any time and called up the sign-in system to do her daily sign-in. She and her two partners had known each other for so many days that they were already familiar enough, so she did not avoid others.
【Check-in successful~】
As the crisp system prompt sounded, a bag of tempting chocolates appeared out of thin air in front of Yan Lan.
Shi Yuanyuan, who had just come out of the bathroom, noticed the bag of chocolates floating in the air. He couldn't help but widen his eyes and exclaimed, "Wow, such a big bag of chocolates!"
Yan Lan gently shook the food bag in her hand, and the corners of her mouth rose unconsciously. Thinking of the other party's takeaway job, she asked curiously: "What good stuff did you drop today?"
Upon hearing this, Shi Yuanyuan immediately rummaged through the compartments of his backpack. Within a second, a packaging bag appeared in his hand, and it even had a takeaway logo written on it.
He was about to open it, but was stopped by Yan Lan. She took out a bucket of water from the compartment of her backpack and said firmly: "Wash your hands first."
Shi Yuanyuan grinned and stretched out his hand obediently. Yan Lan had a water collector anyway, so he would not have to worry about water.
After washing his hands and wiping them with a towel, Shi Yuanyuan reopened the takeout bag. Before he could fully open it, the rich aroma inside could not wait to waft out, instantly arousing the appetite of everyone present.
"Cantonese dim sum!" Shi Yuanyuan exclaimed. "Cantonese dim sum! There's siomai, shrimp dumplings, and rice noodle rolls. There's enough for several people!"
The group returned to the underground room in high spirits, carrying this unexpected delicacy. As soon as they entered, they saw everyone sitting quietly on the ground, with a plate in front of each person, but no one made any move, apparently waiting for them to join them in the meal.
Seeing this, Old Man Li and Old Man Zhao hurriedly stood up from their side, each holding a green plate with hot porridge and steamed buns on it, and walked towards them cautiously for fear of spilling the porridge.
"Please forgive us for the poor hospitality." The two old men had a bit of apology and reserve on their faces. They were guests who came from afar. In the past, it would be impolite to entertain guests with such meals, but this was the best food they could offer.
Yan Lan exchanged a knowing look with Ji Zhou and Shi Yuanyuan. They took the plates and put them aside. Then, under the gaze of dozens of elderly people and children, they each took out the food they had just obtained from their backpacks.
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