In the Xinghai Shelter, everyone felt that the official survival base, despite requiring a large amount of supplies to enter, was a bit overbearing, but they still felt it was a humane official institution. Even upon entering the External Trade Department, upon hearing that everyone in attendance would receive 100 points, enough to buy ten free lighters, they couldn't help but praise their kindness!
But now, looking at the staff in front of them who is constantly selling to everyone, everyone looks a little strange.
"Were they like this before?" Huang Haichao moved to Old Man Yan's side and whispered to him.
"No, no..." Old Man Yan's back was covered in sweat. "Maybe the things I exchanged before weren't worth many points..."
What Old Man Yan didn't say was that every time he came to the Foreign Trade Department to exchange for supplies, the free share was far more than 100 points... plus the food that Gugu brought back from hunting at night, he was able to exchange those supplies with ease every time.
"I think this one's good, this one's pretty good too... and this one, these are both quite practical..." Xia Ruanruan pointed at the items on the exchange list, her eyes unblinking as she quickly pointed at anything she thought would be useful. Whether it was something as large as a solar power generator or as small as a manual on indoor mushroom cultivation techniques, they were all essential supplies for their current shelter.
Since she even dared to covet the solar power generation equipment worth 1,500,000 points, then she could exchange it for other small items that only cost a few thousand or a few hundred points.
If you have too many lice, you won't feel itchy; if you have too many debts, you won't worry.
"Aren't these things a bit too much? I don't think we can get so many points..." Seeing that even mental arithmetic was almost insufficient for the points needed to exchange for supplies, Yang Fan stretched out his hand and tried to stop it.
Forget about solar power generation equipment now. After seeing all those points, he didn't even want to use electricity! With such poverty, he was no match for a savage.
"Don't worry, sir. Everything in our survival base is negotiable! With your abilities and the number of mutant dogs you've brought, completing a few high-level missions shouldn't be a problem. Just complete three or five high-level missions, and you can easily exchange these things for them. Not to mention generators, even guns and ammunition can be exchanged..."
"Look, look! Don't just look at the daily necessities here. Look at these weapons, look at these weapons?! Are they sharp enough? Are they powerful enough? Don't you feel a little bit attracted to them?" The middle-aged man seemed to have transformed directly from the Foreign Trade Department into a gold medal salesman, constantly recommending their flagship products to Xia Ruanruan.
"Look, look! This is a 28mm caliber rifle. If anything changes, or a mutant or ferocious beast approaches, you can immediately open fire. With just a few shots, mutants and ferocious beasts can be blown off in the head. How practical! Look, it's not expensive at all, it's only 820,000 points!"
"Forget it, forget it... Forget about these guns. This gun is useless to us..." Xia Ruanruan looked at the high points and thought about it. There was no one in their group who could use guns, let alone ordinary guns. The only one who had dealt with real guns seriously was probably Dahei, the police dog.
Xia Ruanruan: Isn’t this... quite embarrassing?
So, after Xia Ruanruan and her group decided on what they wanted to exchange, the middle-aged man took out a small thing from the drawer of his desk - a tablet computer!
A 10-inch tablet computer, very small.
"Hehehe, the shelter's mission issuance system isn't very complete right now, especially our Foreign Trade Department. There's not even a large scrolling mission display screen... Everyone, just make do with this."
The middle-aged man pointed to the tablet computer, which was connected to the survival base's general task release app in real time, and said, "Although it doesn't have a large screen or a scrolling screen, you can take this and tell me directly when you find a task and place an order. Once completed, you can settle the points with me."
The middle-aged man pointed at the tablet computer in Xia Ruanruan's hand and introduced it with a smile: "White is the simplest physical labor in the city, which can be completed by ordinary people. Green requires multiple people or residents with mutant beasts to complete in the base city. Red is ordinary missions outside. Purple is our current high-level missions."
"The purple missions are worth quite a lot of points, you can take a look." The middle-aged man smiled like an old fox.
Xia Ruanruan: "..."
Xia Runrun looked at the man and blinked slowly. No wonder he was still able to maintain his current body shape in this natural disaster. With his ability to deceive people, it must be difficult for him to lose weight.
Having made up her mind to complete the mission, Xia Ruanruan naturally had to carefully select the items. Yang Fan and the others lowered their heads and carefully read through the documents. With her innate ability to communicate with animals and her affinity test results, Xia Ruanruan didn't need to worry about most mutant animals, unless they were those covered in scales.
But in this severe winter, the only snake mutant that might pose a threat to her had already found a place to hibernate.
This is also the reason why Xia Runrun dared to take the initiative to take on the high-level task.
There weren't a ton of high-level purple missions on the tablet, but there were nearly a hundred. A casual glance revealed that most of these tasks involved clearing an area of ferocious beasts and mutants, or retrieving supplies from areas occupied by ferocious beasts and mutants. For example, several of them involved clearing out a hospital occupied by a pack of mutant lions and retrieving the medical equipment found there. Another example involved properly handling a production line occupied by a pack of mutant wild boars. Retrieving even one of these production lines would earn you a significant amount of points...
Mutated lions, mutated wild boars, mutated wolves...
Looking at the groups of ferocious mutant beasts in the photos and the detailed introduction of the tasks next to the photos, Yang Fan and others almost turned green in the face!
"Why don't we take the red mission?" someone suggested cautiously.
Although there are a large number of mutant dogs following them, there are actually no more than 15 people in the entire team who actually own mutant beasts. The rest are mostly ordinary men who do not have mutant beasts. Their main purpose of coming here is to take care of the mutant dogs' meals on the road, as well as to transport goods, clean up chores, etc.
If they accepted the purple mission, wouldn't they be finished in minutes facing those mutant lions and mutant wild boars?
"Really? That's a pity... If you want to exchange so many solar generators with just red tasks, you'll probably have to complete at least a hundred tasks." The middle-aged man looked regretful and even sighed in pretended sadness.
Xia Ruanruan: "..."
Chu Hang: “…”
The regretful expression on this person's face clearly showed that he wanted to trick them into doing the purple mission.
"Uncle...are your mission points too low? This is a mission officially issued by the survival base, right? There are so many of us and mutant beasts, fighting for our lives... just to exchange for some solar power generation equipment and starch machines produced by the base... Can't you be more accommodating?" Xia Ruanruan raised her little face and looked at the middle-aged man.
The little girl's eyes were round and bright, and her long, thick eyelashes trembled slightly. When the middle-aged man saw Xia Ruanruan, it was as if he saw his own younger generation.
"Uncle, can you double the points for these missions?"
"Look, a child as young as me has to fight mutant beasts, so you know how difficult our daily life in the shelter is... Uncle, can you be flexible?" The little girl's voice sounded aggrieved and soft, like the irresistible soft marshmallows in the candy cabinet, especially her sparkling eyes that looked at the middle-aged man, black and bright, like a key that suddenly poked into the man, making people subconsciously feel a little guilty.
"No, no..." The middle-aged man was stared at by the little girl and refused with difficulty, "These points are set by the survival base... I, I don't have the right to change it..."
"How about increasing the points by 50%?"
The little girl blinked twice and said pitifully, "Uncle, look at the date this mission was posted. It was a year ago... The base hasn't been able to complete the mission for such a long time. Shouldn't they increase the points? It's because the points are too low that no one wants to complete it..."
Middle-aged man: ...
It seemed to make some sense, but he really had no say in the matter.
"Uncle, I won't make it difficult for you. Why don't you give them a call and ask?" Xia Runrun carefully flipped through the task list in her hand. If the points for these tasks could be increased by 50%, they would be able to exchange all the supplies they needed after completing almost two tasks.
"Uncle~ is it okay?" The little girl blinked twice, trying to act cute, in an attempt to make the middle-aged man give up his bottom line.
Middle-aged man: "Okay, okay... I'll make a phone call."
then……
Ten minutes later, Xia Runrun decided to go to the hospital occupied by the mutant lions to look for medical equipment, as well as the textile production workshop occupied by the mutant wild boars, and the warehouse of a trading company that was divided into the sphere of influence of the mutant wolf pack. It is said that there are a lot of non-ferrous metal reserves in this warehouse, which are all what the current survival base needs.
"Can we really complete the three tasks we received?" Huang Haichao swallowed his saliva. He always felt that before they could deal with the mutant lions, they would be pushed up to the sky by the mutant wild boars, and then slapped into the ground by the mutant wolves and could not be dug out.
"Uh... although it's a bit difficult, it should be possible to complete..."
Xia Ruanruan carefully looked at the animal photos on the task list and confirmed that these big guys were too furry to resist her cuteness. She nodded and said, "Let's find a place to rest today and set off early tomorrow morning!"
"It just so happens that we have collected a lot of supplies along the way. Let's take these as rewards. Thank you for troubling this officer." Yang Fan said politely to the officer who led them there.
The middle-aged man from the Foreign Trade Department looked at the backs of Xia Runrun and his group as they left, and took a sip of tea comfortably.
"Old Chen, Old Chen! I never thought you could fool even a child! The little girl thought she had convinced you and was smiling so happily when she left the house."
"Tsk! You completed three high-level tasks at once. Old Chen, your bonus for this month is secure." Another staff member in the trading department walked up to the middle-aged man, patted his shoulder with a smile and sighed.
"Hey! What are you talking about? You're even fooling a child. These days, there's no distinction between child labor and non-child labor. As long as you're a survivor, you have to work hard... Besides, I've only received three high-level missions, not completed them. If I don't complete the mission, I still won't get any bonuses."
Old Chen slapped his colleague's arm away and said angrily, "Besides, I'm not doing this for the bonus, I'm doing this for our entire survival base! With so many mutant dogs under their control, there's a good chance one of them is a skilled animal trainer, or someone with a natural affinity for animals, just like those negotiation experts we had back then. With people like that on board, the mission can be completed faster and better."
…
Xia Runrun and his group naturally had no idea about what was happening in the Foreign Trade Department. They were following the officers through a series of roads and directly came to a place that looked like a B&B. However, compared to a B&B, there was an oversized house built of wood behind this store. The gate alone was 6 meters high and 5 meters wide. It was obvious that it was a place specially built for mutant beasts to live.
"There are not many temporary residences for mutant beasts in the base. This one has the best environment. You can live here." The officer nodded at Xia Runrun and Yang Fan and others, and left quickly with the soldiers and mutant military dogs behind him.
"Then let's rest here today." After asking about the price of the room and the price of accommodation for Dahei and the others, Xia Runrun made the decision. Naturally, everyone who had already regarded Xia Runrun as the leader of the shelter had no objections.
Only Chu Hang was at the back of the crowd, staring intently at an archway a few hundred meters away that looked like the underground walkway and subway before the virus outbreak.
A middle-aged couple with slightly graying hair and a thin young man in his twenties were supporting each other and looking at a young woman. Two rural cats about three meters tall beside the woman were looking down at them with their teeth bared.
"Ms. Jiang, please let us go..."
The middle-aged woman's face was filled with fear as she begged for mercy. "Xingxing's arm was only healed a short time ago. It can't be injured again. The doctor said that if it is injured again, it will never heal. This is your fifth time. Please let us go."
"Auntie, what are you talking about? You're making me sound like a villain, but I didn't do anything... I wouldn't dare break the law in the base." The young woman with neat short black hair raised her eyebrows slightly and said, "Last time, wasn't it our Wuyun who accidentally bumped into your Chuxing? I paid for it, didn't I? Wuyun is just a cat, Auntie, how can you make a fuss about it?"
Rice wrap powder
Groups of residents were pointing and talking around the four people and two cats, but no one came forward to help. Instead, many people looked at the middle-aged couple and the young man with a look of gloating on their faces.
Chu Hang looked at the four people without blinking.
The waiter at the temporary accommodation was a young man who loved gossiping. When he saw Chu Hang staring at something not far away without blinking, he immediately said with a smile, "Sir, are you new here? That's not surprising!"
"Don't be fooled by that young woman's seemingly arrogant and unreasonable appearance... But in fact, I heard that young man was a college student before the virus outbreak. While in school, he liked to torture cats and even secretly filmed videos of them... As the saying goes, even if a horse stumbles, there will be a fall..."
"The two rural cats around this short-haired woman were previously abused by that boy. Before the virus outbreak, she was a volunteer and happened to rescue those two cats... Now that the status of humans and animals has been reversed, and they both happen to live at the Longquan base, don't these two cats often come back to cause trouble for the boy?"
"Look, there's a burn on the white cat's face. I heard it was caused by the boy before the virus broke out."
The waiter sighed and said, "So this really proves the old saying, good people are rewarded, bad people are punished... That's why there used to be people on our street who stepped up to deal with this matter, but now no one cares at all."
Chu Hang stood there motionless, but listened carefully to everything the waiter said.
Chu Hang sometimes feels that being emotionally apathetic is quite good. He was once betrayed by his parents and brother, who sold him to an underground lab. He felt furious, bitter, and hopeless. He thought such intense emotions would stay with him forever, but now, three years later, he's back with his parents and brother again, and he doesn't feel as angry or bitter anymore.
I even have no interest in the people and things in front of me.
He was like an outsider, watching everything in front of him coldly. He neither felt happy nor pleased with himself, nor did he have any sympathy for others.
He wanted to...
Maybe this is what ordinary people do: let go.
His parents raised him for more than ten years, and now they are done with the underground laboratory matter.
Chu Hang said in a cold voice, "You're right. In this world, good people are rewarded, and bad people are punished... It's not that there is no retribution, it's just that the time has not come yet."
"Huh? Why don't you go up?" Xia Ruanruan pulled Chu Hang who was standing there, and subconsciously stretched her neck to look in the direction of the noisy crowd following the other's line of sight.
In the crowd, a young man who looked very similar to Chu Hang, but was obviously much thinner, appeared there, looking very embarrassed.
Xia Ruanruan: “……???”
Xia Ruanruan: “!!!!”
Could this be Xiaobai's triple shadow clone? !
"Don't let your imagination run wild." Chu Hang clapped his hand on the little girl's head and said calmly, "That was my twin brother. My parents and brother sold me to the underground laboratory. So... I won't have a brother or parents anymore."
Although the voice was calm, Xia Ruanruan always felt that there was sadness and pain in the words.
It was like a bee's tail poked her heart hard.
The little girl raised her head, patted the young man's arm and said comfortingly: "Don't be sad, although you will not have a brother and parents in the future...but you can have a sister."
"She looks like me, smart, lively, and especially cute!" The little girl was serious and as thick-skinned as a city wall. She was not shy at all about bragging.
"You can have a brother like me, who is beautiful, noble and elegant! Wow! The kind that can even fly to the sky by himself!" The big green-haired parrot came up shamelessly, without any guilt.
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