Chapter 22: The world, human nature, and fighting!
Boom!
Electric snakes are moving and rain is falling like beads.
The longer the warm and humid air flow brews, the more ferocious it will be when it condenses into heavy rain.
In the second half of the night, Cheng Ye suddenly woke up, jumped up, and used his mind to take back the pendant that was charging.
"Is...the power outage?"
When the collector suddenly sounded the alarm, Cheng Ye initially thought that a thief had broken in.
Fortunately, after checking the panel, it was just a reminder that energy input was suspended.
Snap!
I raised my hand and gently pulled the bedside light cord, but there was no response. I guess all the lines were cut off.
Cheng Ye picked up the defense report next to his pillow and took a look. It was four minutes until six o'clock.
He simply decided not to continue sleeping, so he put on his clothes and got out of bed sideways.
"Oh my god, it's raining so hard!"
When he came to the window and took a look, Cheng Ye was stunned.
The rain curtain covering the sky formed a white line, which was far more exaggerated than any rainstorm he had ever seen.
It had only been raining for six or seven hours, but the yard of the electronics factory community was already filled with water that was high enough to reach the calves.
In the darkness, you can see a dozen people using flashlights to clean the drain in the yard.
Unfortunately, the effect was minimal, because there was also exaggerated water accumulation on the streets outside the community.
Wow.
It was like a small river rushing wildly on the street, rolling up fallen leaves and debris.
Under the erosion of heavy rain, the buffer zone's usual peaceful appearance gradually faded away, revealing its old and mottled appearance.
After all, this is the ruins of civilization left over from the old era a hundred years ago.
When the project was planned and constructed, the designers could never have imagined that a hundred years later, this land would be populated by several times more people than originally expected.
“If I ever have the ability to build a gathering place, I will definitely ensure good drainage from the beginning.”
Cheng Ye was thinking like in a dream, his thoughts drifting far away.
If he hadn't caught a glimpse of the tip of the iceberg of supernatural powers and discovered the wonders hidden under the ruins of the wasteland world, he would definitely have stayed in the position of prosecutor for the rest of his life and locked up his iron rice bowl in Happy City!
But now that I know all this, how can I be willing to be trapped here?
At least if I die, I will die in pursuit of supernatural power and freedom.
Stroking the edge of the pendant, Cheng Ye called out the panel. The charging value in the upper right corner just exceeded 50% before the power outage.
This means that if you find your target by going to the fast track, you will have the opportunity to improve your strength again at any time.
...
Seven o'clock.
After the heavy rain stopped for a while, the waterlogging became more serious.
Cheng Ye put on a raincoat and wrapped tape around the edge of his high-waisted rain boots to prevent accumulated water from rushing in.
However, no one expected that the first step down the stairs would lead them directly into a puddle that was knee-deep.
"Grass!"
In the past, tube-shaped buildings were influenced by old buildings and liked to have high thresholds for entering the buildings.
This also means that once water comes in, it cannot go out, and it will only accumulate more and more, eventually flooding the steps on the first floor, just like raising fish.
"Haha, brother, I was just about to remind you."
A man rushed out from the security door next to the stairs, holding a blue plastic bucket in his hand.
Cheng Ye stretched his head and took a look. Wow, this man’s house was almost turned into a fish pond, but he could still laugh.
"It's flooded, so we don't have to go to work today, but we'll still get paid!"
The man seemed to see Cheng Ye's confusion and immediately explained, "Also, I heard that the construction team in the inner city is discussing that tube-shaped buildings like ours need to be renovated after the heavy rain."
"Renovation?"
Apart from tearing it down and rebuilding it, Cheng Ye didn't think the tube-shaped building would be much better after renovation.
But it would be great if the sewer pipes could be repaired, the power supply facilities could be revamped, and preferably every resident could have five-square-meter wires replaced.
"You're going to work, right? Come, I'll carry you out!"
Seeing Cheng Ye standing at the stairs in an awkward position, the man put down the bucket and walked over.
"Don't be polite to me, Old Sun. We all live in the same building. Besides, you're contributing to our buffer zone by going to work. It's much better than someone like me who just draws a salary without working."
Speaking of drawing a salary without working, Cheng Ye always felt that Old Sun seemed very proud of it.
"Well, thank you!"
"Why are you fussing? Come up."
Carrying Cheng Ye on his back, the man walked out of the community with one foot deep and one foot shallow.
By the time he was sent to the door, the highest point of the water had already reached his thighs, and his knees were covered with yellow mud.
"I'm leaving now. If you come back in the evening, I'll carry you on my back again."
Old Sun left a word and waded back the same way.
Looking at that hurried figure, Cheng Ye suddenly felt that the people in this wasteland were not as bad as he thought.
The bad guys may be worse, but the good guys haven't completely disappeared.
The other side.
"Oh my god, please be gentle, don't break my frame!"
Uncle Dong's shouting pierced through the rain.
Cheng Ye stood on tiptoe and took a look, only to see that the accumulated water in the store had reached his calves, and four or five workers were crouching over and scooping out water with basins.
Someone's elbow hit the shelf against the wall, and plastic bottles and cans fell down. Uncle Dong was so distressed that he slapped his thigh and stamped his feet, and was about to rush in to rescue.
"Uncle Dong, you old man, please don't join in the fun."
Cheng Ye walked over and grabbed the old man.
"Otherwise, if you fall or bump into something, the money you spend at the clinic will be more expensive than what you would earn from selling these things."
"Xiao Cheng..."
Uncle Dong turned his head, his slightly gray hair stuck to his forehead, making him look like an old hen soaked in water.
"If I hadn't been alert during last night's strange rain, I would have drowned in this store."
"So serious?"
"That's not right. I was sorting the goods in the basement. I was so sleepy that I closed my eyes for a while. Unexpectedly, water rushed in. In less than half a minute, it was almost up to my neck!"
The row of shops at the entrance of the staff quarters are also of the old style, and each has a basement for storing things.
Cheng Ye's eyelids twitched, and he said in surprise, "You'd better not use the basement in the future. By the way, if you have no place to stay today, why don't you come to my place?"
"No way! How can I sleep if I don't watch over this store?"
Uncle Dong shook his head and took out half a box of nutrient solution from the goods rescued nearby.
"Thirty bags. New stock just arrived yesterday. I'm saving these for you. If this weird rain keeps going, I'm sure these will be sold out like crazy."
"Thank you."
After opening the box and putting the nutrient solution into the backpack, Cheng Ye directly took out a handful of 10-dollar coins and handed them over.
A bag of nutrient paste is now worth 2 happiness coins, and there are at least twelve or thirteen coins in the handful of coins in his hand.
Uncle Dong was rarely polite.
Due to natural disasters such as heavy rain, the price of nutrient paste will only rise sharply. It is not difficult to stock up a batch and resell it for five coins per bag.
More importantly, sometimes even if you have money, you may not be able to buy it after it is snatched away by others!
And the reality was just as it happened. On the way Cheng Ye walked to the North Station Checkpoint, he saw long queues in front of the shops selling nutrient paste.
It’s a pity that I didn’t see Chu Yunfeng and his family. I wonder if they found a place to live and stocked up on nutrient solution in advance.
"Oh, why did you think of Chu Yunfeng right after you saved up a search opportunity?"
Cheng Ye was somewhat tempted.
Compared to going to the checkpoint to open blind boxes, it is obviously more tempting to fleece the golden legend Chu Yunfeng!
There are 13 level 1 skills. Excluding the non-combat skills that are not used for the time being, the remaining [Basic Perception] and [Quick Drawing] are very practical just by looking at the names.
However, he was also very clear that given the vigilance of this family, if he went to them without a legitimate reason, they might not cooperate at all.
The best approach is to wait for the next encounter at the checkpoint.
Cheng Ye had a vague feeling that Chu Yunfeng, with his abilities, would never be content to continue doing hard labor in the buffer zone. Putting aside whether he could support his family, given the current situation...
"The price has gone up! The price has gone up! The nutrient paste is only 5 coins a pack!"
There were shouts coming from the roadside. Scalpers who had smelled the business opportunity of the heavy rain in advance were squatting on the street corners and had already started selling nutrient paste at high prices.
Some people squeezed out of the queue cursing, and finally had to grit their teeth and pay more than double the price to take the wrinkled packaging bag from the scalper.
There is no way. The demand for nutrient paste is too high and the unit price is low, so it is difficult to add technology and hard work.
When the weather gets hot, the shelf life is only five days at most, and it will take another day to be delivered from the factory to the distributors in the buffer zone.
In addition, most people have neither the energy nor the savings to stock up in advance after a day of hard work.
Because of this, whenever there is a natural disaster in the buffer zone, prices in the buffer zone will fluctuate immediately.
"Can't the Xingfu City officials step in and regulate this? Arrest all these damn scalpers and execute them!"
"That's right! Don't let me run into you, the black-hearted bastard who's taking advantage of natural disasters to profit from the price difference, in the ruins!"
"Don't be naive. Where do you think these scalpers get their goods from?"
"Where could it have come from? Could it be that the people from the Supply Department personally gave it to them to sell?"
"I know you're new here the minute you say that. Remember, in the buffer zone, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say anything you want. If the guards on duty heard what you just said, they'd definitely drag you into the security office and beat you half to death."
“....”
Cheng Ye walked quickly through the crowd, with shouting and discussions coming one after another around him.
He didn't know why, but last night he was filled with anxiety when he thought about going to the rapid checkpoint, but now he couldn't contain his excitement.
Especially hearing and seeing the refugees, they are distressed, frustrated, cursing and discouraged!
He increasingly felt that the civilized spirit of easygoingness and non-competition within his body was rapidly fading from his genes as he walked towards the North Checkpoint.
Instead, the savagery, brutality, and aggressiveness of the wasteland gradually awakened in the blood.
This is indeed not a new era where everyone has hope and civilization is heading towards recovery.
It is an extraordinary wasteland era where it is a life-and-death struggle and the strong try to dominate everything!
"The collector that Brother Long left behind opened a path for me to move upward, allowing me to continue to grow stronger."
"Brother B protected me when I was most vulnerable and gave me the ability to stand firm."
"Now!"
"It's finally this world's turn to welcome me!"
...
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