Survival Against the Odds

Just as Qu Jianlei was puzzled, in a small town in the Tian-character District, a sallow-faced middle-aged woman was arguing with someone.

The woman wanted to sell a Laser Pistol in exchange for some Nutrient Solution, but the person across from her was offering an extremely low price.

After all, it was only early spring. A surge in Nutrient Solution prices was perfectly normal.

But the woman was no pushover either. After arguing for ages and nearly coming to blows, she ultimately accepted the exploitation with reluctance.

The people nearby turned a blind eye. No one knew how many such incidents happened in the Tian-character District every day.

Fortunately, this was the Tian-character District. In the more poorly supplied Xuan-character Settlement Area or Di Zone, someone might already have died.

As for the lower-ranked Residential Areas, there was no need to mention them.

Still, everyone knew that the woman was no weakling. She had taken down two robbers before.

This was an outlying town of Qian Jing, where the population was not especially transient. Anyone who had lived here for a while naturally knew who not to provoke.

The woman seemed to have some savings, but she never traded for much in supplies at a time, so she was not worth the attention of major forces.

Holding the Nutrient Solution, the woman walked more than a kilometer before entering a mud-brick house.

The mud-brick house was small, less than twenty square meters in total. There was a bed inside, and a pale-faced man lay on it.

"I'm back, honey," the woman said as she shut the door. "Damn it, the prices went up again."

In the Tian Er Residential Area, such mud-brick houses were standard housing for the poor, though they were still better than living half-underground.

People who could