A single room: shopping, cooking, mineral water bottles, a new mission...
"Sure, I'll be waiting for your nutrient solution. I want strawberry."
Sang Luoluo readily nodded. "No problem."
Lei Qi said, "I'll submit the application for you on the computer now. You can collect it once we're back at base."
"Okay."
Lei Qi's watch beeped twice. His captain was calling him over to work, so he hurriedly said, "The captain's calling me over to work. He wants you to come too."
Hearing that, Sang Luoluo got out of the vehicle with him and followed him.
On the way, Lei Qi continued, "Our squad is called S17. In the Guard, teams whose names start with S are all high-level teams responsible for carrying out dangerous missions. Below them are the four ranks A, B, C, and D, which handle transport, maintenance, public security, logistics, and so on. Their work is fairly varied. You'll gradually learn the rest. If you have questions about anything else, try searching the Guard's intranet first. If you can't find an answer, ask someone."
Sang Luoluo nodded as she listened.
They hurried over to Captain Qi Feng. "Captain, I brought her."
"Is all the paperwork done?"
Lei Qi said, "Yes."
Qi Feng immediately began assigning work. "Sang Luoluo, the trucks can't hold any more mutant ant carcasses. I've already had a load transported back ahead of us. You'll need to transport some of what's left. This mission pays 50 points."
It was Sang Luoluo's first mission, and she wanted to see what doing one felt like, so she nodded.
The Guard members had already packed up the mutant ant carcasses. Of course, they weren't whole carcasses, but parts cut from the mutant ants that the base could use.
"Lei Qi, go with Sang Luoluo and handle the details of the mission handover," Qi Feng instructed.
"Yes, Captain."
Lei Qi beckoned to Sang Luoluo. "Come with me."
Sang Luoluo followed him. It was past three in the afternoon, and the temperature outside was still over forty degrees. She was unbearably hot, her head already drenched in sweat.
Lei Qi brought her to a pile of neatly stacked, packaged ant carcasses.
She reached out and touched them, putting them into her space the next instant.
Lei Qi found it quite novel. He led her around for half an hour, and she stored all the remaining ant carcasses, nearly twelve truckloads in total.
"Come with me."
Sang Luoluo followed Lei Qi into one of the trucks and sat in the back seat of the cab. The truck began rumbling and swaying along.
She took out her water bottle and started drinking. Three hours later, the convoy entered the Guard's parking area in the safe zone.
"Wait here for a moment." Lei Qi found her a spot.
Sang Luoluo watched Lei Qi go find the person in charge to handle the handover.
Standing in a corner to wait, she pulled up the scarf around her neck and secretly slipped a few pieces of apple into her mouth to chew.
Then she slipped in a handful of blueberries.
Finally, she ate a few pieces of cucumber and two eggs. Just as she finished, Lei Qi returned.
He brought her to an open space, where other Guard members were unloading things from the trucks, and said, "Put your cargo in this clearing."
Sang Luoluo did as instructed. With a wave of her hand, the goods were stacked neatly in the clearing.
Lei Qi took a photo and sent it to the person handling the handover, then reported to the captain.
Having had such an easy mission for once, Lei Qi was in a good mood. "This mission went smoothly. The captain said we can rest in the safe zone tonight and set out again early tomorrow morning. He'll transfer the points to your account shortly."
Beep, beep.
Sang Luoluo's watch had already notified her that 50 points had arrived.
It wasn't much, but she had earned it on her first mission, which had gone very smoothly.
"Oh, right, do you need to apply for staff accommodation in the Guard dormitories? It only costs 200 points a month," Lei Qi said.
Chapter 16: A single room: shopping, cooking, mineral water bottles, a new mission...
Sang Luoluo nodded. It would be a few more days before she could move into the place she had rented, and the shantytown wasn't safe either. She didn't want to stay outside.
Lei Qi immediately submitted an application for her, and Sang Luoluo soon received a notification that she could move into the dormitory.
"Brother Lei, what about my badge?" Sang Luoluo asked.
Lei Qi said, "Come with me to collect it."
Lei Qi took Sang Luoluo to the office area, to the eighteenth floor of the base Guard's building. The elevator took them straight there in seconds. Sang Luoluo was amazed the whole way. The Guard building really was grand. It was hard to imagine that while the shantytown outside the base was so backward, an official organization inside the safe zone could be this impressive. The building towered into the clouds, and its interior was quite spacious.
The technology was very advanced. Some of the items inside were unfamiliar, and many were made from mutant plants or animals from outside.
"This is your first visit. You'll get used to it after coming a few more times," Lei Qi kindly told her, assuming she had never been to the safe zone.
Sang Luoluo nodded and followed him.
Lei Qi had been here a long time and knew some people, so he helped her collect her badge without any trouble. Her employee ID was printed on it: [Sang Luoluo 752596].
Sang Luoluo happily pinned it to her chest.
From now on, whether she went out to buy or sell things, she wouldn't be so easy to bully.
"Can you find the dormitory yourself?" Lei Qi asked.
Sang Luoluo nodded. "I can. Brother Lei, go take care of your work. I'll manage."
"Okay." Lei Qi turned and left. The girl really didn't give him much to worry about.
It was getting late, so Sang Luoluo went to find her dormitory first. Several separate dormitory buildings stood behind the Guard's office building.
She checked the room Lei Qi had applied for. It was a six-person room, not very spacious, and there were already people inside.
She checked the check-in information on her watch. There were already five people in the room, making her the sixth.
She didn't like living with other people.
Seeing that there were other options, she chose a four-square-meter single room for four days, at twice the price of a regular room. A bed in the six-person room cost 7 points a night, while the single room she chose cost 15 points a night.
She decisively selected the single room and rented it for four days. The points were deducted immediately.
She headed toward the accommodation area. The single room was on the ground floor, which was convenient. Following the information on her watch, she found her room number and scanned her watch to enter. When she opened the door, she saw a small bed and a small wardrobe.
So this was the Guard's single room. They called it a single room, but it didn't even have its own toilet or shower.
It was already much better than the six-person room. It didn't matter if it lacked the rest.
It was already eight in the evening, and Sang Luoluo thought she would go out to buy some things.
Her previous points, plus what she had earned today, left her with a balance of 706.
She read some of the base Guard's employee regulations on her watch and learned that there were several shopping streets near the base entrance. The Guard had a large population and decent incomes, so naturally their spending levels weren't low either.
As it happened, this place was only a fifteen-minute walk from the home she had rented, very close.
With the few points she currently had on hand, she would buy some nutrient solution first.
The shopping street was bustling, with even more small vendors than before the apocalypse, though there was a greater variety of businesses. It was much larger than the trading area in the shantytown outside the city.
She found a chain supermarket and went inside. The prices of nutrient solution had returned to normal: ordinary nutrient solution cost 3 points a tube, the special offer expiring in three days cost 2 points a tube, and fruit-flavored nutrient solution cost 5 points a tube.
Fruit-flavored nutrient solution was rarely seen in the shantytown.
Sang Luoluo decided to stock up.
She bought 10 tubes of strawberry, 10 of peach, 10 of grape, 10 of apple, and 10 of original flavor, for a total of 230 points.
Sang Luoluo paid, leaving a balance of 476 points.
The shop also sold watches. She went over and asked, "Hello, do you know which model Guard members usually choose?"
The shop assistant spotted the prominent Guard badge on Sang Luoluo's chest and knew business had arrived. They offered a recommendation. "Most people buy the S3501. It has a particularly strong signal and good build quality, with all the functions you need."
Seeing its price of 390 points, Sang Luoluo picked it up to try it. It had many more functions than the one she was wearing. For instance, she could chat while operating the computer, project games, watch videos, and there were also
livestreaming
channels, community forums, and so on. Its functions were more comprehensive.
Sang Luoluo immediately paid and imported the information from her watch. She could just toss the old one into her space later.
After switching to the new watch, she had 86 points left.
At the pharmacy next door, Sang Luoluo pointed out her bruises and newly scabbed wounds to the shop assistant. "What medicine should I use for bumps and scrapes while out?"
"I recommend this Wound Heal Fast. It reduces swelling, relieves pain, promotes circulation, and disperses bruising. Just spray it on, and it helps wounds heal quickly. It's our best-selling medicine for external injuries. Many Guard members keep it on hand. It's 50 points for 10 ml."
Sang Luoluo calculated her remaining balance. "I'll take one."
Her balance was 36.
Points really didn't last.
Sang Luoluo was tired too. She would exchange for more points the next time she came out.
When she reached the end of the shopping street, she discovered a general store. Its crafts had caught her attention. For instance, Sang Luoluo saw a type of transparent bottle made by processing the leaves and stems of a mutant plant. It resembled the plastic bottles of the past but was sturdier than plastic and lighter than glass.
It had the advantage of being nonpolluting and easily biodegradable. Once in contact with soil, it could dissolve into it within three months.
Sang Luoluo found it interesting and went inside to ask, "Boss, how much are these bottles?"
The owner was a young man. When Sang Luoluo entered, he was operating a machine to process his merchandise. He only stopped after completing the final sterilization step.
"The 500 ml ones are 10 for 1 point, the 1-liter ones are 5 for 1 point, and the 5-liter ones are 1 point each. The larger ones over there range from 3 to 5 points. If you buy a lot of mineral water bottles, I can give you a discount."
Sang Luoluo glanced at his mineral water bottle processing machine. It took up half the room, and its technology was very mature, almost fully automated.