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“Mengqi?” The girl beside her called out to her again when she didn’t respond.
Zhao Mengqi snapped out of her thoughts and shook her head. “No, my mother and sister are waiting for me at home, so need to go back quickly.”
“There’s a hospital here too, and I heard that someone who suffered from toxin accumulation from eating a mutated beast was saved by Boss Jiang. You could try bringing your mother here for a check-up,” the girl kindly reminded her.
Hearing this, Zhao Mengqi turned her head sharply, hope flashing in her eyes. Her mother’s body had already been weakened by childbirth, and when coupled with the toxins that had been accumulated inside her, her body was ultimately too weak to expel them. “Really?”
The girl nodded. “It’s true. The news has already spread everywhere. Everyone says that if you accidentally eat a mutated beast, you can go to Boss Jiang for help.”
Zhao Mengqi was so eager she wanted to bring her mother here immediately, but a cold breeze soon blew past her, quickly allowing her to regain her senses.
Ignoring the long journey, her mother’s body was so weak she couldn’t possibly withstand traveling. The most important thing for her to do now was to buy clothes and take them back first.
The wind outside was so cold it stung people’s cheeks, yet the gourmet city was bustling with activity. There were crowds everywhere, especially outside the convenience store that was selling down jackets and cotton-padded clothes, the store was absolutely packed to the brim.
Seeing this, everyone hurried over to queue, afraid they might miss out.
Zhao Mengqi hadn’t waited for long in the crowd before she saw a group of people coming through the entrance of the gourmet city. Each of them was pushing a cart, and tied to the carts were the very down jackets, cotton-padded clothes, and quilts they had been longing for.
The survivors in the queue stared at the piles of clothes and quilts with stars in their eyes, their gazes practically glued to them.
“Mengqi?” Zhao Mengqi snapped out of her thoughts. The one calling out to her was Xie Ling. They had met during a past mission and had gone through life and death together. Their personalities were also quite similar, so they had become fast friends and had kept in touch over the years.
“What are you doing here?” Seeing a familiar friend, a faint smile appeared on Zhao Mengqi’s face.
“I moved here. You also know how our previous base leader was useless. Our whole base almost died during that epidemic, but Boss Jiang ended up saving us. After that, I brought the entire base over to join Boss Jiang.”
After all, the survivors had been living in the apocalypse for ten years now. Apart from a few lone wolf survivors, most people had taken root where they had settled, so leaving their original base was tantamount to upheaving their entire lives.
But judging by Xie Ling’s complexion and the clothes she was wearing, it was clear she was doing well, in fact, she seemed to be doing much better than before. Even the smile on her face seemed to be appearing more frequently than before.
“So the base they were talking about that joined Gourmet City was your base,” Zhao Mengqi said, finally coming to the realisation.
“That’s right. Are you here to buy down jackets and quilts? With so many people, who knows how long the queue will take? Come with me, I’ll take you through the back door,” Xie Ling offered.
Zhao Mengqi quickly declined. “No, no, don’t break the rules for me. Boss Jiang might get upset.”
“No worries, Boss Jiang said that each of us has the privilege of bringing a friend through the back door once,” Xie Ling laughed again. Zhao Mengqi noticed that Xie Ling had truly become much more cheerful now, with her smiles becoming noticeably more frequent.
Zhao Mengqi was momentarily stunned, suddenly recalling the leader of her own base. He was no longer the same person as he had been a few years ago. While the base leader usually appeared dignified, they only knew how to hide behind closed doors when trouble arose.
When this harsh winter had hit the base, the base leader and the logistics director had merely offered a symbolic amount of supplies and advised everyone to stay indoors before shutting themselves in with their families and subordinates to live a comfortable life.
Regardless of how many people froze to death or fell ill outside, their attitudes toward them were extremely dismissive. The survivors were deeply disheartened by this behaviour and had no choice but to seek out their own solutions.
Now, seeing Xie Ling with her rosy complexion and how she was already dressed in warm cotton clothes, Zhao Mengqi realized that the leaders of her base couldn’t even compare to a single finger of Boss Jiang.
She was led by Xie Ling to the back of the convenience store, where there was a small door. Inside was the store’s warehouse.
When Xie Ling entered, someone was counting the cotton clothes and blankets that had been delivered. Upon seeing Xie Ling, they greeted her.
“Sister Su, I’ve brought a friend here to buy a few things,” Xie Ling said.
The short-haired survivor in front of her nodded briskly, “Alright, then now your privilege has been used up now, I’ve kept track of it for you. Go ahead and pick what you need, and we’ll calculate the crystal cores. Remember the rules.”
Xie Ling nodded. When bringing someone here to buy things, naturally it also meant they had to abide by the rules here to avoid encountering those who would steal or act shamelessly.
She had heard before about an employee’s friend who had come here to buy things but had secretly stuffed a lot of other items into their pockets to take out. However, before they could even leave, they were caught on the spot and had both hands injured, with the employee fired as a result as well.
Xie Ling had heard that there were surveillance cameras everywhere. Although she didn’t know where they were installed, she knew that Boss Jiang could see everything that happened in Gourmet City, with it’s range even including base’s train station.
Since then, the survivors had become much more restrained, at least not daring to openly cause trouble in Gourmet City. After all, the fates of those who had been kicked out before were all grim—either dead or crippled.
Zhao Mengqi was dumbfounded by the abundance of supplies in front of her. Only after Xie Ling’s reminder did she start picking out what she needed.
She didn’t just pick out cotton clothes and blankets, but also selected a lot of daily necessities, wanting to take advantage of this opportunity to buy more so she could bring them home.
When it came time to settle the crystal cores, Zhao Mengqi was unsure how much everything would cost and felt a bit anxious about the price. Although she had brought a lot of crystal cores with her, it was also true that she had bought quite a few items that exceeded her original budget. She thought to herself that if she didn’t have enough crystal cores this time, then she would have to leave a few things behind and come back to buy them another time.
However, she didn’t expect that her pile of items wasn’t as expensive as she thought, and that she hadn’t even managed to use up half of the crystal cores she had brought.
Hearing that she lived far away, the staff at the convenience store even used a vacuum sealer to compress the cotton clothes and blankets into bags for easier transportation.
Coming out of the convenience store’s back door, Xie Ling looked at Zhao Mengqi who was still dazed and chuckled softly. When she had first moved here, she had been just like Zhao Mengqi, finding everything new and fascinating.
“Boss Jiang.” At this moment, Xie Ling’s call pulled Zhao Mengqi back from her thoughts. She looked up and saw a particularly young and beautiful girl walking over, accompanied by a tall and handsome man.
Zhao Mengqi suddenly became nervous and also greeted her, “Boss Jiang.”
“Hello, is this your friend?” Jiang Ci asked with a smile.
“Yes, I still had one of my privileges left, so I used them for my friend,” Xie Ling replied with a smile. “By the way, Boss Jiang, her mother also has toxin accumulating in her body, so I was wondering if our hospital could treat her?”
Zhao Mengqi didn’t expect Xie Ling to bring up her matter so directly, but she truly was eager to know the answer, so she just shot Xie Ling a grateful look.
Jiang Ci thought seriously for a while, “Yes, I can treat her. Did your mother come here with you?”
“No… not yet,” Zhao Mengqi’s breathing quickened. She had originally thought that Jiang Ci would be a little arrogant now that she was a highly sought after figure in the post-apocalyptic world. She hadn’t expected her to be so approachable. She steadied her mind and briefly explained her mother’s condition to Jiang Ci. When she mentioned that her mother didn’t have much time left to live, her voice started to crack.
“It just so happens that I was planning to go out to make some deliveries these couple of days. If it’s convenient with you, I can go along with you,” Jiang Ci sighed after listening to Zhao Mengqi’s story and then said, “We can drive there.”
When it came to talking about the car, Jiang Ci’s eyes lit up.
Song Jinchuan turned his head and looked at her with amusement. Only he knew that Jiang Ci was increasingly reluctant to ride her electric scooter when going out these days. To be precise, she didn’t even want to go out at all because it was too cold, with the wind feeling like knives cutting into her face.
However, the system still issued her tasks, so she had no choice but to go out to make deliveries. Coincidentally, she happened to come across Zhao Mengqi’s issue and decided to solve it all in one go. It had been a while since she last used her healing ability.
pls do not share this anywhere or u will always stub ur toe when u walk past a door frame !! this translation has been stolen from mioscorner.com, pls only read there i’m begging u :kneels:
Zhao Mengqi went to inform her companions at the base that she would be leaving early. Her companions didn’t mind since they wanted to stay in the gourmet city to eat something before heading back. After reminding Zhao Mengqi to be careful, they quickly disappeared into the crowd. Zhao Mengqi also missed the chance to tell them that Boss Jiang would be taking her home.
When she returned to the entrance of Gourmet City, she saw a bus slowly approaching. Jiang Ci was sitting in the passenger seat, waving at her.
Zhao Mengqi boarded the bus with her belongings. The interior of the bus was as warm and comfortable as the inside of the train when she first saw it.
Jiang Ci took some of the things from her hands and placed them on the floor, “Just sit in the first row. There’s no one else on the bus anyway.”
Zhao Mengqi nodded. While on the bus, Jiang Ci asked about her mother’s condition, and she proceeded to explain in detail.
Jiang Ci mentally reviewed the situation and felt that her healing ability should be sufficient.
The journey had taken more than three days, but the return trip only took a few hours. Zhao Mengqi couldn’t help but marvel at the convenience of having a bus.
The bus stopped at the entrance and was then stored in Jiang Ci’s space. Previously, there had been instances where she had left the bus outside, which subsequently caused it to be coveted by other survivors. Jiang Ci found it troublesome, so she simply stored it in her space instead.
This base didn’t leave a good first impression on Jiang Ci. The words “dirty” and “messy” didn’t even seem to fully encapsulate the situation.
Seeing Jiang Ci frown, Zhao Mengqi felt her face burn with embarrassment. Although Gourmet City was crowded, the whole place was still clean and tidy. Not only did the survivors consciously refrain from littering, but there were also dedicated staff members responsible for cleaning up the place, nothing at all like their own base.
“I’m sorry for making you see such a joke, Boss Jiang.”
“What does this have to do with you? It’s obviously the result of poor management from the base leaders,” Jiang Ci said.
There were few people in the base. It seemed like everyone had holed themselves up in their houses for the winter. Jiang Ci looked around and noticed a few villas with their lights still on. “What’s that place over there? Are they the only ones who have electricity?”
“Those are the residences of the base leaders,” Zhao Mengqi replied, her eyes turning cold. “They not only have electricity, but also many necessary supplies are exclusive to them.”
Although resources were scarce, they weren’t completely nonexistent. However, some leaders would rather hoard the good stuff for themselves and only let a few scraps trickle down to the ordinary survivors below them.
the translator has nothing to add ◡̈
