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The survivors immediately broke into smiles, feeling as if a weight had been lifted from their hearts.
After settling these people, Jiang Ci made another trip to the hospital. The survivors with minor injuries had already been bandaged up and were sitting obediently in the hospital lobby, waiting for Jiang Ci to pick them up.
The cold weather had led to many cases of the flu, so the hospital was still bustling with people coming and going.
Once the survivors had collected their medications, Jiang Ci led them back to the base.
Hu Xue was still wrapped in the cotton coat Jiang Ci had given her. Although the bullet had been removed from her leg, she still couldn’t put much weight on it and was relying on a borrowed crutch from the hospital.
Standing in front of the base’s residential building, she felt a surge of emotions. She had no family left in the base, so the idea of staying here permanently began to take root in her mind.
Huang Dian, who was holding his son who had already taken his medicine, approached Jiang Ci to discuss the possibility of permanent residence. Seeing someone take the initiative and noticing the gradually dwindling number of available rooms, the survivors quickly gathered around to express their intentions.
In the end, it took another half a day to finally settle all these matters.
Jiang Ci felt as if she were floating while walking back. It seemed she needed to cut down on staying up late in the future.
*
After Huang Dian had processed the identity cards for him and his son, he chose a room at the end of the corridor.
As soon as they entered the room, his son, who had been nestling weakly in his arms, soon started squirming so he could jump down. The boy let out an exclamation in amazement and ran from one room to another.
“Dad, is this really going to be our home from now on? Just the two of us? We don’t have to live with other people anymore?”
Listening to his son’s continuous questions, Huang Dian, a man of 1.9 meters, nearly started to shed tears. He turned his head to hide himself from his son to wipe a tear from the corner of his eye before replying, “Yes, this will be our home from now on.”
Huang Doudou’s eyes lit up. Although his face was still pale, he looked much better than the near-death state he was in yesterday.
Huang Dian finally felt a sense of relief. After putting away his belongings, he went out to exchange his crystal core for points and then headed to the local agricultural store to buy something to nourish his son’s body.
Huang Doudou was still in a weak state and had just been momentarily excited for a while. Now that he was settled in bed by Huang Dian, he soon fell into a deep sleep.
The survivors carried their crystal cores with them, hidden in concealed places. Although they had been robbed of many things by that group, they still managed to keep some crystal cores for themselves.
After exchanging a third-level crystal core, he went to the agricultural market to buy a chicken and some dried goods like dates and wolfberries. Although he hadn’t cooked since the apocalypse, he had seen his mother and wife do it before, so he roughly knew what he needed to buy.
He then bought some essential daily necessities. Passing by a supermarket, he saw the small cakes inside and went in to buy one.
Carrying bags of various sizes in his hands, he realised had just spent all of the available points he had exchanged for. It had to be said, things here were indeed very cheap.
Walking back to the residential building, Huang Dian noticed the greenery he hadn’t paid attention to before. He didn’t know what species they were, but they were still lush and vibrant in this weather. Some survivors were sweeping the fallen snow off them while chatting and laughing, creating a very harmonious atmosphere.
Huang Dian felt a sense of peace he had never experienced before. Some survivors greeted him warmly, and he nodded back with a smile.
Returning home, he chopped the chicken into pieces and put them into the pot with various ingredients to stew. When the familiar aroma began to waft into his nose and he stood in the kitchen, looking at the snowy scene outside the window, his tears suddenly began to fall uncontrollably.
*
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:
Jiang Ci slept straight through the day until five o’clock the next morning. After a full night’s sleep, she felt refreshed and clear-headed, with the only issue being that she was now famished.
However, before she could go out, she saw the meal that had been kept warm in a small electric rice cooker on the table. It seemed like Song Jinchuan had prepared this for her.
After dinner, the system informed Jiang Ci of something that made her particularly happy: after all her relentless efforts, the hotpot restaurant had finally reached its highest level. Its ultimate form was a six-story, classically styled Chinese hotpot restaurant in the real world.
There was a main hall, private rooms upstairs, a rotating hotpot area, a skewer hotpot section, and on the newly added sixth floor, there were additional rest areas, including a nail salon, a movie-watching zone, and lounges.
Jiang Ci used her points to add a convenience store on the sixth floor in the real world, turning the place into a fully equipped shopping mall, her aim being to make people never want to leave once they arrived.
In the blink of an eye, Jiang Ci had been here for over a year—almost two years—though only about a month had passed in reality. During this time, she had still received calls from her parents, their earnest words bringing tears to her eyes more than once.
Now that the hotpot restaurant was secured, the system generously gave Jiang Ci a few days off to return to the real world and take over the restaurant.
It had become a common occurrence for Jiang Ci to leave for a few days to complete tasks, and both the restaurant staff and the survivors at the base had grown accustomed to it.
Jiang Ci temporarily handed over these trivial matters to Song Jinchuan. He was meticulous and thorough in his work, so she felt at ease when entrusting these matters to him.
Upon learning that Jiang Ci would be leaving for several days, Song Jinchuan felt a surge of reluctance, though he showed no outward sign of it. Instead, he began to prepare many things for her to take back.
Although he didn’t know where Jiang Ci went when she left by herself, he had a vague sense that she would no longer be in this world. Every time she left, he felt a pang of anxiety, fearing she might not return.
Jiang Ci packed all the items she had prepared for her parents and relatives into her space, then turned to Song Jinchuan and said, “I’ll leave things to you during this time. I’ll make sure to bring back some local specialties for you!”
Song Jinchuan smiled and gently reminded her, “Alright, take care and make sure to come back… soon.”
Jiang Ci smiled back at him, then turned and headed to her room.
As she was about to open the door, she inexplicably turned to glance back. Song Jinchuan stood in the snow, his figure looking somewhat lonely. For so long, the two of them had been almost inseparable, with Song Jinchuan always quietly by her side. For some reason, she felt a soft lump stir in her heart.
That sudden impulse made her turn and walk back to Song Jinchuan.
Song Jinchuan looked puzzled, but before he could ask what was wrong, he felt her hug him gently. He froze in place, and by the time he regained his composure, Jiang Ci was already gone.
Jiang Ci was completely unaware of the emotional bomb she had left behind. Upon returning to the real world, she headed straight to the address of the hotpot restaurant she now owned.
She had already taken the property deed out of her space and glanced at it. All the information had been filled in. As her eyes moved down and saw her name on the deed, Jiang Ci’s eyes welled up with tears.
The hotpot restaurant, previously covered with construction cloth, had now been unveiled, revealing the six-story building to the public.
Its design blended well with the surrounding museums and other tourist attractions. When Jiang Ci arrived, a few people were standing at the entrance taking photos, asking passersby what tourist spot this was. Upon learning it was privately owned, many seemed disappointed.
From the outside, it truly was a beautiful sight.
Seeing so many people at the front door, Jiang Ci decided to go around to the back entrance. Just like the small courtyard where she currently lived, the hotpot restaurant also had a backyard. The yard contained a vegetable patch, a few fruit trees, several rooms, a kitchen, a storage room, and other facilities.
[This is a reward for you, Host. Thanks to you, the energy collection on this planet has been the fastest out of all. Other planets haven’t even reached half of our progress.] The system’s voice sounded pleased, as if it had already been praised by its superiors.
The crystal cores, referred to as “energy” by the system, were fragments scattered across various planets and were part of the cause of the apocalypse.
Therefore, the main planet where the system originated would dispatch various systems and hosts to help collect these energy fragments.
As Jiang Ci and the system grew closer, she had pieced together bits and pieces of information from it, at least it was enough for her to understand the truth.
“Thank you,” Jiang Ci expressed her gratitude sincerely. “This way, I can bring my parents here to live with me.”
She thought of her parents’ increasingly gray hair, her father’s constant complaints of back pain when moving goods, and her mother’s wrist, which could no longer bear any strain and caused her to break into a cold sweat whenever she tried to after the accident.
The supermarket they had opened in the past was for survival, but now that she had grown up and had a system account with a balance in the tens of billions, there was no need for them to work so hard anymore.
Jiang Ci placed her belongings in the small courtyard and then went to check out the front of the shop.
It was identical to the shop she had owned in the apocalypse, except for the sixth floor, which Jiang Ci had completely transformed into a small shopping mall with various entertainment-oriented shops.
After enjoying a meal downstairs, customers could go upstairs to play, with a whole day not being enough to experience everything the store had to offer. There were also a few hotels conveniently located nearby.
Jiang Ci exchanged some of her points for money. The shop still needed interior decorations, plants, raw materials, and she also needed to start hiring staff. She also planned to buy a car to drive back and pick up her parents.
After calculating all of this, she realized she might have to stay here for nearly a month.
The system was also generous, stating that if there were no special events, Jiang Ci could take a few extra days off to handle things here before returning.
Feeling reassured, Jiang Ci began exchanging her points. After the exchange, her bank account instantly received a sum of money. The system assured her that the source of this money would be perfectly legitimate and would not raise any suspicions.
She went directly to a luxury car dealership and picked out a comfortable and cost efficient sedan.
Although she hadn’t driven much in the real world, she had already become quite skilled at driving buses during the apocalypse. She had obtained her driver’s license after graduating from university, and only now did it finally come in handy in the real world.
After familiarizing herself with the car, Jiang Ci drove it to handle the shop’s paperwork. Although she had the property and land deeds, she still needed health permits and other certifications to open a hotpot restaurant.
the translator has nothing to add ◡̈
