Chapter 301: Bound to the Birth System, Becoming a Winner in Life Chapter 302: Apocalyptic Natural Disaster Cannon Fodder (10)

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Protagonist:

Shen Yao

Several other young men and women were responsible for the same mission as Shen Yao, all looking thin and weak.

Hmm, this counts as special consideration.

Complaining to herself, Shen Yao walked in front in the rain while the others followed slowly behind, even having the leisure to chat.

Their discussion was all about things recently appearing online, and that group of people who had migrated from the suburbs.

Rimu City was not a large city; the more outsiders there were, the more they squeezed the living space of the locals.

Many people were unwilling to let Rimu City become a choice area for migrants, but unfortunately this did not require their agreement, and the officials chose to act directly.

"I heard from relatives at home that once the rain lessens, another batch of those people will move into the city," those who could move in were definitely people who had contributed to the country, or whose own health was not good, "maybe our residential area will even be assigned a few households."

As long as there were empty houses in the residential area, the officials would take them for reuse; this was something the management had long known.

"I hope not too many people come over, and that they get along well," someone thought naively.

"Tsk, whether there are many or few people, they won't get along well," someone harbored malice.

"Alright, let's talk after they arrive; let's hurry and finish the work at hand."

"……"

Shen Yao lowered her head to check several drainage wells; two were blocked by fallen branches and leaves that had been smashed down, and one was constantly overflowing with water.

"Come take a look, should we call someone?" Shen Yao pointed at the overflowing drainage well and retreated several meters.

The people she called came, and the topic just now was naturally cut off.

Their gazes fell on the well cover; some agreed with Shen Yao's words, while others found it troublesome and wanted to pry the well cover open first.

"We've reached a unanimous opinion; the Group Leader assigned us this small part of the South District," but encountering an overflowing drainage well led to endless arguing.

Not one person in their group could handle things; basically everyone just said a sentence.

Shen Yao stared at the overflowing drainage well, feeling that this water had some problem.

Silently retreating again and again, she did not speak, but someone suggested a show of hands vote.

Anyway, they couldn't make up their minds, so why not let the minority obey the majority?

Sure enough, the number of people agreeing to tell the Group Leader was fewer than those who wanted to dig the drainage well directly.

"Then let's start digging; it's been overflowing all along," a small shallow beach formed around it, wet and disgusting.

"Everyone come help," someone took the lead, tapped the iron rod in his hand, turned around and called people.

Two or three came over to help, and Shen Yao also hid in the back and contributed a portion of effort.

With a bang, the covered well cover flipped over, followed by several earth-shattering screams, and someone fell down.

Shen Yao: ……

Shen Yao retreated, dodging the people in front, and happened to look up, only to discover a white and chubby corpse in that overflowing drainage well.

The visual stimulus affected her physical senses; the nauseating feeling made Shen Yao grip the tool in her hand tightly.

Ignoring the others still shouting and screaming there, Shen Yao hurriedly called the Group Leader to have people come over.

What came next was not something Shen Yao should manage; she used physical discomfort as an excuse and hurried back to her room, this matter temporarily ending here.

Unexpectedly, Wei Mingyu returned in the evening, with thick dark circles that could not hide his exhausted face.

Shen Yao let him in and handed him a clean towel, "Related to that corpse?"

The matter of a corpse coming out of the well cover in the afternoon had already spread in the residential area group.

Wei Mingyu nodded, drying his hair with the towel while turning his body to avoid water droplets falling on the ground.

"The corpse's identity was confirmed; he had records of petty theft before, then went missing," thinking he hid somewhere, but unexpectedly he just died directly.

Shen Yao blinked, thinking to herself, can this be said? Is it too hasty?

"It's fine, an announcement has already been issued," actually, incidents like people dying had been common recently.

The officials would choose to act and conceal it under the premise of not affecting the public, but something like this appearing in the residential area definitely required a large-scale soothing effort.

Shen Yao understood, and then asked, "You guys still can't come back recently?"

Wei Mingyu's room was practically just for show; it was truly a waste of such a good location.

"I heard from the group that outsiders will move into the city; your room," surely they weren't asking him to give it up, which would be of no benefit to Shen Yao.

"There aren't many rooms that can be arranged in the whole residential area; this building is still safe."

His room couldn't be given up either; the official resettlement houses had condition restrictions, and those who could move in had all made extraordinary contributions, especially their residential area—though the facilities and buildings weren't very new, the people living here all carried weight.

Shen Yao being able to buy property here could only be said to be a matter of heaven, earth, and man; before the disaster, no means were needed, but after the disaster, all means were useless.

Shen Yao felt relieved and asked Wei Mingyu to rest his feet in the living room.

Wei Mingyu waved his hand, "I still need to go back to the police station for duty later; I came this time because I live in the residential area," otherwise this task wouldn't be assigned to him.

Recently Wei Mingyu had been responsible for maintaining order in the suburbs, twenty-four hours a day, with twenty hours spent busy.

Coming back this time, in others' eyes it counted as rushing about, but in Wei Mingyu's eyes it was a rare rest.

There wasn't much time to talk with Shen Yao; Wei Mingyu still had things to handle when he returned to the police station.

Hurriedly saying goodbye, Wei Mingyu left, leaving only a small puddle of water on the ground.

Shen Yao took out a mop and wiped it, then walked to the sofa herself to check the group records.

Sure enough, the group was already discussing, all about the official announcement.

Only seeing black text on a white background, concisely and clearly stating the cause and effect. The big shots only thought this matter was already over, except for the few who had experienced it personally.

Shen Yao scrolled on her phone for a while, then received the news that Wei Mingyu had arrived at the police station.

They wished each other good night, and Shen Yao lay on her side on the sofa, head lowered, pondering something.

A message popped up in the phone chat group — the student group that had been inactive for a long time.

Shen Yao raised her hand and tapped in, only to see a familiar avatar cursing up a storm.

Huh?

Fingers sliding upward to scroll back, Shen Yao learned the whole story and marveled that her decision to return from Jiang City early had truly been wise.

Class One, thirty people — most were wiped out in Jiang City, and the survivors all held their own tangled grievances and hatreds.

Tsk tsk tsk.

Is this the real natural-disaster end of days? Besides external pressure, there's also internal backstabbing.

Watching the big show in the group, Shen Yao knew it was only because the internet had been restored after the migration that they could raise such an uproar; otherwise, with the net cut, who would know who.

She had no intention of getting involved with them; after secretly peeking at the screen, Shen Yao went back to her own business. Nowadays, hiding in Rimu City, this great rear area, they'd need extraordinarily good luck to run into her.

"Still, this gave me a wake-up call — can't be high-profile, have to lie low and keep my head down."

The nail that sticks out gets hammered first; Shen Yao knew she couldn't beat them in a fight, and she was still wearing shoes — how could she go head-to-head with barefoot desperadoes?

Apart from the daily tasks assigned by the residential compound, the lying-low Shen Yao had no chance to go out.

Later, as the rain grew lighter and lighter, others went out in raincoats or with umbrellas, but Shen Yao still stayed home, playing the shut-in.

Occasionally her behavior would be gossiped about by others — after all, Shen Yao was too solitary.

A girl not that old should like lively scenes; how could she endure staying indoors day after day without socializing?

"Little Shen, we're going to the supermarket to shop — come along with us."

The upstairs resident was very friendly, a warm-hearted fifty-year-old auntie.

Maybe professional habit — a smile at first sight — whatever she did, she habitually thought of others.

Shen Yao got to know this auntie because of the tasks assigned by the compound.

The auntie had a good nature; seeing Shen Yao all alone and needing care, over time they developed more affection than with others.

"Aunt Zhou, wait a moment, I'll grab an umbrella." The rain outside had dwindled to a drizzle — she could go without, but for safety's sake Shen Yao still geared up fully.

Following behind Aunt Zhou, Shen Yao walked at an unhurried pace; the two chatted a bit about compound group matters — the empty apartments had been assigned people, who would be moving in these few days.

"Not our building — heard it's because we don't have many people, so rooms are enough to go around." Aunt Zhou waved her hand; climbing stairs was exhausting, and by the time they reached the ground floor she was huffing and puffing.

"Will there be a next time?" This time there's enough, but with so many people arriving, the day when it's not enough will surely come.

"Definitely. The coast has vanished completely; those people can only be resettled by migrating to our side — no choice, who told this place to have high elevation?"

The housing problem will grow increasingly tight; even though the suburbs keep building houses, what gets built will never be enough for the people pouring in.

This time the uptown apartments were partitioned, partly to relieve pressure on the suburbs; when wave after wave of migrants arrive later, the uptown outskirts will still have to break ground and build.

Speaking of this, Aunt Zhou mentioned the shelters unusable because of the rain.

"Once the rainy season passes, clean up the shelters a bit and they can house another batch."

This rain has lasted so long that most people now call it the rainy season, almost like a fifth season of the year.

Quite a few people were downstairs in the compound — all heading to the supermarket to buy supplies.

Now the supermarkets are under official control; buying and selling is strict, yet it also guarantees ordinary people's livelihoods.

Of course, some private supermarkets are still open, but prices stay sky-high — unless your family owns a mine, everyone queues at the official supermarket.

Aunt Zhou's group was heading to the official supermarket, lining up to enter; while waiting they could stand together and chat to kill the boredom.

Shen Yao stayed right by Aunt Zhou's side, close enough to touch. But she didn't talk much — unless Aunt Zhou asked her, she acted as if she didn't exist.

"The line's moving, hurry in, hurry in — hard enough getting out once, don't hold back."

Although every household has enough grain, daily vegetables and fruit are still in short supply — especially on the plateau, where growing vegetables and fruit is very difficult.

Take the most common apple: normally one costs a few yuan, now an ordinary one costs over ten bucks — truly unaffordable.

The supermarket had lots of fruit, but the prices were relatively high.

Shen Yao picked a few apples and oranges here and there, then queued to buy two cans, and followed Aunt Zhou's group to check out and go home.

Coincidentally — or fate — they ran into Wei Mingyu, who had come to help.

Shen Yao: …

If she didn't know Wei Mingyu was usually very busy, Shen Yao would suspect they were bound by fate — the odds of running into each other every time she went out were too high.

Wei Mingyu was also very surprised; his face was haggard but couldn't hide his good looks, and in uniform he looked sharp and spirited.

"Came with Aunt Zhou and them?" Wei Mingyu pointed at the supermarket and lowered his voice: "Official channel's getting a batch of warm cold-proof clothing — remember to seize the time to snap them up."

The cold wave after the rainy season will be bitterly cold; Wei Mingyu heard internal word that temperatures will plummet, similar to the initial drought.

The shelters will definitely be activated, but the arriving migrants also need resettlement — completely different from the composure when fleeing the drought initially.

Shen Yao nodded obediently, signaling Wei Mingyu not to worry about her — she had plenty of ways to keep warm.

Even if she couldn't get into a shelter then, she had other methods.

But right now, before she could speak, Aunt Zhou came out and called Shen Yao over.

"Little Shen, let's hurry home — outside it's crowded and chaotic."

Once Aunt Zhou started nagging there was no end, but her words weren't annoying — just the ordinary thoughts any elderly person would have.

Shen Yao gave an "Mm," nodded, waved at Wei Mingyu, and carried her things home.

All in all, Shen Yao's life in Rimu City was monotonous and boring, yet also a peaceful tranquility many envied.

No need to worry about daily food and clothing, no need to fret over personal safety — where could you find such a good life?

Shen Yao was content and happy, living each day with relish, until the rainy season passed and October arrived, when the weather suddenly turned cold.

It was truly instant winter — not giving them the slightest room to react.

Fortunately Wei Mingyu had warned her; Shen Yao had bought the official cold-proof clothes early — a thin layer worn on the body made her feel warm.

Wei Mingyu also returned from the police station; the room opposite now had occupants — the authorities, before travel became impossible, had moved in several more batches to settle.

The originally sealed shelter restarted, but it had nothing to do with people like them, because it was all used to accommodate the incoming population.

After all, housing was tight, especially since work was slow in the winter season; wanting to build houses, they would still have to delay until the cold wave passed.

For such a long time, it seemed people like Shen Yao could only hide in their rooms for warmth; if the temperature continued to drop off the charts, her own survival difficulty would be considerable.

Sigh

Feeling life was getting more and more bitter, sure enough, not finding a partner and having children was a wise choice; otherwise how would she take care of a little infant.

Thump thump thump—

The room door was knocked, and Shen Yao habitually welcomed the person at the doorway inside.

It was Wei Mingyu

How to say the relationship between the two people? Ambiguity to spare, lover shortage.

But neither of them pierced the window paper; they still got along with one another like this.

Shen Yao enjoyed the ambiguity; Wei Mingyu, on the other hand, was tormented in his inner heart to the point of not working, wanting to speak but afraid of delaying the other party, not speaking but feeling he owed the other party.

This person, outwardly appearing cold and indifferent, actually had a twisted heart inside.

Carrying the soup she had cooked herself, she came over; the two people currently counted as partnering up to live.

Breakfast each ate separately; lunch and dinner combined together; Shen Yao living alone was not a long-term plan, Wei Mingyu's identity however you put it was enough to deter other people.