Chapter 906

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Main Character:

Shen Yao

Sometimes, change hides within ordinary daily life.

Shen Yao didn't know why the planting fields to the west had been temporarily sealed off, but it didn't affect her daily rhythm; the space had ample meat, eggs, and dairy, and the kitchen still held plenty of rice, flour, grain, and oil — no matter how they ate, there was always enough left over.

Thump thump thump

The gate not far away was knocked on; Shen Yao listened to the movement, then simply got up from the bed.

Her pajamas had creased from pressure; Shen Yao didn't mind, tugging at them here and there, then went to the doorway and opened the door — unsurprisingly running into the staff who came for the daily registration.

Wearing the Official's unique black and white striped uniform, said to be a high-tech product of the Laboratory; it not only guards against certain attack damage but also provides simple cold and heat protection. Especially this black and white striped uniform — not all Official staff have it; only a few lucky ones or those with relatively important duties receive it.

"Madam Shen, proceeding with registration."

The Official staff's words were simple and clear: just recording the residents of the entire building, because there are always people who cannot return in time for various reasons; after the Official tally, there is a minimum limit — if exceeded, not only is extra expense required, but they might also have to give up this residence and move to other residential areas further back.

Not everyone can be allocated to this building; the convenience of daily life is a benefit borne of someone shouldering the burden. Shen Yao's family has three exceptionally capable daughters; the staff coming to register all know this.

Shen Yao took the notebook from the staff's hand; without a word she found her own spot, signed her name with two swift strokes, then smiled faintly as she watched the staff leave.

Click

The open door was shut; at the same time, next door — separated from her by only a mountain — the staff knocked open that door.

Unlike the cool quiet on her side, next door was extremely lively: not only children's noisy clamor, but adults' talking voices, even the staff's voices drowned inside. If Shen Yao didn't listen carefully, she couldn't make out what was being said.

Returning to sit before the dining table, Shen Yao took out the communication device she had been clutching in her hand.

The palm-sized screen above was clean and spotless; at the very bottom was a small mailbox, on which a red number appeared — messages she had not yet checked.

Opening it to check, Shen Chengyi's message was as concise as ever: stating her mission still had a period of time before completion; corresponding supplies had already been submitted for application; Official staff would deliver them to the door; Shen Yao only needed to sign for them normally and use them.

Compared to Shen Chengyi's formality, Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengning's messages appeared playful.

Especially Shen Chengyu — her message was full of her own nagging complaints, ending with a supplementary line about return arrangements, telling Shen Yao not to worry too much.

Shen Chengning seemed to know the content of Shen Chengyu's message; what she did was supplement and perfect it based on Shen Chengyu's message, to prevent Shen Yao from not seeing it and misunderstanding their expressions.

Shen Yao: …

Be that as it may, her three daughters each have their own personality traits; even though Shen Yao had long grown used to it, emotional fluctuations still arise.

Setting down the communication device in her hand, Shen Yao raised a hand to rub her face, got up and went to the bathroom for a simple wash, then taking advantage of the kitchen's convenience, Shen Yao fed her stomach that had been hungry all day.

With nothing to do, staying at home she could only communicate with the not-very-bright mutant apple sapling.

Shen Yao thought it over, then decided to go out for a trip — at least outside there were many places to wander, and she could also inquire about the Shelter's situation, or take the shuttle bus that runs to and from the Shelter daily to scavenge.

That's right

After the Shelter stabilized, the word "scavenging" appeared inside the Shelter.

Simply put, the Shelter divided the surrounding environment by different danger levels; Level 1 is the simplest, the higher it goes the harder it gets; currently the most dangerous nearby is a Level 5 Zone — said to be filled with all kinds of troublesome mutant creatures; even Shen Chengyi going in might not come out safely.

This rumor was broken by Shen Chengyi; the reason Shen Chengyi gave was that the Level 5 Zone's range is too large — once control is lost it would affect the Shelter; she herself would be fine, the key is the Shelter still has other ordinary people; therefore she suggested raising this place to Level 5, strictly forbidding other people inside the Shelter from courting death.

Most of the time, ordinary people only wander and gather in Level 1 Zones; occasionally encountering mutant creatures with no threat or limited threat is striking it rich.

Ability users choose to go to Level 2 or Level 3 Zones; these two places have more mutant creatures, but correspondingly, the benefits earned are also more — just relatively more dangerous than Level 1; if things go wrong they might not return.

As for the even more dangerous Level 4 Zone, besides Official Ability Users going on missions, Civilian Ability Users don't go there; that is a true danger zone, and wars often break out — the kind like thunder on a clear day; no need for the Shelter to emphasize it, no one goes near that side.

After the concept of scavenging came out, Shen Yao had only been to Level 1 Zones; hmm, indeed no danger, but equally no good things.

Ding—

As the ascending elevator arrived at her floor, Shen Yao carried the trash in her hand, walked up silently, and went downstairs together with the others.

The elevator space was spacious, but it couldn't withstand the sheer number of people inside; during the descent Shen Yao listened to these people's discussion content, and only then understood that the Official had posted several more recruitment notices — but because all required going outside, everyone appeared very hesitant, not daring to take the first step.

"Ah, heard the Official is short-handed; otherwise why would such a good job be given to us."

"Maybe it's a welfare benefit for Official personnel's family members; I heard my kid say, this Official recruitment has low danger of going out; my kid told me to try."

"True or false, mine didn't say, only told me to take good care of home; hmph, doesn't even look at how much he earns — where is it enough for a whole family's consumption."

"…"

Similar discussions are not uncommon; after leaving the elevator Shen Yao stepped even more into an ocean of voices — crowds and heated discussions everywhere; after all everyone's thoughts differ, some agree and some oppose, and the enclosed space intensified these discussions, to the point where gunpowder tension was thick, ready to explode at any time.

Shen Yao quickly left this relatively narrow (mainly because too many people) space, conveniently tossing the trash in her hand into the garbage bin outside the door.

A crowd surrounded the notice board not far away; Shen Yao glanced twice and directly gave up.

She planned to walk outward along the residential area; at this time it wasn't too late yet; the shuttle bus leaving the Shelter for the wilderness had empty seats.

Shen Yao snatched a seat to the Level 2 Zone; just a few minutes after she boarded, the shuttle bus started and drove away from the Shelter.

The ticket seller began collecting fees along the central aisle; each person had to hand in a special credit; if no special credit, ten credits could substitute, or today's harvest could be mortgaged.

Shen Yao swiped her own identity card, and at the same time she got a hemp sack for free from the seller's hand — a very ordinary hemp sack, used to hold gathered items, no money needed, but limited to one per person. Zhou Rong Rong had never been to a Level 2 Zone; her identity card lacked her information; that was why she could get the hemp sack for free.

Sitting next to her was a young girl with a watermelon-head hairstyle; after looking at Shen Yao a few times, she carefully reminded her that the Level 2 Zone is very dangerous — even with an ability, one must not go deeper inside.

Clearly, the little girl sitting next to her had a very thorough understanding of the Level 2 Zone; she should be a frequent visitor here. Shen Yao turned her head to look at the little girl; the ability on her body was obvious — she counted as a veteran.

"Mm, I'll just wander around the periphery."

Little girl: …

Actually everyone who comes says this, but seeing others' harvests they can't help walking deeper; the vast majority of such people never return — they don't just die at the hands of mutant creatures, but also at the hands of certain ill-intentioned people.

The Shelter strictly forbids internal strife or robbery, but once outside it's not so easy to investigate; some people avoid monitoring, even secretly bribe Official personnel.

Don't look at the little girl's young age; she has already experienced a great many things; similar collusion situations, she has seen no fewer than several times; in the end she gathered the evidence and secretly submitted it to the Official; regardless of whether the Official handles it or not, she no longer pays attention.

The shuttle bus drove slowly for nearly an hour and a half before reaching the Level 2 Zone.

This time it was a grass field waist-high on a person; inside there were not only mutant wild rabbits and mutant field mice, but occasionally one could also discover wild vegetables and wild fruits mixed in the weeds — the danger being the creatures that feed on these.

Shen Yao carried the hemp sack she had claimed for free in her hand, using the wooden stick the little girl had just given her in a friendly gesture to probe the way.

Compared to the others' proficiency, Shen Yao appeared completely unfamiliar; she still released her mental ability first to wait for feedback, and only after a map of this grass field emerged in her mind did she slowly pick a relatively safe route to gather.

Wild rabbit holes covered the entire grass field, along with elusive field mice; the path Shen Yao walked had fewer cave entrances, but inside the weeds were tied things resembling wild fruit, each bright red and orange, no bigger than a fingertip — plucked and tossed into the mouth they carried a faint sour astringency.

Bit by bit she plucked all the wild fruit and packed them into the hemp sack; the wooden stick in Shen Yao's hand flicked a motionless snake corpse away.

This was a small trick of mental ability — as long as she stimulated the snake's brain, she could send the snake into dormancy early; the grass field's snakes had no venom, Shen Yao did not care for this taste, but she could take advantage of the convenience to give them to others.

The little girl not far away grew excited, not knowing if today luck had fallen on her — she had actually picked up several small snakes as thick as fingers.

Although these small snakes were not filling to eat, selling them to the Officials could earn more points.

Moreover these snakes seemed to have been collectively poisoned, stiffening their bodies without any reaction.

Hehehe

All of them packed into the bag and taken back!

Watching the little girl's actions, Shen Yao found this person rather cute; she did not even suspect the source of these snakes, but since she liked them so much, let her take all these snake corpses away.

Relying on her mental ability, Shen Yao picked quite a lot of various wild fruits produced by the grass field; although these wild fruits had low energy, they tasted uniquely delicious, a rare delicacy.

The little girl who had given Shen Yao a wooden stick also harvested abundantly, a full bag stuffed with half-dead small snake corpses; even for safety's sake she hugged the bag in her arms, not fearing these small snakes might wake up and give her a bite.

The two returned to the bus one after another; by the time they returned to the Shelter, it was already afternoon.

The wild fruits Shen Yao had picked naturally had no intention of being sold to the Officials; she chose to take them all home — a portion put into her Space to preserve, a portion put into the refrigerator to eat as needed, and the remaining portion mixed with other things to make fruit jam, used to improve the three daughters' diet.

The West Planting Field bloomed again for half a month, and during this half month Shen Yao basically went to the Level 2 Zone to clock in every day.

Although the grass field side did not assign her many turns, Shen Yao still relied on her mental ability to pick quite a lot of fruit; only because these fruits had low energy value, they were not targeted by others.

A portion of these fruits was made into fruit jam with extremely high energy content and handed to Shen Chengyi and the other two; although they were currently out on missions, the Officials had special channels to contact them.

As the three's relative, Shen Yao could naturally use the channels to mail items; the Officials would not be so greedy as to covet these few things.

Without the Level 2 Zone's help, Shen Yao could only return to the Planting Field, diligently pulling weeds and pinching bugs every day, and conveniently using the midday leisure time to wander around the surroundings.

The Wild Chicken egg mutation had already been announced by the Officials, and the exchange points per egg had increased somewhat, causing the weed thicket that originally had only Shen Yao to gain a few more ignorance-of-death people.

They naturally did not have it as smooth as Shen Yao; the unlucky ones were bitten by snakes, and although non-venomous, the bloody wounds needed time to heal.

After the people drawn by the special points calmed down, Shen Yao once again became a lone individual.

Every time she only took a few Wild Chicken eggs, the rest all put into her Space for personal use; Shen Yao acted this way treading on everyone's bottom line, until autumn arrived, the Planting Field's crops welcomed harvest, the fields' crops turned into withered mutated stems and leaves, and this group of people's part-time work ended.

"Aiyo, we've worked for several months, just the special points alone should get us over a thousand, right?"

"Not just that, there's extra harvest too, might even match up to Official Ability Users who don't often go on missions."

"..."

Today is the day the part-time work ends, and also the time the Officials pay their wages (special points); besides that, they can also use their part-time attributes to exchange for a certain quantity of food at the Officials.

Of course, this requires spending points to purchase, but many people lack these channels, so regardless of whether the money in hand is enough or not, they will all buy the maximum limit of food, then take it back to exchange or sell with other families, to maximize revenue.

Shen Yao naturally does not need to sell outside, but there are several big eaters at home, no matter how much food she buys it's never too much, so she naturally also takes the maximum standard.