Chapter 19: The People Outside
After four consecutive days of harvesting potatoes, Zhao Man finally boarded the transport truck with an armful of vines on the third evening.
The vines were called hemp creepers, the primary raw material used across the base for weaving fabric and clothes. Zhao Man had no idea how to weave garments, but seeing everyone haul a bundle back each day, he felt like he was losing out if he didn’t grab one too.
The moment he stepped outside the main gate of the potato cultivation facility, a gust of biting wind whipped past, prompting Zhao Man to pull his three layered jackets tight around himself.
Today was the final day of the harvest. The weather had turned steadily colder over the past three days. For three days straight, he had layered on every single piece of clothing he owned aside from his dedicated winter wear, yet he still shivered incessantly.
It was simply too cold. Zhao Man had no desire to gather more hemp vines today; he deliberately dawdled inside for a bit before stepping out. Striding quickly over to Brigade 7’s transport, he took advantage of the sparse crowd, scrambled up into the truck bed, and tucked himself into the innermost corner.
During the journey back, his payout for the five days of labor cleared into his balance. But before Zhao Man could even celebrate the arrival of the extra 4 points and 95 cents, a system notification from the base flashed across his terminal screen:
Citizen BN8511005K697 Zhao Man: Hello. Annual tax collection for Southwest Base No. 6 will officially commence in three days. Your total tax assessment is 50 points. Payment gateways, variance applications, and itemized tax schedules can be accessed via Dome 87. Please make arrangements in advance; paying taxes on time is the duty of every base citizen.
Before Zhao Man could process this catastrophic blow, another notification pinged right behind it:
West Sixth Ring Citizen BN8511005K697 Zhao Man: Hello. Your advance assessment for power, water, sanitation, personal security, and local income tax across the Perpetual Day Season, Harvest Season, and upcoming Blizzard Season totals 30 points. Payment gateways, variance applications, and itemized billing schedules can be accessed via Dome 87 – West Sixth Ring. Please make arrangements in advance; paying taxes on time is the duty of every base citizen.
Just as Zhao Man went to tap in for a closer look, the truck bounced over a massive boulder. He was launched airborne and slammed back down, nearly smacking his forehead against the terminal screen. Looking up, his peripheral vision caught the person next to him peering at his display. He subtly slipped the terminal away and, mirroring the others, sat quietly in his corner.
The instant he stepped through his front door, Zhao Man opened Dome 87. Before he could even inspect the breakdown, his terminal was bombarded with an avalanche of notifications. Looking closely, they were entirely matchmaking solicitations.
The dating posts featured men and women alike—Alphas, Betas, and even a sparse few Omegas. With a careless slip of his finger, Zhao Man accidentally clicked into a profile:
Liu Hao, Male Alpha, mental strength rating 70, age 20. Member of the base’s Flying Tiger hunting squad. Residence: West Sixth Ring, No. 163. Third child in the household; shares homestead land title with father and paternal uncle.
Having zero desire to get married, Zhao Man dismissed the incoming prompts one by one, navigated to the base civil services portal, and pulled up his tax assessment schedule. Out of the 50-point bill, a full 20 points accounted for the “Bachelor Tax.”
Twenty points?! Zhao Man clearly remembered that independent citizens were only subject to the bachelor tax once they turned twenty. Tapping into the assessment guidelines, the fine print read: Base regulations dictate that independent youths under the age of 20 are exempt from the bachelor tax, with the exception of those holding titled real estate.
Taking a deep, stabilizing breath, he moved on to the remaining fees: a 20-point bachelor tax, paired with a 30-point real estate asset tax. Tapping the asset tax criteria: The West Sixth Ring real estate asset tax is levied at 6% of total appraised asset value.
Six percent of 500 was thirty points. Fuck.
Finishing with the base-wide assessment, he turned to the West Sixth Ring district billing. Getting taxed twice for living in the same settlement made Zhao Man laugh in sheer, bitter exasperation.
Zhao Man had only lived here for a few days during the Perpetual Day Season. Combined with the Harvest Season, his actual water, power, and sanitation usage came out to a mere 3 points. Personal security—accounting for the defense system setup and several dispatch alerts—totaled 2 points. Local income tax was zero since he had only scavenged briefly in the West Sixth Ring. However, the advance deposit for the Blizzard Season ran a whopping 25 points.
Zhao Man was utterly numb. Without doing a single damn thing, nearly half of the 158 points in his account had vanished into thin air. Five grueling days of backbreaking labor, completely wiped out. It truly was a case of earn base points, spend base points, don’t dream of taking a single cent home.
He tapped into the variance application portal. Real estate taxes were levied solely on titleholders, with an assessment fee charged for every title transfer. If one wished to avoid the levy, the only option was relinquishing ownership—a concession Zhao Man was entirely unwilling to make.
As for the bachelor tax, submitting an approved marriage registration prior to the opening of the payment gateway would automatically waive the fee.
For the West Sixth Ring district fees, one had to verify that the utilities consumed had not been used by oneself, or relocate outside the West Sixth Ring before the onset of the Blizzard Season to bypass the advance deposit.
Reviewing the entire slate, the only fee with any room for maneuver was the bachelor tax.
Zhao Man sighed inwardly: I really, truly want to commit tax evasion…
Reopening the matchmaking feed, he thought: for twenty whole points, perhaps looking wasn’t out of the question.
Just as Zhao Man was about to browse through the listings to see if his destined match happened to be buried among the endless profiles, his terminal chimed with a direct message:
“Hello. I am Liu Hao. The system shows that you viewed my personal profile. Would you be interested in meeting up to get to know each other better? By the way, I am currently outside your front door.”
Huh? Zhao Man’s eyes went wide. Pulling up the terminal’s perimeter feed, sure enough, a man was standing right outside the entrance. Perhaps noticing that the message had been flagged as “Read,” the man looked up at the camera lens and offered a subtle smile.
A chill ran down Zhao Man’s spine. Across two entire lifetimes, his most loathed technical feature remained unchanged: the read receipt.
“My apologies. Clicking into your profile was an accident. I have no intention of getting married at this time,” Zhao Man messaged back, weighing every word with extreme care.
One look at this guy was enough to tell he was definitely bad news as a partner!
“Doesn’t that just prove we have fate on our side? I believe joining together would be far more beneficial for you. In the short term, we each save on the bachelor tax. In the long term, I am an Alpha currently employed with the Flying Tiger hunting squad. As my partner, you would receive a living allowance from me. Being a Beta, partnering with me guarantees security for your future. What do you think?”
To this pitch, Zhao Man returned exactly two words: “My apologies.”
Liu Hao remained planted right by the main gate, calmly studying his screen. Ten meters behind him, four other figures were pacing back and forth. Zhao Man’s terminal buzzed relentlessly with incoming system alerts: Your profile has been viewed by XXXX. Would you like to view their profile?
Seeing Zhao Man’s curt dismissal, Liu Hao cast a sneering glance at the camera lens and strode away. The moment he cleared out, the other five gathered before the entrance. Zhao Man’s terminal instantly buzzed with several new messages, accompanied by the faint, muffled thud of knocking against the door. Setting his terminal to silent mode, Zhao Man retreated to the bedroom and pulled out his sewing kit.
None of those suitors looked like a good bet. Zhao Man decided he would rather just part with the points!
Every evening after returning from the harvest, he had reinforced the quilt, successfully fashioning a thick, plush batting core. Folding it over to sleep beneath one half while resting atop the other had been wonderfully comfortable. Now, he intended to sew a second blanket.
He only had two bolts of fabric left at home. Having stitched two quilt casings, the remaining material could only be turned into simple utility items like bedsheets and hand towels. Making clothes was entirely beyond his skillset.
Right in the middle of his stitching, a high-priority system broadcast chimed across his terminal. It was a mandatory municipal advisory, warning base residents to seal all skylights, secure thermal insulation, and hunker down: the season’s first blizzard was projected to hit the base in four hours.
The crowd outside his gate had rotated to a fresh batch of suitors, and the notifications of incoming profile views were piling up by the minute. Zhao Man ignored them entirely. Locating the skylight toggle on the wall, he flipped the switch. The roof mechanism whirred with a metallic clack-clack-clack, extending upward until the overhead opening was sealed airtight. Flanking the skylight control were four additional toggles for the wall apertures. Pressing the switch for the front aperture, a section of the wall beside the main entrance dropped down with a crisp shhh, revealing a viewing window.
The moment the window opened, three faces instantly pressed flat against the partition. Fortunately, a secondary barrier remained in place, preventing them from shoving their way inside.
Only now did Zhao Man realize the exterior walls were double-layered, backed by a sheet of transparent armor-glass. The three faces pressed hard against the glass, features smushed and distorted, their owners gesturing wildly at their terminals while mouthing: “Look at my profile! My name is XX—”
The crowd behind them jostled to shove them aside, but the three clung stubbornly to the frame. Zhao Man slammed the aperture shut without missing a beat. These people were acting completely unhinged.
With the skylight sealed tight, the entire interior warmed up almost instantly. Over the past few nights, he had often heard that distinctive clack-clack-clack echoing through the neighborhood; only now did he realize his neighbors had been closing their roof panels. Good thing the base sent out automated warnings, or his courtyard would have been buried under a mountain of snow tonight.
Dusk was settling over the world outside. Paying no further mind to the loiterers beyond his walls, Zhao Man finished off his half-potato and went back to stitching his quilt.
