Chapter 56: Entering the Base
Zhan Yun and the others felt that the system here was actually quite reasonable. In peacetime, didn’t people have to pay taxes before enjoying state subsidies anyway? Now that it was the apocalypse, money had long since become useless, and earning work points through labor made perfect sense. Probably only spoiled rich kids, second-generation officials, people who lived off their parents, and those who liked to take shortcuts with malicious intentions would feel dissatisfied.
After registering their personal information, each of them received a small temporary residence card, about the size of a business card. It listed basic information such as name, age, height, and weight. On the back were many small grids, divided into seven columns for the seven days of the week, and eight rows labeled accommodation, breakfast, lunch, dinner, exchange, wages, transactions, and others, making it easy to record work points.
The first three days of food and lodging were free, allowing newly arrived survivors to adapt to the new environment. Not working during this period was fine. However, if they wanted to continue living in the base afterward, they would have to contribute something. Whether through labor or by providing supplies in exchange for work points, getting something for nothing was absolutely impossible.
The soldiers also explained that the base had a dedicated law enforcement team responsible for maintaining order within the base, as well as a separate supervisory body that oversaw the law enforcement team and accepted complaints and requests for help from civilians. Theft, robbery, fighting, and brawling were strictly prohibited. Anyone who violated the base’s rules would face expulsion for minor offenses, and for serious crimes, once the facts were verified, they could be executed on the spot. As for prisons—those no longer existed.
After one week, once the temporary residence card was filled up, they could return to the registration office to exchange it for an official identity card. It was similar to an ID card, but with an added work-point recording function—like a combination of a transit card and a meal card—that could be swiped directly on machines, making it very convenient.
Next to the registration office was the base’s administrative center, which had three floors in total. The first floor was the Work Points Administration Office, the second floor was the Task Hall, and the third floor housed the administrative offices.
Survivors who had received their temporary residence cards could go to the Task Hall on the second floor to choose tasks suited to them in order to earn work points. They could also go to the Work Points Administration Office on the first floor to exchange, trade, or redeem work points. Quite a few survivors had arrived by car and had more or less brought along some supplies. These supplies could be exchanged for work points.
Most survivors were carrying food like biscuits and instant noodles. While such items were fine for staving off hunger when there were no other options, with hot steamed buns and hot soup available, most people naturally preferred hot meals.
Before long, long lines had already formed in the exchange area. Almost anything could be exchanged there. In addition to food, the base also accepted daily necessities such as brand-new towels, toothbrushes, and paper products. Even vehicles could be converted into work points. Cars with good performance could be exchanged for dozens of work points, while older, lower-performing vehicles could still fetch more than ten points. Although such cars might have been worth a lot before the apocalypse, afterward they held little value—without gasoline, they were little more than scrap metal—so many survivors chose to exchange their vehicles for work points.
For those unwilling to exchange their cars for work points, the base had also set up a parking lot on the outskirts. They only needed to pay a small number of work points each week as a parking fee.
Of course, if these survivors later needed a vehicle, they could use work points to buy one back or rent one instead.
Compared to the bustling exchange area, the purchase area was almost empty—after all, everyone had just arrived, and very few people had any work points yet.
Zhan Yun and the others took a quick look at the price list. Basically, everything for eating, drinking, and daily use was available—like a small supermarket—and as long as you had work points, you could exchange for it. The prices were quite fair. Vehicles could also be purchased there, generally costing around thirty work points, and the brands were fairly good. Gasoline could also be exchanged with work points in limited quantities, though it was rather expensive: one hundred work points for a fifty-liter barrel, limited to one barrel per person.
There were too many people on the first floor, so after a brief look around, Zhan Yun and the others went up to the second floor.
The Task Hall on the second floor was divided into two sections: a white area and a red area. The white area was for ordinary survivors, while the red area was for ability users and ordinary people with strong combat capabilities. In the white area stood a large electronic bulletin board, where survivors could browse available tasks. After selecting a suitable task, they could take their temporary residence card to the nearby counter to register.
The tasks listed on the white area’s bulletin board were mostly basic positions involving simple physical labor. There were some more advanced positions as well, but these were limited to specialized technical personnel. The benefits were good, but candidates had to pass assessments before taking up the positions.
In the red area, there were only two electronic terminals, along with a handwritten notice board explaining that survivors needed to log into the terminals using a team card or personal identity card in order to browse and select tasks. Tasks were divided into different levels. Some were individual tasks, some could only be undertaken by ability users, and others required team participation. Regardless of the type, applicants had to register at the counter in the red area. After accepting a task, task-takers could use work points there to exchange for firearms and other weapons, in addition to enjoying certain other benefits.
However, more detailed information would only be available after registration.
Since the red area was intended for ability users and those with strong combat abilities, the tasks posted there were undoubtedly dangerous—but the rewards were likely substantial as well.
Many people confident in their own strength went to the red-area counter to inquire and register. One young man even ostentatiously declared that he was an ability user, drawing glances from those around him. The emotions in those looks were mixed—besides curiosity and envy, there was also no shortage of jealousy and hostility.
Nearly eighty percent of Zhan Yun’s team were ability users, so naturally they had no intention of wasting their talents on jobs like hauling bricks or sweeping floors. However, they weren’t in a hurry to register just yet. After all, the early bird gets shot—drawing too much attention at the very beginning was not a good thing.
Besides the survivors brought back from N City, S City, and A City, the base also housed survivors rescued from other cities who had arrived earlier. According to Captain Zhang, the total population of the base was at least fifty to sixty thousand by now. There were certainly some ability users among them, yet the red task area was sparsely populated, which in itself said a great deal.
Because of this, Zhan Yun decided it would be best to keep a low profile for the time being. After all, they were already on familiar terms with the military, and many things would be better handled after they had gathered more information.
Better safe than sorry.
By the time they returned to the first floor, there were far fewer people than before. Not everyone had supplies to exchange for work points; most of those who had crowded the area earlier were just there to watch the excitement. Now that they’d had their fill, they’d left—some heading to the second floor, the rest going to arrange accommodation.
Some of the supplies Zhan Yun’s group had collected in A City were still in their vehicle, which was parked at the base entrance under guard by soldiers, so there was no need to worry about anyone smashing the car and stealing things. They decided to retrieve the supplies first, exchange them for work points, and then arrange lodging. They definitely didn’t want to squeeze into a large communal dormitory—having separate quarters would be much better.
However, just as they reached the entrance, they saw Captain Zhang approaching with two officers.
“Hey, Little Zhan! There were too many people just now—I lost sight of you in the blink of an eye and got really anxious.”
“Captain Zhang, did you need something from us?”
“Haha, didn’t you forget that you still have a batch of supplies stored with me? Do you want me to convert them into work points for you, or give you the items directly?” What Captain Zhang was referring to was the batch of fruits, vegetables, rice, and flour they had brought back from the farmers’ market. He had promised back then that once they returned to the base, he would give part of it to Zhan Yun’s group, and he wasn’t the kind of person to go back on his word.
Zhan Yun smiled and said, “Then please convert them into work points for us. The items themselves would be too eye-catching.”
“Haha, I figured you’d prefer work points anyway. Come with me.” As he spoke, Captain Zhang led them straight to the third floor of the administrative center. He found a staff member and had the work-point exchange processed for Zhan Yun’s group. The exchange record wasn’t handwritten; it was printed with a dot-matrix printer and stamped with a small seal for anti-counterfeiting purposes.
When Zhan Yun took back his temporary residence card and looked at it, he saw that under today’s date, an extra three thousand work points had been added directly in the exchange column!
“If you need anything, you can go to the purchase area and buy it with work points. If they don’t have what you want there, come and tell me—I’ll do my best to help you get it. Actually, Commander Jiang originally wanted to help you get your official identity cards processed as well, but unfortunately the base’s power supply is still a bit tight. Making identity cards takes time, so you’ll have to wait a bit longer.” Talents like Zhan Yun and Su Ruizhe were people Jiang Xuzhou had no intention of letting slip away—he would have liked nothing more than to issue them official ID cards immediately so they would stay at the Southern Base.
“That’s fine, we’re not in a hurry. There’s no need to give us special treatment,” Zhan Yun said with a smile. “You and Commander Jiang have already helped us a great deal.”
“Hahaha, it’s all about mutual help!” Captain Zhang laughed heartily, then pointed to one of the officers beside him. “This is Gao Lang, the head of the administrative center. If you need anything, you can contact him directly.”
“Hello, I’m Zhan Yun.”
“Hello.” The two shook hands politely.
Then he pointed to the other officer. “This is Xu Sihan, the head of the law enforcement brigade. If you run into any trouble, you can go to him.”
“Hello.” They shook hands once more.
Commander Jiang and Captain Zhang had truly gone out of their way to help. They had put in a word for them in several key departments and paved the way ahead. Zhan Yun, Su Ruizhe, and the others all kept this favor firmly in their hearts.
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