Apocalypse: After Being Reborn, I Stocked Up on All Supplies-Chapter 236 - Being Followed
Chapter 236: Chapter 236 Being Followed
Chapter 236: Chapter 236 Being Followed
“Brother Kong Wu!”
Zhao Yougong withdrew his gaze from Jiang Yan’s face and smiled at the newcomer.
Jiang Yan swept a glance over Kong Wu from head to toe, her face showing no emotion.
At the moment, he was dressed in battle fatigues complemented by non-slip snowfield military boots and had a black submachine gun slung across his back—an outfit that was standard for the base’s garrison.
Not having seen him for over a month, Jiang Yan felt he looked a lot steadier.
Only, if she remembered correctly, Kong Wu was originally from Yaoben Base, but was now clad in the attire of Flame Base.
What was going on here?
Regardless of the situation, she was sure she could glean something about Ye Qing and the others from him.
In the brief span of a second or two, Kong Wu had already approached, “Brother Zhao, Captain Song has requested you to come over.”
Outside, the sky was not yet completely dark, and the light inside the ice house wasn’t much better.
Jiang Yan recognized Kong Wu, but Kong Wu did not recognize her in her full gear.
With an outsider present and the situation unclear, it was not a good time for her to reveal her identity.
“Okay.”
Zhao Yougong nodded, then turned to Jiang Yan and Jiang Ye with a sincere look, “Jiang Ye, since you’ve decided to join the mutual defense, when you leave this place, turn left and go directly to the mutual defense camp at the corner to find Zhang Cheng for the check-in procedure. If asked, just say I sent you.
As for Su Yaen, you can consider it tonight. Our mutual defense’s door is always open to you.”
“Alright, thank you, Brother Zhao,” Jiang Ye said and then, in disbelief, looked towards Jiang Yan and instinctively tugged her sleeve, whispering, “Sis, let’s go together!”
Besides, they had given them so much face, it would seem ungracious to decline.
Jiang Yan pretended not to hear and responded briefly to Zhao Yougong’s words, “Okay.”
Kong Wu, on the opposite side, heard her voice and a flash of surprise crossed his eyes, as his gaze “suddenly” shifted to her.
When he caught sight of the familiar-looking black backpack on her shoulder, his eyes instantly widened a fraction.
Jiang Yan had many backpacks in Space.
But, in order to conceal herself, she had been carrying the same one all along.
After all, making a new backpack look old was no easy task.
However, that backpack was a standard model and didn’t have any logos or distinctions, which usually wouldn’t be noticed by most people.
“Let’s go, don’t keep Captain Song waiting,” Zhao Yougong said, obviously not noticing, and nodded to Jiang Yan and Jiang Ye before speaking to Kong Wu.
“Sure, Brother Zhao,” Kong Wu, managing to contain the excitement inside him, quickly followed.
As he was about to step out of the ice house, he turned his head for a quick glance, only to see Jiang Yan striding towards window number 2 for the base’s accommodation procedures.
He hurried to catch up with Zhao Yougong and then suddenly clutched his stomach, pain etched on his face:
“Brother Zhao, I suddenly feel a bit of a stomach ache and don’t want to delay your time. Could you go see our captain directly?”
In such cold weather, using the restroom required visiting a specific place; otherwise, one risked getting frozen.
For a man, that practically spells the end of his life.
Zhao Yougong paused, jestingly said,
“You, young man, it’s time for your shift and you’d rather return to a warm bed with your wife and kids, right? Forget it, your captain cares about you anyway. You go, I’ll go see him myself.”
“Thank you, Brother Zhao, I really do have an upset stomach,” Kong Wu replied meekly, somewhat embarrassed.
Zhao Yougong waved it off nonchalantly and walked away.
Inside the ice house.
Watching Kong Wu’s figure disappear into the snow, Jiang Yan quickly headed for window number 2.
There was plenty of time in the future; she needed to secure accommodations for tonight first.
There was still a line of twenty or thirty people at window number 1.
Signing the agreement was simple, but with the cold weather, what used to take seconds for signatures and fingerprints now took significantly longer.
Window number 2 remained deserted.
The short-haired middle-aged woman standing there had already gotten up, preparing to pack up and leave.
“Su Yaen, are you really not planning to join the mutual defense? From what I understand, in this base, survivors like us with no connections can’t find a better job than this,” Jiang Ye persisted, following Jiang Yan.
“Right,” Jiang Yan stopped in her tracks with a slight frown, “Jiang Ye, we’re both adults, we make our own choices. Just focus on yours.”
Her meaning was clear: mind your own business.
The other person wasn’t foolish and stopped talking, understanding the hint.
But after a few seconds of silence, he spoke again:
“Then I’ll head for the check-in first. If you run into any trouble, find me at the mutual defense camp that Brother Zhao mentioned.”
“Okay,” Jiang Yan nodded, took a deep breath, and walked briskly to window number 2, “Hello, I’d like to rent a room.”
From the corner of her eye, she noticed Jiang Ye had already left.
“Do you have a badge?” The middle-aged woman, seeing someone coming so late into her shift, showed impatience on her face.
Jiang Yan glanced at a small red badge in the woman’s hand and replied indifferently, “No.”
“Then you must first provide ten pounds of food or fuel to obtain the eligibility to stay at the base, then proceed with the room rental. The cheapest is five pounds of grain per week, no shorter term rentals,” the woman explained impatiently, throwing out a form as she spoke.
This form was similar to the one Jiang Yan had seen when renting a room at Xiangcheng Base.
But the available housing options were much fewer.
After all, that place hadn’t yet experienced the extreme cold, and standard residences were readily available.
At Flame Base now, the primary form of residence was ice houses, and an underground base required certain credentials for the exchange of resources for residency.
For the same ice house, outside the base, 100g of grain could get one a night’s stay, even after prices had doubled.
Here, five pounds of grain could only rent a week.
At least there was no need to worry about mutant animal attacks.
This chapt𝙚r is updated by freeωebnovēl.c૦m.
For Jiang Yan, renting a room was merely a cover to access Space.
“I’ll rent for a week. I want one with a door,” she said, taking off her backpack, and from it—or rather from Space—she produced three vacuum-packed bags of Small Rice.
Each bag weighed five pounds.
Seeing the golden rice, the woman’s eyes widened in surprise, her mouth agape.
Not only because of the quality of the rice but also because the backpack couldn’t possibly fit so much stuff.
That weight didn’t even seem to drag the bag down.
“Oh my, little sister, you’re performing magic!”
The woman’s face lit up with joy as she placed the three bags of Small Rice in a storage bin below, then handed Jiang Yan the red badge,
“Little sister, wear this red badge well, don’t lose it.”
“Oh, what happens if I do?”
“In our base, those who’ve paid with food receive a red badge, those without food but who have signed a labor agreement get a green badge, and those without a badge are driven out of the base by the nighttime mutual defense patrols.”
Jiang Yan’s brow furrowed slightly—a base that drove out bystanders?
This was new to her.
The room rental process was completed quickly, and Jiang Yan, holding a certificate, left.
Outside, it was already dark.
The wind howled with snow.
Between the two walls of ice, many shops had closed up.
There were still a few with lights on.
Those lights burned animal fat that had a lot of impurities. The smoke was dense and the smell hard to take.
Jiang Yan didn’t pause, instead, making her way briskly towards the area with the ice houses.
As she walked, she suddenly felt she was being followed.
And not by just one person, but by a group.
