Apocalypse Foodie System: Watch Her Cook!-Chapter 24 - 20: A False Alarm
After Tang Yiyi disguised herself, she instructed Sun Jian to drive back to Qinghe City. Despite feeling uneasy, Sun Jian didn’t dare to resist at all. Instead, he obediently followed Tang Yiyi’s orders and drove the garbage truck back to Qinghe City. She had already decided to temporarily stay at Sun Jian’s home. To prevent him from spilling the beans or reporting her, Tang Yiyi coerced and tempted Sun Jian several times along the way, finally gaining control over him.
The two were fairly lucky, not encountering any mutant beasts on the way back to Qinghe City. Instead, they ran into several groups of superpower users out hunting. These superpower users all drove armored vehicles and looked down on their garbage truck, quickly distancing themselves to avoid getting their beloved cars infected with the stench of garbage. As a result, Tang Yiyi was spared a lot of trouble.
It took almost two hours for the car to reach Qinghe City. There was a checkpoint at the city gate. After Sun Jian parked the car at the parking spot, Tang Yiyi returned the key and personal terminal to him, lowering her voice to instruct, "Remember, my name is Tang Xiao, don’t forget! During the inspection later, don’t play any tricks! If anyone asks you about Wang Jian, just say he went with someone else, understood?"
Sun Jian nodded repeatedly. Tang Yiyi had said the same thing before, and he obediently remembered it. He knew Tang Yiyi’s identity was unusual, and perhaps she had some conspiracy for infiltrating Qinghe City. But thinking she would stay with him and help him get rid of those annoying people, he didn’t want to expose Tang Yiyi.
Tang Yiyi gave him a deep look, said nothing further, and smoothly jumped out of the car after opening the door. Seeing this, Sun Jian hurriedly jumped out as well and walked with her to the checkpoint window. Outside the window, there was a sensor; by placing the personal terminal in the sensing area with a slight tap, the instrument would automatically read the identity information bound to the personal terminal, and the display in the checkpoint would show the photo for the staff to check.
Sun Jian went first. He was originally from Qinghe City and was already familiar with leaving the city to dump garbage every week. From swiping the card to checking identity, the whole process was completed in a minute without any problems. After he finished, it was Tang Yiyi’s turn. Watching Tang Yiyi walk to the sensor, Sun Jian became tense, even subconsciously lightening his breathing.
He clearly saw the personal terminal in Tang Yiyi’s hand was Wang Jian’s. He didn’t know where she found the courage to use Wang Jian’s personal terminal directly, nor what she had done to Wang Jian’s terminal. So, even though he guessed that she should have made thorough preparations, he still couldn’t rest easy, fearing something might go wrong. If Tang Yiyi’s identity was exposed, not only would she be caught, but he would also be implicated!
Sun Jian couldn’t help but worry. His eyes fixated on Tang Yiyi’s every move, and as the sound indicating successful sensing rang out, Sun Jian stopped looking at Tang Yiyi and focused on the staff inside the checkpoint, afraid they might notice anything unusual.
The time seemed extraordinarily long, and cold sweat gradually formed on Sun Jian’s forehead, even making his gaze a bit stiff. Tang Yiyi noticed this and, without a change in her expression, discreetly pinched his arm, finally snapping him back to his senses and making him look less rigid.
Sun Jian realized his previous behavior was terrible and sneaked a glance at Tang Yiyi. Seeing her still calm and composed, he felt admiration in his heart but couldn’t help but mutter "freak!" under his breath. He really couldn’t understand how this girl, who wasn’t much older, had such strong nerves!
At this moment, the cold mechanical voice sounded inside the checkpoint: "Check completed, next in line."
Hearing this, Sun Jian finally breathed a sigh of relief. Back in the car, he collapsed into the seat as if exhausted, not regaining his composure until Tang Yiyi urged him to "hurry up." He then gathered himself and drove out of the parking spot, entering the Safe City. On the road, he couldn’t help but ask, "Were you... not nervous at all just now?"
Tang Yiyi glanced at him sideways and said confidently, "Why would I be nervous? There’s nothing wrong with my identity, so why should I be nervous?"
Sun Jian didn’t expect Tang Yiyi to be so confident and immediately felt extremely awkward: "Yes... yes indeed." He realized that, besides these words, there was nothing else he could possibly say!
Tang Yiyi, however, ignored him, her face calm and composed. She wasn’t about to tell Sun Jian that she was actually extremely nervous earlier, since it was the first time she’d done something like this, and she had no clue if there were any issues. If it weren’t for Liu Shuya constantly pointing at her nose and scolding her during her time with the Liu Family—and having undergone several interrogations afterward—she wouldn’t have been able to develop the ability to remain calm under extreme pressure.
Sun Jian didn’t get an answer and stopped asking. He drove with Tang Yiyi to the trash disposal center. After handing over the vehicle, he then led Tang Yiyi onto a bus to go home. Tang Yiyi could tell Sun Jian lived a hard life. She didn’t have high expectations for where he lived, assuming he resided in the Underground City, so she didn’t ask on the way. However, to her surprise, Sun Jian actually had a duplex small building! 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖
Although this small building was not in the city center but between the third and fourth rings, it was still quite rare. It’s known that all Safe Cities are laid out in concentric circles from the city center outwards—the city center is the safest, and it gets more dangerous towards the outskirts. Qinghe City has a total of five rings, with the area beyond the fifth ring being a slum with much more chaotic law and order.
Sun Jian, with his timid temperament, dressed poorly and had nothing decent, not even a proper battle armor or weapon. Even though he was a superpower user, he was pretty much a wasted First Level Superpower User, living a pitiful life. No matter how you looked at it, he didn’t seem like someone who could own a standalone duplex small house!
She stood in front of the small building, looking at Sun Jian with a complicated gaze. Despite the fact that the building was already marked by the passage of time, it was much better than the houses in the slum, completely surpassing Tang Yiyi’s expectations. Sun Jian was already used to her kind of look and didn’t wait for her to ask before explaining, "This house was exchanged for contribution points by my parents with the government. After they passed away, they left it to me. Although it’s a bit old, it’s still habitable, so don’t dislike it."
Tang Yiyi was even more surprised now. It’s relatively easy to earn credit points these days; there are many jobs and a dedicated mission center in the Safe City where you can earn credit points. However, it’s not easy to obtain contribution points, which requires significant contributions such as participating in beast tides with excellent performance or reporting valuable discoveries. Every Safe City is incredibly valuable, with not only shockingly high housing prices but also annual limits and taxes. Only houses exchanged with contribution points can have some tax exemptions.
Sun Jian couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. If it wasn’t for this house, why would those people keep bothering him, repeatedly causing him trouble? But this house was left to him by his deceased parents, and he would protect it even if it cost him his life!
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