From Apocalypse Boss to Farmer: My Vegetables Make Me Stronger!-Chapter 82 - 76: Temporary Worker
After more than half a month of moving erratically through the mountains of the Southwest, Gu Xi quietly slipped away from the military convoy one evening.
「One day later.」
Gu Xi arrived at the location she had previously arranged with Shen Yue.
A large truck, a common sight since the apocalypse, was parked there.
Inside the cab, the driver, a straw hat pulled down over his head, was slumped in his seat, dozing off.
Gu Xi didn’t approach rashly. Instead, she sent a message to Shen Yue.
A minute later, the headlights of the truck ahead flashed once in the darkness.
Gu Xi casually pulled a large black backpack from her storage space, slung it on her back, and then slowly emerged from the darkness, hopping into the truck.
The two of them rode in silence. After more than ten bumpy hours, the large truck, carrying half a load of sweet potatoes, finally arrived at a safe camp outside Yu City Base.
Nestled between the mountains, a tall, black wall abruptly came into Gu Xi’s view.
After getting out of the truck, Gu Xi, still wearing her large backpack, joined the others in a line to enter the camp.
While waiting for the inspection, Gu Xi discreetly surveyed her surroundings.
In the middle of the distant high wall was a large stone gate about ten meters wide. At the very top, centered above the gate, the large words "Yu Xi Camp No. 6258" were neatly written.
But Gu Xi’s attention was drawn to one side of the stone gate.
There were several characters that had been deliberately scratched out, but their grand and powerful style was still discernible.
Gu Xi studied them for a good while before she could make out the three words: Bright Moon Bay.
Gazing at the place name, one she had never seen on any map, Gu Xi froze for a moment. Distant, hazy memories began to sharpen in her mind.
’Moon Bay...’
She’d been to this place before.
The year she turned eighteen.
The Southwest Region was mountainous and densely forested, but it also held vast mineral resources.
And while the name "Bright Moon Bay" sounded beautiful, before the apocalypse, it was actually a coal mine.
After the apocalypse broke out, a group of coal miners gathered here, and it gradually formed into a small, private base.
Because they controlled the coal mine and had resources, the small base did quite well in the early days of the apocalypse. It even had friendly dealings with Yu City Base.
But as post-apocalyptic resources dwindled and the end of the world seemed nowhere in sight, the base’s leader grew ambitious. He actually used the coal mine as leverage to challenge Yu City Base!
Not only did he make exorbitant demands, constantly asking for food and supplies, but he later made the outlandish request for munitions like missiles!
Yu City Base could tolerate it no longer.
Unfortunately, the terrain here was rather unique, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.
Furthermore, the mine still contained pre-apocalypse explosives used for mining, making it impractical to use firearms or heavy ordnance. The main reason, however, was that resources were scarce, and the base didn’t want to destroy the entire coal mine just for the sake of a few people.
So back then, Gu Xi had been ordered to come here to eliminate the bandits.
’She just never expected she would one day return to this old place.’
Gu Xi stood at the end of the line, moving forward silently with the sparse crowd.
Outside the camp entrance, a few people in blue work clothes and hard hats sat behind a long table. One of them held a megaphone and shouted to the crowd, "The Moon Bay Coal Mine is hiring all kinds of temporary workers! Food and lodging provided! If you’re interested, come over here and register now!"
Gu Xi frowned slightly. ’Something’s not right here. Yu City Base hasn’t sent any garrison forces at all.’
’After all, this isn’t the barren Camp No. 9527.’
’This place has a large-scale coal mine!’
Gu Xi also noticed that the ones maintaining order at the camp entrance were also able-bodied young men in blue work clothes. ’Are they... the coal miners from here?’
The line kept moving forward.
Almost everyone entering the camp went to the long table to register.
Gu Xi discreetly averted her gaze and followed the crowd to the long table to register her information.
The person in charge of registration, however, couldn’t help but give her a second look, frowning slightly. ’A delicate little girl like her is here to dig coal?’
Gu Xi clutched her large backpack with both hands, her head slightly lowered, appearing a little awkward as she let the man scrutinize her.
Only after entering the camp did Gu Xi realize how completely different it was from Camp No. 9527.
If Camp No. 9527 was a free-wheeling small town, then this place was a large, strictly managed institution.
"Everyone line up over here, men and women separately."
In front of the communal dormitory, a middle-aged woman in blue work clothes with a red armband stood before the line and shouted, "After you get your ID cards from me in a bit, you can either go back to your rooms to rest or head to the cafeteria to eat first. But remember, do not wander around."
As the middle-aged woman handed out the ID cards, she reminded them, "This place isn’t like others. It’s a reserve for a key national strategic resource, so many areas are strictly off-limits! If you wander off on your own and something happens... well, you’ll have only yourselves to blame!"
A brief stir went through the line, but it quickly quieted down again.
Soon it was Gu Xi’s turn. The middle-aged woman glanced at her with a frown, then coldly shoved a white ID card into her hand.
Gu Xi glanced down at it and decided to check out the dormitory area first.
「Fifteen minutes later.」
Gu Xi followed the directions to her room. Just as she was about to swipe her ID card to open the door, it swung open on its own.
A slightly chubby middle-aged woman walked out, looking Gu Xi up and down with a critical eye. "New here?"
"Mhm." Gu Xi nodded and walked past the woman into the room.
The room wasn’t large, but it was crammed with eight bunk beds. Several women, all of whom looked older than Gu Xi, were already inside.
Perhaps it was the sudden appearance of a pretty young girl as fair-skinned and slender-limbed as Gu Xi, but all the women in the room were taken aback. Their gazes, a mixture of curiosity and scrutiny, fell upon her.
"You here by yourself, honey?" one of them, a gaunt woman with a sallow complexion and her hair in a bun, stepped forward and asked in a regional dialect.
Gu Xi nodded and started to make her bed.
The gaunt woman with the bun looked like she was about to ask something else, her eyes darting around, but she was cut off by a glare from another woman standing nearby. This one looked rather fierce and had a large, dark mole by the corner of her mouth.
"A young girl like you, what are you doing coming all the way to our Moon Bay?" the woman with the mole stared at Gu Xi in silence for a while before suddenly asking.
"Trying to make a living. Here... they provide food and lodging." Gu Xi, who was bending over to make her bed, paused for a moment, trying hard to maintain her quiet and reserved persona.
The woman with the mole frowned slightly and asked again, "What kind of job did you apply for?"
Gu Xi thought for a moment. "A miner."
"You’re going to work in the mine?" the gaunt woman with the bun exclaimed.
Now the other women in the room also stared at Gu Xi in astonishment, their doubtful gazes finally landing on her delicate, slender arms and legs.
Working in the mine was back-breaking labor—dirty and exhausting, usually a man’s job. Most of the women who came to Moon Bay applied for logistics positions.
And even those jobs were hard to hold down for long.
Otherwise, a place like Moon Bay wouldn’t be constantly hiring temporary workers. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
The women exchanged a look of tacit understanding.
Even though Moon Bay had been returned to government control twenty years ago, locals like them all knew that the waters in the Moon Bay mine... ran deep and murky.
A pretty, fair-skinned young girl like her... if she really went down into the mineshaft... TSK, she wouldn’t last.
