Chapter 42: Money Has Become Waste Paper

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Although Du Yue was curious, she was a newcomer and acted cautiously. She did not take the initiative to ask the passersby what they were going to do. Du Yue walked forward at a steady pace while memorizing the route in her head. After walking for another 10 minutes, she suddenly heard a lot of noise.

Just by listening to the sound, she knew that there should be a lot of people up ahead. Du Yue followed the voices and saw many stalls in the open space in front of her. Many people were selecting things from these stalls. It looked like a night market in a busy city. There were many stalls, and the vendors sold all sorts of things.

There were pots, bowls, ladles, bedsheets, and blankets. There were also books and children’s toys, as well as clothes, shoes, and skin care products. Many of them were well-known luxury brands, but the prices were very affordable. One contribution point could be used to buy a piece of clothing or a pair of shoes.

After walking around, Du Yue did not buy anything, but she did find out how to exchange contribution points. Contribution points could only be exchanged in the service hall. Whether it was rice, flour, grains, oil, seeds, or instant food, as long as it was food, it could be used to exchange for contribution points. In addition, those who didn’t have food reserves could work in the base, and they would be paid in contribution points.

Contribution points could be used to buy things from the official supply club in the base, rent a house, pay for water and electricity, and eat at restaurants. In short, contribution points were the currency in the base. The money used before the apocalypse had completely lost its purpose here, becoming waste paper.

Those who came to the base had their own food reserves. They could rent a house and live by themselves like Du Yue. If they were empty-handed, they could also go to the dormitory at the base. However, they would not be living in the shared dormitory without contributing anything. They had to follow the arrangements of the base and work every night.

Although it was a little tough, they had food and shelter. At the very least, they did not have to worry about their survival. Even so, they could not be too demanding about their living environment and food.As for what they did at the base, the only thing they knew was building houses. The house Du Yue was living in now was built by them.

Du Yue felt that if it was just building houses, there was no need to employ so many people. There would probably be other jobs in the future, but everyone had just moved in and did not know what kind of jobs there would be just yet. The food in the base was limited, and so many people were consuming it every day. The base definitely had to arrange for workers to grow crops and raise poultry as soon as possible.

After nearly 10 months of high temperatures, the crops outside had long dried up. The most important thing now was for the base to find a way to grow crops as soon as possible. Now that the temperature outside was high, they could only plant crops indoors. They had to figure out a method that could allow them to grow large quantities of crops indoors.

Du Yue did not do much research on agriculture, but she knew that there must be many capable people in the base. They would find a way sooner or later. Du Yue did not stay any longer and went home after she had gathered most of the information she wanted to know. She had only paid two months’ worth of rent, and the rest of it had not been settled yet. She had to find a way to earn a sum of contribution points as soon as possible. Only then could she guarantee her life here.

She had stored a lot of grains and seeds, but it would not be good if she kept consuming them without getting more of them. After much thought, Du Yue decided to make a trip out of the base after she tidied up the house.

Other than the bedroom, Du Yue had only tidied up the other rooms briefly. She used leather for the living room floor, and she did not place any furniture there.

Apart from the washbasin in the bathroom and induction cooker as well as all kinds of kitchenware in the kitchen, she did not take out any other things. The other bedroom was directly connected to the balcony. Du Yue hung the solar panels on the wall outside the balcony. The base did have electricity, but it had to be bought with money. The solar panels could absorb solar energy and convert it into electricity, which would save her another sum of money. When she went out for a walk just now, she saw that many people who lived in the building had solar panels, so she was at ease with laying out the panels too. She did not have to worry about being too conspicuous.

The house had mostly been cleaned up, so Du Yue took a shower and went to bed. That night, she drove out of the base. The base allowed the residents to go out, and the residents only needed to show their passes to return to the base.