Chapter 19 Roommate

Chapter 19: Roommate

Ji An heard the door open and knew his roommate had returned. He withdrew his mental energy from his spatial focus and casually grabbed a roast chicken.

Getting along with his roommate was key to staying in good spirits.

"Hello, I'm your new roommate. My name is... Ji An." As Ji An stepped out, he realized the person entering was someone familiar—completely unexpected.

"You?" Ji An narrowed his eyes slightly. Is Jing City Base that broke? Has the top commander really been reduced to sharing a room?

"The family that moved out today had the surname Gu. What’s your relation to them?" Ji An asked.

"My parents," Gu Jinsheng replied, as stingy with words as ever, as if each one cost him dearly.

Ji An didn’t respond and turned back toward his room.

About half an hour later, there was another knock at the door. Ji An didn’t want to answer, but the knocking continued—three soft, measured knocks each time, calm and polite.

Ji An opened the door to find Gu Jinsheng standing there, his handsome face stoic. "Dinner’s ready."

Stepping out, Ji An saw the dining table set with candles, flowers, champagne, and steak.

The lights were turned down low as Gu Jinsheng led Ji An to the table, pulling out the chair for him like a gentleman before taking his own seat.

With refined manners, Gu Jinsheng poured Ji An some champagne and raised his glass. “First, welcome to Jing City Base. Second, congratulations on escaping hardship. Third, may your path be strewn with flowers, your life smooth-sailing from here on out. May you walk side by side with someone who loves you and whom you love, inseparable and happy.”

Ji An snorted, the slight discomfort in his heart vanishing instantly. “Who wrote this speech for you? It’s kind of cheesy. Did you memorize it for long?”

Gu Jinsheng, unfazed by being caught out, remained expressionless but revealed the culprit. “Kong Zhongcheng.”

“Him? He’s terrible at this kind of thing,” Ji An said. “His emotional intelligence is too low. Next time, you should ask Wan Xueying for help.”

Gu Jinsheng nodded very seriously.

Maybe having a roommate wasn’t so bad after all.

Ji An slept well on his first night at Jing City Base. The next morning, while having breakfast in the cafeteria, he spotted Zhou Fanxiu and Bai Na among others. Zhou Fanxiu once again asked Ji An to join his lab, which Ji An politely declined again.

After breakfast, Ji An went to find Tang Ning. He had her address, which he’d gotten from Kong Zhongcheng the day before. Though unfamiliar with Jing City Base, Ji An managed to locate Tang Ning’s place after asking a few people.

Tang Ning lived in a studio dorm building. While the environment wasn’t as nice as Ji An’s, it was still decent. Before the apocalypse, such a place would have cost around 700 to 800 credits a month, under a thousand.

“Mr. Ji, what brings you here?” Tang Ning asked happily.

“I just wanted to see where you live,” Ji An replied.

“It’s great,” Tang Ning said cheerfully. “Anywhere’s paradise now that I’m free of Tang Tang.”

Her joy was evident.

“Want to go for a walk?” Ji An asked.

“Sure!” Tang Ning grabbed her keys excitedly and followed Ji An out.

Security in Jing City Base was almost back to how it was before the apocalypse. The streets bustled with pedestrians, lively as ever.

What had changed was the disappearance of convenience stores and supermarkets on every corner—no more small shops every few steps, no large supermarkets every ten, no shopping plazas every hundred.

Though there were fewer stores now, the basics were still in stock—just not as varied. Junk food like chips and soda was still around, but supplies were scarce and cost a fortune—at least three times the pre-apocalypse price.

There are also shops selling staples like rice, flour, cooking oil, and grain, but transactions are no longer conducted with money—instead, they use Zombie Cores and credit points.

"Mr. Ji, production in the Jing City Base seems to have recovered quite well," Tang Ning said, looking around. "The Third Base also has shops for rice, flour, and oil, but they're all government-run. Are these privately owned here?"

"Most likely opened by earth- or wood-type superpowered individuals," Ji An explained. As far as he knew, the Jing City Base wasn’t short on wood- or earth-type superpowered people—in fact, these two types were the most common among superpowered individuals.

These two types of superpowered individuals were particularly skilled at farming in the post-apocalyptic era—one could purify soil, while the other could stimulate plant growth.

The Jing City Base offered them the greatest privileges: they could choose to go on missions, assist the base in farming, or even lease land privately.

Of course, if they leased land, they had to bear the losses themselves, but they could keep whatever the land yielded.

If they helped the base farm, regardless of the harvest, the base would provide a fixed stipend. If the yield was good, they would receive at least a 20% share.

Many earth- and wood-type superpowered individuals chose to both go on missions and farm, so despite their abilities not being the most combat-effective among all superpowered individuals, they still lived relatively comfortably.

"Look, there’s even a gold shop over there!" Tang Ning exclaimed.

This wasn’t surprising either. Metal-type superpowered individuals could upgrade their abilities not only by absorbing Zombie Cores but also by absorbing gold and silver.

Effectiveness ranking: silver < gold < Zombie Cores.

The Jing City Base had even restored bus services. Ji An and Tang Ning took a ride, and it almost felt like the pre-apocalyptic days.

"There’s a shop for rent over there—let’s check it out," Ji An said, spotting a small store for lease. The shop wasn’t big, about 40 to 50 square meters, with its own restroom.

"Are you the owner? How much is the rent?" Ji An asked.

The owner replied, "One peak-tier Superpowered Crystal Core per month, or 3,000 credit points per month."

Ji An glanced around—the location wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t bad either, and the price was fair.

"I’ll pay in credit points, and rent it for a year," Ji An said.

The base had compensated him with credit points, considering the experimental equipment he provided was too valuable. He had over 300,000, and Tang Ning had more than 30,000.

"OK," the owner said, immediately printing out the contract for both parties to sign.

"Mr. Ji, what kind of business are you planning to run here?" Tang Ning asked curiously. Ji An had just arrived at the Jing City Base, hadn’t he? How did he already have suppliers in an unfamiliar place?

"If possible, I’d like to ask you to help out in the shop," Ji An said. Better to trust Tang Ning than some stranger—after all, they’d been through a lot together, and she was reliable.

"For now, let’s start by collecting jade," Ji An said. He wanted to research spatial storage devices, and the carriers capable of holding space required special materials—specifically, spirit-infused jade.

The spiritual energy in jade formed naturally, a special kind of energy. Only this energy could be transformed and crafted into spatial storage devices.

"But I don’t know how to identify jade," Tang Ning admitted awkwardly.

That was indeed a problem. Not all jade had spiritual energy, and not all jade was suitable for making spatial storage devices.

In fact, the quality of jade in the pre-apocalyptic world was closely related to the concentration of spiritual energy within it. High-grade jade tended to have richer spiritual energy, making it more suitable for crafting spatial storage devices.

Ji An said, "I’ll stick with you for a few days first. Once we’ve collected enough jade, I’ll leave, and we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Ji An hadn’t known much about jade before the apocalypse either, but while exploring his space necklace, he discovered that he could sense the elusive energy in jade. He believed this energy was the most unique spiritual force in the world.

For the shop’s renovation, Ji An didn’t hire anyone—he and Tang Ning did it themselves.

Somehow, Gu Jinsheng caught wind of it and even brought along Kong Zhongcheng and Wan Xueying to help.

With three superpowered individuals joining in, the shop was wrapped up in a single day.

Since they had helped clean all day, Ji An wanted to take them out to eat in the evening, but they all left with cheerful smiles.

Before leaving, Wan Xueying hinted with a smirk, "No need for you to repay this favor. Someone else will, and it’ll be much bigger than what you could offer."

Kong Zhongcheng asked foolishly, "Who’s repaying? I didn’t know about this."

He was promptly smacked by Wan Xueying and shooed back to headquarters.

Early the next morning, as soon as Ji An opened the shop, a visitor arrived—a wood-attribute superpowered whose rank Ji An couldn’t discern, likely higher than his own.

The visitor was very polite and said with a smile, "Yesterday, our boss noticed your shop lacked proper counters, so he specifically asked me to make a few sturdy and refined ones for you. Take a look—will these do?"

Ji An caught a faint whiff of camphorwood in the air, crisp and energizing. He could sense that the wood carried no spiritual energy but had traces of superpower residue—likely wood accelerated by superpower. Still, it was quite rare.

"Thank you," Ji An said, then took out a bottle of cola from his spatial storage and handed it to the visitor.

The visitor grinned. "No need for thanks. If you ever need help in the future, just let me know. My name is Zhou Qin, and I live in Xitong Residential Area."

After Zhou Qin left, Ji An noticed many people from nearby shops sneaking glances in his direction, acting all shifty as if afraid he’d notice.

Ji An quickly figured it out—they probably all recognized Gu Jinsheng, the base commander, and were now speculating about his identity.

Playing dumb, Ji An turned back inside and soon set up a whiteboard at the entrance with a simple line: "This shop always buying jade in exchange for various supplies."

Less than a minute after the board went up, the owner of the neighboring shop walked in, his beady eyes scanning the small space—only about fifty square meters in total.

The shop was rectangular, with a large counter facing the entrance, placed against the left wall. On the right was a hip-high gate with a passageway for one person.

Behind the counter was a near-square cot, just long enough for a woman of average height to lie down, and wide enough for two average-sized women side by side.

Further back was a very narrow room divided into two tiny spaces—a bathroom and a kitchen.

The walls on either side of the entrance were lined with newly built counters, divided into uneven cubbies with an artistic touch. But for now, they stood empty.

With this layout, the place was tight as a drum.

The neighboring shop owner’s gaze darted as he asked, "Hello, I saw your shop is buying jade long-term?"

Ji An could tell the man was fishing for intel rather than genuinely interested in trading, but adhering to the business principle of courtesy, he replied politely, "Yes, do you have any jade? As long as the quality is good, we can discuss any supplies you’d like in exchange."

The owner probed further, "Jade was valuable before the apocalypse, with enthusiasts driving prices sky-high. But now, it won’t fill your belly or quench thirst—just a fancy paperweight. No one wants it. Why are you buying it?"

Seeing that even the base commanders had visited, he wondered if jade had some hidden use.

Ji An shot him a level look. "Personal preference. I liked it before the apocalypse but couldn’t afford it. Now that I have the means, I want to indulge that hobby."

The owner knew Ji An wasn’t being truthful but hadn’t expected to uncover anything useful anyway.

"Is that so? Hahaha," the owner laughed awkwardly. "Well, I got my hands on a piece here. Would you take it?"

Ji An had assumed the man was only here to gather information, so he was surprised he actually had jade.

Probing with his senses, Ji An detected a faint energy pulse within the jade—usable, but weak. If made into spatial storage, the space would be small, about one cubic meter.

"I’ll take it. A hundred credits," Ji An offered.

The owner was stunned—this glorified gravel in the apocalypse could actually fetch a hundred credits. For a moment, he damn near cheered.

"I don't want credits. Can I trade it for something else?"

"No." Ji An replied flatly. "The jade's quality isn’t good enough."

The shop owner wasn’t discouraged and instead sighed, "Back before the apocalypse, I paid well over 400 grand for this piece of jade. Now it’s only worth a hundred credits. Oh well—better to get something than nothing. Before this mess, you couldn’t even trade this junk for a loaf of bread. I’ve seen tons of people toss these things away in disgust."

Ji An handed over a hundred credits and took the jade.

Tang Ning looked confused. "Hey Ji, what’s the point of this thing? It was valuable before the collapse, sure, but now nobody wants it. During the worst of it, I saw a woman on her knees begging just to swap a jade bracelet for a sip of water—and still got turned down. They said that bracelet cost two or three million back in the day."

That’s a real shame. A two- or three-million-dollar piece of jade must’ve been top quality—packed with spiritual energy. At the very least, you could probably turn it into storage space the size of a small room.