Chapter 89

Chapter 89

Ning Wenan was quite confident about joining Small River Base. With his ability level, any base would readily accept him.

It was just that he had been considering Mom Ning before, so he hadn't joined any other base.

Now that Mom Ning had joined Small River Base, Ning Wenan felt relieved. Puffing out his chest confidently, he prepared to answer questions about his ability type and level.

However, Zhou Min glanced at him and asked, "Have you killed anyone before?"

Ning Wenan: "I'm level four... Huh? ...Yes, I have."

Zhou Min frowned. Ning Wenan grew nervous—this wasn't following the usual script.

"Fairly honest. Why did you kill him?" Zhou Min asked.

Ning Wenan's expression darkened as he spoke: "That person tried to eat Mom Ning while I was away. He had captured several people and had eaten humans before too, so I killed him."

Zhou Min's expression softened: "Hmm, the reason is justified. But after joining our base, you must get along peacefully. Don’t resort to violence first when problems arise; try seeking help from the administrators instead. Given your situation, you’ll be under observation after joining."

Mom Ning, standing nearby, was extremely anxious. Hearing this, she quickly added, "Sir, my son is a good person. He had no choice—"

Zhou Min nodded: "I didn’t say we won’t accept him. But I need to make things clear."

Ning Wenan nodded, not feeling angry. He wasn’t someone who enjoyed violence. If there was a place where everyone could get along peacefully, he would actually prefer it.

"By the way, what’s your ability, and what level?" Zhou Min finally asked.

Ning Wenan no longer felt proud. Small River Base was different from other bases—ability level wasn’t their top priority.

He answered honestly: "Ice type, level four."

Zhou Min raised an eyebrow. That was almost on par with Tian Qiao. Without having to support Mom Ning, Ning Wenan could indeed live much better.

Zhou Min wrote down Ning Wenan’s name and basic information: "Alright, congratulations on joining Small River Base."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Kang handed him a cloth-wrapped bundle of mutant cotton.

Ning Wenan took it, feeling the warm package, and felt a bit dazed.

For some reason, he was unusually excited about joining Small River Base and felt a sense of security, as if they had finally found a place to belong.

Ning Wenan set up their tent next to the Small River Base reception point. Mom Ning, whose face had always been filled with worry, finally showed a hint of joy.

She opened the bundle and instantly felt a wave of heat. Despite the freezing weather, her face felt warmed as if toasted.

Sun Yu gave her a needle and a length of thread—enough to sew two sets of clothes. The needle had to be returned after use.

Mom Ning smiled as she started making clothes. Perhaps because she now had hope, her mental state improved significantly.

Ning Wenan watched, his smile growing wider.

A voice came from outside: "May I come in?"

Mom Ning recognized Sun Yu’s voice and quickly said, "Yes, please come in."

Sun Yu entered and handed Mom Ning two steamed buns: "Have something to eat."

Mom Ning looked at the pure white steamed buns, almost able to smell the flour’s fragrance. Her mouth watered, and she waved her hands: "No, no, I can’t take these."

Sun Yu explained: "These aren’t free. The base is lending them to you. When you get to the base and earn contribution points, the cost will be deducted."

Mom Ning hesitated, mainly afraid she wouldn’t be able to repay. These were white steamed buns—who knew how expensive they were?

If she took them, would she end up deep in debt by the time they reached the base?

Sun Yu sensed her concern and said, "If you can work as a cook in the cafeteria, you’ll earn ten contribution points a day. Ten points can get you either one pound of white flour or one and a half pounds of wheat. These two buns cost one contribution point, or you can steam some buns to pay back later."

Small River Base now had plenty of wheat, so the prices of wheat and flour had dropped sharply.

Mom Ning finished listening: "!!!"

One and a half pounds of wheat a day? Even though her son, now a Superhuman, had a huge appetite and might not feel full with her share, compared to the days when they split a single black steamed bun into portions and dared only take one bite a day, this was heaven!

Besides, her son would definitely find work too. With one and a half pounds of wheat a day, she certainly wouldn’t finish it all and could save the rest.

She instantly stopped hesitating, feeling as if she were about to strike it rich. She took the steamed buns. Though frozen solid, they were made of white flour and smelled wonderful!

"Thank you, miss. What’s your name?" Mom Ning asked gratefully.

Sun Yu, feeling somewhat awkward, gave her name and turned to leave. Ning Wenan, who had been listening excitedly, quickly asked as she was leaving, "Hello, what about me? What work can I do?"

Sun Yu was much colder toward men: "Don’t know."

Ning Wenan: "Huh?"

Sun Yu frowned: "... Said I don’t know."

Then she left.

Ning Wenan: "..."

Mom Ning chuckled: "It’s fine, son. Take your time looking after we get there. Mom will support you."

After saying this, she herself was stunned, then smiled even wider. It was wonderful—she wasn’t a useless burden anymore and could say such things.

Ning Wenan scratched his head and smiled too. As a Superhuman, he would surely earn more than Mom Ning, but he was still happy she could say that.

Outside, some people who heard Zhou Min’s questions also realized what Small River Base valued most in recruits.

Those who were honest and well-behaved were happy, but others felt uneasy.

They realized they couldn’t tell the truth, or they would be screened out.

However, when Zhou Min asked, "Have you done anything bad?"

The person shook his head: "No."

Zhou Min frowned and waved his hand: "Next."

The person immediately became angry: "You only asked me one question! Why are you rejecting me?"

Zhou Min tutted: "You know whether you lied or not."

He raised his voice: "Our Small River Base is different from others. We value character and personal integrity. You lied, and you’ve done bad things. We don’t want people like you."

"You!" Seeing no hope, the person tried to cause trouble using his ability. Sun Yu, standing nearby, narrowed her eyes. The person screamed—a large patch of skin on his hand had been corroded, revealing the bone.

Sun Yu said coldly: "Troublemakers, get lost."

The man swallowed hard, and seeing that the authorities had also arrived, he finally got scared. He gave Sun Yu a dirty look before taking off in a hurry.

Zhou Min gave a thumbs-up: "Nice one, sis."

Sun Yu gave him a blank look and said nothing.

Not far away, Ning Wenan saw what happened and ducked his head. He had been wondering if he had somehow offended Sun Yu, given how poorly she had been treating him. But now, by comparison, he felt she had actually been pretty decent to him.

After this little scene, those behind them were no longer quick to start trouble.

Even if they didn't get in at Small River Base, they could still try other bases. But if they caused trouble, they might be blacklisted, and other bases would refuse them too—it just wasn't worth the risk.

Perhaps word got out about the favorable conditions at Small River Base, as more and more people came to line up.

Zhou Min was quite pleased, figuring they'd recruit enough people in two days and head back early.

By then, several major bases that cooperated with Small River Base would likely have wrapped up their recruiting as well, so they could have people travel back together.

Although these major bases generally recruited more people than Small River Base, they recruited much faster. As soon as people heard the names of these bases, they were lining up to join without any need for promotion.

Major bases like Chaoyang Base recruited especially quickly, simply asking about the applicant’s power and its level. If the ability was decent, they were in right away.

In contrast, Small River Base asked more questions during the process.

But the benefits offered by Small River Base were real—new members received mutant cotton and fabric upon joining. Given that most regions were now hit by snowstorms, ordinary cotton was already precious, let alone mutant cotton that actually gives off heat.

Some powerful supers who also had families were more willing to join Small River Base.

They noticed that Small River Base treated ordinary people well, so at least they wouldn’t have to worry about their families getting pushed around in the base while they were out on missions.

Thus, more and more people were signing up at Small River Base.

By the morning of the third day, when Zhou Min wrote down the 1001st number, he said, "That’s enough."

The 1000th person had brought a family member. After discussing with the others, Zhou Min decided to accept them—one extra person wasn't worth making a big deal about.

Those who had been envious of the supplies provided by Small River Base but still thought major bases were more reliable got worried upon hearing this: "Why stop now? How many people have you even taken in?!"

Lin Kang said with a smile, "Sorry, but Small River Base is relatively small. This time, we’re responding to the official call to provide shelter for everyone, but our capacity is limited. We can only accept 1000 people at most. We’ve already reached our quota and had given reminders earlier. Those still in line, please stop queuing."

The people behind them went quiet.

They had heard the reminders but thought Small River Base was just saying that to light a fire under them and hurry to sign up.

They hadn’t expected it to be true.

Those who had been hesitant suddenly felt they had missed out big time.

They tried to persuade them to squeeze in a few more people, arguing that a few extra wouldn’t make a difference.

But of course, that wasn’t possible. They had to stand by what they said since they represented the base. Changing policies on a whim would make their base look bad.

Zhou Min reminded them, "Other major bases are almost done recruiting too. If you don’t hurry…"

Before he could finish, the others suddenly realized and immediately stopped arguing. They rushed to queue at other major bases.

Not getting into Small River Base was one thing, but if they missed out on other bases because they lingered here, they would have nowhere to go and nowhere to complain.

Zhou Min smirked. Got'em.

But he wasn’t lying—by that afternoon, other bases had also filled their quotas.

They split into two groups: one group took the recruits back to their base, while the other followed Zhou Min to Small River Base to trade for supplies.

Before setting off, Zhang Tai unexpectedly came up to Zhou Min, looking conflicted.

Zhou Min glanced at him, annoyed: "If you have something to say, just say it. Quit stalling, okay?"

Zhang Tai beat around the bush before finally saying, "So, is it true that your base’s conditions are that good? Even ordinary people can get enough to eat?"

Zhou Min raised an eyebrow: "Of course. Why would I make it up? That would be false advertising."

Zhang Tai was still skeptical. How could it be?! At Chaoyang Base, as a superhuman, he spent his days either killing zombies or hunting mutated creatures. If he was lucky enough to take down a mutant beast, he could eat well for a few days, but such luck was rare.

The easier mutant beasts had long been cleared out. The remaining ones were hard to kill, requiring risking one’s life just for a full meal—hardly worth it.

Most of the time, they completed tasks assigned by the base. Since pre-apocalypse food supplies were nearly exhausted, the food rewards for tasks were dwindling. Sometimes, after working their butts off all day, they earned just enough food to feel only 70-80% full.

And it wasn’t good food either. Nowadays, white flour was something even his superiors couldn't score, let alone him.

They ate buns made of god-knows-what—hard and they'd scratch your throat, hard to digest. He had been constipated for quite a while.

And this was his situation as a superhuman. If he had it this bad, ordinary people had it even worse.

Ordinary people could only do manual labor. After working themselves to the bone all day, they might earn half a hard, scratchy bun—just enough to barely sustain themselves.

Chaoyang Base was considered decent; at least few people starved to death. Other bases were worse—starving to death was commonplace.

Their hopes rested on wood-element superhumans, hoping they could develop seeds adaptable to the post-apocalyptic land.

He had thought everyone was in the same boat, but then he heard that at Small River Base, regardless of whether one was ordinary or not, new members received mutant cotton and fabric to make their own cotton clothes.

Moreover, every meal included a white steamed bun. Even though people had to go into debt for it, it was a white steamed bun!

When Zhang Tai saw someone carefully savoring a white steamed bun, he was so tempted he almost snatched it.

He had initially thought Zhou Min and the others were just putting on a show, but even their show included white steamed buns and three dishes!

Meat wasn’t as rare as flour and vegetables nowadays, since mutant beasts could be hunted. But flour and vegetables were currently non-renewable resources.

Since the apocalypse, Zhang Tai hadn’t eaten fresh vegetables. He was desperately craving them.

Upon hearing that joining Small River Base came with white steamed buns, he was completely broken.

It wasn’t just him; others were broken too.

Since he was familiar with Zhou Min, they sent him to gather information.

After Zhou Min finished speaking, seeing Zhang Tai’s disbelief, Zhou Min picked his teeth: "Believe it or not, but since I started following Brother Cheng, I’ve never gone hungry."

Zhang Tai wanted to call him out for boasting, but seeing Zhou Min’s rosy complexion, he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

For this trip to Small River Base to exchange supplies, he volunteered for the task, intending to expose Zhou Min’s lies. He refused to believe that everyone at the base would be in such good spirits.

If others looked worse off, it would prove Zhou Min was lying!

He didn’t know what they were exchanging with Small River Base—his superiors hadn’t specified. They brought communicators and would receive instructions upon arrival.

Zhang Tai wondered if they were exchanging for food. It seemed Small River Base still had white flour.

Actually, going to Small River Base wasn't a great assignment. On such a cold day, everyone else was rushing back to their bases to report, and this mission might earn them some rations to eat.

For those heading to Small River Base, the remaining hardtack rations were already scarce. They’d probably have to go hungry for two days on the round trip.

But it wasn’t a big deal—they were used to going hungry.

Zhou Min was unaware of his thoughts. After counting the people, he had them return the tents to the officials, and then they could set off.

The vehicles from Small River Base were at the front, with the others following behind.

Over a thousand people sat in the truck beds, but they didn’t feel cold. They had quickly sewn their clothes as fast as possible.

These clothes were great—they retained heat, so sitting in the compartment wasn’t cold at all.

Even if some people had poor sewing skills and the clothes turned out crooked, as long as they kept warm, it was fine.

These individuals had been vetted for good character, and there weren’t any particularly bad people among them. They packed into the trucks and chatted.

"We’re getting more remote."

"Didn’t you know? Small River Base was originally a village, so of course it’s not in the city."

"Who cares if it’s a village? Which other base would give us such good fabric and cotton? I think Small River Base is great."

"Absolutely. At the base I used to be at, they wouldn’t even give us cotton—anything good went to the higher-ups. They didn’t care if we froze or starved to death."

"Which base isn’t like that? A few deaths don’t even matter to them."

As they chatted, they felt both nervous and excited about the Small River Base they were about to reach.

Meanwhile, at Small River Base, Cheng Zhiyu signed a document and calculated the time. "Zhou Min and the others should be back soon, right?"

Cheng Mo: "Just about."

He took out the previously made honey-peach jam and made a drink for Cheng Zhiyu, placing the cup in front of him. Cheng Zhiyu instinctively said, "I’m not thirsty."

Cheng Mo made a cup for himself too—sweet and full of peach fragrance. "Try it."

Cheng Zhiyu took a sip without thinking, then paused before unconsciously finishing the entire cup.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t thirsty—he just thought water didn’t taste good.

Cheng Zhiyu had been in a good mood lately. He had been worried that the soybeans and rice they planted might freeze to death in such cold weather, but it turned out mutated plants were incredibly resilient. They could adapt to high temperatures and even such low temperatures.

The soybeans and rice hadn’t frozen to death; instead, they were growing well.

Cheng Zhiyu also used peach and cherry pits to germinate seedlings in his spatial ability. Once the saplings sprouted, he had them transplanted outside.

There were twenty of each variety, and he estimated that in a few years, everyone would be able to enjoy fruit.

Additionally, the durian seedlings he had planted earlier were already a meter tall.

Since they grew faster in his space, Cheng Zhiyu speculated that they might be able to eat durians in just two or three years.

Early the next morning, Cheng Zhiyu received word that Zhou Min and the others had returned with the people.

Upon hearing this, he immediately went to greet them.

Cheng Mo, disliking the cold and slippery road, transformed into his animal form and carried him to the entrance.

At first, everyone was startled by such a massive canine—it was even taller than a person!

But later, realizing it was raised by Cheng Zhiyu and wasn’t aggressive toward people, they gradually got used to it.

As for how Big Black had appeared out of nowhere, though curious, they figured it was Captain Cheng’s business and didn’t pry.

Still, watching Captain Cheng ride Big Black to work every day, zipping past in an instant, everyone couldn’t help but feel envious.

Previously, hearing that a Superhuman at the base had raised a tiger was shocking, but after seeing Big Black, it didn’t seem like a big deal anymore. After all, none of them had ever seen such a huge dog.

Just then, Cheng Zhiyu rode Big Black over. He estimated that Zhou Min would be back soon, so he had already arranged for people to handle the situation. Upon receiving the notice, they quickly came to make arrangements.

Speaking of which, there was now a testing technology for the zombie infection, so people no longer needed to quarantine outside. They just had to line up for blood tests.

Those who passed the test entered the base and couldn’t help but look around at what would be their future home.

To be honest, Small River Base didn’t look as impressive as other bases—it looked exactly like a village.

Cheng Zhiyu actually had plans to build proper buildings, but for now, there was enough space to live, so it wasn’t necessary. He planned to start constructing buildings on the outskirts once the weather warmed up next year.

However, by then, they would likely need to recruit more people. The current residents of Small River Base definitely wouldn’t be enough.

Of course, these were all plans for later. At the moment, someone muttered something, and the person next to them said, "What do you know? Living in a building isn’t great—it’s like being stuck in a birdcage all day. That’s how it was for me before. Besides going out to work, I didn’t dare leave my room, afraid I might accidentally offend someone. But the houses at Small River Base all have yards—they don’t look stifling at all. How great is that!"

"You’re right. I just wonder if it’s as good as they say."

They had all heard that at Small River Base, even ordinary people could eat their fill.

They thought it was a bit exaggerated, hoping that just being half-full and not starving would be enough.

However, they soon discovered that Small River Base was truly different. The demeanor of the people there was completely unlike anything they had seen.

Everyone was wearing clothes made of mutated cotton, looking clean and cheerful, with smiles on their faces.

They walked together to work, and when they saw the newcomers, they smiled warmly before moving on.

They weren’t overly curious nor particularly worried.

In contrast, at other bases, people would view newcomers with suspicion, seeing them as competitors who would reduce their own share of food.

As a result, most bases had factions, and newcomers were often excluded, forced to form their own groups.

But the people at Small River Base were different. Someone boldly stepped forward to ask a question, and the person replied with a smile, "What’s the big deal? The base isn’t short on food. We're glad you're here. Captain Cheng said that building the base requires more people."

The questioner was stunned. Which base nowadays dared to claim they weren’t short on food?

They exchanged glances, feeling they had come to the right place.

Meanwhile, Cheng Zhiyu, as the base leader and the one responsible for resource negotiations, came to greet the people from the other bases.

As representatives of Chaoyang Base, Zhang Tai and the others were subtly regarded as the leaders by the other bases.

They stood at the front, looking at the base that was clearly just a village, and couldn’t help but sneer.

Just then, a handsome man in his twenties rode over on a giant dog. The man smiled at them and said, "Thank you for your hard work, and welcome to Small River Base. I’m Cheng Zhiyu, the base commander."

Zhang Tai and the others quickly adjusted their expressions, smiling and saying it was no trouble.

Cheng Zhiyu: "You’ve been traveling all night and must be tired. Why not rest first? Our base has prepared a modest meal. We can discuss other matters after you’ve eaten."

Those who had been hungry for a day quickly agreed.