Chapter 190: Chapter 190 No Inappropriate Thoughts

“Yeah, Brother Song, you’re not going to say you’ve met Jiang Yan abroad or something, are you?” Ye Qing glanced at Song Qian with a flicker of caution and suspicion in her eyes.

A few days ago, Song Qian’s question about whether Jiang Yan had ever been to Wanlong Building had lingered in her ears.

Beside her, Kong Wu also leaned in to tease:

“Whoa, look at you, Brother Song. Everyone says your way of hitting on girls is so clichéd. How come you’re using that line again…”

“Slap!” A forceful slap flew towards his shoulder.

Kong Wu looked at Song Qian, whose face had turned somewhat angry, and his eyes shrank for a moment. He fell silent.

“Jiang Yan, Brother Sun, there are some things I will explain to you when the time is right. Right now, I really can’t speak openly, especially since there are some matters that even I haven’t fully figured out.

But I do want to stress in advance that I bear no ill will toward any of you, and there’s no impropriety intended towards Jiang Yan; you can all rest assured. Moreover, Leader Mo has arranged for Kong Wu and me to join you as a means of protection.

After all, there are dangers you are not presently aware of or able to understand. For now, this is all I can say.”

Song Qian took special care to look at Jiang Yan when he said the latter part.

Yet she remained calm, and after hearing what he had said, she simply curved her eyes lightly, showing little emotion.

“Alright, thank you for being frank with us, Brother Song,” Sun Jingtao said.

They had been chatty all along the way, but Song Qian had not, and now him sharing this was a huge step forward.

The surrounding environment wasn’t the right place for a detailed discussion, so he did not pursue the topic further.

Feeling somewhat aggrieved about that slap, Kong Wu said, “Brother Song, I was just joking around…”

After saying that, he glanced at Jiang Yan, “Sister Yaen, sorry about that, and please don’t take it to heart.”

He had just suggested that Song Qian might be interested in Jiang Yan, only to have the latter clearly state that he had no ulterior motives towards her. To him, that kind of statement seemed a bit hurtful to a girl.

Jiang Yan smiled at him, “As long as you don’t take it to heart.”

Kong Wu: “…”

“Now, that youngster is still waiting for us on the shore, so let’s not bother Jiang Yan anymore,” Sun Jingtao diverted the topic, “Although we have no intention of joining the base, for now, we can only stay there temporarily for a couple of days.

On one hand, we’ll wait for this smog to pass. On the other hand, if we really want to travel far, we also need to find some energy sources. If it really snows and the surface freezes over, we may even need to find some means of travel on the ice.”

Jiang Yan did not oppose Sun Jingtao’s remarks.

Moving into the base and becoming a member of the base were two different concepts.

As long as her actions were not restricted and there was no major threat to her survival, it didn’t matter to her where she stayed.

As for what Song Qian meant, she had roughly guessed.

Although he had reiterated his stance, once the seed of suspicion is sown, it’s hard to dispel.

However, that was of little concern; she would find an opportunity to separate from Song Qian later on.

Or even split from Sun Jingtao and the others.

She had always been free and wouldn’t be restrained by anything.

With these thoughts, she picked up the piece of paper in her hand and started to look at it attentively.

It was a crude black-and-white printed form.

The front page read “Xiangcheng First Base Vacant Room Information Form A,” and the back “Xiangcheng First Base Vacant Room Information Form B.”

The names were not much different, but the rooms listed on Side A were clearly of a higher class.

There were single-bedroom apartments and various types of villas, larger in size with more complete amenities, and they even provided hot water and electricity during certain periods.

After all, with several coal mines in proximity, they could generally ensure an energy supply.

However, probably due to damaged lines, the supply of power and hot water was cyclic and varied.

They were short, only one hour per day, barely better than nothing, and required a separate payment to activate.

As for Side B, it was high-rise residences and youth hostels for about a dozen people each.

There, there was no supply of hot water or electricity.

But they provided some stoves, smokeless coal or regular coal and such, which also required the use of resources to exchange.

As for how much resources it cost, it was not specified; both Sides A and B stated “negotiable.”

Indeed, nowadays, people with resources were so varied that there wasn’t a uniform currency standard as before the apocalypse.

In just three or four seconds, Jiang Yan had finished reading and passed the A4 paper back to Sun Jingtao and the others, “Take a look and then we’ll decide together.”

In normal times, one would inspect the place before renting.

Now, this way of renting was like selling a cat in a bag; it was a blind choice.

But for most survivors, having a place to stay was already very good, and they wouldn’t fuss over whether the room was old or clean.

“Eh, in those post-apocalyptic novels I read, the bases always seen to have big bunk houses. Why don’t they have those here?” Su Dai glanced briefly and wondered.

Sun Jingtao: “They do, but you don’t need money for that, you just go there yourself. Those people wandering on the shore are the ones living in the big bunkhouses.”

“The bunkhouse is divided into A and B zones. In A zone, you work for pay and can accumulate points, which can be exchanged for resources once enough are earned. B zone is purely freeloaders who neither pay nor work; they have worse conditions than A zone.

Moreover, people living in B zone might experience carbon monoxide poisoning or mysteriously disappear from time to time,” Ye Qing relayed what she had earlier gathered upon landing.

Kong Wu’s imagination ran wild, “Is this the base’s way of periodically weeding out the freeloaders? After all, I’ve heard that the number of people living in the base’s bunkhouses is not small, and there are quite a few idle eaters.”

Su Dai’s pupils contracted: “Weeding out freeloaders…”

Sun Jingtao glanced at him, “With the temperature so low right now, and with abundant coal mines around, carbon monoxide poisoning from burning coal isn’t that uncommon. Let’s not get too conspiratorial.”

“By the way, Brother Sun, Jiang Yan, you can choose the house. Kong Wu and I have other arrangements after dropping you off, so we won’t be staying together for this period,” Song Qian suddenly spoke up.

Kong Wu: “…”

“Okay,” Sun Jingtao didn’t ask for details.

Since this place had what he mentioned as a branch of Yaoben Base, their leaving was to be expected.

Moreover, parting ways sooner or later was inevitable.

If nothing unforeseen or new natural disasters happen in Xiangcheng, settling down here instead of heading towards the East Mountain was also a fine choice.

Ye Qing and Su Dai, hearing this, glanced at each other subconsciously.

“Guys, have you all made a decision yet?!”

The youngster on the shore, seeing no response from them for a long time, was clearly getting impatient.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated on Novlove.com