Plane Supermarket Plane 2: Luoyang Base C7
It was still dark. And as the clock hands pointed to five, the base had already come alive.
Streetlights flickered on along the roads, and residents began to tread the streets, proceeding numbly toward their workstations.
Their jobs varied, with only a few lucky ones gaining entry to the factory, while most had to settle for low-paying, unsecured positions. Many of those not working in the factory also have part-time jobs, dealing with zombie corpses outside the barbed wire fences.
Because of the limited resources within the base, they didn’t burn the zombies with headshots. Instead, they buried them.
Most of the residents in the base had taken up this part-time job, and while it was hard, tiring and carried significant risks, the income was decent.
They had grown accustomed to the occasional waves of the zombies. All their efforts were dedicated to nothing more than surviving, without any hope for the future.
After all, it had been more than three decades, but the zombies hadn’t turned to white bones. Instead, their numbers continued to grow, with each wave more bigger in number than the last.
The human domain was getting smaller and smaller, and the types of available food had become increasingly scarce. In the base, one could hardly spot a slightly plump person anymore. Most of them appeared thin and malnourished.
The average human lifespan didn’t even reach thirty.
Residents moved along the road like ants, and a group of over a dozen young people had gathered together. They wore the cheapest, most mass-produced cloth suits, their hair dry and tinged with a yellowish hue, all appearing to be under fifteen.
Although they received combat training, it didn’t come with any special provisions. The training merely provided them with corn cake, ensuring they wouldn’t starve to death. In rare cases, when resources were slightly more abundant, they might also receive a small share of blessings.
Even so, in reality, they still relied on their families for support.
“Have you all packed everything?” The leader of the group was a thin, disheveled girl, her face had a fierce scar that destroyed her delicate face. She put on a mask and said, “You all remember what to say when others ask, right?”
The others nodded in agreement, “Just tell them we’ve turned fifteen.”
One can only take on part-time work once they turn fifteen.
The girl looked in the direction of the city walls. “Have you all brought your identification cards?”
“We’ve got them.”
“Will we really be able to fool them?”
The girl replied, “Those are human eyes, not machines. How could we possibly get caught?”
Identification was nothing but a piece of paper. The base’s printing press had long ceased operating, and schools only taught reading. Laborers couldn’t remain on campus all the time, so if they wanted to learn, they had to save money to buy books and study on their own.
But the base’s library always remained empty. Everyone was busy struggling to live, with no spare time to pursue more knowledge.
Today marked the first day after the zombie tide receded. As there were possibly some zombies with injured spines who hadn’t been completely killed, many were reluctant to be among the first to clear the undead. It was precisely because of this reluctance that the rewards for the first day were higher than those that would follow.
Those with stable jobs or enough provisions at home wouldn’t take this risk.
“Hey, Ling Ling, when you get older, will you consider joining the military?” As they made their way toward the city wall, someone asked the lead girl.
She replied calmly, “They won’t want me.”
Her health was too bad, suffering from malnutrition, low blood sugar, and heart disease. It seemed as if she was born to be a burden, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t change her fate.
The girl stated matter-of-factly, “I can’t even hold a gun. And I just watch the training from the sidelines. The base merely finds a reason to give me corn cake so I won’t starve.”
Her friends fell silent.
Feng Ling was an orphan. After discovering her heart condition, her birth mother heartlessly abandoned her. They couldn’t afford to raise such a child and had no choice but to hand her over to the base.
Everyone looked down on her birth mother, but they could also understand them. They found it challenging enough to support themselves, let alone raise a child like her.
As they approached the city wall, Feng Ling was the first to hand her identification over to the soldier on duty. With the retreat of the zombie tide, the soldiers finally had some time to rest, so the ones on duty now were reserve soldiers.
The reserve soldier glanced briefly at her identification and warned her, “Be cautious, don’t remove your mask, and don’t touch your face before disinfecting.”
“Have you checked everything carefully?”
Feng Ling replied in a sulky tone, “I’ve checked.”
The reserve soldier waved his hand, saying, “Off you go, and when you return, we’ll distribute the corn cake.”
The base’s authorities no longer used “money” these days, but as long as the common folks accepted corn cake, that’s what they would receive.
They formed a group of over a dozen people and headed toward the direction of the barbed wire fence.
Just as they were about to reach their destination, someone suddenly exclaimed, “What is that?!”
The person raised their arm, pointing at a nearby building. “Over there?”
They read each word slowly, “Long, Sheng, Chao, Shi.1”
He said excitedly, “Doesn’t it look like the supermarket from the pictures?!”
They were all children born after the zombie outbreak and hadn’t truly experienced the prosperity of peacetime. Still, they enjoyed hearing the elderly talk about everything from the peaceful era and relished looking at old photographs and paintings.
The supermarket was filled with various goods. You could buy a pound of loose rice for just three bucks. It was a paradise of all sorts of toys and snacks, like a fairy tale wonderland to them.
In reality, the supermarkets didn’t have as much to offer. It was always a small room, and you needed to obtain tickets to make purchases, with limited supplies available.
But most people didn’t even have the qualifications to enter the supermarket. In the base, the vast majority of folks preferred to sell their tickets because, after all, corn cake was not just currency but also a food.
Young people always harbored a bit more courage, and the group quickly became excited and started clamoring. “Let’s go take a look!”
“It seems to have glass doors. This supermarket is huge! Just like in the pictures!”
“I wonder if there’s an escalator. Several of the escalators in the base have been out of service for a while.”
“It looks like it’s only one story. There probably isn’t an escalator, right?”
“Who owns this supermarket? How did it end up here?”
“Maybe it’s here for the soldiers to shop. Soldiers definitely have more money than us.”
“Ling Ling, shall we go?”
“Let’s go take a look. It is inside the barbed wire, it should be safe.”
They chattered like a group of ducks. Feng Ling couldn’t restrain her curiosity and longing for the supermarket. She nodded and said, “Let’s go take a look.”
As soon as she spoke, over a dozen youths rushed toward the supermarket.
Rare smiles appeared on their faces, and those once pale, emaciated faces suddenly came to life. The newly risen sun cast its rays upon them, illuminating their previously lifeless eyes, making them shine brightly.
·
“Guests?” Wu Yan set down his bowl. “I’ll go take a look.”
Wu Yan’s wife hurriedly called out, “The Immortal said we should always wear our masks when we go out!”
Only Wu Yan then remembered his mask and quickly put it on before heading outside.
Through the glass door, he saw a group of people standing outside. There were over a dozen of them, and even if they all appeared frail, Wu Yan wouldn’t underestimate them. People who have experienced hardship and scarcity never underestimate anyone, whether old, young, or sick.
Wu Yan took out his walkie-talkie, and the men who were having their meal in the warehouse quickly emerged.
The women weren’t idle either. Their job was to receive customers, and if the men determined that the customers posed no threat, the women would guide them to shop. The women felt a mixture of fear and anticipation. They were afraid that the people outside might be hostile but excited about the prospect of genuinely working.
On the other hand, Feng Ling’s group displayed no fear at all. They instinctively assumed that this supermarket was run by people from the base to serve the soldiers. While they weren’t soldiers themselves, most of them were reserve soldiers and had undergone training, which in their minds, qualified them to shop there.
Even though they didn’t have many corn cakes on hand, going inside to take a look was worthwhile.
A supermarket of this size was something they hadn’t seen in their entire lives!
Wu Yan didn’t directly open the automatic sensor door. Instead, he went out through the adjacent side door.
After confirming that this group consisted of young people who were still wet behind the ears and weren’t carrying weapons, including a few sickly individuals, they finally allowed the door to be opened from the inside.
Electricity in the base was also limited. Apart from streetlights and factories, electricity was only available at night in other places. During the day, households couldn’t use electricity.
So as soon as they entered the supermarket, the group couldn’t help but let out sighs of amazement.
Although the sun was up, the day wasn’t particularly bright, but the incandescent lights inside the supermarket illuminated the entire place brilliantly.
The shelves were stocked with goods, and they stood there with wide-open mouths, not knowing where to look.
“Go in that direction,” Wu Yan pointed them in the right direction. “There’s no checkout counter at the back. You’ll need to check out from this side.”
Feng Ling asked in a hushed tone, “Can we use corn cake to pay?”
Wu Yan nodded, “Yes, you can. You can calculate the prices yourselves, and one corn cake is worth fifty.”
They had brought some provisions with them when they left home, and they received their wages after work. However, they still needed to eat while working. So, each person could carry at most one corn cake, and they had no more than that.
Feng Ling hesitated. With a supermarket like this and such a variety of goods, she thought the prices must be high. Their corn cake might only get them a bag of sugar or a few bags of salt. She asked again, “Are you sure we don’t need tickets?”
Wu Yan replied, “No, if you have any questions, you can ask the in-store guides. They will help you.”
As they entered, Feng Ling said to her friends, “Let’s just take a look. Don’t buy anything.”
Although they ate corn cakes every day for every meal, corn cake alone couldn’t fully satisfy their hunger. If they exchanged their hard-earned corn cake for something expensive that wouldn’t fill their stomachs, it wouldn’t be worth it.
Before earning extra money, they decided to empty their pockets. But at this moment, no one paid attention to her words, and everyone rushed towards the shelves they had already set their eyes on.
Feng Ling sighed and moved to the shelf with sweets. She looked at the various colorful packaging and smelled the nonexistent sweet aroma, then looked down at the prices below the products with a sense of despair.
A blue packaging bag was filled with peppermint candies, a huge bag larger than her head.
Feng Ling’s gaze shifted downward—
“Peppermint candies: 22?”
Before Feng Ling even had time to be surprised, she heard her friend shout, “There’s rice!”
“Two yuan and a half for a pound!”
Feng Ling’s eyes widened.
Are they crazy?
My diet just flew away and Im craving for sweets QAQ
Seriously though, I just imagine myself dying in zombie apocalypse HAHAHA
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