PSW – Chapter 27

The person in charge pushed up the glasses on her nose and glanced at the information on the forms. “Come with me and demonstrate your abilities. We’ll use this information to create ID cards for you, which should be delivered in one or two days. You’ll need them to move around the shelter. The cards are bound to you personally and can be used to spend contribution points for transactions. You’ll also need them for accepting missions in the future.”

“Okay, thank you for your trouble~”

“…You’re welcome.” The person in charge seemed to pause for a moment. She looked down, pushed her glasses up again, and pulled open the door behind her. “Just use your abilities inside this room. Rest assured, we will not proactively disclose any information about your abilities to others.”

Although the construction of this shelter was… somewhat crude, with both the chain-link and barbed-wire fences looking quite fragile, it was clear that the shelter had already established a preliminary system of order and put it into operation.

Using their abilities didn’t mean they had to fight, strike, or defeat anything; they just had to display them.

Zheng Yi directly generated a ball of water in her palm. The next instant, it transformed into the shape of a small rabbit and hopped toward Chu Yi. But just as it leaped, the ball of water dissipated into a mist.

“Very good control. Few people in the shelter can control their ability as freely as you can,” Chu Yi commented, habitually pushing up her glasses again. She then looked at Yu Yinan, who had a fireball rising from her hand. Yu Yinan tossed it into the air, where it burst apart, but the shockwave didn’t affect anyone, and the radiating heat was contained by her.

“Very impressive,” she said, taking out the two forms again and stamping each one before putting them away. “You’ve passed. Do you need a guide? Generally, you’d have to offer something in return for a guide to voluntarily explain things to you. Of course, you could also try your luck. There are plenty of people in the shelter looking to invest in ability users.”

“Jiejie Chu Yi, when does your shift end?” Zheng Yi pulled a few chocolate bars from her pocket. “Could you be our guide?”

“I don’t like sweets, but that one chocolate bar is certainly enough to motivate someone else.” Chu Yi started walking out. “But I have to stay here. I don’t get off until six in the evening.”

“Hmm~ Can’t you have someone cover for you? Do you like beef hotpot? I have a small can here.” As she spoke, Zheng Yi pulled a can of beef from her down jacket pocket. It was a small 500g can. “Jiejie Chu Yi?”

“…” Chu Yi fell into a shameful silence. She stared at the dark green can and the white text on it, finally sighing and pushing her glasses up again. “Sit here for a bit. Wait for me to find someone to cover my shift. Also, don’t call me jiejie. Your jiejie is getting jealous.” After saying this, she shoved her hands into the pockets of her grayish-brown coat and hurried off in one direction, her high ponytail swinging back and forth.

Jealous? Zheng Yi turned to look at Yu Yinan. Yu Yinan looked embarrassed and wouldn’t meet her gaze, but her ears were already red.

“Jiejie, you don’t like it when I call other people jiejie?” Zheng Yi asked softly.

“…No,” Yu Yinan denied. “I’m just… not good with strangers, so… she might have misunderstood.”

“It’s okay! If Jiejie isn’t good at it, just leave all the socializing to me!” Zheng Yi said with a smile. “Jiejie just needs to trust me~”

“Okay,” Yu Yinan replied softly as Zheng Yi pulled her down to sit on the chair. The chair wasn’t large, so it was a tight squeeze for both of them, and she could feel Zheng Yi’s touch.

Jealousy… Yu Yinan didn’t really understand what kind of state or emotion jealousy was, but if it meant being unhappy… then maybe she was, just a little bit.

So, Zheng Yi would also call other people “jiejie” so sweetly.

…But Zheng Yi was young, so it was perfectly normal for her to call an older girl “jiejie.” It was just a form of address, and Yu Yinan knew it wasn’t exclusive to her, but! But, even though she didn’t want to, she still felt a little disappointed and a little upset.

It should be normal for good friends to get jealous… right? A kind of possessiveness over a friendship. But everyone had the freedom to make their own friends. Coming to a shelter meant meeting many, many new people. With Zheng Yi’s personality, she would probably make lots of other friends very easily.

Yu Yinan took a deep breath, trying to regulate her emotions. She was the one who wasn’t good at socializing. It was rare for her to have a friend like Zheng Yi, and she couldn’t mess up this relationship.

It was wrong to be jealous. She shouldn’t be jealous. And she shouldn’t let it trouble Zheng Yi.

Just as Yu Yinan was thinking this, Zheng Yi’s hand covered hers where it rested on her lap, holding it gently. “Jiejie.”

“You are very important and very special to me. I’m sorry I didn’t notice your feelings just now. I wanted to ask Chu Yi to be our guide because, as the person in charge, she should have some status in the shelter and know more about it. She might tell us more useful information. Besides, her attitude toward us was relatively friendly.”

“No, I…” Yu Yinan wanted to explain, but Zheng Yi suddenly pulled her hand up and placed a hard candy in her palm.

“It’s normal to be jealous. It means Jiejie cares about me. I’m very happy about that.”

“…” Yu Yinan couldn’t find the words to explain. She didn’t even understand her own emotions. That fleeting moment of disappointment and sourness was simply too difficult to articulate under Zheng Yi’s earnest gaze. She lowered her eyes, looking at the orange-flavored hard candy in her palm, and slowly tore open the wrapper, popping it into her mouth. “It’s sweet and sour. It’s delicious, thank you.”

“Jiejie doesn’t need to say thank you to me,” Zheng Yi smiled, then turned to look at Chu Yi, who was walking over with another woman. “Let’s see how this shelter is built first. If it’s not good, we can just resupply a little and leave whenever we want.”

Yu Yinan licked the candy between her teeth and hummed in agreement.

Zheng Yi and Yu Yinan stood up. Chu Yi gave a slight nod and then gave some instructions to the woman she had brought with her. The woman waved her hand casually. “Don’t worry, it’s just covering your shift for a few days. Remember to call me when you have that hotpot.”

“I’ll be going then,” Chu Yi said, turning to Zheng Yi and Yu Yinan. “Let’s go. When do I get the stuff?”

“Here.” Zheng Yi handed over the small can of beef hotpot. “If we want to stay temporarily, are there any procedures we need to follow?”

“No rush. I’ll take you to the underground parking garage to park your car first.” Chu Yi walked to the car and looked at the back door tied shut with hemp rope and the pile of quilts strapped to the roof, falling silent for a moment. “I’ll lead the way. You follow me in your car.”

The underground parking garage had several entrances and exits. Besides the ones built before the apocalypse, others must have been added or expanded. After all, the shelter’s construction had only just begun, and the surface-level planning wasn’t complete, so there was no extra space for people to park their cars freely.

Besides, parking the car in the underground garage probably made it easier for the shelter to keep track of people’s movements. The garage even had a guard on duty to prevent malicious damage to vehicles or theft of property from inside them.

“Everything in the shelter costs contribution points, and that includes ordinary people. So, to ensure that ordinary people can also survive, we’ve set up many jobs that they can do.” From architectural design and plumbing installation to electricians, carpenters, cooks, or even highly educated individuals proficient in physics and chemistry—whether they were ability users or not, anyone with a skill could earn contribution points here based on their own merits.

They had also recently sectioned off a large area outside the shelter. After testing the soil quality, they planned to start farming there. So, even those who knew nothing else but could clear land, sow seeds, fertilize, and water crops could also help.

“Although some tasks are more efficient when done by ability users, we still recommend that those with self-defense capabilities take on field missions—scavenging for supplies, clearing out nearby zombies, and so on. Since the cold wave just passed, there’s still a lot of snow nearby, so we’ve also issued missions to clear the main roads of Pujie.”

After they parked the car, Chu Yi began to introduce the shelter to them as they walked. Since they were ability users, she started by explaining how to earn contribution points.

“After a clearing mission is completed, a specialist will go to the cleared area to inspect the results. If the number of zombies is less than five, it’s considered a pass, and you can collect your contribution points.” After explaining this, Chu Yi glanced at Zheng Yi. “You’re a water-type ability user. You can supply water to the shelter. We’ll give you 10 contribution points for every ton of water.”

Before the apocalypse, one person would use about three to six tons of water a month. But now, in the wasteland, daily showers, laundry, and cooking were luxuries. Most water was used for drinking.

“As for fire-types, there are jobs like heating the shelter and forging.”

“You can rent a house in the shelter or buy one outright. Rent is calculated monthly. The cheapest one-bedroom apartment is 30 contribution points a month. Buying one costs 2,000 contribution points.” Chu Yi paused, then continued, “You can go to the rental office to see the specific floor plans and prices. Our internal security system isn’t fully organized yet. Although we have ordinary people on patrol, they’re too weak against ability users who deliberately sneak in to cause trouble, so you’ll need to be a little vigilant where you live.”

“The shelter provides food, but only for basic sustenance. It’s usually plain congee, with steamed buns occasionally. A meal costs 3 contribution points. You can also trade food privately.”

“However, private trades can reach exorbitant prices and might lead to conflicts… We don’t recommend fighting inside the shelter, but we can’t do anything about what happens on field missions.”

“There’s a car dealership over there. If you need to buy or rent a car, you can go to the shop. They also offer repair and modification services, with fluctuating prices. Newcomers like you who don’t have contribution points yet can also trade supplies with them directly.”

“The only thing you need to be careful of is this: don’t get taken advantage of.” A can of beef hotpot like that was a rare delicacy for some ability users who hadn’t eaten well in a long time. If they were to buy it with contribution points, it wouldn’t be impossible for the price to be driven up to 30 points.

“Don’t kill anyone inside the shelter, regardless of whether they’re an ability user or an ordinary person, and no matter what deep-seated hatred you have for them. In short, settle your disputes outside the shelter.” Chu Yi led them on a tour. Many of the shops here were very simple, some even looking like temporary roadside stalls.

---

Get instant access to all the chapters now.