Long Yuehong opened his mouth, as if wanting to persuade:
"......Alright."
Shang Jianyao sat for a while longer, picked up his tray, and headed towards the exit, handing over everything he had to the cafeteria staff on duty there.
Outside the "Materials Supply Market", rows of fluorescent lights cast their glow from the ceiling, illuminating the paths leading to other parts of the floor. Employees of different ages and genders gathered in twos and threes, either heading to the "Activity Center," returning home together, or watching the children running and playing endlessly.
Shang Jianyao walked among them, quickly leaving Area C, passing through a street with graffiti-covered walls, and entering the more densely packed Area B.
In most of the "living area" of this underground building, there was no concept of architecture; the employees lived in rooms, not houses. Many who worked in the "Inner Ecology Zone" and had seen real beehives often compared it to that.
However, the aisles between the rows of rooms were very spacious, paved with milky-white, smooth stone tiles, allowing at least five or six people to walk side by side.
This was mandatory, according to the company, to deal with emergencies and avoid congestion at critical moments.
Shang Jianyao walked for a while and saw his own room.
It was no different from the rooms on its left, right, and across the aisle. The walls were pure black with a certain degree of reflectivity, making them appear somewhat profound. The wooden door was entirely brown-red, with a small four-pane window next to it.
The only thing that allowed Shang Jianyao to confirm that this room belonged to him was the white number on the door:
“No. 196.”
No. 196, Area B, 495th Floor.
Shang Jianyao reached into his pocket, took out a brass key, inserted it into the matching lock, and gently turned it.
With a click, Shang Jianyao used his other hand to press down on the doorknob and pushed the door open.
The door stopped halfway because his stove was behind it.
This was a room two meters wide, three meters deep, and four meters high. A wooden bed, barely long enough for Shang Jianyao to stretch out his legs while sleeping, was placed horizontally at the innermost part. There was less than 10 centimeters of space between the foot of the bed and the wall. Of course, there was no room for any furniture, but expansion screws were embedded in the wall, hanging two sets of monotonous, plain-style clothing.
Next to them, separated by half a sheet of plastic film, was a separate sink. On the other side of the sink was a stove with a range hood above and a cabinet below.
Shang Jianyao was always satisfied with the existence of these two amenities because not all rooms had them.
This underground building had too many floors and too many residents. The elevators, ventilation systems, drainage systems, and power supply systems all faced terrible challenges. Therefore, there were many elevators, divided into different areas, each only reaching certain floors. The ventilation and drainage systems were also divided into subsystems, with each 15 floors or specific number of floors sharing a subsystem.
This way, even if a malfunction occurred, it would only affect a portion of the area and would not cause an overall collapse.
Among them, to ensure the stability of the drainage system, only a small portion of the large number of rooms built by the company later were connected to the pipelines.
Many employees had to queue outside the public toilets in their "neighborhood" to wash up, and during the night and early morning, when the energy supply was insufficient, many floors in the living area were very cold.
Being able to wash up wrapped in a blanket without going out was a dream for many employees.
On the other side of the door, below the four-pane window, was a relatively sturdy red-lacquered wooden table, piled with books and a black fountain pen and a bottle of black ink.
At this moment, the light from the "streetlights" on the ceiling passed through the window and fell on the table, making the text on the book covers barely visible.
If it weren't for being right between two fluorescent lights and the poor lighting, Shang Jianyao wouldn't have had to waste energy to read using the streetlights.
The wooden table had a built-in cabinet, and behind it was a brown-red painted chair with a mottled backrest. Behind the chair were two rickety stools, as if supporting the so-called "living room."
Beyond this "living room" was the horizontally placed wooden bed.
Shang Jianyao did not turn on the light in the room because his energy allocation was limited, and he had to save it.
After taking out the key and closing the door, Shang Jianyao walked through the area illuminated by the streetlights and approached the dim bed.
He picked up the pillow filled with grain husks, placed it vertically against the wall, and leaned back on it, half-lying and half-sitting.
In this position, Shang Jianyao immediately saw the electric wok and rice cooker placed on the stove.
Their surfaces were covered in rust, as if they had been used for many, many years.
From as far back as Shang Jianyao could remember, they had been in his home: one was brought back by his father from the ruins of a city in the Old World when he participated in an external operation for the "Security Department." He gave up other spoils allocated by the company to get it. The other was bought back by Shang Jianyao's mother from a small market after she had saved contribution points for a long time—new products in the "Materials Supply Market" were much more expensive and were always in short supply.
This room was not the home Shang Jianyao remembered. He remembered that his original home was No. 28 in Area A on this floor, with one large and one small room and a very narrow bathroom.
This allowed Shang Jianyao to avoid queuing at the public toilets and avoid smelling the strong stench when he was a child.
However, after his father disappeared and his mother died, the apartment was taken back by the company and redistributed to eligible employees. This one was newly allocated to him when he entered university and left the orphanage.
These later-partitioned rooms, to save energy, were no longer equipped with electronic locks but used various ordinary locks salvaged from the ruins of cities in the Old World. In addition, the internal factory also produced some.
Shang Jianyao's gaze shifted randomly, and he looked at the wooden table by the window.
He had heard his mother say that this was made by his father, who saved money to buy wood from the "Materials Supply Market" and made it himself when they were newly married.
This wooden table and the clothes sewn by Shang Jianyao's mother in the cabinet below, along with the two appliances, were returned to him after being managed by the orphanage for three years.
However, Shang Jianyao could no longer wear the clothes in the cabinet.
Shang Jianyao closed his eyes, raised his right hand, and pinched his temples.
He immediately lowered his palm, maintained his current posture, and made no further movements.
The entire room became unusually quiet, and the dimness seemed to deepen even further.
Shang Jianyao leaned back there, as if he had fallen into a deep sleep.
…………
Shang Jianyao opened his eyes and, as expected, saw a vast and empty hall.
This was even larger than the entire "Materials Supply Market."
The hall was surrounded by black walls that shimmered with a metallic luster, giving a cold feeling. Above was a dim area, and he couldn't see the top, not knowing how high it was.
Within this dimness, countless sparkling points of light were densely packed, slowly rotating, seemingly forming dreamy rivers dotted with diamonds.
Shang Jianyao was once again shocked by this scene, unable to describe the situation before him in words.
He could only think of the images of the starry sky that his teacher showed everyone on the display screen when he first entered university.
That was the first time he had seen the starry sky.
And now, he seemed to be among the stars.
In the center of the hall, the "starlight" fell, condensing into a blurred figure.
The figure's two hands were outstretched, maintaining strict symmetry, as if imitating a balance.
"His" hollow voice rang out, echoing throughout the hall, as if conveying the revelations given by the "stars":
“One price, three gifts.”
“One price, three gifts…”
ps: Asking for recommendation tickets~