Chapter 16: Jinx
"A month? So cheap?" He murmured in disbelief, while the other refugees eagerly looked at him.
"Brother Tan, shall we rent or not?" Bo Jun, a young man with crimson hair, black eyes, and delicate features, wearing a black suit, asked.
"Let’s rent! The living conditions are good, and the room looks spacious enough to house 9 to 10 people.
"But won’t the zombies attack? And what is this place even? It only has one house... what if it is some kind of illusion?" Yao Chun, another young man with ocean-blue eyes and a muscular build, asked.
"It isn’t." Xiong Tan shook his head as he explained, "The zombies aren’t able to enter the base, yet we can hear their distant cries. That is the sign that this isn’t an illusion. This place is most likely a new type of superpower since I can hear the voice in my head."
Xiong Tan’s words put everyone’s mind at ease. After paying up, all ten of the men walked inside.
"Hey... there is a toilet here! And even a separate bathroom to wash up! Hey, you say... if we use the water closet, would the owner charge a separate fee?" Bo Jun asked cautiously.
Xiong Tan fell into deep thought before turning on the tap for a shower. Transparent water droplets gushed out, with a cool scent drifting in the air, attracting everyone’s attention.
"My god! Move aside! Let me store it in my space!" Yao Chun quickly took out a bucket and began storing the water.
To test how much water can be used, Yao Chun took out bucket after bucket, and finally, on the 10th bucket, the water stopped.
"Looks like every day we can receive 1 bucket of water per person per day... and that’s for free." Harry, with blonde hair, delicate features, and a thin body, murmured.
"Wow... the owner is generous. What if she is a woman? As long as we talk to her nicely... would she accept us as her husbands?" Gao Guling looked fascinated; his sporty wear and playful demeanour helped him gain favours easily.
Xiong Tan frowned and said, "Where can we buy food from here? Also... in other bases at least we could earn money by completing missions, but this one doesn’t have any... how will we survive?"
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[Mission: Please unlock the employment board! Reward: A personalized underground authority room.]
[Mission: Please unlock the cafeteria. Reward: Daily Food Supplies Section]
Ni Mengxue’s heart skipped a beat when she saw the reward of the second mission. She quickly searched for the cafeteria blueprint and bought it for 500 merit points.
Rather than using the one-click construction feature (she already owes 10,000 merit points), she used the employment feature and issued a task after buying the employment board.
The employment board was a white rectangular kiosk with a height of 140 cm and worth 5,000 system points. On the blue screen, missions were listed.
[Mission 1: Collect combustible wood, limestone, gypsum, raw clay, gravel, soda ash, silica sand, and sand. Reward: 1 kg of coarse rice per 200 Kg]
[Mission 2: Build a kiln. Reward: 100kg of coarse rice.]
[Mission 3: Wooden moulds for bricks. Reward: 1 kg of coarse rice per 50 molds.]
[Mission 4: Make 500 bricks. Reward: 1 kg of coarse rice per 10 bricks.]
[Mission 5: Find an Alkaline Lake. Reward: 10kg of pure white rice.]
Though the Fair Shallow base has a lake nearby, limestone, soda ash, and gypsum are geologically impossible to find in it.
So finding the alkaline lake could change the entire plan.
As long as someone collects these items, then even without a system, she would be able to build whatever she wants.
Once she was done, Ni Mngxue exited her apartment.
She was equipped with a few defensive items like a Kevlar vest bought at a staggering price of 20 kg of pure white rice and a sword with sharpness enough to slice through a zombie’s head with one swing.
Walking toward the entrance, she was stopped by a familiar figure. Cai Shu.
"Mengxue, let’s talk. Why are you protecting that bastard?" She asked with anger in her eyes.
Ni Mengxue unsheathed her sword and directly placed it near Cai Shu. "I can’t give you the answer, but maybe God can? Want me to show you the door?"
"You dare!" Cai Shu’s eyes widened in disbelief, but her heart flashed with fear as she motioned to her husbands to protect her.
The next second, a bolt of lightning rushed toward the sword. Highly sensitive to her surroundings, Ni Mengxue dodged it, giving Cai Shu the chance to escape.
"You bitch! How dare you? I will report you! Let’s see how you will survive this time." Cai Shu stared at Ni Mengxue with hatred.
"Sure, go ahead. It would save me the trouble of personally visiting the headquaters and demanding why you repeatedly framed my husband. Maybe it was your beating that worsened his situation. I would even demand 1000 high-tier zombie crystals in return."
Cai Shu’s eyes almost popped out of her socket. "You are talking bullshit!"
Ni Mengxue gave a faint smile. "Try me."
"You... you! Just you wait! One day he would jinx you and then... you will die!" Cai Shu shouted.
Ni Mengxue paused. "Jinx?"
"Yes! You might not know this, but that bastard is a jinx. I have heard that he was born; he even jinxed his mother! Such a man is better off dead! What if he jinxes this base?" Cai Shu rambled, but the next second, a dagger chopped off the left side of her hair.
Thud!
Cai Shu collapsed onto the ground, her body trembling from fear.
"Say one more word, and you will be dead." Ni Mengxue’s cold voice echoed.
Cai Shu’s husband reacted quickly; a bolt of lightning, a fireball, a waterball, and poison-laced vines rushed in Ni Mengxue’s direction.
Rather than fighting head-on and knowing that her current body was weak, she directly entered her spiritual space.