Chapter 173: Job-Seeker Pass
“When we went back, the plan was just to bring people over. I never expected we’d be able to bring this many.”
Yu Bo, from Kadan’er City, sat in the vehicle and glanced back. A long line of vehicles followed behind them.
She had already considered trying to get in [Ota]’s good graces. Their own team was too small, and she worried that [Ota] might not think much of them. Even if they were allowed to join, they might not receive much attention. So she had deliberately returned to the city to find some acquaintances, planning to pretend they were a small faction and join [Ota] together.
Who could have imagined it?
After Yu Bo’s group sent word back to Kadan’er Safe City that there was a [Company] on the Broken River Wasteland, how much time had even passed?
The lord of Kadan’er Safe City—the person Yu Bo had never even met, but who was undoubtedly the city’s foremost authority—had actually decided to bet on [Ota], gambling that it could defeat the other [Companies].
Yu Bo had also finally learned what the World Mission was.
To be honest, she had only encountered [Ota] so far, but she genuinely felt this was the right decision.
There was no other reason needed. [Ota] had both strength and wealth. While operating on the Broken River Wasteland, they had seen that every single [Ota] employee had undergone surgery to implant a throat translator.
Communication was completely seamless!
That was incredibly important. Ever since the previous world, when poor communication had nearly resulted in a catastrophe, the ability to communicate without barriers in every world had become an obsession for Yu Bo and her companions.
Their original plan to sneak into [Ota] was precisely to somehow become employees and get the throat-translator implantation surgery as well.
Even if they got absolutely nothing else—no weapons, no resources, no food—and the only thing they gained in the end was the translator, it would still be an enormous win for them!
Now, the City Lord had decided to send out a group of residents to pretend to defect to [Ota]. Eighty percent of the people in the group were ability users.
Yu Bo felt even more strongly that the translator was practically within reach.
Because their team was the only one that had actually spent a significant amount of time living on the Broken River Wasteland, Yu Bo had also taken on a guide quest.
Her job was to introduce the other residents from her city to the conditions of the Broken River Wasteland.
—And she wasn’t getting paid for it.
Yu Bo didn’t really mind. Wasn’t that just how the safe-city system worked?
The City Lord had the authority to expel any resident at will, so the City Lord’s orders took precedence over everything else.
They were merely being asked to do some unpaid work. That was already pretty good.
She had heard that in some Safe Cities, residents were even treated as expendable resources and slaves. Compared to that, what was a little unpaid labor?
Sometimes she did feel a little resentful, but that was just how people were—they needed something to compare themselves against.
Even if she didn’t compare herself with the residents of other Safe Cities, what about the locals living in these apocalyptic worlds?
Those people were literally struggling to survive in hellish conditions, whereas she was at least a resident of a Safe City. She had friends and teammates around her, and a modest amount of savings in her hands. Her City Lord might like making the residents work for free, but at least when it came to the supplies they obtained, the City Lord only took seventy percent.
Compared to the people living in an apocalyptic world, her current life was already incredibly happy.
And if she looked at the bright side, although she wasn’t getting paid and there were no food subsidies, her team was the only group that understood the Broken River Wasteland. That made them the central figures among this batch of Kadan’er residents who had come out.
Among safe-city residents, those who managed to get ahead were either extremely powerful or had exceptionally good intelligence or social skills.
Yu Bo happened to have both strength and excellent people skills.
Her greatest talent was adjusting herself to any situation. Even when something bad happened, she could quickly find the upside in it.
Just like now.
Yu Bo felt that this was an excellent opportunity to build connections and strengthen relationships with others.
Through the silver tongue she had honed by suffering through countless hardships in various worlds, along with all the advanced little tricks she had learned for communicating with people, Yu Bo was confident that out of these several hundred people, she could establish relatively friendly and trustworthy friendships with at least eight or nine.
That was what connections were all about. Within the Safe City system, it wasn’t just Safe Cities that guarded against one another—the residents of the same city were wary of one another as well.
Having one more connection meant having one more lifeline when it really mattered.
Many residents believed weapons and resources were more important, but Yu Bo had a different opinion. Weapons could run out of ammunition, or they could be lost. And even if you managed to get your hands on resources, there was no guarantee you could keep them.
When it came down to a critical, life-or-death moment, what really mattered was how quickly the people around you could react.
Yu Bo could confidently declare that she was absolutely one of the Safe City residents with the most friends.
Out of her hundred-plus friends, there were at least twenty-some—excluding her teammates—with whom she could entrust her back in battle. They trusted each other ninety-nine percent of the way, and she knew they would never turn on her.
Twenty-some people!
Across Kadan’er Safe City—no, even if you included the residents of all the other Safe Cities—there was absolutely no one else who possessed such a vast and precious store of personal goodwill as she did.
Could they always have reliable teammates by their side like she did?
Could they, like her, get injured and knocked unconscious in battle and still feel completely safe blacking out?
Could they, like her, simply raise an arm and call out whenever they wanted to accomplish something or had a plan, and immediately have dozens of people answer the call?
The more Yu Bo thought about it, the more strength surged through her as she looked toward the convoy of Kadan’er vehicles that had followed them to the Broken River Wasteland.
Compared to her, her teammates like Liu Tiegu seemed positively listless.
Liu Tiegu yawned.
“Boss, do we really have to get involved in some war between [Companies]? It sounds like we’re practically asking to get ourselves killed.”
Yu Bo didn’t want to either. Her original plan had only been to sneak into [Ota]—she had never intended to fight a war.
But what could she do?
“It’s the City Lord’s order. You know we can’t disobey.”
Liu Tiegu sighed. “It’s not that I’m unwilling to serve, but this is obviously a suicide mission, and the City Lord hasn’t even promised us any compensation for our deaths.”
Yu Bo glanced at him. “What would you do with compensation? Do you have a family? Do I have a family? If people like us really die out there, there’s no one to collect it anyway.”
“That’s not the point. I just don’t understand why the City Lord insists on sending us to our deaths. We’re dealing with a [Company], for crying out loud. The City Lord didn’t even send any of his trusted subordinates. Obviously, he’s afraid they might die. So if he knows how dangerous this is, why send out so many residents?”
“No matter how you look at it, we’re still a pretty decent fighting force, right? There are so many ability users among us. If we all get wiped out, it should have at least some impact on the Safe City, shouldn’t it?”
Yu Bo shook her head. “I can more or less guess. It might have something to do with the World Mission and the war between the [Companies].”
“We’re foot soldiers. We’re being sent out to secure a spot.”
Another teammate looked confused. “What do you mean, ‘secure a spot’? A spot for whom?”
“For our contribution to the World Mission, I suppose? If the mission really is related to the war, then by sending us out, the City Lord is effectively participating in the war. Once the war ends, the rewards should be distributed among the various Safe Cities according to their contributions. And we’re the tools for earning those rewards.”
Liu Tiegu’s eyes widened.
“So you mean they’re exchanging our lives for those rewards?”
“You can think of it that way. But don’t get angry, and don’t think about running away. Where would we even go? The other Safe Cities are probably more or less the same. From the City Lords’ perspective, sacrificing some residents in exchange for a huge amount of rewards is obviously something they’d do.”
Yu Bo had been thinking about this herself for a long time. But once she had figured it out, she didn’t feel particularly sad about it.
After all, that was simply how things worked in the apocalypse.
It’s not being afraid that the City Lord treats you like a tool that’s the problem. The real tragedy is being so worthless that you don’t even have value as a tool.
“So, once we get into [Ota] and the war starts, don’t be idiots and work yourself to the bone. Staying alive comes first. Find the right opportunity and hide somewhere. Once the war is over, we immediately return to the city. When the fighting really starts, just remember one word.”
“Slack off!”
Liu Tiegu understood. “Oh! Got it, Boss.”
“What you mean is, since the City Lord is treating us as pawns to fill a quota, then all we have to do is fill the quota. We don’t actually need to fight. As long as we’re physically there on the battlefield, that’s enough.”
“Exactly. After all, we really are obeying orders and participating in the war. Whether we actually do anything? The battlefield will be so chaotic, who’s going to keep track of us?”
As for the fact that if these pawns who had been sent to fill the quota slacked off, the City Lord might receive fewer world-mission rewards—
So what?
The City Lord wasn’t going to share those rewards with ordinary residents like them anyway.
If the City Lord wanted to sacrifice them for the sake of those rewards, then naturally, they would ignore the City Lord’s interests in order to protect their own lives.
Yu Bo talked until her mouth went dry, then took another precious sip of water.
Ugh, they were going through water far too quickly. This was all water they had purchased in Kadan’er Safe City, but Moon Silk Star had been unbearably hot lately. By the time they reached the Broken River Wasteland, the water their team had bought at a high price along the way was already almost completely gone.
Once they reached the Broken River Wasteland, they would either have to grit their teeth and spend nuclear crystals buying water, or drink the stuff the locals did—the “water” whose color looked wrong and whose taste was absolutely bizarre.
They’d just have to endure it.
They were used to it anyway. Water was scarce in most apocalyptic worlds.
Which was why becoming residents of a Safe City was honestly pretty great. At the very least, Safe Cities had water towers, and residents only needed to spend a modest amount of nuclear crystals to purchase enough water to drink.
Once this mission was over and she returned to Kadan’er Safe City, Yu Bo was going to buy a whole thousand milliliters of clean water and drink it to her heart’s content.
“We’re almost there. Let’s stop and take a break. We’ll tell everyone a little more about the Broken River Wasteland.”
The Kadan’er convoy soon came to a stop on the wasteland. Everyone found a spot to sit or stand and listened as Yu Bo and her companions introduced the territory belonging to [Ota].
“There’s an extreme shortage of water up ahead, so make sure you keep your water containers safe. And whenever you go out, never go alone. At least a dozen people should travel together.”
“There are lots of mutated beasts. Watch your feet, your left and right, front and back, and above you as well. Keep your weapons on you at all times.”
Someone asked, “What about the locals? Will they attack us because we look like we have relatively abundant food?”
This was practically standard in apocalyptic worlds. Because of their lack of resources, the locals were generally highly aggressive.
Yu Bo thought for a moment. “When we left, [Ota] had already issued regulations prohibiting criminal activity. [Ota] has an extremely strong desire to maintain control over its own assets, so in theory, the residents shouldn’t attack us.”
“But this is the Broken River Wasteland, after all, and the residents here have a difficult life. There may still be people desperate enough to take the risk, so everyone should remain vigilant.”
Everyone nodded solemnly.
None of them were newcomers. They all understood what they needed to watch out for when venturing outside in an apocalyptic world.
Yu Bo went on to explain some of [Ota]’s regulations before clapping her hands.
“Alright, everyone got that? Let’s go. Keep moving. We’re about to enter the territory of the Broken River Wasteland.”
One vehicle after another continued onward. These vehicles were probably the only sweetener the Kadan’er City Lord had given them.
When they were nearly there, the convoy stopped again. The people began proceeding on foot, while the drivers, under the protection of a team of guards, drove the vehicles back to Kadan’er Safe City.
Yu Bo looked back at the vehicles gradually disappearing into the distance.
Liu Tiegu called out from ahead, “Boss, let’s go.”
“Coming.”
One day, their team would have a vehicle of their own, too.
The group continued on foot and entered the checkpoint into the Broken River Wasteland.
Compared to when they had passed through before, the checkpoint had clearly expanded. Overall, it now looked almost exactly like a checkpoint from before the apocalypse.
When the [Ota] employees in work uniforms spotted them, they immediately activated the warning lights.
In an instant, countless weapons were trained on the group.
Yu Bo hurriedly raised her arms. “Don’t shoot! A lot of us are mutants! We heard about the [Company] and came here hoping to get jobs!”
“We’re strong! We can do any kind of work! Please!”
She actually had plenty more prepared to say, but before she could finish, all the weapons were lowered.
A staff member waved them forward.
Then they were each handed an identification form stamped with two words:
JOB-SEEKER PASS.
“This is way too easy…”
The group was still somewhat bewildered. But once they passed through the towering checkpoint and saw what lay ahead, everyone immediately forgot about their surprise.
Every single person stared ahead in disbelief.
Wait…
This was an apocalyptic world?
