Dimensional Supermarket - Chapter 44

Before dawn, just as the clock strikes five, the base is already awake.

Streetlights flicker on, and the residents step into the streets, faces numb as they make their way to work.

Their jobs are varied. Aside from a select few who can work in factories, most people are stuck doing low-paying, unstable jobs. Many non-factory workers also take on part-time work—dealing with the corpses of zombies outside the wire fence.

Due to limited resources, the base no longer burns the zombies. Only those that have been shot in the head are buried.

Almost every resident has done this kind of part-time job. Though it is exhausting and dangerous, the pay isn’t bad.

They have become used to the frequent zombie waves. All their effort is just to survive—there is no hope for the future.

After all, more than thirty years have passed, and the zombies haven’t rotted into bones and vanished. On the contrary, their numbers have only grown, and each wave is worse than the last.

The areas where humans can live are shrinking. The variety of food is dwindling. There isn’t a single chubby person in the base—nearly everyone is gaunt and yellow-faced. Many suffer from long-term malnutrition.

The average life expectancy is under fifty.

The residents walk along the road like worker ants. A group of over a dozen young people huddle together. They wear cheap, mass-produced work clothes, their hair dull and yellow, and they look no older than fifteen.

Though they also receive combat training, it is unpaid. The only provision is corn cakes to ensure they don’t starve. On rare occasions, when supplies are a bit more abundant, they might even receive some benefits.

Still, they are essentially dependent on their families to survive.

“Have you brought everything?” The leader is a thin girl with a hideous scar on her face that mars her otherwise pretty features. She wears a mask. “When others ask, you all remember what to say, right?”

The others nod. “Just say we’re over fifteen.”

You can only work part-time once you’re fifteen.

The girl looks toward the city wall. “Have you got your IDs?”

“I’ve got everything.”

“Can you really fool them?”

The girl replies, “It’s human eyes, not machines. How would they know?”

The ID is just a piece of paper. The printing factory in the base shut down long ago. The school only teaches basic reading, and since the workforce can’t stay in school all the time, anyone who wants to study has to save money to buy books and study independently.

But the library in the base is always empty. Everyone is too busy with survival to care about intellectual pursuits.

Today is the first day after the zombie wave recedes. Since there might be zombies with injured spines that haven’t been fully killed, many people are reluctant to be the first to clean them up. As a result, the pay for the first day is higher than the others.

Those with stable jobs or surplus food at home won’t take this risk.

“Lingling, are you going to enlist when you’re old enough?” someone asks the leading girl as they head toward the wall.

The girl replies calmly, “They won’t take me.”

Her health is poor. She is malnourished, suffers from hypoglycemia, and has heart disease. It seems she is born to be a burden. No matter how hard she tries, she can’t change her fate.

“I can’t hold a gun. I’ve only watched the training. The base just gives me corn cakes to keep me from starving.”

None of her friends speak.

Feng Ling is an orphan. Her parents abandoned her after discovering she had heart disease, unable to afford raising such a child. They gave her to the base to be cared for.

People despise her parents, but they can understand them. It is hard enough to survive, let alone raise a sick child.

They reach the foot of the city wall. Feng Ling is the first to hand her ID to the soldier guarding the gate. After the tide of corpses has subsided, the soldiers finally have time to rest, so the ones still on duty are all new recruits.

The recruit glances at the ID and warns, “Be careful—don’t take off your mask, and avoid touching your face before disinfecting. Did you read all the precautions?”

Feng Ling replies sullenly, “I have.”

The recruit waves his hand. “Go ahead. We’ll give you corn cakes when you return.”

The base officials no longer need “money.” People recognize corn cakes, so they use them as currency.

The group gathers and walks toward the barbed wire together.

Just as they are approaching their destination, someone suddenly shouts, “What’s that?!”

The person points at a building not far away. “A supermarket?”

He reads the sign out loud, word by word: “Long… Sheng… Super… Market.” Excited, he says, “Doesn’t this look like the supermarket in the picture?!”

They are all children born after the zombie crisis, so they have never seen the prosperity of peacetime. But they love hearing the elders talk about the past, and they enjoy looking at old photos and pictures.

Supermarkets used to be filled with all kinds of goods. You could buy a pound of rice, snacks, and toys for less than three yuan. To them, it is like a fairytale paradise.

The supermarkets in real life don’t have nearly as much. Usually just a tiny room, and everything is rationed. To buy something, you need tickets.

But most people don’t even have the chance to enter the supermarket. Many in the base would rather sell their tickets. After all, corn cakes are both currency and food.

The young people are always bolder, and the group soon begins shouting, “Let’s go check it out!”

“It looks like there’s a glass door. This supermarket is huge! Just like the one in the photo!”

“I wonder if there’s an escalator. The ones in the base have been out of order for a long time.”

“It seems to be only one floor. There shouldn’t be an elevator?”

“Who opened this supermarket? Why here?”

“Maybe it’s for the soldiers to buy things. Soldiers are richer than us.”

“Lingling, should we go?”

“Let’s go and have a look. It’s inside the wire mesh, so it should be safe.”

They chirp like a group of excited ducks. Feng Ling can’t suppress her curiosity and desire for the supermarket, and nods. “Then let’s go take a look.”

As soon as she finishes speaking, the group of more than a dozen teenagers rushes toward the supermarket.

It is rare for them to smile. Their thin, yellow faces suddenly light up with energy. The sun that has just risen casts light on them, making their previously lifeless eyes sparkle.

“Are there guests?” Wu Yan puts down his bowl. “I’ll go out and check.”

His wife quickly calls out, “The Lord Immortal said we must wear masks every time we go out!”

Wu Yan then remembers the mask, puts it on, and hurries out.

He sees the group standing outside through the glass door. Though they are all thin, Wu Yan doesn’t look down on them. People who have fled famine before would never look down on the elderly, sick, or disabled.

He takes out the intercom, and the men who are eating in the warehouse quickly rush out.

The women are busy as well. Their job is to receive customers. If the men determine the customers aren’t a threat, the women will guide them through the store.

The women feel both scared and hopeful. They fear the people outside might be dangerous, but they also hope this is a genuine opportunity to work.

Feng Ling and her group are not afraid. They assume the supermarket has been opened by people from the base for the soldiers. While they aren’t soldiers, most of them are in training, so they think they should also be allowed to shop.

Though they don’t have many corn cakes, it will be worth checking out.

They have never seen such a big supermarket in their lives!

Wu Yan doesn’t immediately open the automatic door, but instead goes out through the small door next to it.

After confirming the group is just a bunch of scrawny kids with no weapons—and even a few sickly ones—he gives the order to open the door from the inside.

The base’s power supply is limited. Only streetlights and factories get steady electricity. Everywhere else, power is only available at night. Households have no electricity during the day.

So as soon as they enter the supermarket, the group can’t help but gasp.

Though the sun has risen, the sky isn’t bright, and the supermarket’s incandescent lights illuminate everything clearly.

The shelves are full of goods, and they are left in awe, not knowing where to look first.

“Enter from that side,” Wu Yan points. “There’s no cashier in the back. You’ll need to come back this way to pay.”

Feng Ling asks quietly, “Can we pay with corn cakes?”

Wu Yan nods. “Yes. You can calculate the price yourselves. One corn cake equals fifty.”

They’ve brought rations with them, since they won’t get paid until after the job. But each person only brought one corn cake—no more than that.

Feng Ling hesitates. Such a supermarket and products must be very expensive. Their corn cakes might only be enough to buy a bag of sugar or a few bags of salt. She asks again, “Do we really not need a ticket?”

Wu Yan replies, “No. If you have any questions, the shopping assistants inside can help you.”

As they enter, Feng Ling says to her friends, “Let’s just look, don’t buy anything.”

They eat corn cakes every day, every meal. Even so, corn cakes fill their stomachs. Trading them for expensive items that wouldn’t satisfy hunger wouldn’t be worth it.

Better not to spend before they’ve earned anything.

But no one is willing to listen to her at that moment. Everyone rushes to the shelves they have already picked out.

Feng Ling sighs and walks to the candy shelf. She stares at the various packages, smells the nonexistent sweet scent, and looks at the prices in despair.

The blue packaging is filled with mint candies—so large, the bag is bigger than her head.

Feng Ling’s eyes move down…

Peppermint Refreshers: 22?

Before she can even react, she hears a friend shout, “There’s rice!! Two dollars and fifty cents per pound!”

Feng Ling’s eyes widen.

Are they crazy?