Dimensional Supermarket - Chapter 46

A group of teenagers who plan to work part-time after “shopping” are “sent” back to the base by soldiers as soon as they step out of the supermarket.

They carry large and small bags, frantically explaining, “We have IDs!”

The soldiers determine that their IDs are forged and bluntly say, “You are not yet fifteen, you cannot leave the base, and you cannot clean the battlefield. I thought your teacher told you. You will have to recite the base rules 500 times when you go back, and your teacher will also be fined one month’s salary.”

Nowadays, IDs are all printed and stamped. The Luoyang base doesn’t have a printer with special technology, so the cost of counterfeiting is low. However, it’s not completely impossible to distinguish. The ink used for the seal is made with a special process, and now only officials can obtain this ink. If you look carefully, you can still tell the difference.

Feng Ling and the others don’t understand why they are sent back after passing the inspection. But since they are caught, they can only admit it.

After taking the group back, the soldiers return to the supermarket. They initially assume that the supermarket won’t do business with unofficial personnel. But seeing those kids manage to buy things, they figure—couldn’t they shop too?

Not all the soldiers come; only a few representatives are sent. If they can shop, they will let these people buy on their behalf.

“Of course.” Wu Yan tells them to wash their hands and disinfect. “As long as you don’t rob or steal, you can buy anything in the supermarket.”

Wu Yan repeats the exchange procedure. “You can push the cart or take the shopping basket. It’s up to you. But we only have plastic bags. If you want to save a little, you have to bring your own packaging.”

In Wu Yan’s view, unnecessary money should not be spent. Although plastic bags only cost fifty or eighty cents, it’s still money!

The soldiers are overjoyed and walk in in disbelief.

Compared to Feng Ling’s group of children, they know better what they should exchange.

No one goes to the snack area, and no one buys daily necessities. They buy all the bulk rice in the supermarket.

A lot of bagged rice is also bought. It takes them two trips to carry all the things they purchase.

Ordinary soldiers can’t use cars, so they have to carry everything manually. But even the thinnest soldier can carry dozens of kilograms of rice and walk briskly, as if afraid that if they slow down, the supermarket will stop them and take their rice back.

A corn cake can be exchanged for so much rice that they think the cashier has miscalculated the price.

“Are they really here to do business?”

“Maybe they are really people from the future, and they are here to give us things?”

“Then just give them directly? Do we need to exchange them?”

“Who cares what they are? As long as I can buy things, it’s fine! I haven’t eaten rice for a long time!”

“Heh, I even bought a bag of sausages. Too bad only the bagged kind was available—bagged costs more than bulk. Otherwise, I could’ve bought more.”

“Tonight, I’ll have my dad steam rice and boil the sausages. Tsk, I’m drooling just thinking about it.”

“I also bought some vegetables.”

“The cucumbers and cabbages in the supermarket look so fresh, and they even sell fruits!”

The things in the supermarket are so cheap that they’re almost free. It seems like a loss not to buy them.

“Tonight, I’ll have my dad steam rice and boil the sausages. Tsk, I’m drooling just thinking about it.”

Since “money” has become worthless, every household stocks up on corn cakes for emergencies. After all, when the zombie tide comes, supply from the rear often can’t keep up. The people in the base have been hungry before, and the longest period without supplies was seven days. Their base doesn’t produce food, so they can only rely on official supplies and their own food reserves.

“I feel like I haven’t eaten fruit in half my life.”

“I haven’t eaten many vegetables either.”

“It’s good to have food! Didn’t I go to Changfeng Base before? They produce food. You didn’t see it; all the machines and manpower were used to plant high-yield crops, and even so, they barely met the grain production target.”

“That’s right. There are too many people who need to eat now, and the production can’t keep up. It’s good to have enough food, and you still want vegetables?”

The soldiers can occasionally eat meat, but they can’t eat vegetables more than once a month.

Feng Ling and her companions, who are sent back to the base, walk down the street. They carry bags of rice, snacks, and drinks, and are soon stopped by residents.

With the official in charge and everyone being a soldier, the base’s public security is good, and it is more orderly than before the end of the world. There are still petty thefts, but robbery and murder are almost nonexistent.

After all, anyone on the street could be a soldier taking a break—catching a criminal can earn you a lot of rewards.

The fate of criminals is not to go to prison for free food and drink, but to be locked up in the barracks and serve as cannon fodder when the zombie tide comes.

The cost of crime is too high, and the possibility of success is too low. Only those who dare to commit crimes are brave enough to take the risk.

That’s why Feng Ling and others dare to walk the streets without disguises.

“Where did you get these things?”

“There’s still rice now? I almost vomited after eating corn cakes.”

“Bought with tickets?”

“I still have rice tickets at home! Can I exchange them?!”

Feng Ling and others are surrounded by residents, and they are bombarded with questions. Some even pinch the rice bags to make sure they are full of rice. The eyes of those pinching the rice bags are red.

“Where did you buy this rice?!”

Their eyes are fanatical, but they don’t scare Feng Ling. Although she wants to keep the supermarket’s existence hidden—who knows how much inventory it has, or whether these people will be able to buy anything after they go—the situation makes it impossible to conceal the truth.

Besides, they will have to live in the base in the future.

Feng Ling says, “It’s just outside the city gate. You can see it once you leave the city. In addition to rice, you can buy other things. It’s just like a regular supermarket from before the zombies appeared. There’s only one floor, but it has everything you need, even clothes.”

“When did it open?”

“Why would they open a store there?”

“Are the things expensive? Do you need a ticket? Do they charge money?”

Feng Ling shakes her head. “No tickets, but I don’t know whether they charge money. I exchanged them for corn cakes.”

Everyone is amazed. “How many corn cakes do you need to exchange for these things?!”

“I didn’t expect you to have so many corn cakes.”

“Can a pound of corn cakes be exchanged for two taels of rice? If so, I’ll go.”

Feng Ling thinks back to how she initially thought she couldn’t afford the supermarket’s goods. She planned to go in, look around, and then leave. Thinking about it now, she realizes there’s no point in hiding it.

“It’s not expensive—some of it is practically free.” Feng Ling still finds it hard to believe. “One corn cake is worth fifty yuan. In the supermarket, one jin of rice only costs two yuan fifty.”

The crowd goes silent for two seconds before someone speaks up. “Really?!”

“Little sister, you can’t joke about this!”

Feng Ling: “I’m not kidding. If you want to buy it, go get your ID.”

Ordinary residents can’t leave the city gate without their IDs. They need to show that they’re going out to work part-time before they can leave.

There is also an age limit; only people between fifteen and forty years old can leave.

Just as she finishes speaking, several middle-aged people have already taken off. Their pace shifts from slow to fast, and they run so quickly it seems like they’re flying.

Others who are slower also react: “Go home! Get your corn cakes!”

The residents who have just surrounded Feng Ling quickly disperse.

But this isn’t the end. Feng Ling and her friends are stopped like this every time they walk through a block.

Although most people are working at this time, many others without fixed jobs are trying their luck on the streets.

Feng Ling explains tirelessly as she is stopped again and again.

When they finally reach the public service center, they are finally “free.”

The public service center houses many old, weak, sick, and disabled people who have no families and no ability to work. Every month, they are allocated a subsistence allowance on a head-to-head basis.

They don’t starve, but they can barely survive.

If they get sick, they basically just wait to die—there aren’t enough medicines or medical staff in the base.

The teacher at the public service center comes over. She is in charge of the group of orphans headed by Feng Ling. The teacher, who has been anxious all morning, has a serious expression and anger in her eyes. Before she even gets close, she shouts loudly: “Did I tell you that you’re not old enough? You can’t go out! Do you know how dangerous it is to deal with the battlefield?! How many lives do you have! When you’re fifteen, I don’t care what you do! Not now! Hear me…”

Before she finishes her words, she sees the group of children set down their bags, revealing the rice and candy inside.

The teacher is stunned. Her voice becomes softer, and she stutters as she asks, “Where are these from…?”

Feng Ling, whose mouth is dry from explaining, drinks some water and motions for her companion to explain.

The boy repeats what Feng Ling had explained before.

The teacher turns around immediately, and the boy knows what she is going to do. He raises his voice and says, “Teacher, why don’t you go there early tomorrow morning? There should be a lot of people queuing up now! They close at 10 p.m. and open at 6 a.m.”

The teacher doesn’t stop. She runs and says, “Do you think no one will queue up at night?! Wait until they open tomorrow? There’ll be no fewer people!”

Boy: “But the base gate closes at 8 o’clock!”

Teacher: “Such a big supermarket! It’s not like it can only accommodate a dozen people at a time!”

***

Ye Zhou looks at the crowd outside the supermarket and, for a moment, thinks they are even more overwhelming than a corpse tide.

People bring corn cakes in all sorts of containers. The line stretches all the way to the city gate.

To prevent the supermarket from becoming overloaded, the automatic glass door has been closed and can only be opened manually. Only a limited number of people are allowed to enter each time, and a new batch can enter only after another leaves.

Ye Zhou looks at Zou Ming and Chen Shu, who are working part-time as cashiers.

It seems like he really needs to hire more people.

Otherwise, he won’t be able to tell if someone is stealing.

No business makes him distressed, and too much success also gives him some distress.

But the former is pure suffering, while the latter is a sweet kind of suffering.

Ye Zhou decides to give all employees a salary increase while in this plane.

He sighs, thinking to himself:  I really am a good boss.