Holding Their Own Space, the Family Returns to the Apocalypse

46: The Mischievous KingThe first day of Ai Yue and the two others’ arrival at the Safety Tower ended amidst the scent of delicious food.

Early the next morning, Safety Tower staff came to their door to ask what kind of work the family wanted; as long as it wasn’t core technical work, the three of them could take their pick.

Ai Yue gave up the chance to choose a job. Having lived a second life, she didn’t want to trap herself in the base working nine-to-five. Without her freedom, she wouldn’t even have the time to enter or leave the Safety Tower, which completely went against her original intention.

Ai Yue had her own ideas. She wasn’t sure how long the Apocalypse would last, and she couldn’t stay in a safe environment forever; that would cause her to gradually lose her alertness to danger.

Without experiencing the test of life and death, a person would become useless over time. If some accident happened later, she feared she wouldn’t have the ability to protect her parents.

She also had another reason why she had to go out: her space hadn’t leveled up in a long time, and she needed a large amount of gold and jade to upgrade it.

She wanted to know what other surprises this treasure of a space could reveal.

Ai Guosheng and Li Shilan, however, didn’t think that way. They had been steady for most of their lives, and as they got older, they just wanted stability. Having such a rare opportunity, they didn’t want to give it up.

Besides, they would be settling here for a long time, and the family had to integrate into collective life. Furthermore, they naturally loved a lively atmosphere, and having finally found a safe place, they wanted to continue living like ordinary people.

The most important point was to find an excuse for why their family didn’t lack food and drink. Otherwise, if the family of three didn’t work and didn’t receive supplies from the base but still had things to eat and drink, wouldn’t it be suspicious?

Ai Yue respected her parents’ opinion. It was a good thing for them to be able to work and live here peacefully, without having to go outside the base with her to face the cruel side of this world.

Li Shilan chose to be a clerical worker at the Trading Center. This job was one of the most sought-after positions in the Safety Tower—easy, clean, and respectable. The compensation wasn’t low either; in the early stages, she could receive two catties of rice, five liters of water, two potatoes, and priority selection rights for leafy green vegetables every day.

Currently, cultivated vegetables were scarce and wouldn’t be distributed; the priority selection rights for leafy greens were useless at this time.

Once the Safety Tower construction was finished and the system perfected, currency would circulate among the ten Safety Towers. At that time, the advantage of the priority selection rights for leafy greens would become prominent.

Later on, the Safety Towers would cultivate a large amount of vegetables, but they couldn’t keep up with the large population. There simply wouldn’t be enough to go around, so they would have to be purchased with money.

When buying vegetables, the market would prioritize selling to those who held leafy green selection rights.

Ai Guosheng chose a position as a security officer within the tower. His martial arts skills finally came in handy; despite his age, three or four young men were no match for him.

Ai Guosheng performed exceptionally well and even earned the position of a squad leader.

Her parents were extremely satisfied with their jobs, so Ai Yue felt at ease.

Ai Yue was in no hurry to go out, leisurely staying at home and enjoying the quiet time.

But Da Wang was a restless soul, howling every day for Ai Yue to take it out to play.

Seeing Da Wang jumping up and down every day was truly annoying, so Ai Yue had to compromise and take it out. Having gained its freedom, the majestic Da Wang wandered all over the base like it was patrolling its own territory.

At this time, there weren’t many people in the base. These people were like those who had seen great storms; they remained indifferent even when seeing a white tiger wandering around the base every day.

Half a month passed peacefully, but as more and more people entered the base, Da Wang was targeted.

Those who had just arrived at the Safety Tower didn’t know how long it had been since they last ate. Each one of them looked at Da Wang with eyes turning green with hunger, wishing they could step forward and take a bite out of it immediately.

Seeing that group of people staring straight at it with glowing eyes, Da Wang felt creeped out. Those people were like a pack of red-eyed rats; they looked terrifying.

Da Wang had always been raised by Ai Yue’s family and hadn’t eaten live prey since it was young. Its bloodlust hadn’t been triggered, so seeing that group of humans offending it, it only felt a bit of fear.

Fortunately, the group of newcomers understood what kind of place this was and that they couldn’t act recklessly. They could only watch unwillingly as Ai Yue and Da Wang left.

Ai Yue knew in her heart that now that Da Wang had been targeted by those people, if it continued to wander the base, it would attract more and more attention. She feared that with one moment of negligence, Da Wang would be caught and eaten!

She couldn’t kill people in the Safety Tower to warn those who were eyeing Da Wang. To avoid conflict, Ai Yue stopped taking Da Wang for walks around the base.

At first, Da Wang wasn’t happy at all. Every day at the usual hour, it would try to run outside. Furious, Ai Yue locked it in the room and wouldn’t let it out. She also threatened it—regardless of whether it could understand or not—vividly telling it that it couldn’t wander around the Safety Tower anymore, or else it would be eaten.

Whether Da Wang understood or not, it didn’t clamor to go out for the next few days.

The group of people who had targeted Da Wang sent people every day to monitor Ai Yue and Da Wang from outside the East District. Fortunately, each district was strictly controlled, and those who didn’t live there weren’t allowed in; otherwise, they would have entered long ago to snatch Da Wang away.

Ai Yue also noticed this situation. To avoid trouble, she rarely left the East District during these few days.

But the good days didn’t last long. That troublemaker Da Wang started acting up again, insisting on going out. No matter how Ai Yue threatened it, it didn’t work; it just stiffened its neck and howled.

Ai Yue really couldn’t take it anymore. She locked the door and vanished into her space, leaving Da Wang alone in the room to howl unwillingly.

Ai Yue was at peace since she couldn’t hear it, but Da Wang’s tiger roars were too piercing.

For a day or two, the neighbors endured it for the sake of Gu Xiheng. But as time went on, the disturbance became unbearable. Ignoring their status as honored guests of the Gu Clan, they came to her house one after another to complain.

When Ai Yue saw this, she was dumbfounded. It couldn’t go outside, and it couldn’t stay at home. She was so angry she really wanted to throw Da Wang out so she wouldn’t have to deal with it.

Sigh, she was only thinking it. If she actually did that, Comrade Li Shilan would be the first one not to let her off.

Helpless, Ai Yue could only put the plan to go out and search for supplies on the schedule.

When her parents came home from work, Ai Yue told them her thoughts. Ai Guosheng and his wife had no objections; they knew well that their daughter was not a canary in a cage, but an eagle soaring in the sky.

Having received her parents’ consent, Ai Yue prepared some food and weapons for them and hid them in the house, just in case.

Early the next morning, Ai Yue took Da Wang, who was longing for the outside world, and drove the marauder, disappearing into the mist.

Those people had been watching Ai Yue and Da Wang’s movements. Seeing the person and the tiger leave the base, they clapped their hands, feeling that their chance had come.

Ai Yue had long noticed people sneakily monitoring her, but she didn’t care. If anyone dared to covet her Da Wang, she would send them to the afterlife.

Hmph, before she sent them to the afterlife, they’d have to catch up to her first.

Driving on the highway, Ai Yue would occasionally see a car passing her, all heading toward the Safety Tower.

There were even more people in rags, leaning on wooden sticks or supporting each other as they walked toward the base.

When Ai Yue drove the rumbling marauder past them, they all showed envious looks. They once had the ability to drive such a good car, but now they had turned into beggars. It was truly a lamentable sight, a reminder of how fickle the world is.