Chapter 664: Chapter 664: Strolling Around

Ten minutes later, Quincy returned with the others. Judging by their expressions, they seemed reasonably satisfied with the public restrooms.

"The men’s and women’s restrooms are about ten meters apart. The people living over here are all families of the base’s management, and this is the courtyard service area. The restrooms are cleaned and attended to every day, so they’re spotless."

"Attended to?"

"Yeah. Two older men take turns looking after the men’s restroom, and two older women do the same for the women’s."

"Oh, right, I found something out." Quincy looked at everyone mysteriously and lowered his voice. "The base supplies water and power, but each courtyard can’t use more than six kilowatt-hours of electricity a month. If you go over, they deduct a fee. And you can’t use more than five cubic meters of water. Go over that, and they deduct a fee for that too."

"That’s a good rule. It’ll keep people from wasting water and electricity. The base is still under reconstruction, and with so many people here, we have to conserve where we can."

"The count starts from the day we move in. The staff from the courtyard service area are already next door registering residents."

With the addition of Liam Sterling, they now had a group of fifteen. The house was a courtyard-style home with one kitchen and eight rooms.

"How should we divide up the rooms? There are fifteen of us."

"Let’s have everyone pair up. As for the extra single room, whoever wants it can take it."

Zoe pulled on Wyatt Vaughn’s clothes, her face filled with worry. "Mommy, I don’t want to live by myself. I’m scared."

Wyatt Vaughn was torn between laughter and exasperation. "You can just stay with us. You’re still little; it’s not safe for you to be alone."

"But Daddy grinds his teeth and snores at night. I don’t want to live with you guys."

Quincy...

"Zoe, would you like to stay with me?" Wendy asked.

"But I talk in my sleep. Will I scare Miss Wendy?"

Wendy shook her head. "No, you won’t. I’m a very heavy sleeper. I only wake up on my own, never in the middle of the night. Even thunder can’t wake me."

Zoe grinned, revealing a row of tiny teeth. "Then I want to stay with Miss Wendy! Miss Wendy smells nice."

With the three married couples, plus Wendy and Zoe, four rooms were spoken for. Of the four rooms left, Taylor Vance and Zion Lowell would share one, Ethan Dawson and Liam Sterling would take another, Peter Owens and Annie would get one, and Officer Graham would have a room to himself.

"Our ’big family’ is huge. Other courtyards only have four or five rooms. We’ve got eight, and it’s still barely enough space."

"It’s fine," Evelyn Ford said as she had everyone organize their supplies. "If you can’t get used to living out here, you can always go back and stay in the space." Just then, the staff from the courtyard service area arrived.

"How many of you are employed by the base?"

"Three."

A staff member took out a notebook and began to register them. "Evelyn Ford, base obstetrician-gynecologist... Liam Sterling... Ronan Kendrick... assistants to the base commander?" The workers’ expressions turned respectful the moment they saw the work IDs Liam Sterling handed over.

"The houses here in the courtyard will get running water in five days. Until then, you’ll have to go to the service area to get water for washing clothes and cooking. The electricity will be connected in three days. Do you need to purchase coal, pots, pans, or other daily necessities? There’s a service supermarket in the courtyard area, and it’s open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m."

"We need to buy two hundred jin of coal. We don’t need any kitchenware for now." ’There was plenty of coal in her space, but to be able to use it openly later, she had to buy two hundred jin from the base now as a cover.’

"Alright. You can use standard ration tickets to buy the coal. Two hundred jin of coal will cost you ten jin of grain vouchers."

The price was quite reasonable. After all, the mining district was right next door, so the base wasn’t short on coal.

After registering the residents, the staff left. Before leaving, they made a point to tell Evelyn Ford that the courtyard area sold vegetable seeds and nutrient-rich soil if she wanted to start a garden.

Evelyn Ford gave the grain vouchers to Ethan Dawson and Peter Owens, telling them to take the three-wheeled cart later to the coal distribution point and haul the coal back.

"Once you’ve finished tidying up your rooms, feel free to go out for a walk. Get familiar with the area, breathe some fresh air, and get some sun. I’ll bring out two three-wheeled carts and some bicycles in a bit. It’s a pretty long way from these courtyards to the main base area—it takes half an hour even by bike."

"Peter Owens and I will go get the coal then," Ethan Dawson said. "Do you all want to go check out the supermarket?"

At the supermarket, you also used various tickets to trade for goods. However, the base hadn’t mandated that only ration tickets could be used as currency. Gold, silver, and other valuables were also accepted; it just wasn’t something that had been officially announced to the public yet.

For thousands of years, from ancient times to now—and indeed, across the globe—gold and silver have always been a universal currency. There’s an old saying: gold and silver are not naturally currency, but currency is naturally gold and silver. Once the base stabilized, it wouldn’t be more than three years before trading in precious metals became mainstream, eventually replacing the ticket system.

"I want to go." After living in the space for so long, now that they were moving into a real house, Quincy was already itching to go out and wander.

Liam Sterling pulled out all the tickets he had on him and started handing them out. "It’s moving day. Buy whatever you want, spend as many as you like. Don’t be shy."

"We don’t need anything. You should keep these tickets; you might need them later," Officer Graham said, trying to hand them back, but Liam Sterling refused.

"You can buy stuff even if you don’t need it. They’re just gathering dust with me anyway. I eat and live with all of you now. As long as you don’t kick me out, I won’t have any use for them. It’s been years since any of us have been to a supermarket, right? Why don’t we all go check it out? To be honest, I’m really curious what a supermarket on the base looks like."

"You’ve never been?" Miles Vaughn asked, surprised. Not long ago, Liam Sterling and Ronan Kendrick had been out delivering supplies every day, yet they’d never once set foot in the base’s supermarket.

Liam Sterling waved his hand dismissively. "When would I have had the time?"

"Alright, how about this: once we’ve tidied up the house, we’ll all go to the supermarket." The moment Evelyn Ford said this, Annie and Zoe were ecstatic. Neither of them even knew what a supermarket was; they just saw all the adults getting excited and figured it must be a fun place.

"We’re going to the supermarket! We’re going to the supermarket!" Zoe ran wildly around the courtyard with a small pinwheel. The next-door neighbors were craning their necks to peek in, so Quincy walked to the entrance and shut the main gate without a word.

After they finished cleaning the courtyard, Evelyn Ford took a large padlock out of her space and gave everyone a key to it.

"Let’s go. Time to check out the supermarket."

The large group set off for the service area, passing quite a few people along the way. Several greenbelts had been planted outside the courtyards, and the Four Seasons Green seeds scattered there had already begun to sprout.

"The courtyard complex is still expanding. I heard they’re going to build over a thousand units. There’s a playground and a fitness plaza up ahead, too. I’m just worried the aunties are going to start their square dancing again and disturb the whole neighborhood."

"Actually, people only have the heart to sing and dance when the country is at peace and the harvests are good. In a way, I’d rather this place be filled with song and dance. I wouldn’t even mind the noise."

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