Chapter 5

Long Yuehong opened her mouth as if she wanted to persuade him:

"…Alright then."

Shang Jianyao sat for a while longer, then picked up the tray and walked toward the exit, handing over everything in his hands to the cafeteria staff on duty.

Outside the "Material Supply Market," fluorescent lights were evenly spaced on the ceiling, illuminating the path leading to the rest of the floor. Employees of different ages and genders gathered in small groups, some heading to the "Activity Center," some returning home together, and others watching children run and play.

Shang Jianyao walked among them, quickly leaving Area C and crossing a street with walls covered in graffiti, entering the more densely packed Area B.

In most of the "Living Area" of this underground building, there was no concept of buildings; employees lived in rooms, not houses. Many who worked in the "Inner Ecological Zone" and had seen real beehives often compared themselves to this.

However, the corridors between the rows of rooms were quite spacious, paved with smooth, milky-white tiles, allowing at least five or six people to walk side by side.

This was a company-mandated regulation, supposedly to handle emergencies and avoid congestion at critical moments.

Shang Jianyao walked for a while and saw his room.

It looked no different from the rooms on either side and across from it, with pure black walls that had a certain reflectivity, giving them a deep appearance. The wooden door was entirely brownish-red, with a small four-pane window beside it.

The only thing that confirmed the room belonged to Shang Jianyao was the white number on the door:

"196."

Room 196, Area B, 495th Floor.

Shang Jianyao reached into his pocket, took out a brass key, inserted it into the lock of the same color, and gently turned it.

With a click, Shang Jianyao used his other hand to press down on the doorknob and pushed the door open.

The door only opened halfway because it was blocked by Shang Jianyao's stove.

This was a room two meters wide, three meters deep, and four meters high. A wooden bed that barely allowed Shang Jianyao to stretch his legs straight was placed at the far end, with only a gap of less than 10 centimeters between the bed legs and the wall. There was no space for any furniture, but the walls had embedded expansion screws, hanging two sets of monochromatic, simple clothes.

Next to them, separated by a half sheet of plastic, was a separate sink, and on the other side of the sink was a stove with a chimney above and a cabinet below.

Shang Jianyao was always satisfied with the presence of these two facilities because not all rooms had them.

The underground building had too many floors and housed too many people, putting a terrible strain on the elevators, ventilation systems, drainage systems, and power supply systems. Therefore, there were many elevators, each serving different areas and only reaching certain floors. The ventilation and drainage systems were also divided into subsystems, with each 15 floors or a specific number of floors sharing one subsystem.

This way, even if a fault occurred, it would only affect a part of the area, not causing a complete collapse.

To ensure the stability of the drainage system, the company only connected a small portion of the newly built rooms to the pipes.

Many employees had to queue outside the public toilets in their "districts" to wash up, and during the night and early morning when energy supply was insufficient, many floors in the living area were very cold.

Being able to wash up without leaving the room and staying warm under the covers was a dream for many employees.

On the other side of the door, below the four-pane window, was a sturdy red-lacquered wooden table, piled with many books and a black fountain pen and a bottle of black ink.

At this moment, the light from the "street lamps" on the ceiling passed through the window and fell on the table, making the text on the book covers barely visible.

If not for the poor lighting between the two fluorescent lights, Shang Jianyao could have read without wasting his energy quota.

The wooden table had built-in cabinets, and behind it was a backrest chair painted brownish-red with many spots. Behind the chair were two nearly broken stools, seemingly supporting the so-called "living room."

Beyond this "living room" was the wooden bed placed horizontally.

Shang Jianyao did not turn on the room's lights because his energy allocation was limited, and he had to conserve it.

After removing the key and closing the door, Shang Jianyao walked through the area illuminated by the street lamps to the dark bed.

He picked up the pillow stuffed with grain husks, placed it vertically against the wall, and leaned against it, half-lying, half-sitting.

In this position, Shang Jianyao could see the electric wok and rice cooker on the stove.

Their surfaces were rusted, as if they had been used for many years.

Since Shang Jianyao could remember, they had been in his home: one was brought back by his father from the ruins of an old-world city during an "Security Department" external operation. He had given up other war spoils allocated by the company to get this item. The other was bought by Shang Jianyao's mother after saving contribution points for a long time from a small market—the new items in the "Material Supply Market" were much more expensive and always in short supply.

This room was not Shang Jianyao's childhood home, which he remembered was Room 28 in Area A of this floor, with a large and a small room and a very narrow bathroom.

This allowed Shang Jianyao to avoid queuing at the public toilets and smelling the strong odor when he was young.

However, after his father went missing and his mother died, the company reclaimed that apartment and reassigned it to eligible employees. This one was newly allocated to him when he entered university and left the orphanage.

These newly partitioned rooms, to save energy, did not have electronic locks but used various ordinary locks from the ruins of old-world cities, and some were produced by internal factories.

As Shang Jianyao's gaze moved, it fell on the wooden table by the window.

His mother had told him that his father, after saving money, bought the wood from the "Material Supply Market" and made this table by hand when they first got married.

This wooden table, along with the clothes his mother had sewn, and the two electrical appliances, were entrusted to the orphanage for three years and then returned to him.

However, Shang Jianyao could no longer fit into the clothes in the cabinet.

Shang Jianyao closed his eyes, raised his right hand, and pinched his temples.

He then lowered his hand, maintaining his current position without any further movement.

The room became abnormally quiet, and the dimness seemed to deepen.

Shang Jianyao leaned back as if he had fallen into a deep sleep.

...

Shang Jianyao opened his eyes and, as expected, saw a vast, open hall.

It was even larger than the entire "Material Supply Market."

The walls around the hall were black, with a metallic sheen, giving a cold feeling. The ceiling was dim, and it was impossible to see how high it was.

In this dimness, countless sparkling points of light were densely packed, slowly rotating, as if forming dreamlike rivers studded with diamonds.

Shang Jianyao was once again stunned by this scene, unable to describe it in words.

He could only think of the starry sky images his teacher showed on a display screen when he first entered university.

That was the first time he saw the stars.

And now, he felt as if he were among the stars.

In the center of the hall, the "starlight" gathered, forming a vague human figure.

The figure's arms were outstretched, maintaining strict symmetry, as if mimicking a balance.

A hollow voice echoed through the hall, as if conveying a revelation from the "stars":

"A price, three blessings."

"A price, three blessings..."

PS: Please give me a recommendation!