City of Time: Falling into the kill zone at the start

After leaving Zhao Jie at the sandwich shop, Lu Chen walked slowly back to his apartment in silence.

After walking quite a distance, Yu finally couldn't suppress her curiosity and quietly started talking.

"You hesitated just now."

The calm words pulled Lu Chenfei's scattered thoughts back to reality.

Turning to the side at the sound, she saw Yu Wen'er smile: "What are you all thinking about?"

"You want to help more thoroughly, but you're afraid I'll mind?"

"still……"

Upon hearing this, Lu Chen sighed softly, smiled faintly, and shook his head.

"I've come up with a few ideas."

"However, after careful consideration, I found that none of them were advisable."

These words completely piqued Yu's already intense curiosity.

Before Yu could ask any more questions, Lu Chen began to speak on his own.

"The first thing that came to mind was to pay off Zhao Jie's bank debts and become his personal debtor."

"Upon closer examination, I realized it wouldn't work."

"Whether it's bank debt or personal debt, Zhao Jie has no choice but to go out of town to scavenge if he wants to pay it off."

"Leaving the city definitely carries risks."

"Once Zhao Jie dies outside the city, the debt will be settled with his death."

...

"Our act of settling Zhao Jie's bank debts is essentially an investment."

"Invest for 6 years, and get your principal and interest back in 8 to 10 years."

"We earn interest on our private debt, while Zhao Jie avoids interest on his bank debt; it's a win-win situation."

"But if he dies outside the city, our investment of 6 years will be completely wasted."

At this point, Lu Chen paused.

After a moment, he said with certainty, "If Zhao Jie goes out of the city to scavenge alone, the probability of his death is extremely high."

"We don't plan to recruit Zhao Jie as a new teammate."

"Therefore, this investment is too risky."

As soon as she finished speaking, Yu Wen'er smiled.

Her usually aloof and indifferent brows have softened considerably without her even realizing it.

...

Lu Chen remained silent for a moment before saying, "The second method is a bit more reliable."

"I was thinking that if Zhao went out to scavenge for scraps, the probability of him dying in an accident was too high. If I paid off his bank debts, the investment would likely be a complete loss."

"Could you find Zhao Jie a job in the city that doesn't require him to leave the city or take any risks?"

At this point, Lu Chen smiled and turned his head to glance at Yu.

"For example, buy a rope hotel and let Zhao Jie run it."

These words caused Yu's expression to freeze for a moment, and she subconsciously began to think.

Lu Chen didn't stop there, but instead discussed the feasibility of the plan with Yu.

"The Rope Hotel is registered in our name and is our fixed asset."

"We can hire Zhao Jie to watch the shop, and we can still go out of town to scavenge without being tied down by the Rope Hotel."

"We can set aside [6 years] to pay off Zhao Jie's bank debts and let Zhao Jie look after the rope hotel for us."

"As for his salary—he'll only be paid for the natural passage of time [1 day], plus the [8 minutes] required for two slices of bread, for a total of [1 day and 8 minutes] per day."

"Or [10 minutes a day]."

"Zhao Jie watches the shop at night and sleeps in the hotel during the day, which saves him some money on accommodation."

...

"The Rope Hotel earns revenue from 9 hours or more per day, up to 10 hours."

"Adding the daily natural loss allowance, that's more than 9 hours a day."

"Give Zhao Jie [1 day 10 minutes], and consider the remaining [9 hours] as Zhao Jie paying off a debt to us."

"Give us back the principal and interest for 10 years. We'll only give him his freedom when the debt is fully repaid."

As Lu Chen spoke, Yu secretly began to calculate as well.

According to Lu Chen's plan, Zhao Jie could hand over 9 hours of his daily income from the Rope Hotel to Lu Chen and Yu.

Each month consists of 270 hours, which is equivalent to 11 days and 6 hours per day.

A year has 135 days.

To pay off his 10-year personal debt, Zhao Jie would have to work at Lu Chen and Yu's Rope Inn for over 27 years...

"It's been too long."

"Although the Rope Hotel still belongs to us, the [6 years] we invested in to pay off Zhao Jie's bank debts will take a full 27 years to recover the principal and interest."

Yu frowned and said.

Lu Chen nodded slightly: "Yes."

"It's been too long."

"Use gold worth [15 years] to buy a rope hotel, and then spend [6 years] paying off Zhao Jie's bank debts;"

"—With such a huge investment, it will take twenty-seven years to recover the total [4 years] of private debt interest?"

"The investment is too large, and the returns are too small."

"It's really not worth it."

After saying that, Lu Chen thought for a moment, then shook his head and smiled inexplicably.

"Furthermore, I've always felt that gold is much scarcer than rope hotels."

"We can buy the Rope Hotel with gold, but we'll most likely not get gold back if we sell it."

"Considering the above two points, I rejected this plan—to buy a fixed asset and have Zhao Jie manage the shop to pay off the debt."

Upon hearing this, Yu nodded thoughtfully.

After a brief silence, she turned her head with a smile and looked at Lu Chen meaningfully.

"You're becoming less and less like a survivor."

Lu Chen stopped in response and paused for a moment.

He then smiled and shook his head, raising his hand to pat Yu's shoulder.

A strange sense of melancholy welled up on his face.

"I can no longer be considered a survivor."

"Isn't that right?"

...

"Although you didn't say it explicitly, I can sense it."

"Number 9529 who left from Resumption Point 3, number 9541 who left from Resumption Point 2..."

"—The moment they stepped out of the recovery center, they were no longer survivors."

"Only those who walked out of the No. 1 recovery point, such as Zhao Jie who was 'born' to be burdened with debt, and myself ten days ago, can be considered true survivors."

"From the moment I paid off my bank debts, Zhao Jie and I were no longer the same kind of people."

As he spoke, Lu Chen glanced at Yu Wen again and smiled gently.

"From that moment on, I became one of your kind."

"—Those who have no bank debt and are almost certain to survive: former survivors."

"Former recoveries should no longer be called recoveries."

"For example, you are a scavenger."

"Take me for example, a potential scavenger, or a potential motivator, or a potential self-employed individual..."

As the words fell, the two arrived outside Yu's apartment.

Yu quietly stopped and turned around slightly.

Under the dim light, Yu raised her head and looked at Lu Chen with a half-smile.

Lu Chen lowered his head slightly, seemingly helpless and powerless, and kept smiling bitterly to himself.

...

A long time passed.

Yu finally curled the corners of her mouth and put her hands into the outer pockets of her trench coat.

Without warning, he left a sentence and walked alone into the stairwell of the apartment building.

"I'm going to take a shower tonight."

You'll have to find your own accommodation.

These words, spoken without warning, startled Lu Chen.

After realizing what had happened, she turned around in surprise and doubt, looking at Yu's back.

"bath?"

"Does your apartment have a shower?"

"—You! You can afford to take a shower?!"

Upon hearing this, Yu didn't stop walking and quickly went up to the second floor of the apartment.

He then stood on the second-floor terrace and shrugged with complete nonchalance.

"Use filtered rust solution to wipe it clean, that'll do."