My Post-Apocalyptic Territory

Li Xiuming, a college classmate.

The two have a good relationship; after all, they've stayed up all night together, failed a course together, and played PUBG together—their friendship can be described as "iron-clad."

However, Tang Yu almost didn't recognize him. In his memory, Xiao Ming was a very refined and gentle person, and his hair was much longer than it is now. But right now, he gave Tang Yu a clean and neat impression.

It was as if the two of them hadn't seen each other for years.

In reality, the two had met at school not long before the apocalypse, but having experienced life and death in the apocalypse, it felt like several years had passed in the blink of an eye. Seeing the familiar face again, Tang Yu couldn't help but recall the campus full of youth and scholarly atmosphere before the apocalypse.

"Come on, come on, judging from your appearance, you must have just arrived in Lindong. Let me give you a welcome dinner."

Seeing that Tang Yu was holding a beginner's guide given by the director, Li Xiuming pulled Tang Yu into a restaurant on the street without saying a word.

There are a few shops on both sides of this main road, not many, but they have a fairly complete range of products.

Restaurants, clothing stores, daily necessities stores, bars, etc., which existed before the apocalypse, still exist now, which shows the prosperity of Lindong.

Some shops have a post-apocalyptic feel, such as shops selling homemade guns, shops selling materials for mutated beasts, and even martial arts masters from before the apocalypse who have opened martial arts schools in the shelter, which are said to be very popular.

…………

The two chose a window seat, and Li Xiuming handed the menu to Tang Yu, saying, "Hey, Lao Tang, take a look at this menu. You can't get this anywhere else, so don't be shy."

When Tang Yu looked at the menu, he saw that it contained some very common home-style dishes from before the apocalypse, such as braised eggplant, spicy shredded potatoes, and home-style tofu. In the apocalypse, these were indeed quite luxurious. Many small shelters could not afford such dishes. Only Lindong County had a complete range of ingredients, which allowed them to afford so many home-style dishes.

Of course, the prices weren't cheap either. Tang Yu casually pointed to a few items, and the waiter next to him did a quick calculation and said, "That'll be twenty yuan in total, thank you."

Seemingly noticing the confusion in his eyes, Li Xiuming smiled and explained, "Twenty yuan is the price of twenty jin of grain. The common currency in the shelter now is grain coupons, which come in denominations of one jin, two jin, five jin, and ten jin. They are different from the grain coupons of decades ago; they are more like the currency before the apocalypse. The difference is that grain coupons can be used to exchange for grain. Of course, a grain coupon with a face value of one jin can only be exchanged for one jin of the most common grain."

"Also, nowadays, restaurants require payment before serving. In the past, there have been cases of people dining and dashing, and arresting them was useless because they simply didn't have the money to pay. In the end, the matter was left unresolved. So nowadays, restaurants require payment in advance."

Li Xiuming took out two crumpled grain coupons, each worth ten jin, from his pocket and was about to hand them to the waiter.

Tang Yu shook his head upon seeing this. Although Xiao Ming appeared very generous, he could still see a hint of heartache in the other person's eyes.

He understood that Li Xiuming was, after all, just an ordinary person. In this environment, he might be doing better than the average survivor, but not by much.

These two grain coupons, each worth ten jin, were likely accumulated by Li Xiuming over a long period of time. They were enough for an ordinary survivor to live on for a month, so Tang Yu had no reason to let Li Xiuming spend so much money.

"I'll pay."

He took out a Source Crystal and handed it to the waiter.

Li Xiuming was about to speak, but when he saw the Source Crystal, his expression became complicated. "Well done, you actually managed to produce a Source Crystal. You must be an Awakener. Alas, no matter how I tried, whether it was the initial Awakening Headband or the later Awakening Potions, I couldn't awaken."

Tang Yu didn't know how to start the conversation.

In the apocalypse, everyone wants to become an Awakened One. Even if you don't go out into the wilderness, becoming an Awakened One gives you an advantage over ordinary people in terms of work. Who wouldn't want to be an Awakened One?

From his perspective, he has no right to offer advice.

Instead, Li Xiuming smiled and said, "Forget it, I don't care anymore. No matter what, at least I have a stable job, and my life is much better than that of ordinary survivors. Compared to those people, I am at least lucky."

"As for you, you can't waste the talent of an Awakened One. If you have any savings, you should buy some equipment from the official store, such as firearms or military-made alloy swords. I've heard from other Awakened Ones that they are quite easy to use."

Tang Yu nodded.

Li Xiuming's words made a lot of sense, and it was clear that he was genuinely giving him advice. However, these suggestions only applied to ordinary awakened individuals, while he had already surpassed that level. Moreover, no matter how good the military's alloy swords were, could they compare to those produced by his workshop?

Tang Yu, of course, didn't say these words aloud. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Do you know about the black market? It's said that there are many good things there?"

"black market?"

Li Xiuming thought for a moment, "I don't know much about the black market either. It's said that the black market was originally just a place where a few awakened people traded some shady items, but gradually, it grew and became a small market, just like the commodity trading market in the eastern district of the shelter. However, the items traded on the black market are mostly things that awakened people can use, including equipment, some wilderness spoils, and it's said that sometimes even some items that are prohibited from being sold by the military leak out."

Tang Yu's eyes lit up. The military had banned the sale of this item, which meant that the soul power collection container could very well be bought on the black market.

Do you know where the black market is?

Li Xiuming frowned. "I've only heard of the black market, in a secluded place within the shelter, but I don't know the exact location. However, someone mentioned it before... Here, I'll ask around for you when I get to work tomorrow."

Tang Yu ordered two bottles of beer, and while chatting, the two of them shared their experiences after the apocalypse.

Li Xiuming did not encounter any danger after the apocalypse. When the apocalypse broke out, he happened to be working in Lindong County, which was selected by the military as a shelter. He was very lucky to continue working in the factory. This job was not very good before the apocalypse, but now it was the envy of most survivors.

Having a permanent job is extremely rare in shelters. It means a fixed salary, enough to eat every day, and the possibility of saving some money. Moreover, the accommodations for permanent employees are much better than the relief housing allocated to ordinary survivors by the government.

"You have no idea, when the shelter was first built, we could hear gunshots every day. We were terrified back then. You're amazing, you actually survived in that environment and are doing so well." He sighed. "I don't know how the other students are doing. I've only met the class representative, and there are two others in 503 who work in Lindong like me. As for the others, I just happened to run into you, Lao Tang, today. I wonder how many people made it to the shelter alive."

Living is a very heavy topic.

Survivors arrive at the shelter every day, but many more die on the way.

Of course, most of his college classmates were in the Lincheng area when the apocalypse happened. The number of people who survived and came to the Lindong Shelter was probably not just the few Li Xiuming had met. However, with hundreds of thousands of survivors in the shelter, and with life so difficult and no way to contact each other, it was clear that no one had the time to spend so much effort looking for others.

Ultimately, aside from a few close friends, even without the apocalypse, if they meet again a few years later, they'll still be strangers.

"Forget about these discouraging things. Old Tang, you just arrived at the shelter today and haven't found a place to stay yet, have you? If you don't want to live in those relief houses, then you'll have to go to the housing management center to choose a place."