Arknights? Colonization Ark!

.......In fact, Lexington is going to go with Zhang Miao this time. In her words, it doesn’t matter where this body is, it won’t interfere with her work.

Chapter 130: The Hungry Slums

In the dim alley, the faint light of early morning barely shines into the room through the holes in the old newspapers in the window, and along with the sunlight comes the unique aroma of Longmen's pastry oil.

The purple-haired Carters girl was lying on the torn bed with a bad sleeping posture. The torn quilt had been kicked to the side of the bed a long time ago. She placed one hand on her smooth belly and took a few deep breaths of the fragrance with her small nose. The saliva from the corners of her mouth was almost flowing onto the pillow, and she was still mumbling something.

A younger film girl walked quietly to the bedside with an empty basin in her hand and pushed the secret lock.

"Ansuo, hurry up and get up."

But the dark lock was unmoved and turned over.

"Well....let me sleep a little longer."

Seeing that Ansuo had no intention of getting up, the girl was a little angry. She angrily placed the empty basin next to Ansuo's long ears.

bang————

"what!!!!"

Ansuo's hair stood on end and he jumped up from the bed and huddled in the corner. His eyes were wide open and there was no trace of sleepiness at all.

The fact that she was covered in cold sweat showed that she was scared to death by the noise just now.

Ansuo, who was woken up, looked at the girl beside the bed with ill intentions, grabbed her into his arms, and rubbed her face with his hands.

"Do you know that I almost ate that grilled sandworm leg just now?!"

The girl who was being ravaged in Ansuo's arms was also a little unhappy. She struggled to escape from his clutches, looking as aggressive as a little adult. She looked at Ansuo, the guy who was huddled together with her for warmth, with a feeling of being disappointed in him.

"If you don't get up, we'll have to go hungry today. Just go back to your dream and eat grilled sandworms!"

After being scolded, Ansuo vaguely remembered that today seemed to be an important day.

She glanced around as she regained consciousness and saw the poster on the wall. She exclaimed:

"I remember now, today is the day that new company comes to the slums to recruit people!"

I don't understand secret locks when I go to work.

It is impossible to go to work, it is impossible for her to go to work in her entire life, she can only survive by sneaking around. Returning to the detention center is like going home. It would be better if Superintendent Chen stopped nagging her.

The main thing is that I heard that this time the company that came to the slums to recruit people would give out feather beast eggs and rice! The first 100 people would also get a barrel of oil! If you can pass the first round of interviews, there will be extra gifts!

This is simply charity!

Of course Ansuo would not become a company dog, and no company would hire a thief. But if they really have money and have nowhere to spend it, I believe that it would not be a big deal to lose one or two barrels of rice and oil, right?

"Really, if I were sixteen I would go myself."

The girl next to her was still complaining. Recruiting infected people as employees was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Even if it was just to work as a screwdriver in the factory, a stable job was much better than cheating and deceiving people all day long.

"Hehe, with your figure, even if you wait another two years, people will still treat you as a child."

While Ansuo was muttering about how he was avenged for being woken up just now, he quickly changed his clothes and ran out of the door before the other party could react.

"hateful!"

The girl stamped her feet in anger, but sulking here wouldn't fill her stomach. She had to go to the street to see if there were any jobs like waiting tables or handing out flyers. If she was lucky, she could earn some money for lunch.

After rushing out of the hut, Ansuo moved flexibly in the alleys of the slum. Her footprints could be seen on the ventilation ducts on the roof and the neon signs that flickered in and out.

Apart from those tangled wires, if you are not careful they could turn into a deadly enemy, and the delicious prison food at the Longmen Guards would forever lose a loyal customer.

“There are so many people…”

Standing on the high place and looking down, the alley was full of people, which was a great sight in the slums. Even on a festival, there wouldn't be so many people, right?

Ansuo muttered that she didn't really understand the meaning of going to work.

It seems that everyone is recruiting people for that company...

Unlike people like Ansuo who were kicked out of their homes by their parents, most of these adults did not grow up in slums. They had various identities in the past, including company employees and roadside vendors. In short, they accidentally contracted mineral disease for various reasons, and then had to move to the slums because the high medical bills used up the last dollar in their pockets. It can be said that Longmen’s current prosperity is inseparable from their contributions.

The slums are still growing in size and are becoming more and more numerous. There are countless snakes, insects, rats and ants hiding in them, but this place is under the jurisdiction of the Rat King, and it is difficult for the Guards to get in.

Fortunately, the company had already informed Wei Yanwu in advance about this recruitment, so there were not too many obstacles.

Jiu only took a quick glance to know that there were many spies deployed by Lin Gerui around. As a former senior superintendent of the Guards, her reconnaissance ability was even sharper than that of a professional soldier.

She didn't really want to be a legal consultant, but this was an order from her former boss, Wei Yanwu, so Jiu couldn't refuse. Even though she hated Wei Yanwu's indifference to the slums, she could only come in and be his spy for the company.

But until now she didn't know what this company was trying to do. The original employees of Martin Industries were still on paid leave. When she asked the woman named Nina who stayed behind, she said they did everything.

They wanted to develop food processing and sales, journalism, logistics and transportation, military industry, steel and minerals, and even educational infrastructure. When Jiu got the answer, she thought these people were crazy. Even though she was just a superintendent before, she knew that business was not done like this.

Their style of doing things highlights that they are rich. They spend money everywhere to buy real estate, and it is even said that they are planning to build a large logistics distribution center.

Now they have come to the slums to recruit people. Jiu feels a headache when he sees the banners everywhere which are so tacky but in line with the temperament of the slums. Under those banners are piles of rice, grain, oil, noodles, and lots and lots of eggs. These things are not worth much money, but they make the atmosphere in the slums very lively. After all, there are many people who cannot afford to eat.

This square is a rare commercial area in the slums, and there are usually many small vendors. Now they have all been cleared out by Lin Gerui to make room for this job fair. I really don't know what the background of this company is that can make the Governor of Longmen and the Rat King give in.

The woman hanging upside down on the beam near the square looked at the piles of food with her eyes shining and her saliva almost flowing out. She wished she could rush out right now to use the hook to hook a bag and run away. With her skills, there was no way she would get nothing.

But after seeing the familiar figure standing nearby, she nearly fell off the rafters.

"Why is that woman here!!!"

As a frequent customer of the Guard Bureau, Ansuo had dealt with Jiu many times, and was caught by her four times out of ten.

Chapter 131: Seven People in One Place

There was a constant stream of people coming for the interview, and from their attire we could tell that most of them took this job application very seriously.

Even those who have lived in slums for many years still retain a trace of decency in their hearts. As normal people who once were, they understand very well that a clean and tidy piece of clothing is very important for an interview.

But some of them have already exchanged their last decent clothing for bread in the second-hand market, so now they can only borrow, buy on credit, steal or even rob, because this is their only way to return to normal life.

If it weren't for the people Lin Gerui and the company arranged in advance to maintain order, these people might have caused a big mess.

After all, no one knows how many people this company will hire.

But Ansuo certainly wouldn't think about all this. She knew how long it would take to fill her stomach after queuing in such a long queue. She had already slipped into the temporary warehouse where food was stored.

The hidden lock on the roof peeled off the upper layer of colored steel tiles and swung the hook. This was her specialty and she depended on this thing for her livelihood.

"Haha, I will definitely be grateful when Master Ansuo fills his stomach."

If it weren't for those unscrupulous merchants tampering with the claw machines, she could make a lot of money just from this.

"watch out!"

The claw in his hand was thrown out at an astonishing speed, directly hitting the bag of flour below. Ansuo will eat noodles tonight!

Seeing that he was about to succeed, Xiao Ansuo was ecstatic, but he never expected that an arm suddenly stretched out from the shadow next to him and grabbed the hook that was about to touch the bag with lightning speed.

Oops!

Ansuo realized something was wrong and was about to let go, but the hand was faster and pulled hard. Ansuo suddenly felt a strong force coming from the rope in her hand, which made her lose her balance and fall towards the cave in front of her.

The world was spinning around, and Ansuo couldn't use the claws in his hands to steady his body. He could only hold his head with both hands, hunch his body, close his eyes, and fall from a height of more than five meters, praying that he would not be seriously injured.

As I was thinking this, the feeling of weightlessness suddenly disappeared, and I felt as if I was caught by a pair of strong arms.

Ansuo opened his eyes slightly, turned his head and saw a cold and serious face. It was an old acquaintance.

"Hey...what a coincidence, Superintendent. I didn't expect to see you here."

Jiu looked expressionlessly at the two-faced Carters girl in his arms.

"I came here specially to wait for you."

She had seen this sneaky guy a long time ago, and Jiu knew exactly what Ansuo was trying to do, so she wanted to catch the thief in the dirt, so she waited here in advance, and sure enough, she caught him red-handed.

"Also, I'm not a superintendent anymore."

After saying that, he put the girl down in his arms.

"Hey, I'm used to it."

Ansuo lowered his head and touched the back of his head somewhat embarrassedly, secretly thanking luckily that he met an acquaintance, and maybe he could escape the danger this time.

"Be good and line up at the back, or I'll have Huijie put you in a cell with the worst food."

This sentence was like hitting the sore spot of a secret lock. She was not afraid of going to jail, but she was afraid that the food would not taste good.

"this..."

Ansuo spread his hands and said helplessly

"I can't do anything except stealing. What company would want a thief, unless..."

She glanced at Jiu secretly. The other party must be here to do something. With Jiu's identity, if he was willing to help, there might be a chance.

But this is impossible. Jiu is even worse than Chen Huijie in some aspects. If you ask her for help through the back door, you will probably be taken to the cell and taught a lesson.

Thinking of the hidden lock here, I feel a little discouraged. It would be better to queue up.

Of course, her situation was clear to me. It was indeed impossible under normal circumstances, but this company was different.

Slums are a place where all kinds of people live, and no one dares to say they are clean, but the other party still comes.

On the one hand, this large-scale expansion of enrollment has resulted in a shortage of mobile personnel in society. If they don't come to the slums, it will take forever to gather enough people.

On the other hand, their behavior some time ago was too ostentatious. They made such a big fuss right after entering the city, which attracted a lot of people's attention. They were all worried that this newcomer would snatch away their market share. Even if they didn't dare to make trouble openly for Wei Yanwu's sake, it would be too easy for them to do something tricky in recruiting people.

Therefore, with such a huge demand, people who barely have a skill like secret locks might have a good opportunity.

In addition to the little episode here, on the balcony of a restaurant not far from the square, there was also a father and daughter sitting by the window drinking tea.

"Dad, I don't understand why you agreed to them. Aren't you afraid that those guys will mess around?"

Lin Yuxia looked at the crowded crowd from afar. She only knew a little about this company from Huijie, but that didn't mean she would take it lightly because of Tallulah's letter.

Especially since the opponent's ruthlessness and decisiveness even forced Wei Yanwu to bow his head, it made her extremely vigilant against these people.

Lin Gerui handed his walking stick to the waiter beside him, picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip. He looked like an ordinary old man taking a walk.

"Yuxia, how old are you?"

Lin Yuxia would not think that her father had Alzheimer's disease, and answered honestly:

"26."

"Twenty-six years ago, when you were born, this place wasn't a slum yet. It was just a gathering place for poor people. Do you know how many people there were here at that time?"

"I checked, but there are only a few thousand people."

The slums are a mixed bag. In addition to the increasing number of infected people every day, there are also a large number of bankrupt poor people and criminals. It is impossible to count the exact number of people, but it would be good to have a rough figure.

"what about now?"

"...more than 100,000."

"How long do you think Wei Yanwu can endure here?"

“…”

Lin Yuxia was choked by her father's question. In the past, the slum was under the management of Lin Gerui, which was an unspoken rule between the two parties.

As the slums gradually expand, more and more people are infected and the instability factor becomes greater and greater.

Wei Yanwu can give these infected people a place to stay, provided they don't cause trouble.

But is this possible?

Even if these infected people said they would not do anything, would Wei Yanwu believe them? Wei Yanwu had been paying close attention to the riots in Ursus over the years.

Sooner or later, the increasing number of infected people will walk out of this slum and try to make their voices heard, and then be pinned to death on the spot by Wei Yanwu.

This is not alarmist talk.

"Wei Yanwu stands too high up and cannot see below. He does not want to and cannot deal with the problem of the slums because it will affect Longmen's economic status. Allowing the infected to live here is the biggest concession."

Now someone is willing to solve this problem, and both Lin Gerui and Wei Yanwu are happy to see it happen.

Not to mention that the fact that Wei Yanwu had suffered a loss at the hands of the other party before made Lin Gerui have a good impression of him.

While the father and daughter were sitting on the top floor drinking tea and chatting, a silver-haired girl in cool clothes, revealing her white thighs and waist, walked in from the first floor. Together with the red patterns on her thighs and clothes, everyone in the restaurant mistakenly believed that it was summer.

The girl who had walked into the wrong timeline shouted boldly to the store owner as soon as she entered the store.

"Boss, make me a hot pot. I want it spicy. If it's not spicy, I won't pay. Also, give me a few pounds of tripe. I'll give you anything else you want!"