Tang Yiyi shook her head. Hearing Sun Jian’s melancholic tone when he mentioned his parents, she couldn’t help but say, "I don’t mind. This place is way better than where I used to live. I used to live in a basement, and thought I would continue to do so. Who would have thought you actually have such a nice house."
Sun Jian was utterly surprised. He didn’t expect Tang Yiyi used to live in a basement! In the Safe City, there’s a designated Underground City. Due to its low security, the rent is much cheaper, and those who live there are mostly poor people with few Credit Points. Houses like his, with a separate small building, come with basements, but those are usually used for storing miscellaneous items, not for living.
When Tang Yiyi said she used to live in a basement, either her family was too big, or she was abused. Sun Jian felt that Tang Yiyi didn’t seem like someone who grew up abused, so he guessed she might have a large family. Seeing that Tang Yiyi didn’t intend to elaborate, he stopped asking, opened the door, and led Tang Yiyi inside, introducing the house to her.
The small building is a duplex structure. The first floor is a living room, kitchen, and dining room. The second floor has the master and secondary bedrooms and a workout room. The third floor is an attic, arranged as a study. There’s also a basement used for a storeroom and miscellaneous items. Sun Jian wasn’t sure if he had resigned himself or if it was just his nature, but he made the introductions quite thoroughly, hiding nothing. This led Tang Yiyi to feel somewhat guilty.
She was never a wicked person nor a cold-blooded killer raised by some organization. She was just an ordinary person, receiving a perfectly normal education from childhood to adulthood. Before growing up, she was blissfully unaware of society’s darkness like many others, naive and kind.
It wasn’t until Liu Pengyi and Liu Zhenlan schemed against her, saddling her with a heavy crime of murder, that she gave up her original kindness and naivety to survive. She even shamelessly got involved with someone, lucked out by getting pregnant, and found a glimmer of hope to avoid being exiled to Evil Island facing Sea Beasts.
Afterwards, she learned that even if she successfully gave birth, she would become a breeding machine controlled by the government, and she was even maliciously injected with a Zombie Virus. If not for encountering the system, she would have long been devoured by Mutant Beasts in Garbage Mountain, not leaving even a bone shard! When Wang Jian and Sun Jian appeared, she initially didn’t think of killing, only wanting to use them to escape Garbage Mountain. It was only when she discovered Wang Jian’s sinister intent that she truly forced herself to abandon her last bit of humanity, killing for the first time.
Sun Jian saw every scene of her killing. Naturally, she didn’t have any affection for Sun Jian, rather she was quite wary. If Sun Jian hadn’t been so timid, as pliable as dough under someone’s hands, she might have already killed him. Standing in Sun Jian’s house, listening to his introduction, she felt a strong sense of guilt toward Sun Jian.
Wang Jian’s death was completely deserved, but Sun Jian encountering her, it was not without its collateral damage. And now, she forcefully stays in Sun Jian’s house, which is quite unfair to Sun Jian! However... thinking of the calculated glances that Sun Jian occasionally shot her way, although discreet they were hard to hide, Tang Yiyi suddenly felt relieved. Her living in Sun Jian’s house was indeed unfair to him, but the fact that Sun Jian brought her here so forthrightly wasn’t without personal motives.
After listening to Sun Jian’s introduction, Tang Yiyi didn’t hold back and directly opened the refrigerator looking for food. It was already past noon, and after fleeing and fighting Mutant Beasts, she was starving by now. Just as she opened the refrigerator, Tang Yiyi couldn’t help but curl her lips in disdain. The refrigerator was stocked with plenty of beer, but food was pathetically scarce, only two servings of boxed nutrient meals and a few nutrient pills.
Those boxed nutrient meals were made from scraps, containing nutrients indeed, smelling good too, but the texture was appalling, and the flavor relied entirely on flavoring essence. As for nutrient pills, Tang Yiyi couldn’t even muster any interest to glance at them.
One couldn’t blame Tang Yiyi for her disdain. When she lived in the Liu Family, although she always stayed in the basement, her meals were normal food. Even later, when she was imprisoned, she suffered only a few days of hardship, eating those disgustingly terrible boxed nutrient meals every day. Once her pregnancy was discovered, she ate prenatal nutrient meals, except for lacking freedom, her treatment was exceedingly good.
She believed if she went to that sealed sanatorium, the treatment would be even better, as the government would pay utmost attention to the fetus and wouldn’t mistreat her. On the contrary, she would be well cared for. But even so, she refused to walk into their trap for such "good treatment." She wanted to live with dignity, clear her grievances, and reclaim the inheritance her mother left her, rather than be a breeding machine!
Despite disliking the taste of boxed nutrient meals, Tang Yiyi still picked up both meals, heading straight to the kitchen to heat them. Sun Jian got nervous and apprehensive seeing her taking two meals: "Will... will that be too much? I... I can make do with just nutrient pills."
"Ding~"
Just then, the heating finished with a prompt sound. Tang Yiyi took one meal to the dining room and ate it under the pungent aroma of flavor essence, frowning throughout. Sun Jian hesitated for ages but eventually picked up the other meal to eat. He didn’t even dare go to the dining room, choosing to stay in the living room instead.
Tang Yiyi genuinely hated the flavor essence in the meal and worried that such things might be bad for the child in her belly. Hence, she decided to eat normal food from now on. However, the price of normal food was much higher than such boxed nutrient meals, and to afford it, she had to find a way to earn enough Credit Points.
Thinking of the child in her belly, Tang Yiyi couldn’t help but ask the system, "System, can you check the condition of my unborn child? Will such a check harm him?"
Due to the high miscarriage rates, once pregnant, one must go to the hospital weekly for check-ups. Public hospital services are free, whereas private hospitals charge, and not cheaply. But as a fugitive, Tang Yiyi couldn’t risk going to any hospital, even without paying, leaving the system as her sole hope. If the system was not viable, she’d have to resort to black clinics.
The system quickly replied, "The system can scan the host’s body condition, including the fetal condition in the host’s womb. To scan fetal conditions, 100 Points will be deducted per scan."
"What? Deduct Points?" Tang Yiyi was shocked to hear such a thing for the first time. She thought something was amiss and hurriedly opened the system panel to check. She hadn’t had the chance to properly examine the system panel on the road with Sun Jian beside her. Now, seeing it clearly, she was nearly apoplectic!
On the upper right corner of the panel, there was a line of blood-red text—Points -1000, deadline 1 month to repay, or automatic unbinding.
Tang Yiyi immediately checked how to earn Points, and seeing it, she wished she could vomit blood again. It felt like a substantial burden on her back, as if carrying a mountain named "Debt!"
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