236 It Only Looks Prosperous
Ah Ping sighed softly. “It just looks prosperous. Actually… we might not be as happy as a small base.”
“Why so? Can I trouble you to explain it to me in detail?”
Looking at Du Yue’s curious eyes, Ah Ping nodded. “The second base is divided into the inner and outer cities. Do you know that?”
“Yes, yes, I do.”
“Not only is the land divided into inner and outer boundaries, but even the people are divided into high, middle, and low classes. Those who live in the inner city are high-class residents. Those who live in the outer city, like us, who have our own businesses and are somewhat capable, are middle-class residents. Those who live in the slums and have to worry about food and clothing every day are the lower-class residents.”
Hearing Ah Ping’s explanation, Du Yue’s face gradually darkened. What Ah Ping said was not in the information she received. Du Yue did not think Zuo Mingdong would hide anything from them, so the only possibility was that even Zuo Mingdong did not know that the second base divided the survivors into different classes.
Such a concept was definitely not something that earthlings would come up with. At the thought of this, Du Yue asked, “Were the people divided into high, middle, and low classes from the very beginning?”
Ah Ping shook her head. “No, I think it started after the extreme cold.”
Hearing Ah Ping’s answer, Du Yue was even more certain of her guess now.
At first, the second base was a normal base. After the extreme cold, that person from the interstellar must have started to take power, which was why they started to divide people into classes. Du Yue suppressed her anger for the time being and continued to ask, “Other than this, are there any other unfair rules in the base?”
Ah Ping did not even think much about it and blurted out, “There are too many unfair rules. The most basic requirement is to apply for a permanent residence card if one wants to become a permanent resident of the base. To obtain a middle-class resident card, one has to pay 200 catties worth of food. A low-class resident card requires a payment of 60 catties worth of food. In the base, people can buy, sell, or rent houses. The prices of the houses would be different according to the location, size, and facilities.
“Low-class residents can’t enter the inner city, while middle-class residents can, but they would not have the authority to rent or buy houses. If they want to enter the inner city, they need to pay 600 catties worth of food and upgrade their resident card to a high-class resident card. For people like us who rely on our own businesses to make a living, we have to pay a business tax of 20 jin of grains every month before we can continue to run our businesses.”
After Du Yue heard this, she was speechless. She had always thought that she had seen all kinds of strange things in her previous life since she had lived to the tenth year of the apocalypse. However, after listening to Ah Ping’s words, Du Yue finally understood that there was no such thing as the most outrageous rule in the world. There were only rules that were even more outrageous.
Previously, the interstellar man who called himself the king of Qinghe City had only harmed a few hundred survivors. However, this interstellar person who was in charge of the second base had actually destroyed the entire base. Du Yue secretly gritted her teeth and endured it again and again before she finally resisted the urge to draw her gun. When Ah Ping saw Du Yue like this, she asked curiously, “What’s wrong with you? Are you feeling uncomfortable?”
Du Yue turned to look at her. She suppressed the anger in her heart and smiled. “I’m fine. My hands are just a little itchy.” She wanted to shoot that person.
Ah Ping noticed the displeasure in Du Yue’s eyes and was a little puzzled, but she did not ask further. Du Yue opened her backpack, took out a large piece of chocolate, and stuffed it into Ah Ping’s hand. “I’ve wasted so much of your time. This is for you.”
Ah Ping looked at the exquisitely wrapped chocolate in her hand and shook her head. “It’s okay. I have nothing to do anyway.”
Du Yue pressed Ah Ping’s hand down. “Keep it. I would’ve had to pay for this information if I went out and asked others. In the future, I’ll have to trouble you again if there’s anything I want to know.”
A piece of chocolate was only half a catty in weight. If one person ate it, they could finish it in one or two days, so it was not a lot. Ah Ping had said so much to her that it was completely worth it. Seeing Du Yue’s insistence, Ah Ping did not reject her anymore. She whispered, “Thank you.”
As soon as the two of them finished speaking, they saw He Xing walking in from outside. Seeing that He Xing had returned, Ah Ping was about to leave. “You guys rest. I’ll be leaving now.”
He Xing watched as Ah Ping left, then he closed the door and locked it from the inside. He did what he did previously and turned off the lights. He checked if there were any monitoring devices in the room. After making sure that there were no problems, he turned on the lights again.