Chapter 80: The Rations Distributed Aren’t Black Bricks?
At the Chinese Restaurant.
After seeing off Yves and his men, the total revenue counter leaped to [12618/12800].
Tonight’s single transaction had nearly matched the entire day’s intake.
Granted, that was largely thanks to the doubled after-hours surcharge.
The total revenue was just a hair shy of the threshold needed to upgrade the Item Exchange Box—what a pity.
With tomorrow’s official order locked in with the authorities… Ling Jing reviewed the checklist once more:
Roasted Sweet Potatoes: 120 pieces.
One-Pot Stew: 40 portions.
Pickled White Radish: 150 portions.
Rice Porridge: 40 bowls.
Sugar-Roasted Chestnuts: 25 bags.
Boiled Corn: 30 ears.
Malatang Skewers: 1,000 sticks.
A volume worth 2,600 points—truly a massive windfall.
The other items were straightforward enough; automated processing would handle the brunt of it, and the pickled vegetables could be brined in large batches.
The one-pot stew, however, was something she had to cook with her own two hands.
On top of tomorrow’s standard daily supply, she would have to churn out three extra cauldrons.
There was no telling how many people the administration’s public promotion would bring in tomorrow.
Ling Jing surveyed the kitchen equipment and pulled up the panel for the Tier-3 Roaster.
This had been the very first appliance she upgraded.
It was high time for another step up.
[Tier-4 Roaster: Base capacity multiplied by 6; automatically restocks ingredients to preset quotas (provided ingredients are in stock). New features: automated roasting, automated dispensing, expanded overflow holding bin (300 slots), roasting duration halved — 300 points.]
Twice the capacity of Tier 3. By her calculations, a single run could produce 156 roasted potatoes and 60 roasted sweet potatoes.
Plus three hundred overflow storage slots.
That would be more than enough.
300 points—upgrade.
Thanks to the Commander dropping off a fortune in the dead of night, her remaining balance sat at 3,106 points.
[Congratulations! Your roaster has been upgraded to Tier 4!]
With this upgrade locked in, the machine should hold out for a good long while.
Core necessities had to be kept fully stocked; everything else could wait.
Ling Jing checked the time. Calculating the hours needed to brew enough one-pot stew for the night, plus a batch of stir-fries she planned to test for tomorrow’s lunch service… there probably wouldn’t be any time left to venture out into the wild.
Tomorrow’s foot traffic was bound to surge. If the official promotion was effective, a large wave of first-time patrons would arrive at her doorstep.
She needed to set out more benches outside, and put up clear, prominent signboards directing regulars and newcomers alike on where to rest, where to exchange goods, where to purchase food, and what the newly added second floor was meant for.
Clear wayfinding directly impacted the dining experience.
She had to invest some time into that.
Forget it, then. No hunting tonight.
She still didn’t understand the surrounding terrain well enough anyway; better to wait until she got her hands on the official data.
Hopefully, when she delivered the goods to the brass tomorrow evening, they would hand over the intelligence she wanted.
Ling Jing rolled up her sleeves.
Alright, back to work!
For Boss Ling, tonight was destined to be another grueling, bustling night.
At 2:00 AM, Long Ya finished her shift.
Number 73’s condition was deteriorating fast.
During gear turnover, she noticed Number 73 staring fixedly at her from behind the visor, eyes never once straying even while strapping on the field gear.
Frowning, Long Ya completed the handover swiftly, following Overseer Nine out of the Black Fields through the airlocks and decontamination chambers.
Past the scanner gate—all clear.
Labor concluded, it was time to queue for daily rations.
Every conscript received their sustenance at the end of their shift.
Long Ya was utterly drained. Eight straight hours of hyper-focused labor while staying alert for sudden ambushes from mutated iron black wheat took a heavy toll… and on top of that, she had been pulled out mid-shift for an official interrogation.
Cramped and stifling as the dormitories were, the only thing she craved right now was to collapse on her cot and sleep.
She wasn’t particularly eager to claim her ration either—she hadn’t been eating the stuff anyway.
The bricks issued earlier were still sitting tucked inside her luggage bag in the bunk.
Still, skipping the queue was out of the question.
Anyone who had experienced true starvation wouldn’t dare turn down food in hand.
More importantly, refusing her ration was practically advertising to the authorities that she possessed an alternate food source.
Long Ya trudged along, taking her place at the tail end of the distribution line.
Commotion suddenly erupted up ahead.
By the sounds of it, an argument had broken out between the overseers and the laborers.
She had neither the mood nor the energy to pay attention.
Too many people in the Black Fields were teetering on the edge of sanity; incidents flared up constantly throughout an eight-hour shift.
Especially over in the convict sector across the chain-link fence.
Oh, right—Long Ya had noticed a fresh face transferred into the convict block earlier today.
Looked an awful lot like Rong Na.
She had chuckled inwardly at the sight.
…As the line shuffled forward, Long Ya noticed that every laborer ahead of her reacted with profound shock upon receiving their parcel.
Only when she finally reached the front did she understand what had left everyone so dumbfounded.
Resting before the overseer were not the rock-hard, soot-black ration bricks of old.
Instead, they were… roasted potatoes?
Wait a second.
This paper bag looked identical to the ones from the Chinese Restaurant!
No wonder… scattered among the shouts she had overheard earlier were gasps like “Is this for real?!” “This isn’t mutated?!” and “Heavens above!”
Suppressing the shock in her chest, she reported her number: “Number 87.”
The overseer located her number on the clipboard, marking it with a check. Glancing at the notations beside it, he paused: “Wounded during work in the Black Fields?”
“Yes.”
“Then your ration today is this one.”
Instead of a roasted potato, the overseer bent down and retrieved a different paper bag from beside his stool.
Long Ya took it, carefully guarding her expression.
Resting inside the bag was a roasted sweet potato she recognized all too well.
“Ah, right. There’s a parcel for you.”
The overseer leaned down again, hefting a massive bundle from the floor and thrusting it into her hands.
Long Ya’s heart hammered against her ribs.
How could this be?!
If Auntie Qian sent her provisions, it was always right before the evening room checks.
If it had arrived back then, why hadn’t the Commander grilled her about it when she was dragged in for questioning earlier?!
And now the conscripts’ rations had been replaced with roasted sweet potatoes… Were the two connected?!
Cradling the heavy bundle, Long Ya hurried back to her quarters.
Stripping off her hazard gear, she tore into the package without delay.
Inside the outer wrapping… sat a quilt?
A quick pat told her something was stitched into the lining.
She cut the seams.
The stitchwork was unfamiliar—neither neat and meticulous like Auntie Qian’s, Qiu Jie’s, or Old Hu’s, nor wildly sloppy like Long Shi’s.
Slicing it open with a blade, she turned up food from the Chinese Restaurant, just as expected.
Roasted sweet potatoes, rice porridge… along with items she had never seen before.
Chestnuts and corn?
Groping deeper into the quilt batting, her fingers brushed against a slip of paper.
Unfolding it, a dense spread of hideous chicken scratch met her eyes.
She read two words, immediately flipped to the reverse side, and saw the listed effects for [Sugar-Roasted Chestnuts] and [Boiled Corn].
The front?
A single glance told her it was just Long Shi rambling nonsense. Not worth reading.
Bizarre.
A parcel this massive had been delivered straight into her hands without a hitch.
And official rations had been swapped for food from the Chinese Restaurant.
What on earth had happened on the outside?
A flurry of theories raced through Long Ya’s mind as she set the letter down with a heavy heart.
She would have to wait until Auntie Qian managed to slip in another message to uncover the truth.
Across the Black Fields Quarantine Sector, laborers fresh off their shifts carried their brand-new rations back to their quarters.
Some were unsettled, others overjoyed.
Hushed murmurs soon dissolved into the dead of night.
Inside the medical bay, two doctors had witnessed an outright medical miracle; they had spent hours huddled around a roasted sweet potato and an empty porridge container, clicking their tongues in awe.
Overseer Two, having stepped back from the brink of death, gently rubbed his reset jaw and asked the doctor if he could explain what had just happened for a seventh time—he still couldn’t wrap his head around it.
Inside the two-story administrative building beside the barracks, lights burned bright as officials in black and navy uniforms sat around the conference table, locked in tense, urgent deliberation.
At the South Wall.
Under the cover of night, gunshots and tactical commands rang out in steady cadence.
A whistle pierced the air. Guards below concluded their rotation, secured their visors, and hauled themselves smoothly over the parapet along their tether lines.
Back to the line.
Late-night Seed City was silent and still as night-watch patrols moved in disciplined squads through the streets.
Beyond the West Wall, the lights inside the Chinese Restaurant had flicked off, leaving only the lanterns by the entrance casting their warm, enduring glow.
—Less than six hours remained until the morning bells tolled.
