Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 3 Market (recommendation ticket requested)

After drawing the circle, Dr. Lin picked up the pen, looked at Shang Jianyao, and said with a smile:

"It seems to be based on the slogan of the Salvation Army?"

Shang Jianyao gave a "hmm" and said seriously:

"Doctor Lin, I think you have misunderstood my situation a bit, and took some normal things as evidence of illness."

Dr. Lin straightened his body slightly, with a slight smile on his fair face:

"Which areas do you feel are misunderstood?"

Shang Jianyao was silent for two or three seconds as if organizing his words:

"You can't understand that kind of pure and noble sentiment, and you don't understand what it means to be a person who has broken away from vulgar interests."

Dr. Lin tightly pressed his lips together, as if he had put in a lot of effort to keep himself from laughing.

She pushed the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of her nose, took a light breath, and slowly exhaled:

"Indeed, in this day and age, where is there room for idealists? Even the Salvation Army has fallen."

The doctor paused and said:

"I can try to understand you, but you have to tell me, how did you come up with such an idea? What things made you have such an urge?"

"It's nothing, that's what I think." Shang Jianyao sighed and said with a smile, "Doctor Lin, you are the gentlest and most temperamental woman I have ever met. I have something to tell you."

Dr. Lin moved his eyebrows slightly and said:

"I have……"

Before she finished speaking, Shang Jianyao added:

"I thought you could be my spiritual mother, but now I realize that our minds are in two completely different worlds. What a pity."

"Cough, cough, cough." Dr. Lin seemed to choke on his own saliva.

She immediately picked up the ceramic cup next to her, drank a couple of sips, and said to herself as if she had nothing to say:

"Hey, this month's tea ration has run out again."

Before Shang Jianyao could speak, she lowered her voice and asked mysteriously:

"Have you heard voices others can't hear lately, have you seen things others can't?"

Shang Jian Yao shook his head quite firmly:

"No."

Dr. Lin observed Shang Jianyao's expression for a few seconds, and then asked about other things.

After ten minutes, a sweet female voice sounded from all floors at the same time:

"It's time to tell the hour.

"Current time, six o'clock in the afternoon."

"It's time on the radio." When the voice stopped after repeating three times, Dr. Lin rubbed his brows and said, "Let's stop here today."

She thought for a while and said:

"Since you have no problem sleeping and you haven't seen anything that others can't see, then I won't prescribe any medicine, and I will come back for a reexamination at the same time next week."

"Okay, Dr. Lin." Shang Jianyao stood up and walked towards the door.

After he opened the door, he suddenly turned around and said:

"Thank you, Dr. Lin."

Doctor Lin responded with a smile:

"You're welcome."

When Shang Jian Yao went out and closed the door carefully, Dr. Lin sighed, and said to himself with a slight smile:

"How polite."

While sighing, she picked up the folder on the table and flipped through the records inside:

"Name: Shang Jian Yao.

"Age: 21 years old.

"Date of birth: September 8th, 25th year of the new calendar.

"Family situation: Father Shang Shi'an was a leader-level employee of the D7 team and disappeared together with the entire 'Old Tune Team' in the 37th year of the new calendar; mother Zhang Ruxin was an ordinary employee of D3 and a primary school teacher. She died of illness in October of the 40th year of the new calendar. It was excessive grief; from October 40 to September 43 in the new calendar, Shang Jianyao grew up in the orphanage on the 495th floor and was admitted to the electronics department of the university.

"Situation statement: In May of the 46th year of the new calendar, Shang Jianyao voluntarily applied to become a confidential experiment volunteer and participated in the 'C-14' project. His reason was that he hoped to use this to gain powerful power to investigate the truth about his father's disappearance.

"Experimental result: Failed, compared with the control group, there is no change.

"Sequelae manifestations: Intermittent logical confusion, leading to a certain jump in thinking, and no abnormalities in the rest.

"Extra: Genetic testing is normal...

"Comprehensive judgment: moderate mental abnormality (suspected delusional disorder, to be observed)..."

Dr. Lin looked at it for a while, and finally wrote:

"Reexamination results on July 10, 2046: The symptoms did not improve, but they did not worsen either. There was no tendency to violence and no aggressiveness. It can be considered harmless for the time being."

…………

6:00 in the evening is the off-duty time stipulated by the company. Except for specific project teams that need to work overtime and certain 24-hour shift positions, all employees will leave the "management area" on the 5th floor of the building and the 6th to 45th floors. The "research area", the "factory area (and maintenance area) from the 46th to the 145th floor, the "inner ecological area" from the 146th to the 345th floor, and the "living area" with 300 floors.

Because the energy quota is limited, and both husband and wife and elders in the family may be at work, many employees choose to eat in the "material supply market" on each floor.

This place is divided into two parts, one part supplies sweet potatoes, potatoes, rice, flour, meat, vegetables and fruits from the "inner ecological zone", and materials such as cloth, sugar, and salt from the "factory zone", and the other part supplies All kinds of cooked food are affectionately called "staff canteen".

The cost of eating in the cafeteria is higher than that of cooking at home, and the taste is not very good, but considering the energy quota that everyone is short of, and the exhaustion of working all day, it seems to be a better choice.

And this is also the tendency passed down by the company's top management - hoping to reduce energy consumption through unified meal supply.

When Shang Jianyao returned to the 495th floor, there were still about 20 minutes before the opening time of the cafeteria at 6:30—because some positions needed to be cleaned, disinfected or other necessary things after work, so, to be fair, the board of directors stipulated , the opening time of the canteen is half an hour after the official end of get off work.

For those employees who returned to their respective floors before 6:15, the "Activity Center" next to the "Material Supply Market" is the best place to spend the rest of the time. They can gather together and chat about life and work under the lights All kinds of things inside, and with an obvious sense of superiority, refer to the people struggling to survive outside.

Some employees will hurry up and sell things they no longer need at home in exchange for more contribution points. Therefore, every night from 6:00 to 6:30 and from 7:00 to 8:30, the lobby of the "Activity Center" There will be a small market inside.

As soon as Shang Jianyao walked in, he saw the supervisor of the "Activity Center", Mr. Chen Xianyu, Mr. Chen sitting on a small bench that creaked from time to time, with a bunch of strange objects scattered in front of him.

"What is this?" Shang Jianyao squatted down and picked up a rectangular object with a metal casing and a black screen.

"Who knows? Anyway, it's quite strong. It can be used to smash people, or to prevent bullets." Mr. Chen poked his chest.

"Where did it come from?" Shang Jian Yao asked while fiddling.

Chen Xianyu cleared the phlegm in his throat and said:

"The youngest son of my comrade-in-arms, he is also serving in the 'Security Department'. He just came back from a city ruins in the old world. Hey, time flies so fast. I watched him be born, and I watched him grow up ..."

After reminiscing for a while, Mr. Chen added with a smile:

"Anyway, it's been screened. If the company doesn't need it, you don't have to hand it in. So, he put it on consignment with me, the old man. You know, I don't have to go to the cafeteria. Someone will cook for me."

He has a lot of employees under him.

Shang Jianyao glanced at the spiderweb-like cracks on the black screen of the item, thought for a while and said:

"How many contribution points?"

"Not expensive, not expensive, 500 points." Chen Xianyu quoted a price at will.

Shang Jian Yao put down the item slowly, and muttered:

"10 catties of meat."

After saying the word meat, he and Chen Xianyu swallowed their saliva at the same time.

Shang Jian Yao glanced at it, and picked up another item:

"Is this a watch?"

"Yes, the watch has a complicated mechanical structure inside, and it can still run up to now. It can be used just by adjusting it." Chen Xianyu's eyes lit up and said, "How about it, do you want to think about it? Its pointer and time mark have arrived It will light up by itself at night, and you can see clearly without turning on the flashlight. Let me tell you, old man, there are definitely no more than 100 people who can have a good watch in the entire company. If you have it, you don’t need to Relying on the radio to tell the time, you don’t need to come here to look at the wall clock, you will become the envy of the residents on the entire floor, maybe there will be a little girl who will take the initiative to ask you to fall in love..."

Shang saw the watch in Yao's hand, the silver strap had many cracks and was stained with rust, and on the emerald green dial that looked like a gemstone, the second hand was jumping one after another, and glass shards were everywhere.

"How many contribution points?" Shang Jianyao asked in a calm voice.

Chen Xianyu slowed down before speaking:

"Sixty thousand."

Shang Jianyao put down the watch with lightning speed, as if it was very hot.

With a monthly salary of 1,800 points for D1 employees, it takes almost three years without food or drink to save enough.

Chen Xianyu didn't expect Shang Jianyao to buy it, he was just joking with the young man, and he pointed to the pile of metal round cans in the middle and said:

"Do you want to buy this?

"Good stuff, military cans!"

Shang Jianyao picked up a can, only to see that the plastic film on the outside was torn, and the label became extremely blurred, only the words "braised beef in brown sauce" and "500g" could be vaguely seen.

"How about it, isn't it heavy? That means it's a lot of weight!" Chen Xianyu spattered and said, "Old man, let me tell you, this kind of military canned food is delicious, and it's a delicacy that I can't forget in my whole life. Much better than the shrunken cans from The Salvation Army!

"If it weren't for the child of my comrade-in-arms who dug up a whole box this time, you might never be able to eat it. The price is 60 contribution points, which is very cheap, right? You go to the 'supply market' to buy a catty of raw pork, and you have to 50 points, and it does not include seasoning, no one will help you make it, and you may not be able to buy it! Also, heck, if you run out of this can, you can still hand over the metal shell to the "Material Management Department" for some contribution points. Is it a good deal?"

Shang Jianyao looked at the old man, and when he finished speaking, he suddenly asked:

"How long has it expired?"

"How do I know the shelf life? I don't know how to convert the year in the old world." Old man Chen's eyes widened. "Anyway, the new calendar is only 46 years old. You can eat it."

As he said that, he showed an expression of reminiscence:

"When I was in the 'Ministry of Security', I went out on a mission, lost my supplies, and almost starved to death. Fortunately, I found a military warehouse and found this kind of canned food. At that time, they had expired for many years. Is it okay if I eat it? It tastes delicious."

PS1: Thank you for the reward from the loyal servant Wangcai of the Baiyin League, and thanks to all the friends who donated last night.

PS2: Please recommend tickets for support~