Workers' Home.
After the anchor's fall, the Union members who'd been scattered outside had now returned here.
Some wore the blank, shaken look of people who'd narrowly survived. Others were already thinking about shortages and dwindling supplies, leaving the whole place with a heavy, subdued atmosphere.
But even after a disaster, some people still didn't forget how to do business.
"Hey—here to redeem prizes?"
A gray-haired Adaklis girl stood beside a prize machine, calling out to passersby. Her name was Maggie, a prize redemption clerk.
"We've decided to take the equipment materials from the game prize stockpile and provide them to anyone who needs them."
In other words: supplies that used to require a lucky draw could now be purchased normally.
Probably a disaster-relief measure.
The Administrator, passing by at just the right moment, had her attention caught.
Among the items Maggie was selling, she spotted a Weapon Inspection Device.
It was the same category as the Weapon Inspection Unit Hao Fan had obtained earlier—materials used to upgrade weapons—but this one was a higher-grade version.
More specifically, it was a disposable mini device built with integrated industrial technology. It could automatically examine a weapon's entire structure, repair hidden damage, and improve overall performance.
"...Alright. Let me see," the Administrator said, stopping in place.
She was genuinely interested.
After all, she'd just acquired Grand Wish, a top-tier one-handed sword. Naturally, she wanted to find a way to strengthen it further.
In her mind, she was already imagining a future version of herself—cool, unstoppable, and armed to the teeth.
"No problem. Hope it helps," Maggie said with a professional smile, warmly welcoming her.
"Do you have a Valley Dispatch Voucher?"
As everyone knew, Zhejin Notes were widely used currency, protected by extremely sophisticated anti-counterfeiting, and could be used to buy all kinds of goods.
But beyond that, there was another "money-like" thing: dispatch vouchers.
Under relevant clauses of the Ringbelt Convention, the signatories were required—while ensuring Zhejin Notes continued to circulate normally in the civilian economy—to maintain sufficient material reserves corresponding to the agreed issuance volume of such dispatch vouchers, so that in special circumstances, coordinated allocation could be carried out in an orderly and effective way.
In short: dispatch vouchers, like Zhejin Notes, could be exchanged for supplies.
However, they were only valid within their respective regions and couldn't circulate elsewhere.
For example, Valley Dispatch Vouchers were issued specifically for No. 4 Valley, usable only here, with a wide range of applications.
Take one to Wuling City, and it was basically worthless paper—there was no exchange rate conversion or anything like that.
Now, with the Hub Zone Base heavily damaged, Valley Dispatch Vouchers were being reactivated to speed up recovery.
Of course, Zhejin Notes still worked too.
"I don't have any Valley Dispatch Vouchers. Can I pay with Zhejin Notes?" the Administrator asked.
"Absolutely!" Maggie replied.
And so, the Administrator and Maggie began their transaction.
Hao Fan, though eager to deliver medical supplies, didn't mind losing a little time here.
"Workers' Home… I've been here plenty of times. It feels a bit more deserted now," he murmured, scanning the surroundings while quietly observing the shops that had started operating again.
A plant shop. A bakery. A parcel station. There was even a café selling cup coffee.
"Milk tea's better," Hao Fan muttered softly—he had a sweet tooth and couldn't appreciate coffee's bitterness unless you dumped in a lot of sugar.
Then he noticed a prize machine nearby. It looked like you didn't even need to insert anything to play…
"Interesting."
Hao Fan was intrigued.
Sure, he had the ability to throw money around—but if he could get something for free, why not?
So he walked up to the machine and pulled the lever, wanting to see if he'd hit a prize.
Sadly—nothing.
But it had nothing to do with luck.
The machine was obviously broken.
Hao Fan trusted his luck completely and kept pulling, or rather, he was enjoying the sheer pleasure of freeloading.
After all, it wasn't costing him anything…
"...Huh? Why does something smell burnt?"
He stopped, frowned, and sniffed the air. Something felt off.
"BANG BANG BANG! JACKPOT!"
Right then, the machine flashed a win.
But the burnt smell got stronger—and it even spat out a slip of paper covered in bizarre text.
"What the hell?" Hao Fan bent down, picked it up, and read it out instinctively.
"Congratulations. Please bring this malfunction repair order to the Engineering Department and pay the maintenance fee…" He froze. "—What the hell?! That's a scam!"
Hao Fan realized he'd been tricked.
Worse: the prize machine chose that exact moment to belch out thick smoke, making it look like he had broken it.
But he wasn't admitting that.
If it could spit out a slip like that, then it had definitely been broken for ages!
This had to be someone's prank!
"Administrator, stop dawdling—we need to deliver the medicine!" Hao Fan decided they really couldn't waste more time.
Before anyone noticed what was happening, he grabbed the Administrator—who had just finished buying the Weapon Inspection Device—and briskly fled the prize shop.
He had zero interest in paying some random "maintenance fee."
As for Perlica and Chen Qianyu, they'd been checking out the bakery. Seeing the two suddenly bolt, they hurried after them.
Side note:
Perlica seemed to know Maggie.
Before leaving, she even shared the recipe she'd gotten earlier for Seshka-Style Wind Steak, asking Maggie to help cook it.
Perlica was too busy right now to deal with something like that herself.
Maggie said it was no problem.
"Look forward to my cooking!"
…
The Clinic—also known as the Med Bay.
It was located at the very back of Workers' Home, overseen by Doctor Miguel.
He was tallying what medical supplies remained. On the beds nearby, two Cautus operators were gossiping like it was their full-time job.
"You know what? It was the Administrator who brought the Protocol Resonance Tower online."
"Yeah… I really want to see what kind of person they are."
"I heard it's a silver-haired old man who's nearly two hundred years old."
The two chatted enthusiastically, practically ignoring their injuries.
And the "nearly two-hundred-year-old silver-haired old man" they were talking about walked in at that exact moment.
The Administrator blinked, utterly baffled, and pointed at herself.
Silver-haired old man… who? Her?
She was pretty sure she was a black-haired girl.
She complained internally, but couldn't be bothered arguing with them. Instead, she handed over the batch of buckwheat-flower powder they'd brought to Doctor Miguel, who was clearly stressed about dwindling supplies.
"Administrator—Supervisor Perlica. You came in person… and you brought this much medicine."
Staring at the buckwheat-flower powder that nearly covered the entire tabletop, Miguel's face lit up with shock and joy.
Clearly, he needed these desperately.
"It's thanks to the Doctor," the Administrator said, gesturing at the hooded man beside her. "He took the risk of going out to gather buckwheat flowers. That's how we were able to make all this powder."
She didn't claim the credit for herself—she made sure to point to the person who deserved thanks.
"Ahem. It was nothing," Hao Fan coughed lightly, suddenly feeling inexplicably embarrassed. "If it helps, then that's all that matters."
After all, among everyone in the Hub Zone Base, Miguel was the one he was most familiar with. There was no need to make a big deal out of it.
But the way Miguel looked at him this time was different—there was genuine gratitude in his eyes for the first time.
"Doctor… thank you. This is help at the exact moment we needed it."
He looked at the no-longer-suspicious hooded man and spoke with complete sincerity.
"You've done us a huge favor."
....
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