After finishing breakfast, Ruan Ning went back to her room to catch up on sleep for a while. Then she got up and went out with everyone.
At first, Ruan Ning had been worried that Gu Yicheng might not let her go out. But even until the moment she left, he did not do anything strange again, nor did he change his mind and decide to come along.
“Ningning, go early and come back early. Also, be careful. Don’t get separated from everyone. If anyone bullies you, make sure you fight back. And if anything happens, don’t be afraid,” Gu Yicheng reminded her gently.
Ruan Ning blinked. Seeing that he really was not going, she happily agreed, nodding like a pounding pestle, afraid that if she was a step too late, the person in front of her would change his mind.
Although going to the market would not just be the two of them—there would be other people present too—and it would be completely different from being alone together in the villa, so she probably did not need to worry about something like last night happening again, since the man could avoid coming along, she was naturally even happier. What happened last night had shocked her far too much. As a result, even seeing this man today still made her feel somewhat uncomfortable. She did not know what kind of attitude she should use toward him.
After thinking about it all night yesterday and still not coming up with much, today was a good chance to give herself more time to think properly while browsing the market.
Gu Yicheng looked at the undisguised happiness on the young girl’s face. He narrowed his eyes, then a trace of helplessness flashed through them.
Forget it. Ningning was still young and had the temperament of a child. Why should he argue with her over this? Let her be happy for a while first.
In any case, no matter what, he would never let her escape.
**
Because she had only slept for a few hours today, Ruan Ning could barely resist her drowsiness. Before they even reached the market, she already looked listless and dispirited on the road, secretly yawning from time to time. She could not concentrate at all.
Lin Yang had been instructed by Brother Gu early on to take good care of the young girl after going out. The market was crowded and mixed with all kinds of people, so he had to ensure her safety.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed her sleepy state and said with concern, “Sister Ruan Ning, if you really didn’t sleep well, why don’t you go back and sleep some more? Going around the market isn’t urgent. You can come tomorrow or the day after whenever you have time. Anyway, we’ll be staying in this base for several days. There’s really no need to force yourself to come with us.”
Ruan Ning looked at the lively market ahead, which was already close and seemed packed with people. Since she had already come all the way here, there was no need to go back now. She shook her head and refused his kindness. “I’m fine. Maybe after walking around the market for a while, I won’t feel sleepy anymore.”
“Alright. If you want to go back, just tell me,” Lin Yang said. Seeing that Ruan Ning had no intention of returning for now, he did not force her. If she did not want to shop later, or if she got tired, it would still be fine to send her back then.
Quite a few members of the Morning Light Squad had come out to visit the market together. Even Jiang Jingchao and Jiang Jingyang had brought Uncle Jiang and Aunt Jiang out with them. A large group walking through the market together would not be very interesting. Everyone wanted to buy different things, and it would also affect efficiency. Besides, there was no need to stay together. After all, the chances of encountering zombies inside the base were not high, so there was only so much danger. Therefore, they simply split up into groups of two or three and browsed separately. At worst, when it was time to go back, they could gather again at the entrance of the market.
Lin Yang, of course, stayed with Ruan Ning. He had promised Brother Gu that he would take care of his younger sister. He could not possibly let a little beauty wander around the street alone. She was so pretty; if some lecher took a fancy to her and bullied her, would Brother Gu not beat him up when he found out?
…
It was afternoon now, exactly the time when there were the most people. The market was very lively.
The base had specially divided out an area for vendors to sell things. The places where different goods were bought and sold were also different. At the entrance, there was a signboard with a map of the entire market drawn on it.
As they walked around, Ruan Ning gradually became more interested. It had already been over two months since the apocalypse began, and she had not experienced this kind of lively human atmosphere for a long time. Here, it felt as if she had returned to the streets before the apocalypse: crowds of people, bustling noise, and quite a few people bargaining with vendors by the roadside.
Ruan Ning remembered that the last time she visited a market was back in S City’s safe zone. At that time, the things sold at the market were very messy, and most of them were not particularly practical. Those items had been brought by survivors who had fled to the safe zone in panic, things that were not very useful to them personally, which they hoped to exchange for food.
Now, in Yancheng Base, the market was much more standardised.
Logically speaking, after the apocalypse, people no longer produced goods and only went outside to collect supplies, so the variety of items should have become smaller and smaller. But Ruan Ning quickly discovered that the types of goods sold here had not decreased but increased. There were also many novel things she had never seen before.
Lin Yang and Ruan Ning bought quite a lot as they walked around. This time, everyone who came out had many crystal cores on them, so they could buy whatever they wanted. These crystal cores were all obtained from killing zombies along the way.
Level-one crystal cores were no longer of much use for upgrading the abilities of the people in their team. They could only be used as currency. What the team lacked least was level-one crystal cores. Roughly counting, they had several thousand. Even level-two crystal cores had reached triple digits. There were fewer level-three and level-four crystal cores, and they also had to be used for upgrading abilities, so there were not many left over.
However, they had never seen anyone use high-level crystal cores for transactions. If people traded, it was usually crystal cores exchanged for crystal cores. In the apocalypse, strength was the most important thing. If one’s strength did not improve, everything else was meaningless. So they had only heard of ability users not having enough crystal cores, never of having extra to spend.
Even for the Morning Light Squad, despite killing many zombies every day and obtaining crystal cores at a fast rate, the crystal cores from mutated zombies were still always insufficient.
Ruan Ning had her space, so she was not afraid of having difficulty carrying what she bought. Some small items that could be quietly put into her space when no one was paying attention had already been stored away. As for other more noticeable things, she and Lin Yang were each carrying a few for now. Later, when they returned to the villa or found an empty place, she could store them away too. There was no need to worry about taking up space, nor would they add a burden to the team when they set off again in a few days.
“Eh, little sister, what a coincidence! You came to visit the market too!” Zhou Yu had walked halfway around the market, and when she turned around, she saw a familiar person standing at a nearby stall. It was the younger sister of Captain Gu, whom she had been wanting to find.
Today, aside from buying things, she had also planned to see whether any members of that team had come out to visit the market. She had heard that basically all survivors who came here for the first time would come to the market to take a look. Even if she could not find them, the things sold here were quite complete, and she might be able to buy something useful.
Yesterday afternoon, she had conveniently brought that woman who knew Captain Gu’s younger sister into the base. But Yancheng Base was not small, and finding out where that team lived was not easy.
If she could not find these people, then the woman she had brought in from outside the base would probably be useless. Her plan to use this chance to earn goodwill and find a way to join that team would also fall apart. Zhou Yu had been worrying over what to do, and today she happened to run into her at the market. Truly, heaven never sealed off all paths. It seemed there was hope for her matter.
“Mm, we wanted to come to the market and see if there’s anything we need to buy.” Ruan Ning also had not expected to encounter Zhou Yu here. However, today she was not as enthusiastic toward her as she had been last time. Last time, she had treated her very well because she had wanted to rely on this person’s honey trap to seduce Gu Yicheng and test the guess in her heart.
Who would have thought that last time, this woman had not managed to test anything out, and Ruan Ning herself had somehow buried herself in a pit. Now Ruan Ning could barely take care of herself. On top of that, her mental state today was not particularly good, so she could not summon any interest in dealing with this person.
Zhou Yu glanced at the two people opposite her and pretended to suddenly remember something. “Oh, right. There happens to be something I wanted to tell you, little sister.”
Ruan Ning frowned slightly at Zhou Yu’s overly familiar form of address, but did not say anything. “What is it?” What could there be to say between them?
Zhou Yu said, “Yesterday, when I was outside the base, I saw someone chasing after you from behind and calling your name. Unfortunately, you had already entered the base and didn’t hear her. She was even driven away by the base guards as someone causing trouble. I happened to pass by at the time. Seeing how pitiful she was, I asked about the situation. She said she was your classmate, so I brought her into the base. She’s staying where our team is staying now. Do you want to go see her? She keeps saying she wants to meet you.”
So someone really had been calling her name from behind yesterday?
Hearing this, Ruan Ning was surprised. Yesterday, she had thought she had misheard. She had not expected there really to be such a person. “What’s the name of the person you’re talking about?”
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