Chapter 12 Invited to Join the Ranks

In the early morning of the next day, at five thirty, having slept for just over three hours, Ren Zhong woke up amidst the noise and clamor.

The voices boiling over outside the door rose and fell.

Occasionally, people passed by while talking.

A loud, booming voice, a sharp woman's curses, fierce quarrels erupting over unknown reasons...

A group leaves, then another group passes by, the crowd as numerous as an army passing through a border.

Such yelling echoed for over ten minutes, almost to the point where the severely sleep-deprived Ren Zhong began to hallucinate, thinking he was sleeping in a vegetable market.

He felt like jumping up and swearing, but ultimately didn't.

He only squinted his eyes slightly, quietly observing those low-quality individuals passing by the door.

Zheng Tian chose a good place.

No matter if they were male or female, those passing outside the door were in their prime, energetic with weapons and bags carried along, completely different from the downtrodden grassroots wanderers.

Clearly, most of those staying in this communal sleep capsule, like Zheng Tian's team, were Scavengers. They ventured into the wild during the day, possessing a certain combat capability, making a living by hunting Ruined Beasts.

So, the security factor of this capsule should be relatively high, safety ensured, but the sleep quality was worrying.

Ren Zhong was very irritated, but there was nothing he could do.

It wasn't that he didn't want to get up and scold someone, but he didn't dare.

Regardless of the noisy commotion outside, Zheng Tian, Hanyu, Wen Lei, and others slept soundly.

If he were to jump out and scold the street now, he'd be out of step with the group once again.

Finally, after about half an hour, no one passed by outside.

He thought he could finally get a bit more sleep, but unexpectedly, a loud clang sounded in his room.

Ren Zhong turned his head slightly, squinting towards the source of the noise.

Oh my!

Wen Lei was awake.

When wearing full armor, Ren Zhong didn't feel he was that massive.

Now he could see.

Wen Lei was hunching over, his head bowed deeply, rubbing his head in frustration.

The loud noise just now was due to this giant hitting his head on the ceiling while getting up.

Ren Zhong calculated, Wen Lei must be at least six foot seven.

"Damn it. Can't they make these damn sleep capsules a bit taller."

Wen Lei grumbled.

"Aren't you just foolish, hitting your head every time you get up? Can't you be more careful?"

The voice of sharp-featured, narrow-eyed Ou Youning came.

Wen Lei: "Mind your own business! You're such a blabbermouth."

The two then started arguing.

Ren Zhong was at his wit's end.

A little later, another voice joined in.

Great, the long-armed Bai Feng was also awake.

Bai Feng wasn't a decent fellow either.

He didn't join in Wen Lei and Ou Youning's bickering, but instead pulled out a box from under the bed, and then fished out a sharpening stone from it, seriously sharpening his nails, making a sound that was like knives being sharpened, setting one's teeth on edge.

Ren Zhong affectionately greeted Bai Feng's family in his mind.

After a while again, Hanyu, sleeping diagonally across from Ren Zhong and head-to-head with Zheng Tian, suddenly opened her eyes.

In just a second, her gaze shifted from the confusion of just waking up to clarity.

Then she snapped upright, pulled a tablet from under her pillow, and started reading the information.

Ren Zhong sharply captured this scene.

At a glance, the information displayed on Hanyu's tablet seemed to be some sort of dissected model of a Ruined Beast.

Ren Zhong was astonished.

Astonished not by Hanyu's diligence, but by how absurdly short the transition time was from deep sleep to full alertness and focused study.

This defied the instinctual structure of the human body!

Even Einstein wouldn't operate like this!

Unknowingly, time moved to six o'clock in the morning, and Zheng Tian, lying directly opposite Ren Zhong, also woke up.

The baby-faced person demonstrated what's called taking flight in a second.

Eyes opened, sprang up from bed, quickly fetched a tablet, opened it, and inside was a three-dimensional map of a 300-kilometer radius near Starfire Town.

On the map, tiny dots of light were spreading out like flowing sand centering around Starfire Town.

"Wow, this hunting assistant from Deep Communication Group is really useful, aside from being too expensive, no issues. Although it can't show the movement of professional teams, it marks the general movement of semi-professionals like us and the scattered individuals. Since the least amount of people are leaving through the south gate today, we'll head through the south gate! Alright, alright, Wen Lei, stop arguing, quickly pack up, go have breakfast, then prepare to leave!"

Zheng Tian settled today's course of action after sweeping through the tablet for two minutes.

Ren Zhong calculated the time and sat up straight with a "pop," his eyes bright despite the dark circles, "Good morning."

He also "woke" up really fast.

He completely understood now.

For these people, there truly was no cooldown time between waking and being fully alert.

"Good morning, Brother Ren Zhong."

Zheng Tian greeted cheerfully.

The group went downstairs, leaving the communal sleep capsule, heading to the food supply hall located in a corner of the square, also known as the canteen.

"Brother Ren Zhong, you said to the Mayor that you want to work in Starfire Town, is that right?"

"Yes."

"Do you already have a direction in mind?"

On the way, Zheng Tian asked, seemingly casually.

Ren Zhong shook his head, "I haven't figured out what to do yet."

"Are you interested in trying out with our team?"

"Is that possible?"

"Of course it is. Not to brag, but our Zheng Tian Team might not compare to professional teams, yet in Starfire Town's semi-professional Scavenger Teams, we're a rising star! As brothers who scrape a living from the same bowl, we may not get rich and famous, but on average, earning one Contribution Point a day per person is no problem."

Zheng Tian spoke with enthusiasm, "Right now, everyone's saving money, once we save up a hundred Contribution Points, we can buy a formal Wrist Watch. Then, earning two Contribution Points a day won't be an issue, and if we work together for another two or three years, we might not become Citizens, but it's feasible to save money and buy better equipment. Who knows, the next team in town to turn professional might be ours! And if you don't want to work hard anymore, once you get a formal Wrist Watch, you can retire freely, enjoy life and whatnot."

Ren Zhong wildly extracted information from her words.

Element detected.

The formal Wrist Watch above the temporary one was priced at a hundred Contribution Points, its model and function should be the same as the one rented from the sleep capsule.

Renting a Wrist Watch can earn only 0.1 Contribution Point per night, a personal one yields 1 point.

Thus, the rental cost is 0.9, a whopping ninety percent, worse than feudal landlords exploiting tenant farmers.

Moreover, even core forces like Zheng Tian's team earn only 1 Contribution Point per day from hunting Ruined Beasts.

This is quite peculiar, comparable to the income from sleeping.

The money granted for sleeping while wearing a personal Wrist Watch... it's really too much.

This is illogical.

Oh well, there are too many illogical points, no need to care about each, Ren Zhong nodded silently, worldview completeness +10.

"Alright, I'll give it a try. But I don't want to drag you guys down, honestly, I'm not particularly skilled, so why don't we just try adapting for a couple of days? If it really doesn't work out, I won't trouble you anymore and find my own way."

"Great!"

Currently, Ren Zhong still carried the massive debt of 101.28 Contribution Points owed to Sun Miao.

This money might not need to be repaid, but he indeed had the need to settle down, quickly establishing a source of wealth.

The six of them collectively spent 0.6 Contribution Points at the canteen this morning.

The food wasn't delicious; it was mostly whole chunks of meat and plain rice.

The meat had no chewiness, resembling meat paste.

Before leaving, Wen Lei took a big bag containing supplies for the team's day bought from the canteen, all packed with self-heating bags, much like portable, simple military rations.

On the way to the parking lot, Ren Zhong calculated the cost of purchasing power, couldn't help but complain in his mind.

The food was too expensive; calculating, individuals would have to spend 0.1 Contribution Point per day merely on food.

Ordinary people with no combat ability and no productive capacity can earn only 0.1 Contribution Point daily solely by sleeping, so any additional expenses like house repairs, buying clothes, or getting sick would have to be scrimped from the food budget.

No wonder many grassroots wanderers seemed malnourished.

"Running a canteen is really profitable."

Ren Zhong said seemingly casually.

Wen Lei replied in a gruff voice, "What can you do? All the business in this world is monopolized by the Nine Major Groups, right?"

Nine Major Groups?

Element detected again.

Ren Zhong currently knew three company names.

The Starfire Resource Recycling Company handling the acquisition of Ruined Beast materials in town, the Deep Communication Group providing online hunting assistant services, and "Tianlong High-tech" written on the sign hanging by the canteen door.

Ren Zhong frowned deeply.

Listening to Wen Lei's words, it seemed that corporations monopolized livelihood?

What about the state?