Compared to most settlements across the wasteland that were filled with the hustle and bustle of everyday life, Site 721 felt more like a genuine survivor settlement.
And the survivors living here felt more like true survivors.
That was not to say they were destitute.
Their patched cold-weather suits might have looked a bit worn, but they were still far better off than the survivors in Bolo Province, where an entire family often could not piece together two sets of clothes. The locals certainly did not have to eat dirt; even during the harshest times, they had nutrient paste to fill their bellies. In better times, they could even get their hands on bread and sausages.
In fact, the researcher who had been browsing academic papers on the train had not been lying: the Science Committee did supply all the nutrition necessary for survival, along with life's basic necessities.
Concrete buildings, fuel for heating and lighting, and schools built as beautifully as cathedrals were all provided.
The right to education was basically guaranteed. As long as the local survivors completed production quotas that were not overly demanding as required by the Science Committee, they were guaranteed food and warmth—yet they were never allowed to live too comfortably.
Most of the hardship the locals endured stemmed from the climate itself, and there was little point in complaining about the climate; the Wandering Marsh had not been a hospitable place even before the war.
The only thing one could truly complain about was the extreme inequality. The resources enjoyed by a single researcher exceeded the total consumption of over a thousand ordinary survivors combined.
And that was merely their personal living standard, not counting operational expenditures. If one factored in the expenses of their laboratories, the disparity became astronomical.
Yet even this hardly seemed worth complaining about.
After all, opportunities to change one's destiny were not entirely absent; in fact, a person had up to eight chances in their lifetime.
As long as one turned twelve, they could sit for the apprentice selection exam, and those who refused to accept defeat could keep taking it until the age of twenty.
Once accepted as an apprentice, one was no longer under the jurisdiction of the Science Committee and became a member of the Academy. This did not merely bring personal honor; the entire settlement shared in the glory. The Science Committee not only rewarded the family that raised a "future researcher," but also bestowed rewards upon the entire settlement.
Because of this, for those who remained in this bitter, frigid land, the only thing they could blame was their own lack of diligence in their youth, leaving them to pin all their hopes on the next generation.
Families that had produced an apprentice became the most prominent "stars" in the settlement, receiving a fair amount of special care from the settlement administrators.
Jiang Xuezhou's father, for instance, had become the captain of a drilling crew because of her, sparing him from working down in the shafts, while her mother had been transferred from the workshop to a relatively relaxed accounting position.
Nor did it end there.
Their house was a two-story structure, one of the sturdiest in all of Site 721. It stood in the center of the settlement, in the same neighborhood where the technicians and administrators dispatched by the Science Committee resided.
That street not only enjoyed round-the-clock heating, gas, electricity, and direct drinking water, but was also furnished with basic household appliances and furniture.
Even with special treatment, however, required work still had to be done.
The families of their traveling companions, Li Xiang and Wu Xiaoxiao, lived on this street as well, and the two seemed to share an unusual bond.
Although Ye Shi had not finished his stories, the time had come to part ways.
Li Xiang wore a reluctant expression, clearly yearning for more, and set a time to meet with Ye Shi again. With that, the group split up at the intersection.
When Jiang Xuezhou brought Ye Shi home, it was five in the afternoon. At this hour, her parents were still at work, and the only person in the house was a little girl of about six or seven.
The girl had two little buns tied atop her head and looked clever and quirky, resembling a miniature version of Jiang Xuezhou.
Seeing her elder sister appear at the door, the wariness on the little girl's face instantly turned to astonishment, and she threw herself forward in sheer delight.
"Sis?! You're back!"
"Yep! Sis is back... Look how much Yuehan has grown! Come let me hug you. Hehe, what a good girl."
Catching the sister who pounced into her arms, Jiang Xuezhou gently stroked her head, an uncharacteristically gentle smile gracing her face.
The motorized suitcase trailing behind her rolled past the entryway on its own, its wheels whirring as it headed straight for her room. Before long, clattering noises echoed from within.
Ye Shi could not help wondering if this contraption could unpack luggage automatically, perhaps deploying like a Construction Yard in *Red Alert*. Still, he felt too embarrassed to follow it into the room to look.
Even though he had never been in a relationship, he knew it was bad manners to wander into a girl's room uninvited.
Even his sister Jiu Jiu, who practically lived rent-free in his apartment, would ruthlessly beat him black and blue if he crossed that line.
While Ye Shi stared down the corridor at the door at the far end, the little girl hanging around Jiang Xuezhou's neck was also staring intently at this unfamiliar man.
Releasing her sister, Jiang Xuezhou stood up, looked at Ye Shi, and introduced the two.
"This guy is Ye Shi, my friend. Um, his name is a bit odd, so just call him Big Brother... This is my little sister, Jiang Yuehan. My parents aren't back yet, so why don't you sit in the living room for a bit while I go unpack?"
With that, Jiang Xuezhou walked across the living room toward the end of the hallway, leaving the two of them standing in the entryway.
Ye Shi gave the little girl a friendly smile, then bypassed her into the living room. He sat down stiffly on the sofa. Hoping to turn on the TV, he realized there was no such thing here, so he could only pick up a cup from the table and pour himself some water.
To his surprise, the little girl showed no fear of strangers. She sat across from him, staring right into his eyes, and suddenly blurted out out of nowhere:
"Big Brother, are you my sister's boyfriend?"
Ye Shi nearly choked on his water and coughed twice, frantically explaining, "No, I'm not."
As he spoke, he darted a glance toward the door to make sure a certain someone had not suddenly returned.
Though why he felt guilty, he had no idea.
"Aww..."
The little girl sighed, mumbling precociously, "Sis said she'd bring a boyfriend back with her next time. She lied again."
"...Haha." Ye Shi gave an awkward laugh.
The little girl continued to gaze at him, then suddenly asked in a soft, sweet voice, "Then Big Brother... when you're not busy, could you bring Sis home to visit more often?"
Seeing the loneliness in those eyes, Ye Shi went silent for a moment before nodding gently.
"Yeah."
He could actually understand why Jiang Xuezhou rarely returned home. Given the reality of a D-rank researcher's life, even with a mentor watching over her, the survival rate was hardly something to boast about.
And she had only been promoted to D-rank last year; before that, she was just an E-rank.
She was probably keeping her distance on purpose, hoping they would not be too devastated if they ever lost her. Though her mouth was sharp, she genuinely cared about other people's feelings deep down.
Otherwise, when he had been lying half-dead in bed back then, she would not have looked so miserable.
Ye Shi suddenly realized he had stumbled upon a side of her that she rarely revealed.
Soon, however, he shook his head and banished the strange thought from his mind.
*Why am I trying so hard to understand an NPC...*
Sitting on the sofa opposite him, the little girl tilted her head, confused by his head-shaking, but did not press the matter. Instead, she picked up her unfinished book and went back to reading.
The wait stretched on, and after roughly an hour, footsteps finally echoed from the hallway beside the living room.
Seeing Jiang Xuezhou return, Ye Shi breathed a sigh of relief and teased toward the corridor, "What took you so long? What were you doing?"
Standing near the hallway, Jiang Xuezhou had changed into casual home wear, an apron tied around her waist, fine beads of sweat dotting her forehead.
Looking at this guy who clearly had no idea how much work went into things, she could not help rolling her eyes.
"What was I doing? I was worried you'd be starving after being on the train all this time... so I made some food."
"Dinnertime!"
Hearing that her sister had made food, the little girl on the sofa perked up. She immediately tossed aside the headache-inducing book and darted past Jiang Xuezhou like a rabbit, scurrying into the small room next to the kitchen.
A plain dining table sat there; it was where the family ate their meals.
Ye Shi stared at Jiang Xuezhou in astonishment, as if looking at some rare exotic beast.
"You know how to cook?"
Jiang Xuezhou chuckled, delicately brushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear, and tilted her chin up proudly.
"Are you kidding? I've been living on my own since I was twelve. Cooking food until it's done is no problem at all."
Ye Shi had almost given her a thumbs-up, but hearing "cooking food until it's done" sparked an ominous premonition.
Just as he anticipated, laid out on the dining table was merely a bowl of roasted little potato balls and a pot of chicken legs that looked as though they had been blasted in an air fryer or something similar.
The chicken legs were coated in a waxy red marinade resembling New Orleans barbecue sauce, yet they reeked of raw chicken.
Ye Shi swallowed involuntarily, momentarily rendered speechless.
*Did she skip blanching them?*
To be fair, skipping blanching before roasting chicken was not impossible, but you could not just leave the gaminess intact like that...
The little girl, however, was not picky in the slightest. She had already snatched a chicken leg and was happily gnawing away.
Deeply displeased by the expression on Ye Shi's face, Jiang Xuezhou wrinkled her dainty nose and rested her right hand on her hip.
"Is there a problem?"
A dignified D-rank researcher had cooked for him in person, and this guy wasn't even down on his knees in gratitude!
Even her respected mentor had never eaten anything she made!
Ye Shi shook his head rapidly, forced a smile onto his face, and sat upright in a chair.
"Nothing... It's great."
No matter what, she had put in the effort.
Besides, resources were scarce in the Wandering Marsh. Even if ingredients exchanged with G-points were cheap, wasting food was shameful.
Failing to catch the perfunctory tone in his praise, the corners of Jiang Xuezhou's mouth curled up in delight, and she turned around full of vigor.
"You and Yuehan go ahead and eat. Mom and Dad will be back soon, so I'll make some for them too."
Hearing that, Ye Shi, who had barely warmed his seat, bolted upright as if electrocuted.
"Hold on, let me do it..."
"You know how to cook?" Jiang Xuezhou halted and looked back at him suspiciously.
Ye Shi gave a bashful smile.
"A little... To tell you the truth, I've been away from home for more than three years now."
It wasn't that he wanted to show off; he simply couldn't bear to see good food ruined.
Jiang Xuezhou did not think too much of it and nodded blankly, though she still cautioned him uneasily, "All right, then... But let's get one thing straight: if there's anything you don't know, you have to ask me."
Suppressing the urge to roll his eyes, Ye Shi asked straightforwardly, "Do you have cooking wine?"
Jiang Xuezhou: "What's that?"
"...What about beer? You at least have scallions, ginger, and garlic, right?"
"Ah, that we have... Are you going to drink?"
"Who said I was going to drink? Just go get them for me, then stand by and watch."
With that, Ye Shi picked up the bowl of roasted potatoes from the table, flashed a friendly smile at Jiang Yuehan, who was watching with wide eyes, and spoke in a soothing tone suited for coaxing children.
"I'm going to borrow these for a bit, then give them right back to you."
The roasted chicken was probably beyond saving, but this bowl of potatoes could still be salvaged.
"Okay!"
The little girl nodded obediently, then watched the two walk into the kitchen.
Peering at the lively kitchen, she stopped eating her chicken leg, propped her chin on her hands, and swung her little legs. Her eyes sparkled, who knew what thoughts swirling through her little head.
Come to think of it, this was the first time she had ever seen her sister so cheerful.
Whenever she had seen her before, her sister always carried a heavy, preoccupied expression; even when she smiled gently, there was rarely much joy in it.
She truly wished her sister could be this happy every day...
***
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Ye Shi familiarized himself with the cooking utensils under Jiang Xuezhou's guidance.
Though there was no wok, only a soup pot, to someone accustomed to lazy cooking, all pots were essentially the same.
To save himself from washing an extra dish, he had even stir-fried vegetables in a rice cooker before, let alone a soup pot.
"Aah! Why are you pouring beer over the duck legs?! Won't that taste bizarre?" Watching Ye Shi grab the beer and pour it straight into the pot, Jiang Xuezhou frantically lunged forward to stop him, but she could not budge his arm in the slightest.
She had almost forgotten that most of this guy's parts had been crafted by her own hands.
Tossing the empty can aside, Ye Shi looked at Jiang Xuezhou, who appeared on the verge of tears, and could not help snickering.
"What do you know? This is called beer duck! Stop making a fuss over nothing..."
Jiang Xuezhou froze.
"Beer... duck? What on earth is that... Ah, no! Yuehan can't have alcohol!"
"Pfft... The duck is simmered until done; do you think any alcohol will actually remain?"
"Oh, right... Alcohol evaporates easily. I almost forgot." Realizing she had asked a silly question, Jiang Xuezhou nodded with a flushed face. But seeing him dump the potatoes into a bowl and mash them, she stared blankly again. "What are you doing now?"
Ye Shi answered casually, "Mashed potatoes. Kids love this stuff... Do you have milk, butter, and black pepper?"
This dish had something of a tradition back in the Alliance; in the early days, Brother Scrambled Eggs had poured considerable effort into perfecting it just to make ram horn potatoes taste good.
Jiang Xuezhou nodded hurriedly. "Yes, I bought some on my way here... They should be in my room right now."
Mashing the softened roasted potatoes, Ye Shi said without looking back, "Why did you leave them in your room? Hurry up and get them! And grab the soy sauce from my suitcase too—the black bottle."
"O-okay!"
Blushing, Jiang Xuezhou nodded again and scurried out of the kitchen. Remembering that the apron was still tied around her, she darted back in to tie it onto him.
When this guy had offered to make dinner, she had intended to offer guidance from the sidelines. Who would have thought she would turn out to be the complete amateur, relegated to running errands and playing assistant?
Roughly forty minutes later, the sky outside had darkened completely, and the clock neared seven. Jiang Xuezhou's parents arrived home right on time.
Hearing the clatter from the kitchen, the two elders assumed it was Xiao Han playing inside. Hurriedly changing their shoes, they rushed in, only to find Xiao Han sitting at the dining table, with two dishes before her that they could not identify.
An enticing aroma tickled their nostrils.
Father Jiang's nose twitched involuntarily. Mother Jiang instinctively glanced toward the kitchen, her eyes widening in surprise.
With mashed potato smeared around the corners of her mouth, Xiao Han giggled, her crisp voice ringing out:
"Dad, Mom, Sis brought a man home!"
"What nonsense are you spouting?!"
Flustered and exasperated, Jiang Xuezhou rushed over to cover the girl's mouth, then hastily glanced behind her.
At the kitchen door, Ye Shi was stepping out with a pot of beer duck. Seeing the two elders, he smiled.
"Good evening, Uncle, Auntie!"
"Hello, hello..." Father Jiang responded politely out of habit, sizing him up before hesitating. "May I ask who you are?"
Ye Shi was about to say he was from the wasteland, but Jiang Xuezhou beat him to the punch.
"His name is Ye Shi! He's from the Alliance... It's too complicated to explain right now, but basically he's like a diplomat. We'll talk about it over dinner!"
"Oh, oh, from the Department of Foreign Affairs. Please, have a seat, young man... Why did you let our guest do the cooking? You should have waited for us to get back."
Father Jiang chided Jiang Xuezhou, though his tone was gentle. Mother Jiang did the same, gazing dotingly at her daughter as she brushed aside the bangs dampened by sweat on the girl's forehead.
"Exactly. Why didn't you let us know in advance that you were coming back? I could have taken time off work."
Jiang Xuezhou tugged playfully on her mother's arm with a bright smile. "Didn't I want to give you a surprise? By the way, where's Big Brother?"
Father Jiang smiled. "Your brother has his own family now. At the end of last year, he was transferred from Site 721 to Site 702; he's a workshop supervisor now. I'll call the boy over tomorrow!"
The family gathered around the dining table, enjoying dinner in harmonious warmth.
At first, Ye Shi had felt a bit reserved, but Jiang Xuezhou's family was exceedingly warm and welcoming, and he soon blended right in.
Of course, his superb culinary skills deserved part of the credit.
Sitting at the table, Yuehan stuffed spoonful after spoonful of potatoes into her mouth, her eyes sparkling like little stars, the word "delicious" practically written across her face.
"...Who knew your cooking was actually so good?" Jiang Xuezhou poked his arm and murmured softly.
Puffed up by the praise, Ye Shi almost raised his nose to the ceiling.
"Naturally. Too bad there's no Lao Gan Ma or rice here; otherwise, I definitely would've whipped up my signature fried rice for you."
Eating beer duck accompanied by bread was a rather unusual combination, but it was still far more normal than roasted chicken legs slathered in tomato sauce.
"Hmph... You never cooked for me back in the Alliance," Jiang Xuezhou muttered, pouting slightly as she looked at his smug expression.
Ye Shi flashed a punchable grin. "You never asked me to."
"You..." Jiang Xuezhou gritted her teeth, tempted to take a bite out of his arm, but held back out of consideration for the dinner table.
Besides, his skeleton was made of titanium alloy; she worried she might break her own teeth.
Halfway through dinner, Father Jiang, slightly tipsy, raised a glass with Ye Shi. Clasping the young man's hand, he said earnestly:
"Our Xuezhou... can be a bit hot-tempered at times, but she's truly a caring girl deep down. We can't be of much help with her affairs, so please look after her when she's out there."
Catching this sudden remark, Jiang Xuezhou nearly choked on her food, coughing in a panic. "Dad, what are you talking about?!"
Her father ignored her, showing no intention of taking back his words. He simply kept his eyes fixed on Ye Shi, waiting for the young man's reply.
"Sis is blushing!" Little Yuehan giggled, her clever eyes darting back and forth.
Faced with the elderly father's pleading gaze, Ye Shi gave a hearty laugh and agreed without hesitation.
"Don't worry, sir. I'll make sure your daughter stays safe!"
No matter how one looked at it, he was a T0 top-tier expert on the server; protecting an NPC was well within his abilities.
Jiang Xuezhou's face flushed crimson, and with a soft huff, she fell silent.
A smile spread across Father Jiang's face, and he nodded in relief. "With that promise from you, my mind is at ease!"
***
That night, Ye Shi stayed at Jiang Xuezhou's home, sleeping in the second-floor guest room.
Jiang Xuezhou had taken a week of home leave. Over this coming week, he planned to tour the vicinity of Site 721, observe the lives of the locals, and try to get a better read on this Science Committee.
Binghai City was a special administrative zone; trying to understand the Academy and the Science Committee through that lens was simply too difficult.
Additionally, because Site 721 was not a special zone, it lacked designated player respawn save-points or inns to rest at, leaving him no choice but to stay in an NPC's home for the night.
To put it bluntly, no merchant caravans ever came here.
And the only reason dinner had been so lavish was thanks to the ingredients Jiang Xuezhou had exchanged using her G-points.
Under normal circumstances, if she did not send goods home, the family likely would never have enjoyed such a feast.
At the very least, throughout his journey here, he had not spotted anything resembling a shop.
Ye Shi could not help wondering what it would take to pry open the Science Committee's market.
Vast reserves of untapped resources lay buried beneath the ground here, whether petroleum, natural gas, or metallic ore deposits.
People from the Era of Prosperity seemed to have anticipated the possibility of a future downfall, intentionally leaving immense unexploited resources across the tundra, within the mountains, and beneath the sea bed.
In other words, this land held genuine developmental value; otherwise, the Academy would never have chosen to settle here.
Yet as soon as Ye Shi gave it further thought, he recognized how thorny the endeavor would be.
His intuition told him that prying open this market would likely prove far harder than cracking open the Xilan Empire...
***
Taking off his gaming helmet, Ye Wei sat on his living room sofa, staring blankly at the widescreen television.
Light had already crested outside the window; in the real world, morning had arrived. Every time he logged off, it took him a while to readjust to the sensations of reality.
He couldn't tell them apart... He truly couldn't distinguish between them anymore.
Was this the legendary "internet addiction"?
No wonder minors were barred from playing.
Not long after he set aside his helmet, Jiu Jiu walked out of her room, yawning.
She had already slept for the better part of the day yet still looked exhausted, leaving one to wonder what on earth she had been doing in the game.
Glancing at her brother sitting on the sofa, Jiu Jiu blinked and waved a hand in front of his face.
"What's wrong, Bro? Earth to Ye Wei, come back to life."
Recalling the dinner he had just eaten and Jiang Xuezhou's family, Ye Wei shook his groggy head, set the helmet to the side, and suddenly remarked with a sigh:
"Nothing. I was just thinking... this game is a little too realistic."
Jiu Jiu was momentarily stunned, then stared at him in shock, her mouth forming an 'O'.
"Holy crap! Did you actually get together with that NPC?"
Ye Wei frowned. "What the hell? What does that have to do with anything?"
Poking her index fingers together, Jiu Jiu blushed and whispered awkwardly, "You said realistic, so I... I thought you guys did *that*... Whatever, forget it if you didn't! Tch, boring."
"...?"
Watching Jiu Jiu dash off and disappear in the blink of an eye, Ye Wei scratched his head in bewilderment.
*What kind of fit is she throwing now?*
Tossing his helmet aside, he ordered takeout and began browsing the official website.
He happened upon a post by Sisi and clicked inside to find that their cargo ship had already docked at West Sail Port.
Beyond sharing her observations of West Sail Port, Sisi had included local price listings in the post.
According to her write-up, local demand for hard liquor was astronomically high. If one could transport potatoes from Port French Fries to Golden Gallon Port for distillation into hard liquor, ship it to West Sail Port, and trade it for steel or cement to bring back to the Federation, one could make a fortune with their eyes closed.
In particular, the tax exemption privileges enjoyed by the Wilantes in the region prompted many Wilante merchants to exploit the system, turning around and loading the newly arrived liquor onto their own freighters to bring back to the Legion's homeland.
As a result, liquor ostensibly destined for the Xilan Empire ended up being dumped onto the Legion instead.
At the end of the post, she attached the profits from this voyage.
What made Ye Shi envious was not their profit margin, but how blindingly fast these folks moved—they had already pried open the Wilantes' vaults.
Although it was merely a narrow crack for now, one that might be sealed shut at any moment, it was nevertheless significant progress.
"Everyone's so capable; I'd better step up my game too..." Muttering enviously to himself, Ye Shi closed the post and leaned back against the sofa, lost in thought.
First of all, the Academy undoubtedly possessed far more treasures than the Legion, all of which represented the knowledge the Alliance needed most.
Yet there lay the problem.
The number of players active in the Wandering Marsh was not even in the triple digits, falling far short of the numbers in the south.
Thinking of this, he could not help looking troubled.
Setting aside how to crack open the heads of those stubborn old fossils, just tricking the little leeks into coming to the Wandering Marsh would be difficult enough...
*Just how am I supposed to swing this hoe?*
Chapter 759