The white-haired old man took the initiative to introduce himself:
âIâm your administrator Robert, welcome to the Sunflower Block, you will stay with me for a year, I hope we can get along well.â
Robert said, took out a marker from the drawer of the wooden desk, stood up, walked out from behind the desk, walked around Cheng Huaiqian and motioned him to raise his legs and put his feet on the stool beside him.
The surface of the stool was full of dirt and dust, apparently stepped on by an unknown number of shoes.
Cheng Huaiqian stepped on it with his right foot neatly, and took the initiative to pull up his right trouser leg, exposing the black rubber ring on his right ankle.
According to the introduction of the data, this rubber ring was a âpositioning ringâ with built-in precision electronic instruments, which could monitor the userâs position all the time.
When the two appeared in this mission world, the identification in their pockets and the positioning rings on their feet appeared together.
âAfter this, every day around seven oâclock in the morning and before seven oâclock in the evening, you have to come to me to check you in.â
As Robert instructed, he used the marker in his hand to mark the positioning rings on the ankles of the two in turn, representing todayâs check in.
The positioning ring was the hole that the mission world dug for them.
It was already past six oâclock in the morning when they finished their class in the classroom. If Xia Ruize and Cheng Huaiqian didnât find out the limitations of their identities in time and couldnât arrive at the community center in Sunflower Block at seven oâclock to check in for the first time, they would have likely be recorded as disobedient and unrepentant, community corrections would end immediately, and their incarceration life would officially begin.
Fortunately, Xia Ruize and Cheng Huaiqian found the discarded materials and found the community center in Sunflower Block in time according to the instructions on the materials.
âRooms are in short supply, you share a room.â After receiving two new arrivals, Robert took out two strings of keys from the drawer and threw it at them. The label on the keys read â404â.
It was really not a friendly number.1
Xia Ruize and Cheng Huaiqian put away the keys, said nothing, followed the narrow and old stairs to the fourth floor and found their room.
The facilities in the room were very rudimentary, with two single beds, two desks, two wardrobes, and a small bathroom. There were no other facilities.
The first thing Xia Ruize and Cheng Huaiqian did when they entered the room was to thoroughly investigate the entire room.
Fortunately, the officials of this mission world still left them some privacy. Except for the positioning ring on the ankle, at least no monitoring equipment was found in the room.
There was no stricter monitoring, but there were no more prompts and guidelines. Except for the initial information, they would have to rely on themselves.
The two browsed the materials several times, and the materials encouraged them to actively cooperate with community corrections, strive to re-enter society, be a person who contributes and is valuable to society, and gain social recognition.
âThe best way to integrate into society is to have a job, not to mention that we need wages to live and start with.â
The two put the twin beds together to form a double bed, and lay together at the head of the bed to study the only hints they had.
Yes, after accepting the cruel fact that they became criminals, they had to accept the second cruel fact that they had no money on them, although there was still some food or treasures that could make them feel full in the space, but there wasn´t any NC, the currency for this world´s mission.
Looking at each other, Xia Ruize and Cheng Huaiqian saw the tacit understanding in each otherâs eyes and couldnât help laughing.
After initially discussing the plan in the heart net, the two did not stay in the room, but went out to collect information. Anyway, they just had to come back and check in before seven oâclock in the evening, they had freedom in the middle.
There were more pedestrians on the road than before. They were all white people with blonde hair and blue eyes. Xia Ruize and Cheng Huaiqian had black hair and black eyes, but they didnât care about their surroundings. They first thoroughly explored the Sunflower Block.
In the process, they paid close attention to the recruitment announcements posted in the stores facing the street.
The good news was that they saw seven job postings and it looked like there were plenty of job opportunities.
The bad news was that whenever Xia Ruize and Cheng Huaiqian wanted to know more, the other party would ask them to provide proof of identity, and then it would be easy to find out that the two were doing community corrections, and they would immediately refuse for various reasons.
Xia Ruize knew that their identity background made it easy to be discriminated against.
âHey, regular jobs aren´t possible. Isnât this forcing us to take a wrong path.â
The corners of Cheng Huaiqianâs mouth twitched happily. Of course, he wouldnât care about the contempt in the clerkâs eyes. He didnât really break the law, and he didnât feel guilty at all.
He just though that the character set prepared for them by the Lord God was really interesting. This kind of character set background had a serious job rejection halo. He was really curious about what methods other trialers in this mission world would take to complete the mission.
The two menâs search was not for nothing. In the end, they found a few jobs that didn´t discriminate against their identities. The common feature of these jobs was that they required a lot of manpower, but the turnover of personnel was large, and there was always not much demand for recruited people, such as cleaning, and couriers.
At noon, when passing by a park, the two saw someone playing and singing.
Cheng Huaiqian borrowed the guitar of the wandering artist, played two songs, got fourteen NC given by passers-by, he was satisfied, gave the wandering artist two new currency as equipment borrowing fees, bought two meat sandwiches for 5 NC each as lunch for him and Xia Ruize, and with the last two NC he bought a map.
At present, their superficial knowledge of the city called Shengma was limited to the Sunflower Block. A detailed map could quickly help them understand more information, such as where the bank was.
Of course, also to look for where there was a delicious shop.
The bread in his hand was too hard. Although the taste was not bad, Xia Ruize didnât like it. In his heart, bread should be soft and delicious.
Sitting on a wooden bench in the park, checking the map and eating bread, the two continued to explore. Their physical fitness was strong, and walking would not cause them any burden at all.
In the eyes of outsiders, these two people were just wandering around the city with nothing to do, but in fact, all the information of the roads they traveled, how often the traffic lights changed, where the surveillance cameras were aimed, what public facilities were around, etc. were all collected.
The two had shown with practical actions that when doing bad things, it was also necessary to have the correct attitude.
In the middle of the afternoon, the two finally successfully applied for the job. Xia Ruize applied as a cleaner, and Cheng Huaiqian applied as a courier.
After deciding, Cheng Huaiqian first accompanied Xia Ruize to apply for the job.
The head of the cleaning company in charge of recruiting employees sneered after checking Xia Ruizeâs identity information, rolled his eyes, leaned his fat body back, leaned lazily on the back of the chair, and lengthened his tone in embarrassment: âYou are like this, the situation makes me very embarrassedâŚâ
While speaking, he looked up and down at the opposite Xia Ruize, his heart was full of contempt, the short yellow-skinned monkey2Â was a dishonest one.
Xia Ruize had no unnecessary reaction, and continued to look at each other without any fluctuations in his eyes. The supervisor didn´t get a response, so he had to continue talking: âItâs not impossible to recruit you, but the salaryâŚâ
Cheng Huaiqian stood on the side, looked at the supervisor with a blank expression, rubbed his fingers hanging on his side, his hands were a little itchy, and he needed to hit someone to relieve the itching.
In the end, when Xia Ruize did not respond during the whole process, the supervisor suppressed his salary to 70% of the normal employees.
Xia Ruize coughed twice, and finally responded for the first time:
âMy health is not very good, and I canât bear too much work intensity. I am willing to accept 60% of the salary and hope to choose some easy jobs by myself.â
The supervisor frowned impatiently, his eyes were full of reluctance, but he thought about it, the staff under his command came and went, and it was always not enough. It was not easy to attract one cheaply. Let him try it first, if it was not good, it wasn´t a problem to just throw him out.
In the end, the supervisor signed Xia Ruize with 50% of his salary, on the condition that Xia Ruize could choose the daily work by himself.
As soon as the contract was signed, the supervisor called an old employee and asked him to guide Xia Ruize so that the newcomer could start working as soon as possible.
âDo you really want to do this?â
Cheng Huaiqianâs face was not very good-looking, although it was planned, when he thought that his lover had never done such hard work in the real world, he was very distressed and wanted his lover to give up and follow him.
Xia Ruizeâs eyes were bright and the corners of his mouth were upturned, and he refused with interest: âI still want to try, I will do what I can, and if it doesnât work, I will give up.â
Cheng Huaiqian watched his lover change into a full-body cleaning suit, put on a mask, and prepared to start with cleaning tools, feeling distressed and helpless.
So, he didnât waste time, and turned around to apply for the courier job he had long been optimistic about. The courier job was much simpler, and a small car could start delivering the courier. The only disadvantage was that it was more difficult to travel in the wind and rain, but this hardship was nothing to Cheng Huaiqian.
The jobs they found were all on a daily basis. Although they were just probationary on the first afternoon, they performed very well, so they successfully got their respective wages.
After getting off work at 5 oâclock in the afternoon, after the two met, Cheng Huaiqian took Xia Ruize to the block adjacent to Sunflower. When he delivered the courier in the afternoon, he found an Oriental restaurant there.
The taste of the dish was a bit weird, but it was more in line with Xia Ruizeâs taste than a hamburger, a coffee or a tooth-crunching meat bun.
Itâs just that during the meal, the two were attracted by the news that was suddenly broadcast on TV:
âUrgent news. At 4:00 pm today, a malicious robbery case occurred at the city bank in Little Rainbow Block of our city. Two gangsters broke into the bank and stole 70,000 cash and 10,000 in gold. Twenty-three people were killed and seventeen were injured in the shooting.
One of the gangsters was killed on the spot during the fight, and the other gangster escaped. Citizens who find suspicious persons should report to the Public Security Bureau in time. Follow-up reports are ongoing. â
With the voice of the announcer, what was broadcast on the TV was the scene at that time. Xia Ruize and Cheng Huaiqian stopped what they were doing together and stared at the TV.
Their movements were not eye-catching, because all the people in the restaurant were startled by the sudden news, and all stared at the TV.
Jev Kaez's notes:
1Â As many may already now, the number four in Chinese sounds similar to the word for death in Chinese, so 4 is considered an unlucky number. -ĺ (4) (SĂŹ)- -ćť (die) (SÇ)-Â 2Â Yellow-skinned monkey, a very insulting way to call Chinese people.
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