Banana Community now held a hundred thousand people. Most apartments were crammed with a dozen tenants, and a family of four having a single room was already considered fortunate. Never mind those families who are squeezed into a single parking space, their belongings stacked in damp piles against the concrete walls.
If it were just a few days, it would be fine. But this has gone on for more than half a year. Every day brings friction and petty quarrels that echo through the crowded halls. Someone placed salvaged goods in a shared corridor and the neighbors objected, their voices rising in the stagnant air. Today a shirt went missing from a communal line; tomorrow a cup at home disappeared.
Household items that were insignificant before the apocalypse have become hot commodities after Earth's Dark Days. By the time many realized what they needed and returned to salvage sites, everything was gone. So people learned their lesson. Useful or not, they grabbed anything like scrap pickers, hauled it back, piled it up, and figured out how to repurpose junk a second time.
Life was brutal. Torrential rain falls daily, and seepage is constant through the cracked foundations of the city. If anyone wants to improve their meals instead of eating meager government rations, they have to scramble for temp work in the slush. On top of that, everyone has to keep their own spot clean. The underground garage didn't stay unflooded by luck; it survived because thousands of people bailed water out ladle by ladle every single day, their backs aching from the relentless labor.
So when Jing Shu saw tidy stone houses carved from boulders, she was genuinely stunned by the cleanliness of the masonry.
"Our location is on the outermost ring of the cylinder. This ring is for D-level employees. Each unit is 5 square meters, furnished with a double stone bed and a storage alcove. There is a public restroom every 300 meters," steward Cai explained, his pale face smooth under the artificial lights.
The three of them entered the smallest staff room. It felt like a cave, but advanced cutting tech had shaped each unit with a stone bed for living and a stone pit for storage.
The rock was a cool bluish green, refreshing to the eye amidst the gray world outside. The cuts were clean, everything squared and regular.
"Hey, there is magma under this mountain," Xiao Cai whispered, his voice barely a breath. "Dormant, but the temperature still is not low. In fact, Wu City is encircled by dormant volcanoes. West Mountain and the surrounding peaks are all volcanic, though none have ever erupted."
Jing Shu's hand brushed the surface of the stone bed. It was warm, the heat radiating softly from the deep earth. Throw a thick pad on this and it would be a hundred times better than those poor souls in garages who are flooded every day. Most importantly, no rain seeped through these thick mountain walls. The bedding would be clammy, yes, but not soaked through.
If there really were a volcano beneath them, then this base might not leak or stay damp. This one-stop base was well conceived.
Su Mali shook her head, her iridescent raincoat rustling. "A bit small."
"Please, this way. The second ring is for C-level management. Each room is 15 square meters. Four rooms share a restroom."
They left the D-level unit into a long, curved corridor that traced the circle. Run a full lap and you return to the starting point.
Each employee tier had dedicated corridors. Lower tiers could not cross into upper-tier quarters.
"This feels like a standard in a space hotel. Every room is a double stone bed, plus stone table, stone sofa, and cabinets; the whole set," Jing Shu said. She lifted one corner of the stone table with a light touch. Then she heaved. With a crisp crack, the table came up at the base.
Steward Cai's mouth fell open, his eyes wide with genuine shock. "Good grief. All this furniture is carved directly from native rock, deliberately left unsevered. The stone is part of the mountain. And you snapped it off."
"Uh, I thought they were made outside and brought in. Ahem. Let's see the next one." She was a little embarrassed, her fingers twitching at her side. Rubik's Cube Space had upgraded months ago, and she knew her strength had increased, but she had'nt expected to manhandle a stone table like that.
Steward Cai swallowed hard. He fully believed the rumor now: that this woman had once ripped a lit explosive apart with her bare hands.
"P-please... this is B-level middle management. Forty square meters. One bedroom, one living room, one bathroom."
"Over here is A-level management. Seventy square meters, two bedrooms, one living room, and one bathroom. I am honored to be A-level now and live here with my honey."
Jing Shu's eyes flickered toward Steward Cai and she could not help wondering whether his "honey" was a man or a woman.
"There is also S-level management: 100 square meters, fully equipped. Free electricity. You can even cook. Everything is like pre-apocalypse standards.
The central area holds guest suites. Each is a four-bedroom unit of 150 square meters with electricity and natural gas. They are for Mr. Qian to entertain VIPs, designed to the specs of the old Xishan Villa.
As for the very center, that is the presidential suite, covering 500 square meters. I hear it has a pool and various recreational facilities. We do not have clearance to enter."
Su Mali kept nodding. "I like it here very much."
For the apocalypse, the environment in this Xishan base was downright excellent. It was no surprise from the richest man—his handiwork was grand. The only worry was next year's major earthquake. Would this base collapse under the strain?
"I heard Mr. Qian transferred more than a thousand people here recently?" Su Mali blinked, her gaze fishing for news.
"Ah yo," Steward Cai blurted, his hands fluttering. "Can't hide anything from a young lady like you. There is another ring beyond the outermost one. That section is for non-regular staff. Think train sleeper cars; six bunks to a compartment. It is too chaotic over there, so I did not bring you."
"You suddenly brought in so many people. Mr. Qian must be planning something big."
Steward Cai's gaze shifted toward the bodyguards. Seeing their eyes forward, he lowered his voice. "We are about to pull off something major. I can not say more. You will know when it happens. It benefits the nation and the people. Ah, it is time for the event. We should head up before we are late."
Jing Shu's eyes narrowed as she thought hard, her mind churning through old memories. In her previous life, did Qian Duoduo plan something big? Damn it, her reactions were painfully slow back then. News took years to reach her in the ruins.
They hurried back up from underground. Jing Shu immediately felt the difference between the stuffiness below and the fresher air above. So the underground had its downsides too. It was not suitable for long-term living.
"A one-stop base. What is a one-stop base?" Steward Cai launched into his presentation, his graceful hands gesturing to the high ceilings. "This is the apocalypse. Times have changed, so must our way of life. What matters most now? Food, shelter, and transport. The Xishan One-Stop Base is a place that provides all of this.
The underground level provides housing. Know what the second level is? It handles crop cultivation for Mr. Qian. The third level raises poultry. The fourth handles agricultural processing and additives. The fifth is manufacturing. The sixth is trading and auctions. And so on. Mr. Qian's vision is to turn this base into a stone garden of happiness where everyone has a place to live, work to do, and food to eat."
"Holy shit, holy shit, HOLY SHIT!—I think I remember!" As Steward Cai mentioned the phrase "stone garden of happiness" (Xingfu Shiyuan), a thought instantly flashed through Jing Shu's mind: "the boss who was starved to death... could it possibly be Qian Duoduo?"