Chapter 142: Comrade, How to Rent a Vehicle
"Comrade, I want to rent one of your vehicles. What do I need?"
Previously, while chatting with Zheng Yan, Meng Ci learned that one could register to rent a vehicle at the office.
However, due to the limited number of vehicles, the prices were quite high.
Li Wencan took a piece of paper from the table and handed it to Meng Ci, "We only have off-road vehicles and pickup trucks."
"The minimum rental period is one day, for which you need ten pounds of grain or twenty cans of food."
"If you have other useful items, such as solar panels, photovoltaic panels, or glass, we can consider exchanging them."
Meng Ci glanced at the paper in his hand, which matched what Li Wencan had described.
Meng Ci had plenty of solar panels in his space, but he needed them to generate power during extreme heat, so he didn't plan to give them away.
"I'll exchange with cans of food."
After saying this, Meng Ci called over Eggplant and rummaged through the sheet it was carrying, pulling out twenty cans of food.
When they left, Meng Ci had stuffed all the cans into the sheet Eggplant was carrying.
This was the reason why Eggplant was so enthusiastic about carrying it.
When Eggplant saw the cans being taken away, it anxiously circled around Meng Ci.
"Awo, awo."
"These are my things, don't give them to others."
Meng Ci kicked Eggplant, making it move to the side.
Li Wencan counted the cans, confirmed there were no issues, and then handed them to Wu Heng.
After taking some photos and registering, it took about ten minutes to complete the rental procedures.
"Do you want a pickup truck or an off-road vehicle?" Wu Heng asked, looking up from the computer.
Meng Ci thought for a moment and said, "An off-road vehicle."
"Alright."
Li Wencan then put the cans into a bag and, upon hearing this, turned to take a key from a low cabinet next to him.
"Are you coming with me to get the car, or will you wait here?"
"Let's go together."
Meng Ci felt there was nothing much to do here, and since Li Wencan seemed friendly, he might be able to learn more about the situation or the future development of the base.
The main leaders of M City went to another large resettlement point the day before the apocalypse, leaving behind a vice mayor.
Security was handled by the military, with a major and a lieutenant remaining.
Upon hearing this, Meng Ci was surprised to learn that Lu Chen was the third in command here.
But considering Lu Chen's steady personality and dedication, it made sense.
Soon, the three of them walked for about half an hour and arrived at the previous fork in the road.
Li Wencan led them to the right and, after five minutes, Meng Ci saw a row of parked vehicles, roughly estimating there were more than twenty.
Beep.
The sound of the car unlocking echoed in the space.
Li Wencan led the two men to the lit-up car and handed the key to Meng Ci.
"There are ten liters of gasoline in the tank. Be careful when driving."
"When returning the car, bring it back here."
"If you need more gasoline, you can exchange it at the trading point."
"If you return the car late, additional items will be required."
Meng Ci wasn't worried about the gasoline since he had a lot stored in his space.
While driving out, Meng Ci wondered why they didn't charge a deposit, weren't they worried he might drive off with the car?
Li Wencan explained, "The cars are equipped with GPS tracking, so we won't have trouble finding them."
"Moreover, failing to return the car on time has serious consequences."
Although Meng Ci had a driver's license, the icy roads made it slippery, so Shen Que was responsible for driving.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Meng Ci picked up a sign in front of the car, which listed the consequences of not returning the car on time.
Things like never being allowed to enter the resettlement point again and losing access to government-provided relief.
If the vehicle was damaged, it would be inspected by professionals, and compensation would be required.
Meng Ci looked at the list and thought these punishments weren't too severe. Besides, if someone changed their name or appearance, how would they be identified?
Of course, the government had considered these issues and implemented various registration and photo-taking procedures from the beginning.
Information was shared every ten days among all bases in M Province.
So, those who commit offenses should not think they can move to another base if they can't stay here.
Even if a person loses weight or changes shape, their iris remains unchanged.
During the registration process, people's irises are scanned and stored as the primary means of identification.
During this period, anyone involved in fights, disturbances, or provocations is recorded in the system and is not eligible to rent vehicles.
Moreover, offenses are categorized by severity; if they accumulate to a certain level, one can be expelled from the base.
This information is posted on notices at the bottom of every building in the base.
The car arrived at the office, and Li Wencan got out but didn't hurry to leave.
"Comrade Meng, I see your wolf looks quite good. Is it male or female?"
"We have a few military dogs that are approaching their mating season."
"Comrade Meng, would you be interested in letting it mate with one of them?"
"Rest assured, we won't let it work for nothing."
Meng Ci replied, "Lieutenant Lü said the same thing."
"But Eggplant is still young. If it really reaches maturity and comes into heat, I'll consider it."
Li Wencan laughed heartily at this.
He then went back to get a biscuit and fed it to Eggplant.
The biscuit was part of Li Wencan's saved rations, indicating his genuine fondness for Eggplant.
Eggplant usually ate fish and meat, so when it saw the plain white biscuit, it found it intriguing.
However, without Meng Ci's permission, Eggplant dared not eat it.
Meng Ci was pleased with Eggplant's caution and told it to eat.
Eggplant took the biscuit into its mouth, chewed a bit, and suddenly stopped.
How could anything be so tasteless?
Eggplant couldn't figure it out.
Chewing again, Eggplant thought it wasn't exactly bad, just completely flavorless.
In the past, even when Meng Ci and Shen Que made biscuits, they would add some carrot shreds, potato shreds, and seasonings to give them flavor.
Used to flavorful food, Eggplant naturally found the plain biscuit as bland as chewing wax.
If it weren't for Li Wencan still being there, Eggplant might have spat it out already.
Eggplant stared straight ahead, unwilling to chew further, and widened its eyes, trying to swallow the biscuit.
But Eggplant felt it couldn't do it.
So it made a swallowing motion, pretending to have swallowed the biscuit.
Then it lay down on the back seat, closing its eyes as if sleeping.
The reason Meng Ci hadn't left yet was to discuss renewing the vehicle rental.
Considering the extreme cold would end in four days, Meng Ci also mentioned that he would bring the necessary supplies tomorrow and rent the car for four more days.
Li Wencan noted this down and saw them off.
After the car had driven for a while, Eggplant opened its mouth to spit out the biscuit.
"You dare to spit it out!"
"If you spit it out, you won't get any food in the future."
In the apocalypse, this creature still dares to waste food, clearly having eaten too well in the past and forgetting its place.
Hearing this, Eggplant had no choice but to swallow the biscuit and lie down, feeling utterly hopeless.
Meng Ci didn't indulge it, "Don't like it?"
Eggplant nodded.
Meng Ci snorted, "Since you don't like it, you'll practice more."
"Starting tomorrow, you'll eat noodles for three days straight."
Of course, these noodles would have no seasoning or side dishes.
A mournful howl came from the back seat.