Chapter 230: Finally Getting Some Meat
"Please state your names and ID numbers, and where you're coming from!"
Two staff members sat behind the desk: one with a computer, the other with a notebook and writing supplies.
Meng Ci and Shen Que obediently provided their information, and when they encountered characters they weren't sure about, the staff had them write it down on the paper in front of them.
"You've adopted a military dog?"
The male staff member sitting at the computer suddenly asked.
Meng Ci was not surprised and nodded, "That's right."
After all, military dogs were considered treasures, and their information was registered under their names, so Meng Ci wasn't surprised.
"Could we possibly see how it's doing sometime?" the staff member asked.
Meng Ci had no reason to refuse and indicated that it was fine anytime.
Although the West Mountain Wilderness Base and M City Base shared information, they needed to re-register their points cards to live here.
Because the staff knew the two had adopted a military dog, they treated them more warmly.
Through subsequent conversation, Meng Ci learned that the man operating the computer was Xiang Jia, who had once been a soldier.
However, during the extreme cold period, he was injured during a mission to kill wild beasts and spent several hours lying in the snow. Although he could still walk afterward, his legs couldn't handle the rigorous training required of soldiers anymore.
Thus, he had regretfully retired and switched to administrative work.
He was surprised to see that Meng Ci had adopted a military dog.
Glancing at their information, he saw they had killed tigers, crocodiles, and other dangerous animals. It was clear they were highly skilled, which explained why they were able to adopt a military dog.
"What are you exchanging for points?" another staff member asked.
"What can we use?" Meng Ci asked.
"Food, gold, silver, copper, nickel, solar panels, glass, etc. But the points you get vary depending on the item," the staff explained.
Meng Ci nodded, noting that it was similar to the system at the West Mountain Wilderness Base.
Five points per pound of food, ten points for a solar panel, and five points per gram of gold...
Meng Ci was surprised by how cheap gold had become.
But thinking about it, it made sense. In this post-apocalyptic world, most people struggled just to survive, so gold wasn't very useful. The official use of gold was for repairing or manufacturing many precision instruments, where gold, silver, and copper were needed.
As for those who saw gold as precious, they probably weren't short of food and wouldn't come to exchange it.
Shen Que went to the SUV and brought back two bags of food scavenged from the tunnel, along with a small bag of gold.
The two bags of food, totaling eighty pounds, were exchanged for 400 points.
The bag of gold contained various pieces of jewelry, including everything from red string bracelets to various other jewelry, which was then handled by the staff, who used professional equipment to test it.
Though there were many items, they were all small, so the final weight was less than one kilogram.
But Xiang Jia took charge and directly registered one kilogram of points, indicating that these points could be used to exchange for food for the eagle.
Meng Ci agreed, so the two of them exchanged another five thousand points.
They took the points card, which also served as their pass to enter the base.
Driving into the base, it took less than ten minutes before they saw the housing registration office.
The buildings in M City Base were mostly around eight stories tall, and none of them had elevators, so the rent decreased from the eighth floor downward.
Of course, there were also standalone villas.
However, they occupied very little space; a courtyard might only be a few square meters, and the size of the villas was similar to pre-apocalypse loft apartments, ranging from thirty to fifty square meters.
Moreover, residents could choose their own plots to build houses.
Meng Ci and Shen Que did not plan to stay long-term, so they did not intend to buy land and build a house.
Since the two of them had Eggplant and Eagle, they chose a forty-five-square-meter villa in a relatively secluded area.
It cost one thousand points per month.
Seeing how expensive the rent was, Meng Ci couldn't help but sigh.
But for the sake of the two children, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and rent it.
Afterward, Meng Ci topped up five hundred points for electricity, went to the item exchange point to get some daily necessities, and then drove to their new residence.
There was a parking lot not far from the residence.
They parked the car at the villa's entrance, and it took Meng Ci and Shen Que three trips to move all the stuff out of the car.
After that, Meng Ci took Qiezi (likely a pet or a nickname) back into the house, while Shen Que went to park the car.
Once Shen Que returned, they both got to work cleaning the place.
The villa had simple renovation; the walls were painted white, but the workmanship was poor, making it look unimpressive.
The floor was cement, but it was uneven and pitted, making it look even worse.
So, Meng Ci took out cardboard sheets and carpets from his space to lay down, and then brought out basic furniture like a sofa and a table.
He also pulled out a security door and had Shen Que swap it with the front door.
The main concern was that the original door wasn't sturdy enough.
Upstairs, the beds, wardrobes, and toiletries were all set up.
Two things particularly bothered Meng Ci: the kitchen on the first floor was only three to four square meters, making it hard to even turn around.
So, Meng Ci only placed a few kitchen tools there and didn't plan on cooking in this tiny space anytime soon. For now, they would eat the ready-made food stored in his space.
The other issue was that the bathroom was outside and it was an outhouse.
Meng Ci could understand why it was an outhouse, given the lack of water and rain, making flush toilets a luxury.
Meng Ci didn't plan to use that restroom, so he left it for Qiezi and Xiongying, so Qiezi wouldn't leave his scent all over the place.
After tidying up the room, Meng Ci called Qiezi and Xiongying in to eat.
After a tiring day, all the food came from the spatial storage.
Barbecue, spicy hotpot, crayfish, beer, cola, ice, along with rice—the two humans, one dog, and one wolf enjoyed a feast.
After the meal, Meng Ci and Shen Que went upstairs to sleep, while Qiezi and Xiongying played outside in the spatial storage.
Over the past two days, Meng Ci had noticed that their relationship had really improved, specifically that Qiezi had finally started eating meat.
Of course, Qiezi had also gotten even more attached to his mate.
If Meng Ci hadn't actually seen Qiezi's male characteristics, he might have thought Qiezi was a girl.
Inside the spatial storage, Meng Ci brought this up with Shen Que.
Shen Que said, "What's so bad about being attached to his mate?"
"Would you be happy if Qiezi got distracted by Xiongying and started chasing after other wolves or dogs?"
Meng Ci shook his head.
"If he dares to do that, I'll break all four of his legs."
Hearing this, Shen Que jumped at the chance to show how much he cared for Meng Ci.
Of course, after all the declarations, Meng Ci ended up getting into trouble again.
And now, Meng Ci couldn't even get Qiezi to give him a massage anymore, because Qiezi had to take care of his own mate.
When Shen Que found out that Meng Ci needed a massage, he insisted on giving him one, despite Meng Ci's protests. While massaging, Shen Que also took advantage of the situation to get a little handsy.
After three days at the villa, they finally had time to head out and check on the situation at M City Base.