Chapter 75 - 75

Chapter 75 The Cafeteria 1Cao Mingyuan simply took out a small megaphone from his pocket and shouted to everyone."The supplies include many aspects, such as clothing, food, housing, and transportation. If you have any nice clothes, you can bring them out as collateral and exchange them for corresponding contribution points."With contribution points, you can rent a house here.Furthermore, the base has just been built and there are many job opportunities available. People can work or form teams to go out and search for supplies.The recovered supplies can be exchanged for corresponding contribution points, thus ensuring basic needs like food, clothing, shelter, and transportation are met.Everyone then realized what was going on; money was indeed useless now, probably not even as good as toilet paper.Some started crying loudly because their backpacks were full of money, and now they were being told that the money was useless.They didn't believe it when others told them before, but now, just over two months later, how come the money is useless?Some people can't understand it, so they squat on the ground and pound their heads, as if they've gone crazy.The people nearby kept their distance.After a few minutes, everyone's emotions clearly calmed down. What else could they do but face reality?"Do you need a lot of things to exchange for those 500 contribution points?" someone else asked.Cao Mingyuan felt his blood pressure was rising and he couldn't continue talking to this group, so he said..."Regarding this, you can go downstairs and walk along the main road. There is a red-fronted building where relevant personnel can answer your questions."If you feel it's a good fit, you can stay here; if you don't, you're free to leave or stay. We won't force you.Upon hearing these words, those people immediately turned and left.After learning about the situation inside from these people, the large group of people waiting at the door also went in.In the blink of an eye, there were hardly any people left.Cao Mingyuan then sat down in a chair in the room and spoke to Gu Lingxiao."As you can see, the living environment here is indeed quite good. However, the contribution points required are really high; it would be unaffordable for one person to live here."A team of three or four people, or seven or eight, or even more, could easily form to search for supplies or take on base missions.Gu Lingxiao: "My understanding is that as long as you hand over enough supplies, you can enjoy welfare benefits here?"Cao Mingyuan nodded, "That's right, that's the point. Even if you don't serve the base, as long as you can provide enough supplies, you can enjoy yourself here."The clinic is about to open, and it will provide a more secure life for you than living outside. Sometimes, you can't just think of yourself; you have to think of others too.Gu Lingxiao realized that relying on space was not an option; people always had to be prepared for both possibilities, especially now that it was a year of natural disasters.Cao Mingyuan could tell from their impressive skills and the aura they exuded that they were even more formidable than the greenhorns outside. If they could stay, they would be a huge asset to the base. So he stood up and spoke to them…"It's lunchtime now, I'll take you to the cafeteria and treat you to a meal.""Oh? You even have a cafeteria here?" Gu Lingxiao found it interesting that they had built a cafeteria in such a short time."Of course there has to be a canteen, there are tens of thousands of people at the base now! However, you can also choose to cook in the buildings, but the electricity bill is a bit high, not everyone can afford it, so many people choose to eat in the canteen." Cao Mingyuan wanted to keep these people here, and he had to make a sacrifice today.If we can recruit them and make them our subordinates, his status in the base will definitely rise, and he might even become the battalion commander.The monthly welfare points will be enough to cover the expenses of the whole family.With this in mind, I led them to the base's canteen.It was indeed lunchtime, and there were quite a few people coming to eat.He pointed to the window on the left, "That's the free zone. If you don't have any supplies, you can eat for free at the base for three days."If you haven't found any work after three days, you can no longer eat here.At first glance, there was quite a long queue at the free food window.Looking at the people who had finished getting their food, some had plastic bags, some had lunchboxes, and some had trays.Without exception, it's seaweed soup with a small portion of rice, about an ounce.The way they carefully carried the food around seemed as if they were afraid someone would snatch it away from them at any moment.Less than three months after the natural disaster, people have already become like this; one can only imagine what they will become next.Su Xiaoyu looked at the first window on the right, where the food was the best. There was braised fish and braised pork ribs, and another dish that looked like stir-fried pork slices, but the portion on the tray wasn't very large.There were very few people queuing for food, and people gradually arrived.Before serving their food, they swiped their cards at the card reader, and the staff only served them the food after a red light was displayed.The cards they have should be contribution cards.Cao Mingyuan did not lead them to the best window, but instead chose a mid-priced window, where they had stewed dried radish and potatoes, and dried green bean soup, with only a few bits of meat visible in the dishes.Each person received a spoonful of rice, and he painfully swiped his card to pay.Then he pointed behind him, and the people understood.These are the people who are going to enter the base. The Base Commander means that whenever someone like this comes, they should be given extra food.Otherwise, how can we attract people to join us?The staff took out white plates from inside, served them their meals, and each person received their own.Then I followed Cao Mingyuan to the large table in the corner and sat down.Cao Mingyuan looked smug. "You didn't expect that, did you? We can now eat hot meals. As long as you do a good job, you can eat well here. Where else can you get such benefits?"The group exchanged glances, then looked at the food on their plates. They thought to themselves, what's there to be so proud of with food like this?They usually eat meat served in bowls, but Xiuer's cooking is so delicious and visually appealing that they don't have much of an appetite for this kind of food.Besides, I ate a full meal before leaving, but fortunately there wasn't much food.Gu Lingxiao picked up her chopsticks and started eating, and the others followed suit.Cao Mingyuan felt that they had gotten a great deal today, and he would definitely help them if he needed anything in the future.Su Xiaoyu doesn't like fatty meat, especially since the meat here looked like it hadn't been cooked at all; it was just thrown in directly and looked particularly fatty. She promptly picked it off the plate."Don't you eat meat?" Cao Mingyuan casually picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks and put it on his plate, as if afraid someone would snatch it away."I don't really like it." Su Xiaoyu thought the food tasted awful and was especially salty.I didn't have high expectations for the food from the best window; I guess it was just pretty to look at.However, seeing the people around me eating with great relish, as if they were enjoying some kind of heavenly delicacy, was quite a sight.