The community worker accepted the jewelry Lan Jin handed over. There were three gold items: two rings and a thin bracelet. There were also three platinum necklaces, all plain without gemstones, and five silver bangles. Taking everything into account, the worker carefully calculated the total contribution points. When she finished, she looked up and gave Lan Jin the final number.
"In total, it's 35,921 contribution points."
Although Lan Jin had experience with the exchange system in her previous life, this was her first time dealing with contribution points in this one. Hearing such a large number, she was stunned for a moment and asked, "Thirty-five thousand... is that a lot or a little? I don't really understand this system. Can you explain it more clearly?"
The worker was prepared for this and said, "It mainly depends on the quality of the items. For example, furniture made with high-quality wood earns more points, and yours was well-made and in great condition. Even after depreciation, your old furniture alone came out to about twenty-seven to twenty-eight thousand points.
"The children's clothing, especially the newer ones, were worth more than the used ones. Together with the glass items, they got you 1,700 points. The rest of the value comes from your jewelry.
"The gold is the most valuable, but your rings and bracelet are quite light, so the points aren't that high. The platinum pieces are also light. However, your silver bangles are heavy, so combined with the platinum, they're worth about the same as the gold."
The worker paused before asking, "Do you have anything else you'd like to exchange?"
Lan Jin thought for a moment. "I bought quite a bit of gold when I got married. The style doesn't suit me anymore. Can I trade all of that in too?"
"Of course. Let me see how much you've got first."
Lan Jin turned and went to the master bedroom to retrieve her jewelry. She wasn't lying — the pieces were indeed bought for her wedding, though they had been paid for with her own money and had nothing to do with her ex-husband, Ren Xing. That made this exchange feel completely unburdened.
Besides, a divorced woman saying she was trading in her old wedding jewelry didn't raise any eyebrows. Their apartment layout might be unusual, but it was still part of a proper housing complex. People who could afford a place like this were expected to own a bit of gold, so there was nothing suspicious about her bringing out a few extra pieces.
Lan Jin handed over one bracelet, three rings, and a fairly heavy necklace. The community worker paused slightly as she received them but quickly resumed her professional tone and began calculating.
"These come out to 22,000 contribution points. Are you sure you want to exchange them?"
"Yes. Go ahead."
The worker added that amount to the previous total. "That brings it to 57,921 contribution points altogether."
Lan Jin nodded in satisfaction.
The worker asked, "If you have nothing else to exchange, I'll go ahead and load this into your resident permit."
"That's all. Thank you."
While the worker helped activate resident permits for Lan Jin and her child, the rest of the team was hauling furniture downstairs. It had already been exhausting dealing with the household on the 33rd floor, and now with Lan Jin's place on the 32nd, the workload had doubled. Just thinking about doing this all day had the staff ready to collapse.
But it didn't turn out that way. While each household's permit had to be activated individually, not everyone was exchanging items. Contribution points were a brand-new system, and most people didn't understand them yet. Many residents were only trying it out with a few things to test the waters. So, after the initial chaos, things quickly settled down.
When the team returned to the community center, they finally had a moment to breathe.
"I thought loads of people would want to trade for contribution points," one worker said, surprised. "But barely anyone did."
"Seriously. I was bracing for a brutal day, but turns out only those first two households were tough."
The volunteers may not have realized it, but the workers knew better. One of them explained, "The child from the 33rd floor, his parents are in the military. They probably heard something from the inside and told him to trade more. And he's on good terms with the woman on the 32nd floor, so he likely gave her a heads-up. It makes sense they would be the ones to exchange more."
This reasoning seemed perfectly logical and even matched the actual sequence of events. No one knew Lan Jin had been reborn and was acting on knowledge from her past life. As a result, suspicion quietly began to spread.
"Forget the 32nd floor. That kid on the 33rd basically traded everything he had. That's not normal. Maybe he knows something we don't. Should we start trading too? There's still a lot of staff around to help carry things. I heard that next time, if we want to trade, we'll have to carry everything ourselves. It'll be a hassle, and if something really does happen, having contribution points on hand might be useful."
At first, no one had thought of it that way, but now that it had been laid out, unease crept into the group.
"I think we should. Just keep the stuff we actually need and trade the rest."
"Yeah, let's do it. Might as well. The house will be less cluttered, too."
"Exactly. I've got a bunch of junk anyway. Better to exchange it."
"You're right. The military folks always know things before we do. Even if it doesn't matter now, there must be a reason they're doing it. I'm trading too. Gonna get rid of everything we don't use."
Soon, once the initial rounds of exchanges were done, the staff and volunteers went home and started sorting their own things. They exchanged nearly everything they didn't currently need or use, converting it all into contribution points. Because of that, their community ended up far ahead of the rest of J City in terms of material exchange.
But was there really some kind of inside information?
For now, no one knew.
...
Lan Jin was in a great mood after earning all those contribution points. But over in three other locations, the people in charge were ready to cry. These places were: Certain Mu, Certain Ma, and Certain CO.
Unaware that their supermarkets had already been cleared out in a wave of "zero-cost shopping," the managers had excitedly planned to trade in all remaining goods for contribution points. But as soon as the poisonous fog inside had been cleared and they opened the doors, they were dumbfounded.
Two-thirds of their goods had completely vanished.
And those goods? They weren't just inventory. They were contribution points.
And contribution points? That meant money.
Once the three managers realized their "money" was gone, they collapsed on the spot.
So how did such a massive stockpile of goods disappear without a trace? That question quickly drew the attention of the contribution exchange team. After all, it wasn't just one supermarket. Three nearby stores had all been looted in the same way. No one could chalk that up to coincidence.