"I need to ask about something."
"Hehe, please go ahead."
The manager chuckled and put the box of chocolates away.
Wang Zhi ordered another cup of coffee, but when he tried to pay, the clerk refused.
The clerk said that since Wang Zhi had just given him a gift, this latte was on the house. This cup wasn't expensive, only costing 2 Survival Points.
"Is this place usually not very busy?" Wang Zhi asked casually, looking around.
"Haha... it's not busy now, but a long time ago, when everyone was still using money for transactions, people with refined tastes would come here for a drink. Who would waste time drinking this damned coffee now?" the manager said self-deprecatingly.
"I see. You know the Captain of the Guard Headquarters, right? Well... I like her and want to pursue her. I've seen her come here occasionally, but I never knew exactly which type of coffee she prefers, so I came to ask you." Wang Zhi fabricated an excuse, knowing he couldn't reveal his true purpose.
"Haha, youth is wonderful. Even in the Apocalypse, you're still thinking about romance. But let me give you a piece of advice: Captain Jie Xi is not someone you can pursue." The manager shook his head repeatedly while looking at Wang Zhi.
"Hehe, it's better to try and fail than to live with regret." Wang Zhi didn't mind; he knew it was an impossible task anyway.
"Good! You have spirit, young man! Captain Jie Xi does come by occasionally. She always buys these Blue Mountain Coffee Beans, but she takes the beans away and doesn't drink them here. Perhaps it's due to her status. Here is your latte." The manager spoke while handing the freshly brewed coffee to Wang Zhi.
"You like Blue Mountain coffee? What's the price range for your Blue Mountain coffee?"
The manager sighed, "To be honest, coffee beans are a non-renewable resource inside the Dawn Tower. Every portion sold is one less. I only have this one barrel left. Seeing as you are buying it for Captain Jie Xi, I'll charge you 200 Survival Points. After all, this is my shop's treasure; I spent a fortune acquiring this from the Wallenford Estate in Jamaica!"
The manager kept explaining, afraid Wang Zhi would think it was too expensive or wouldn't recognize its value.
"No problem! I'll take it!" Wang Zhi agreed readily.
The manager looked at the decisive young man before him, still finding it hard to believe. 200 points, just like that, spent?
"Brother, is it really worth wasting 200 points on this?" the boss said with some heartache.
"I think it is worth it." Wang Zhi smiled, his expression unreadable.
Wang Zhi took the barrel of coffee beans the manager brought over. He opened the sealed lid on the barrel, took out a few beans, and smelled them.
Sweet, with a hint of bitterness in the sweetness, and a rich aroma—it was truly authentic Blue Mountain.
After confirming the manager hadn't fooled him, Wang Zhi handed the Magnetic Card over to the manager.
"Friend, you actually understand coffee?" After swiping the card, the manager saw Wang Zhi's manner of discerning the coffee—it was clear he was an expert.
"Yes, I've been to Jamaica before. I never expected to find coffee like this here," Wang Zhi said, taking back his Magnetic Card.
"Speaking of which, why did you all come to live here before the Apocalypse?" Wang Zhi asked.
"That story starts five years ago."
As he spoke, the manager lit a cigarette for himself, and also offered one to Wang Zhi, who accepted it, and they began smoking together.
"Five years ago, I was running a coffee shop outside. Suddenly one day, a man came into my shop and told me about a place that was recruiting merchants. He said if I moved in, not only would I not have to pay any fees, but they would also give me a subsidy of ten thousand Yuan every month. Doesn't that sound strange?"
"When that person left, he gave me an address, saying I was welcome to visit anytime if I wanted to go. At the time, I thought he was a swindler and paid it no mind. Later, my shop truly became impossible to keep running, so I remembered the address he had left me."
"I followed the address and found this place. When I first arrived, I was nearly scared to death. Later, I stayed here for five years, earned quite a bit of money, and gradually got used to it."
"What puzzles me is, who exactly are these developers? How can they possess such immense power? Just how much wealth do they have to support the welfare of everyone here and the operation of the entire Dawn Tower?"
But strange as it was, those matters were beyond my reach, so I simply stopped worrying about them.
Over these years, people have only entered this place; those who left were only bringing goods in from the outside. But thinking about the benefits here is too tempting: for doing nothing for a month, just running a business here, they give you 10,000 yuan! As for those working here, they receive even more! I heard that no one working gets less than 20,000 yuan!
Thus, the economic chain gradually started turning, with business owners running their businesses and workers doing their jobs.
Later on, more people gradually began arriving, batch after batch, and they didn't come here to work, but to train on the second floor. They trained every day, just like an army. It was also around that time that the Survival Points currency system was implemented here, although the vast majority of people didn't believe in it.
But that didn't matter, because Survival Points could be exchanged for cash. As long as they could exchange for cash, they didn't care. Even now, I can't believe that those so-called cash bills actually turned into waste paper worth less than one Survival Point.
Listening to the shopkeeper's account, Wang Zhi roughly understood the whole story: it could be said that the Dawn Tower was built up purely by throwing money at it in the early stages.
"Then what happens when your coffee runs out? Do you go work or do something else?" Wang Zhi asked.
"Alas, I can only go work; I don't want to go outside and face those Zombies," the shopkeeper replied.
"If you stop working, what happens to this shop?" Wang Zhi asked again.
"It will be taken back by the Dawn Tower; how they dispose of it depends on their decision," the shopkeeper replied.
Afterward, Wang Zhi asked the shopkeeper for some filter paper, then walked out holding a bucket of coffee beans.
Now that the items were obtained, all that remained was to deliver them to Jie Xi.
Of course, not just anyone could deliver them; after all, they had already had their first meeting and even shared a meal at the same table, which is why this second delivery could proceed.
Wang Zhi then made his way to the Guard Headquarters on the first floor.
"Hello, please relay a message to Captain Jie Xi that Captain Wang Zhi of the Sunset Glow requests an audience," Wang Zhi said to one of the guards on duty at the entrance.
The guard glanced at Wang Zhi, then turned and walked inside.
After a moment, the guard came back out.
"Hello, please present your Magnetic Card so we can verify your identity."
"No problem." Wang Zhi handed the Magnetic Card to the guard.
The guard took the Magnetic Card, scanned it on the device in his hand, and once confirmed it was Wang Zhi, he said, "Very well, please follow me."
Wang Zhi was led into the Guard Headquarters by the guard. Inside, some guards were sitting in front of computers, monitoring the feeds from various corners.
Wang Zhi followed the guard to the end of the hall. The guard knocked on a door: "Captain, the person has been brought over."
"Come in," Jie Xi's voice came from inside.