City of Time: Falling into the kill zone at the start

Chapter 93 Staring at Number 9330

Chapter 95 Staring at Number 9530

At that time, the pickup truck's unlimited range will greatly improve the two's chances of survival and their ability to withstand risks outside the city. To put it in a somewhat inappropriate way: having no sword in hand and having a sword but not using it are two different things.

Lu Chen and Yu might rarely use the pickup truck's unlimited range, perhaps only once or twice a year.

However, when it comes to actually needing it, the value of unlimited range will inevitably outweigh the cost of modifying it for 1 year and 240 days.

Why?

Because Lu Chen and Yu will only need to use unlimited battery life in two situations.

Either there are huge profits to be made, which the two of them need to acquire as soon as possible;

If they arrive late, they will be robbed, or they will be stranded outside the city for seven days, which is not enough time for two people to travel back and forth.

Either it's a huge crisis that requires the two of them to keep running day and night.

The former can help the two of them double the investment they made in modifying the pickup truck.

The latter can even save their lives in times of crisis.

Furthermore, the longer driving range and more flexible route planning allow the two to expand their activity range and area outside the city.

The two can go to more places, acquire more resources, and thus gain more benefits.

Simply put, it's about improving scavenging efficiency.

This alone is enough to make it worthwhile for the two of them to invest in modifications for 1 year and 240 days, thereby obtaining theoretically unlimited range.

Again.

This investment is certainly not cheap;

However, if we extend the timeline and spread the investment across a hundred or a thousand future trips out of the city to scavenge, the investment will be diluted.

And it will become thinner and thinner over time, as the two of them leave the city more often.

Until finally, it became so thin that it could be ignored.

Just like the parasites, who spend [9 hours] to buy mining suits and helmets in order to get into the mine to work.

Spread over a year, this investment will be diluted to a daily wage of 2 hours for every 1 minute and 30 seconds spent.

If spread over three years, that's 30 seconds per day.

If spread over ninety years, that's 1 second per day.

Most importantly, this investment, strictly speaking, cannot be considered a simple consumption.

A modified pickup truck will also increase in value.

It can be said that Yu spent a considerable amount of time increasing the value of his pickup truck and thus raising the value of his assets.

The pickup truck, valued at [240 days], was further modified over an additional [1 year and 120 days].

Adding to the previous investment of 1 year and 180 days in installing the hydraulic tractor on this pickup truck, the total investment has now reached 3 years and 180 days.

In the future, if I were to sell this pickup truck, I could at least recoup my entire investment and sell it for the price of about three years' worth of its original value.

However, very few scavengers can afford to spend three years just to buy a pickup truck.

..

With that in mind, Yu finally felt that the stinging pain in her chest had lessened slightly.

Taking a deep breath, suppressing the last bit of heartache, I locked the modified pickup truck again.

As I walked out of the parking lot, I saw Zhao Jie squatting by the roadside, looking exhausted.

Yu subconsciously raised her hand, adjusted her mask, and tightened the collar of her trench coat.

Then he stepped forward and asked, "Have you been waiting a long time?"

Yu Qing's cold voice rang out, and Zhao Jie hurriedly sprang to his feet, a restrained forced smile instantly appearing on his face.

"No, no, I just arrived a little while ago."

Yu could tell at a glance that Zhao Jie was lying, but she didn't dwell on it too much.

He glanced around and then nodded slightly: "This isn't the place to talk."

Zhao Jie nodded quickly and followed Yu out of the parking lot, arriving at the sandwich shop again.

Yu skillfully ordered herself a sandwich.

Zhao Jie hesitated several times before finally shaking his head at the shop assistant.

He gave Yu an awkward smile and said, "I've already eaten."

Yu nodded calmly, seemingly unconcerned.

"How's the investigation going?"

While waiting for the staff to bring the sandwiches, Yu naturally brought up the important matter.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Jie's expression turned serious, and he nodded solemnly.

"It should be right."

These words caused Yu Benneng to frown, and his gaze toward Zhao Jie carried a hint of dissatisfaction.

Seeing Yu's reaction, Zhao Jie felt a sudden unease for no reason.

He quickly added, "I asked number 9530."

"His scavenger was a man who called himself 'Monkey.'"

"On August 7, No. 9530 completed the rehabilitation ceremony and saw the monkeys."

"The monkey told No. 9530 that he had to leave the city again the next day and did not have time to sign the Private Debt Repayment Agreement."

"The next time we return to the city, the monkey will actively seek out number 9530."

At this point, Zhao Jie's anxious expression eased slightly.

A hint of certainty crept into his gaze as he looked at Yu. "Today is August 15th."

"The last time No. 9530 saw the monkey was 8 days ago."

"Brother Chen said that scavengers can only take a maximum of 7 days' worth of trash out of the city."

"And the monkey still hasn't found number 9530 to sign the 'Private Debt Repayment Agreement'."

As Zhao Jie spoke, Yu Anxia had already begun to calculate rapidly.

Lu Chen and Yu last left the city on the morning of August 6th.

After leaving the city, the two walked for nearly seven hours and arrived at the hibernation pod area around dusk that day.

Around midnight that night, scavenger number 9530, Monkey, left the hibernation pod area alone with his hibernation pod.

Based on the distance, the hibernation pod that the monkey took should indeed have been transported back to the city on August 7th.

That evening, number 9530 saw the monkey.

On August 8, the monkey cut in line and left the city, heading back to the hibernation pod area.

The original intention, of course, was to find the other two teammates, including the sea lion.

Little did he know that shortly after the monkey left the hibernation pod, his two teammates had already been killed by Lu Chen and Yu.

Therefore, Zhao Jie is right.

The monkey left the city on August 8th, carrying at most 7 days' worth of supplies with it.

In theory, he should have returned to the city on August 15th, but to be on the safe side, he should have returned to the rest area outside the city gate on the evening of August 14th.

And now, it's already the evening of August 15th.

The city gates are closed.

If the monkey has indeed not returned to the city by today, August 15th, then he will never return.

Perhaps something happened in the hibernation pod area, resulting in either death or serious injury;

Even if nothing had happened, his 7 days had already run out, and he would definitely die because his timer had reached zero.

Thus, the only point that cannot be determined is—

"You can only confirm the monkey; you haven't found number 9530 yet."

"But it's uncertain whether he has returned to the city."

Yu Qingsheng's words prompted Zhao Jie to shrug helplessly.

"That's right."

"I have to go to the coal mine during the day, so I can't keep watch at the city gate."

"Therefore, I cannot be sure whether the monkey returned to the city."

"Based on his agreement with No. 9530, we can infer that he most likely hasn't returned to the city yet."

.

"Oh, right."

"I can also confirm that none of the hibernation pods brought back from outside the city after No. 9530 were brought back by monkeys."

"I have been in contact with all the recovering patients during this period."

"We also inquired about their respective scavengers, but none of them matched the characteristics of a monkey."

Zhao Jie spoke with absolute certainty in the following passage.

Lu Chen is the 9527th recovered patient.

Zhao Jie is number 9528.

Customer number 9530 was Zhao Jie's first client.

To be precise, Zhao Jie knows 29 of the 30 revived individuals from number 9530 to the most recent number 9569—the "youngest" in the City of Time.

The only exception was number 9541, who seemed to have vanished into thin air and Zhao Jie was unable to find outside the No. 1 recovery point.

Zhao Jie didn't even have the concept of recovery point number 1, let alone know that there were recovery points number 2 and 3.

Therefore, Zhao Jie didn't actually know why No. 9541 disappeared into thin air.

However, during their last meeting, Lu Chen told Zhao Jie that there was no need to check number 9541.

Zhao Jie had a vague guess: perhaps number 9541 was picked up by Lu Chen and Yu.

"After eliminating this point of doubt," Zhao Jie had contacted all 29 remaining recoveries and had in-depth exchanges with them during the process of selling information.

During this time, I also subtly inquired about their respective scavengers.

Based on the information currently available, Zhao Jie can basically conclude that these 29 people were picked up by 29 scavengers.

However, for Yu, the additional information provided by Zhao Jie was of little value.

"Whether he retrieved the second hibernation pod or not is probably not necessarily related to whether he returned to the city."

Yu Youyou's words left Zhao Jie speechless.

A moment later, Yu was the first to react.

"Ugh————"

He may have already returned to the city.

99

"I just haven't gone to find number 9530 yet."

"If he had found a second hibernation pod, he would have returned a few days ago."

"The fact that he didn't pick up the new hibernation pods means that he won't be in a hurry to return to the city before acquiring them."

"In other words, monkeys that failed to find a new hibernation pod will most likely run out of their [7 days] and return to town yesterday or today."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Jie quickly nodded, revealing an expression that said, "You finally understand what I mean."

But soon, he forced a smile, seemingly a little awkward, as if afraid of offending Yu.

That's normal.

After all, in Zhao Jie's view, although Lu Chen gave him the opportunity to go out of the city to scavenge, in essence, it was Lu Chen and Zhao Jie, two resurrected individuals, who went out of the city together.

Having already lost and despaired once, Zhao Jie clearly cherishes the opportunity to scavenger again.

Naturally, they dared not offend Yu, lest they let the scavenging opportunity slip away.

As for Yu—it's unclear whether Lu Chen's reminder had an effect, or whether she had simply lost interest in Zhao Jie;

Yu never really paid much attention to Zhao Jie's emotional and demeanor changes.

Having obtained the information he wanted, he then proceeded to enjoy his sandwich without a second thought.

After finishing his meal, he stood up without hesitation, left Zhao Jie with a single sentence, and turned away without looking back.

"Keep an eye on number 9530."

"If you find the monkeys returning to the city alive, tell me immediately."

"Starting today, I will wait for you at the city gate every night at 19:30 pm."

"And don't forget to prepare for leaving the city."

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