Li Xiaoming, his college classmate.
The two had a good relationship. After all, they passed the night shift together, failed a class, and ate chicken dinner together. They could be called the "three iron" friendship.
However, Tang Yu almost didn't recognize him. In his memory, Xiaoming was a very gentle person. His hair was much longer than now. But now, his whole person gave him a clean and neat feeling.
As if they hadn't seen each other for several years.
But in fact, not long before the doomsday outbreak, the two had met each other at school. But after experiencing the doomsday, it felt like a few spring and autumn years. Seeing the familiar face again, Tang Yu couldn't help but recall the campus before the doomsday that was full of youth and bookish atmosphere.
"Let's go. Looking at your appearance, you must have just arrived in Lindong. Let me give you a welcome dinner."
Li Xiaoming saw Tang Yu holding an introductory guide given by the guide in his hand. He didn't say anything and pulled Tang Yu into a restaurant on the street.
There were some shops on both sides of the main road. There weren't many, but the variety was quite complete.
Restaurants, clothing stores, daily necessities stores, bars, and so on. They existed before the doomsday, and they still exist now. This showed the prosperity of Lindong.
There were also some shops with doomsday atmosphere, such as shops selling homemade guns, shops selling demonic beast materials. There were also martial arts masters before the doomsday who opened a martial arts school in the shelter. It was said that the business was booming.
… …
The two chose a seat by the window. Li Xiaoming handed the menu to Tang Yu, "Come, Old Tang. Look at this menu. You can't eat this outside. You don't have to be polite with me."
Tang Yu took a look at the menu. It was some very common home-cooked dishes before the doomsday, such as braised eggplant, spicy potato shredded, home-cooked tofu, and so on. In the doomsday, it was indeed a luxury. Many small shelters couldn't eat such dishes at all. Only Lindong County had a complete variety of ingredients could afford so many home-cooked dishes.
Of course, the price wasn't cheap. Tang Yu casually pointed at a few items. The waiter on the side slightly calculated and said, "20 yuan in total, thank you."
Li Xiaoming saw the confusion in his eyes and explained with a smile, "Twenty dollars is the price of twenty pounds of food. Now the common currency in the shelter is food stamps, which have a face value of one pound, two pounds, five pounds, and ten pounds. It's different from the food stamps decades ago, but more like the currency before the doomsday. The difference is that food stamps can be used to exchange for food. Of course, a food stamp with a face value of one pound can only be exchanged for one pound of the most common food."
"Also, these restaurants now pay first before the dishes are served. In the past, there were people who ate and dashed, but it was useless even if they were caught. They didn't have the money to pay at all, and in the end, they could only leave the matter unsettled. So now, restaurants pay first."
Li Xiaoming took out two crumpled food stamps worth five catties from his pocket and was about to hand them to the waiter.
Seeing this, Tang Yu shook his head. Although Xiaoming acted very forthright, he could still see a trace of heartache in his eyes.
He understood that Li Xiaoming was just an ordinary person. In this kind of environment, he might be better than the average survivor, but not by much.
These two food stamps worth ten catties were probably Li Xiaoming's savings. It was enough for an ordinary survivor to survive for a month. Tang Yu had no reason to let Li Xiaoming spend so much money.
"I'll pay."
He took out a spirit stone and handed it to the waiter.
Li Xiaoming wanted to say something, but when he saw the spirit stone, his expression was complicated, "Not bad. You can actually take out a spirit stone. You're a hunter, right? But it's a pity that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't awaken as a hunter."
Tang Yu didn't know what to say.
In the doomsday, everyone wanted to be a hunter. Even if they didn't go out to the wild, they had an advantage over ordinary people in terms of work after becoming a hunter. Who didn't want to be a hunter?
From his point of view, he had no right to persuade him.
On the contrary, Li Xiaoming smiled and said, "Forget it, I don't care. Anyway, at least I have a regular job, and my life is much better than ordinary survivors. At least compared to those people, I'm considered lucky."
"But you, you shouldn't waste your hunter's talent. If you have some savings, it's better to go to the official store and buy some equipment, such as firearms, or the military's special alloy swords. I heard from the hunters that it's easy to use."
Tang Yu nodded.
Li Xiaoming's words were reasonable, and Tang Yu could see that he was sincerely giving advice. But these were only applicable to ordinary hunters. Li Xiaoming had already surpassed this level. Not to mention, no matter how good the military's alloy swords were, could they compare to his workshop's products?
Of course, Tang Yu didn't say these words out loud. He thought about it and asked, "Do you know about the black market? I heard there are a lot of good things in the black market? "
"Black market?"
Li Xiaoming thought for a moment, "I don't know much about the black market. It's said that the black market was originally used by a few hunters to trade some illegal items. But gradually, the black market grew and became a small market, just like the commodity trading market in the Eastern District of the shelter. But most of the items traded in the black market are useful to hunters, including items, equipment, and some wild loot. It's said that sometimes there are some items banned by the military."
Tang Yu's eyes lit up. The items banned by the military meant the spirit power container could be bought in the black market.
"Do you know where the black market is?"
Li Xiaoming frowned, "I've only heard of the black market in a hidden place in the shelter, but I don't know the specific location. But I heard someone said it before. I'll ask for you at work tomorrow."
Tang Yu ordered two bottles of beer. While chatting, the two talked about their experiences after the doomsday.
Li Xiaoming didn't encounter any danger after the doomsday. When the doomsday broke out, he happened to be working in Lindong County. Coincidentally, this place was selected by the military as a shelter. He was lucky enough to continue working in the factory. This job wasn't good before the doomsday. But now it's the envy of most survivors.
Fixed jobs were rare in the shelter. They had a fixed salary, and they could eat their fill every day. They might even be able to save some money. Not only that, but compared to the official relief houses allocated to ordinary survivors, the residences of the employees with fixed jobs were much better than these relief houses.
"You don't know. When the shelter was first established, we could hear gunshots every day. It was really scary at that time. You're the best. You survived in that kind of environment." He sighed, "I don't know how the other students are doing. I've only met the school committee members. There are two other people working in Lindong like me. As for the others, I just happened to meet you today. I don't know how many of them survived to the shelter."
Survival was a very heavy topic.
Survivors came to the shelter every day, but most of them actually died on the road.
Of course, most of his college classmates were in the Lincheng area when the doomsday happened. Those who came to Lindong Shelter alive might not be the only ones that Li Xiaoming had met. However, there were hundreds of thousands of survivors in the shelter. When life was so difficult and they lacked contact information, obviously, no one would spend a lot of effort to find others.
In the end, except for a few old friends, even if the doomsday didn't happen, they would still be strangers when they met again after a few years.
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