With the help of their classmates, Wang Yanxing quickly found her own card.
Xu Dengming lowered her head to examine the object in her hand.
The card was white with a hint of blue, and its texture was quite unusual, giving her an inexplicable feeling that it was fragile.
Wang Yanxing clearly shared the same sentiment: “Did they cut corners when making this card… I’m afraid I might crush it if I grip it too hard.”
Although no one had explicitly told the visiting students not to shout, they all instinctively lowered their voices.
As the other passengers on the bus woke up, they too began searching for their cards one after another, then got up and left the bus.
The faint sounds of their movements drifted through the air, like a cloud of dust kicked up from the road.
The temperature inside the bus gradually dropped as the crowd dispersed, as if it had turned into an aquarium that had just been emptied, with damp, cool seaweed clinging to the walls.
Xu Dengming tugged at Wang Yanxing’s arm, signaling her to hurry and get off the bus.
The moment they stepped out of the bus, a strong, distinct earthy smell hit them, clinging tightly to their noses and mouths, relentlessly seeping into their lungs.
Wang Yanxing couldn’t help but frown.
All around them, as far as the eye could see, there were dense clusters of trees.
The branches and leaves extending from the trunks were so thick and intertwined that they resembled hard spider webs, completely blocking their view.
As someone born after the Great Catastrophe, Wang Yanxing instinctively equated nature with danger.
The paths of the park were hidden among the trees, with signs at the intersections to guide those who might lose their sense of direction in such an environment.
The scenery before them was uncommon in the outer districts the Great Catastrophe had caused massive damage to the surface vegetation, drastically reducing the variety of ornamental plants that could be cultivated.
Moreover, these plants often underwent mutations during growth that were far from aesthetically pleasing to humans.
Xu Dengming had never been outside the city, but she had seen photos of the outer regions on the school’s intranet.
The plants out there seemed to grow wildly, as if they were taking advantage of the lack of attention to sprout freely.
As for the inner city, although the variety and number of plants were limited, their appearance was relatively normal.
The further one went from populated areas, the more likely one was to encounter strange, twisted trees and weeds that were difficult to clear.
Like the outskirts of the city.
In comparison, the greenery in Nest Park was excessive, surpassing a certain threshold to the point where it no longer felt beautiful.
Xu Dengming and Wang Yanxing walked side by side along the shaded path of the park, neither of them speaking.
At some point, a faint sense of familiar unease began to spread in Xu Dengming’s heart.
Though subtle, it was like a grain of sand stuck in her flesh, always producing a sharp sting whenever she tried to ignore it.
Yet, no matter how hard she tried to recall, she couldn’t remember the source of this unease.
She began to suspect that her memory was failing her.
Xu Dengming reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose.
Wang Yanxing stopped walking: “Are you feeling unwell?”
Xu Dengming frowned: “Maybe I slept too long on the way here. I’ve been feeling dizzy since we got off the bus.”
Wang Yanxing’s voice was filled with concern: “Then let’s just buy some daily necessities and head straight back to the accommodation area. You can rest properly there. After all, it’s only the first day, and no one has assigned us any extra tasks yet.”
She spoke with a natural demeanor, clearly having accepted the idea of settling down in the Nest Park.
The two reached a fork in the road.
Knowing her companion wasn’t feeling well, Wang Yanxing bent down to study the nearby signpost and quickly found the information she needed.
The sign on the left side of the fork clearly read, “Life Supermarket, 300 meters ahead, then turn right.”
Xu Dengming’s gaze followed her companion’s, scanning the old signpost covered in a layer of dust.
It swayed unsteadily in the wind.
Wang Yanxing reached out to steady it, then let out a soft “Huh?” as she wiped the surface of the sign.
“There’s something else written below.”
Xu Dengming bent down as well. “I can’t see it clearly from here. The text on the sign is pretty blurry.”
She was right.
The words at the bottom of the sign were small and written in a faint light blue, requiring one to get close to read them.
The message read: “Please note, the Life Supermarket’s operating hours are from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. If there are no lights inside the supermarket, do not enter. Return to the intersection and wait for ten minutes before attempting to go again.”
Wang Yanxing frowned. “Who left this note? It’s so strange.”
After speaking, she turned to look at Xu Dengming, only to find her companion rubbing her temples again.
Throughout this job-seeking process, Xu Dengming’s condition had noticeably worsened.
She often closed her eyes to self-regulate.
Xu Dengming realized that as she read the note on the signpost, the sense of unease that had been gradually fading in her heart grew stronger once more.
It was as if a voice was shouting in her ear, urging her to remember something she had forgotten.
…What exactly could she have forgotten?
The deadline for her graduation thesis?
Xu Dengming quickly ran through her busy university life in her mind, momentarily suspecting that what she had forgotten might be her passion for learning…
Seeing her companion unresponsive, Wang Yanxing called out again, “What’s wrong?”
Xu Dengming opened her eyes and refocused on the task at hand and said.
“It’s almost four o’clock now, and we’ll need some time to get things sorted later. Let’s go to the Life Supermarket first and get the daily necessities.”
Wang Yanxing had no objections.
Not long after the two left, a group of young people who looked like college students arrived at the intersection.
They were yawning, their eyes carrying a subtle, long-dormant dullness, and each held a temporary work pass for Nest Park.
One of the students lowered his head, his black eyes stiffly shifting in their sockets as he let out a muffled sound from his throat.
“The signpost… why is it knocked over?”
He slowly bent down and picked up the wooden sign.
Another student leaned over to look. “There’s a line of red text at the bottom: ‘If there are no lights inside the Life Supermarket, you may enter.’ What does that mean?”
The first student muttered, “It just means you can go in during operating hours.”
He murmured to himself, “It’s getting late. We need to hurry.”
Their gaze couldn’t penetrate the dense trees to see the two who had left earlier.
Xu Dengming and Wang Yanxing had already arrived at the supermarket entrance.
The Nest Company Life Supermarket wasn’t particularly large.
The exterior walls were made of frosted glass.
As Xu Dengming and Wang Yanxing turned the corner, they saw the white light indicating the store was open shining through from inside.
Seeing this, Wang Yanxing couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief: “Thank goodness.”
At the same time, she felt both fear and reassurance, though she couldn’t quite understand why she felt reassured.
Xu Dengming, on the other hand, looked up and peered into the supermarket.
Due to the frosted glass, Xu Dengming could only make out the vague outlines of the shelves from outside.
Perhaps because she had been staring for too long, a faint, blurry gray mist suddenly flashed across her vision.
Xu Dengming rubbed her eyes.
She should have suspected that her prolonged exposure to screens had finally taken a toll on her eyesight, but when she saw that mist, she felt an inexplicable sense of relief.
-As if she was naturally meant to see such abnormal sights.
Wang Yanxing didn’t notice the emotional shift in her companion.
She remembered the time-related warning from the broadcast and hurriedly moved forward.
The door of the supermarket wasn’t automatic; it had to be pushed open manually.
As it swung open, a stark white light immediately flooded out from inside.
Detecting a customer’s entry, a cold, mechanical voice echoed through the supermarket:
“Welcome “
Xu Dengming instinctively glanced toward the cashier’s counter.
…But there was nothing behind it.
Could this old-fashioned supermarket actually be using a self-checkout system?
Xu Dengming pondered for a moment and thought it wasn’t entirely impossible.
After all, this was an internal company store.
The people shopping here were either employees or aspiring to become employees.
Even without supervision, shoppers probably wouldn’t risk their jobs over trivial gains.
Wang Yanxing, with her hands in her pockets, had already started browsing the shelves.
“Standard living essentials pack, priced at 100 currency points. Standard food and water pack, valued at 20 currency points.”
Wang Yanxing quickly found what she needed.
After reading the information on the packaging, she confirmed that the living essentials pack included bedding, spare clothes, and other necessities for accommodation, even including tools like a hoe for maintenance.
She waved to Xu Dengming: “Shall we each buy one to take back?”
Xu Dengming’s eyes swept over the shelves, and she nodded: “Sure.”
The shelves were stacked with various plain-looking boxes, densely packed together like moth eggs, most of them labeled as nutritional supplements.
Xu Dengming carefully scanned the area but couldn’t find a single item for entertainment.
…She thought, Nestle Company really went all out to ensure employees focused on their work.
Wang Yanxing also noticed the nutritional supplements and turned away unhappily-she was a staunch advocate of natural foods.
Although the nutritional supplements were only 5 currency points per box, Wang Yanxing didn’t hesitate to choose the more expensive regular food.
The temporary employee card only had 500 currency points, so neither of them picked many items.
After grabbing the essentials, they headed straight to the checkout counter.
There was a barcode scanner at the checkout.
Xu Dengming placed the items and the temporary employee card in their designated spots, and the same mechanical voice from the broadcast sounded again—
“Tick-tock, transaction successful.”
Upon hearing this, the blurriness in Xu Dengming’s vision intensified.
Everything around her seemed surreal and hazy, even the things she could clearly touch felt distorted and unreal.
Xu Dengming steadied herself against the counter, standing still for just two seconds before the discomfort she had felt earlier vanished without a trace, as if receding with the tide.
Wang Yanxing, standing beside her, hadn’t noticed anything amiss the entire time.
Wang Yanxing, holding the items they had just purchased, turned to her companion with a bright smile. “Shall we head back? But since there’s no one in the supermarket, who should we ask about the location of the accommodation area?”
For those unfamiliar with the layout of the complex, it was easy to waste too much time navigating.
Xu Dengming thought for a moment and said
“I remember there’s a fork in the road in front of the supermarket. Let’s check the sign there first.”
The sign in front of the supermarket didn’t disappoint.
It clearly indicated the direction to the accommodation area for shoppers.
The dormitories for male and female employees were, of course, separate.
The sign they saw read, “Temporary Employee Accommodation Area (Female).”
The surrounding tree canopies were lush, almost like green clouds, giving the impression of blocking out the sky.
The branching paths, like veins, disappeared into the dense forest, making it impossible to see where they led.
Given the scale of the Nest Factory, there must have been many employees moving around the complex.
However, the overly dense vegetation made it impossible for them to notice anyone else.
Wang Yanxing rubbed her arms. “There are so many trees here.”
Xu Dengming replied, “I’m starting to suspect that Nest Company came to our school for the recruitment presentation because they thought we shared the same philosophy when it comes to loving plants.”
Of course, the E University campus wasn’t so much focused on greenery as it was lacking in environmental maintenance, providing a crucial survival space for many plants that should have long been phased out in human society.
Time ticked by, and the sky began to darken.
Xu Dengming and Wang Yanxing, carrying their daily necessities, walked toward the accommodation area.
In just a turn, their figures were completely obscured by the trees.
Xu Dengming didn’t see it, but after she left, the supermarket, which had still been faintly lit, seemed to be drenched in ink, instantly turning pitch black.
Five minutes later, the group of university students who had passed the same fork in the road earlier stood in perfect formation in front of the now-darkened supermarket.