tkworld Chapter 284 Independent Space
Chapter 284 Independent Space
Xu Xiaoyan's eyes widened slightly, and then her eyebrows lifted gently—this was an unexpected delight.
She originally thought that in order to move out immediately, she would have to give up the remaining points for the single rental.
Unexpectedly, the system was more humane, or rather, more efficient, than she had imagined.
Rather than forcing tenants to give up before their contracts expire, resulting in wasted resources and points.
Instead, we could provide a "seamless transfer" mechanism to encourage tenants to upgrade within the same system.
Without hesitation, and even with a touch of vengeful satisfaction, she forcefully clicked "Confirm and Continue".
Almost at the same instant her fingertip touched the screen, a line of extremely small, light gray text flashed across the bottom right corner of the screen:
"The original contract has been terminated, and the remaining rent has been fully refunded to your account."
She silently gave a thumbs-up to the designers of the rental system in her heart, not for the points, but for the feeling of being respected.
The following steps went smoothly: fingerprint registration, confirmation of rental terms, selection of payment method...
As she operated the system, she was vaguely worried that it might suddenly pop up a field that required her to fill in information.
She was asked to enter the "second tenant's name", "second tenant's identification number", and "relationship with the second tenant".
In that case, she would really have to abandon this plan and return to the pool of single-person rental properties, facing the risk of being reassigned to the original area again.
However, until the very last step, the form on the screen only required her biometric information and account confirmation.
A crisp, short, rising-pitched system notification sounded.
The screen interface switched to a soft light green, and a line of bold white text appeared in the center: "Rental Successful!"
Below is a smaller version of the standard information format:
Your double rental number: C7-22-4056
Rental period: 3 days
"Note: This room is for two people and includes a separate storage area and a double toiletries set. We hope you enjoy your stay."
She took the paper with the rental information printed on it from the exit slot, put it in her pocket, then determined the direction and headed towards area C7.
There is no real sky here; the so-called "night" is just the dome simulation system dimming the lights by 30%.
Then, the color temperature was changed from cool white light to warm yellow light to suggest that "the day is coming to an end".
Xu Xiaoyan searched for about twenty minutes before finally finding the signpost for block number 22.
She walked along the passageway, her gaze sweeping over the doors on either side.
Every door was the same light wood color, and the door number was in embedded black metal lettering. By the time she found her door number, another 15 minutes had passed.
She stood there, not immediately pressing her finger on the sensor area, but tilting her head slightly to examine the door in front of her and the passageway it was in.
Dense!
This was the first word that came to her mind.
The distance between the doors is very small, about half the distance between doors in a typical house.
This means that each household has a very limited land area, and the entire area is estimated to have been divided into a large number of compact residential units.
But it was precisely this "density" that made her realize a key difference:
These are complete, independent, and closed doors, each equipped with a lock and a door number.
This is not a capsule pod with an open corridor and embedded compartments, but a true residential unit with complete private boundaries.
Even if it's only a few square meters, even if the thin door panel doesn't provide much sound insulation, even if people still come and go in the passageway.
But once the door is closed, this is your own territory, which you will not share with anyone.
The door access control system is sensor-based. She pointed her finger at the scanning area, and with a soft "beep," the door lock popped open.
Xu Xiaoyan stepped inside and closed the door behind her. The lock made a very slight "click" sound as the bolt precisely engaged in the slot on the door frame.
The inside and outside of the door were completely separated.
Her hand groped for the light switch on the wall.
"Snap!" The lights came on.
Her first reaction was that it was very small. She opened her arms and stretched them out to the sides. Her left fingertips could almost touch the left wall, while her right fingertips had already touched the bed frame placed against the wall.
The room layout makes the most of the space.
The double bed is placed vertically against the inner wall, next to which is her combined "living room", "dressing room" and "work area".
She stood there, with non-slip composite flooring beneath her feet, lights and vents overhead, and objects within easy reach all around her.
The mattress is about 10 centimeters thick and is covered with a removable waterproof mattress cover. It is light gray, clean, and free of stains.
Above the bed is a storage area, with two sets of built-in metal cabinets installed on the wall. The cabinets are not large, but they are enough to hold all her clothes and daily necessities.
There is a tiny folding table at the head of the bed, which is usually stored away from the wall and can be folded out when needed to form a work surface about 40 centimeters square.
There is a recessed circular slot on the edge of the tabletop, which is just right to hold a water cup, and there is also a cable hole in the corner for convenient charging of mobile phones.
Xu Xiaoyan flipped the tabletop open, then closed it again, and flipped it open again, repeating this process twice to test the smoothness of the hinges. There was no jamming or harsh metallic friction sound.
The only drawback is the toilet.
This room does not have a private bathroom; the washroom is at the end of the corridor, which Xu Xiaoyan confirmed when she came in—about fifty meters away on foot.
The bathroom is simply furnished: ten enclosed shower stalls, three open sinks, and ten lockable toilet doors.
This number of people might have to queue during peak hours, which is indeed a shortcoming, but the privacy of being undisturbed far outweighs the inconvenience at this moment.
She wanted to test the water pressure and temperature in the shower, but without a water card, she couldn't turn on the tap at all, so she had to give up.
She stood up straight in the small room and put her backpack in the locker.
Then I lay on the mattress, staring at the ceiling for a long time, before drifting off to sleep again.
Xu Xiaoyan slept more soundly than ever before.
When I woke up, the warm yellow panel light on the ceiling had already turned on automatically.
The system's "daytime mode" was set to start promptly at 7:00 AM. She forgot to turn it off yesterday, otherwise she could have slept a little longer.
The humming of the vent seemed a little louder than at night, and the airflow was more powerful, carrying a cool breeze that brushed against her bare forearms.
She sat up and looked down at the digital watch on her wrist—7:23.
She slept for nearly nine hours, the deepest sleep she had had since entering Zone C.
Xu Xiaoyan couldn't help but stretch, her spine making a slight "crackling" sound. It was a normal reaction to stretching after maintaining one posture for a long time, but it made her feel exceptionally comfortable.
After getting out of bed, she took out her toiletries bag from her storage space.
Inside were towels, toothbrushes, toothpaste, a mouthwash cup, face wash, and a comb. She picked up the toiletries bag, opened the door, and walked towards the washroom in the hallway.
The corridor was eerily quiet, with every door tightly shut. As I passed one of the rooms, I could faintly hear the sound of a radio coming from inside.
The volume was very low; it was the dungeon's news channel broadcasting the morning news.
She didn't stop and went straight to the restroom.
Three handwashing basins are arranged in a row, with clean and bright mirrors and sensor-operated faucets hanging above them.
She chose the middle pool, turned on the tap, and cold water gushed out, carrying slight bubbles and the smell of residual disinfectant.
She brushed her teeth and washed her face. The face in the mirror looked much more energetic than yesterday. The dark circles under her eyes had faded considerably, and her eyes no longer had that tired, unfocused look.
After washing up, she returned to her room and changed into clean clothes—dark gray sweatpants, a black long-sleeved T-shirt, and a thick windproof jacket.
The supplies in the backpack were reorganized: bottled water, compressed biscuits, Snickers bars, dry biscuits, and cigarettes in packs.
She stuffed the items into her backpack and then walked out of the room.
As we passed room 4016, the door suddenly opened.
A middle-aged man in a plaid shirt rushed out, clutching a crumpled flyer in his hand, his face showing an almost fanatical excitement.
He almost bumped into Xu Xiaoyan, but only mumbled "sorry, sorry," before squeezing through the door without it being fully open.
Xu Xiaoyan frowned, but didn't pay much attention.
In the passageway, the man in the plaid shirt kept looking down at the flyer, muttering to himself and occasionally letting out a "hehe" laugh.
Xu Xiaoyan glanced at the flyer out of the corner of her eye, only managing to make out a few words: "Free," "Dry Biscuits," and "Rare Opportunity."
Then she quickly noticed something was wrong.
Everyone she looked at wore an almost identical smile.
A middle-aged woman wearing a floral cotton-padded jacket walked past her with a smile.
Two young girls walked by hand in hand, whispering to each other as they went, and then suddenly burst out laughing at the same time.
An old man who looked at least sixty years old, with a hunched back, was carrying a cloth bag and muttering "Good days, good days" as he slowly walked away.
Xu Xiaoyan's brows furrowed more and more tightly. Something was wrong, something was very wrong.
In this resource-scarce residential area, most of the time, people's faces only show numbness, fatigue, vigilance, and anxiety.
Or that kind of fake smile that's deliberately put on to deal with inspections or to ingratiate oneself.
She had never seen such widespread, indiscriminate collective joy before.
What happened that she doesn't know about?
She stood there, watching the smiling faces pass by, and suddenly felt a strong sense of unease.
Information lag, information lag again.
She always works backward from the event to figure out what happened.
This feeling is so powerless, so passive.
She needs the ability to proactively acquire information and establish her own information channels, instead of always waiting for others to deliver information to her.
Right now, let's figure out the situation first.
She took a few steps forward and stopped in front of the middle-aged woman wearing a floral cotton coat.
The middle-aged woman was stopped and was taken aback at first, but when she saw Xu Xiaoyan's young face and sincere smile, her tense nerves instantly relaxed.