novelhk Chapter 060: Will Drinking It Not Kill You?
Chapter 060: Will Drinking It Not Kill You?
Lu Chen is certainly not a saint.
She certainly wouldn't act like a saint.
To repay the debt of gratitude, he sold his blood and kidneys to help Zhao Jie survive.
Lu Chen would never do something so stupid.
Lu Chen cherishes his life.
Because he valued his life, he participated in medical hibernation experiments;
Because he cherished his life, he clung desperately to jade as a lifeline after his recovery.
Helping Zhao Jie survive was certainly Lu Chen's wish.
But the premise for doing this is that it does not affect Lu Chen's own survival.
To put it more bluntly, Lu Chen is willing to help the survivors survive in the City of Time for the sake of being "of the same kind" at a reasonable price.
I'll just treat it as a part-time job to earn some extra money.
Zhao Jie was an exception; Lu Chen could provide assistance free of charge—just to put his mind at ease.
However, this is limited to "free of charge," not a form of payment.
Specifically, Lu Chen was willing to take Zhao Jie out of the city to scavenge, just as Yu had suggested.
Upon returning, based on Zhao Jie's contributions, Zhao Jie will receive his due share of the profits.
This process was repeated several times until Zhao Jie had saved up enough [240 days] to buy a pickup truck, at which point Zhao Jie was then guided to register as a scavenger.
That's it.
As for paying out of his own pocket to help Zhao Jie consolidate his debts—converting bank debts that were almost impossible to repay into private debts with lower interest rates that could be repaid within a few years?
Of course, it wasn't that Lu Chen was overflowing with saintly compassion; he simply wanted to help Zhao Jie.
Lu Chen's idea was to avoid bank deposit fees and earn reasonable interest through this investment method.
This is easy to understand.
—This time when they left the city, Lu Chen and Yu's total [time] came to within [1 year].
Therefore, the storage fee for the two individuals was limited to 12 hours per person per day.
However, just yesterday, the two of them received a total of 8 years' worth of rewards and compensation for retrieving hibernation pod number 9529.
Yu's help in repaying Lu Chen's bank debts certainly pulled Lu Chen out of the debt abyss.
But in her heart, Yu did this to avoid high bank fees.
Take the four years that Yu obtained yesterday, for example.
If left untouched, the time allotted for leaving the city will decrease by 4 days each day.
It's a loss of 3 days compared to normal conditions—and for every day you leave the city, you lose an extra 3 days!
...
Even scavengers need to consider effective returns.
Each time you leave the city, it takes about 7 days for natural waste, 7 days for bank storage fees, plus tool wear and tear and salt replenishment—a total cost of about 20 days.
The scavenger's effective profit is the sum of the profits earned minus the costs incurred over those 20 days.
If you hold the jade for 4 years, you will have to pay an additional 21 days of savings fees every time you leave the city.
The cost of leaving the city once will also skyrocket from the original [20 days] to [40 days] or more!
The difference between the two is enormous.
According to Yu's estimation, unless high-value items such as hibernation chambers or electronic components are found;
Otherwise, the total income of a scavenger going out of the city once would be between 50 and 60 days.
The effective returns are approximately within 35 days.
Leave the city twice a month to obtain approximately 70 days of effective income, with an average daily effective income of approximately 2 days and 8 hours.
However, when the cost of leaving the city skyrockets to 40 days per trip, the scavenger's effective income will plummet to 30 days per month!
Only 1 day on average!
It's similar to a shop selling dark bread, and even less impressive than a sandwich shop!
Scavengers risk their lives to leave the city, putting their lives on the line. What are they after?
Isn't it just about the effective income of more than 2 days a day, and the expectation of high income from occasionally making a small fortune?
If you risk your life and end up earning less than someone who sells bread or sandwiches, what's the point of working so hard?
Therefore, Yu Cai chose to lend Lu Chen the "time" he had to pay off his bank debts.
Lu Chen shared the same thought.
If Lu Chen had a large sum of money that he could hold for more than a year, or even several years, his best option would be to lend out his extra time as a personal debt.
By saving on bank service fees and earning interest on debt, you end up making two profits.
As for how doing this could free Zhao Jie from his suffering, that was just a side effect.
Don't worry.
"I only have this idea; I haven't made up my mind yet."
"Even if I do get several years, I will first assess Zhao Jie's risk of default before making a decision."
"If Zhao Jie is not suitable, I will lend my extra time to someone else."
"-Other property-owning professions that do not require venturing outside the city and have the ability to repay loans."
Hearing this, Yu understood that Lu Chen had no intention of helping Zhao Jie unconditionally, and she felt somewhat relieved.
However, he still offered a word of advice: "In the City of Time, you must take care of yourself first."
"In our time, the principle was that if you were successful, you should help others; if you were unsuccessful, you should cultivate your own virtue."
"But in the city of time, when you are successful, try your best to help the world; when you are poor, you must do your best to cultivate your own virtue."
...
"This city cannot accommodate purely good people."
"To survive, you must never let your emotions control you."
Yu spoke with great seriousness, and Lu Chen also suppressed his smile and nodded heavily.
This is not a chaotic world.
But the City of Time operates under the naked laws of the apocalypse.
Lu Chen knew what he had to do.
"This time, the molten iron for rusting was obtained directly from the steel mill."
"Is it already filtered?"
Lu Chen asked softly, and Yu naturally opened Lu Chen's water bottle and handed it to him.
He also said, "We're going to the black market."
"A pot of rusty water costs 30 minutes to filter, and you also have to wait in line."
"I was in a hurry to leave the city this time, so I didn't have time to queue for filtration. Just make do with this."
"It won't kill you."
Lu Chen took the water bottle, tilted his head back, and took a big gulp.
He then handed the water bottle back to Yu and gripped the steering wheel with both hands.
"Have you been drinking rusty water for the past six years?"
Yu took the kettle, tightened the lid, and placed it by her feet.
I went to the hospital once two years ago.
"Mild hemochromatosis, also known as iron deposition syndrome, treatment cost [45 days]."
"If you get treatment every four years, there won't be any problems."
"The average cost of treatment for ten days or so per year, even including the cost of filtration, is still much more cost-effective than drinking plain water."
Lu Chen nodded silently.
Although he had only been recovering for a few days, Lu Chen had already gotten used to it and begun to accept Yu's way of thinking.
If buying something takes a lot of time, then you should find a cheaper alternative.
If the price of the alternative, taken into account, is still "cheaper" than the negative effects of using it, then the alternative should be used.
Clean water is expensive.
The cost of treating sewage is cheaper than drinking clean water directly.
...
Again.
In the City of Time, learning to save time is far more important than learning to acquire time.
There are many ways to acquire [Time], and the effective amount that can be acquired is strictly limited by specific professions.
To put it bluntly, everyone's just making a pittance.
Whether you can survive depends on who is better at "saving".
"I wonder what high-ranking job title is required to drink water without any worries."
Lu Chen's sigh prompted Yu Mo to shake her head.
"Farmers and ranchers, perhaps..."
boom!!!
Before he could finish speaking, a deafening roar came from directly in front of them!
Lu Chen instinctively gripped the steering wheel and slammed on the brakes!
Yu also immediately unlocked the Glock's safety mechanism!
...
A moment later, the two exchanged a glance, unable to hide their shock.
Lu Chen quickly grabbed the binoculars, opened the door and got out of the car. He jumped onto the roof of the pickup truck, set up the binoculars, and looked in the direction of the explosion.
Yu Ze took out a map, glanced at it, and then anxiously looked out the car window to observe the surrounding terrain.
After determining their current location, they gestured on the map for a while.
Finally, he slowly raised his head, looking solemnly straight ahead as if facing a formidable enemy.
"Hibernation pod area..."
...
"Number 3994..."