So that's how it is. The mechanisms of this world have developed to such a level.
In the narrow medical room, Wang Jixuan finished reviewing Mu Liang's short life of twenty-two years. He began to understand the current world and ponder how Mu Liang died.
His understanding of this world was at the level of a typical third-tier ordinary citizen.
What is a third-tier ordinary citizen?
It's a bit complicated and relates to Mu Liang's suicide.
Mu Liang started receiving systematic education at the age of six and had watched many educational films depicting the once-glorious human civilization.
Through these memories, Wang Jixuan saw tall buildings and various machines that could fly and dive without any magical seals, like airplanes and submarines.
That was the beautiful era before the great disaster, also known as the Golden Age by today's humanity.
Just as humanity began to shift its gaze from the conflicts on the surface to the depths of space, a disaster broke out simultaneously across the world.
This was a premeditated invasion of civilization.
Strange beasts appeared in cities, releasing large amounts of toxic gas, wiping out fifty percent of humanity overnight.
Fortunately, humanity had been engaged in internal conflicts, maintaining a strong sense of martial virtue.
The survivors of the initial disaster were scattered across different regions but continued to fight bravely. The stockpiled weapons were finally used to protect the lives of ordinary people.
Various beasts kept emerging from the poisonous fog; they barely needed to eat, were covered in hard armor, and some could evolve by consuming human corpses.
When the "Special Winged Dragon," which could catch up to supersonic missiles and was covered in a biological alloy armor, flew out of the toxic fog, humanity's only aerial advantage vanished.
"Ferocious and in astonishing numbers," Wang Jixuan summarized simply.
After more than a decade of fierce battles, humanity was eventually driven from the surface world by the beasts.
But the flame of human civilization still burned fiercely in the fortresses underground and in space.
This young man, Mu Liang, lived in Fortress 76 in the Middle Basin area.
This fortress was a typical second-generation industrial fortress, originally designed to accommodate a maximum population of 150,000. Twelve years after it began operation, it exceeded that limit, and today it has been running for over 150 years, housing 890,000 people.
That number of 890,000 is actually an estimate.
The fortress's intelligent control center can only effectively count the population in the upper two cities, while the lower city, which has long been out of control, is only conservatively estimated.
The resources produced by the fortress can no longer sustain all the humans living there.
After twenty-five years of operation, Fortress 76 initiated the "Overload Social System," where a governor elected every ten years and the fortress's intelligent control center allocate all resources. Each citizen of the fortress receives corresponding "quotas" based on their contributions to the fortress.
Mu Liang, as a third-tier ordinary citizen, had three types of quotas:
General quota, food quota, and medical quota.
These quotas cannot be converted into one another, cannot be circulated among individuals, and can only be used by the person who holds them.
Mu Liang worked as a technician on a mechanical production line, earning a weekly salary that was just right—25 general quotas, 35 food quotas, and 5 medical quotas.
A shirt or a pair of pants costs 5 general quotas, while a pair of underwear costs 2 general quotas. The holographic music player he cherished cost him a whopping 185 general quotas.
The price of buying that thing was that he had only a few old pairs of underwear to wear for six months, and those pairs had developed holes from washing...
To feel full twice in a day, he probably needed about 6 food quotas; except for medical quotas, which can accumulate indefinitely, general and food quotas can only accumulate for a maximum of three months.
In Wang Jixuan's memories, he saw that this young man was diagnosed with moderate depression half a year ago.
Wang Jixuan didn't quite understand what depression was; his instinctive feeling was that...
Mu Liang was literally starving to death.
A week has seven days, and with an average food quota of 5 per day, if Mu Liang used all his food quotas for himself, his body would be fairly healthy.
But in reality, Mu Liang only used 3 food quotas on himself each day. Long-term malnutrition left his body very weak, and his mental state continued to decline.
Where did Mu Liang's food quotas go?
This brings us to...
Click.
The door lock of the medical room was turned open, and a female doctor wearing a white coat over a strapless top and hot pants stretched and closed the metal door.
Wang Jixuan cautiously opened his eyes and immediately turned his head away.
He secretly complained; the women in this world really dressed a bit too boldly!
His senior sisters usually covered their arms, but the women here loved to show off their white thighs and delicate collarbones.
Sexy is sexy, and looking good is nice, but...
What about the heart of the Dao?
This medical room was only about four square meters, with a narrow bed and a few standard medical instruments taking up most of the space.
The female doctor skillfully unfolded a folding chair, sat down, crossed her legs, and her slightly chubby belly pushed out a small roll of fat.
Her wavy hair swayed slightly as she quickly reviewed Mu Liang's information.
"Only twenty-two and already thinking about ending it?"
The female doctor's voice was a bit hoarse, and her lips curled down slightly. She pulled out a pen from the bottom of her tablet and began hastily writing a record that no one would check, casually asking, "You were diagnosed with a mental illness half a year ago. Have you been receiving medication during these six months?"
Wang Jixuan turned his head and replied, "No."
The female doctor clicked her tongue. "Saving medical quotas, are you planning to keep them for a cremation furnace that meets the temperature standards?"
"Not at all," Wang Jixuan calmly responded.
This woman had a harsh way of speaking.
Did she really think he couldn't understand the sarcasm in her tone? His grasp of language and writing was far better than that of the original owner of this body.
The female doctor suddenly asked, "What does it feel like to be on the brink of death? Is it... exhilarating?"
Wang Jixuan: Huh?
Okay, he took back that arrogant thought.
He didn't quite understand what that statement meant.
The female doctor shifted her relatively slim body, sitting on the edge of the bed, and reached out to touch Wang Jixuan's wrist.
Checking his pulse?
Wang Jixuan restrained his instinct to pull away, but soon realized her fingers began to glide gently over his arm.
A chill ran down Wang Jixuan's spine.
"You’re still very young... Do you like that suffocating feeling?"
The female doctor asked softly, "Did you see a wonderful world in there? Although the mechanism works due to a lack of oxygen in the brain, isn't it really cool? Your skin is so smooth; you’re still a virgin, right?"
"Vixen! What are you doing?!"
Wang Jixuan finally couldn't hold back and yanked his arm away, forcing his weak body to sit up and glare at the female doctor.
At that moment, they were very close, and the female doctor, who was over thirty but still looked exquisite due to her makeup, had a somewhat ambiguous smile on her face.
She blinked her left eye lightly. "Vixen? Are you saying I’m enchanting? That’s a great compliment."
"No one will come close here; the soundproofing is quite good. No one will come in for two hours; they’re all at work."
The female doctor said to herself, pulling out a small mirror from her white coat, touching up her makeup with her fingers.
"Mu Liang, you seem to not quite understand.
"Young people with self-destructive tendencies are usually sent to medical centers for partial brain tissue removal surgery to ensure you can continue contributing to the fortress and not waste the resources invested in you over the past twenty years.
"You will lose most of your emotions, and you might have headaches and cry for no reason... That immense pain, believe me.
"I can help you get a certificate, one that doesn’t require you to go to the medical center, and then... help you walk out of the gloom with happiness."
Her white coat slowly slipped off, and she inhaled sharply to make her ample chest stand out more, flattening her abdomen.
How could a young man with no experience and already giving up resist her charm?
The female doctor thought this as she let out a gentle hum from her nose, her red lips parting to meet her white teeth.
She had already envisioned her next move.
She would turn around, kneel on the bed with her left knee, lean down close to this young man, and casually unbutton the first two buttons of her top, starting her assault on his lips...
'He’s really cute.'
The female doctor thought as she turned around, kneeling on the bed as planned, her body leaning forward, her seductive eyes and slightly parted lips...
Bang!
A muffled sound.
The female doctor stared in shock at the young man in front of her, a little blood seeping from her pale forehead.
"You hit..."
She weakly collapsed onto the bed, rolling her eyes and fainting.
Wang Jixuan calmly set down the somewhat heavy iron box in his hand and shook his wrist, which was stinging from the impact.
What was that!
With that little charm, she thought she could take his essence?
Even the old master of the Joyful Union Sect wasn’t this reckless!
Then, Wang Jixuan frowned, looking at the female doctor lying on the bed.
The female doctor’s earlier threat wasn’t empty; brain tissue removal surgery...
The body of the Dao must not be harmed; that’s the prerequisite for him to continue his cultivation path.
Moreover, he was currently weak; this second chance at life was truly hard-won.
When this female doctor wakes up, it’s likely to be another trouble.
The weakness in his limbs returned.
Wang Jixuan touched the bruise on his neck and bent down to pick up the female doctor’s white coat, rummaging through it to find a few items.
A Class C pass for the thirteenth level;
Quota card;
A Level 4 ordinary citizen certificate (junior doctor).
Wang Jixuan felt that whatever he wanted to do next, he needed to eat first; this woman wouldn’t wake up anytime soon.
Food for mortals is like spiritual energy for cultivators.
So, regarding the bullying Mu Liang faced from his coworkers, where food quotas became someone else's meal, Wang Jixuan couldn't calmly accept it.
He would take revenge for Mu Liang, treating it as a way to settle this cause and effect.
(End of Chapter)