Chapter 718: Chapter 480 Settling Down_2
Because of the flood, I’m not too clear on the situation on those private boats, but on boats directly affiliated with the Imperial Court like ours, we have already begun to request household registration.
According to the documents issued by the Imperial Court, the supplies stored on the water Platform are only distributed to survivors who have household registration on the boat. For survivors without registration, the person in charge of the Platform has the right to refuse to distribute supplies to them.
To put it more simply, it’s akin to the rationing systems of planned economies in the past. Perhaps this system is not of much use to you, after all, I believe that, with your strength, it would be relatively easy for you to obtain some supplies.
However, after registering for household registration, besides obtaining supplies, the most important thing is the proof of identity. The pre-disaster ID cards are useless now, and this new round of household registration is essentially reissuing ID cards for you.
To speak unpleasant truths, unless it’s a water Platform directly constructed and supervised by the Imperial Court in the far Northwest, there are indeed large ships in the Central Plain region, but few are directly affiliated with the Imperial Court.
Therefore, the survivors on those ships cannot have their household registrations processed directly on the ship. As order is gradually restored, those people will have to find a way to get registered.
Actually, you should understand that no matter the strength of the survivors, if one simply wants to obtain a household registration, it’s not really difficult; however, getting a household registration in a high-benefit area is quite a challenging task.
After all, for every survivor registered in that area, additional supplies must be consumed, and this consumption isn’t just a one-time deal, as long as the registered survivor is alive, the area must provide at least the basic supplies necessary for survival.
To paint a more vivid picture, we’re back to that bygone era of coupon-based systems—survivors living in high-benefit areas receive more coupons each month, while those in low-benefit areas get fewer coupons each day.
Here, where we are, it goes without saying that it’s a high-benefit area, and if you settle here, you will certainly enjoy better treatment.
I won’t say much more, but all your immediate family members and spouse, I can waive the test and register them as ordinary talents, while you will be counted as top-notch talent."
"Ordinary talent?
Top-notch talent?"
"Logically, this is not the time to stratify people, but the mantra of everyone being equal—in times other than that special period—is nothing but a slogan.
We are both sensible people, so I won’t trouble you with empty talk, everyone in our base is classified as either ordinary people or talent.
Ordinary people don’t need an explanation, mostly non-Martial Artists and those in the Body Tempering Realm.
Ordinary talents, frankly, are those skilled workers with work experience, while elite talents are generally either administrative personnel or Martial Artists with notable Cultivation Levels.
Don’t be fooled by the fact that I’ve offered a recruitment treatment for top-notch talents; to tell you the truth, there aren’t many people in our base who can enjoy this benefit.
I won’t go into the other benefits now, but anyone enjoying the top talent treatment can acquire the right to use an apartment of around a hundred square meters on the ship for free.
And once they accumulate enough contribution, they can also purchase the rental room outright.
To be honest, despite our water Platform being so ample, there is no small number of apartments exceeding a hundred square meters in size.
And just to be straight with you, the room I’m currently staying in is less than seventy square meters."
Dong Tianyu, hearing Chester’s self-deprecating words, suddenly asked, "Is the room you’re staying in rented or did you buy it?"
Chester was momentarily stunned when Dong Tianyu hit the nail on the head with his question before replying, "I can’t hide anything from you, just like you guessed, I have already bought the room."
When Chester saw Dong Tianyu open his mouth as if wanting to ask something, he immediately cut him off, "I know what you want to ask, and your guess is right, I didn’t have to make much of a sacrifice to buy those rooms."
"But such matters are quite normal, after all, we who have stayed here to assist with its development from the very beginning, certainly can’t receive worse treatment than you newcomers,"
Zachary didn’t argue with Chester’s explanation, actually thinking about it, it was fair that someone who had been there since construction should receive corresponding benefits after its completion.
At this point, although Zachary had some doubts about why Chester was so eager to keep him here, Zachary eventually chose to settle down here.
He had only intended to take a look around, but Zachary could never have anticipated that in just half a day’s time, he would find himself committed to staying here.
Seeing that Zachary no longer objected, Chester immediately signaled with his eyes for Linda Lilith to categorize and upload Zachary’s file into the mainframe.
From then on, Zachary’s household registration changed from Pengcheng to Magic City’s Third Age Platform.
While waiting for Zachary’s identity card to be made, Chester took him to the housing management department to collect his house keys.
When the other party heard that Chester was bringing someone to collect the keys for a large duplex room, they brought out a box and said to Chester, "Section Chief Chester, you should be aware that there aren’t many houses over a hundred square meters left.
There’s only so much space on the ship, so many people want larger rooms, but there are not enough large houses available. Brother, how about you show some style and go for a smaller house.
But I can’t let you suffer a loss either. So, apart from those large rooms, for any of those medium and small apartments, just tell me which one you want, and there’s no need to draw lots to decide which one you get."
"If you still feel hard done by, here’s what we’ll do: you go and find a room on your own, and if you are willing to compromise and once you find a room you like, if someone’s already living there, I’ll find a way to make that person move out."
Although the offer was very generous, Zachary noticed that Chester beside him hadn’t uttered a word, so after thinking for just a few seconds, he directly refused the kind offer.
Seeing Zachary immediately reject his proposal, the other party, slightly angered, brought the lottery box for selecting houses over to Zachary.
As the sound of the heavy object hitting the ground rang out, the people around couldn’t help but turn their gaze to the box in front of Zachary.
When they saw the room size marked on the side of the box, some people paused, then rubbed their eyes as if disbelieving.
Soon after, they spoke up, "Brother, you pick first. If you’re not happy with the room, I’ll exchange my room with you. Although mine is smaller, I’ve fully furnished it, both the hard and soft decorations. If you agree to exchange, I’ll consider the decor as my gift to you."
Zachary glanced at Chester who remained motionless in place, apparently having no intention to offer advice on what choice to make.
Even without any clear guidance from Chester, Zachary paid no mind to the others.
Zachary wasn’t a fool; no matter how well furnished a room was, it was still just a small apartment.
At a time like this, anyone with sense knew that the bigger the room, the more family members it could shelter.
Small apartments, regardless of how attractively presented, would certainly feel crowded once there were more people.
Even if he lost money, Zachary could always find ways to earn it back. But if he sold the house he got when settling down, buying it back later would cost far more than the original price.
It was just like that joke once said:
A young man living in a courtyard house sold it to make a fortune abroad. With the money from the sale, he ventured overseas.
But when he made his fortune and planned to buy back his old courtyard home, he discovered that its price had increased to more than three times what he had earned through his hard work abroad, and he couldn’t help but cry tears of regret.
