Humid—this was the first impression An Zhe had of this place. A mushroom should like this type of water-rich air but the pungent smell that came with the humidity made him frown.

He looked around. In the dim light, this was a beehive-like space. The corridor twisted and turned and the walls were made of countless narrow compartments with simply plastic sheeting. There was no air flowing and water vapour condensed on the plastic sheets, dense and small drops of water. The entire space emitted a subtle buzzing. Listening carefully, it was the effect of many people’s whispering voices converging and echoing, with occasional high-pitched laughter.

An Zhe hesitated before taking a few steps forward.

He looked at the small compartments on both sides. The left hand side was empty while the right contained a long-haired woman with her head down. Once she heard his footsteps, she looked up before looking down again.

An Zhe continued and heard the voice of a woman.

“What is the climate like in Basin 2?”

“It’s okay.” This time, it was a low and soft male voice, a little sticky. The end syllable was dragged out a long time and it was suspected that his nose was blocked. “The weather was comfortable but there were too many earthquakes. We encountered three earthquakes in a month. The worst one was when everyone was outside. I was alone in the car and almost thought they wouldn’t be able to come back.”

The woman laughed. “They can’t come back but you can drive away.”

“The last time I talked to the team, the captain said he was going to teach me to drive. As a result, it turned out he was just coaxing me. He said he would bring me next time and coaxed me. I stayed with them for a month and only got 300. Is this still expensive?”

“You just listened to the soldier’s words.” The woman asked, “You aren’t used to being cheated yet?”

An Zhe’s footsteps stopped.

He recalled Horsen’s face and greedy eyes and suddenly knew what type of work was done on the third underground floor. In addition, there was the note in the manual: employment and contractual relationships established through the free market aren’t protected by base law. The consequences are at your own risk.

He didn’t want to find out the consequences.

An Zhe was quietly planning to leave. He had just turned around when he bumped into a soft body.

“Yo.” A high-pitched female voice was heard. “Baby, is this your first time?”

The word ‘baby’ was  deep shadow for him and An Zhe reflexively stepped back. In front of him was a tall woman with honey-coloured skin and blue eyes. Her long brown hair was curled at the ends and her eyes were slender and upturned as she smiled at him.