NOVPUB
Chapter 176: Chapter 176 Paying Taxes
——The warehouse was empty.
This wasn’t hard to understand. The North Suburban Farm wasn’t far from the base, and if the goods in the farm’s warehouse hadn’t been moved out after more than four months into the apocalyptic world, that would have been the real surprise.
Han Yi led Han Jiaojiao into the warehouse, walking all the way to the end, where he stood in front of the wall and knocked lightly.
"Thud, thud." What seemed like a concrete wall actually emitted a sound only a metal layer could produce.
A look of astonishment appeared on everyone’s faces.
"... a partition?" Han Jiaojiao’s eyes widened.
Xiao Jian stepped forward to examine it and said, "This wall is very new; it must have been installed recently."
As Xiao Jian spoke, he carefully felt the wall with both hands, eventually stopping at a spot and saying to Han Yi, "Brother Han, there’s a hidden door here."
Everyone took a closer look and indeed, they could see an inconspicuous seam of a door. The door and the wall were made of the same material and color and with the dim light inside the warehouse, it was very hard to notice the door.
The door was fitted with an electronic sensor lock. Xiao Jian and Zhou Xiaoliang bumped against it a few times without success. Finally, Han Yi used his spiritual power to destroy the lock and forcefully entered.
Inside, there really was another world—a very hidden experimental lab!
The scene was chaotic, with many documents scattered on the floor. Han Jiaojiao picked up two, which were covered in characters and formulae she couldn’t understand.
There were several computers on the table, probably part of a small workstation, but they couldn’t be turned on as there was no electricity.
"The people here must have left in a hurry; many things weren’t taken away," Han Yi picked up a document from the table and casually flipped through two pages, "The documents that were left behind are missing pages; these must have been overlooked."
"Brother Han, look." Zhou Xiaoliang pulled out a black-and-white blueprint from a pile of documents.
The blueprint was somewhat like a black-and-white scanned version of an X-ray; it showed parts of bones and muscles of a body but it was impossible to tell which creature it was or which part of the body was shown in the photo.
"Could it be a photo of that monster?"
After a brief glance, Han Yi said indifferently, "We can’t draw any conclusions now; let’s take it back and then talk about it."
After some more searching the lab and finding no valuable clues, Han Yi asked Xiao Jian and Zhou Xiaoliang to disassemble the hard drives from the computers; perhaps they might uncover some leads.
Once all this was done, the purpose of their trip was considered complete, and they returned to the vehicle and headed back to the base.
Unexpectedly, they ran into trouble at the security checkpoint.
Two armed soldiers pointed at a notice posted on the surrounding fence and said irritably, "There’s a notice that was just posted this afternoon. Entry to and exit from the base requires the payment of a travel tax, a thirty percent levy on carried goods, or it can be paid with Crystal Cores. Are you paying with goods or Crystal Cores?"
Han Jiaojiao was surprised and replied, "We didn’t necessarily leave the base to carry out a mission." They had only wandered around the farm and hadn’t scavenged any materials; what were they supposed to pay with?
"Right, we didn’t gather much from this trip; can we pay the tax with points?" Zhou Xiaoliang added from the side.
The soldier shook his head, "Either goods or Crystal Cores, that’s the rule. Everyone must comply."
At that moment, another vehicle drove up, and the soldiers quickly allowed it through; that car entered the base without any hindrance.
"Hey! How come that car was allowed in?!" Zhou Xiaoliang exclaimed.
"Orange card holders don’t have to pay the tax," the soldier replied.
Looking worried, Han Jiaojiao turned to Han Yi. This was clearly a new rule implemented by General Ji, first conscription, then taking control of medical resources, and now taxes... Every change was meant to push superpower users to join the military.
It was all to make——Han Yi bow to him.
"Xiao Jian, give it to them," Han Yi said calmly, without showing any anger.
Xiao Jian and Zhou Xiaoliang got out of the car, opened the rear compartment, and began moving the food out. To their dismay, a soldier walked over, pointed at the gasoline and guns and ammunition in the rear compartment, and said, "Take these out too."
A fire surged up in Xiao Jian, "These are supplies we brought from the base!"
The soldier on the other side snorted, lifted the gun barrel, and pointed at the notice outside the base. He spoke with a bad tone, "Look clearly, no matter if it’s brought out from inside or carried in from outside, every item must be taxed at thirty percent! If you don’t pay, just stay out here!"
"You!!"
"Xiao Jian!" Han Yi furrowed his brows and called out, "Give it to them."
Biting his teeth, Xiao Jian forcefully suppressed his rage, and together with Zhou Xiaoliang, they silently moved down the wooden crates filled with munitions.
After removing the items, soldiers from the checkpoint immediately came over to inspect them. One of them was in charge of the records, and while writing in the ledger, he said in a chilly voice, "Don’t feel so aggrieved, you can join the ability team if you don’t want to pay the taxes. Having the capability but not joining the military, paying some taxes is nothing."
The soldiers moving the stuff joined in, "The superpower users these days are so arrogant, thinking they’re amazing just because they have abilities. They don’t consider that without the base, where would they live, what would they eat..."
"Exactly, I’ve been saying that it’s about time this tax was imposed. They can’t be let to take advantage of everything."
"Times have changed, people nowadays are more selfish than ever, only thinking about themselves..."
"..."
Clasping Han Yi’s hand, Han Jiaojiao looked at him with worry. His expression remained as dark as usual, revealing neither joy nor anger.
The reason Ji Huajun was so brazen was simply that he thought Han Yi had nowhere else to go, and his reasons were justifiable enough—each of his actions purportedly in the name of construction and development of the base, and nobody took into account the personal wishes of the people enduring these policies.
Conscription, defending the base was everyone’s responsibility, of course, they must enlist.
Medical care, with the scarcity of medical resources, naturally, it should prioritize those who were injured while protecting the base.
Taxes, even in peacetime, people had to pay social security, let alone in a time of emergency.
Frankly, if Han Jiaojiao were on the military side, she would probably think these measures were quite good, truly benefiting the country and the populace. But with different standpoints came different feelings. Ji Huajun’s obviously targeted actions made her worried for her brother.
It wasn’t the time to burn bridges yet.
The only thing she was thankful for was that Ji Huajun was a military man; hence, he was more inclined to overt manipulation—open and upright, ostentatious. For people who defied his control, Ji Huajun’s choice was to use the big stick of authority he held, hitting them over and over again, rather than through scheming and conspiracies that were unpredictable and hard to guard against.
Clutching Han Yi’s hand, Han Jiaojiao gave it a gentle squeeze and whispered to him, "Brother, don’t be angry." It was not worth getting angry over such petty characters. Once they left this place, they would no longer have to endure seeing these people’s faces.
With a comforting smile, Han Yi reassured her. How could he let his precious sister suffer such indignities?
Bang!—Suddenly, a loud noise.
"Ahhh! My leg! My leg!" The two soldiers outside who were transporting the munitions crates somehow tripped and the heavy wooden crates smashed right onto their legs!
They attempted to get up, but the crates, as if weighing a thousand pounds, did not budge, and seemed to get heavier and heavier!
"Drive," Han Yi said coldly.
The barrier at the front uncontrollably rose.
"Brother Han, aren’t we doing a body check?" Zhou Xiaoliang asked.
Xiao Jian slammed the accelerator and said fiercely, "To hell with the check!"
The SUV suddenly sped up, zipping past the checkpoint and leaving behind only a cloud of dust.
