Chapter 157: Chapter 145: Safe Zone Housing Prices

Cynthia Grant’s eyes widened as she stared at Chester Sawyer, her expression strange. "Don’t tell me the garden apartments have different prices too?"

Chester Sawyer raised his eyebrows and smiled. "Little lady, different living conditions naturally come with different prices. Look, the low-rise apartments are ten Crystal Cores per unit, with two hours of electricity every night. That’s much better than the old-style bungalows. In those, each household only gets one candle a week for light, and water and food are rationed!"

Cynthia Grant and the others exchanged incredulous looks. In the end, she fell silent.

Ethan Monroe was a worldly-wise man, a real smooth operator, so he stepped forward to negotiate with Chester Sawyer.

"Brother, what’s the price for a garden apartment? And what are the living conditions? As you know, we have a big team, including a few girls, so we have pretty high standards for where we live."

Chester Sawyer’s eyes lit up. He took a piece of paper with a few lines of writing on it from a drawer under his desk. Ethan Monroe took it and looked it over with the others.

"Garden Apartment, three-bedroom, two-living room. Monthly rent: 100 Crystal Cores. Three-month lease: 288 Crystal Cores. One-year lease: 999 Crystal Cores."

They looked up at Chester Sawyer’s deliberately smiling face, which practically had the word "swindler" written all over it.

"Everyone, this price is already a bargain! Look, I see you have a large group—nineteen people, oh, and two little pets. You’ll need at least two or three units to fit everyone. How about this? If you decide to stay today, I, Old Sutton, will give you an additional five percent discount! How about it?"

Chester Sawyer’s expression, as if he were taking a loss just to be a good sport, left them speechless.

"Hold on, hold on. What about the amenities? Don’t think you can just take our Crystal Cores and then cut off the water and power. We’ll come looking for you if there’s trouble," Ethan Monroe said, glaring fiercely at Chester Sawyer.

Chester Sawyer gave a fawning smile. "Hehe, I was just getting to that! Here’s the deal: the garden apartments get six hours of electricity per day and a one-liter water supply. Plus, two meals a day are provided for free. It’s a fair deal, a real bargain!"

"What! One liter of water? That’s not even enough to wash your hair!" Ethan Monroe was the first to be shocked. "You call one liter of water a ’supply’? Are you kidding me?"

"Exactly. That’s gone in a few sips for me," Cynthia Grant chimed in, pouting.

"You all just don’t understand how scarce water is right now! The river in the city was contaminated by zombies long ago. The city’s current water supply depends entirely on Water Ability Users, who are constantly creating and storing water to provide for everyone.

Oh, right. I assume your team has a Water Ability User as well. Most of the powerful teams in the city have their own Water Ability Users, so no one really cares about the one-liter-a-day perk we offer."

"Has the water shortage really gotten that bad?" Sherman Lynch asked with a concerned frown. "Hasn’t anyone tried to find a clean water source?"

"The leader of the Morhaven Safe Zone personally led a team to find a clean water source, hoping to have workers build a channel to bring river water into the safe zone. Unfortunately, some unknown water monster appeared, and many of the construction workers who went along all died! Sigh."

Everyone except Lucia had experienced the mackerel swarm and the attack by the giant tiger shark. They knew that as the world changed, the creatures in the ocean had also given rise to some different species. If they were in the sea, they were surely in the rivers too.

"Sigh, let’s not talk about that. Let me tell you about some of the benefits for superpower users in the city."

"Wait, you’re not finished, are you? What about the villas? What’s the price for a villa?" Ethan Monroe quickly interrupted Chester Sawyer. "I’ve never lived in a villa before! If the price is right, it wouldn’t be bad for us to pool our resources and get one!" Ethan’s words earned nods of agreement from the others behind him.

It was true. After the apocalypse, houses that once cost a fortune were now ownerless. If they had the chance to improve their living conditions, no one would object.

But after a glance at the group, Chester Sawyer sighed, his face wrinkling as he shook his head.

"It’s not that I’m looking down on you all, but I’m afraid you can’t afford the price of a villa."

Although his words were spoken without any particular expression or tone of contempt, they were incredibly grating. Cynthia Grant and Ethan Monroe, one short-tempered and the other impulsive, immediately glared at Chester Sawyer with furious eyes.

"We can’t afford it? How would you know if you don’t tell us the price?"

"Yeah! Just go ahead and tell Lord Monroe how we can’t afford it!"

Chester Sawyer gave an apologetic smile and patted Ethan Monroe’s shoulder. "Mr. Monroe, I’m not just making things up. Our safe zone encompasses the area from the highway all the way to the road at the edge of downtown Cardigan Road. The entire zone includes an old residential complex, a low-rise apartment district, a neighborhood with garden apartments and high-end residences, and half of the Morhaven villa district. In total, it covers an area of about 180,000 square meters.

And only the villas have independent power and heating systems, including things like solar-powered water heaters. Most importantly, our villa district has its own private Guard Squad. If there’s a sudden zombie outbreak or some other situation, these people will promptly clean it up and protect the lives of the villa residents. Another perk is the peace and quiet. If you actually get to live in the villa district, you’ll understand just how important peace and quiet is inside a safe zone."

After saying all this, Chester Sawyer watched the satisfied expressions on the faces of Ethan Monroe and the others, then rubbed his hands together and said, "It’s just that the price... is ten thousand Crystal Cores per unit. No discounts, and no credit."

"Ten thousand a month!?" This time it was Sherman Lynch’s turn to be surprised.

"That’s right. Ten thousand Crystal Cores must be paid every month."

Seeing the expressions on their faces shift from satisfaction to shock, Chester Sawyer said with a slight sense of accomplishment, "So, like I said, the garden apartments are actually very good. They’re also relatively cheap, and you can even get a discount if you rent two or more units. What do you think?"

Hearing the price of the villa, Caleb Bloom and the others were all stunned. Before Flora Bloom had separated from them, she had given them some of the Crystal Cores from the zombies they had cleared outside the weather station.

"Hold on, let us discuss this."

’Back then, there were no fewer than ten thousand zombies outside the weather station. We cleared some of them while riding our ’juggernaut,’ and later, Flora Bloom went out and wiped out the rest of the zombies at the weather station entrance. Especially when we went to the hospital to find Joel Bloom, we cleared out quite a few in the obstetrics and gynecology building. If Flora Bloom were here, all our Crystal Cores combined would definitely be enough to reach ten thousand.’

’But first, Flora Bloom was still in quarantine and hadn’t come out, so the Crystal Cores they had on them definitely weren’t enough.’

’Second, superpower users needed Crystal Cores to level up. If we used all our Crystal Cores on rent, we wouldn’t have enough to upgrade.’

Adhering to the principle of thrift and frugality, the six of them discussed it. Overriding Lucia’s strong desire to live in a villa, Caleb Bloom and Sherman Lynch paid forty Crystal Cores to rent four units in the low-rise apartments for one month.

After pocketing the forty Crystal Cores with a wide grin, Chester Sawyer grabbed the keys and led the group toward the low-rise apartment area to see the units. He didn’t show any contempt or other negative emotions just because they only rented four ordinary low-rise units. Instead, he was very enthusiastic, giving them a tour and introducing the various parts of the safe zone along the way.