Chapter 16 – Workers
“How did you get hurt?” Xi Chunzhi crushed the can.
Tu Ran detected a hint of barely noticeable anger in her voice, as if she wanted to avenge her.
Quietly, she replied, “I don’t know.”
Xi Chunzhi seemed exasperated.
Struggling to calm herself, she fixed her gaze on Tu Ran. “You can’t let anyone else know about your amnesia.”
Tu Ran obediently nodded.
Seeing her current timid and submissive demeanor, Xi Chunzhi, still uneasy, emphasized again, “Don’t trust anyone except me.”
Tu Ran continued nodding.
“Do you still remember how to use weapons, how to kill aliens, how to avoid their attacks?”
Tu Ran blinked and shook her head.
Xi Chunzhi threw herself onto the sofa, rubbing her head. “Your situation is pretty bad right now.”
Xi Chunzhi’s worried expression made Tu Ran realize that the situation might be even more difficult than she thought.
She tried asking, “Can’t I resign?”
Her profession as a pioneer required her to enter the Frontier and face various powerful aliens. If she quit, wouldn’t she escape all this? She could live as an ordinary person, as long as she could stay alive.
Unfortunately, Xi Chunzhi quickly doused her hopes with cold water.
“You’ve forgotten everything,” Xi Chunzhi sneered. “If we could resign, we would have done it a long time ago. Why else would we be dealing with aliens every day, risking becoming their next meal if we slip up?”
“Why? Did we sign some kind of agreement?” Tu Ran guessed.
Xi Chunzhi raised an eyebrow. “Good thing it’s just amnesia and not brain damage.”
Tu Ran was stumped by her remark and didn’t know how to respond.
Xi Chunzhi leaned back on the leather sofa, crossing her legs, and spoke slowly, “Before becoming pioneers, we all sign a fifteen-year agreement with the Federal Government. The first five years are spent in specialized training with the government’s professional departments. The following ten years are spent as pioneers, collecting all data related to the Frontier for the government.”
“We are the first batch of pioneers to sign this agreement with the government. Last year, we completed the five-year training, and this year is our first year of actual operations. The government has invested a lot of resources in us. If you try to quit now, the government will hunt you down to the ends of the earth.”
“When is the next time we enter the Frontier?” Tu Ran asked, knowing she needed to learn survival skills during this period.
“No idea.” Xi Chunzhi shrugged.
“What?” Tu Ran didn’t believe it. “How can you not know?”
Any job would have fixed working hours.
Xi Chunzhi sighed. “The opening and closing of the Frontier are not fixed. It might not open for a year, or it might open right now. Most of the time, it opens once every two weeks, so there’s no precise schedule.”
So random? Tu Ran was speechless.
“Can you stay home until the Frontier opens next?” Tu Ran asked hopefully.
Having Xi Chunzhi’s help would significantly boost her chances.
Xi Chunzhi shook her head again.
“No. Not only can I not stay home the whole time, but neither can you.”
“What?”
“Why?”
“We are also responsible for some security tasks. During the time the Frontier is closed, we have to perform daily patrol duties,” Xi Chunzhi explained calmly. “The government spent a lot to train us, so they won’t waste even a bit of our value.”
Typical capitalists!
Evil capitalists!
No matter the world, capitalists are always the best at exploiting their workers.
