novelsite Chapter 242 Temporary Rental for 5 Days
Chapter 242 Temporary Rental for 5 Days
Xu Xiaoyan did as instructed, pressing her right index finger onto the smooth, cool fingerprint scanner next to her. A faint red light swept across her fingertip.
Fingerprint registration successful, rental information recorded.
Please note: During the rental period, please comply with the "Temporary Residence Management Regulations of Area C". The lease will be automatically terminated upon expiration. For renewal, please apply for renewal at any rental machine half an hour in advance. Basic energy interfaces in the room are available; additional energy consumption will be charged separately.
A few brief prompts flashed by, and then a pale yellow strip of paper was ejected from the paper output slot at the bottom of the machine.
Xu Xiaoyan picked up the slip of paper, on which a few lines of information were printed in simple dot-matrix printer font:
【Area C - Temporary Residence Unit】
Type: Individual
Room number: C-7-3421-6
Rental period: From now until 5 days from now.
Status: Valid
Access control method: fingerprint
Holding the flimsy note, Xu Xiaoyan breathed a long sigh of relief. Finally... she had a place where she could close the door for the time being.
Following the directions to area "C-7" on the note, Xu Xiaoyan joined the crowd heading towards area C-7.
Slightly different from the bustling main passageway, the flow of people gradually disperses as you go deeper into the residential area.
However, the environment has not improved; instead, it appears even more crowded and cramped due to its highly compressed and utilized environment.
The passageway became narrower, the ceiling seemed to drop even lower, and the walls on both sides were covered with doors.
Most of them are single doors in a gray-green color, and occasionally you can see some iron doors without door numbers, only marked with the words "power distribution" or "pipe shaft".
Poor air circulation and the accumulation of various household odors create a thick, suffocating atmosphere. Lighting relies on wall lamps spaced far apart, resulting in dim lighting in some sections of the road.
As she walked, she kept an eye on the occasional area numbers and arrows on the wall. Area "C-7" seemed to be very large, and was further subdivided into different "segments" or "layers," with the signs not always clear.
She had to walk and stop frequently, repeatedly checking the notes in her hand and the signs on the wall, and asking the occasional passerby for directions in a low voice.
The responses were mostly indifferent glances and brief directions, with some people simply ignoring them.
In such places, everyone seems to be immersed in their own survival pressures and cautious vigilance, with no time or intention to pay much attention to strangers.
After searching for nearly half an hour and passing through several side streets, she finally saw a metal plaque on the wall at the end of the corridor, which read [C-7 Zone 3401-3600].
found it!
She perked up and slowly searched along the numbered sequence. The doors here were slightly different from the gray-green single-room doors she had seen before.
It appears heavier, painted a dark gray, and has a small fingerprint sensor with a red indicator light on it, positioned at waist height.
3420… 3421… This is it!
Xu Xiaoyan stopped in front of the door marked "3421". She was about to breathe a sigh of relief and reach out to press the fingerprint recognition pad, but her movement suddenly froze in mid-air.
The dark gray door slid open silently a crack, and a figure nimbly slipped out.
She was a girl who looked to be in her early twenties, with a simple ponytail, wearing a light gray hoodie and cargo pants.
After she came out, the door closed slowly and automatically behind her, making a low, airtight sound. The red indicator light on the door flashed twice and then turned into a stable green, indicating that it was locked.
The girl seemed completely oblivious to Xu Xiaoyan standing right in front of her, or rather, she didn't care at all. With her head down, she hurried towards the other end of the corridor and quickly disappeared around the corner.
Xu Xiaoyan was stunned, standing there for several seconds with her mind completely blank.
What happened?
This girl... just came out of 3421?
She was inside before? Then this room...
She subconsciously raised the note again, bringing it close to her eyes in the dim light: [Area C - Temporary Residence Unit]
Type: Individual
Room number: C-7-3421
Lease term: ...
"Individual"... "3421"... That's right!
The machine clearly indicated it was for "personal rental," and I paid 5 points to get the room number.
In theory, the space and access permissions corresponding to this number should belong to her alone for these 5 days!
Could the machine be malfunctioning? Or... does this rental system have rules she's unaware of?
An even more absurd thought flashed through my mind: Could it be that this so-called "personal" rental does not mean having a room to yourself, but rather... renting a "spot" in the room?
Like the beds in some youth hostels in the old days?
She recalled that in the rental hall, the machine interface only had three options: "Individual, Double, and Family," without any explanation of the room size, facilities, or whether it was for private use.
At the time, she was tired and anxious, and subconsciously thought that "individual" meant a private room, since the price was 1 point per day, which seemed "reasonable".
But now it seems that this "reasonableness" is probably just wishful thinking based on her understanding of Zone B.
Her gaze finally fell on the note "3421" after the note itself. 3421...6?
She muttered to herself, "A number followed by a sub-serial number?"
This immediately reminded her of the room numbers in university dormitories, such as "3421-6" which might represent bed number 6 in room 3421.
Could it be that "C-7-3421" isn't a room, but rather a "dormitory unit" number? And the "personal" space inside refers to... a bed?
Despite a bad feeling in her heart, she had already reached the door and her fingerprint had been entered into the system. Clinging to the last shred of hope, she pressed her right index finger on the fingerprint recognition panel by the door.
With a soft "beep," a green light flashed, and the heavy door lock made a "click" sound as it mechanically unlocked, causing the door to slide open a crack.
Xu Xiaoyan pushed open the door and went inside.
The first thing that hits your nose is a complex odor: the body odor produced by many people living in an enclosed space for a long time, the faint smell of food residue and sweat mixed together.
Then, she saw the view inside the room.
In just one glance, everything was shattered by the dense, oppressive reality before them.
What kind of "room" is this?
The room is a long and narrow cuboid, with an estimated area of less than 20 square meters. It has no windows, and the majority of the room is occupied by four neatly arranged rows of gray-white capsules.
These capsules resemble horizontal metal drawers, each about two meters long and only a little over one meter wide and high, exhibiting a streamlined shape.
The surface of the compartment is made of matte gray-white plastic without any shine. The front is a single dark polymer panel with a faint breathing light strip around the edge.
Most of them are now off, and there is a small fingerprint reader and status indicator light on the lower front of each cabin.
On the left and right sides of the room, there are two neat rows of three-tiered stacked capsules. These capsules are divided into upper, middle and lower levels, and there are stairs between adjacent capsules that are just big enough for a person to pass through.
Xu Xiaoyan's gaze slowly swept over these capsules. She saw that some capsule panels were completely dark and the indicator lights were off, as if no one was using them.
Some have a faint green breathing light, indicating that someone is inside but may be asleep or resting.
There are one or two more with red indicator lights on, which may indicate a malfunction or some other status. The girl who just left was clearly one of these twelve.
The so-called "single room"... originally referred to one person per compartment, which, when the door is closed, becomes a completely enclosed "personal space" isolated from the outside world.
No wonder the girl was able to use her fingerprint to open the door and enter this "room".
Since room 3421 is a common space in a dormitory, and she rented the right to use a particular cell, she naturally had access to this common access point.
This can't be described as just "bunk beds".
The bunk beds offer at least some relatively spacious room, allowing you to sit up and see your roommates.
Once you lie down here, you can only see blurry external light and shadow through the dark panel, or you can't see anything at all.
She must have rented one of these twelve. Since it's marked with a 6, she should hurry up and find the capsule with the corresponding number.
A wave of intense nausea and dizziness washed over me, not just from exhaustion, but also from a tremendous psychological shock and rejection.
The sudden shift from that 9-square-meter single room in Zone B, which I had never met but was at least independent and had basic living space, to this capsule pod shared by twelve people was like falling from the clouds into an abyss.
She leaned against the doorframe, her stomach empty. She wanted to turn around and leave immediately, but reason told her she couldn't! The points had already been paid, and the outside world might be even more chaotic and dangerous.
She is exhausted and desperately needs rest. At least here is a private space where she can lie down, lock herself in, and temporarily belong to her.
She gritted her teeth and forced herself to enter the "dormitory," her eyes quickly scanning the twelve capsules, searching for the corresponding compartment.
She noticed that next to the small fingerprint reader on the front of each capsule, there seemed to be a tiny LCD screen.
It was mostly dark at the moment, so she tried to approach a cabin where the indicator lights were off and pressed her thumb on the identifier.
A "beep" sounded, and the detector lit up with a blue light. The small screen next to it flickered and displayed simple information:
Position: 3421-06
Lessee: Xu Xiaoyan
Time remaining: 4 days, 23 hours, and 58 minutes
Status: Available for check-in
Warehouse number 06 is the bottommost warehouse in the right column. As the identification was successful, a soft "hiss" sound was heard, which seemed to be the sound of air pressure being released.
The dark panel on the front of the gray-white capsule silently slid upwards from the middle, revealing the interior.
The interior space was extremely cramped, with a thin, seemingly inelastic gray mat at the bottom.
On the cushion lay a thin, hard pillow and a folded, rough blanket.
The walls of the bin were made of a smooth composite material, with several simple grooves near the head, possibly for storing small items, and a tiny, dimly lit vent.
A small lamp embedded in the inner wall of the warehouse ceiling turned on automatically, emitting a white light that illuminated the cramped space where only one person could lie down or sit up without bumping their head.