Chapter 201: To Rent a House
After the meal, Sierra Sullivan, Jayce, Nathan Thorne, and Dominic Crawford went to the housing center together.
They were out to take care of business, so they didn’t have Candice Tate tag along.
Although Candice Tate was reluctant to be separated from Sierra Sullivan, she was never an unruly child, so she obediently stayed home with Yvonne Shelby.
Sierra Sullivan and her companions quickly arrived on the first sublevel and found the housing center Jayce had mentioned.
When they were here this morning, Sierra Sullivan had been too busy looking at food and weapons to even notice the housing center.
Thank goodness Jayce saw it!
Once inside the housing center, they found it was surprisingly large.
There were not only a lot of staff but also many survivors bustling about.
As they walked, Sierra Sullivan didn’t even have to try to listen; the snippets of conversation drifting into her ears told her that these people were also looking for housing.
It was so crowded that Sierra Sullivan and her group had to wait quite a while before a staff member finally became available.
"Hello," Jayce began politely. "We’d like to inquire about the types of housing you have and the differences in price."
The staffer was a young woman in a business suit, her face done in exquisite makeup, and her hair tied up meticulously.
Just from her appearance, she looked more like a real estate agent from before the apocalypse.
’Who would have thought this was Subterra, in the middle of an apocalypse!’
After the young woman got a clear look at Jayce’s face, her weary expression vanished, replaced instantly by a beaming smile.
"Are you looking to live together in a larger place, or separately?"
"Separately. But the units don’t have to be too small. Ideally, two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom."
The young woman looked surprised. "You want a kitchen and a bathroom too?"
"Why?" Jayce raised an eyebrow. "Is that a problem?"
"It’s not a problem, it’s just that apartments like that are very expensive."
"How expensive?" Sierra Sullivan’s interest was piqued.
The young woman subconsciously glanced at Sierra Sullivan, and the moment she got a clear look at her face, her eyes filled with awe.
’What is going on today?’
’How did I suddenly run into two such good-looking people?’
’Not only are they both gorgeous, but judging by how close they are, their relationship must be special.’
’Good-looking people really have no trouble finding a partner!’
The young woman sighed inwardly but quickly pushed those thoughts aside.
"Based on your requirements, an apartment like that costs five hundred Contribution Points a month."
’Kevin Everett’s salary is only one thousand Contribution Points a month.’
’Renting one apartment would cost half of Kevin Everett’s salary.’
’That really is expensive!’
’The average person definitely couldn’t afford that!’
’Even if they could afford it by pinching pennies, they probably wouldn’t bring themselves to rent it.’
But while others might be reluctant, Sierra Sullivan was not.
"Can we go see it, then? Where is it located? If the location is bad, we’ll pass."
The young woman laughed, her smile radiant. "You’re worrying for nothing. How could such an expensive apartment be in a bad location? It’s so expensive precisely because the location is so good! If you’re genuinely interested in renting, I’m not busy right now, so I can take you to see it."
Sierra Sullivan gave her a radiant smile. "Really? That would be wonderful, thank you so much!"
The young woman seemed both flattered and excited, her cheeks instantly flushing bright red.
"Y-You’re welcome! It’s all part of my job. What I’m supposed to do. Let’s... let’s go!"
The young woman led the way, with Sierra Sullivan and her group following.
Jayce took Sierra Sullivan’s hand, leaned in close to her ear, and whispered, "My dear Sierra’s charm is too powerful. All you have to do is smile at someone and you steal their soul away!"
Hearing the pouty, melodramatic tone in Jayce’s voice, Sierra Sullivan found it amusing. "She’s a girl."
"I’m still jealous! From now on, Sierra isn’t allowed to smile at other people like that."
"And what if it’s necessary, like it was just now?" Sierra Sullivan asked, deliberately trying to tease Jayce.
She was curious to see how he would respond.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Jayce said with a perfectly straight face, "If a similar situation arises in the future, I’ll be the one to handle it!"
"And what if someone takes a liking to you? What if they try to sweep you away?"
"I will resist to the death! Don’t you worry, Sierra. In this life, and for all of eternity, I belong only to you!"
Jayce had said similar things before—and even cornier ones.
But this was the first time he had said something like that in public.
’There were people walking past them, for crying out loud!’
’Even though Jayce’s voice wasn’t loud, there was no guarantee no one else had overheard!’
Sierra Sullivan shot Jayce a reproachful look. "Behave yourself. Stop being so silly."
Jayce put on a wounded expression. "How can you say that, Sierra? I am being serious! Those words came from the bottom of my heart—"
Before Jayce could finish, Nathan Thorne, who was walking ahead of them, suddenly stopped and turned to look at the pair with an exasperated expression.
"Hey, you two. We’re here to look at an apartment. Can you stop with the PDA already!"
Seeing the resentful look in Nathan Thorne’s eyes, both Sierra Sullivan and Jayce burst out laughing.
Amid their light-hearted banter, they soon arrived at the third sublevel.
Sierra Sullivan was quite satisfied to see they were on the third sublevel.
Kevin Everett and Yvonne Shelby also lived on the third sublevel, which would make visiting each other very convenient.
After another ten minutes of walking, the young woman finally stopped in front of a door.
She took out a key, opened the door, and stepped inside first.
Sierra Sullivan and the others followed her in and began to carefully inspect the apartment.
The apartment was truly tiny.
The living room, kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms combined probably didn’t exceed sixty square meters.
Its main feature was that it had everything you needed, but none of it was spacious.
It was in no way comparable to the spacious flat Sierra Sullivan had lived in before.
’This entire place isn’t even as big as the living room of my old flat!’
But Sierra Sullivan was well aware of the current circumstances.
Subterra might be large, but it housed a great number of survivors.
It would be no easy feat to accommodate so many people without utilizing space to its absolute maximum.
The apartment contained only the most basic furniture and nothing else.
There wasn’t even a toilet.
The so-called bathroom was really just a tiny, separate room, about two square meters in size.
"This is the bathroom. You just put a couple of buckets in here and empty them at the public latrines every day."
Sierra Sullivan was speechless.
’This was so... I don’t even know where to begin.’
’But given the circumstances, they had no choice but to accept it.’
The kitchen was also completely empty.
"You can set up a table and a stove, and this will be your cooking area," the young woman explained again, though her expression was a little embarrassed.
’She had to admit, this "kitchen" and "bathroom" were incredibly makeshift.’
’But that’s just how things were.’
’With no natural gas, no sewage system, and no plumbing, what else could you expect besides two small rooms?’