Cave Refuge

Rabbit's Home was different from other zoos; when someone proposed a universally accepted goal, many people would discard their personal interests to achieve it.

Since the Officials took the initiative and led by example, everyone living within the base, whether wealthy or strong, contributed money and effort, thus the Magic City's Base No. 3 underwent hundreds to thousands of enhancements in a very short time.

With the continuous increase in the number of enhancements, the appearance of the Magic Capital Base changed imperceptibly.

Initially, the base itself showed no change, but its surroundings began to extend outward, eventually becoming what it is now.

Even the city walls around the base had become new constructions after the application of Enhancement Scrolls.

Because the Officials had already started keeping records of everyone's contributions, when new open spaces appeared in the base, they immediately led the land development and rewarded those with significant contributions with newly developed housing.

Compared to the originally cramped and small houses within the base, the newly constructed ones were spacious and bright, with the most important feature being direct access to sunlight. Unlike the original rooms in the base, where only a few buildings dependent on the outer walls could bask in the sun, the internal rooms required artificial lighting during both day and night.

However, some older and more experienced people were well aware that despite the cramped conditions of the original rooms in the base, their value was actually higher than many larger houses outside.

After all, they had lived through that era; the rooms now in the original base were like the old, decrepit, small houses inside the second ring of the Capital City before the natural disaster. Though each room was small and suffocating, their real value was quite significant.

Although, like before the natural disaster, the primary value of these houses lay in their geographical location, which was merely close to the White House and convenient for coming and going, it was different now.

The rooms in the present base were primarily valued for their safety. Regardless of how small and cramped the original base rooms were, safety was the prime concern considered by the Imperial Court during the initial design.

Despite large swathes of open areas created by the use of Enhancement Scrolls, everyone knew that in terms of safety, the original site at the central region of the base was still the safest.

However, for many people, having a choice was more tempting than theoretical safety.

One option was to continue living in the narrow rooms of the original site, unquestionably secure.

The other choice was moving into a newly constructed district, where giving up their old cramped room would result in a spacious, bright three-bedroom apartment.

Although theoretically less safe than the original site, the residents had ample confidence in the Officials and didn't believe the new peripheral areas would fall into disrepair in the future.

Thus, many residents tired of living in cramped spaces, upon hearing the Officials' offer of a free housing exchange scheme, could not resist moving away.

What they didn't realize was that the homes they abandoned weren't left vacant for long; they were quickly bought up by others who combined several units into one large house.

Although Father Dong and Mother Dong now lived in Dong Tianyu's former residence, he had left behind many resources for Mr. Thompson before he left.

Mr. Thompson didn't squander his resources; instead, he entrusted a portion of them to Ye Liuyun as an investment. To the fledgling Ye Liuyun, Mr. Thompson's investment was like an angel investment in the first round, and Ye Liuyun directly gave Mr. Thompson some founder shares.

Of course, these founder shares weren't actual corporate shares as there were no companies now; they were merely a nominal term used when Ye Liuyun shared a portion of the profits from each major trade with Mr. Thompson.

Apart from the portion invested with Ye Liuyun, Mr. Thompson also kept some highly storable resources for the household, and the rest, following Dong Tianyu's arrangements, were used to purchase various types of Mysterious Cores.

As the collection of Mysterious Cores grew, Mr. Thompson began to try buying low and selling high whenever there were fluctuations in their prices.

Although Mr. Thompson was very cautious in each transaction and strictly controlled the trading prices, leading to not very high profits, the accumulation of wealth over a long time had nonetheless multiplied his resources exponentially.

When the price of Enhancement Scrolls first plummeted, Mr. Thompson, despite not fully understanding their use, still gambled on his Sixth Sense and went all in on the dip, leaving himself enough room to retreat.

When word got out that Enhancement Scrolls could strengthen the human body, Mr. Thompson decided to save his Enhancement Scrolls for Dong Tianyu, thus not selling them as he did with the Mysterious Cores.

Not only did he refrain from selling when the price of Enhancement Scrolls kept rising, but Mr. Thompson also planned to wait until their prices dipped again to buy more.

However, what Mr. Thompson hadn't anticipated was not only the absence of a price drop for the Enhancement Scrolls but also the Officials promoting additional uses for them.