Cave Refuge

If I missed the city life, the interest leftover each year was more than enough to comfortably spend a month in any city nationwide.

And the remaining million would serve as working capital, which could be used for personal hobbies like stock trading, or for those restless individuals to invest in starting a business. After all, with three million in backup funds, even losing it all wouldn't have too great an impact on future living conditions.

The 1-2-3 saving method meant, if you had a large sum of idle funds that you didn't need anytime soon and were looking for stable rather than high returns, you could divide it into three parts and deposit it for one-year, two-year, or three-year fixed terms, respectively.

Once the one-year fixed deposit matured, you would immediately roll it over into another three-year term. By doing so, you ensured that all deposits earned the highest three-year fixed interest, and you also had a fixed deposit maturing every year.

Depositing money in three different Money Houses was a safeguard against the risk of temporary workers misappropriating your funds; after all, such incidents weren't uncommon, with temps usually taking the blame.

Either way, spreading deposits across three Money Houses was the safest way to protect your assets.

Of course, if you were still worried about such risks, you could go all-in and buy three million in gold, selling it whenever you were short on cash, regardless of whether the price of gold had risen or fallen, and using the proceeds for living expenses.

Under normal circumstances, most people bought gold not to make money but to prevent the value of their assets from depreciating.

Physical gold differs from futures, virtual currencies, and stocks in that it has a guaranteed minimum floor price. Whenever you sold it, there were only higher or lower prices, without the risk of a total loss or even having to pay out of pocket.

Returning to the main topic, with some people moving downstairs, even though the living space per household in Mr. Thompson's floor was already over a hundred square meters, there were still survivors from the upper floors who bought two or three adjoining apartments here and combined and remodeled them.

Dong Tianyu now faced such remodelings.

Indeed, such large-scale renovations indirectly stimulated the economy, since work required paying wages. Besides wages, the purchase of decorating materials and post-renovation furnishings was also a significant expense.

Similar to the pre-Cold Catastrophe real estate economy, although it couldn't be said to operate independently, it's undeniable that in the era of rising housing prices, making money had indeed become relatively easier.

However, that money wasn't generated through the normal economic cycle of human labor creating wealth; rather, it consumed the wealth accumulated by several generations.

What constitutes wealth created by labor? Whether farmers, workers, or office white-collar staff, they all relied on their labor to create the cheapest and most basic goods, which were indispensable to the economic cycle.

This money earned from honest work represents labor-created wealth, whereas financial gains made through financial operations or other means, without the need for physical goods exchange, solely through buying and selling, are called financial wealth.

People in Rabbit's Home, like many others who didn't like to spend money, preferred to save the wealth acquired through labor. As time went on and their savings accumulated, this type of wealth was known as savings wealth.

At that time, the housing market boomed and prices soared. Logically, the economy it stirred up should be considered labor-created wealth.

After all, whether buying raw materials or hiring workers to build, even later renovations ultimately benefited from labor-created wealth.

But as housing prices inflated beyond reason, the majority could no longer afford them with their labor wealth, necessitating the entry of accumulated wealth.

With the influx of accumulated wealth from buyers now armed with more funds, the upward trend in housing prices didn't end, and they continued to rise over time.

But even with the addition of accumulated wealth, the vast majority of people only have limited assets. Thus, when the combined value of labor-derived wealth and accumulated wealth could not meet the sky-high property prices, a collapse became inevitable.

However, before the natural disaster was before, and now is now. After all, everyone knew that with the constant occurrence of natural disasters, a house was no longer that special commodity that one could hold onto long-term, but had become more like a perishable item.

Although not every round of natural disaster would destroy buildings, since the first arrival of the natural disasters, the situation of other zoos might be unclear, but just at Rabbit's Home alone, the vast majority of people had been forced to move several times in a row.

During the Cold Catastrophe, everyone moved into the basement for shelter; after it ended, everyone moved back to their houses.

During extreme heat disasters, they moved into the basement for shelter; when the heatwave ended, they all moved back into their houses again.

The first time the floods came, they moved; when earthquakes struck, they moved; when prehistoric beasts were revived, and due to the giant tree in Pengville City Center growing uncontrollably, they moved again...

In short, the vast majority had no better choice than to keep moving in the face of various extreme weather events.

Since houses could no longer be hoarded as unique commodities, and also because after the natural disasters occurred, even the meticulously built houses wouldn't last long,

there was no presence of property speculators during this period. After all, if any of them dared to accumulate a bunch of houses to rent out without selling, a single particular natural disaster could make a homeowner potentially lose everything.

After losing the property speculators of the past, the survivors of various natural disasters had now become much wiser. Many people only wanted to rent and did not wish to purchase houses.

After all, renting a house not only comes with complete furnishings and appliances, but also saves a great deal of money compared to property payments when only rent is considered.

But none were fools; no one would buy up properties in bulk to rent out under such circumstances. Therefore, unless one could rent from the Officials, it was nearly impossible to rent a house from anyone else.

This is why people who changed houses would immediately sell their former residence after purchasing a desirable new one in the lower tiers, rather than renting it out.

Because no one knew when the floodwaters would recede, and as the waters retreated, the mission of this base would effectively end. By then, who would still want to stay here?

When that time really came, the houses in the base were likely to become worthless. Eventually, they might end up like those deserted villages that are still filled with houses,

but the villagers had all left. Without people, what use is a good house no matter how big the space? It still ends up just like a ruin.

So when everyone already knew that this would ultimately be the fate of all houses, who would still want to speculate on property? After all, even in the game of hot potato, the one catching it needs to have some hope. Knowing for certain that one will lose, who would want to be the next sucker?

Only when everyone is buying and selling houses purely out of necessity, will the property prices eventually return to normal.

Zachary followed the navigation to the house he once purchased and could hardly believe that both his home and the neighbors' next door were undergoing renovation.

Zachary found it hard to believe that his dad, Mr. Thompson, would buy a house without contacting him first to ask for his opinion, as selling a house, whether before the natural disaster or now, is no small matter.

Before Zachary could even enter the home, he saw Mr. and Mrs. Thompson walking out. The elderly couple, upon seeing Zachary, first looked startled then quickly approached him with hurried steps.