Cave Refuge

The person in charge of the exchange store never imagined that Dong Tianyu, who had already taken out so many clothes, still had inventory left; and because of Dong Tianyu's generous move, the person in charge, who originally thought this was just an ordinary large transaction, began to entertain the idea of forming a relationship with the Thompson Family.

Although he's just the manager of this exchange store, it's well known that local management often holds more de facto power than official ranks suggest. Often, even officials within the base with higher status might not possess as much authority as he does.

Moreover, initially, he was an official, while the Thompson family of three were just survivors who had recently settled in the base. Even now, when the Magic Capital Base has at least a dozen new citizens registering each day, these newly settled survivors, after gaining their residence, generally can only engage in low-tier labor.

Therefore, even though Dong Tianyu initially brought out so many clothes, and he has increased the purchasing price, it barely reached the price of purchasing the lowest grade house. Thus initially, when he came to serve the Thompson family of three, although he was very polite, he did not show a desire to form a connection.

He neither introduced himself nor inquired about the Thompson family's situation; from start to end, everything was conducted strictly by the books.

However, when he heard that Dong Tianyu was prepared to sell clothes again, he instantly realized the situation. Because during the first transaction, he had pointed out that once entering the city, trading clothes with other survivors could likely garner more profit.

But Dong Tianyu was still willing to directly sell the clothes, most likely finding it troublesome to trade with other survivors privately, thus choosing to sell here again. The very likelihood of this thought must be because Dong Tianyu still had a considerable amount of clothing in his possession.

It didn't take long for the backyard, cleaned by those workers, to be spick and span. Seeing the cleared space, Dong Tianyu once again took out ten large bags of clothing from his storage space.

....

After repeating the process thirteen times, Dong Tianyu checked the payments that had been credited to his account, confirmed that it was enough to buy two top-floor apartments in full, and only then did he stop the transactions.

Upon leaving, the exchange store manager not only enthusiastically exchanged contact information with the Thompson family of three but also specifically fetched a small wooden box from his office, presenting it as a parting gift to the Thompson family of three and welcoming their return in the future.

Facing such a situation, naturally, the very experienced Mr. Thompson stepped forward, politely declining the manager's dinner invitation. The three of them then directly went to the department responsible for managing real estate to settle the full payments for both apartments.

Once the Thompson family of three left the real estate division, the people inside started whispering among themselves. After all, frequently dealing with people, they knew from the moment the Thompson family of three first entered the real estate division that they were likely recent settlers in the Magic Capital Base, likely lacking the base's accepted currency or contribution points.

Survivors like Dong Tianyu who had just settled in the Magic Capital Base wouldn't have the base's circulating currency or contribution points at that time, but it couldn't be said that they had nowhere to live just after settling; normally, the procedure would be to handle the loan processes directly in the real estate division.

After all, from the base's perspective, houses had already been built, remaining unoccupied doesn't generate any benefit. If someone purchases them, regardless of whether they pay in full or take out a loan, it renews value in those idle properties.

Moreover, houses are different from other collaterals; other collaterals might get lost or depreciate, but houses, for the officials, are not just commodities but also a representation.

Although houses do not generate benefits before being purchased, for the base's image and planning, buildings in the planned regions must still be constructed according to the plans laid out in advance.

Thus, although it's clear that the current population in the Magic Capital Base can't completely fill the constructed houses, what needs to be built still has to be constructed; once one is sold, it is a profit. Therefore, even the newcomers to the base who don't have money are kindly offered loan services by the real estate division.

And, crucially, they would rather have all buyers opt for loans, because unlike other items, properties don't easily suffer structural or residential attribute damages through use; thus, even if loan default happens, at most they repossess the property, barely incurring any loss.

This is also why the employee responsible for welcoming new settlers informed the Thompson family of three to choose the largest apartments. From his dealings and understanding of the Thompson family, he knew that Mr. Thompson possessed a family wine-making skill, thus once settled, it wouldn't be particularly difficult to earn money and repay the loans.

However, he did not expect that the real confidence behind the Thompson family of three to purchase those two houses did not stem from the wine-making skill Mr. Thompson mentioned.

Although the real estate division offers loan services, and the government has issued notices requiring them to handle this service for all new residents settling in the base,

the real estate division, unlike the pre-disaster influential departments, does not possess various unspoken rule benefits similar to those found in the base reception or exchange store departments.