The small district within the safe zone has already started leveling the ground.

Wherever Chen Shouyi's gaze passed, there were workers densely packed everywhere.

Many of these workers had potbellies, clearly not the type of people who had done much manual labor; most of them were refugees who had recently migrated here.

Since the mutation, the unemployment rate has remained high, and only in newly established safe zones has the employment rate reached pre-mutation levels.

Outside the safe zone, in the entire Hedong City, probably only one or two out of every ten people can find work, while the majority are unemployed and can only rely on relief stations for sustenance,

Does the city government have money now?

It absolutely does, quite a lot of it.

Ever since banks were unable to operate normally, a huge amount of funds has accumulated in the banks, which were subsequently managed by the city government. If these funds were divided and distributed to the people, every person could potentially receive one to two million.

However, any slightly rational authority would not do such a thing.

Money is essentially a contract between the owner and the market regarding exchange rights; fundamentally, it is an agreement between owners. If you strip away the essence of currency, money is just a piece of paper. Aside from looking exquisite, it holds no value.

In the current situation, with a tight supply of materials on the market, if a huge amount of money was evenly distributed to the people, the first thing everyone would do would probably be to purchase large quantities of food and other materials, hoarding them like hamsters preparing for winter.

The result would be market inflation, currency devaluation, and soaring prices.

The entire society would only become more chaotic.

Presently, prices can remain relatively stable, and market supply steady, thanks to the fact that the public has very little cash in their hands; even if they were wealthy before, the cash coupled with gold and other preservation items wouldn't be too much.

Chen Shouyi put his bicycle in the garage and pulled down the iron roll gate.

Carrying a heavy bag of arrows, he walked into the living room, and Chen Xingyue curiously came over:

"Brother, what did you buy?"

"Nothing much, just arrows!" Chen Shouyi raised the arrow bag to show her.

"Such a big bag, how many did you buy?" Chen Xingyue asked.

"Over six hundred!"

Chen Xingyue's jaw dropped in astonishment at the words, then she immediately hugged Chen Shouyi's arm, using an unheard-of sweet voice to plead, "Brother, you're the best, could you give me some?"

"Stop, can you talk properly, you don't even have a bow, what do you need arrows for?" Chen Shouyi felt goosebumps rising all over him and quickly said.

Chen Xingyue blinked and continued to plead, "Brother, don't you still have a bow? You don't use it anymore, could you give it to me?"

Then she added, "You've never given me a gift since we were little!"

Chen Shouyi heard this and didn't feel at all embarrassed.

It sounds like you have ever given me anything.

He grumbled to himself.

"Alright, alright, it's just an old bow, here you go!" Chen Shouyi said.

He originally planned to buy a women's martial artist war bow for his sister when his paycheck came in a few days.

Now seeing her thrifty and understanding, it was clearly unnecessary.

Due to the natural strength advantage of males, the standards for female martial artists and male martial artists are different. The standard for a male martial artist-level war bow is five hundred pounds, while females only need four hundred pounds.

Although five hundred pounds might be a bit heavy for his sister, who barely has the physique of a martial artist, it's perfectly fine for regular practice, at most drawing a few times before the arms become sore.

"Brother, you're truly the best!"

Watching his sister jump up and down, hugging his arm with a look of excitement, Chen Shouyi swallowed the harsh truth he was about to reveal.

Forget it, better not to upset her, let her stay oblivious.

After all, as a brother, I should have the magnanimity of a brother.

"Hold on, I'll get it for you!" Chen Shouyi set down the arrow bag, went to the second-floor bedroom, and brought back a bow case.

Chen Xingyue eagerly unzipped the bow case, and it wasn't long until the war bow was assembled.

This martial artist-level war bow is always durable, capable of adapting to various battlefield environments. Even without much maintenance from Chen Shouyi, it still looked as good as new.

Chen Xingyue grew more and more delighted as she looked at it, exclaiming, "Where are the arrows? Give me one."

Watching his sister's eager expression, Chen Shouyi was speechless. He took one from the arrow bag and handed it to her, reminding her, "Be careful, don't let go, if you shoot the wall, you'll be in big trouble and definitely get scolded."

Chen Xingyue silently thought to herself, all the damage at home over the years has been caused by you, I never dared to mention it.

There was once when you played with fire in the room and almost set the house on fire.

Though she only dared to think these words, fearing that if she spoke out and her brother got angry and took back the war bow, it would be a disaster.

She sweetly said, "Don't worry, I'm not a beginner!"

The Martial Artist Apprentice exam includes an archery assessment, and speaking of it, Chen Xingyue has been learning archery longer than Chen Shouyi.

She used the standard technique, forcefully pulling back the bowstring, her long white neck revealing a few blue veins, her face flushed red, then slowly relaxed the pull.

Chen Shouyi estimated that with her strength and stamina, she could draw it six or seven times before reaching her limit.

Seeing she could handle it, Chen Shouyi stopped bothering her and counted out fifty ordinary arrows from the arrow bag, picked up the arrow bag, and prepared to return to his bedroom: "You can practice slowly by yourself, I'll give you fifty arrows, if it's not enough, come ask me."

"Brother, you're the best, thank you so much."

"I've used this war bow for quite some time..." Chen Shouyi began to say when his sister interrupted him.

"Don't worry, brother, I know, this is your first war bow, I'll take good care of it."

Chen Shouyi stood there, opened his mouth, and swallowed the next phrase, "Do with it as you like."

...

Chen Shouyi returned to the bedroom, put the arrow bag down, pulled out an armor-piercing arrow, his fingers tracing the sharp arrowhead.

The armor-piercing arrow was much heavier than normal arrows, tungsten's density is higher than gold, though the arrowhead isn't pure tungsten but tungsten steel, still, its density is twice that of ordinary steel. The entire arrowhead weighs one pound, with a streamlined and sharp design, dark black color flashing coldly, showcasing its frightening penetration capability.

Using eight hundred pounds to support such a heavy arrowhead, its close-range power is estimated to far exceed that of anti-material sniper rifles, capable of easily piercing through military armored vehicle armor.

He looked at it eagerly, couldn't resist wanting to test it, but upon glancing around the environment, he vigorously suppressed the urge.

No rush!

Better wait until tonight to experiment.

After fiddling with it for a while, Chen Shouyi placed the arrow on his desk, intending to practice the Body Refinement Thirty-Six Styles a few times before dinner to exercise his body.

However, just as he assumed the starting stance, the sound of cannons rang out from afar, sending a pang to his heart, making him promptly stop. First, there were relatively crisp anti-aircraft fire sounds, soon followed by the oppressive rumble of heavy artillery.

In a swift movement, he stepped to the window and quickly drew open the curtains.

With his enhanced eyesight, he could make out the distant horizon; countless anti-aircraft shells exploding overhead created plumes of black smoke that hadn't completely dissipated, hanging in the air like shadows.

It lasted two to three minutes before all cannon sounds abruptly ceased.

But rather than feeling relieved, Chen Shouyi only grew more anxious.

Sure enough, before long, the cannon sounds resumed with greater intensity, seemingly closer as well.

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