At Jing Shu’s mother’s workplace, the canteen food was full of sand; eating rice meant swallowing it directly without chewing, or else you’d damage your teeth. Jing Shu’s mother had chipped a tooth while eating the canteen’s food, so Jing Shu decided to prepare meals for her to take to work. This hadn’t happened in my previous life.
“Aren’t these home-raised? Our poultry doesn’t come into contact with the outside world, and as long as we maintain ventilation and temperature, there won’t be any problems. When Grandpa comes back, he’ll have to work with Dad to convert the chicken coop into a double-decker; otherwise, it’s too small.”
“I know. Sigh, although some farms have properly handled their poultry according to regulations, more farms have processed this questionable meat into various braised meats, cured meats, and sold them.” Jing Shu’s father thought of the countless untreated chickens and ducks floating in black water in the big boilers and felt like vomiting.
Actually, having food to eat is already good enough. Now, with poultry dying en masse from the heat, it’s not too serious yet. In less than two or three months, if the dead poultry isn’t disposed of and are piled up together, they’ll rot and breed maggots—that’s when it becomes serious.
At first, people refused to eat meat; later, they relied on eating maggots—so finicky.
“We don’t dare to eat poultry meat from outside now. Vegetable prices have gone up a lot, and even grain prices have risen. I hope the Dark Days will end in a dozen days, so we can finally relax.” Jing Shu’s mother said with a headache.
The Dark Days probably won’t end; the apocalypse is just beginning, but no one has realized it yet.
After sending her mother off to work, Jing Shu picked up a pen and started jotting down the events that happened in the first year of the apocalypse, to make appropriate preparations. Mainly, it’s been ten years, and Jing Shu had forgotten some things.
In her previous life, during the first month of the apocalypse, Jing Shu stayed at home enjoying the air conditioning and live-streaming. Her father and mother continued to work as usual. In Wucheng, half the water was muddy. Her father pulled strings and spent a lot buying a batch of mineral water, but unfortunately, he gave away a small portion, leading to a water shortage later.
Now it’s January 14th. In a few days, due to the high temperatures, the fish in the rivers will die and float, thoroughly polluting the water sources. By the end of the month, electricity will be rationed, and it will become difficult to get gasoline and natural gas.
After a month and a half, the water supply will be cut off, and water will have to be provided by water trucks, with each household receiving a limited amount.
After nearly two months and the Dark Days still haven’t passed, everyone will enter a state of crisis and start hoarding more grain. But as electricity supply times decrease, temperatures get hotter, combined with water shortages, restrictions on buying grain, reduced supplies, and so on, within a few months, the darkest half-year—where people band together to kill and commit heinous acts—will occur.
Jing Shu bit her pen. So the current shortcoming is an absolute lack of combat power. She had strengthened a lot through the spiritual spring water; she could knock down an adult man with one punch, but even a master be beaten to death by a flurry of punches, let alone someone like her without any foundation?
She quickly wrote down a plan: at least before the arrival of the darkest half-year, she needs to get firearms, and she must set up mechanisms in the villa for defense.
Prevent various sudden attacks. Always be prepared with foolproof life-saving measures. No matter what weapons the other side uses, she must ensure she can be protected instantly and have the ability to counterattack, to prevent the tragedy of her previous life.
Jing Shu’s only trump card is her absolute control over the Rubik’s Cube space, so how can she use the Rubik’s Cube space to save her life?
Beep—beep!
Messages from the community group interrupted Jing Shu’s thoughts.
Supermarket Owner Bai: “@Everyone, I just got a batch of mineral water, 20 yuan per bottle. If you want some, leave a message with your building number, and I’ll deliver it to you.”
Young Madam with Kids, Building 13: “Boss Bai can still get water now; impressive. What’s the brand? So expensive?”
Supermarket Owner Bai: “Locally produced.”
Then the group started scrambling for water. Now the big supermarkets limit the number of water bottles each person can buy, but daily new arrivals are snapped up quickly. Water plants across the country cannot keep up with people’s consumption of purified water.
Actually, the tap water has too much sand and dirt; installing one filter is definitely not enough—you need to install six like Jing Shu did.
For domestic use, using muddy water is acceptable, but for drinking water, no matter how you let it settle, it’s still a mouthful of sand, which many people can’t stand, leading to the current scarcity of mineral water.
Jing Shu remembered that in the early days, some people, to make money, used industrial filtered water, filled it with mineral water bottles, and sold it through small vendors. Many people got diarrhea and heavy metal poisoning after drinking it; those with weaker constitutions even passed away—which was worse than eating heat-killed chickens.
Searching online, she found that indeed many locally produced waters are industrially filtered water. So she took a screenshot and posted it in the community group, reminding everyone to check when purchasing.
Supermarket Owner Bai: “@Jing Shu from the villa area, you’re not buying, so why are you talking nonsense? I used connections to get the goods at 19 yuan per bottle; I’m earning 1 yuan of hard-earned money. You posted such a picture comparing me to profiteering small vendors—what do you mean!”
Luxury Car Dealer, Building 5: “Boss, don’t mind her; hurry up and deliver the water to us.”
Luo Hao, Building 13: “Exactly, so what if you live in the villa area?”
Wind, Building 3: “It’s locally produced and still very expensive; isn’t it industrially filtered water? Can’t it be cheaper?”
Young Madam with Kids, Building 13: “Jing Shu’s reminder is good; I have kids and can’t take risks. I don’t want water anymore.”
Then several others also canceled their orders, making the supermarket owner angry. “@Jing Shu from the villa area, I remember you. Don’t ever come to buy water or anything.”
Wang Qiqi, Building 13: “Alright, everyone, stop arguing. @Jing Shu from the villa area has a point; everyone should check when buying things.”
The group quieted down a lot. Jing Shu was just kindly reminding them, not being overly righteous to stop them from courting disaster. In the apocalypse, it’s good enough to take care of yourself.
Before long, Jing Shu’s father also saw the group messages.
Jing An from the villa area: “@Supermarket Owner Bai, is the small supermarket at the entrance of the community yours?”
Supermarket Owner Bai: “Yes, do you want water?”
Jing An from the villa area: “Alright, got it.”
…
At 4 p.m., the temperature in Wucheng reached 49°C. Jing Shu sat in the police station lobby, enjoying the air conditioning and drinking chilled orange juice, ignoring the people around her who were eyeing her enviously.
“So, you knew in advance that the supermarket owner was selling industrial water and reminded the community group members, but you were insulted by the supermarket owner. Then your father went to the supermarket to reason with him, questioning why he was selling industrial water, which led to a conflict. Your father’s actions were normal self-defense, right?” The staff member confirmed again.
Jing Shu nodded like a pecking chick.
The truth was that her father suddenly went to the supermarket and beat the supermarket owner until he couldn’t take care of himself, and then the supermarket owner’s wife called the police. When the police came to arrest Jing Shu’s father, Jing Shu came to the rescue. That neighbor named Luo Hao drank the water and soon got heavy metal poisoning; he sent a helpful message to the group, and everyone realized that the supermarket owner was selling industrial water.
Jing Shu took the opportunity to discuss it with her father.
“You did very well. For such behavior of selling industrial water at high prices, we will punish it severely. We will confiscate all his supplies and subject him to labor reform. In view of your courageous action, this will be recorded in your file. You can rest here a bit more until your father comes out.” The staff member saluted and left with the report.
—
Author’s Note:
Suddenly jumped to 7th place~ How many extra chapters should I add? Can we reach 6th place?
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