Good people do exist. It’s because of selfless individuals who sacrifice themselves that the post-apocalyptic nation hasn’t collapsed. For ordinary people, just surviving is good enough.
After a couple of days, the temperature in Wucheng dropped back to 43°C (109°F). Many businesses and companies resumed work. Considering safety concerns, all schools started the winter break early, except for senior high school students who continued classes.
However, everyone now faced an awkward problem: they couldn’t fuel their cars, buses and subways were overcrowded, and even though taxi fares had tripled, it was still impossible to get one, even by carpooling. There were noticeably fewer cars on the streets of Wucheng!
People were willing to pay high prices to commute to work based on the belief that the darkness would soon pass and everything would return to normal—just endure a little longer.
Fuel and gas were now supplied only to public transportation like buses, special lines, and taxis until the end of the Dark Days. If the darkness didn’t end…
At this point, the benefits of electric vehicles became apparent. Find a place to charge, and a full battery could last two or three days. No need to queue in the scorching sun, eating dust and waiting half an hour without getting on a bus. Many electric car owners started driving for ride-hailing apps, earning two to three hundred yuan per trip.
Those who could afford it directly bought electric vehicles. They didn’t have to wait until the darkness ended because electric vehicle prices had skyrocketed. It echoed the saying: “Used to not afford it, so I didn’t buy an electric car; now I can’t afford an electric car.”
Jing Shu’s father drove their electric BYD Song car to take her mother to work every day. Passing by a large group of people waiting for the special line bus at the community gate, they were the envy of all.
Their community was quite remote. Although every household had a car without fuel, they could only choose the temporarily added special line bus. A one-way trip costs 30 yuan, with only two trips a day and not on time. If you miss it, you can’t go to work… Due to the weather and transportation issues, the authorities have notified of a reduction of two working hours.
Luxury Car Dealer, Building 5: “Whose BYD Song is parked in the community? Can I hitch a ride?”
Wang Dazhao, Building 1: “Same here. Is the driver of that Song car offering rides? Could you run a shuttle for our community? It’s a 7-seater and can squeeze in 9 people.”
Jing Shu’s father saw the messages and was tempted. He’d been idle at home for a month and wanted to find something to do. Running a ride-hailing service could earn thousands a day. Jing Shu rolled her eyes; in a few months, money would be worthless.
She countered, “It’s so hot, and that group hasn’t bathed for seven or eight days, with all kinds of smells. I’m not looking down on them, but if they make the car smelly and dirty, I can’t stand it.”
“Exactly! The office is already filled with foot odor, bad breath, and other smells that are unbearable. Please leave me some clean space!” Jing Shu’s mother complained. To avoid standing out, she hadn’t washed her hair for three days. She couldn’t go to work clean when her boss showed up with greasy hair mixed with dirt.
After the water resources were polluted, Wucheng cut off water supply to the entire city, only sending water trucks to supply limited amounts. If they used water as before, Wucheng would soon have no usable water. They also needed to use the remaining water to salvage crops that hadn’t completely died. Even after the darkness ended, the water shortage wouldn’t change.
Supermarkets have stopped supplying mineral water and various drinks. Although the news daily reported on capturing wrongdoers and encouraged citizens to report unfair practices, influential people still hoarded a batch of mineral water for emergency use. Ordinary people had no idea how scarce water was.
Wucheng had 13 districts. Jing Shu’s mother was just a tiny speck in one of them, not even connected to any edges of power. In her previous life, it was through a chance connection with her father that they got a small batch of mineral water.
Now, their daily water for living relied entirely on the water truck that came every two days. There was enough for cooking and drinking, but bathing, washing faces, doing laundry, and even washing dishes were out of the question. In the heat, people sweated and smelled but couldn’t bathe…
Don’t be fooled by the trendy hairstyles of slicked-back hair or wearing hats; that’s because the hair was too dirty and greasy, clumped together and only manageable by combing it back.
Everyone in the group was asking whose BYD Song it was and whether it could be used for ride-hailing. Seeing no response, a car owner jumped in.
Green Pine (Not Yet Moved In): “I have an Audi electric car, but I live in the city. I can drive over there; one trip costs 500 yuan. You can carpool and squeeze in six people. Air conditioning provided. Let me know if you’re interested.”
Traffic police no longer cared how many people squeezed into a car. The most congested places are now unimpeded. Reportedly, out of four million private cars in Wucheng, only a few hundred thousand electric cars were running.
Wang Dazhao, Building 1: “Expensive, but it’ll have to do. Count me in. Anyway, the Dark Days will end in a few days.”
Luxury Car Dealer: “Count me in too.”
They quickly gathered six people, agreeing to depart at 10 a.m. each day—much better than waiting at the gate at 8 a.m.
In recent days, the nation has truly done its best to provide various resources, but the intense heat increased energy consumption and caused mass deaths of livestock and crops across the country. The United Nations halted crude oil supplies. Dustfall and water pollution led to nationwide water shortages.
They intended to persevere through the Dark Days despite all the difficulties, but on January 24th, it was announced that the entire country would reduce energy consumption until the darkness ended.
Effective immediately, daily electricity supply would change from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., providing eight hours of electricity each day to ensure power during the hottest periods, preventing deaths from heatstroke and food spoilage due to refrigerators losing power.
“Hang in there; the Dark Days will be over soon.” Everyone believed that the darkness would pass. Families had at least half a year’s worth of grain stored, so lacking water and electricity wasn’t a big deal.
While everyone was dreaming of the end of the Dark Days, Jing Shu was in her villa, enjoying air conditioning and sweating profusely as she cooked two pots of spicy hot pot on the gas stove.
She cooked whole pots of beef meatballs, shrimp balls, shrimp dumplings, fish balls, and fish tofu. After they were cooked, she ate some and stored the rest in her space. Then she added sliced beef rolls, lamb rolls, various vegetables, fish, shrimp, and meat.
By the time Jing Shu was full, various cooked foods had filled one cubic meter of space. When others couldn’t cook due to power and gas outages, she could simply take out a pot and enjoy a ready-made hot pot from her place, saying it was cooked over coal.
They had stored a few tons of coal at home, unsure if it would last through the ten years of the apocalypse. Jing Shu, of course, had to plan carefully and cook food in advance to store it in her space.
Another advantage was that when taking out prepared food, the aroma wouldn’t spread too far. Otherwise, when supplies became scarce, and you cooked something like mushroom-stewed chicken, the scent could be detected hundreds of meters away—that scene…
These days, Jing Shu is busy cooking food: turning two boxes of curry into one cubic meter of potato curry chicken rice, one cubic meter of spicy duck blood and beef tripe stew, one cubic meter of braised black pork ribs, one cubic meter of tomato prawns, one cubic meter of steamed hairy crabs, and one cubic meter of fried fish pieces. She also processed previously bulk-bought frozen KFC items into finished products: fried chicken pieces, wings, drumsticks, popcorn chicken, chicken skewers, chicken strips, chicken nuggets, fries, occupying two cubic meters.
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Author’s Note:
Tonight at midnight, I’ll add one more chapter. This is the last push to climb the rankings. Please throw all your recommendation votes my way. Love you all, mwah~
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