Chapter 190: Parking Space and Co-Habitation Life (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

People who can live in Banana Community's apartment buildings usually own at least one or two properties in the city. It's normal for ten or more people to live in a single house unless they are wealthy and influential enough to afford living alone.

The shell houses are rudimentary. The doors have long been pried open and replaced with work points. Besides a light, there's nothing—no blankets, no clothes. Many people have been wearing damp clothes for several days.

Well, this year, don’t expect your clothes to dry. Even if clothes finally dry after a few days without water, they will become moldy. You have to choose between moldy clothes and damp clothes.

Some people were even assigned to the eighteenth floor. Climbing stairs every day isn’t the issue; the real problem is the waste of energy and food.

“Let’s go, check out the basement.”

Although Banana Community only has one underground parking garage level, the larger the community, the bigger the basement area. It has over 4,000 underground parking spots, each allocated to a family. Just the basement of Banana Community houses more than 10,000 people.

In this life, Jing Shu once again witnessed a familiar scene from her past life.

The once spacious basement now resembles a bustling marketplace. The basements of Buildings 6, 7, and 8 are already filled with people. After installing emergency lights, you can see numerous bald heads or curled-up figures sleeping, sitting on the ground with vacant eyes, or scrambling for a board.

There are loud noises, people crying loudly, and even arguments.

Jing Nai was frightened by the sight.

What used to be individual parking spaces were now cramped into these 8 square meters, with six people sharing one space at most, and two at the least. Nameplates were hung above, indicating that these would be the people's future homes.

The parking spaces were packed with people, turning the area into a massive Spring Festival travel rush scene—oh, even worse.

Since it was the first day of move-in, these people's homes had been flooded. Without luggage or blankets, it didn't look too crowded initially.

After some time, some couples would start doing intimate things, using bed sheets, boards, and other materials to cover the parking spaces, forming real "homes." Others would follow suit.

Then, everyone would scavenge through the floodwaters for usable items, cluttering each parking space "home" with various junk.

At that time, the basement was nearly impossible to live in. After seeing it, one would think such a life was worse than that of pigs and dogs.

“It's so pitiful. I don't even know how they'll sleep at night. Let's go, let's go.” Jing Nai suddenly lost interest.

With thousands of people sleeping in the echoing basement, even a cough could be heard from afar. Not to mention the constant noises from various activities, and the cold nights made sleep impossible.

Today was just the first batch of people. More would flood in tomorrow. Wucheng originally had four million residents. Even if tens of thousands died, there would still be that many people waiting to be relocated. What to do? Limited housing meant forcing people in.

Eating and drinking could be managed collectively, but for other needs... you could only keep your eyes open. It wasn’t like the streets were paved with gold, but it was almost the same. Even if the number of toilets couldn’t keep up with the increasing population.

After returning home, Jing Nai vividly recounted what she had seen and heard. “Tsk tsk, so pitiful. Fortunately, our house wasn’t flooded, and our food is sufficient. Otherwise, oh…”

Jing Ye tapped his cigarette holder, “The water in the city hasn’t receded. It’s reached two kilometers away. I hope it doesn’t spread to our area.”

Jing Ma asked Jing Shu, “Have you found the mechanic you were looking for? Our unit wasn’t flooded. We need to go to work. Now, with the ample rain, we need to make the most of it for planting vegetables.”

In the afternoon, Jing Shu explained the situation to Wu Youai. Wu Youai's mentor’s home was also flooded, and they were busy moving. They said they would come over once they had time.

During dinner that night, Jing Shu briefly told Wu Youai and Jing Gu about what had happened today. This scared them both terribly, but fortunately, nothing serious happened at home. It was just a false alarm.

“Mom, let Dad drive the shark car to take you to work first. Let’s wait on the energy car for a bit.”

…

At night, Jing Shu continued practicing the Rubik’s Cube as usual. She found she was gradually getting used to the cube’s sudden color changes. Overcoming this step brought her one layer closer to upgrading the Rubik’s Cube.

Tonight, she finally had time to nurture her two snakes. Jing Shu directly placed the snakes into the space, allowing them to absorb spiritual spring while also fostering a bond. Once the two five-step snakes entered the space, they immediately felt comfortable and became much more lively.

If the first form of the Rubik’s Cube space could simulate the optimal living temperatures and conditions for all creatures, then the second form could enhance mutual perception, making it easier for Jing Shu to build friendly relationships with them.

The venom of the five-step snakes was still potent. To increase her future leverage, Jing Shu decided to imbue the two snakes with spiritual spring numbered 4. Compared to the abrupt appearance of suddenly buzzing bees, the sudden appearance of two snakes in the dark would likely go unnoticed, making them perfect for ambushes.

With the most suitable temperature and humidity, snakes can mate easily. Coupled with the spiritual spring, it wouldn’t be long before there was a brood of baby snakes. Jing Shu planned to eat some, make batches of medicinal wine, and snake bile was also a delicacy.

As for extracting snake venom, sources suggested doing it once every one or two months. With the nourishment of the spiritual spring, Jing Shu decided to extract venom once a week and stockpile it for future use.

Thus, in addition to Number 1 The Fat Chicken and Number 6 Zhongjiao Frog, Jing Shu now had Number 4 Five-Step Snake.

Sometimes, Jing Shu wondered if she should collect all five poisons. That would definitely be impressive.

…

These past few days with the flooding felt exceptionally long for Jing Shu. She hadn’t had a good night's sleep for several days. Tonight—damn it, she still didn’t get a good night's sleep. Jing Shu was about to go crazy. The next door to Su Mali’s house had been noisy all night with prying and drilling sounds. Jing Shu really wanted to punch someone.

The next day, Jing Shu woke up with panda eyes. If the renovations continued tonight, don’t blame her for not being polite.

The villa had been unoccupied for days, without airing out or dehumidifying, resulting in much dampness. Jing Nai was busy taking care of the livestock. After eating, Jing Shu began various dehumidifying tasks, while Jing Dad threw the dirty clothes into the washing machine to clean and then dried them.

Jing Ma had already gone to work.

Wu Youai also left early in the morning. She heard that Banana Community was about to welcome over twenty inspection officers. After arranging for people to move in, a new round of allocations would begin.

Jing Shu’s work location changed. Team Erji had moved to the commercial building at the entrance of Banana Community, so her future workplace would be there. At the same time, Aijia Supermarket also moved to the first floor of the commercial building.

Team Erji moved everything salvageable from the flooded Aijia Supermarket, but many items were still washed away. Now, there were far fewer people to cook, and the government had just brought in a new batch of coal to supply for cooking.

(End of Chapter)