Jiang Yao shook her head and smiled wryly, "It really fits that saying: when people get thick-skinned, city walls are no match for them."

Jiang Yao opened the lid and added a few pieces of coal into the stove, causing the temperature inside the room to rise rapidly.

He took out soy milk from his storage space and ate a simple breakfast with xiaolongbao.

Looking out the window, the wisps of smoke rising from every household in the village appeared so peaceful and serene.

Only Jiang Yao herself knew that this quiet wouldn't last much longer.

Jiang Yao picked up her phone and looked at the messages in her WeChat Moments.

[Some complained about the cold weather, while others cried for help.]

[Some people are still saying it's the end of the world and they need to stockpile supplies! To survive.]

The group messages in Shichang Village are all sorts of things.

Zhang San: [The pig that froze to death at home, I'm selling the pork for 100 yuan per jin.]

Aunt Zhang: [My rooster is only 300 yuan each.]

Villager 1: [You're taking advantage of the situation.]

Villager 2: [My relatives in the city said that panic buying of supplies has already started in the urban area.]

Zhang San said excitedly, "The weather is so cold, but our village has everything we need. We just need to stock up on some drinking water and firewood, and that should be enough."

Villager 3: [The countryside is great; you don't have to worry about food.]

[Someone suggested buying some coal for heating in Gorgon Mountain, Area C, as coal burns for a long time.]

Village Party Secretary: [Due to the recent cold wave, everyone in the village has gone up the mountain to collect firewood, and the mountains near the village are now bare. @Village Chief, please think of a solution.]

Village Chief: [This way, one person from each household will volunteer to go to Gorgon to buy coal.]

Village Chief: [Those who have signed up, please contact me privately.]

At this moment, someone tagged Jiang Yao and said, "You young people should have the spirit of dedication to the people. Why don't you go, Xiao Jiang!"

Jiang Yao replied with a cold laugh, "Let whoever wants to go, go ahead. Why should I make such a pointless sacrifice for you?"

The group chat was completely silent until someone tried to say something to ease the tension.

But no one dared to go out.

A few days later, the Shichang Village group chat became active again.

Aunt Li: [I heard that a few days ago, Old Zhang from the East Village heard that he could exchange his autumn harvest corn for coal, so he took his corn to the West Village to exchange for coal. However, when he arrived in the West Village, he was threatened with weapons and forced to hand over his grain.]

Aunt Zhang chimed in, "For those lazy folks who have neither food nor firewood to keep warm, this awful weather gives them an opportunity to take advantage."

Villager 1: [They also lure people to secluded places, steal their food, and then kill them to cover their tracks.]

Villager 2: [The world is about to change.]

At this point, the aunties gritted their teeth and said angrily, "If Old Man Zhang had been more diligent, he wouldn't have had to trade grain for firewood. Sigh..."

Aunt A sighed and said, "If someone had gone to buy coal, things wouldn't have turned out like this."

Everyone tagged the village chief: "Village chief, think of a solution."

The village chief sighed, "It's so cold, what can I do?"

Imagine being outdoors in -40°C weather; even with warm protective clothing and snow boots, extreme cold can cause hypothermia, dizziness, and ultimately death.

With firewood for heating and cooking becoming scarce, some people have started to consider demolishing the old houses in the village. At first, everyone was able to restrain themselves, but as their timber reserves dwindled, they all joined the ranks of those demolishing the old houses.

The sudden power outage at night made the villagers even more anxious.

Jiang Yao knew that this was only the beginning of darkness.

Jiang Yao took out a rechargeable LED light bulb from her space to illuminate the living room, and then covered the windows of the living room, master bedroom, secondary bedroom, and kitchen with heavy blackout curtains.

Only a small portion of other personal belongings are left outside, creating a false impression.

Since it's a large-scale power outage, it's best not to let people know you have a generator, to avoid causing unnecessary trouble.

After tidying up, I lit the stove to raise the temperature, took a bath, and had a nice long sleep.

In the morning, Jiang Yao was woken up by the village loudspeaker. Because of the power outage, some villagers had lost matches, some had lost grain, and Aunt Zhang's chickens had been stolen.

So many things happened overnight, and everyone was arguing and bickering. In the end, they all agreed to search house to house.

When Jiang Yao saw Aunt Zhang.

Upon seeing people, Aunt Zhang slapped her thigh and cried out, "I don't know which heartless bastard stole my chickens and didn't leave me a single one!"

"Good heavens, this is unbearable."

Some people gloated, saying, "Aunt Zhang, don't be sad. Did you offend someone in the village?"

"And the rooster you posted in the group a few days ago, it cost 300 yuan each."

"You've made people jealous and offended them."

Besides, "Grandma Yang's firewood and grain were also stolen. The things she lost were much more valuable than yours; they were her life-saving items."

"You lost a few chickens? That's nothing?"

Although the outside temperature was close to minus 50 degrees Celsius, it did not dampen everyone's enthusiasm for catching thieves.

When Aunt Zhang saw Jiang Yao grabbing her hand, she cried out, "Jiang Yao, I haven't offended you!"

"You can't just steal my chickens to retaliate against me because I told you in the group chat to go buy coal."

Jiang Yao frowned and looked at Aunt Zhang, saying, "Aunt Zhang, you can't say that!"

"You have to take responsibility for what you said."

Villager 1: "Young lady, if you really took it, just give it back to her!"

Villager 2: "Yes! Yes! It would be terrible if we found it in your house."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!