◎Happy 28th Day: Battery◎

When Qin Shiwen replied to Jiang Muyun and asked her where she was, Jiang Muyun was already outside.

Jiang Muyun got up very early today. Even though he knew that no one would be awake at that time, he still asked in the group chat on the 15th floor whether he wanted to go out.

After sending the message, Jiang Muyun joined the first wave of uncles and aunts who went out to buy things. It was still dark at that time.

The temperature is too low now, and everyone is wrapped up tightly, leaving only their eyes exposed, and their faces cannot be seen at all.

Jiang Muyun was wearing an inconspicuous black down jacket, and the scarf and hat on his body were also the most common styles seen on the street.

Her height naturally gave her an advantage in concealing her identity. A height of 1.7 meters was common for both men and women. In addition, Jiang Muyun was deliberately concealing her identity. As long as she didn't make any sound, Qin Shiwen might not be able to recognize her.

The temperature in the morning was colder than yesterday afternoon.

But such low temperatures failed to seal off Nanshi, and Nanshi was particularly lively this morning.

Jiang Muyun went downstairs very early, but before she left the community, she could already see elderly people everywhere, wrapped tightly in bags and carrying rice, flour, grain and oil.

Yesterday's temperature drop and power outage were like a wake-up call.

Many people suddenly realized that for a region like Nanshi, where the lowest temperature often only reaches minus seven or eight degrees Celsius, the troubles caused by low temperatures are far more than they imagined.

Faced with this situation, the first reaction of many elderly people is to store food.

If you have food in your hands, you will not be worried.

The desire for food is ingrained in the bones of these elderly people who have experienced famine and war.

They ignored the advice of their younger family members and rushed out as early as possible. All the farmers' markets and wholesale markets are now crowded with grandparents.

It doesn’t matter if the supermarket is not open yet. Go to the wholesale market that opens early to buy rice and cabbage.

It doesn’t matter if there is not much rice or flour left in the grain and oil store. After buying what you can, you can go to the supermarket early and line up.

This scene can only be seen when buying New Year’s goods.

Some places are crowded with people, while some places are deserted.

For example, the major office buildings, and Sitong Street where Jiang Muyun is now.

Jiang Muyun relied on the space in his hands and changed his clothes several times along the way. The person who finally appeared on the street had become a short and fat man with his face wrapped in a scarf.

The current Sitong Street can be described as deserted, with only the banner for the National Day promotion of XX electric vehicles still hanging on the roadside.

Since the first drop in temperature, Sitong Street, the street dedicated to electric vehicles, has become a deserted place with no one visiting.

At this temperature, even charging an electric car is a problem. It is a complete piece of scrap metal, so naturally the car dealership is deserted.

According to the mechanic I met that day when I was fetching water, business here has plummeted since the temperature dropped. Even the company managers are too lazy to care about the employees' laziness, and it is common for them to open the store after ten in the morning.

There were no customers or employees at this time. Jiang Muyun was probably the only living being on Sitong Street.

It was still dark in the morning when Jiang Muyun, wearing a dark down jacket, turned into the back alley. He seemed to be hidden in the wall, like a silent ghost.

She made inquiries and scoured the area several times, getting a thorough understanding of the situation on Sitong Street, with only one goal in mind: to get batteries for electric vehicles.

The diesel generator makes quite a bit of noise and is only suitable for use when you need to avoid crowds.

If you want to use electricity freely when crowds gather in the early stages, solar power generation is safer.

However, the instability of solar power supply efficiency is its most fatal flaw.

There is not sunshine every day in the apocalypse.

Only when the dry season and the hot season come at the same time can people live with sunshine every day.

Although seeing the sun at that time might not necessarily be a good thing.

This is also why, besides insects, mushrooms are among the most common foods after the apocalypse.

In this situation, Jiang Muyun not only needs something that can generate electricity, she also needs something that can store electricity.

This type of battery is very suitable for electric vehicles.

A 100AH, 12V battery is only the size of a few boxes of milk and can store more than one kilowatt-hour of electricity.

It makes no noise, does not take up space, and can be well hidden even in a crowd. It is a must-have in the end times.

After two consecutive sudden drops in temperature, there are only a few cameras outdoors that are still functioning normally.

Even if there are survivors, there is a layer of ice on the lens, and it is good enough to be able to capture a human figure.

Today, people outside are rushing to buy supplies, so it is normal for Jiang Muyun to go out with the crowd.

If you miss these two days, people will face large-scale shutdowns and holidays, and the streets will be almost empty.

At that time, her movements when she walked out of the house and headed towards Sitong Street would be extremely conspicuous.

Jiang Muyun followed the route she had figured out before, counting through a row of locked iron gates in the back alley one by one, and identified the place she was looking for - the car dealership warehouse.

Thanks to his rich experience in zero-dollar shopping in his previous life and the convenience of space, Jiang Muyun successfully opened the doors of several target warehouses.

After going around to several warehouses, she had hundreds of batteries in her space.

Jiang Muyun only went into the warehouse of the big truck company.

These large car dealerships are all brand chain stores, and the items inside are not privately owned. As it stands now, no company will bother to recycle them.

She only collected a small part from each family, and the gaps in this small part were difficult to detect with the naked eye.

Judging from what Jiang Muyun had inquired about the store clerks' work situation, no management would come to check the inventory in the near future.

In other words, no one would discover what Jiang Muyun had done until the severe winter was over.

After the severe winter ends, social order will completely collapse.

At that time, no one cared whether the inventory was lost or not. It was not certain whether it was the store owner or a thief who opened the warehouse.

When Jiang Muyun finished his zero-yuan shopping, there was a little light in the sky.

After doing the bad thing, Jiang Muyun remained calm and collected. He changed his clothes and walked out from another exit of the alley, and came to a RV modification factory at the end of the street.

Jiang Muyun didn't want to get a RV into the space right now, she just came here to check out the location in advance.

People may not notice if you lose a few boxes of batteries, but if you lose a car and still can't find it, you'd be a fool.

It’s better to get familiar with the terrain now. If there is a chance in the future, you can get a motorhome into the space before the flood comes.

The power systems in RVs are ready-made, and they are not very quiet when powered by electricity, making them very suitable for short-term living after the end of the world.

Jiang Muyun took advantage of the period when the cameras were on strike to check out all the nearby manufacturers and prepare in advance for collecting supplies. He then changed his clothes before heading home.

When she arrived near the residential complex, she first went to the ATM to withdraw 50,000 yuan in cash, then followed the trend and lined up to pick up a bag of rice, and then carried the bag and the rice home.

Jiang Muyun climbed back to the 15th floor with great effort and saw Qin Shiwen knocking on her door.

"Here I come."

Qin Shiwen stopped when he heard the noise, then realized that the sound came from the wrong direction.

She turned around and saw Jiang Muyun carrying a bag of rice and dragging it home breathlessly.

Jiang Muyun dumped the rice bags on the ground, took out the key and opened the iron gate: "What do you want from me?"

Qin Shiwen fiddled with the rice on the ground: "I came to ask if you want to go out and buy something together. I didn't expect you to be so fast."

In order to fit in, Jiang Muyun bought a 50-kilogram bag of rice from the grain and oil store.

Even though she was in good physical condition, she was a little out of breath. "You're asking now... Do you know what the queue outside is like?"

Qin Shiwen frowned and saw that Jiang Muyun was very tired, so he helped her carry the rice in.

Jiang Muyun didn't close the study door when he went out in the morning, and several electric heaters were on, so the house was still quite warm at this time.

She hugged Xiaobai who rushed towards her and rubbed him, then curled herself up on the sofa, took a sip of the cold water on the table, and then told Qin Shiwen about the situation outside.

"There are already several rounds of queues outside. The farmers' market and wholesale market are almost cleared out by them. The supermarket hasn't even opened yet, but there's already a group of people waiting at the door."

Jiang Muyun felt warm, turned on her phone, and saw the message Qin Shiwen had sent her that morning. She shook it and said, "When you sent me the message, I was probably stuck between several lines. I couldn't get out even if I wanted to give up halfway."

Qin Shiwen knew that there would be a lot of people going out to buy things today, but he didn't expect it to be so exaggerated.

Qin Shiwen frowned as he sent a message to everyone, muttering as he did so: "It's not that serious, is it? Why does it seem like the end of the world?"

Jiang Muyun also tapped his phone a few times and asked everyone to come to 1501 to talk about going out for a big purchase.

She was chatting with Qin Shiwen here, and she would have to relay the content to the group later. It would be better for them to chat face to face, as they were only a few steps away.

Li Anxuan came alone. As he put on his shoe covers, he said, "The team is short of people, so they're calling us back. I was busy late yesterday, so I'll take a day off today. Zhao Jiahao has already gone to work."

Qin Shiwen added casually, "I have to go back to the team for my shift starting tomorrow. The temperature is too low, and I'm worried something might happen to the kids in the team."

The athletes who were still living in the training base at this time were basically teenagers, all from other places, and they treated the provincial team training base as a boarding school.

The situation wasn't good right now. All players remaining at the base, regardless of sport, were being provided with food and lodging by the team. All the coaches on the provincial team took turns on duty, and Qin Shiwen was no exception, rotating roughly once a week.

Jiang Muyun poured them a cup of hot water and got straight to the point: "I don't think you need to go to places like the vegetable market. You didn't see the endless queues of people. When I came back, the farmers' market was completely sold out."

In the past few days since the temperature dropped, apart from the shortage of drinking water, the only thing that is hard to buy are vegetables and fruits.

Even though many people have consciously started hoarding food before, it is still a long way from "emptying" the market.

Qin Shiwu has always been optimistic about the situation. After hearing Jiang Muyun's words, he was a little bit unbelievable: "Is it really that exaggerated?"

Jiang Muyun nodded. "It's not just people buying food. I also saw people selling honeycomb briquettes on tricycles. But there were even more people trying to grab them. As soon as the tricycle stopped, someone paid to buy everything. Those who were slow didn't even see what the tricycle looked like."

Everyone present looked at each other in surprise when they heard this.

This matter was really beyond their understanding.

In their opinion, it may be because it is inconvenient for everyone to go out, so it is normal to buy more things at one time to save going up and down the stairs every day.

But judging from what Jiang Muyun said, it is obvious that people are not just doing it as simple as "buying more".

This is simply a desperate attempt to stockpile food at home.

Jiang Muyun picked up the cup and took a sip of water. She didn't tell a single lie.

It just uses the information gap to create a little illusion for people.

For example, there are actually not many stores that open so early, so it is normal for the few stores that are open to be sold out.

For example, the people who went out to buy things this morning were mainly middle-aged and elderly people.

Because most of them have experienced war and famine, the chaotic times that Jiang Muyun's generation of young people have only read about in history books are indelible scars in their memories.

They are much more wary and fearful of disasters.

Now that they see that things are not going well, and thinking about the rumors coming from the "professors", they are naturally the first to take action.

Jiang Muyun looked at the time. It was almost nine o'clock.

"What do you mean, are we going to the supermarket? We definitely won't be able to buy anything at the farmer's market right now."

The prices in supermarkets are relatively higher and they open later, so they will not be the main battlefield for grandparents.

On the contrary, there are more young people like them who are in the second batch going out to stock up on goods.

Qin Shiwen scratched his head in annoyance. "I still have to buy what I need. I'll buy more today so I don't have to go up and down the stairs endlessly later."

Even if the power supply is restored now, no one dares to take the elevator. For people like them who live on high floors, going up and down the stairs every time is a huge physical challenge.

Zhao Jiahao and Li Anxuan were working as normal due to staff shortages at their workplaces, and Qin Shiwu had also received a notice to work shifts at the hospital. Only Qin Shiwen had a relatively easy time.

Logically speaking, the two neighbors have to go out regardless of whether they stock up on things or not, so it is not a big deal to buy things when they need them.

But whenever we think of the word "sold out", we always feel a little uneasy.

Qin Shiwen sighed: "Then let's make a list of what to buy and then set off. The supermarket should be opening soon, so we should try to go early."

This time when they went to the supermarket, they not only brought Jiang Muyun's camper van, but also Li Anxuan's cart.

The four of them split into two groups. Li Anxuan and Jiang Muyun took two carts to the supermarket, while Qin Shiwen and Qin Shiwu drove to the water station together.

After the temperature drop yesterday, the water supply that was restored within a limited time every day is gone again.

Fortunately, the previous major water outage taught everyone a profound lesson. Even though there was only two hours of water supply every day in the later period, no one dared to use water like before, and everyone had some water stored at home.

But it is precisely because of the previous water outage due to low temperatures that everyone is not optimistic about the repair of the water supply system this time.

You can buy less food, as there is a cafeteria in the company where you work, but you must buy enough water.

You can filter river water for domestic use, but it is better to buy drinking water that has been treated by professionals.

Jiang Muyun and his team not only purchased food, but also bought a lot of daily necessities.

Fortunately, several of my neighbors were busy with work, so they mostly bought their groceries online. Common consumables like paper towels were usually bought by the case, so they had plenty of stock and didn't need much replenishment.

Jiang Muyun and Li Anxuan only needed to add some laundry detergent and other things according to the list they had made before.

Each person gets a bag of 50 kilograms of rice, and Qin Shiwen's family has run out of cooking oil, so they have to buy two barrels.

There are also vegetables that are snatched up by everyone as soon as they are put on the shelves. At this time, there is no time to be picky about food. Just take whatever is available.

Thanks to what Jiang Muyun mentioned earlier in the community group, many residents in the community have stored food in advance, especially cabbage, so the demand for vegetables is not that great.

Otherwise, if it were like supermarkets in other areas, by the time Jiang Muyun and the others arrived, they wouldn't even have a chance to grab any vegetables, as there wouldn't even be a single leaf left in the vegetable section.

But even so, buying groceries is still difficult.

They not only have to take care of it, but also have to look at it.

Li Anxuan was using his height to pick up some cabbage, but when he turned around, he found that all the vegetables in his shopping cart were gone.

Jiang Muyun is a little better than him. At least he has survived the apocalypse and has some experience in protecting food.

Apart from the fact that she was not able to pull out her knife when trying to stop someone from taking her lettuce, and someone took advantage of the chaos to steal two green peppers, she didn't suffer any other losses.

Jiang Muyun sighed. If she hadn't stored enough supplies in her space, she probably wouldn't be able to remain calm right now.

In addition to vegetables and drinking water being looted, various warm and cold-proof supplies were also in short supply.

Expensive down quilts, which were rarely seen in supermarkets, were cleared out. Coral fleece sheets and quilt covers were also sold out.

Not to mention the hot packs. After Jiang Muyun and Li Anxuan arrived at the supermarket, they didn't even see the shadow of them.

Yesterday's power outage gave everyone a fright.

It’s okay if the water supply is cut off for a few days, but if the electricity is cut off for a few days in a row, I really dare not close my eyes when I sleep at night, for fear that I will freeze to death the next day.

For this reason, not only cotton clothes and quilts, but also fuels such as coal that can be used for heating during power outages were bought up as soon as they appeared.

At this time, Li Anxuan was actually glad that he had done something stupid.

They all have several boxes of charcoal at home, so if the power really goes out, making a fire to keep warm is a possible option.

The same goes for natural gas. The temperature is so low now, and the natural gas may be cut off one day.

But it is obvious that since most urban residents use natural gas, there are not many liquefied gas tanks in the entire South City.

Jiang Muyun's neighborhood has never heard of a place selling liquefied gas.

With everyone rushing to buy up all supplies, even if liquefied gas is for sale elsewhere, they won't be able to wait for it to be bought.

The two of them squeezed in and out of the crowd, and had to take care of the things in the car. They struggled along the way and barely managed to buy everything.

But the ordeal obviously did not end there.

They still have to carry these things up to the fifteenth floor.

That’s the fifteenth floor!

The things they bought together must weigh hundreds of kilograms, right?

There were five 50-kilogram bags of rice, two barrels of cooking oil, countless vegetables and fruits, and several bottles of household shower gel and shampoo.

Jiang Muyun looked at the cart full of supplies and doubted his life for a moment.

They were not the only ones who went out to buy things, and they were not the ones who bought the most.

The stairwell of this building is now full of people climbing the stairs with supplies on their backs.

Jiang Muyun and Li Anxuan looked at each other and sighed. Following the example of others, they first lifted the camper van up half a floor, put it down, and then came back to lift the cart up.

Jiang Muyun carried it in front, and Li Anxuan supported it from the back, moving the cart up like a stretcher.

They would lift the materials half a floor at a time, and rest when they got tired. Whether there was a place to rest depended on luck.

There are too many people on the lower floors, and many people, tired from moving things, take a breath at the corners or edges of the stairs while carrying their things.

But with so many people and so many things, the corridor could be completely blocked if you are not careful.

In order not to disturb others, everyone just took a breath, then stood up and continued climbing while carrying their things.

People like Jiang Muyun who have to move things twice every time and leave things to take up other people's resting space are often complained about.

Fortunately, they looked young and were quite strong when they were moving things, so no one said anything bad even though there were too many things that took up space.

The temperature is just low now, and everyone is very angry. It is normal to have a quarrel over something.

Jiang Muyun and Li Anxuan were not going to take up other people's resting place. When there were many people on the lower floors, they would carry things up in one go, with almost no rest in between.

Only when there are fewer people at the top will we occasionally stop to catch our breath.

They climbed and rested along the way, and it took them more than 20 minutes to reach home.

When Jiang Muyun's feet stepped onto the ground on the fifteenth floor, he wished he could just collapse on the ground.

Li Anxuan wasn't feeling much better either. He was sweating all over his forehead in such a cold weather that a string of small ice beads was now hanging from his forehead.

"Please...divide the things first...and help open the door." Li Anxuan panted and carried a bag of rice.

Jiang Muyun nodded. She was so tired that her brain was deprived of oxygen and she didn't want to talk anymore.

After bringing their belongings back home, Jiang Muyun squatted beside the chicken coop and took several gulps of water before he recovered.

Now the electric heaters in our house are placed next to the chickens' tents.

Jiang Muyun was consciously trying to adapt his body to the low temperature, while Xiaobai had already adapted and had no problem at all.

Not only was there no problem, Xiaobai seemed to have grown a lot.

Unlike these two little chicks, they have been wilting due to the low temperature. Even after being born for several days, they are still two fur balls.

Jiang Muyun looked at Xiaobai's now over a foot tall figure, scratched his chin and said, "You're not a large dog, are you? How much food will you need to eat when you grow up? How about I take you out later and you can smell where there is a dog food factory?"

Xiaobai stared at Jiang Muyun with his big black eyes until Jiang Muyun began to reflect on whether he should not say this in front of the child.

Fortunately, Qin Shiwen's knock on the door saved Jiang Muyun.

Qin Shiwen was now lying on the big iron gate of Jiang Muyun's house, looking like he was about to die.

Seeing Jiang Muyun open the door, she kicked the bucket at her feet and said intermittently, "There's more down there. I'll tell you to go down and get some water."

The Qin Shiwu over there is a little worse off than the Qin Shiwen.

Qin Shiwen still had the strength to knock on the door, but Qin Shiwu had difficulty knocking on the door and shouted for a long time before Li Anxuan heard him.

Jiang Muyun poured Qin Shiwen a glass of water and advised her to rest for a while before going down.

Qin Shiwen waved his hands as he drank his water: "Goodbye. If I sit down now, no one, not even the Lord, can pull me up again."

Jiang Muyun and Li Anxuan went to the supermarket. Although it was crowded, it was still warm.

Qin Shiwen and Qin Shiwu actually waited in line in the cold wind for several hours, and still almost didn't buy it.

Not only were their feet numb from standing, but by the time they bought the water, they were almost losing feeling all over their bodies.

Qin Shiwen did several sets of high-knee exercises on the spot before he dared to continue driving.

At this temperature, the car air conditioner would have gone on strike long ago.

Qin Shiwen's hands and feet were stiff, and he drove back carefully all the way. Then he climbed up the fifteenth floor carrying four buckets of water. No matter how strong he was, he couldn't hold on any longer.

Qin Shiwen and Qin Shiwu risked their lives to carry ten buckets of water at a time. In addition to the water they carried in their hands, they also tied the water into bundles with ropes and carried it on their backs.

As they were going downstairs, Qin Shiwen said that she was able to bring up so much water at once because she hoped to carry all the remaining water upstairs this time.

If she had to make the third trip, she would really die on the spot.

Jiang Muyun understood this and imitated Qin Shiwen, carrying it in his hands and on his back.

The group of four carried water in a manner similar to that of a refugee, preferring to take three steps and rest three times rather than make another trip.

Although they were in a mess, at least they managed to buy something.

Some unlucky people who arrived too late not only queued for hours but also failed to buy anything. When they wanted to fetch water from the river, they found that the water surface under the ice cave was also frozen.

Some people were smart enough to try to break the ice and take it back to melt it into water, but after breaking it for a long time, there was no response.

The ice is now much more solid than before. It is difficult to see the water flowing under the ice just by looking at the surface.

It is almost impossible to break ice of this thickness without professional tools.

The water in the city's artificial lakes, fountain pools and other places had long been drained, and people could only gather again at the rivers and lakes to try to break the ice.

Just day by day, the water level dropped to a level visible to the naked eye.

Everyone knows that this speed cannot be caused by human water extraction.

A few days later, when the topic of praying for snow appeared again on the Internet, it was no longer a joke.