◎Happy Day 31: Extreme Cold◎

The people knocking on the door were community workers who came to do population registration.

After confirming the other party's identity, Jiang Muyun took out the real estate certificate and household registration booklet for the other party to register information as requested by the other party.

Director Li of the community tucked his scarf under his chin and smiled as he filled in the information in the notebook, "You installed the door well. You're quite security-conscious."

Her voice was a little hoarse. As she spoke, she took out a thermos from her bosom and took a sip of water.

Director Li has worked in this community for decades. Her photo is posted on the community service board. Residents of surrounding communities are quite familiar with her, otherwise Jiang Muyun would not have given her the family documents for registration.

Jiang Muyun smiled helplessly and said, "There's nothing I can do. You know the situation in my family, so I have to be careful."

Even though he recognized Director Li, Jiang Muyun did not invite him into his house. Instead, he communicated with him through the big iron gate outside.

Director Li didn't mind Jiang Muyun talking to her through the door: "This is a good thing. The world is not peaceful now, so we should pay more attention to safety issues in our daily lives."

Director Li passed the property certificate to Jiang Muyun through the gap in the iron gate. Jiang Muyun took the certificate and asked casually, "Why are they suddenly registering residents in this cold weather?"

Director Li smiled and said, "Something happened."

After saying that, he signaled the staff around him to explain to Jiang Muyun.

According to the staff member, the person who made a big noise this morning originally lived on the other side of Nanshi City and came to this community to visit his elderly family members.

As a result, he knocked on the door in the morning but no one answered. When he opened the door, he saw that the old people's house was in a mess, all the water and coal had been taken away, and the two old people had been dead for a long time.

The two elderly people died in a horrific way. The man was caught off guard and frightened. His cell phone couldn't be turned on and he couldn't call the police, so he could only rush out of the house in panic, shouting all the way.

"The death was horrific? Was the nature so bad?" Jiang Muyun looked up at the staff member who was speaking, his expression somewhat worried.

The staff shook their heads: "The two elderly people died of carbon monoxide poisoning."

Jiang Muyun tilted her head slightly. Death from carbon monoxide poisoning wasn't exactly a horrific death, was it? Or had she been in the apocalypse for so long that her threshold for the word "horrible" had increased?

The staff member explained: "The two elderly people did not die of poisoning in their sleep. Judging from the situation at the scene, they tried to save themselves, but unfortunately failed."

You can imagine what the scene would be like if you were unwilling to die while struggling.

In addition to investigating the population situation of each household and confirming the safety of residents, community workers went to the homes of residents today to use this incident as a warning to everyone.

The staff member scratched his head and continued, "And after this door-to-door visit, we found that many residents said that their windows had been inexplicably closed before, and most of them didn't discover it until the next morning."

"Before, many people just thought it was their own carelessness, and few people noticed anything was wrong. It was not until this accident happened that everyone realized that they might have almost become victims."

In fact, after the government started selling coal to the outside world, the sales of carbon monoxide alarms also became popular.

However, perhaps due to a lack of understanding of accidents caused by carbon monoxide poisoning, many people hold the mentality that "our ancestors have all gone through this, opening a window can solve the problem, so what can go wrong?"

Even though the authorities have repeatedly emphasized this, some residents still do not take carbon monoxide alarms seriously.

If they see an alarm on sale and the price is acceptable, they might buy one.

But if it happens that the item nearby is sold out, they probably won't be interested in looking for it somewhere else.

Just like the neighborhood where Jiang Muyun lives, the sound insulation here is actually not that good.

Sometimes when we walk in the neighborhood, we can hear couples arguing in other families.

If someone's alarm goes off in the middle of the night, the surrounding neighbors will definitely hear the noise.

But as far as the current situation is concerned, community staff have heard many residents talk about their windows being closed, but have not heard anyone talk about hearing the alarm in the middle of the night.

After listening to what the staff member said, Jiang Muyun quickly understood the other party's intention.

It was so cold that there was no way anyone was outside at night.

And now the power is out again, the sky is foggy, and it is pitch black outside at night.

This kind of environment is very unfriendly to ordinary people, but for some shameful people or things, it is simply heaven.

Just like the criminals this time, he or they closed other people's windows in the middle of the night to see if they would be poisoned by carbon monoxide.

If the victim is lucky enough to be safe, the criminal will pretend nothing happened. If the victim is unlucky enough to be a victim, the criminal can easily empty the victim's property.

They can even close countless windows in one night and then determine whether a household has been affected by observing whether the windows are opened again.

If a household hasn't opened a window for several days in a row, it's almost certain that the person has died, and the criminal only needs to find time to come and move their belongings.

If Jiang Muyun guessed correctly, the victims could not be just those two old men.

As expected, after the staff member finished speaking, Director Li spoke up, "What happened this morning isn't an isolated incident. In fact, so far, three families have been found murdered in the community we're responsible for."

Director Li said in a gentle voice: "So to prevent similar incidents from happening again, we hope that residents can be more vigilant and pay attention to the safety issues of indoor coal heating. It is best to install a carbon monoxide alarm at home."

The temperature is so low now that a corpse can be kept at home for a month without any odor.

Coupled with factors such as power outages, company closures and school holidays, even if a household loses contact, it would be difficult to detect in a short period of time.

As a result, criminals' movements have become more flexible and irregular, and they are difficult to catch without cameras, making the cost of crime frighteningly low.

Jiang Muyun nodded: "I will. Thank you for your hard work."

While they were talking, the community staff also completed the information registration.

Jiang Muyun took the certificate handed back by the other party and thanked several community staff members.

Director Li nodded and went to knock on the door of room 1502 next door.

This is the fifteenth floor. Even if someone closes the windows, they can't reach the fifteenth floor.

Community workers went to the homes of residents to register their information and told them that this incident, which happened on high floors, was definitely not to alert them to burglary.

This is more of a subtle hint to residents through this incident, hoping that residents will be on guard voluntarily.

It’s not that Director Li and the others want to be riddlers, but they really have no other choice.

They are community workers and grassroots, but they also represent the government.

Without hinting in this way, they couldn't just come to someone's door and say, "It's a mess out there, and the case is hard to investigate. It's very likely that you were murdered and we won't be able to catch the murderer. Just wish everyone the best."

If you put it bluntly, even if nothing happened, something bad will happen.

However, the Chinese government is not just there to do nothing.

Just because the authorities say it is difficult to investigate doesn’t mean this behavior will be tolerated.

That afternoon, Jiang Muyun discovered that there was a team of patrolling soldiers downstairs.

Li Anxuan was afraid that Jiang Muyun’s phone would run out of battery and she wouldn’t be able to see the message, so he went to her house to find her after get off work in the evening.

"Every household here has a lot of storage, and we're close to the water source, so it's relatively peaceful. Some places are in complete chaos." Li Anxuan's brows never relaxed as he spoke. "I just came back and ran into Sister Wen. She said the provincial team's work has been suspended, and the athletes are being accommodated by the government."

The provincial team coaches were mostly retired athletes, and those like Qin Shiwen, who hadn't been retired long, still kept up their basic training. If they ran into ordinary hooligans on the street, they wouldn't know who was in trouble.

But now even the provincial team has stopped working decisively, which shows that things are indeed getting chaotic outside.

Li Anxuan pinched his brows. "The authorities can't mobilize many people right now. They say there are patrols, but there are definitely places they can't cover. Zhao Jiahao and I will have to go to work together from now on, and Brother Wu will also have a car to pick us up. If you and Sister Wen go out later, it's best to bring some self-defense equipment."

Li Anxuan and Zhao Jiahao are in the system anyway, so they know much more specific information than Jiang Muyun.

Jiang Muyun smiled and said, "Don't worry, I know. If you need anything, just contact me on your phone. I still have enough battery."

Li Anxuan responded and added, "If your power bank runs out of power, just tell us. We can charge it at work."

Jiang Muyun did not refuse and thanked him.

The unrest has already begun, and Jiang Muyun has no shortage of supplies, so of course he won't go out now and cause trouble for himself.

Qin Shiwen's attitude towards this matter is similar.

Her family used to store things for two people, but now that Qin Shiwu is not often at home, she can use the things by herself, so it is enough.

After making up his mind, Jiang Muyun stayed at home peacefully. Every day, apart from reading novels, variety shows and TV dramas, he would fiddle with the casserole and practice his cooking skills.

The small coal stove will burn anyway, so instead of just leaving it there and wasting it, you might as well use the fire to stew something.

For Jiang Muyun, she is not good at cooking, but she is confident in stewing porridge.

Jiang Muyun is going to cook some bacon porridge today. Following the instructions in the tutorial, he will fry the oil first and then add rice and water. When the rice is cooked, the aroma of the bacon will be infused into the rice porridge.

It doesn't look difficult at first; you just need to weigh the meat, rice, and water, and you don't even need to add salt. The only thing you need to be careful about is not to lift the lid of the pot too often while the porridge is cooking.

Jiang Muyun felt very insecure about not being able to lift the lid of the pot more than once.

She observed the fire in the small coal stove for a while, thought about it, and poured another cup of water into the pot.

Jiang Muyun covered the pot and nervously pressed the timer, then randomly picked a variety show to watch while eating.

When the timer started ticking, Jiang Muyun opened the lid of the pot with some trepidation. The unique salty aroma of bacon immediately filled the entire room, and Xiaobai excitedly circled around the stove.

Jiang Muyun filled a bowl and tasted it.

Maybe because too much water was added, the porridge was not thick enough and a little bland. However, the salty and fresh taste of the bacon was enough to make up for this small flaw.

Seeing Xiaobai's anxious look, Jiang Muyun thought that there was not much dog food left in his space, and it was time to cultivate Xiaobai's habit of eating omnivorous foods.

She added a lot of white rice porridge to Xiaobai's porridge to dilute the saltiness before putting Xiaobai's food bowl down.

Jiang Muyun had done some research before and found out that dogs need to consume a moderate amount of salt.

However, Jiang Muyun was not sure what the appropriate amount was, so he could only season Xiaobai according to the standard mentioned online: "there is salt but the saltiness is not obvious."

As soon as the exclusive food bowl landed on the ground, Xiaobai couldn't wait to bury his head in it, and didn't even react when Jiang Muyun touched his ears.

In view of Xiaobai's good reaction, Jiang Muyun fed it two more steamed buns the next day.

What the old man said before was right, Xiaobai is indeed easy to feed, everything he eats tastes delicious, and he doesn't have any adverse reactions after eating.

After feeding Xiaobai, Jiang Muyun held his phone and started browsing various social networking sites and local forums.

There is now a water shortage across the country, and most cities have power outages. Even places that have not had power outages have started to limit power supply, and even getting an internet water sticker has become a luxury.

Without a large number of spam posts, some valuable information can be easily filtered out.

In northern China, where water supply was cut off later, the water shortage is now more serious. However, because heating has not been cut off, many people still want to go north to escape the cold.

Now, whether it is a major agricultural province or other provinces, it is almost impossible to buy food through normal channels.

Not only common staples like rice and noodles, but even various biscuits and instant noodles have become scarce. Occasionally, private vendors offer them for sale at ridiculously high prices, and when trading, one has to be wary of outright robbery.

Perhaps because too many people got into trouble in private transactions, gradually, even these private traders disappeared.

In addition to food, other daily necessities also have the risk of being out of stock at any time. Jiang Muyun can see news from time to time that paper towels, cleaning supplies, etc. in a certain place have been out of stock for a certain number of days.

Only coal has been in normal supply, and there has been no news of coal shortages so far.

This can be considered a blessing in disguise, and it makes people feel particularly at ease when looking at it.

But this peace of mind didn't last long.

Jiang Muyun was awakened by the sharp sound of the wind in the night.

She tried to open her eyes drowsily, but just as she raised her head a little, she shrank back because of the coldness on her neck.

Seeing Jiang Muyun shrink back into the quilt, Xiaobai whimpered twice and scratched the quilt with his front paws.

Xiaobai didn't pull Jiang Muyun up, but the sudden sharp alarm sound outside the window scared Jiang Muyun awake.

"What a sin! What happened?" Jiang Muyun rubbed his head, barely stretching half a hand out of the quilt to comfort Xiaobai. His other hand groped around in the quilt, trying to find the autumn clothes and trousers she had stuffed in there for warmth.

With his rich experience, Jiang Muyun successfully adjusted the shape of the clothes just by feel, then dove into the bed and completed the whole process of putting on the clothes in the bed.

Only with the protection of long-sleeved shirts and long johns did Jiang Muyun dare to get out of bed and put on home clothes.

As soon as he left the thick but warm bed, Jiang Muyun noticed a significant change in temperature.

This was a kind of coldness that seemed to freeze the blood, completely different from before.

Jiang Muyun checked the small coal stove.

The fires in the two small coal stoves in her room looked like they were dying from the low temperature.

Jiang Muyun stopped putting on his home clothes.

She reached out to close the window and took out the polar cold-proof clothing from the space.

The flames of the two small coal stoves in the room were about to go out, and the two chicks huddled together, shivering. Only Xiaobai was still energetic, circling Jiang Muyun non-stop, looking a little impatient.

After Jiang Muyun dressed himself, he lit the fire again, soaked a hot towel in the hot water in the space, and wiped his hands to dispel the chill he had just contracted.

Jiang Muyun confirmed the current time and then went to check the thermometer that was hung back in the living room.

It is now 05:24 in the morning of November 21, 2023 on Blue Star, and the real-time indoor temperature is minus 67 degrees Celsius.

Although the time is different from the previous life again, the pace of the end of the world has not stopped.

It still came.

The alarm sound was somewhat blurred by the window. Jiang Muyun's fingertips holding the thermometer were frozen white, but he never let go - they were stuck.

Jiang Muyun was melancholy for only three seconds, taking a deep breath and taking out a bottle from the space to add warm water.

There was still moisture on her hands from wiping them, and now it was stuck directly to the metal probe of the thermometer.

At this temperature, if she was any slower, the flesh on her finger would have been frozen to death.

Jiang Muyun felt that he had been living a good life for too long and had actually forgotten such common sense.

Just like Jiang Muyun's hand was suddenly stuck, when everyone was caught off guard, Blue Star entered the real extreme cold.