Chapter 42

The electricity didn't come until it got dark again. However, after dark, the community came to generate electricity for the elevator. Many people who had been locked up at home all day couldn't wait to run outside. Now there is almost no temperature difference between home and outside. There is still a little natural breeze outside. With the doors and windows closed at home, it is even more stuffy. Many people feel that if there is no electricity tonight, they really have to find a place to survive during the day, otherwise even if they hide back home, they will die of heat.

The ice in Mu Nan's room had been replaced once, but he did not waste the melted water. He moved it directly to another inflatable swimming pool filled with water. The water still had some residual cold temperature, so it would be just right for him to take a dip in it next time when the temperature got too high.

Because two air-conditioning fans were used at the same time, the power consumption was even greater. Before seven or eight hours, the battery had already run out of power. Mu Nan could only take out a new one. Fortunately, this type of battery was not expensive, so he prepared two or three of them. Later, Qin Huai bought a lot more in City B. All of them were fully charged. Even with such a consumption that was not enough to cover the expenses, they could last for half a month. If there was no power for more than half a month, they would have to use the generator.

Although Mu Nan didn't have much memory of this power outage, because power outages were very frequent at this time in his previous life, sometimes they would last for a day or two. His memory was not good enough to remember every detail, so he didn't know how long this power outage would last. Anyway, for now, they were still comfortable at home, thanks to Qin Huai for taking the trouble to get some ice cubes.

When winter comes, he freezes big ice blocks in one swimming pool after another. At the winter temperature, a swimming pool of water is placed in a ventilated room, and the water will be frozen solid in one day and one night. If he freezes two or three swimming pools of ice blocks a day, he can accumulate a lot of ice blocks in the whole winter, which is enough to support the consumption in the coming year.

While Mu Nan was sitting on the floor drawing a recipe, Qin Huai was wiping the mat with a towel diluted with floral water. Although the room was not that hot, sleeping in the same position for a long time would still make one sweat a little, so the mat had to be wiped every day. Seeing Mu Nan sitting on the floor to cool down, Qin Huai said, "Take a shower later, or put on some prickly heat powder. I saw you bought some of that stuff."

Powder for prickly heat used to be sold in drugstores. Thinking that the sun wouldn't be seen day after day, Mu Nan bought a lot of vitamins and used up his medical insurance card. When he saw powder for prickly heat on the shelf, he bought a few boxes. But it seemed that he would not need it yet. At least in his previous life, he had never gotten prickly heat no matter how hot it was, so he didn't prepare much.

Hearing Qin Huai say this, Mu Nan touched his neck and said, "I don't have prickly heat."

Qin Huai: "Just a precaution."

Mu Nan said indifferently: "Okay."

Then the alarm that Mu Nan set rang. Mu Nan turned off the alarm and took out two palm-sized sealed bags from the space. One bag contained various vitamins in yellow, white, and red capsules: "Brother, come quickly, take your vitamins."

If you don't see the sun for a long time, your body will have problems, but you can't be exposed to the sun now, so Mu Nan prepared a lot of vitamin and calcium tablets early, and also bought some adult supplements, which are the kind of nutrients that need extra intake according to age. A small bag contains various eye-improving, liver-protecting, calcium-supplementing, cardiovascular protection and so on. A single small bag is a day's intake, which is very convenient. He added some vitamins to the small bag. Anyway, they are all health supplements that will not harm you.

Qin Huai washed his hands, took the bag, did it twice and swallowed it in one gulp, then Mu Nan handed him a bag of ginseng liquid. After drinking it, he watched Mu Nan swallow one pill at a time, and he was a little amused: "After you finish this bag, you are full even if you drink water."

Mu Nan glanced at Qin Huai: "What can I do? I can't swallow it all in one gulp."

Qin Huai: "I haven't eaten these things much before." It's a bit early to start all kinds of health preservation in your twenties.

Mu Nan sucked on the ginseng stick and said, "Brother, if humans live in such a dark environment for a long time, will their eyes evolve to have super clear night vision?"

Qin Huai said: "Of course. The most amazing thing about the genes of living things is that they will gradually change according to the environment, although this may be a very long process."

Mu Nan rubbed his full stomach while getting up from the ground to take a shower, thinking about washing his hair. Although his hair was still short, he hadn't washed it for a few days, and it was a little greasy. When Mu Nan came out again, he was smelling of shower gel and shampoo. He wiped his hair and got in front of the air conditioner fan while saying, "I feel alive again."

Qin Huai stretched out his hand to turn the air conditioner fan to the side, not blowing it directly at him, and then wrapped his entire head with a towel to wipe it: "I told you to dry it a little before going out to blow the air. If you blow the air wet every time, you will definitely have a runny nose the next day."

Mu Nan tilted his head back and let Qin Huai wipe his head: "It's so hot, even a cold shower would be hot." Although it was a cold shower, the water in the bucket was steaming when it washed his body, which was not much different from a hot shower.

Short hair dries very quickly. It was almost dry after two wipes. Qin Huai asked Mu Nan to take out the prickly heat powder and sprinkled a layer around the back of his neck. The prickly heat powder had a minty scent and was refreshing. When the air conditioner blew on it, he felt refreshed instantly: "This smell brings me back to my childhood."

Qin Huai laughed: "You haven't used prickly heat powder since you were five years old. Can you remember anything before you were five years old?"

Mu Nan shook his head: "I don't remember it very well, but the taste feels very much like when I was a child."

After applying powder, Mu Nan climbed directly onto the bed and took the notebook over. While looking through variety shows, he urged Qin Huai to take a shower. Since he had already applied powder, Qin Huai had to do the same. While looking for a movie, he saw someone sending a message in the small group. Mu Nan opened it and saw that it was Jian Chu asking them if they wanted to go downstairs.

Mu Nan replied in the group: "I won't get off. I have a traumatic experience with elevators."

Jian Chu: “???”

Mu Nan: "My brother and I almost got into the elevator yesterday. It was so scary."

Jian Chu: "That's really lucky. I heard there's a stall selling dried vegetables downstairs. We're going to go down and take a look."

Mu Nan: "What kind of dried vegetables? Pickled mustard greens?"

Jian Chu: "Dehydrated vegetables. I can't afford them, but I'll just join in the fun. It's warm at home anyway."

Xu Ming: "I'll go down, wait for me."

Mu Nan: "If you guys want to buy some, please tell us in the group and ask them to bring some for us."

Jian Chu: "Okay."

Qin Huai also took a thorough bath and felt more relaxed. Mu Nan quickly took the powder and threw it on him: "Jian Chu and the others went downstairs and said that someone was selling dehydrated vegetables downstairs. I said if they buy them, they should help us get some too."

Qin Huai said: "Dehydrated vegetables are probably too expensive at this time."

They have a lot of dehydrated vegetables. Although they can only preserve fresh ones, they have also prepared a lot of dehydrated vegetables. Things like these that are suitable for preservation in extreme environments are also very important supplies.

When Jian Chu and the other two arrived downstairs, the stall selling dehydrated vegetables at the entrance of the community was already surrounded by people. However, in order to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the situation, the stall owner did not let others get close to the stall. Several burly men with tattoos on their bodies stood in front of the stall with mallets in their hands. There was also a sign on the stall, telling people who wanted to buy to come forward one by one and not to rush in at once.

Jian Chu stood on the flower bed and took a look inside. After seeing the words on the sign clearly, he said to Yu Zibai and Xu Ming in astonishment, "One thousand yuan per bag, and one bag is only 300 grams, not even a pound."

Yu Zibai said, "After rehydrating this stuff, 300 grams should be equivalent to several kilograms of vegetables."

Xu Ming shook his head. "It's pretty good to have two kilograms. What's sold here is a mixture. You can only make soup after soaking it. This pack can be eaten several times. Considering the current price of vegetables, one thousand yuan a pack is considered cheap. After all, if you want to eat this thing, you need water. Water is more expensive than anything else now. One thousand yuan is probably the bottom line for many people."

The most important thing is that the government is still distributing supplies, and rice, flour, grain and oil can occasionally be grabbed by hand. Although it is expensive, at least it can be bought. And the instant noodles distributed have vegetable packets. If these are fresh vegetables, then no matter how expensive they are, many people will rush to buy them. But these are dehydrated vegetables. Although they are easy to preserve, for people who are not very accepting of dehydrated vegetables, they will think that vegetables are dehydrated and the nutrients are lost, just like the vegetable packets in instant noodles, which can no longer be called vegetables.

Jian Chu looked at Yu Zibai: "Should we buy some?" Anyway, there is some extra income. He always feels that now that he has the money in his hand, he might as well exchange it for food and drink. The money is no longer safe.

Yu Zibai thought about it, then nodded and said, "Buy some. Ask Qin Huai and the others. Didn't they say they wanted to take some? See how much they want."

Jian Chu took a photo of the stall with his phone and sent it to Mu Nan. After a while, Mu Nan replied and transferred 5,000 yuan. Jian Chu: "They want five bags, what about us?"

Yu Zibai: "Let's take three packs."

Xu Ming said: "I'm alone, so I'll just take two packs, which makes exactly ten packs."

Yu Zibai asked Jian Chu to stand on the flower bed to avoid being squeezed by the onlookers below. Then he and Xu Ming went into the crowd. Because there were several burly men guarding the place and the price was ridiculously expensive for some people, before the first person to try it came, most people just stood by and watched, not daring to step forward.

Yu Zibai and Xu Ming bought ten bags smoothly without bargaining with the boss. They just scanned the code to pay, took the ten bags and left. The whole process was quite smooth and efficient.

When the people behind saw that someone was buying, they could not help but come forward. Ever since the fierce sun hung in the sky, they could not remember how long it had been since they had eaten vegetables. They heard that it was no longer possible to plant vegetables in the fields. Those that had not yet been harvested were either sun-dried to death or harvested early. The government did not dare to report the losses of crops across the country for fear of causing famine and riots.

Some people say that the current situation has far exceeded the natural and man-made disasters that have ever occurred in history. Although the harvest was poor and drought was widespread, at least the climate was normal compared to now, and people could go to the mountains to dig wild vegetables to fill their stomachs. Now the sun is so hot that it wants to dry up the land and leave no way for people to survive. Judging from the current situation, even if the national treasury is full of grain, if it cannot be planted, it may not be available for a while, even if you have money.

People follow the crowd. The more people buy, the more those who originally didn't plan to buy can't help but join the scramble. Soon the vegetable stalls were sold out and closed. Jian Chu and his friends sat downstairs for a while with black plastic bags. Because it was too hot in the house, many people came downstairs. The small garden in the entire community was full of people. Some active children were not afraid of the heat and ran around. The adults who brought their children downstairs didn't seem to have the energy to take care of them. They just held water in their hands and called the children back from time to time to feed them a few sips of water.

I don't know if the boss of the mahjong room downstairs had it originally or got a battery from somewhere, but he placed a large fan at the door and blew it outside. The fan swayed its head, dispersing some of the heat gathered around the people. Everyone is very content to have this little bit of wind now. Some people are still sighing that they should have prepared a battery at home earlier. If the air conditioner can't work, the fan can still blow.

Many clever people have already started trying to remove the batteries from their electric bikes, but connecting the wires requires some skills. Those who don't understand circuits won't be able to figure it out even if they follow online tutorials. But there has always been no shortage of talent among the people, and some people can really do it. So those who don't know how to do it take some food and drink and ask others for help. Even if the power comes back on later, this thing will always come in handy.

In the time that the three of them were sitting downstairs for, they saw at least three people coming to the boss with their electric bike batteries and wiring boards to ask for help in modifying them. Later, some people even pushed their electric bikes over and waited in line.

Jian Chu: "These days, having a skill is really popular everywhere." In just a short while, he earned three bottles of water.

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw several people with dejected and haggard faces passing through the crowd. Jian Chu quickly sent a message to Mu Nan: "The Zhang family is back."

Mu Nan was sitting cross-legged and eating a popsicle. When he saw the message, he quickly said to Qin Huai, "Jian Chu said that the Zhang family is back."

Qin Huai didn't care much: "Just go back, it has nothing to do with us."

Mu Nan nodded: "That's true."

Qin Huai glanced at him, then turned his gaze to the computer screen: "This celebrity looks familiar, what's his name?"

Mu Nan turned his head to look at the computer, and the next second his hands were empty. He turned around and saw that the popsicle he had just eaten half of was taken away by Qin Huai: "..."

Mu Nan: "People are doing things? If you want to eat, just tell me. I have plenty of them in my space."

Qin Huai: "Half for each is just right."

Qin Huai finished half a popsicle in just a few bites, but he did not throw away the stick. Instead, he rinsed it with water and handed it to Mu Nan to put away. These things can be recycled and can be used to make homemade popsicles in winter.

When Qin Huai returned to bed, he heard a loud cry from the corridor. It was Grandma Zhang's cry. It was loud and full of energy. To be honest, the two old people in the Zhang family were in really good health. It was so hot during the day that many young people couldn't stand it, but Grandma Zhang was like nothing happened.

Mu Nan sighed: "Did they bring the ashes back?"

Qin Huai said: "It shouldn't be that fast. There are too many deaths. A district can have hundreds or even thousands of deaths every day. How many deaths can there be in a city? The crematorium is not big enough to burn them all."

It is also said that it is now impossible to collect the ashes. There are too many deaths, and it is simply unrealistic to burn them one by one. The bodies cannot be kept for a long time. There are not enough ice storages to store them. If they are left outside, they will only rot faster. Everyone knows that if the bodies are not dealt with as soon as possible, bacteria and viruses will multiply rapidly, and if we are not careful, there will be another large-scale plague. Even if citizens cannot accept not being able to collect the ashes of their loved ones, the government will not allow another avoidable crisis to happen again when the situation is already terrible.

However, these are just the information Qin Huai saw from the comments under some news on the Internet. There has been no official confirmation or official refutation of the facts, but in their community, it seems that no one who had their ashes taken back from those bodies that were dragged away was able to take them back.

Grandma Zhang naturally couldn't accept the death of her old man. He was just going to collect supplies, but he was locked in the elevator because of the power outage. How could he be dead after being locked in for a while? Unable to bear the blow, Grandma Zhang almost fainted from crying. She hugged her little grandson who was also crying and wailed: "The old man is gone. What will happen to our family in the future? My grandson has lost his grandfather. What will he do in the future!"

Zhang Jianwen was so strong because he was the pillar of the family, both financially and spiritually. His son Zhang Yi grew up under his father's dominance and was docile and had no opinions. His grandson was not as silent and submissive as his father because of the doting of his grandson, but he was just a 16-year-old boy who grew up in doting. What could he do? So when Zhang Jianwen died, the Zhang family lost its backbone and didn't know what to do in the future.

Especially when he heard his mother say that someone had knocked on the door during the day, wondering if they wanted to do something because there was only an elderly widow left in their home, Zhang Yi was even more panicked. He thought that if the current situation could not be improved and the whole world could not be restored to the past, how would he support this family and how would he afford such a large family. Thinking of the future, Zhang Yi's eyes went dark and he felt that this time, the sky was really going to fall.

When Jian Chu and the others came back, the Zhang family was still crying and hugging each other. Xu Ming had already suffered a loss once, so he naturally would not be the kind-hearted person again. He simply ignored the crying family and went back to the house. Besides, they were a big family, so why did they need the care of a lonely person like him?

Jian Chu sent a message to Mu Nan in advance. After waiting at the door for a while, Qin Huai came to open the door and handed them the five bags of dried vegetables: "Fortunately, we went early. If we were half an hour later, they would all be sold out."

Qin Huai said, "Thank you. What's the situation outside? Any news about the call?"

Jian Chu shook his head: "No, a group of people were sitting downstairs anyway, and many of them were trying to find a way to convert the battery to the power strip. The owner of the mahjong room had dragged a fan outside, and many people were sitting there enjoying the fan. As more and more people came, there was no more room to sit, and it got hot when there were too many people, so we came up."

Qin Huai said: "If you have a battery, I can help you modify it."

Jian Chu was pleasantly surprised at first, then he sighed: "That requires an electric car first. Forget it, it's more practical to pray for a call."

The crying from the Zhang family lasted for quite a long time. Qin Huai and his family were fine. They were separated by a corridor. They closed the iron gate and their front door, and turned up the volume of their computers to cover it up. The two families next door suffered a lot, especially Jian Chu and Yu Zibai who lived in the living room. But they could do nothing no matter how annoyed they were by the crying. Someone in the family had passed away and they were very sad. If they were annoyed and went to their door, it would be too much, so they could only endure it.

Fortunately, they didn’t endure it for too long, as the phone call came.

Now they could hear the cheers from downstairs even on the 17th floor. Those who had been enjoying the cool air outside hurried home to turn on the air conditioner. Jian Chu and the others also hurriedly turned on the air conditioner, while charging their phones and opening their laptops, and playing any program that could cover up the crying from next door. They would feel better.

Hearing the beeping sound, Mu Nan couldn't help but sigh: "The power is back. Life without electricity is too difficult."

Qin Huai laughed: "It's not like you're getting hot. The ice in this big ice cube hasn't melted yet."

Mu Nan: "That's not as comfortable as air conditioning. Let's wait until the air conditioning in the house turns up and the temperature drops, then we can eat. When the electricity comes on, my appetite comes up."

Qin Huai: "What do you want to eat? Ready-made food or something I cook?"

Mu Nan thought for a moment and said, "Let's eat what's ready. It's too hot. Cooking will be even hotter."

Qin Huai leaned on the bed and flipped through the recipe Mu Nan drew: "It's okay. There is no chicken at home now. I can open the kitchen door. When the kitchen is cool, it won't be too much trouble to stir-fry two dishes. What do you want to eat?"

Mu Nan thought about the ingredients in the space: "I want to eat stir-fried yellow cattle with Hangzhou peppers and spicy and sour potato shreds. For vegetables, do you want cabbage or lettuce? Then just take them from the space."

Qin Huai nodded: "Let's eat the raw vegetables. Take out the vegetables and I'll wash and cut the Hangzhou peppers."

After Mu Nan took the vegetables out of the space, he also put the inflatable swimming pool with ice cubes into the space. Qin Huai took the vegetables into the kitchen. There was a bucket of clean water in the kitchen, which was used to wash vegetables. Seeing Qin Huai start cooking, Mu Nan was not idle. He first charged a few batteries that had run out of power. Thinking that he would have to take a shower later, Mu Nan went to the next door to put away the earthen basins.

Although both raising chickens and growing vegetables failed halfway, Mu Nan had actually prepared himself mentally. For someone like him who had never raised chickens or grown vegetables before, he might not be able to keep them alive when the climate was normal. After all, he was a person who could even kill a cactus, so he didn't expect to succeed in one go. Anyway, there was soil and seeds in the space, so he could try slowly when the time came. At least they didn't need to worry about their livelihood and food in the next few years.