Chapter 34 Lou Yuncheng

Jixing Community is located in the east of Louyun City, on the east side of Yun River, close to the outskirts of the city, and facing Dam No. 1.

The eastern suburbs of Louyun City are low-lying and have several shelters. They are also close to the flood area, so the eastern part of the city relying on the eastern suburbs is currently the area with the poorest living environment in the entire Louyun City.

The highest floor of Jixing Community is 25, and there are no large supermarkets nearby. In every aspect, it is not the perfect residence in her mind.

If I have to find two advantages to comfort myself, Jixing Community is located on a hill in the east of the city and the buildings have elevators.

Although the 25th floor is not high, combined with the height of the hill itself, it is still much higher than the No. 1 Dam in the distance. Therefore, if you live above the 20th floor in Jixing Community, you can see the vast waters outside the high walls.

Rounding it off, it can be considered a sea view room.

In addition, the rent here is very cheap. For the same price, she can rent a house that is twice or even three times the size of her previous one.

Finally, there are a number of officially designated housing communities for refugees from outside the city in the east, and Jixing Community was fortunately not included in them.

Most of the people living here are locals. Even if there are some outsiders, most of them have some spare money and can rent a house to live on their own.

Shu Fu parked her car downstairs of Building No. 3 in Jixing Community. Looking out through the windshield that was dripping with rain, she saw that the building in front of her had a broad base and stood in front of her like a gray hill.

There are only four buildings in the entire Jixing community, but these four buildings are very large. She feels that all of them combined can accommodate all the residents of the Ping'an community where she used to rent in Suicheng.

Next to Building No. 3 is Building No. 4. The two buildings are close to each other, and there is an aerial corridor connecting the two buildings on the ninth and fifteenth floors respectively.

Shu Fu carried her backpack in front of her and put on a thick raincoat to cover herself completely. When she got off the car, she had a fully charged stun gun in her hand, and a nail gun loaded with nails, which she placed on the most convenient shelf in the inner space.

She still found an agent, who was from the neighborhood. She didn't have too many requirements, but it would be best if the floor was above the 20th, and it was okay if there were fewer furniture, as long as the doors and windows were sturdy.

The agent immediately assured her that since the extreme weather began, many of their vacant houses had reinforced doors and windows, otherwise ordinary glass would not be able to withstand strong winds and hail.

Building No. 3 is overall in the shape of a large fan. The internal space of the corridor is very large, there are many residents, and the aisles are interconnected. In rainy weather like this, some residents who do not have to go to work have nowhere to go. They usually gather in the corridor during the day to chat, gossip, and play mahjong.

Shu Fu did not take off her raincoat and even put on a mask, with only her eyes exposed. When she entered the elevator and walked around the corridor, she could feel the eyes of people around her gathering around her. Not only was she on guard against others, but others were also on guard against her.

Some people noticed that she was a young girl, and their vigilant looks quickly dissipated, but some people still stared at her until she turned the corner of the aisle.

The agent took her to see two apartments, both in Building 3. One was on the 24th floor, facing south, sunny, with three bedrooms and one living room, fully decorated, with water, electricity, gas and ready for move-in.

"How can you still face the sun when it rains every day?"

The agent didn't feel embarrassed. He laughed a few times and took her to another set.

The other one is on the 21st floor, with a smaller area, one bedroom, one living room and a storage room, barely counted as two bedrooms. The house still has all the water, electricity and gas, and the householder is responsible for paying the fees, which will be directly transferred to the householder at the end of the month according to the amount used.

The house was simply decorated, and its layout was a bit like her previous house in Suicheng, except that the windows faced east. There were no windows in the kitchen and bathroom, the bedroom had a window facing east, and the living room was an inner balcony. The lower half was a wall, and the upper half was the window. In addition to reinforcement, it was also anti-theft.

Looking out through the glass, Dam No. 1 in the distance stood quietly in the heavy rain.

Shu Fu focused on checking the bathroom and kitchen, and checked the gas, power lines and sewers one by one. Although the house was small, it was relatively clean. The living room was empty without even a TV background wall, only a long sofa and a glass coffee table.

She had experience in renting houses, and after checking everything she needed to, she decided to rent it.

From the literal meaning of the task, she only needs to check in at Jixing Community and successfully rent a house. Maybe she doesn't need to live here for a long time. The house is deposited with two months' rent and paid in one month's rent. The rent is transferred to the agent every month, and the agent will deduct the corresponding fees and transfer it to the owner.

The rent was not expensive. After signing the contract, she paid directly with her mobile phone, received the access card and keys on the spot, and added the landlord's WeChat.

The agent had never seen such a straightforward customer. From agreeing to view the house to successfully renting the house, the entire process only took two or three hours.

People in their line of work like such efficient customers the most, so before she left, they recommended a few groups to her and told her that if she wanted to buy any fresh vegetables, fruits, fish, meat and medicine, she could always pay attention to the news in the group.

These groups are purchasing and trading groups led by nearby neighborhood committees. The things you buy in the groups will be slightly more expensive than going to the supermarket yourself, but the weather outside is bad right now, with either strong winds or heavy rain. There was a hurricane and huge waves outside the safety wall yesterday.

Some older people or those who do not have a car will choose this method of purchasing on behalf of others. There is no other way. They cannot compete with young people in terms of hand speed, and they cannot squeeze in with middle-aged and young people in the supermarket, so they entrust the neighborhood committee to buy on their behalf.

This kind of purchasing on behalf of others does not involve hoarding and then reselling at high prices. Instead, the group first counts the supplies that need to be purchased, and then goes to the channels specially approved by the government to get them.

Each household must have a copy and no false reporting or concealment is allowed.

To put it bluntly, the people who manage these groups are government employees.

The purchased fresh food or other supplies will be delivered to the corridor at a fixed time, and then the residents in the group will be notified to go downstairs to pick them up according to the receipts and payment records of the previous orders placed in the group.

The trading groups are not so formal. People in the community barter among themselves, exchanging supplies that are not needed at home for urgent items.

For example, a child in a family had a fever of 39 degrees in the middle of the night, but it was raining heavily outside, so he shouted in the group for antipyretic drugs.

Another family in the same building had stockpiled several bottles of antipyretic drugs, but they were short of fruit. The family that was asking for medicine happened to have some, so they reached an agreement in the group, and the family that was asking for medicine went to the other party to make the deal.

Without the recommendation of an agent, it would be impossible for newly moved residents like Shu Fu to join these groups all at once.

Social order is not so good now, especially here in the east of the city, theft and robbery happen from time to time, so people who want to join the group have to go through screening, usually through the invitation of several administrators or recommendation by familiar people.

The agent's store was nearby, as was his home. He was familiar with the neighborhood committees and property management people in several surrounding communities. Seeing that Shu Fu, a young girl, was so quick to rent a house and had a local ID card, he directly recommended her.

Although Shu Fu didn't care about supplies, she didn't like to do things differently. She just joined when others recommended her to. After all, she would just do her daily diving.

Moreover, after joining the group, it is equivalent to establishing connection with Jixing and several nearby communities, and some latest news can be learned from the notifications of the group owner and the conversations between the residents.

For her, who doesn't like to blend in with the crowd, this is a good way to keep a distance and get information at the same time.

Afterwards, she asked the agent about the parking space.

When she entered the building just now, she saw that the parking lots here are all on the first floor. The entire first floor of Building 3 is a parking lot, but there is an electronic guardrail at the door, and cars from outside cannot enter.

It was windy and rainy outside, and since she had rented a car, she naturally wanted to protect it a little.

The agent told her that the parking lot here also has a monthly rental. Few residents nearby buy cars, so there must be vacancies in the parking lot. She can ask the property management, who is also in a group he just recommended to her. The other party will arrange a parking space and provide her with a monthly parking certificate.

With the other party's reminder, Shu Fu quickly found the property and sent a friend request to the other party.

After the agent left, she took off her raincoat, locked the door, and checked the house inside and out again. After confirming that there was nothing unusual, she drew the curtains in the living room, moved the sofa inward, moved the coffee table away, and then released the raft.

When the familiar raft and drifting island house appeared before her, Shu Fu felt like a fish that had been dry for a long time and saw the sea again. She couldn't wait to return to her warm and comfortable home.

More than half an hour later, after taking a shower and changing into clean home clothes, Shu Fu fell on the soft mattress and rolled on the thin quilt with a faint scent of laundry detergent.

These days she is almost depressed by the purified water in the hotel. She smells like chemicals every day. She also has to go out to look at houses and buy delicious food every day. She doesn't want to use shampoo or shower gel that is too fragrant, so she only uses sulfur soap every time.

And now, she felt the faint scent of cherry blossoms on her body and the fragrance of lavender in her hair. She had never felt that she smelled so good, as fragrant as a flower.

It was now past one in the afternoon, which meant she could spend the rest of the day in the Drifting Island house. The front door of the cabin was open. She lay on the bed and could clearly hear the sound of rain coming from outside the balcony.

It was a moderate rain, neither too heavy nor too light, but it continued and had not stopped since the day of the huge waves.

The weather conditions in Louyun City over the past two months can be checked on the Internet. The thunderstorms and hail here are not as bad as those in Suicheng. Only occasionally when the rain becomes heavier will there be thunderstorms or hail, which usually end in about half an hour.

Sometimes it rains too quickly and quickly, which can lead to untimely drainage and waterlogging in some areas of the city, but this phenomenon will soon end.

Compared with Suicheng and Ningcheng areas that were flooded, and the coastal areas that suffered from typhoons and tsunamis, the situation in Louyun City is already very good.

Shu Fu opened the notebook where he recorded disasters and listed various plans, speculating on the disasters that would happen next.

There were torrential rains, floods, tsunamis, thunderstorms and hail. Judging from her records, it seems that the only things left are the mutation of aquatic organisms and rising sea levels.

In fact, the rise in sea levels has already begun, and the mutation of aquatic organisms has gone beyond the scope of natural disasters and is developing into a biological disaster.

But according to the information she has learned, the fish and shrimp in the water are all normal. Some people living in hilly B&Bs even bring fishing rods to fish near the water, or take a boat to deeper water to bait and catch fish.

They have all caught fish, shrimps and crabs. Such fresh seafood has become part of their food source. There are even many people who live in homestays who post photos of their evening grilled fish dinners and spicy shrimps and crabs online, which makes people living in the city who can't eat fresh seafood as they wish because of rising prices very envious.

But she herself hasn't gotten over it and doesn't want to eat seafood caught in the flood area for the time being.

To sum up the above, before the sea level submerges Louyun City, there should be a period of relative peace in the future, right?

And now that the water-blocking dam has been built, that day shouldn't come that soon...

Shu Fu's thoughts didn't go too far, and the hunger in her stomach pulled her thoughts back in time. She only had a sandwich and a latte for breakfast today, and she was already hungry.

Especially since I had just settled the renting issue and was in a completely safe house on the drifting island, I subconsciously wanted to make myself something delicious.

In the bathroom, both washing machines were still working, and she had also put out all the items that needed charging. The raft had not been put out for a while, and a lot of dirty clothes had accumulated. It was a good opportunity to turn on the whole house's electricity source and finish all the things that required electricity at once.

Shu Fu, who is always stingy and always wants to make full use of the electricity during the hours when it is on, finally decides to have hot pot for lunch - the kind cooked with an induction cooker!

The soup base is a shuangxiang pot, half of which is the original bamboo fungus chicken soup pot, and the other half is a red soup pot made by stir-frying the newly bought spicy beef oil hot pot ingredients with some mushrooms.

I made the chicken soup when I was still in Suicheng. I was so bored at that time that I would subconsciously make soup every time I turned on the power in the house. After boiling the soup on the induction cooker, I would put the soup into the energy-saving self-cooking pot and simmer it slowly.

This not only saves energy, but also makes the soup mellow and tasty.

She doesn't eat hotpot often, but sometimes she would eat it with vegetables, meatballs and seafood she bought. There was still enough food for one or two meals in the hotpot gift package: a box of crispy lamb, a box of beef rolls, a box of tripe, a box of baby cuttlefish, a box of luncheon meat, and a platter of oyster mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, Chinese chrysanthemums, cabbage, fried dough sticks, rice cakes, konjac and bean curd.

When eating hotpot or barbecue, she never eats rice. She always eats meat and vegetables to her heart's content. She simply takes out the leftovers and eats as much as she can. At most, she gathers the leftovers and puts them away.

Hot pot still has to be paired with ice cola. There are a lot of boxes of drinks in her space, but not many of them are chilled. Now the refrigerator in the small kitchen can only work when it is powered on, so it is unrealistic to have iced drinks on a daily basis.

There is a refrigerator in the newly rented house, and she can put some drinks in it, but it cannot solve the problem in the long run.

Shu Fu thought about it, put down her chopsticks for a while, went to the small kitchen, took out an ice maker from the space, and looked at the instructions to understand. She cleaned the ice maker, then added purified drinking water and pressed the ice making button.

The instruction manual says that the ice-making time for the first use is about 1 to 2 hours, and the ice-making time will be shortened by half thereafter. She will not turn on the power source of the whole house for so long, but she has a generator, so she will just connect the generator before removing the power card.

As she passed the back door, she remembered the golden second prize she had won.

That card is a 1-hour experience card and must be equipped on the raft before use.

She took out the dazzling gold card, and remembered that the electric card and the drift bottle protective shield were both timed and could be removed at any time, so she took the card to the function screen and swiped the card to equip it.

She had to figure out the specific purpose of this card and whether it was the same as she guessed. If so, she would be more confident when going out alone even if she was not in the Drifting Island House.

[One-hour trial card for the portable protective shield for a message in a bottle, do you want to equip it? ]

She clicks on "Equipment".

In an instant, the words on the golden card at her fingertips disappeared, and the color of the entire card dimmed, like rusty metal.

Shu Fu was startled. She remembered that the same status occurred after her first 24-hour electricity card was used up. The card in this status meant that the usage time had ended. After that, no matter how she swiped the card, the function screen would not respond.

Could it be that this experience card is a one-time card, which will start a countdown once equipped and cannot be removed?

Fortunately, when she was confused and puzzled, subtitles appeared on the screen.

[The portable protective shield of the drifting bottle has been equipped (00:60:00). This is a limited-time experience function. During the limited time, you can turn on the portable protective shield by long pressing the "shield" icon on the bracelet. 】

The countdown above is different from the previously equipped electric card and raft shield card. It is an unactivated 60 minutes, which means that now this card is just equipment and has not been activated.

At the same time, her bracelet vibrated. She raised her hand and found that the seventh icon appeared below the icon of the sixth map panel.

The style of this icon is a little different from the above six, and it’s a bit outrageous. It’s a bottle with a small stickman inside. Although it’s outrageous, its meaning is very clear and understandable at a glance.

The message in the bottle wrapped around the stickman inside, perfectly interpreting the words "message in a bottle as a portable protective shield".

Shu Fu looked at the new icon. She actually wanted to try it out right away. Because the function panel did not give the detailed functions of the portable protective shield, she was not sure whether the effect after turning it on would be exactly the same as the raft's protective shield, or if there would be some differences in details.

But she didn't press it rashly this time. What if the countdown couldn't end after she turned it on? Wouldn't that be a waste?

Anyway, it is ready now and can be started at any time, so you might as well wait until you really need it before turning it on.

She returned to the small dining table. The broth in the induction cooker had already boiled, bubbling with fragrant hot steam.

Because I won the second floor-to-ceiling window before, the lattice window in front of the dining table has now become a floor-to-ceiling window. It's a pity that I am indoors now, and the wall of the rental house is outside the window. If the raft was floating on the water at this time, the view would be wide and I could eat while watching the rain.

Shu Fu took out the tablet and found a disaster movie about biological mutation, which she could watch while eating and learn something new at the same time.

An hour later, she cleaned up the dishes and disposed of the garbage, put the remaining meat and vegetables into the pot and cooked them, then put the pot into the space, planning to continue tomorrow at noon.

In the small kitchen, the first batch of ice cubes was made. She found a metal ice bucket from the space. This ice bucket was fished up by the automatic water fishing rod. It was still brand new and unopened. It was just the right place to store the prepared ice cubes.

She cleaned the ice bucket, scalded it with hot water, wiped off the water, poured the ice cubes into it, and immediately put it into the space.

The two washing machines in the bathroom were stopped, the clothes were washed, and all the equipment that needed to be charged was charged. She removed the power cards, connected the two dryers and the ice maker to the generator, made another batch of ice cubes, and then hung all the clothes in the dryers one by one.

After finishing everything, Shu Fu connected her mobile phone to the Bluetooth speaker, then fell on the sofa, selected a soft song, and fell asleep while listening.

**

I had a peaceful and sound nap, and when I woke up it was almost evening.

Shu Fu turned off the music, drank some water, and took out a cup of mochi and taro milk tea. While drinking, she checked her bracelet. On the black notebook, the handwriting of the task of checking in at Jixing Community and renting a house was still black.

She has been in the rented house for half a day, why hasn't the task been completed yet?

Do we have to wait three days before it will be automatically identified as completed?

All right, she had time now anyway, and although she really wanted to upgrade the raft to level 3 as soon as possible, she knew very well that the progress bar could not be rushed.

Outside the house on Drifting Island, the crackling sound of rain hitting the glass seemed to have stopped. Shu Fu took a thick velvet coat, put it on and stepped out of the house. She opened the curtains in the living room and found that the gloomy sky outside the balcony had brightened up.