Chapter 17

Before returning to Z City, Tong Shu filled the inflatable boat again, thus consuming all of Qin Jiaqiang's hard work from the previous few days.

Tong Shu had already made up her mind. She would go to the small square in the community to buy groceries tomorrow morning and say that they were purchased from farmers in H City. Anyway, these days communication is all about words, and no one can verify it.

All three were exhausted. They tied the inflatable boat to a water pipe outside the apartment building, waded through the water back into the building, ate something quickly, and then went to their respective rooms to sleep.

At the home of the elderly professor in H City, his wife opened the supplies her husband had brought back that day. The bag was full of fresh vegetables that she hadn't seen in a long time, and at the bottom of the bag was a can of adult milk powder and some supplements that pregnant women could drink.

"Oh! Old Yu, where did you get all this?" The old professor's wife laid out a table full of supplies, looking rather bewildered.

"This...this..." The old professor was stunned, staring at the extra formula and supplements. "I...I ran into a student selling vegetables in a speedboat, and I wanted to trade for some fresh food for Yueyue...this, this child..."

The old professor recalled the three young faces on the speedboat, then looked at his daughter resting with her eyes closed on the bed, and couldn't help but tear up.

The old professor dedicated his life to teaching and nurturing students, but in his later years, when he should have been enjoying family life, he encountered a series of natural disasters. His family could only rely on him to support them. In the dead of night, he regretted not leaving the school to work for a larger institution and earn more money, so that his wife, daughter, and unborn grandson could have fared better during this disaster.

But at this moment, he felt incredibly grateful for the life he had dedicated to education. Now that a student is making small efforts for society and for humanity, there will be other students elsewhere who will do their utmost and use their knowledge to contribute to the survival and continuation of humankind.

The old professor told his wife about his experience that day, and she was deeply moved: "They're all such good kids. They came all this way, bringing so much stuff. Twenty-one pounds of vegetables... What's the use of money now?"

Yes, with natural disasters raging, currency has lost its purchasing power. Why would those three children have come here to make money?

After feeding their daughter some formula and seeing her face regain its rosy hue, the professor's family regained hope for life.

It was midnight in the residential area where Tong Shu lived.

The only sound outside was the patter of rain; everyone was fast asleep.

The three people quietly opened their own doors, and it was Hao Dadong's family, who lived across the street from Tong Shu's family in apartment 1204.

"Jiajia, are you sure you saw it clearly? Tong Shu and the others came back with something?" Hao Dadong held a flashlight in his hand and led Shi Pingxiang and Hao Jia towards the stairwell furtively.

"It's definitely true. When I got up in the middle of the night, I saw what looked like an inflatable boat leaving the neighborhood, and I knew something was wrong. I waited by the window last night, and sure enough, it was Tong Shu and the others. That inflatable boat was really deep in the water; they must have brought a lot of supplies." Hao Jia's heart was pounding with excitement.

Shi Pingxiang chimed in, "Even if they brought back so many supplies, they couldn't just leave them on the assault boat, could they? Is this family really that petty?"

"Who knows? They might just be a family of idiots." Hao Jia curled her lip in disdain. "Anyway, I checked through the peephole. All three of them only brought bags up. The speedboat is parked outside the building. Go look for it. If you find anything, it's ours!"

Hao Dadong and his wife were also excited when they heard this, and they praised Hao Jia for being smart and resourceful.

Tong Shu's family's speedboat was steadily moored on the water. Since they had already come up with a reason and planned to use it to exchange supplies with the community residents the next day, they didn't bother to carry the vegetables home. Otherwise, if someone nearby happened to be there, it would be difficult to explain the origin of the vegetables.

This was a boon for Hao Dadong's family. Under the dim light of a flashlight, baskets of different vegetables were stacked inside the assault boat, covered tightly with waterproof cloth. Juice oozed out when pinched, showing just how fresh the vegetables were.

"Hmph, Tong Shu must have gotten incredibly lucky to bring back so many vegetables." Hao Jia was filled with jealousy. "Stupid donkey, doesn't he know what time it is? He still dares to leave supplies outside. He deserves to be taken away."

“Exactly!” Shi Pingxiang chimed in, “Hurry up, hurry up, move as much as you can, it won’t be good if people see us when it’s light.”

Hao Dadong rolled up his sleeves and lifted a basket of lettuce from the assault boat, with Hao Jia and Shi Pingxiang following behind: "Damn it, I haven't eaten vegetables in ages. I haven't been able to poop lately."

Just as the three of them were carrying things, a head suddenly broke out of the water not far from the speedboat. It was Sun Xiaolong, who lived on the 10th floor.

This apartment building currently houses the largest number of refugees. The surviving original residents have returned to their homes, while the vacant apartments left unoccupied have been divided among the displaced residents. Tong Shu's family has only donated one lifeboat to the building, which can only be used once a week. Sun Xiaolong's family of four is already short of supplies, so he plans to use the nighttime hours to retrieve as many usable items as possible from the water, and if they are valuable, he hopes to exchange them for food with other residents in the same community.

When Tong Shu and the other two returned, Sun Xiaolong had just dived down to the fifth floor to collect some pots and pans. As a physical education teacher, he was an excellent swimmer. Sensing the ripples on the water, he surfaced and saw Tong Shu and the others tying the inflatable boat to the water pipe. He could also vaguely hear them discussing exchanging vegetables for supplies with the residents.

After they left, Sun Xiaolong quietly swam to the side of the inflatable boat, lifted the tarpaulin, and peered inside. He was surprised to find baskets full of fresh vegetables. Sun Xiaolong was torn, his emotions and morality clashing. Finally, he gritted his teeth, took two tomatoes from the baskets, put them in his pocket, and placed a bowl he had found in the boat's cabin before continuing his dive to search for supplies.

Unexpectedly, he wasn't the only one to see Tong Shu return. With his bag completely full, Sun Xiaolong was about to go home when he saw three suspicious-looking people near Tong Shu's inflatable boat, carrying vegetables.

"What are you doing!" Sun Xiaolong shouted, startling Hao Dadong and his family who were feeling guilty. Sun Xiaolong had already swum closer. "You're stealing? These are Master Tong's supplies! Have you no shame?"

"Oh, isn't this Teacher Sun?" Hao Dadong recognized the person and quickly forced a smile. "We didn't know! We were planning to come down here to see if we could find some supplies, but this inflatable boat was just sitting here with nobody around, and it was full of fresh vegetables. We thought the government had given them to our apartment building, so we were planning to take them up and share them with everyone tomorrow!"

"Stop making excuses. Do you need to bring your wife and kids when you're looking for supplies? I've never seen you come out at night before, but today the whole family is here. Have you been eyeing the Tong family's things for a while now?" Sun Xiaolong frowned and questioned. After the natural disaster broke out, the neighbors had talked about Hao Dadong's family many times in private. This family was notorious for taking advantage of others. Some people even saw their own things in the supplies they brought and almost got beaten up when they went up to ask for them back.

"Teacher Sun, that's a really harsh thing to say." A sinister glint flashed across Hao Dadong's face. He wondered if Sun Xiaolong had woken anyone by shouting so loudly. He listened carefully to the surrounding sounds, and seeing Sun Xiaolong approaching to go up the stairs, he reached out and handed him a tomato.

"Look at you, still diving for supplies so late, you must be exhausted. Who cares whose it is, have a tomato first, we can split it between the two families."

Sun Xiaolong looked at the tomatoes, a hint of embarrassment on his face; he still had two in his pocket. However, as a teacher, he couldn't bring himself to steal other people's supplies. While order hadn't completely collapsed and supplies were scarce, everyone could still manage to be self-sufficient. Considering the kindness the Tong Shu family had shown to the residents of the apartment building, he firmly refused: "These are Tong Shu's things. You'd better put them away..."

Hao Dadong reached out and grabbed Sun Xiaolong by the collar, stuffing a tomato into his mouth. He then used both hands to grab Sun Xiaolong's head and slam it against the wall.

Although Sun Xiaolong knew that Hao Dadong's family was of low character, he never expected that Hao would actually try to kill him, so he struggled to get up.

"What are you standing there for? Come here right now! If he tells others what happened today, how can we stay here?" Hao Dadong tried his best to push Sun Xiaolong's head and face into the water. Even though Sun Xiaolong was strong and a physical education teacher, it was really hard to get a foothold underwater, and he gradually fell into a disadvantage.

Shi Pingxiang and Hao Jia were also frightened by what they saw. Shi Pingxiang's hands trembled and she said in a trembling voice, "Da...Da Dong, if you do this, people will die."

Hao Dadong turned and looked at her with a sinister gaze. Although he didn't say anything, it made Shi Pingxiang tremble even more violently. At this moment, Hao Jia pushed her mother aside, stood next to Hao Dadong, and helped him struggle to push Sun Xiaolong underwater.

Sun Xiaolong had been searching underwater all night and was exhausted. Gradually, he stopped moving and slowly floated to the surface.

"Damn it, what a nuisance." Hao Dadong kicked Sun Xiaolong's corpse away, turned around and saw his daughter standing to the side trembling. He patted her shoulder: "Jiajia, don't be afraid, Dad had no choice. The world is so chaotic, I have to protect our family and keep us alive, right? Jiajia, you can understand Dad, right?"

Hao Jia stared at the corpse for a long time before slowly withdrawing her gaze: "A person like this is a waste of food to keep alive."

"Yes, yes!" Hao Dadong laughed, then picked up two baskets of vegetables and turned to Shi Pingxiang, saying, "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and move them!"

Shi Pingxiang looked at her husband and daughter as if she had never known them before, but when she felt Hao Dadong's sinister gaze, she lowered her head in fear, nodded in agreement, and picked up a basket of lettuce with trembling hands.

As dawn approached, Hao Dadong and his family carried four baskets of vegetables home. Fearing they would be discovered again, they did not go out again. He carefully locked his front door, found a kitchen knife and placed it in the entryway, and then hid the stolen vegetables in the bedroom closet.

1201, Tong Shu and her family were fast asleep, completely unaware of what was happening outside.