Chapter 70 Changes in the Situation

After watching several farces unfold from their homes, the villagers, who had been holed up in their homes, realized the wind was blowing in their favor:

Lin Xi in the "birdcage" has no ill intentions. She won't provoke trouble and doesn't pay any attention to anyone. But if anyone tries to harm her, she has the ability to use zombies to warn everyone.

Previously, the drones were used to roam around people's houses to intimidate them. However, the subsequent revenge and provocation against Lin Jie, which drove the zombies to trample Lin Jie's fields, truly cut off his livelihood.

Within a day, Lin Jie's family was isolated, and no one responded to their actions anymore.

Firstly, everyone has seen the consequences of Lin Jie's several failed attacks.

Secondly, most of Lin Jie's fields were trampled and would likely not grow. People can't just sit and wait to starve to death. Lin Jie and Zhang Xiulan aren't exactly philanthropists, and they might very well try to take over other people's fields.

Now that we've entered the dog days of summer, crops are already struggling to grow due to the high temperatures and lack of water. Everyone is counting on what grows in the fields to fill their stomachs, and if the already meager harvest is further taken away by others, then they really won't be able to survive.

Thus, the others silently formed a united front:

They took turns keeping watch at night. Whenever Zhang Xiulan and Lin Jie went out, three villagers with tools would pretend to be doing farm work in the dark, but in reality, they were monitoring whether Zhang Xiulan and Lin Jie were stealing crops or doing anything malicious.

Zhang Xiulan, unable to find a way to escape the zombies' watchful eye, could only try to salvage the seedlings damaged by the zombies in her field before anyone else could act; something was better than nothing.

Drying the vegetables can barely sustain us for a while. During this time, we can replant and wait for the vegetables to grow before trying other ways to make ends meet.

However, there was nothing they could do afterward. The other villagers kept a close watch on Zhang Xiulan's family, and after they had eaten all the dried vegetables, they could only pick tree leaves to eat.

They lived a very miserable life.

-

August 15, 2025.

The dog days of summer are coming to an end, and the autumn heat wave is just around the corner.

The sweltering heat will then pass, and the days that follow will be relatively more comfortable.

After fasting for more than half a month, the villagers couldn't resist and harvested a batch of crops to have a meal.

It seemed as if they were celebrating the emergence of that faint glimmer of hope.

However, that same night, following the power outage, Yunxiang also lost its water supply.

Lin Xi woke up early and found that there was no water coming out of the faucet, so she turned on the water tank line.

The water tank was full of water when it rained before, and the water had already been filtered by the water purifier, so it could be used directly as household water.

If the water in the tank runs out and it doesn't rain, Lin Xi has pre-installed a pumping system connected to the river, which can draw water from the river for filtration and use.

If the water shortage persists, Lin Xi will use the purified water stored at home.

At that point, things like washing up to maintain personal quality of life and dignity will have to be put aside, and drinking purified water will become the primary function.

That's an extreme case.

While Lin Xi was cooking noodles, the villagers in the other houses were having a headache.

Power outages only reduce the quality of life. Every household has a traditional earthen stove, and cooking can be done by burning firewood in rural areas, so it won't be a problem in the short term.

Moreover, food was scarce before, so we didn't cook many meals, and we had plenty of firewood at home.

But the water outage was inconvenient. In the entire village, only three households still had wells in front of their homes: the village secretary Zhuang Changdong's family, Zhang Xiulan's family, and a family that Lin Xi didn't know.

If there is a well and an outer fence blocking the way in front of the house, then opening the gate to fetch water is not a big problem.

If there is no well, you have to go outside to the river to fetch water. If you go out during the day, you are likely to be targeted by zombies and risk your life.

While Lin Xi was enjoying air conditioning and eating ice cream, the villagers were enduring thirst and hunger in the sweltering heat.

Lin Xi couldn't care less about these things.

She was sprawled on the tatami mat, with upbeat music playing on the projector as she prepared to finish her ice cream and take a nap.

I spent some time on my phone before bed, mainly to keep track of what was happening outside.

Cities are paralyzed, with many areas experiencing power outages.

Without electricity, many people can't access the internet, so there aren't many people still active online.

The relevant departments have been announcing the recruitment notices. At first, not many people responded out of fear of zombies, but later, as the situation worsened and people's will to survive was aroused, more and more people volunteered to fight against the zombies.

In some places, zombie-hunting teams have spontaneously formed.

These teams, however, had never been to Yunxiang, or at least not to Lin Xi's village.

Most of those who still have internet access exchange information about different places and their current living conditions. A small number post their coordinates and SOS messages, but at this time everyone is struggling to survive and no one can help them. So, SOS messages are basically equivalent to suicide notes.

Lin Xi also bypassed the Great Firewall to access foreign websites, where there was much discussion about the biohazard crisis in China. Some netizens reported that zombies had appeared in their cities, and some media outlets, eager to stir up trouble, predicted that the biohazard crisis would soon sweep the globe.

Watching the foreigners' discussion, Lin Xi thought of Yu Shiyun and Gu Yixuan, who had already gone abroad.

She opened Gu Yixuan's WeChat Moments and discovered that this young lady was traveling everywhere, her life completely opposite to the dire situation in China.

Lin Xi couldn't bear to look and immediately left her WeChat Moments.

Yu Shiyun had just inquired about her a few days ago and learned that she was alive and well in the safe house, so Yu Shiyun gave her some encouragement.

Scrolling further up the chat history reveals Lin Xi inquiring about Lu Wei's current situation.

Two months have passed, and there has been no news of Lu Wei.

After browsing the internet for a while without finding any positive news, Lin Xi reluctantly logged off the social media platform and lay down on the soft tatami mat to take a short nap while listening to music.

The villagers are busier than ever at night.

After nightfall, seeing that there were no zombies nearby, everyone took buckets or basins to the river to fetch water. After fetching water, they took tools to the fields to process the crops.

Looking at them from afar, Lin Xi felt that they all seemed to have lost weight.

But she wouldn't lend a helping hand to anyone. Everyone has their own destiny, and she herself didn't know how long she would live. She just needed these people to stop having any other thoughts about her.

-

This continued for three days, and fewer villagers went out at night.

A small number of villagers who drank untreated river water suffered from diarrhea and high fever, exhibiting symptoms similar to food poisoning.

Lin Xi had experienced this before when he drank untreated rainwater, and suspected that the zombies had affected the environmental quality, which in turn polluted the water cycle, causing all untreated water outside to carry the virus.

The villagers probably deduced this as well, and they all stopped drinking raw water and used the little firewood they had at home to boil water before drinking it.

However, firewood is limited. Since the outbreak of the zombie apocalypse, no new firewood has been collected and dried, and some households have already run out of firewood.

They dared not risk drinking untreated water, but they had to find a way to survive.

Drinking river water and rainwater can easily cause problems, but people who drink well water seem to be fine.

Realizing this, those who had previously been secretly isolating Zhang Xiulan began to soften their stance and even secretly tried to curry favor with her family.

They traded a few crops for a few buckets of clean well water.

More than half of the villagers no longer visit Zhang Xiulan, and some even team up with her at night to take care of the crops.

The situation in the village has changed again.