Lu Sheng turned off the TV and swallowed the last bite of seaweed rice roll.
I turned on the kitchen faucet, and sure enough, the water was off.
The bathroom light panel is flickering, indicating an unstable power supply.
The high temperature caused frequent power line failures. Although power has been temporarily restored today, the power lines will soon be completely unusable due to repeated repairs.
A lack of electricity is manageable; people can simply work from sunrise to sunset. However, water outages during such hot weather can truly deprive a large number of people of their means of survival.
You can starve to death in half a month without food, but you'll die in three days without water.
"Lu Sheng, the water's cut off. Should we go out and buy some water?" Sun Tiantian knocked on the door.
Lu Sheng hesitated for a moment, then nodded, "Then I'll change my clothes."
Although she didn't lack supplies in her spatial storage for the time being, she couldn't openly take them out for them to use. Besides, she also planned to go out and try her luck to see if she could earn some more points.
When Lu Sheng changed her clothes and arrived at 402, she found that Xiao Yu and Sun Tiantian had also invited Xu Yi.
Xu Yi glanced at the menacing eyes on the stairs above and below, "The four of us can't all leave; at least one of us has to stay."
Xiao Yu nodded hurriedly, "Let Tian Tian stay at home. She's delicate and frail; she can't carry many bottles of water outside anyway."
Lu Sheng interrupted Xiao Yu, "No, you stay here. Tian Tian will come with me and Teacher Xu to find water."
“But…” Xiao Yu looked at Sun Tiantian with difficulty, “She can’t do anything with you guys, at best she’ll just be there to make up the numbers.”
Lu Sheng put the thermostatic garment on Sun Tiantian and handed her a dagger. "You're really comfortable letting her guard the crystal by herself? Can she stop those people from rushing in?"
The base security provided by the system was very strong, so Lu Sheng wasn't worried that those people would break in.
But if Sun Tiantian is always kept in a greenhouse, she will always be a fragile flower that will fall over with the slightest breeze in the apocalypse.
Only by personally experiencing this chaotic and insane world can Sun Tiantian truly realize her current situation.
“I’ll stay with Lu Sheng and Teacher Xu.” Sun Tiantian carefully placed the dagger in her pants pocket. “Xiao Yu, you stay here. I can’t rely on you to support me forever; I have to make some contributions.”
After assigning tasks, Lu Sheng left Xiao Yu a compound crossbow.
When Xu Yi drove to the mall, the entire pedestrian street was already packed with people. A squad of armed police officers stood guard beside the line, and even though the crowd was agitated, they had to obediently wait in line.
"Each person is limited to purchasing one 500ml bottle of purified water with their ID card, and can only do so once every two days." Xu Yi jumped off the bus, ran to the front of the line, and glanced at the notice board.
Sun Tiantian subconsciously pursed her lips, "One bottle of water every two days? What can that even do..."
"Yeah, the little stuff they gave us isn't even enough for a pee."
Someone at the front of the line complained.
"I queued for hours for this bottle of water, and drank half of it in one gulp after buying it."
Looking at the endless line, Lu Sheng slammed the car door shut. "Let's not waste time here. Let's go somewhere else."
“But now all water resources should be under government control, so where are we going to find water?” Sun Tiantian asked.
"The bottled water at our school is delivered by a small water station. I've heard from others that this water station is a private label brand and uses tap water with its own filters."
Lu Sheng took out the business card of the small water station from her phone and sent it to Xu Yi, "This kind of private workshop should not have been requisitioned by the government yet. Shall we go and try our luck?"
The address on the business card was in the suburbs, and the highway along the way had been overrun by rampant vegetation.
The asphalt road was riddled with potholes from the newly sprouted seedlings, making each step a bumpy one. Fortunately, Xu Yi's car had high enough ground clearance, and he managed to drive to his destination, albeit with some wobbling.
The old bungalows at the small water station were completely covered by ivy, and it took several people a while to find the gate.
Xu Yi used a large pair of scissors to roughly shape the door before waving to Lu Sheng and Sun Tiantian.
The water station is small, and judging from the inventory records, it has been abandoned for two months. However, there are still about twenty barrels of water left in the warehouse, which, although not enough, can temporarily solve the immediate problem.
The three people took turns loading water onto the truck, and tied it to the roof with ropes when there was no more room to load.
Just as they were about to be transported back to Peking University, Sun Tiantian suddenly screamed and hugged Lu Sheng.
"Something... licked me..."
Sun Tiantian clung to Lu Sheng like an octopus, pointing to the knee-high weeds and speaking in a trembling voice.
Lu Sheng glanced at Sun Tiantian's calves, which were wet and covered with saliva.
Slurp.
A tongue darted out of the grass and was about to touch Lu Sheng's ankle when she grabbed it.
"It looks like... there's a sheep."
Lu Sheng pulled the animal out of the weeds with all his might, and it turned out to be a full-grown sheep!
The sheep's wool was dark and knotted, like armor fastened to its body. The sheep wasn't afraid of people; it must have been extremely thirsty, as it licked the sweat off Lu Sheng's legs with its tongue.
Lu Sheng got annoyed by its licking and punched it twice on the head.
The sheep bleated for a moment, then its neck tilted to the side and it fainted.
Xu Yi pulled the sheep to the side of the car and checked it. "It has a pierced ear with a tag attached. It must have gotten lost from a nearby farm."
"Tan Yang Shop... seems to be a Xinjiang barbecue restaurant quite far away." Sun Tiantian picked up the sign and glanced at it, involuntarily swallowing her saliva. "The baked buns are incredibly delicious."
"These sheep aren't far from the farm. Let's look around the neighborhood; we should be able to find a farm there."
Lu Sheng stood up and took out his binoculars to look into the distance.
Sure enough, we found a Dongcheng breeding farm not far away.
The three drove over and found a dozen or so adult sheep scattered around the farm, all lying on the ground with their tongues hanging out from thirst.
"How are we going to get so many sheep back?" Sun Tiantian poured some water into the trough.
Lu Sheng sharpened his knife, ready to pounce on the sheep. He grabbed one and shaved its fur clean. "Taking it back would be too much trouble. I can only kill it and take the meat with me."
"But how are we going to preserve so much meat? It'll spoil in no time," Sun Tiantian said with some concern.
Even if all the sheep are slaughtered and deboned, there would still be more than 400 jin of pure mutton left.
The vacuum bags Xu Yi gave could only seal 100 jin of mutton at most, so what to do with the remaining 300 jin of meat became a problem.
“We can use diluted formalin.” At the crucial moment, Xu Yi suddenly spoke up. “There are some iron drums in the farm. If we soak the mutton in diluted formalin, it can be stored for about three or four days.”
"But……"
Sun Tiantian hesitated, then asked, "Is meat that's been soaked in formaldehyde still edible?"
"If we can preserve it for three days, we can take it to the black market and exchange it for some durable supplies."
Lu Sheng nodded slightly. "But where can we find formaldehyde now?"
"The specimen room in the Peking University Medical Building should have some in stock. You two wait here while I go get it."
After Xu Yi finished speaking, he turned around and got into the car.
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