Chapter 33
If there was no other way, Zhang Jianwen would not want to come back. This house was demolished and rebuilt. The old house was relatively large, and after the demolition, a total of three houses were returned. There happened to be three brothers in their family, one for each. This kind of building was considered very good at the time when most houses were low-rise buildings, but later it developed too fast, and after large-scale and orderly communities were built one by one, their community, which did not even have a property management, seemed particularly dirty and messy.
At that time, Zhang Jianwen bought a bigger house somewhere else, but the house he bought was still under construction and had not been completed. In addition, it needed to be renovated after delivery, and it had to be vacant for a year or two to dissipate the smell, so he used Jinglin Community as a transitional place. After they moved out, they thought about selling the house, but looking at the housing prices at the time, they thought that they could make double the money by reselling it in a few years, so they kept it.
Initially, this empty house was rented out. The previous tenant moved out two years ago. At that time, my grandson was just about to enter high school. In order to choose a school, the family was busy inside and outside, so there was no time to bother renting a house. This old house with two bedrooms and a living room was less than 3,000 yuan a month for rent, which was not worth the trouble. Naturally, my grandson who was in high school was more important. As a result, it was vacant and has been vacant until now.
They moved here now because there was a fire in the place where they lived before. The cause of the fire was that someone stole electricity from the electrical well box. The electrical well box in their community runs through the entire building, and there is an electrical well box door on each floor. The door is not locked, which is for the convenience of routine safety inspections. However, it actually makes it easier for others to steal electricity.
They didn't know when the family started stealing electricity, whether it had always been there, or whether it was because the electricity consumption was high and the family couldn't afford it, so they had evil thoughts. Anyway, the wires were connected privately, so there was an accidental fire, which burned the power well box in the whole building. Fortunately, the power well box in the building was a weak current box. Although the fire started, it was night, and everyone was awake because of the reversed day and night. They would be alerted by the slightest movement outside, so many people ran out of the building before the fire spread.
The fire was not big at first, but there were too many flammable obstructions on every floor and in every household, which caused the fire to spread. Fortunately, there were not many casualties. Only two houses had their doors burned red and could not be opened, and some people were locked in their homes and inhaled excessive smoke and could not be rescued. Most people were safe.
But the fire was out, and the house was basically destroyed, burned black, and flooded. Staying in a hotel was not a long-term solution. Zhang Jianwen thought that it would take a while to recover, so the five members of the Zhang family packed up some of the things that were still usable, hired a car at a high price, and returned to their vacant house, at least they had a place to stay.
The return of the Zhang family did not have any impact on Mu Nan and the others. At most, because their floor was full and the Zhang family had a large population, it was a little more lively than before. Now they seldom go out. After the previous scattered expenses, Qin Huai had less than 100,000 yuan left, because now every household has a hard time. After all, the income was not enough to make ends meet during the lockdown period. Now with the high temperature and skyrocketing prices, the expenses are even greater. When others are short of money and have a tight life, they still spend lavishly, which is a bit eye-catching. So after Mu Nan got food poisoning that time, Qin Huai rarely took him out, and rarely followed the trend of group buying, and began to live a low-key life behind closed doors.
As the high temperature continues, the crisis of water and food has begun to take shape. The two biggest problems caused by the high temperature are the drop in water levels and the rapid corruption of food, which has caused the already high prices to rise to a level that ordinary people can't afford. But even so, if you want to buy a piece of frozen meat, you can't find a source of meat even if you have money.
Some unscrupulous merchants refreeze and seal some spoiled meat, and then when people take it home and thaw it, the meat is completely inedible. Some are even worse, when the frozen meat is cut open, you can even see frozen maggots inside. People spend a high price to buy a bunch of inedible food, which makes people, who are already restless and afraid for the future, collapse in an instant under the pressure of life.
Food is the first crisis that people face in this long-lasting scorching heat. No matter how severe the previous lockdown was, people still had food and drink, and although it was a bit expensive, it was still within an affordable range. Now a pound of frozen pork is priced at four or five hundred yuan. It is so expensive that it still goes bad when you bring it home. How can people bear this?
Even worse, many pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens and ducks died in large numbers due to the high temperatures, and even the plague spread rapidly among poultry, resulting in almost no meat supply in some markets. Vegetables and rice died in large areas due to drought. When someone picked a handful of rice ears in the rice fields, 80% of them were empty shells.
The heat is not scary. As long as the electricity is on, you can always survive by relying on your own adaptability by hiding in the house. But the food crisis is scary. Many people are afraid that they will not be able to buy anything even if they have money in the future, so the crazy stockpiling behavior has become even crazier. The conflict that broke out because of dissatisfaction with the supermarket's limited queues for entry has caused nearly 100 deaths and injuries. Dissatisfied with the lack of stock on the supermarket shelves, people smashed and vandalized.
It is said that the country is safe and orderly. In addition to the strict control in some aspects, more importantly, no matter how chaotic the country is, the people have never panicked about food. When people start to panic about food, even with the government's strong suppression, it is not easy to calm down. After all, without food, there is foreseeable death, which is more terrible than high temperature or any virus. Another major problem derived from the food crisis is robbing houses, stealing all valuable things, and all edible food. Even though it was not the famine period that really needed to gnaw tree bark and dig the soil, many people had already begun to feel insecure and wanted to accumulate more sense of security.
After discussion and voting by residents, Mu Nan's community decided to install an access control and anti-theft door in the lobby on the first floor. Because they don't have a property management company here, the community has always been the property management company. In addition, during the epidemic period, the community management, which has never been very involved, has become accustomed to managing the entire community. So after several home robberies occurred in other districts, they asked the residents whether to install an anti-theft access control on the first floor. There is no need to install that kind of home video, just apply for access control cards for each household, and swipe the access control card when entering and exiting. In this way, even if someone wants to enter the building at night to do something bad, they can't get in without the access control, which is more or less a layer of protection.
Just because they don't have any property, the community can be responsible for contacting and handling the installation, but the installation costs need to be shared by all residents.
The price of access control itself is not that expensive, but because there are more home break-ins nowadays, the price has gone up dramatically. In addition, since it is installed, it must be of better quality. However, if the cost is spread across each household, each household only needs to pay three hundred yuan.
Their building has a total of twenty-six floors, with five households on each side of each floor. However, not every household is occupied. Many people died from the poisonous fungus before, and some people did not live here because they thought the houses were old. Later, a few more left because of the extreme heat. Now, there are only two hundred and nine households in the entire building.
Three hundred yuan is something that anyone can afford unless they are in great need. This amount of money is not even enough to buy a pound of pork. If you are really in need, the community will help you depending on the situation. So after the community quoted the price, people in the group responded one after another. In order to install the anti-theft access control system as soon as possible, after most people agreed, people from the community came to collect the money the next day.
The people who came to Mu Nan's building to collect the money were Director Li and a community staff. Director Li was the one who should have been seriously injured by a father who lost his child in revenge, but was lucky enough to escape the disaster because of Mu Nan's reminder. He always remembered Mu Nan's reminder. If it wasn't for that reminder that made him alert, it's hard to say whether he would still be here now. His family depends on him for food, and his children are even still in school. In this situation, if he had any accident at that time, he couldn't imagine what his family would become. So the more difficult the life is now, the more grateful Director Li is to Mu Nan.
In addition to collecting the fee for installing the security door access control system, he also wanted to ask Mu Nan if his family needed any help. After all, a freshly graduated college student who has not yet entered society probably does not have much savings. With repeated natural disasters, he may have difficulties in life. Even if his brother is back, he is not very old and has probably only been working for a few years. Who knows how hard the two young children are living now. In his mind, he has imagined the two children to be poor kids who only eat instant noodles and only one meal a day.
He had never found an opportunity before, but now that he had one, he came over to ask.
Hearing Director Li's intention, Mu Nan was a little surprised: "You mean to work in a supermarket?"
Director Li nodded: "Although supermarkets seem to be quite dangerous now, the Chinese people still have a strong sense of law and social order. In order to protect the normal operation of some large supermarkets, each large supermarket has a certain amount of police protection. For example, the Yunshang supermarket in our community is close to home. It takes only ten minutes to walk to and from get off work, and three minutes to ride a bike to get home. The salary may not be very high, but it provides two meals for employees."
Mu Nan didn't expect that Director Li would be so grateful for his reminder last time. Although it seems dangerous to work in a supermarket now, it is definitely a lucrative job. It cannot be said that there is no worry about supplies, but at least it is more convenient than others who have to fight to buy things. More importantly, under the general environment, many industries have collapsed. Another reason why the food crisis will cause strong riots on all sides is that countless people have been laid off, lost their jobs, and have no source of livelihood. The sky-high prices of supplies and all these reasons add up to make people panic. So at this time, for a job, let alone the salary, even if it is just a meal, I am afraid that countless people will fight for it.
Faced with such a precious opportunity, Mu Nan declined Director Li's kindness: "I work in the Internet industry, so the current environment does not have a big impact on my work. My income can still support my life, so I may not be able to go to work in the supermarket."
Director Li felt that Mu Nan was still a child. Nowadays, there is no guarantee for any online job. You can lose your job at any time. How can it be as stable as working in a supermarket? Although working in a supermarket is definitely hard, as long as there is a demand for people's livelihood, he still has this relationship with the supermarket, and he can continue to do his job. It is not more stable than working on the Internet.
Seeing that Mu Nan really had no intention of going, Director Li said again: "What about your brother? It's okay to let your brother go." Although they are not blood brothers, they now live together, eat and drink together. If his brother can have a stable job, it will also be a guarantee for Mu Nan.
If he didn't go to a place, then of course he couldn't let his brother go. Mu Nan directly helped Qin Huai refuse and said, "My brother has company matters to deal with. He is busier than me. Director Li, we appreciate your kindness, but at present, we really can't spare the time. Even if we want to change jobs, we have to finish the unfinished work first." The two brothers were unwilling, and he couldn't force them under the banner of doing good for them, so he could only say, "When you feel you need this job, come to me again, and I'll see if I can get you an opportunity then."
Hearing Director Li say this, Mu Nan also breathed a sigh of relief. This is really a typical example of someone who is most afraid of other people's sudden concern.
After returning to the house, Mu Nan breathed a sigh of relief. His brother was outside paying the money, but suddenly he was called out. Unexpectedly, he came to repay the favor from Director Li.
Qin Huai in the room heard clearly what they said outside. When he saw Mu Nan coming in, he asked, "Will there be a problem in the supermarket?"
If there is no problem, for now, the supermarket is indeed a good job, which can receive information from all aspects and contact materials at the closest distance. Although they don't need to buy anything, this job in the supermarket will obviously be a good shield. He believes that Mu Nan should be able to do what he can think of, but Mu Nan refused, so it is possible that he saw it in his dream.
Mu Nan said, "Not really. I just saw that the government started distributing daily supplies. Supermarkets in various places were distribution points, but the people distributing them were all soldiers, not ordinary people. In other words, even if you work in a supermarket now, besides being tired and dealing with possible dangers, this job won't last long, and will eventually be taken over by the government. So why bother?"
The most important thing is that after the order collapsed, robbers and murderers were extremely rampant for a while. They probably felt that it was really the end of the world and there was no so-called country or law anymore. Their survival depended on the strength of their fists, so they acted without restraint.
There are quite a few people who have such thoughts, and these people probably gather together because of similar interests. They are obviously criminals with a purpose, and the people they regard as their targets are people who have worked in supermarkets. They probably think that those people will take advantage of their positions to hoard more things than ordinary residents. The really rich live in high-end and well-protected places. Even if they have this idea, it is more difficult to do it. It is better to find ordinary people who may use their positions to hoard goods. After all, it is robbery and murder. Having a target will always yield more than not having a target.
Mu Nan didn't want him and Qin Huai to be exposed to this potential danger. The access control downstairs and the iron gate in front of their house, which seemed to be well protected, could not stop anything. If people could enter his space, they would have some security. The problem was that his space was not as awesome as those in novels, with mountains and water, and where people could grow crops and live. So in terms of security, they could only protect themselves carefully.
The supermarket job was dispensable to Qin Huai. Since Mu Nan felt that there was no need to go, he didn't need to think about it anymore. He continued to tinker with the crossbow in his hand. This thing was a contraband item. He paid a lot of money, so others gave him two sets, one large and one small. Later, he found a way to get some assembly parts, but the assembly was made of wood and iron sheets, which was not very durable. He wanted to make it himself in the future, but unfortunately he didn't have the tools to polish it. He could do it, but it would probably be rough. But it didn't matter if it was a little rough, at least it was useful.
In addition to making a crossbow, the shooting tools used with the crossbow need to be prepared a little more. This is simple. If you can't get a steel needle, you can grind wood. As long as it can withstand the pulling force and the explosive power of shooting, and the head is sharpened, it can seriously injure people even if it can't kill them. If there is more time, he can also get some hot weapons. Mu Nan can't get these things. He has been abroad for so many years that he is even used to putting one in the drawer at home. Unfortunately, there is too little time to prepare, and there is no time to go abroad, otherwise their safety can be better guaranteed.
Mu Nan lay on the bed, watching Qin Huai grinding the wood bit by bit, and asked curiously: "Those things that you wear on your hands like gloves, and can fly out and kill people with a push, are they fake or real?"
Qin Huai smiled and said, "Do you want me to make you a flying and transformable car? Or a few laser swords?"
Mu Nan sighed, and saw a black object moving out of the corner of his eye. He suddenly jumped up from the bed and subconsciously shouted, "Ah!!!"
Qin Huai was startled by him. The next second, the person who had just been lying on the bed picked up the slippers on the ground and rushed over and slapped the ground.
Qin Huai then noticed that a cockroach had just come out of the kitchen and passed by their living room.
Mu Nan was still chasing and beating the cockroach, shouting at him as he beat it: "Hurry up, brother! Block it! It's at your place!!"
Qin Huai just raised his foot to step on it, but unexpectedly the cockroach spread its wings and flew up.
A flying cockroach, not very lethal, but ten stars for disgustingness.
Fortunately, there were not many things placed outside their house. There was only a small dining table and a bed in the living room. There were not too many piled up items to accommodate these disgusting little things, so the flying cockroach finally died under Mu Nan's slippers.
After beating a cockroach to death, Mu Nan shuddered belatedly. It could fly, so disgusting, and it was so huge. Speaking of which, he had experience in beating this kind of thing to death. The reason why he didn't put too many items in his home was not because it was more convenient to put them in the space, but because he was tortured by these disgusting things in his previous life.
In the last life, when the temperature just started to rise, cockroaches were very active for a period of time. It is estimated that temperatures of 30 to 40 degrees were suitable for their survival. Later, as the temperature continued to rise, the cockroaches disappeared. Some people said that the maximum temperature of 50 degrees that cockroaches can withstand is about 51 to 52 degrees. At that time, the temperature outside was about 51 to 52 degrees, and the temperature on the ground was definitely over 60 to 70 degrees. This high temperature was unbearable for cockroaches, so those disgusting creatures were all killed by the heat.
Unexpectedly, the cockroaches adapted or mutated and began to madly invade the living space of humans. It may also be because it is too hot outside, so these things keep drilling into the house. No matter how many are killed, there will always be a new bunch of them. Mu Nan is not afraid of these guys, but it is disgusting. He doesn't want to experience the feeling of cockroaches crawling over his body when he is sleeping soundly for the second time in his life!
The temperature outside is not even 50 degrees yet, it's still around 45 or 46 degrees, which means that the first active period of cockroaches is about this time. Mu Nan has always kept this in mind, for fear that his house would be infested by cockroaches. The doors of the rooms where vegetables are grown are all closed tightly, and the doors of the bathroom and kitchen are also kept closed as much as possible. The doors and windows in the living room are closed tightly, and there are no loopholes. He even sealed the air-conditioning duct openings with layer upon layer of tape, thinking that he had protected himself so well that he would not be tortured by cockroaches again in this life at least. He didn't expect that there were still cockroaches that slipped through the net.
Seeing his big reaction, Qin Huai quickly comforted him, "Okay, kill them. Close the kitchen door, and there shouldn't be any cockroaches in the living room. It's normal to have these bugs at this temperature. We'll spray more insecticide in the kitchen and bathroom, close them tightly and drive away the bugs. It should be better."
Mu Nan shook his head: "No, let's put away everything in the living room first, and check the house inside and out. The bathroom floor drain must be sealed when not in use. The most important thing is the kitchen. Otherwise, let's just seal the kitchen and stop cooking. You don't know, these cockroaches are very scary!"
Qin Huai couldn't help laughing: "Are you so scared? Where did the courage you had to slap the cockroach to death just now go? If you have it again, just beat it to death."
Mu Nan looked at Qin Huai with a look that was hard to describe. People who have not experienced a swarm of insects are so simple and naive.
One of the benefits of having space is that it only takes a few minutes to empty the house. Qin Huai couldn't persuade Mu Nan, so he had to do what he wanted. After a while, Mu Nan emptied the living room. The bed hadn't been moved for several months. After it was put into the space, the bottom of the bed was still a little dirty. They just sprayed the kitchen and bathroom with medicine and closed them for a while, and then they cleaned the living room carefully.
Although they were only cleaning a living room, they had to check each cabinet carefully to avoid any undiscovered loopholes because they had built many built-in wall cabinets. It was already late at night when they finished. Seeing that the power was about to go out, they stopped, took a shower, took out the air conditioner fan and battery, and connected them. After lying on the bed for a while, the air conditioner made a beeping sound and turned off.
The air conditioner was fanning slowly on the bed, but Mu Nan was still a little worried: "Are the bathroom and kitchen locked?"
Qin Huai hummed, "It's locked. Go to sleep. You've been busy all night."
Mu Nan said: "Cockroaches are full of germs and are so dirty."
Qin Huai put his hands over his ears and said, "Don't think about it. There are no cockroaches. The house is clean and has been disinfected. You can go to sleep now."
Mu Nan thought about his home carefully and felt that there should be no problem, so he closed his eyes and went to sleep with peace of mind.
The next day, Qin Huai saw a piece of news online and only then did he understand why Mu Nan reacted so strongly to cockroaches. A netizen had wooden floors at home and had been feeling there was some movement under the floor, rustling and rustling, especially during the quietest time of the day. The noise became more and more obvious, so he couldn't help it and found tools to pry open the floor at home.
Then I saw that the floor was crawling with cockroaches!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
