The return trip was very smooth. Si Nan thought that the Cheng family would stop them, but apart from the butler Wang who led them in and asked the bodyguards who were blocking the way to move aside, no one else from the Cheng family showed up.
"They just let me go like that?" Cheng Wei couldn't believe it. After getting on the speedboat, she looked back at the Cheng family's old house frequently.
Cheng Suming said, "Your parents are involved in a big project in the capital, which is being developed secretly. They cannot leave the research site and return to Xingcheng until the project is completed. The Cheng family really needs your parents to participate in it, which will bring huge profits to the Cheng family. In other words, no matter what mistakes you make, your parents will bear the responsibility. If I hadn't come today, they would have let you go in no time. They can't really force you to death, offend your parents, and cut off the Cheng family's retreat."
"I said my uncle told my dad to come back and deal with my affairs, so why hasn't he come back for so long? With the strength of the Cheng family, they could have taken a helicopter to the capital and returned in a few hours, but they kept me locked up at home for almost a month. It turns out that my parents couldn't come back. They wanted to use coercion and inducement to see if I could give in. If I could, it would be the best for them. If not, they would let me go."
She had mixed feelings for the moment, not knowing whether to cry or laugh. She felt like she was crying with joy after surviving a disaster.
She looked at Yang Wentao, who was still in a coma and leaning against her with a pale face, and reached out to touch his thin cheek with heartache.
During this period of time, she and Yang Wentao firmly believed in each other's feelings. No matter what means the Cheng family used, they could not make them alienate each other and surrender.
Now that they have regained their freedom, they will definitely live a good life in the future.
In the following period, through the country's great efforts to rescue, the people's children and volunteers were sent to deliver medicines door-to-door, and the bacterial infection was finally controlled in a short period of time, avoiding the scene of large-scale deaths from vomiting, diarrhea, fever, and bloody stools due to bacterial infections that had no cure.
However, even though the country acted quickly, many seriously ill patients still died because medicines were not delivered in time, or because they had weak stomachs or existing illnesses.
During that time, the cries of people who had lost their loved ones could be heard everywhere. The voices were so sad and miserable that people couldn't help but feel sad when they heard them. They didn't know when the natural disaster would end or when they would die.
Because corpses carry bacteria, the city's funeral homes had long been flooded and no one was there to deal with the corpses. During that time, many people carried the corpses to the top floor and tried to burn them. Those who did not have the conditions to burn them simply threw the corpses into the water.
As a result, no one dared to fish anything out of the water or use anything in the water, for fear of being infected by bacteria and dying again.
After that, the accumulated water gradually rose to a height of ten stories. When everyone was extremely anxious and worried that the water level would continue to rise, the rain finally stopped and the water level stagnated at the tenth floor. It showed no signs of receding, nor did it show any signs of continuing to rise.
Ten months had passed since the big hailstorm. Although the national government had been providing relief to the people, the entire land of Country Z, and even most of the buildings in the world, had been soaked in water for a long time, making it impossible to engage in production and planting. No matter how much supplies the country stockpiled, they would not be enough to sustain a long-term tug-of-war.
The amount of supplies distributed was decreasing, more and more people were starving to death, and incidents of theft, looting and vandalism were occurring every day.
In order to find a way to survive, many people either moved to temporary shelters to seek government protection, or desperately paddled on water transport such as rafts to look for food.
Most of the residents in the residential building where Sinan lives have moved out by now. Half of the remaining residents have some food stored and can hold on for a while, while the other half are unwilling to leave their homes and go to the crowded shelters. They only eat a bowl of porridge and a steamed bun a day and live a dull life.
Early in the morning of that day, a man in his forties named Wu En knocked on the door of 1501/1503 and asked Si Nan and his wife, and Cheng Wei to go to 1803 on the 18th floor to discuss something.
Wu En was previously a community manager. Thanks to him, a lot of benefits were obtained for the two buildings 14/15 in Shenxianyuan, which are the most easily overlooked. So when he came to hire people, everyone had to give him face.
At around two o'clock in the afternoon, the only twenty remaining families in Building 14 gathered at Wu En's house.
Wu En was one of the households whose land was relocated when Shenxian Garden was built. His family consisted of a blind old lady, a thin wife, and a 14-year-old daughter.
Twenty families gathered in his living room. It was a bit crowded, but no one cared. Some stood or sat, wanting to listen to what Wu En wanted to say.
Wu En is a thin man with a gaunt face. Before the high temperature, he was the deputy director of a public institution, so his speech is very much like that of a cadre.
"I invited all the neighbors to come together today. I have no other intention. The supplies distributed by the government now can't last more than a week. I have learned about everyone's situation and know that most families are short of food and fuel. I just want to ask all the neighbors, do you have any ideas?"
"What can you think? Everyone should just clean up the snow in front of their door and live their life as usual."
The first person to speak was Yu Yong. A few months ago, some of the neighbors in Building 14 died or were injured. After they moved away one after another, many houses were left empty.
Yu Yong took some supplies and exchanged houses with the residents of Room 1401 so that he could always rely on Cheng Suming.
He had a lot of supplies, and all kinds of food were piled up in a small room. If he was alone, he could easily survive for another half a year.
Someone immediately responded, "You can't say that. We are neighbors. We are the only ones left in our building. If we have any problems, we should help each other. We can't be so indifferent. We should unite and overcome the difficulties together."
"It's easy for you to say that. If I'm hungry and sick and ask you for food and medicine, will you give it to me? Will you help me?" A woman sneered, "Before, Brother Wu asked people with sufficient supplies to give food to people with shortages, but you were all afraid that others would take advantage of you, so no one said anything and refused to agree. Those people had no choice but to seek help from temporary shelters. Why are you pretending to be so high-handed now?"
Almost two years have passed since the initial natural disaster. The current temporary shelters sound nice, offering free food and accommodation, but in any one of the shelters, hundreds of thousands of people are gathered together to live together.
There is a mixed crowd there, and there are all kinds of people. For a little food and drink, many people do not hesitate to use despicable means, using intimidation and inducement, cheating, bullying men and women, and engaging in dirty deals right under the noses of the military and police. The people inside have a miserable life, and no one is willing to go to the shelter unless they have to.
The man choked and muttered quietly, "You are incompetent and don't have money to buy more food and store it at home. Who can you blame? The natural disaster has lasted for so long, and no one knows when it will end. I can't always pity and sympathize with others. What if the natural disaster doesn't stop and I have given away all the food at home, will I still be able to live? Besides, I am not the only one in this building with a lot of supplies. Why are you targeting me? If you don't want to go to the temporary shelter, you can learn from the women in the shelter, sell your body and beauty, and hang out with those who have money and food. Maybe they will have fun and give you some food and drink. Why are you looking for a sense of existence here?"
"What are you talking about!" The woman was furious. "Chen Bo, shut up! Do you think everyone is as useless as you? When you have nothing to eat, you let your wife go around hooking up with other men and exchanging her body for food! Don't think I don't know that your family has food to eat now, all because of your wife's sleeping with her! Almost all the men in this building have slept with your wife, and you feel at ease wearing this green hat, you are really capable!"
This statement caused an uproar, and the women in the family looked at the men in the family with suspicion and surprise, unable to believe that such a thing would happen.
Before the natural disaster, Chen Bo’s wife was an elementary school teacher. She usually dressed formally, was serious, and seldom spoke to people in the building. How could she sell her body for food and drink now?
All of a sudden, all the women in the living room focused their eyes on a woman in her thirties wearing a plain autumn dress behind Chen Bo. She had an average look, neither charming nor pretty. She was a naturally beautiful and cool queen. It was hard to believe that she would sell herself out for a little food.
But as the saying goes, domestic flowers are not as fragrant as wild flowers. Many married men cannot control their lower body after marriage, cannot resist the temptation from outside, and often betray their partners.
Some women with more explosive tempers directly questioned their men whether they were having an affair with Chen Bo's wife, and even started fighting in front of everyone.
Si Nan glanced at Cheng Su Ming who was standing beside her. Cheng Su Ming noticed her gaze and whispered in her ear, "Don't worry. I haven't even managed to get you, the flower of the family, so I don't have the energy to look for other women. Most of the supplies at home are in your hands. You know whether there is any shortage of food. I said that I will never betray you before the agreement is terminated."
The man's warm breath blew against her ears, making Si Nan's ears itch badly. She blushed unconsciously and glared at him fiercely: "You are trying to cover up your guilt. Did I say anything?"
Cheng Suming shook his head helplessly: "If I don't explain, you will think that I must have done something wrong to you and that's why I kept silent. If I explain, you will think that my explanation is just a cover-up. I can't even deal with you, and I don't want to cause trouble to other women."
Simon:......
You've already said everything, what else can I say?
Cheng Wei stood in the crowd, holding Yang Wentao's hand tightly. The two smiled at each other and were full of trust in each other.
Seeing the commotion in the living room, Wu En's eyes flickered, and he put his hand to his mouth and coughed, saying, "Actually, it's like this. I invited everyone here today for no other purpose. I heard that there is a group of people who have been stealing, looting, and smashing things everywhere recently. They have stored a lot of supplies in their gathering place, which is just above the Wanjiafu Supermarket outside our community. I heard that in addition to a lot of food, there are also a lot of fuel and gas tanks in it."
Everyone understood what Wu En had called them here because he wanted to rob his fellow robbers.
Half of the people said that they would not go. Anyone who is capable of robbery is definitely a ruthless person, especially those people who are so close to Shenxian Garden. It is obvious that they are robbing those people in Shenxian Garden who have sufficient supplies.
Now most of the police force in Xingcheng is concentrated in the temporary shelter to maintain the public security of the shelter. Theft and robbery in the city have become the norm and they are unable to manage them. If they cannot wipe out the robbers' nest in one fell swoop, the consequences will be disastrous.
They don't want to not get to eat the meat, but get themselves into trouble.
As a result, everyone left unhappily, but some people, such as the Huang family from 1504, Chen Bo and his wife, Yin Zuo and others from 1601, had some ideas about the robbers' gathering point, so several families stayed and secretly discussed how to rob that den.
Si Nan and her friend returned home. Seeing Cheng Su Ming seemed to be lost in thought, she sat beside him and asked, "How true do you think Wu En's words are?"
It is suspicious no matter how you think about it that a community worker who is powerless suddenly suggests that everyone should rob the gathering place of bandits.
Sinan didn’t think Wu En was that kind-hearted to ask everyone to replenish supplies.
"Half true, half false." Cheng Suming picked up the cold coffee on the table and took a sip. "I'm not sure. But I am sure that they will take action tonight. Let's go out and see."
"Should we call Yu Yong, Yang Wentao and the others?"
"No, if Wu En and the others really start fighting, we can take advantage of the chaos to load some supplies. If they are still around, it will be easy to expose your space."
"So this is your idea. It suits my taste. Now we have a way to store supplies. No matter where they come from, the more supplies the better."
It was a dark and windy night. Wu En and his group got three rafts from somewhere, carrying nearly fifteen strong men and women, and headed towards the shopping mall building above Wanjiafu Supermarket in the middle of the night.
I don’t know if it was God’s help or they were just lucky, but it hadn’t rained for a long time, but it suddenly rained tonight. The raindrops hit the glass building, blocking the sound of their paddling.
Cheng Suming and Si Nan hid in the dark. After they walked away, they put on raincoats, put the speedboat into the water, sat on it, took the oars and followed slowly.
The night was as cold as water and the whole city was in darkness. Xingcheng had been without power for a year and a half. There was no light at midnight. Only the sparkling water reflected a little dim light. People with poor eyesight and unfamiliarity with the surrounding environment would definitely get into trouble in the absence of lights.
No one knew how Wu En and his group managed to avoid the sharp floating garbage on the water without any lighting and reach the entrance on the eleventh floor of the shopping mall above the flooded Wanjiafu Supermarket.
Relying entirely on the ripples on the water and the route he remembered in his mind, Si Nan led Cheng, who was almost blind at night without any light, to the entrance quickly.
This shopping mall has a total of 15 floors. Before the water level rose, food and drinks were sold below the fifth floor, while luxury goods, jewelry, clothes, cinemas, etc. were sold above the fifth floor.
Because it is a small shopping mall, it was built a long time ago and its facilities and equipment are somewhat outdated, it was not requisitioned by the government to be used as a temporary shelter.
The supplies inside were looted repeatedly by different groups of people over the past year and a half. The entire mall became vacant and no one lived in it. No one knew how the gang of criminals chose this place as their base.
Si Nan and Cheng Su Ming got off the boat, and as usual, they took up their crossbows, ready to fight at any time.
Cheng Suming carried the crossbow in his backpack, held the assault rifle in his left hand and the scalpel in his right hand, and the two of them climbed up the stairs quietly in the dark along the entrance corridor.
There was actually a security door at the entrance, locked with an iron chain, but it was destroyed by Wu En and his group without making any sound, which showed that they were well prepared.
The eleventh and twelfth floors they went up to were empty, there was nothing and no one was there.
On the thirteenth floor, there were two people guarding the safety stairs at night.
Perhaps they did not expect that someone would launch a sneak attack so late at night, or perhaps they had not yet experienced the true darkness of the end of the world, the two people on duty were not very vigilant and both sat at the door, leaning against the security door and dozing off. This gave Wu En and his group the opportunity to take action.
Si Nan and the other man were standing at the corner of the stairs. In the pitch-black night, they heard the man on duty let out a slight, short cry of pain, which was soon followed by silence.
The two waited there for a while, making sure that Wu En and his group had not discovered them. After entering the 13th floor, the two walked up the stairs and saw two dead bodies as expected.
Si Nan had seen many corpses floating on the water before, with their faces swollen and hideous due to water bubbles, but he was not so quick to scream and run away when he saw the corpses.
However, when she came up, she stepped into a pool of blood that was still steaming next to the corpse and smelled the strong smell of blood in the air. Although she could not see the extent of the corpse's tragedy, it was her first time facing a dead body, and she couldn't help feeling a little uncomfortable. She couldn't help but wipe the blood off the soles of her shoes on the clean ground next to her, and followed Cheng Suming to the thirteenth floor.
The thirteenth floor was quite spacious, as the middle of the entire shopping mall was hollowed out, with small shops scattered around the middle. One could vaguely see counters, models, tables, chairs and benches in those shops, but some of the less useful merchandise was either smashed to pieces or lying all over the floor. There was basically nothing usable.
Wu En and his group hurriedly walked around the 13th floor, and probably because they didn't find any food, they went upstairs again.
As soon as we went up to the 14th floor, we saw many daily necessities such as wood blocks, cardboard boxes, clothes, various electronic products, generators, refrigerators, etc.
The generator probably stopped generating electricity at night in order to save electricity.
Wu En and his group opened several refrigerators in the dark and found a lot of frozen meat, quick-frozen dumplings, glutinous rice balls, steamed buns and other foods. They couldn't help but cheer slightly, put down the packages on their backs, and scrambled to put the food into their bags.
During the scramble, someone accidentally dropped a piece of frozen meat on the ground, which made a heavy sound and instantly woke up the people guarding the thirteenth floor: "Who?"
Bright flashlight beams lit up, and a war was about to break out, alarming most of the bandits sleeping upstairs. About thirty people rushed down from the upstairs with long knives and sticks, and started fighting with Wu En and his group.
Si Nan and his companion were standing in a shop on the 13th floor near the emergency staircase. They heard the people upstairs fighting fiercely and screaming. The two of them had no expression on their faces. One of them even took out a cup of hot tea that had been brewed in advance and placed in the thermos in his backpack and drank it.
About half an hour later, after occasional gunshots and strange explosions were heard from upstairs, the fight upstairs gradually calmed down, and it seemed that the winner had been decided.
Cheng Su Ming and Si Nan tacitly put the thermos cup back into the bag. Si Nan took out two sets of biological gas masks from the space and handed one to Cheng Su Ming. After the two put them on, they covered the packages under the raincoats. Except for the distinctive weapons, no one could recognize who they were.
The two men went up to the safety staircase on the fourteenth floor, stood sideways at the door and quietly looked inside to see what was going on. The diesel generator on the fourteenth floor started rumbling, and the lights of the shop in the central area of the fourteenth floor that specialized in storing refrigerators and daily groceries lit up.
From their perspective, there were bodies scattered all over the ground outside the lighted shop, and there were traces of something having blown up, with holes in the shop's glass and the ground.
Three men knelt down in front of two men holding guns, crying and begging for mercy, but in return a skinny man pulled the trigger without hesitation.
There were three loud bangs, and the three men fell to the ground with blood on their heads. They twitched on the ground for a while, and soon there was no movement.
Behind the two men with guns stood more than a dozen men and women holding knives and with unfriendly looks. One of the sturdy men looked at the skinny Wu En in the crowd with a sinister look and said, "Wu En, you'd better give me a reasonable explanation why you brought people to attack us and caused me to lose so many brothers!"
"It's not the people I brought. Our plan was exposed." Wu En said calmly, "Ever since I agreed to be your insider and led you to rob the families with a lot of food in Shenxianyuan in the name of sending government relief food to the community, and those people were killed by you, some people began to doubt my existence."
He paused and continued, "Although the network communication has been cut off for a long time, the people in the building rarely know the news from the outside world. But there are a few people who have speedboats and rafts and often go out to get information. They know that you are robbing nearby and are very suspicious. Originally, according to the plan, I gathered the people in our building for a meeting today and asked them to prepare at home for the community to "deliver food" to their homes. But I don’t know what happened. Some people felt that the community was too enthusiastic and did not want people to go downstairs to collect supplies in the past. After the meeting, they arrested me and threatened and bribed me with my mother, wife and daughter. I really had no choice, so I..."
"Do you think I will believe you if you say that?"
A bald man sneered, "Even if your identity was discovered and you were coerced and bribed, why didn't you find a way to warn us when you got here? Instead, you let that group of people use homemade bombs to blow up nearly two-thirds of our brothers! Do you think that if you kill those three people to silence them, there will be no evidence? Let me tell you, Wu En, I am not a reckless man to get to where I am today. I have to use my brain. You'd better not have the idea of robbing the thieves and want to take our supplies for yourself. I'll spare your life tonight, and we will go with you to deliver the 'supplies' tomorrow. If you lie, you know the consequences."
As soon as the man finished speaking, someone tied up Wu En, took him to a dark shop, and beat him up.
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