Chapter 11: Conflicts Escalate into Gray Fog
Qiao Qiao: “I suggest going out and taking a look.
Nowadays, food spoils quickly, and if we don't show up for a long time, it might arouse suspicion.
Besides, the situation outside changes every day, so we should go out and see how serious the situation is so that we can prepare in advance to prevent unrest."
Qiao Xinghe and Qiao Huizhou thought about it and felt that it made sense. Since no one objected, they could go out and take a look.
The most important reason was not stated explicitly. They might live in this community for a long time. If other people in the building were short of food and clothing, unrest would soon break out. They naturally hoped that everyone would have sufficient supplies.
"Okay, let's go tomorrow morning." Qiao Huizhou said.
Then I called Grandma Wang to inform her.
Received a call from the courier this afternoon.
"Hello, the package has arrived. We can't deliver it upstairs for some reason. Could you please come downstairs to pick it up?"
In addition to the courier's apologetic voice, a noisy quarrel could also be clearly heard on the phone.
"Okay, wait a moment." After saying that, Qiao Qiao put on her protective clothing and gas mask and prepared to go downstairs.
"I'll go with you." Qiao Xinghe was also equipped, using the protective clothing and gas mask bought at the medical equipment store.
Although the quality is not as good as the system products, it can still resist the gray fog.
Qiao Huizhou: "Then I won't go down. I'll pick up a package upstairs."
As soon as I got downstairs, I knew why they were arguing without asking.
A group of people wearing masks gathered around the delivery truck. Some of them were arguing with the courier, but more were just watching the fun.
"Even the deadly gray fog can't stop people's gossiping nature." Qiao Qiao couldn't help but complain in her heart.
"Why do you only send the express to her house and not to my house? I called to ask, and it's been three days since my express delivery arrived." A middle-aged man said, pointing and gesturing.
"Yes, my express delivery has arrived several days ago." Then several people around agreed.
Courier Wang Li was dizzy from the noise but suppressed her anger and said loudly, "I called you. The delivery point is short-staffed and affected by the fog. We need to pay to deliver the package. You said you didn't want it."
"Why do you have to charge for express delivery? You are breaking the law."
"Yeah, be careful or I'll warn you!"
"We don't want to charge any fees, but this is the society we live in now. There's nothing we can do about it," the courier explained helplessly.
"I don't care, give me my express delivery, otherwise you can't leave! Everyone come together." The middle-aged man instigated the people around him to gather around.
"Hey, hey, hey, let me out first." Wang Ruoruo packed her express delivery into her suitcase and backpack and prepared to leave, but was blocked by the crowd.
Wang Ruoruo was a local demolition household. Her family was allocated three houses and three million yuan, which were divided equally between her parents, her and her younger brother.
Now her parents have passed away, leaving only her and her younger brother. Her younger brother has been living in another place for a long time, so her parents' house belongs to her and the money goes to her younger brother.
Now I have two houses, one I live in and one I rent out, earning tens of thousands of yuan in rent every year. I live a very comfortable life.
Ever since the gray fog came, she didn't dare go out in it for too long, but she was not short of money.
So he simply paid the express delivery fee and started to rely on express delivery for a living.
When Qiao Qiao saw this scene, he suddenly felt a headache.
"Don't go in yet, wait here for a moment, I'll contact the property management." After giving the instructions, Qiao Xinghe walked to a place with few people and made a phone call.
Seeing Wang Ruoruo squeezing in the crowd, Qiao Qiao couldn't help but reach out and rescue her.
"Oh, thank you." Wang Ruoruo looked up after thanking him subconsciously.
"Ruoruo, long time no see." Qiao Qiao greeted with a smile.
The two were high school classmates. After the college entrance examination, she went to the capital to study at university, while Wang Ruoruo chose to stay in the local area because her parents were ill.
Later, we had dinner together at a class reunion and we got along pretty well.
However, she was not able to recognize him even though he was wearing a gas mask. She recognized Wang Ruoruo only because she heard him say her name when he picked up the express delivery.
However, I didn't expect that the other party would recognize me.
"Qiao Qiao?" The girl in front of her was fully armed, and Wang Ruoruo could only see a pair of big and bright almond eyes through the lenses. After hearing the familiar voice, she instantly remembered who it was.
"It's me." Qiao Qiao nodded.
"Qiao Qiao, you also live in this community. Which building and unit are you in?" Wang Ruoruo was excited to run into an old classmate when she couldn't move around freely.
"Unit one, Building three." Qiao Qiao replied.
"What a coincidence! I'm in Unit 1, Building 2. We can meet when we are free." Wang Ruoruo wanted to continue speaking but was interrupted.
"Disperse! Don't gather together during this special period!" More than a dozen property and security personnel rushed over and pulled the crowd apart.
"You guys are just here to judge the matter. She didn't deliver the express to me, but she asked me to pay hundreds of dollars for shipping." The middle-aged man pulled the security guard to complain.
"That's not my jurisdiction. You can call the police." The security personnel were busy evacuating the crowd of onlookers.
"Stop looking! Go back!"
"Then what about our express delivery?" The remaining few people were unwilling to leave and surrounded the property to ask for an explanation.
"Call the police. We are just the property management of the residential complex and have no right to get involved in matters like this." The property management sounded annoyed. It was obvious that there had been a lot of conflicts during this period and they were not having an easy time either.
"Call the police if you want. We are in the right. Who is afraid of whom?" After saying that, the middle-aged man took out his cell phone and called the police.
"Yes, call the police and let them take care of the unscrupulous merchants who are asking for exorbitant prices!"
The property and security personnel were afraid that the conflict would escalate and something might happen so they did not dare to leave and stayed here to maintain order.
While the situation was temporarily under control, Qiao Qiao pushed through the crowd and walked in.
"Qiao Qiao, the last number of your cell phone is XXXX." Qiao Qiao handed over 500 yuan in cash.
"These are all your express deliveries." Wang Li put on the mask that fell off during the tearing and opened the trunk of the tricycle.
It turned out that apart from Wang Ruoruo, she was the only one in the entire community who agreed to pay the express delivery fee, and everyone else chose to pick it up themselves.
The trunk was full of 37 express parcels.
"Then I'll go back first. Come and visit me when you have time." Wang Ruoruo left first, still carrying her bag and suitcase.
"goodbye."
"Hey, you can't leave. You have to wait for the police to come!" Wang Li was stopped when she was about to help Qiao Qiao move the express up.
"I won't leave. I'll just deliver the express for them and will be down soon." Wang Li said helplessly.
"No, what if you run away through the side door?" The middle-aged man refused to give in, fearing that the courier would run away.
"Why are you running? My car is still here."
"If I say no, then it's no!"
The two sides were in a stalemate. Even if they were fully armed, the longer they were exposed in the gray fog, the more dangerous it would be.
Qiao Qiao couldn't help but interrupt the middle-aged man, "Then you move it for me?"
The middle-aged man was stunned at first, then said unhappily, "Why? I'm not a courier."
Qiao Qiao shrugged and spread her hands, "If you don't let the courier deliver it to me, then you have to deliver it."
The middle-aged man He Feng was enraged. "I thought you were a quiet little girl, why are you so unreasonable?"
Qiao Qiao sneered, "I am unreasonable? I pay for the service, so it's only natural. Unlike you, you have no money to enjoy the service and you don't have the courage to pick up the package yourself, so you can only incite everyone to act like a rogue here."
He Feng was poked and instantly became angry. He took a few steps forward and wanted to attack, "You stinky bitch!"
Qiao Xinghe stepped forward to stop him, "What do you want to do!"
Qiao Xinghe is 184cm tall, which is considered tall even among young people, not to mention in that era, and he also exercises regularly.
Standing in front of He Feng, who was no more than 1.70cm tall, he was immediately stunned.
He Feng stepped back subconsciously, and when he felt the gazes of the people around him, he said stubbornly, "What should I do? Teach her a lesson, let her know what is high and what is deep."
"Who do you think you are?" Qiao Xinghe became furious when he heard his dirty words to his daughter.
The property manager recognized Qiao Xinghe and quickly stepped forward to interrupt him.
"Brother Qiao, don't be angry, don't be angry. Young people don't know much. Let's not argue with him."
Even though Qiao Xinghe smiles all the time now, he had a bad temper when he was young and was a famous smiling tiger.
Besides, he is the owner and He Feng is just a tenant.
If we make him angry, today might not be easy to end.
"Okay, they paid the delivery fee. Besides, you have no right to restrict the courier's personal freedom." After the property manager spoke, He Feng had to accept it even if he was unwilling.
"Brother He, forget it. What they said makes sense. The car is here anyway, and she can't run away."
"Yeah, Xiao He, we can't go too far."
The others just wanted to join in the fun and naturally didn't want to offend the property management. After all, they still had to live here.
There were quite a few express parcels, but nothing was particularly heavy, so they were all transported in one elevator trip.
"Thank you for your hard work." After hearing about this, Qiao Huizhou felt sorry for Wang Li, who was about the same age as him and was sweating all over. He took out a pack of unopened masks and handed it to her.
"This...thank you." Faced with the masks that are still difficult to buy after the price has increased a hundredfold, Wang Li hesitated for a second before accepting it.
After closing the door, the three of them opened the express packages, which were all common items that were still safe at the moment, including power banks, lighters, small fans, etc.
There are also several cat-specific capsules and cat beds.
After eating hot pot in the evening, Qiao Qiao held a cup of lemonade produced by the system in her hand, while Qiao Xinghe and Qiao Huizhou sipped tea leisurely.
The news is still delayed by an hour, and now if you turn on the TV, one-third of the channels are discussing the gray fog.
"The gray fog contains a lot of substances that are harmful to the human body and can cause lung-related diseases. Please do not go out unless necessary. If you encounter any problems, please contact the relevant departments."
The daily news and broadcasts only have these few sentences repeated over and over again, and people are tired of hearing them.
The following news is the highlight.
"According to the latest research results from the Academy of Sciences, gray fog will accelerate the deterioration of food, water and other items. Please seal your supplies in advance and avoid direct contact with gray fog in the air."
"The fog may affect infrastructure construction, so please be prepared for water and power outages at any time. But don't worry too much, the country will do its best to protect the lives of its citizens."
"The official verdict has been made!" Qiao Xinghe said with a serious expression.
Qiao Qiao also looked unhappy.
During the gray fog period in her dream, she had always been an ordinary citizen and had never experienced food going bad and having to be thrown away.
After all, in the early days, the Federation had been concealing the dangers of the gray fog for the sake of social stability, and she, like everyone else, did not realize the seriousness of the problem.
By the time we realized something was wrong, masks, food, and water were already in severe shortage. Every day was difficult and we didn't have time to pay much attention to the news.
As for the power and water outage, it seemed to have happened, but she couldn't remember it clearly.
The news that food and tap water might be contaminated dropped a bomb into the seemingly calm lake.
As soon as the news came out, people were immediately in a panic. Coupled with the terrible inflation, many people began to go to extremes.
No matter how many "doomsday theories" circulated on the Internet before, only a minority of people believed in them, and most people still held a disdainful attitude.
But now, with the release of official news, the vast majority of people are forced to face reality.
For a time, all kinds of weird and evil remarks were rampant on major platforms.
Some people get the information in advance and think they are well prepared, so they can't help but post pictures to show off online, causing jealousy and abuse from others.
Some people also encouraged each other, remained optimistic, and believed that the federal government would not give up on the people.
Many people have stated that they encountered thieves while out shopping, and some were even blatant robbers.
Although the police were called in a timely manner, due to insufficient police force and small amounts of money involved, many cases had to be left unresolved.
The social order begins to collapse from this moment...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
