After everyone had been shocked for a while, Gu Yanzhi dropped another bombshell.
"And don't forget, Uncle Zhang has already noticed that many elderly people have disappeared from the streets."
"Yan Zhi, you mean..."
"I'm not sure, but I can't rule out the possibility."
Gu Yanzhi was certain; she had experienced such shock in her previous life. She even knew that later on, it had become the norm.
Some people, unwilling to harm their own, ruthlessly sold off their people in exchange for supplies. Others simply swapped people with their own families.
Gu Yanzhi had witnessed this scene firsthand.
In my past life, things happened much earlier. There was a large pot with a fire burning over it, filled with chunks of meat of various shapes, emitting a putrid yet strange aroma.
If you have a lot of seasonings, add more to cover up the stench; if you have less, just add a little salt, or even nothing at all.
A group of people who were starving didn't care that the food was too hot to handle and wasn't even fully cooked before they started grabbing it.
Gu Yanzhi clearly remembered that in her previous life, when Young Master Yan took her out and she saw this scene, she vomited so badly that she felt dizzy and faint.
He even picked out a slice for Gu Yanzhi in a good mood. Upon hearing this, Gu Yanzhi immediately knew what the unknown meat on that plate was.
Moreover, the food given to Young Master Yan certainly wouldn't be the kind of rotten food that's been dead for many days and still smells of decay. Gu Yanzhi had a guess in his heart that it was very likely freshly killed.
Another wave of nausea washed over Gu Yanzhi, and she couldn't help but curse the hypocritical, ruthless, and twisted beast in front of her. This successfully incurred Young Master Yan's displeasure, and she was sent back to Gu Qiang.
After returning home, for a period of time her meals consisted entirely of meat. Gu Yanzhi had no choice but to feign compliance, hiding the meat and pretending to eat it herself before giving her some normal food.
Later on, Gu Yanzhi was always on edge while eating, afraid that she might accidentally eat something that could cause this.
Gu Yanzhi also realized that those who eat and those who don't are destined to be two separate groups and cannot coexist. Those who eat will only force those who don't eat to either eat or become food themselves, and they will assume that those who don't eat must hate and despise them from the bottom of their hearts.
The memories that surfaced in Gu Yanzhi's mind made her feel nauseous. She pinched her thigh hard to keep herself from vomiting on the spot.
Song Zhao quickly handed over the thermos she was holding, which contained hawthorn water. It was originally prepared for Gu Yanlin to help relieve the feeling of nausea.
Anticipating that today's meeting might not be very friendly, I deliberately poured myself two glasses of wine.
"Let's seal up all the windows that are unoccupied."
In the past few days, Gu Yanzhi and Song Zhao did notice that the windows outside their home looked like they had been pried open. However, because their building was renovated with the best materials, they hadn't been pried open yet.
At first, Gu Yanzhi thought that some people couldn't find anything to eat and wanted to sneak in to find some food, but when it was related to this matter, Gu Yanzhi's thoughts were not so simple.
You should know that there are three elderly people and two children in their building, which may make them prime targets for bad guys.
"How do we seal it? We can't find the materials now, can we?" Liu Sisi said worriedly.
Of all the homes in this building, hers and Xiaolin's are the most dangerous, as they contain both elderly people and children.
"Go look for renovation materials in the office building; sheet metal, wood planks, anything will do. If all else fails, just knock down a wall and bring back some bricks."
"In this weather, you don't even need cement. Just pour some water on it, stick it to the wall, and it'll freeze solid in no time."
Uncle Zhuang, being from the construction industry, immediately came up with this solution.
"However, it would be best to seal up the windows where we live as well, since no one knows how ruthless these people can become," Uncle Zhuang continued to suggest.
Covering the windows might only make the room a little darker, but it will save you a lot of trouble.
"Everyone should take a few days off and get the wall fixed first," Uncle Zhang finally decided.
Starting the next day, everyone in Building 10 got to work with great enthusiasm. Aside from the first day when 15 people worked together to find materials and demolish the walls...
For the remaining two days, the 15 people split into two teams: one team was responsible for building walls at home, and the other team was responsible for finding and transporting materials. Three elderly people were in charge of logistical support, and the arrangements were very well organized.
The commotion at Building 10 was so loud that it quickly attracted the attention of others. When asked, everyone just said it was for safety.
Now that relief supplies are running low, there have been a few sporadic robberies outside. Although the rescue team has managed to suppress them in time, saying this won't raise any suspicion.
In just three days, everyone finished the renovation.
They blocked everything that could be blocked. Uncle Zhang's family even moved from the 13th floor to an empty apartment on the 14th floor, the one where Team 532 used to live.
Block up all the windows in the apartments below the 13th floor, leaving only one window open for everyone to enter and exit.
Gu Yanzhi kindly provided the materials and added security bars to the window, preventing any access from the outside. Every time someone enters or leaves, someone inside the building needs to help open and close the window.
It's troublesome, but it's safe.
In order to let in light, the windows in everyone's houses were covered with ice blocks. The thick ice blocks were frozen a day in advance, and they could be stuck to the window frames tightly by pouring water on them.
Some ice blocks aren't frozen solid; even after being stuck together and frozen for a day, they become very firm, requiring a lot of effort to break them open.
All the gaps that could be blocked from the 10th to the 16th floors have been plugged. As for the 17th and 18th floors, Gu Yanzhi had already modified the windows during the renovation, so they were not needed.
Finally, everyone scraped together some materials and, with some difficulty, managed to build another door for the building, which they installed at the entrance to the stairwell on the 13th floor.
In addition, Building 10 has also formed a self-defense force, as their community has too few households to accommodate the situation where each household contributes one or two people.
They discussed it and decided that two people from each of the 13 would stay on the 13th floor each night to patrol regularly and sound the alarm immediately if they found anything unusual. Gu Yanlin and Zhuang Nanyang were not included in the 13 people, as they were both soldiers who did not live at home regularly and had limited leave, so they were not counted.
The alarm was also kindly provided by Gu Yanzhi. Everyone tested it once and found it to be very loud, enough to wake up everyone in the building. It's also battery-powered, with a long standby time; one AA battery is enough for the alarm to last a year.
Of the 13 people, each night was basically a two-person team, with Li Jie and Xiao Lin forming a partnership. In the end, only Uncle Zhang's family of three volunteered to work two night shifts, one with his wife and one with his daughter.
Uncle Zhang's family had the most members and suffered the most losses, so everyone contributed some supplies as compensation to Uncle Zhang's family.
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