Chapter 114 Water, electricity, and gas supply restrictions
"Attention all citizens, in accordance with emergency response regulations, starting at 6 PM today, the nationwide supply of residential gas will be completely suspended. Please immediately turn off the gas valves in your homes..."
Zhao Ya stood by the window and, through the gaps in the residential building, could see a convoy of cars slowly driving by on the deserted road in the distance.
The emergency broadcast vehicle, escorted by two dark green armored vehicles, was continuously broadcasting the same message.
The broadcaster's voice was calm, clearly intended to reassure the public, yet it still filled her with waves of despair.
"Attention all citizens..."
The convoy was repeated once in Mandarin and then in the local dialect, and the two versions were repeated until the convoy gradually drove away.
Zhao Ya then closed the window.
Just before she was completely locked up, she heard a heavy sigh coming from either upstairs or downstairs: "Sigh!"
Zhao Ya bit her lip, carefully locked the window, and left the balcony.
In the living room, Grandma Zhang was reading a picture book to Ya Ya. Seeing her return, she quickly put down the book and asked, "How was it?"
"First they cut off water and electricity, and now they're going to shut off the gas. I think the internet won't be working either soon." Zhao Ya was very distressed, but she couldn't show too much despair in front of her child.
On the contrary, Grandma Zhang was very calm: "We have a lot of stuff stored at home, so there's no need to worry too much. Anyway, we've been through this kind of life before."
Unlike young people who can't live without the internet, she remained remarkably calm in this situation.
Zhao Ya sat down next to her mother, nestled against her warm body, and her anxious emotions gradually calmed down. Noticing that Ya Ya was watching the two of them curiously, she felt a little embarrassed and stood up: "We can't waste any more time, let's hurry up and do some more preparations."
After learning about the upcoming power rationing last night, she first turned the refrigerator to its highest setting, put some meat in, and froze it solid along with the frozen food on the lower shelf. She even followed online instructions and froze a few bottles of mineral water in the storage compartment to extend the shelf life of the food as much as possible.
Then they began to gradually consume the items that were stored on the upper floors and were not easy to store.
But there was too much food, and even if the family of three ate their fill, they couldn't finish it all. Besides, food is so precious, so they didn't dare to eat as much as they wanted and could only try to think of other ways to store it.
First of all, hoping to freeze food solid and keep it frozen for another hour with electricity to achieve a cycle is absolutely unrealistic. One hour is simply not enough for the food to refrozen, and repeated freezing and thawing would allow many bacteria to grow inside the food, which Zhao Ya would not dare to do.
She could almost foresee that fresh foods like fruits and vegetables, along with the frozen foods in the refrigerator, would be quickly consumed within a few days, and for the rest of the days, her family would have to rely on the snacks and canned goods stored in the house to survive.
Even so, they are still much better off than most families.
In the WeChat group for residents of Zhao Ya's own neighborhood, some young people living alone were already asking for food this morning, and the rest were also worried about what to do when their food supplies ran out.
Looking at the contents of the package, Zhao Ya remembered that she seemed to have a few packets of instant noodles at home. Since they couldn't go back anytime soon anyway, she sent a private message to one of the young girls in the group whom she had met a few times, telling her her home address and the password to her keypad lock.
If you get really hungry, you can go to her house and take those packets of instant noodles and the remaining rice, noodles, seasonings, etc., so you can at least last a little longer.
Just be careful not to run into zombies.
Upon hearing this, the girl was so grateful she almost cried.
Hearing the other party's repeated thanks, Zhao Ya felt a bit conflicted. If it weren't for Song Rushuang, she and Ya Ya would probably have ended up in the same situation as the girl.
Now, in addition to power and water restrictions, even the gas is being cut off, making the already worried people even more anxious.
Zhao Ya wanted to cook the things that couldn't be kept in the refrigerator as soon as possible, but her cooking skills were only average. She could only cook simple home-style stir-fries. In the summer without air conditioning, stir-fried dishes would not be fresh after a day or two, so she stood in the kitchen worrying.
Grandma Zhang came in at some point. Seeing Zhao Ya's expression, she knew what Zhao Ya was thinking. She sighed and shooed her out with disdain: "Go, while there's still hot water, wash Ya Ya's body and hair. It'll be troublesome to boil water again later."
Children are different from adults; they have weaker immune systems and are more susceptible to catching a cold if they take a cold shower.
Their bathtub was full of water and unusable, but they could still use the hot water to wipe themselves down.
Zhao Ya had almost forgotten about this, but was still a little hesitant. Just then, Grandma Zhang said, "Leave the kitchen to me."
She opened the refrigerator and took out a piece of pork belly wrapped in a plastic bag: "I'm going to render some lard. Later, I'll separate some of the flour and rice from the house and fry them, and then take some to make dry food biscuits. They can be dried and preserved for a while. Come over and help me knead the dough after you've finished washing up."
"Stir-fried flour?" Zhao Ya could understand all the other arrangements and knew that raw rice could be made into stir-fried rice, but she had never actually eaten stir-fried flour before.
"It's just oil tea noodles," Grandma Zhang explained. "Flour is stir-fried with lard, sugar, and salt, and you can even add some sesame seeds and peanuts. It can be stored for quite a while."
Zhao Ya suddenly realized.
She knew about oil tea noodles; it was said that the soldiers on the Long March carried this too. It was easy to store, and you could just soak it in hot water to make a paste when you wanted to eat it. If there was no hot water, you could eat it dry or soak it in cold water—it couldn't be more convenient.
Animal fat, salt, and sugar are all good things that can extend shelf life.
If properly sealed, this stir-fried flour can last for at least six months, which is not much different from the original shelf life of raw flour. However, when you want to eat it, it is much simpler to process than raw flour.
Rice has a longer shelf life than flour, so flour was prioritized for disposal before the natural gas supply was cut off, followed by rice. Fried rice can also be stored for three to six months, and the remaining flour, made into dry food cakes, can also be stored for one or two months.
By processing all the flour in this way, and processing and reserving some of the rice which can be stored longer, they have a guaranteed staple food for at least a year to come.
Even if you get tired of the same thing, you can try something different.
With that thought, Zhao Ya felt completely relaxed.
She was surprised to find that while she was still clueless, her mother had already arranged everything in an orderly manner. She felt ashamed, as if she could only play the role of a laborer in this family.
She's a graduate student, yet she's no match for her mother, an old lady who only graduated from junior high school. Is that right?
Why can't schools offer more classes to teach academic knowledge while also sharing life experiences?
Zhao Ya sighed twice.
Fortunately, this was her own mother, not a stranger. She quickly came to her senses, rolled up her sleeves, and went to take her daughter to bathe.
*
"Damn it, damn it, why can't I get it to load?"
Shi Guangyao held his phone, scrolling down repeatedly, trying to refresh the webpage.
But all he could see was the loading circle spinning continuously, while the page remained blank.
He confirmed again that the network was still connected, but it had dropped from 5G all the way down to 2G.
"Isn't there electricity? Why is there no internet?!" Shi Guangyao roared.
Actually, it wasn't just him; other families were in the same situation.
Although the civilian internet is not currently down, once power rationing begins, it will be virtually the same as being offline.
5G base stations were among the first to be shut down due to their high energy consumption. As for some data centers, since servers need to be restarted after a power outage, which takes at least half an hour, the actual daily network availability may be less than half an hour, and the network speed is very slow, sometimes taking several minutes to refresh a page, making it difficult to see any news.
Making phone calls and text messages to family and friends is fine, but forget about watching videos online.
But it wasn't like this last night.
Last night, the stay-at-home order had just begun, and people couldn't go out. All information exchange took place online, and every app was bustling with activity. But overnight, not only were web pages inaccessible, but even when they finally did load, people often found that during those few hours without internet access, there were hardly any new posts on the homepage.
The once active people gradually quieted down. Some had encountered danger, some were busy preparing for the water and power outages, and the remaining people mostly preferred to spend their limited time with family and friends rather than chatting with strangers online.
In the short half hour you have internet access, let alone whether you can post anything on social media, even if you do manage to post it successfully, how many people will actually see it?
Influential bloggers are no longer busy chasing traffic and are returning to real life.
When power rationing began, the internet became a no-man's land even before the streets.
This inevitably causes panic.
It's a feeling of panic that comes from being in a bustling city but gradually losing touch with other people.
For some people who live alone and lack common sense about life, this panic is even more intense. Being locked up at home without any preparation, they have no idea what to do and can only seek answers online.
Food shelf life, cooking methods, things that need to be processed and stored, and the first things to do before a water or power outage...
Without the help of a search engine, they would have no idea about these things, or only have a vague concept of them.
Let alone young people in their twenties, many middle-aged people in their forties and fifties are also heavily reliant on the internet.
With the internet suddenly cut off, many people who have left their homes may not even know how to get to the nearest hospital.
In fact, voices had already appeared online last night suggesting that the government might soon begin restricting the supply of water and electricity. Many influential bloggers advised people to start storing water, fully charge their electronic devices and power banks, and cache essential data in advance.
But no one could have imagined that water and electricity restrictions would come so quickly and be implemented in such an extreme manner.
Using electricity for just one hour a day would render the internet virtually meaningless.
As for water rationing, although there are no restrictions on usage time, the water flow from taps these days is so low that even calling it a trickle is an understatement. Some have estimated that at the current flow rate, even if the tap were left on 24 hours a day, one would only get less than 20 liters of water.
What does 20 liters of water per household mean? Just for drinking water to survive, each person needs at least 2 liters per day, while the International Refugee Agency's minimum daily water consumption standard is 7.5 liters per person.
Living alone is one thing, but if there are more people in the family, and they haven't stored water in advance, relying solely on tap water, their water supply will drop to a level where they can barely survive within just a few days.
Some people online are reassuring that this is only a temporary measure; limiting water and electricity is better than cutting it off completely. Normal supplies will gradually return once the zombies are cleared.
But this did not alleviate people's panic. The zombies needed to be cleared away, but they also needed to live. If they couldn't survive until the end of the apocalypse, what use would all the zombies on the streets be?
In just one day, the situation deteriorated to this point, and people finally realized that the situation was probably worse than they had imagined. To the point that, in a short period of time, even the government was unable to take care of the daily lives of its citizens and could only do its best to help them maintain a minimum level of "survival".
For the rest, they have to rely on themselves.
Upon realizing this, many people's emotions begin to break down.
Including Shi Guangyao.
He has made some preparations based on online instructions since yesterday, but it is far from enough.
With the information overload online last night, with new things appearing every minute, he was afraid of missing anything. Many bloggers' posts or videos were too long, so he bookmarked them, planning to watch them one by one later.
After a busy night, I didn't absorb much information. I took a nap and got up to continue reading when I was told that the power was about to go out.
Shi Guangyao's world has collapsed.
After waiting for ages, the phone finally came back on. He quickly clicked on his bookmarks, but for some reason, he couldn't even load the webpage for a whole hour.
In his anger, the desk lamp next to him suddenly went out.
The power is out again.
"Ah!!" Shi Guangyao was almost furious.
He grabbed the desk lamp beside him and threw it toward the closed door.
Just then, the door was pushed open, and Mrs. Shi, who had just entered, was almost hit by the flying lamp. She quickly dodged it and looked at the lamp, which had shattered into pieces after hitting the door frame. Her heart sank.
But remembering the purpose of her visit, she swallowed and advised, "Guangyao, come out and get something to eat."
“The announcement outside just said that the natural gas supply will be cut off this afternoon. Your dad and I quickly cooked up the leftovers at home. You didn’t eat much yesterday, so we wanted to at least fill your stomach.”
In fact, not only did Shi Guangyao not eat much, but his parents also barely ate anything.
There was still electricity at home last night, so the food in the refrigerator could be stored. In order to save food, Shi Guangyao and his family only ate a bowl of vegetable soup for dinner, along with leftovers from the previous two days.
More than ten hours had passed, and I was starving.
Upon hearing the news that the natural gas supply was to be cut off, everyone else was filled with despair, but Mr. and Mrs. Shi felt a sense of relief.
The natural gas is about to be shut off, now I'll finally have an excuse to cook, right?
Thinking this, Mrs. Shi tugged at the hem of her clothes and forced a smile: "You need to eat your fill to have the strength to get through this. You eat first, and we'll eat later. Go on."
Shi Guangyao was hunched over and panting heavily from the throwing motion. In addition, the hot weather made his hair sweaty and greasy, sticking to his face and covering half of his eyes. He just glanced at his mother with a deep look in his eyes.
Then, without saying a word, he walked past her and rushed into the restaurant.
Mr. Shi was setting the table. He didn't dare to cook much, only one dish: he stir-fried the leftover cabbage and took out half a palm-sized piece of meat, sliced it, and put it in.
The steaming rice and dishes were placed on the table, and he couldn't help but swallow hard.
Shi Guangyao walked into the restaurant, and seeing the situation, he was fairly satisfied. He scooped up a mouthful of rice and asked, "What are you going to do with the remaining dishes?"
Father Shi said anxiously, "Let's make the vegetables that can't be stored first. Make some of the flour into pancakes, and let them dry so they can be stored for a while longer. We also need to make the frozen food as soon as possible. After we're done, put it in the refrigerator and let it cool with the remaining air so it can last for a couple more days. We can eat it in the next couple of days."
Many of the frozen foods were bought from the supermarket just two days ago, because they had a long shelf life. They never expected that they would expire so quickly, which made Mr. Shi very distressed.
As for other ways to preserve food besides dry biscuits, neither he nor his mother knew much about them.
Of course, the two knew about the existence of fried rice and fried flour, but they didn't usually eat these and had never made them themselves. They had no idea how much oil, sugar, and salt to add.
If we don't cook it, we can store it for a few more days. But if we cook it and it turns out badly, wouldn't that be a waste of food?
Therefore, neither of them dared to try it easily.
Even though there's still some time before the gas is cut off, I suddenly don't know what to do.
Shi Guangyao frowned as he looked at the frozen food that had already been taken out, his heart aching as if it were bleeding.
Fortunately, although these fresh foods didn't keep as long as they had imagined, they had also bought quite a few items with longer shelf lives. Thinking of the biscuit tins in the storage room, Shi Guangyao sighed and reluctantly accepted the outcome of wasting some food.
Although he still resented Fu Qing, Shi Guangyao saw many people introducing their family situations online from yesterday to today and found that his family had much more grain compared to them. This finally made Shi Guangyao feel a little more at ease and he began to feel proud of his foresight.
He shoveled the rice out of his bowl and ate most of the dish by himself before reluctantly putting down his chopsticks.
Mr. and Mrs. Shi watched from the side. Although they were hungry, they couldn't help but feel sorry for their son as he wolfed down his food.
Only after Shi Guangyao finished eating did they serve themselves rice and share the remaining half plate of food.
Father Shi didn't let the remaining soup go to waste either. He poured rice into it, mixed it up, and ate it all up in no time.
It was rare for the family to sit quietly together. Seeing that Shi Guangyao had just eaten and seemed to be in a good mood, Shi's mother hesitated before speaking: "Guangyao, you haven't been acting right these past two days... Tell your parents honestly, did you already know that this virus was going to break out?"
The preparations Shi Guangyao made were too targeted, and his subsequent reaction was also strange. Shi's parents secretly sat down together to discuss it these past two days and came to this conclusion.
"If you had known earlier, why didn't you say so sooner?" Mrs. Shi said, her eyes reddening.
She only received the news last night that her sister and father had been bitten to death by a monster.
The situation is equally dire for Mr. Shi's family. His parents were out yesterday, and were both out when the incident occurred. The two elderly people are not very good at using mobile phones, and they are still out of contact. It is feared that they are likely dead.
They guessed their son already knew everything, but hadn't considered any way to warn them, only focusing on taking the two to the supermarket to stock up on supplies. To be honest, Mr. and Mrs. Shi harbored resentment.
Even if that's their own son... they still have other relatives besides their son.
Moreover, their neighborhood became chaotic very early on, and security was very poor. From yesterday afternoon until late at night, the screams and cries for help from downstairs never stopped.
It sent shivers down one's spine.
Mrs. Shi was completely baffled. How could her son be so cold-blooded, just listening to the neighbors die one by one without saying a word?
Shi Guangyao, who had been in a good mood because he was full, lost his smile upon hearing this. He looked at the two of them coldly and asked abruptly, "Are you blaming me?"
"I..." The two were speechless.
Shi Guangyao recalled his struggles over the past year. He had wanted to say something, but he couldn't bring himself to say it. This pain gradually turned into anger at his parents' incompetence.
Even though they are his own parents, they can't help him with anything.
He had no one to confide in, no one to whom he could talk about how he had survived the past year, even helping them stock up on goods and live a better life. And yet, they still complained that he hadn't done enough?
What else can we do? Are we supposed to send him door-to-door, offering indirect help to neighbors he barely knows?!
Shi Guangyao sneered: "If they die, it's their own incompetence! They deserve to die! What does it have to do with me? Why should I be kind enough to help them?"
"But, but your grandparents, maternal grandparents, and aunt all dote on you..."
It would have been better if she hadn't mentioned it, because once she did, Shi's mother was reminded of her deceased sister and father, and tears streamed down her face. Shi's father also turned his face away.
Shi Guangyao just watched expressionlessly, and was about to say something sarcastic when there was a knock on their door.
A voice came from outside the door: "Is anyone home?"
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