Chapter 40: Beginning of Water and Power Outage

As for Royal Jelly, a wonderful substance, every morning upon waking, Jing Shu would scoop a little to mix with warm water. The entire family would drink a cup, which beautified and nourished the skin, moistened the lungs, and supplemented various vitamins and nutrients in the sunless apocalypse. In the Magic Cube Space, the black pigs, sheep, and calves had grown a size larger after regular feeding. This saved a lot of food and Spiritual Spring compared to their maturation speed a month prior, though it was still faster than normal pigs and sheep. Jing Shu estimated they would be mature in six months. Jing Shu had bred more quail, planning to make a large batch of roasted quail and roasted quail eggs after some time to store in the space for midnight snacks, as her appetite had recently increased again. Jing Shu kept only a few chickens, ducks, and rabbits, but diluted Spiritual Spring was still incredibly effective. Besides fighting chicken No. 1, which had recovered its vitality and could lay over 20 eggs a day, Jing Shu could also collect over 20 chicken eggs, 7 or 8 duck eggs, and more than 100 quail eggs. This was definitely more productive than the free-ranging chickens and ducks at the villa. The eggs accumulated over these days allowed Jing Shu and Mr. Jing to successfully make a batch of preserved eggs. It also gave Jing Shu a reason to buy a lot of lime for potential mischief in the future. 「On January 18th」 A sudden power outage occurred in Jingshu District. Wu City had been overloaded for over ten days, providing electricity not only for households at night but also for the air conditioning, lights, and streetlights for various enterprises during the day, until it finally couldn’t cope any longer. The main issue was the 24-hour use of air conditioning; statistically, the national average electricity consumption was five times the usual amount. People who normally refrained from using air conditioning, along with those in Modu and Suzhou facing doubled charges for exceeding household electricity limits, had all been using electricity without restraint for the past half-month. The consequence was an inability to supply enough power, leading to the outage. After receiving thousands of complaints within a few minutes, Wu City Electricity issued emergency measures. They urgently transported diesel, allowing each residential complex and enterprise to generate their own electricity. Wang Qiqi No.13: "@everyone, community services can’t keep up currently, and there are no generators yet. If you can’t stand the heat, join me in the car in the underground garage. We can turn on the air conditioner and wait for the power to return. I can fit two more people in my car." The temperature in Wu City remained high at 49°C. Most of the office workers and business owners in Jingshu District had closed their doors to rest at home. In less than half an hour after the power outage, their homes had become like steam boxes. In the Initial Stage of Apocalypse, people couldn’t tolerate the heat and couldn’t drink muddy water; later, they survived anyway. So fussy. Jing Shu thought irresponsibly, lying in her constant 26°C villa and eating Haagen-Dazs ice cream. Some people in the residential complex went to their parents’ or in-laws’ homes, while others headed to their cars to turn on the air conditioning and wait for the power to return. Wang Qiqi surprisingly managed to add over a dozen more people to the group chat during this time. This residential complex, capable of accommodating tens of thousands, currently housed only a hundred or so inhabitants. No wonder no restaurants dared to open for business here. Yet within a year, this place would become one of the most sought-after new districts in Wu City, and countless homeless citizens would flock here. Every parking space in the basements and underground garages would be divided to provide living space for a family. In her previous life, during the fifth year of the apocalypse, she had traded the prime villa for grain. The family had subsequently lived in basements, cage houses, and refugee camps. Later, due to various natural disasters, they had migrated many times with the government... That was a nightmare. Jing Shu didn’t even want to think about it again! Today, Mr. Jing brought Grandma Jing three bags of mushrooms and two trays of garlic sprouts to grow, along with some eggs, Chinese cabbage, and Gui Ling Gao diluted with Spiritual Spring for the elderly woman. It was said that buying vegetables in the city had become very difficult. The price of a single wilted Chinese cabbage had soared to 50 yuan. Other green vegetables and out-of-season produce were no longer available. Only various mushrooms, chives, and bean sprouts—vegetables that could be grown indoors without sunlight—remained. The prices in the dried goods and seafood markets had also multiplied. Since these items were even more expensive than vegetables, not many people bought them, most hoping to hold out until after the Dark Day to make purchases. Grandma Jing still had to stay in the city for a few days to queue at the pharmacy to buy her hypertension medication; the elderly couple was still quite energetic. To minimize hoarding, the state restricted pharmacies: they could only process medical insurance cards, and daily transactions were limited to 50 yuan. The old couple still had over a thousand yuan on their medical insurance cards. Hearing that all medications were out of stock and wouldn’t be replenished for half a year, they, along with Third Aunt Jing Lai, hurried to the pharmacy daily to buy whatever medicines they could. All pharmacies had sold out of items like Heat Relieving Pills, vitamins, and Huo Xiang Zheng Qi Water. People who needed to take medication regularly were rushing to secure them, including Grandma Jing. Even though Jing Shu had told her they had already bought plenty, Grandma Jing insisted on spending every last yuan on her medical insurance card. Grandma Jing always felt insecure, hoarding everything after surviving years of famine. Although she had previously favored boys over girls, was always reluctant to spend on her own food and clothing, and haggled over every grocery purchase, she truly loved Jing Shu. From a young age, Grandma Jing had been most partial to her, always giving her the best of everything. Therefore, the filial piety she couldn’t fulfill in her past life... Jing Shu would fulfill it in this one. Whatever Grandma Jing wanted to do, Jing Shu would just let her be. 「At 7 p.m.」 Jing Shu’s family sat in front of the TV watching the news while having dinner. The meal included three steamed sea bass, a large bowl of fish roe steamed eggs, a big pot of curry beef brisket with potatoes over rice, and a tomato egg soup. No matter how much food was prepared, Jing Shu would polish off every last scrap, not even leaving a speck of oil. That was the thoroughness of someone who had survived ten years in the apocalypse. "You’re learning only the bad habits from your dad, like licking the plate clean," Mrs. Jing said, tapping Jing Shu’s hand. "With an appetite and table manners like yours, who would dare marry you in the future?" Mr. Jing, caught in the crossfire, replied, "Right, right. All the bad stuff comes from me, and all the good stuff is inherited from you." "That’s for sure!" Mrs. Jing beamed with pride. "Look at how wonderfully our daughter set up the solar power generation and the water filtration system. Others have blackouts, and their dinner is just cold, soaked instant noodles. We get to enjoy a lavish dinner in air conditioning." "And who was it that called her a spendthrift before?" Mr. Jing muttered under his breath. All of Wu City was still experiencing a blackout, with people relying on either backup power or electricity from generators. In the more densely populated southern regions with insufficient power supply, they had already resorted to diesel generators. Today’s headline delivered grim news: the United Nations had refused to transport crude oil to China until the end of the Dark Day. This was a direct consequence of China halting its food exports. It was truly a terrible blow. The state implemented emergency measures to extract domestic oil until the Dark Day ended. However, domestic oil was only sufficient for a few decades, which was why Huaxia had always relied on imports. Jing Shu knew it wouldn’t be long before they faced the awkward situation of having cars but no fuel. Since gasoline was designated as a crucial strategic resource, the state had prioritized its use for more important purposes, temporarily halting fuel supply to private cars. This included natural gas and other essential energy sources. Jing Shu planned that after this busy period, she would start pre-cooking food to conserve coal. 「As dusk fell」 Night had completely fallen, and the temperature in Wu City had dropped to 4°C. People in the residential complex returned home, only to discover with horror that even the muddy water was gone! Zhang Bingbing No. 4: "@everyone, my house has completely run out of water! Can someone spare a few bottles of mineral water? Thanks!" No one spoke up. After a while, Zhang Bingbing No. 4 posted again: "I’ll buy 2 bottles of mineral water at a high price!" Still, no one responded. Zhang Bingbing became furious and lashed out in the group: "What kind of heartless neighbors are these? This afternoon, a few of the older women who hitched a ride in my car even said to ask in the group if I had any trouble. I burned through all my gas running the AC for them, and now I have no fuel to go out and buy water. I’m offering a high price for just 2 bottles, and still, no one is willing to help?"