Chapter 42: I used to buy only when I couldn’t afford it, now I can’t afford it at all

Good people did exist; it was their altruism and self-sacrifice that kept the post-apocalyptic social system from collapsing. For ordinary people, simply surviving the apocalypse was considered fortunate. After a couple of days, the temperature in Wu City returned to 43°C, and many businesses and companies resumed operations. For safety reasons, all schools started their winter break early, except for the high school seniors who still attended classes to prepare for their exams. But now, everyone faced an awkward problem: cars couldn’t get fuel, public transport was too packed to board, and taxis, despite tripling in price, were still unobtainable even for those willing to share rides. The number of cars on the streets of Wu City had significantly diminished! The willingness of some people to pay a high price for a ride to work was based on the belief that the Dark Day was about to pass, everything would return to normal, and they just needed to endure it a bit longer. Refueling and gas stations now only supplied public buses, shuttles, taxis, and other public service vehicles until the end of the Dark Day. But if the Dark Day didn’t end... This was when the advantages of electric vehicles really showed. You just had to find a charging station, and a full charge would last two or three days. This meant no waiting in line under the scorching sun, eating dust, and still being unable to get a ride even after half an hour. Many electric vehicle owners had begun operating as unlicensed taxis, making two or three hundred yuan per trip. The wealthy simply bought electric vehicles, while the less fortunate could only wait for the Dark Day to end. The prices of electric vehicles had skyrocketed, embodying the saying: "Electric vehicles used to be the affordable option; now, you can’t afford an electric vehicle." Mr. Jing drove his electric vehicle to take Mrs. Jing to work every day. They would pass a large group of people waiting for the shuttle at the entrance of their residential community, all of whom looked on with extreme envy. Although every family in their remote community owned a car, they could only rely on the temporarily added shuttle service after running out of fuel. A shuttle ride cost 30 yuan, and people had to commute twice a day. The shuttle wasn’t punctual either; if you missed it, you couldn’t go to work. Now, due to weather and transportation issues, the government had also announced a two-hour reduction in the workday. Luxury Car Specialist No.5: "Who owns that BYD Song in the community? Could I catch a ride with you?" Wang Dazhao No.1: "Same here! Does the driver of that Song run illegal rides? They should do it for our community; a 7-seater like that could fit nine people." Mr. Jing was very tempted when he saw the message. He had been idle at home for a month and was always looking for something to do. Running illegal rides could earn him a few thousand yuan a day. Jing Shu rolled her eyes. In a few months, money will be useless anyway. Jing Shu could only retort, "The weather is so hot, and those people haven’t bathed in seven or eight days. They must have all sorts of smells. I’m not looking down on them, but the car would be filled with a strange stench and dirt, and I couldn’t stand that." "Exactly!" Mrs. Jing said with a headache. "The foot odor, bad breath, and body odor in the office are already unbearable. Please, just leave me some sanctuary! To avoid appearing to get special treatment, I haven’t washed my hair in three days either. It wouldn’t be right for me to go to work looking clean and tidy when my superiors show up with oily, dirt-matted hair." After the water resources were polluted, Wu City shut off the water supply for the entire urban area, providing only limited supplies through water trucks. If water consumption had remained at normal levels, Wu City would have completely run out in no time. The Wu City Government also needed to use its scarce remaining water to try and save some of the dying crops. Even if the Dark Day ended, it wouldn’t alleviate the water scarcity. Supermarkets had stopped supplying bottled water and various beverages. Although the news reported daily crackdowns on corruption and encouraged citizens to report unfair practices, a significant portion of the bottled water was still being hoarded by influential people for emergencies. Ordinary citizens remained largely unaware of how truly scarce water had become. Wu City had thirteen district governments, and Mrs. Jing was just a level-nine clerk in one of them, putting her far from any position of influence. In her previous life, it was only through a fortunate coincidence involving Mr. Jing that they had managed to obtain a small quantity of bottled water. So now, people’s daily water supply entirely depended on water trucks delivering water every other day. This was enough for cooking and drinking, but bathing, washing faces, doing laundry, or even washing dishes was out of the question. As soon as the weather got hot, people would sweat and start to smell, yet they still couldn’t bathe... Don’t be fooled by the popular hairstyles of slicked-back hair or people wearing hats; it was because their hair was filthy. It was so greasy that slicking it back or covering it with a hat was the only option. In the group chat, everyone was asking who owned the BYD Song and if it could be used for unlicensed taxi rides. Seeing no response, a car owner finally spoke up. Lu Song, who had yet to move in, posted: "Mine is an Audi electric vehicle, but I live in the city center. I can make trips to your area too, 500 yuan a trip. You guys can carpool; I can fit six people and I’ll have the AC on. Let me know if you’re interested." Traffic police no longer cared how many people were crammed into a car. The once most congested areas were now clear. It was said that of the four million private cars in Wu City, only a few hundred thousand electric vehicles were still in operation. Wang Dazhao No.1: "It’s a bit pricey, but count me in. After all, the Dark Day will be over in a few days." Luxury Car Specialist No.5: "Count me in as well." Six people were quickly gathered. They agreed to depart daily at 10 a.m., which was much better than having to wait for a ride at the community entrance by 8 a.m. The state truly did its best to provide various resources during those days. However, the scorching weather increased national energy consumption and caused the deaths of domestic poultry and crops. The United Nations’ suspension of crude oil supplies, combined with soil and water pollution, led to a nationwide water shortage. Despite everyone wanting to endure through the Dark Day, braving all difficulties, on January 24th, a nationwide reduction in energy use was announced, to last until the Dark Day was over. Effective immediately, the daily electricity supply was limited to eight hours, provided between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. This was to ensure there was electricity during the hottest part of the day, so people wouldn’t die from the heat and food in refrigerators wouldn’t spoil. Just endure it a little longer; the Dark Day will soon pass. Everyone believed that once it was over, their stored supplies of at least half a year’s worth of grain would be enough, even with the ongoing water and electricity shortages. While everyone was dreaming of the end of the Dark Day, Jing Shu was in her villa, blissfully cooking two large pots of spicy hotpot on her gas stove, air conditioning blasting, even as sweat dripped down her face. After boiling a whole pot of beef balls, shrimp balls, Shrimp Dumplings, fish balls, and fish tofu, she would eat some and then store the rest in her space. Then she would add sliced beef rolls, lamb rolls, various vegetables, fish, and other meats to the pot. Once Jing Shu was full, she had filled one cubic meter of her space with cooked food. When the power and gas eventually went out and no one else could cook, she planned to take out a pot, pour the ready-made hotpot from her space into it, and claim she had cooked it using coal. She had several tons of coal stored at home. But will it even last for the first ten years of the apocalypse? So, Jing Shu was naturally meticulous, cooking meals in advance and storing them in her space. Another advantage was that the delicious aroma of cooked food wouldn’t drift too far when she took it out of her space. Otherwise, when resources became truly scarce, if you cooked something like Shiitake Mushroom Chicken, the smell could be detected from hundreds of meters away. That would surely create a scene... These days, Jing Shu was busy cooking meals ahead of time. She turned two boxes of curry into one cubic meter of Potato Curry Chicken with rice, one cubic meter of spicy duck blood, one cubic meter of Braised Pork Ribs, one cubic meter of tomato shrimp, one cubic meter of Steamed Crab, and one cubic meter of Fried Fish Cubes. She also converted her previously bulk-purchased frozen KFC products into ready-to-eat food: Fried Chicken, Fried Chicken Wings, Fried Chicken Legs, Colonel’s Chicken, Chicken Skewers, Chicken Strips, and Chicken Nuggets, plus French fries. Altogether, these items took up another two cubic meters of her space.