Chapter 42:

Until it got dark again, the electricity still didn't come. However, after dark, people in the community came to generate electricity for the elevators. Many people who had been locked up at home during the day couldn’t wait to run outside. Some natural wind, the doors and windows of the house are closed, but it is even more stuffy. Many people think that if they don’t call tonight, they really have to find a place where they can survive during the day, otherwise even if they hide back at home, that’s too much. The consequences of life and death.

The ice cubes in Mu Nan's room were changed once, but he didn't waste the frozen water, and directly moved it to another inflatable swimming pool filled with water. When it's too hot, it's just right to soak in it.

Because the two air-conditioning fans are used at the same time, the power consumption is a bit higher. Before seven or eight hours, the battery has reached the bottom. Mu Nan can only take out a new one. Fortunately, this kind of battery The price is not expensive, so he prepared two or three of them himself, and later Qin Huai bought a lot in City B, all of which were fully charged, even with such consumption beyond their means, they could still last for more than half a month. If there is no call for more than half a month, then the generator can only be dispatched.

Although Mu Nan doesn't have much memory of this power outage, because in his last life, power outages were frequent at this time, sometimes for a day or two, and his memory is not so good that he can remember everything clearly, so he also I don't know how long it will last this time, anyway, for now, they are quite comfortable at home, it's really thanks to Qin Huai who took the trouble to dump some ice cubes.

When it’s winter, he freezes big ice cubes from one swimming pool to another. With the temperature in winter, the water in one pool is placed in a ventilated room. It can be frozen solid in one day and one night. A lot of money can be accumulated throughout the winter, which is enough to support the consumption in the coming year.

When Mu Nan was sitting on the ground drawing recipes, Qin Huai was wiping the mat with a towel diluted with toilet water. Although the room wasn't that hot, he would sweat a little if he slept in one position for a long time, so he had to wipe the mat every day , Seeing Mu Nan sitting on the ground greedy for coolness, Qin Huai said: "You can take a shower later, why don't you put on some prickly heat powder, I think you bought some of that."

Prickly heat powder was sold in all the pharmacies in the past. Thinking of the time when the sun would not be seen every day, Mu Nan bought a lot of vitamins and cleared his medical insurance card. When he saw prickly heat powder on the shelf, he did it I bought a few boxes, but it seems that I can't use it. At least in the last life, no matter how hot he was, he never had prickly heat, so he didn't prepare much.

Hearing what Qin Huai said, Mu Nan touched his neck: "I don't have prickly heat."

Qin Huai: "It's just prevention."

Mu Nan said indifferently, "All right."

Then the alarm clock set by Mu Nan rang, Mu Nan turned off the alarm clock, and then took out two packs of palm-sized airtight bags from the space, one bag contained various vitamins in yellow, white, red, and flake capsules: "Brother, come quickly, take vitamins."

If you don't see the sun for a long time, your body will have problems, but now the sun can't be exposed to the sun, so Mu Nan prepared a lot of vitamin calcium tablets early, and bought some adult supplements specially, which are the kind according to age. For extra nutrition, a small bag contains all kinds of eyesight, liver protection, calcium supplement, cardiovascular protection and so on. A single small bag is the daily intake, which is very convenient. He just puts it in that small bag. Some vitamins have been added, anyway, they are health products that are not bad for people.

Qin Huai washed his hands, took the bag, swallowed it twice in one gulp, and then Mu Nan handed over a pack of ginseng liquid in a stick, after drinking it, he watched Mu Nan swallow the medicine one by one, it was a bit funny : "You are full after eating this bag and drinking water."

Mu Nan glanced at Qin Huai: "Then what can I do, I can't swallow it all at once."

Qin Huai: "I haven't eaten much of these things before." It's too early to start various health regimens when you are in your twenties.

Mu Nan sucked on the ginseng stick: "Brother, you said that if human beings live in such an environment without light for a long time, will their eyes evolve, the kind with super clear night vision?"

Qin Huai said: "It will definitely be. The most amazing thing about the genes of organisms is that they will gradually change according to the environment, although this may be a very long process."

While rubbing his full stomach, Mu Nan got up from the ground to take a shower, thinking about washing his hair. Although his hair is still short, it has not been washed for a few days, and the dregs of his hair are also a bit greasy. up. When Mu Nan came out again, with the aroma of body wash and shampoo all over her body, she rubbed her hair and walked in front of the air-conditioning fan and said, "I feel like I'm alive again."

Qin Huai stretched out his hand and turned the air-conditioning fan to the side, instead of blowing directly on him, he wrapped his whole head with a towel and wiped his head: "I'll let you dry it a little before you come out to blow air, every time you blow it wet, The next day, the nose must be clear."

Mu Nan raised his head and let Qin Huai wipe his head: "It's so hot, it's hot even in a cold shower." He said it was a cold shower, but the water in the bucket was steaming on his body, which was nothing like a hot bath. What a difference.

The short hair dries quickly, and it's almost dry after just a couple of wipes. Qin Huai asked Mu Nan to take out the prickly heat powder and spread it around the back of his neck. As soon as the air-conditioning fan blows, I feel refreshed instantly: "This smell brings me back to my childhood."

Qin Huai smiled: "You haven't used prickly heat powder since you were five years old, can you remember what happened before you were five years old?"

Mu Nan shook her head: "I don't really remember, but the taste is very similar to when I was a child."

After putting on the prickly heat powder, Mu Nan climbed directly onto the bed, brought the notebook over, and rummaged through variety shows while urging Qin Huai to take a bath. He was already powdered, so Qin Huai had to do it too. Someone in the small group sent a message, Mu Nan opened it and saw that it was Jian Chu who asked them if they wanted to go downstairs.

Mu Nan replied in the group: "I can't get down anymore, it casts a shadow on the elevator."

Jane Chu: "???"

Mu Nan: "Yesterday, my brother and I almost got on the elevator. I was scared to death."

Jian Chu: "That's really lucky, I heard that there are dried vegetables selling downstairs, we plan to go down and have a look."

Mu Nan: "What dried vegetables? Dried plums?"

Jian Chu: "Although you can't afford to buy dehydrated vegetables, let's join in the fun. Anyway, it's hot at home."

Xu Ming: "I'll go down, wait for me."

Mu Nan: "Then if you want to buy it, let us know in the group and bring some for us."

Jane Chu: "Okay."

Qin Huai also took a thorough bath, and felt a little better. Mu Nan quickly took prickly heat powder and threw it on him: "Jian Chu and the others went downstairs and said that there are people selling dehydrated vegetables downstairs. I said that if they Buy it, and bring some for us."

Qin Huai said: "At this time, dehydrated vegetables are probably expensive."

They have a lot of dehydrated vegetables. Although they can be stored in fresh space, they also prepare a lot of dehydrated vegetables. Things like this that are suitable for extreme environment preservation are also very important materials.

When Jian Chu and the three of them went downstairs, the dehydrated vegetable sellers at the entrance of the community were already crowded with people. However, in order to prevent people from taking advantage of troubled waters, the stall owners did not let others approach the stall. Li stood in front of the stall with a mallet, and there was a sign on the stall. If you want to buy, you can go up one by one, and you can't swarm.

Jian Chu stood on the flower bed and took a look inside. After seeing the words on the sign clearly, he said to Yu Zibai and Xu Ming in shock, "A package of one thousand yuan is only three hundred grams, not even a catty. .”

Yu Zibo said: "After rehydrating this thing, three hundred grams should have a few catties of vegetables."

Xu Ming shook his head: "It's good to have a couple of catties, and what he sells is mixed, which can only be boiled after soaking, but this bag can be eaten several times, considering the current price of vegetables. , 1,000 packs, which is considered cheap. After all, if you want to eat this food, you need water, and now water is more expensive than anything else, and 1,000 is probably the bottom line in many people’s minds.”

The most important thing is that the government is still distributing supplies, and rice, flour, grain and oil can occasionally be grabbed by hand. Although it is expensive, at least it can be bought. And the instant noodles that are handed out have vegetable packets inside. If these are fresh vegetables, no matter how expensive the price is, people will snap them up. But these are dehydrated vegetables. Although they are convenient to store, people who don’t accept dehydrated vegetables are not very good. For example, they will feel that the vegetables are dehydrated and the nutrients are lost, just like the vegetable packets in instant noodles, which cannot be called vegetables at all.

Jian Chu looked at Yu Zibai: "Then shall we buy some?" Anyway, there is extra income, and I always feel that now that I have money in my hand, it is better to replace it with food and drink, and the money is not safe anymore.

Yu Zibai thought for a while, then nodded and said: "Buy some, you can ask Qin Huai and the others, didn't they say they want to bring some, and see how much they want."

Jian Chu picked up the phone and took a photo of the stall and sent it to Mu Nan. After a while, Mu Nan replied and transferred 5,000 yuan. Jian Chu: "They want five packs, what about us?"

Yu Zibo: "Let's take three guarantees."

Xu Ming said: "I'm alone, I'll take two packs, exactly ten packs."

Yu Zibai asked Jianchu to stand on the flower bed, so as not to be crowded by the spectators below, and then he and Xu Ming got into the crowd, because these burly men were guarding, and the price was too expensive for some people It can also be regarded as ridiculously expensive. Before there is no first person to eat crabs, most of them just wait and see, and they don't dare to go forward.

Yu Zibai and Xu Ming bought ten packs without haggling with the boss. They just scanned the QR code to pay, and then took ten packs and left. The whole process was quite straightforward.

Seeing that someone bought it, the people behind couldn't help stepping forward. Since the violent sun hung in the sky, they don't remember how long it has been since they ate vegetables. They heard that there is no way to grow them in the fields today. , Those who hadn’t yet harvested were either sunburned to death or harvested in advance. The government dared not report the loss of crops across the country, for fear of triggering famine and riots.

Some people say that the current situation has far surpassed those natural and man-made disasters in history. At that time, although the crops were not harvested and there were severe droughts everywhere, at least the climate was normal compared to now, and people could go to the mountains to dig wild vegetables to wrap their stomachs. , now the sun is so strong that it wants to dry out the land, so as not to leave any way for people to survive. Judging from the current situation, even if the national treasury is full of grain, if it has been unable to grow it, it may not be possible to buy it after a while.

People follow the crowd, the more people buy, those who didn't plan to buy can't help but join the scrambling army, and soon the vegetable stalls are sold out. Jian Chu and the others sat downstairs with black plastic bags for a while. Because the room was too hot, there were quite a few people who came down. The small garden in the entire community was full of people, and some active children ran away without fear of the heat. Running around, those adults who brought their children down seemed to have no energy to manage. They just held water in their hands and called the children back to feed them a few sips of water from time to time.

The boss who opened the mahjong room downstairs before didn’t know if it was originally there, or he built a battery somewhere. A big fan was placed at the door and blowing to the outside. The fan shook its head, blowing the heat that brought people together It’s been a little bit looser, and now there is such a little wind, everyone is very content, some people are still lamenting, if they knew that they would have a battery at home, the air conditioner can’t move it, and the fan can still blow it.

There are already many clever people who have started to try to remove the battery from their own electric vehicles, but connecting the wires requires a little skill. Those who don’t know the circuit can’t understand it even if they follow the online tutorials, but since ancient times, folks don’t There is a shortage of talents, and some people really know how to do it, so those who don't know how to get some food and drink ask for help, even if there is a call later, this thing will always come in handy.

As long as the three of them sat downstairs for a while, they saw at least three people bring their electric car batteries and wiring boards to the boss to help them modify them, and some even pushed their electric cars over and waited in line.

Jian Chu: "Nowadays, there is indeed a skill that is popular everywhere." In just a short while, I earned three bottles of water.

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a few dejected and emaciated people passing through the crowd. Jian Chu quickly sent a message to Mu Nan: "The people from the Zhang family are back."

Mu Nan was eating popsicles with her legs crossed, when she saw this message, she hurriedly said to Qin Huai who was at the side: "Jian Chu said that the people from the Zhang family are back."

Qin Huai didn't care too much: "I'll just go back, and it has nothing to do with us."

Mu Nan nodded: "That's true."

Qin Huai glanced at him, then turned to the computer screen: "This celebrity looks familiar, what's his name?"

Mu Nan turned his head and glanced at the computer. In the next second, his hands were empty, and when he turned around, he saw Qin Huai taking away the half-eaten popsicle: "..."

Mu Nan: "People do things? If you want to eat, tell me, I have a lot of space."

Qin Huai: "Half is just right for one person."

Qin Huai ate up half a popsicle in two or three bites, but instead of throwing away the popsicle stick, he rinsed it with water and handed it to Mu Nan to put it away. These things can be recycled, and it is just right to use them in winter .

When Qin Huai returned to the bed, he heard a burst of crying from the corridor. The voice was Grandma Zhang. The cry was loud and full of energy. To be honest, the two old people in the Zhang family are in good health. It was so sweltering that many young people couldn't bear it, but that grandma Zhang seemed to be fine.

Mu Nan sighed: "Did they bring the ashes back?"

Qin Huai said: "It shouldn't be that fast. Too many people died. A district can reach hundreds of thousands of deaths every day. How many people can you say in a city? Where can the crematorium be burned?"

And it is said that there is no way to collect the ashes now. There are too many dead people, and it is unrealistic to burn them one by one, and the corpses cannot be kept for a long time. There are not so many icehouses to store the corpses. It rots faster. Everyone knows that if the corpse is not disposed of as soon as possible, the germs and viruses will multiply rapidly. A little carelessness will lead to another large-scale plague. Even if the citizens cannot accept the ashes of their relatives, the government does not allow it In an already dire situation, another avoidable crisis occurred.

But these are just the information Qin Huai saw from the comments under some news on the Internet. Whether it is specific or not, there is no official confirmation or official refutation of the rumors, but as far as their community is concerned, it seems that those bodies that were dragged away did not seem to be seen. Can get ashes back.

Regarding the death of her old man, Grandma Zhang naturally couldn't accept it. She was just going to get some supplies, so why was she locked up in the elevator because of a power outage? Unable to bear the blow, Grandma Zhang almost fainted from crying. She hugged her little grandson, who was also crying into tears, and wailed: "The old man is gone, what will happen to our family in the future? My grandson has no grandpa, what will happen in the future?" Do it!"

The reason why Zhang Jianwen is strong is because he is the pillar of the family. Whether it is financially or spiritually, his son Zhang Yi grew up under his father's strength. His father was so taciturn and submissive, but he was just a sixteen-year-old boy who was spoiled and brought up, what could he do. So once Zhang Jianwen is gone, the Zhang family will lose their backbone, and they will not know what to do in the future.

Especially when he heard his mother say that there were still people knocking on the door during the day, wondering if it was because there was only one widowed old man in their house and what he wanted to do, Zhang Yi was so panicked that he became dizzy. It can't be improved, and the whole world can't be restored to the way it was before. How can he carry this family, how can he afford such a big family. Thinking of the future, Zhang Yi's eyes turned black, and he felt that this time, his innocence was about to collapse.

When Jian Chu and the others came back, the Zhang family was still crying and huddled together. Xu Ming had already suffered a loss, so naturally he would not be that kind person again, and just ignored their crying family. He went back to the house neatly. What's more, there is no need for a lonely family to care about a big family.

Jian Chu sent Mu Nan a message in advance, and after waiting at the door for a while, Qin Huai came to open the door, and then handed them the five packages of dried vegetables: "Fortunately, I went early, and they were all sold out half an hour later."

Qin Huai said: "Thank you, how is the situation outside? Is there any news about the incoming call?"

Jian Chu shook his head: "No, anyway, a group of people are sitting downstairs, and many people are trying to find a way to refit the battery to the power strip. The boss of the mahjong room dragged a fan outside, and many people sat there blowing the wind. Fans, more and more people, can't sit still, and when there are too many people, it gets hot, so we went up."

Qin Huai said: "If you have batteries, I can help you modify them."

Jane was pleasantly surprised at first, and then sighed: "Then you have to have an electric car first, forget it, it's more practical to pray for a call."

The crying on the Zhang family's side lasted for a long time, but Qin Huai's side was fine, they were separated by a corridor, closed the iron gate and their own gate, and turned up the computer sound a little bit to cover it up. The two families next door to the Zhang family suffered, especially Jian Chu and Yu Zibai who lived in the living room. But no matter how annoying the crying was, they couldn't do anything about it. They lost someone at home, and they were sad. If they were bothered, it would be too much, so they could only endure it.

Fortunately, they didn't hold back for too long and called.

This time they could hear the cheers from downstairs on the 17th floor. Those who were enjoying the cool outside hurried home to turn on the air conditioner. Jian Chu and the others also hurriedly turned on the air conditioner. They opened their notebooks while charging their phones, and put whatever For the show, as long as the crying from the next door is covered, they will all feel better.

Hearing the sound of a beep, Mu Nan couldn't help sighing: "There's a call, and life without electricity is too difficult."

Qin Huai laughed: "It's not warming you up, this big block of ice hasn't melted yet."

Mu Nan: "It's not as comfortable as the air conditioner. When the air conditioner comes up and the temperature drops, we'll eat again. When the electricity comes on, my appetite will go up."

Qin Huai: "What do you want to eat? What's ready-made or what I cook?"

Mu Nan thought for a while: "Eat ready-made ones, it's too hot, cooking will be even hotter."

Qin Huai leaned on the bed and flipped through the recipes drawn by Mu Nan: "It's okay, there is no chicken at home now, you can open the kitchen door, and when the kitchen cools down, it won't be too much trouble to cook two dishes. What do you want to eat?"

Mu Nan picked up the existing ingredients in the space in his mind: "I want to eat fried oxen with peppers, hot and sour potato shreds, and vegetables. Do you want cabbage or choked lettuce? Then just take it from the space."

Qin Huai nodded: "Eat the lettuce, you take out the vegetables, I'll wash and chop the peppers."

After Mu Nan took the dishes out of the space, he took the inflatable swimming pool with ice cubes into the space, and Qin Huai took the dishes into the kitchen. There was a bucket of clean water in the kitchen for washing vegetables. Seeing that Qin Huai had started cooking, Mu Nan didn't stay idle, so he charged up a few exhausted batteries, thinking that he would always have to take a shower later, so Mu Nan went to the next door to collect those earthen pots. Woke up.

Although both raising chickens and growing vegetables died halfway, but Mu Nan was actually mentally prepared early in the morning. People like him who have never raised chickens or grown vegetables may not be able to feed them when the weather is normal. After all, he is a person who can even kill a cactus, so he didn't plan to do it all at once. Anyway, there are soil and seeds in the space, so let's try it slowly, at least in recent years, they don't need to worry about food for their livelihood.