Jing Shu pressed her forehead, feeling a wave of lancholy. Mr. Jing was exaggerating again, "The Dark Day won’t end now; we’ve already entered the apocalypse! For at least the next decade, we’ll have to endure various natural disasters and man-made calamities. Do we really need to let Third Aunt and her daughter continue staying with us?"
This fear was a classic case of ’once bitten, twice shy.’ Mr. Jing had a duty to provide for Grandpa and Grandma Jing. Moreover, she didn’t want her grandparents to pass away early again in this life. However, having been killed by her own maternal aunt in collusion with outsiders in her previous life made her cautious of everyone else, fearful of nurturing another ingrate.
Just as she was about to find a reason to refuse, her cousin Wu You’ai declined first.
"I still need to work on a research project with my professor for the next two weeks to try and secure a recomndation. You guys go ahead." Wu You’ai was accustod to living alone. For a hobody like her, none of Mr. Jing’s concerns were problematic. She could go a month without cooking, washing dishes, bathing, or using air conditioning, as long as her spiritual needs were t.
Such a hobody, who lived in the ani world, turned out to be a scholarly postgraduate student...
Jing Shu squinted, finally rembering the reason. Third Aunt’s ex-husband’s family heavily favored sons over daughters. Since Third Aunt couldn’t get pregnant again, she resolutely divorced him. When Wu You’ai was in school, Third Aunt wanted to change her surna to Jing You’ai, but Wu You’ai adamantly disagreed.
Even as a small child, she had declared, "I want to keep the surna Wu. I have the Wu Family’s bloodline; that’s sothing I can’t hide. I will study hard, beco a scientist, beco the most accomplished person, and make the Wu Family regret it and co begging . Only then will I change my surna! If I don’t make a na for myself, I won’t change my surna!"
So, while striving hard and imrsing herself in her ani world, she envied the characters who could defy fate and turn their lives around.
"I’ll stay here with Youai. Let Mom and Dad go instead," Jinglai said, unable to bear leaving her daughter alone in such an environnt.
"Then we’ll just wait for Youai to finish this busy period," Grandma Jing said, grabbing Jing Shu’s arm and smiling contentedly. "If the Dark Day isn’t over by then, we can all go and stay for a few days to relax. For now, with these two together, it’s just right; we wouldn’t feel at ease going anywhere." She patted Jing Shu’s arm. "You’ve gained so weight." Hearing this, Jing Shu looked exasperated.
They had co in a hurry this ti and hadn’t brought anything. Mr. Jing promised to bring so fresh fruits and vegetables in a few days and then left. Jing Shu quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
anwhile, Jing Shu felt this situation wasn’t sustainable. The elderly cherish returning to their roots; they dislike staying at their daughter’s ho one day and their son’s the next. With the apocalypse projected to last a long ti, even if Grandpa and Grandma Jing lived in the villa permanently, the old couple wouldn’t feel comfortable. Yet, she was uneasy about letting them return to their ho in the countryside.
However, Jing Shu didn’t have to worry for long; the situation resolved itself perfectly within a few days.
「Nearly two months had passed since the sun vanished.」
This was longer than the thirty-plus days the news had initially reported for the Dark Day to end, yet there was still no sign of its return.
After half a month of turmoil, the Black Fungus Beetle incident had almost completely subsided. People were gradually getting used to the high temperatures, water shortages, and the receding threat of death from bacterial infections. However, with daily conversations still revolving around who had died, a sense of trepidation grew.
While hoping for the Dark Day to end, they also thought about stockpiling more food.
Because no one knew when the light would be restored, CCTV’s Science Channel released a new statent: "The Dark Day is saving us!"
"It is said that the impact of colliding stars shifted Earth’s orbit, causing disrupted seasons and bringing Earth closer to the sun, which is why the temperatures are so high."
"We should be thankful for the colliding stars. The imnse quantities of dust and debris remaining in the atmosphere have blocked the sunlight; otherwise, Earth’s temperatures would be even higher! The living environnt would be far more severe! Earth is now slowly returning to its original orbit. We ask the public to remain calm and wait for Earth to recover."
After watching, Mr. Jing and Mrs. Jing had an ’ah, so that’s how it is’ expression. Jing Shu couldn’t help but roll her eyes. "Keep boasting," she muttered. "Every month, you co up with all sorts of different excuses. Truly impressive."
Even though the central governnt tried every asure to appease the populace, setting task targets for local governnts and even creating several new departntal positions: The first was the Community Outreach Commissioner, responsible for ensuring visits to every community to listen to people’s concerns, comfort the despondent, and simultaneously monitor for potential unrest.
The second was the Dark-Environnt Crop Cultivation Commissioner, tasked with soliciting and gathering all relevant information on new and effective thods for growing vegetables in the darkness.
The third was Civil Security, responsible for security checks at the entrances of supermarkets, hospitals, and bus stations. This provided employnt and so benefits for idle individuals, also serving as a asure to prevent disturbances. Typically, two ard police officers would be paired with ten security staff. However, after so ti, these positions would only be attainable by those with powerful connections and genuine ability.
One shouldn’t underestimate these positions. In the post-apocalypse, these jobs were considered the easiest ’establishnt’ roles and ca with at least one al. In fact, after about a year, even positions like serving in the large public canteens, managing supplies, distributing water, or keeping records would be considered decent.
Jing Shu intended for Mr. Jing to try for either the first or second type of position soon. She knew that if they waited until the following year, when the situation might stabilize, it would be much harder to secure such a role.
The large supermarkets changed their opening hours to 7 PM to 9 PM, only two hours of operation. With the uncertainty of when sunlight would return, even more people queued up daily. Soon, people started lining up as early as 5 PM, waiting for the supermarkets to open, and this trend only intensified.
Jing Shu rembered that in less than three months, this would escalate to people queuing for several days and nights, all for the supermarkets to open for just one hour. Those who didn’t make it in would have to continue waiting for the next day.
Snacks, processed foods, vegetables, grains, and oil—everything edible was being panic-bought. So people even paid exorbitant prices to procure grains from rural areas.
While the prices of goods were soaring, cars, which were almost as worthless as scrap tal, were also dropping crazily in price. People’s wallets had been drained over these two months from various purchases, travel expenses, hospital fees, and food costs.
So what could they do?
Sell cars!
Sell houses!
But as the death toll continuously rose, the demand for these two items drastically decreased. Housing prices, which were already on the decline due to an oversupply, plumted to rock bottom.
People who owned three or four houses panicked. If they couldn’t sell their houses or cars and had no cash to buy grain from private sellers, what could they do? Lower the price! Keep lowering it!
This led to the housing market nearing collapse.
For Sale in Building 25: "@everyone, I have a fully furnished 123-square-ter apartnt on the first floor of Building 25 for sale. Now only 200,000! Cash only, no loans accepted!"
Wang Cuihua sent a voice ssage: "Are you desperate for money or just crazy? 1,600 yuan per square ter won’t sell in this remote wasteland! Even prices in the city center have dropped to 2,000 yuan."
When this ssage suddenly appeared in the group, Jing Shu was delighted. Just a few days ago, she had been worrying about where Third Aunt would live and how Grandma Jing could find a comfortable place. And today, soone was selling their house!
Moreover, this residential area was slated to beco the New Developnt District of Wu City, a place many coveted but couldn’t get into. Buying an apartnt here now at such a low price was an absolute bargain!
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