Chapter 22: Chapter 22: The Last Hope Ignited Chapter 22: Chapter 22: The Last Hope Ignited Over the next two days, everyone helped to push the snow in front of the building aside a bit, so at least the first floor could see so light, allowing those who lived on the first and second floors to move back into their hos. It was considered better than staying in the stairwell, and of course, most people believed that the cold snap would pass soon and saw no need to rent a house for just a month or two, especially since not everyone was wealthy.
However, as the electricity supply hours were gradually reduced, people’s hearts, subconsciously, were becoming more and more panicked.
And the shortage of food had already affected the lives of most people, but calls to various departnts went unanswered, so there was no way to solve the problem.
Just as everyone was panicking, the building manager of Unit 401 sent out a notification, saying the nation would soon airdrop supplies to each community, and at that ti, each household needed to send one person with her to collect them.
This news was like a shower after a long drought, reigniting hope in the hearts of people suffering.
Gu Pan knew clearly that it ant the military forces within the city were about to withdraw. Before their departure, they had decided to distribute so of their food to the civilians, a final contribution to the city.
The main forces would be moving to construct bases. By now the nation must have realized this was not just a cold snap. For the greater good, there had to be base construction, for only with bases could they confront the disasters that lay ahead, and protect more of human civilization. Without bases, the extinction of humanity was not an exaggeration.
But the common people were unaware, thinking that future governnt airdrops would prevent any food shortages, so the corridors quickly beca bustling. Each family sent soone to wait at the entrance of the unit with the building manager.
Soon the sound of helicopters was heard, and everyone cheered together, full of anticipation as they watched the limited supplies being dropped onto the open space.
After the helicopter left, the building manager led everyone to the supply area. Since there was still order, no one looted. They opened the boxes together, took out the items, and distributed them according to the number of people reported by each building manager.
Their building had a total of 22 households, effectively 21 in residence; only Dr. Feng Zhekai’s family lived on the sixth floor.
After the distribution, they carried the goods to the entrance of the unit and handed them out, one share per household.
Each household received five bottles of mineral water, five packs of compressed biscuits, and five cans of luncheon at—that was all.
Upon seeing the supplies, so felt disappointed. The strongest mbers of the households had co out, expecting to need to carry a lot. But when they saw what was before them, it was hard to accept.
The man from Unit 402 looked at the ager supplies and said with disappointnt, “This is too little. There are five of us, and this will only last us three days. And we’ve got an 8-year-old child. It’s not okay to just eat this.”
The man who ca out from Unit 301 to fetch supplies also added, “Yeah, we’ve got an old lady at ho who’s 70, subsisting on this every day; how can she stand it?”
The building manager of Unit 401 said to everyone, “Disasters are temporary. The country won’t abandon us. Once the temperature rises again, everything will get better. For now, we need to stick together and get through this tough ti.”
An owner from Unit 802 voiced his complaints, “Building manager, don’t feed us that line. If you really have our best interests at heart, can you ask the lady from 501 to share so of the frozen vegetables and fruit from her refrigerator with us? What we’ve been eating these past few days, to put it bluntly, we can’t even take a decent crap.”
Before the building manager could respond, the elderly lady from Unit 501 quickly said, “We’ve run out as well. I sold it all a few days ago, so please stop thinking about it.” After saying this, she hurriedly took a box of supplies and went upstairs.
Watching Unit 501 leave, people lost their enthusiasm and, with the cold bearing down, they took their supplies and went ho.
Gu Pan heard Lu Ruisheng co back, opened the door, and helped him bring the supplies inside. She had been through this before and knew what to expect, so she wasn’t curious.
That night, there was no electricity again, and many hos were terribly cold, mainly due to the lack of hot water. So filled water bottles with hot water to place in their beds to try and keep warm.
So at night, so people started fires in their hos, using iron basins, placing unnecessary items in them to burn for water heating. But without experience and using materials that didn’t burn well, they only managed to fill their hos with smoke, which spilled out into the halls without actually producing any hot water.
Despite the darkness in the neighborhood that night, the ongoing sounds—children fussing, elders crying, couples fighting—painted a clear picture of the tragic scene.
By the next morning, fewer people were talking in the group chat because many phones had run out of battery. So who had power banks still popped in to check on everyone and to discuss what to do next.
But in the frozen, snowy landscape, what could they actually do? Most people still hoped for national rescue, that the ice and snow would lt, and that the weather would return to normal.
Around noon, Lu Ruisheng received a call from Zhuang Jie.
Zhuang Jie was as warm and polite as ever, “Brother Lu, we’ve rented a place. It’s in our community, Building 5, Unit 3, Apartnt 704. I’ve packed everything and was thinking of visiting you and your wife. Are you at ho?”
Lu Ruisheng had already discussed counterasures with Gu Pan, so he replied, “Don’t co over just yet. A friend of mine got his hands on so supplies. I’ll get them and bring so over to you with your sister-in-law. With the elder and the young in your family, you shouldn’t venture out.”
They still had to wait a few more days to deal with Zhuang Jie, as they had more important matters to attend to in the upcoming days.
Hearing Lu Ruisheng’s proposal, Zhuang Jie was happy, “Okay, Brother Lu, I’ll wait for you guys then.”
Lu Ruisheng said, “Alright, I don’t have a power bank, so don’t call anymore. If sothing cos up, just send a ssage. I need to conserve battery.”
He just needed to know the other party’s movents and didn’t want to get drawn into a lengthy conversation.
Zhuang Jie understood and agreed, ntioning that he would be ho anyway and that if they couldn’t reach him, they could just co straight to his place, and then he hung up the phone.
After hanging up, Lu Ruisheng looked at Gu Pan, “It seems like our phone won’t last much longer, right?”
“Yeah, without electricity, it’s basically the sa as having no internet. The power bank won’t last more than a couple of days either.”
“Indeed. Well, at least we have each other. Nothing else to worry about, just to live well from now on.”
With no electricity, phones beca useless or were hoarded for ergency uses, so when soone in the building needed sothing, they stopped relying on phones and went directly to knock on doors.
In the afternoon, soone was knocking on Feng Zhekai’s door from Unit 601 loudly, and Gu Pan could hear the building manager’s booming voice through the closed door, “Doctor Feng, Doctor Feng, open the door quick, my mother-in-law is having a seizure, please co down and take a look.”
Soon Feng Zhekai opened the door, followed by the sound of talking as they descended the stairs.
Half an hour later, heart-wrenching cries could be heard echoing through the stairwell.
Gu Pan rembered that in her previous life, the building manager of Unit 401’s mother-in-law had passed away around this ti—an immobilized elder leaving the world during the apocalypse might not be such a misfortune.
In her previous life, Feng Zhekai was the first to die, causing widespread panic in the building earlier on. This life, thanks to Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng saving Feng Zhekai, it was only now during this disaster that soone passed away, an elder, which was relatively easier for people to accept.
Previously, the nation had issued orders to cremate the deceased quickly on-site, with the ashes to be buried once the temperature rose again.
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