Chapter 22: The Final Spark of Hope
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Chapter 22: The Last Spark of Hope
Over the next two days, everyone helped clear away some of the snow in front of the building. At least this allowed the first floor to see daylight again. The residents of the first and second floors moved back into their apartments; however uncomfortable, it was still better than living in the corridors. Most people believed the cold wave would eventually pass, and there was no need to rent another place for a month or two. After all, not everyone was wealthy.
Yet as the hours of electricity grew shorter, fear began to spread through people’s hearts, deep in their subconscious.
The food shortage had already begun affecting most people’s lives, but none of the relevant departments could be reached by phone, leaving them with no way to resolve the problem.
Just as everyone was growing increasingly anxious, the head of the fourth floor posted a notice saying that the state would soon air-drop supplies into every residential compound. Each household was to send one person to collect them with her.
The news was like rain after a prolonged drought, rekindling hope among the suffering residents.
Gu Pan knew, however, that the troops stationed in the city were preparing to withdraw. Before leaving, they were distributing part of their own food supplies to the civilians—a final contribution to the city.
The main forces were all heading off to build a base. By now, the government must have realized that this was no ordinary cold wave. For the sake of the bigger picture, bases had to be constructed. Only with bases could humanity withstand the disasters to come and preserve more of human civilization. Without them, it would hardly be an exaggeration to say that humanity might become extinct.
The ordinary residents knew none of this. They believed that as long as the government continued dropping supplies, they would no longer have to worry about food. Before long, the corridors were bustling as every household sent someone downstairs to wait with the building head by the entrance.
Soon, the sound of a helicopter rang out. Everyone cheered and gazed expectantly as the modest amount of supplies was dropped onto the open ground.
Only after the helicopter had departed did the building head lead everyone over to collect the supplies. Order still prevailed, so no one fought over them. They opened the crates together, removed the contents, and distributed them according to the household numbers each building head had reported.
Their building had twenty-two households, twenty-one of which were actually occupied. The Feng family, led by Dr. Feng Zhekai, was the only household on the sixth floor.
Once everything had been divided, they carried the supplies to the entrance and distributed one share to each household.
Each family received five bottles of mineral water, five packets of compressed biscuits, and five cans of luncheon meat. That was all.
Some families were disappointed when they saw the supplies. The people who had come downstairs were the strongest members of their households, expecting a large amount of cargo to carry. Seeing the small pile before them was difficult to accept.
The man from Apartment 402 looked at the supplies and said bitterly, “This is far too little. There are five people in our family. This will barely last three days. And our child is only eight years old. It isn’t good for him to eat this every day, is it?”
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The man from Apartment 301 had also come down to collect his family’s share. “Exactly. My mother is already seventy. How is she supposed to endure eating this every day?”
The fourth-floor building head addressed everyone. “This disaster is only temporary. The government won’t abandon us. Once the temperature rises, everything will get better. For now, we simply have to get through this together.”
The owner of Apartment 802 grumbled, “Please don’t try to placate us with that, Building Head. If you really want to help, could you ask the old lady in 501 to share some of the frozen vegetables and fruit from her freezer? We haven’t been able to eat properly for days. To put it bluntly, we can’t even take a dump anymore.”
Before the building head could respond, the old woman from 501 hurriedly said, “We don’t have any left either. I sold it all a few days ago. Stop coveting our food.” With that, she grabbed a box of supplies and hurried upstairs.
After watching her leave, everyone lost interest. Besides, the cold was unbearable, so they each took their supplies home.
When Gu Pan heard Lu Ruisheng return, she opened the door and helped him carry everything inside. She had already lived through this once, so she knew what the supplies were and felt no curiosity.
There was still no electricity that evening. Many households were freezing, mainly because they had no hot water. Some filled bottles with hot water and tucked them into their bedding; that at least helped them endure the cold.
By nightfall, some residents began lighting fires inside their apartments. They placed unwanted items in metal basins and tried to boil water. But they had no experience, and the materials they used were unsuitable. The apartments filled with smoke, which poured into the corridors, yet they still failed to heat any water.
That night, although the residential compound was shrouded in darkness, the sounds never ceased: children crying, elderly people sobbing, couples arguing. The tragic scene could not be seen, but it could be felt all the same.
The next morning, fewer people spoke in the group chat. Many phones had run out of power. Those with portable chargers could still occasionally send a message, asking what everyone should do.
But with the world buried in ice and snow, what could they do? Most people could only wait for government rescue, wait for the snow and ice to melt, and hope 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 found a place to rent. It’s in our residential compound, Building Five, Unit Three, Apartment 704. I’ve finished tidying up and was planning to come see you and Sister-in-law. Are you both home?”
Lu Ruisheng and Gu Pan had already discussed their plan, so he replied, “Don’t come over yet. A friend of mine managed to obtain a batch of supplies. Once I collect them, your sister-in-law and I will bring some over to you. You have elderly people and children in your family, so don’t come outside.”
They still had to wait a few more days before dealing with Zhuang Jie. There were several important things they needed to take care of first.
Hearing this, Zhuang Jie was delighted. “All right, Brother Lu. I’ll wait for you to come.”
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Lu Ruisheng said, “All right. I don’t have a portable charger, so don’t call me anymore. Send me a message if something comes up. I need to conserve my battery.”
He only wanted to know what the other man was doing and had no desire to get drawn into a pointless conversation.
Zhuang Jie readily agreed. He said that he would be at home anyway, so if they could not reach him, they could simply come straight over. Then he hung up.
After putting down the phone, Lu Ruisheng looked at Gu Pan. “It seems our phone will only be useful for a few more days, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah. Once the power is gone, it won’t be much different from losing the internet. Even a portable charger won’t last another two days.”
“That’s true. Fortunately, we’re together, so there isn’t much else to worry about. We just have to live each day as well as we can from now on.”
With the electricity gone, some phones no longer worked, while others had only a little battery left and were being carefully conserved. Whenever someone in the building needed something, they no longer used their phones. Instead, they simply went to knock on the person’s door.
That afternoon, someone began pounding on the door of Dr. Feng Zhekai’s apartment on the sixth floor. Even from inside her own apartment, Gu Pan could hear the building head’s booming voice through the door.
“Doctor Feng! Doctor Feng! Open the door, quickly! My mother-in-law’s having a seizure. Please come and take a look!”
Dr. Feng Zhekai soon opened the door. Then came the sound of him speaking as he descended the stairs.
Half an hour later, the corridor echoed with a heart-wrenching wail.
Gu Pan remembered that in her previous life, the fourth-floor building head’s mother-in-law had died at around this time. For a paralyzed elderly person, leaving this world early was not necessarily a misfortune in the apocalypse. It might even have been a blessing.
In her previous life, the first person to die had been Dr. Feng Zhekai, plunging the entire building into panic at an early stage. This time, Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng had saved him, so it was only now that someone had died because of the disaster. Since the victim was elderly, everyone found it somewhat easier to accept.
The government had previously issued an order that corpses were to be burned on-site as quickly as possible, with the ashes to be buried once the temperature rose again.
End of Chapter 22
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