Chapter 14: Chapter 14 Use Magic to Defeat Magic
By the afternoon of the fifth day, the snow had reached the windowsills of the second floor, and panic began to set in there.
Apart from that, many homes had already run out of drinking water.
The owner of apartment 901 tagged everyone in the group chat: Does anyone have any extra water?
No one responded.
At the beginning, the owner of apartment 901 was the first to share his water with others, but now those who took his water remained silent.
The floor leader of apartment 401: I see some gaps at the unit's door, why not fill some buckets with snow and boil it to drink?
The owner of apartment 901: I never even drank tap water before, the snow is too dirty. I'm willing to pay for it, if any family still has water, I'll pay 500 for a bottle of mineral water, private message me if you're selling.
After that, the group chat went quiet.
Gu Pan turned to Lu Ruisheng, "Do you think someone will sell?"
Lu Ruisheng said, "There might be, after all, no one realizes how precious clean water is yet."
"That's true, nobody knows that money will be useless later on, even mobile phones too."
"Now I can imagine how difficult it was for us in our past life. At this time in our previous life, we also knew nothing, and we clung to hope, right?"
"Yeah, we always hoped the snow disaster would end until we lost electricity and the internet. Only then did we start to realize something was wrong, but we still held onto hope until we saw people looting and killing with no one to intervene—that's when we truly felt the apocalypse."
For the next two days, the group chat was filled with incessant complaints about the inconveniences of eating, drinking, and living, but Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng didn't speak up. They just checked the messages regularly, making sure there was no major trouble.
Now, Gu Pan would do basic fitness exercises in the morning and systematically learn self-defense from Lu Ruisheng in the afternoon. Having struggled through three years of the apocalypse in her previous life, she had some experience, so she picked it up quickly and even sparred with Lu Ruisheng. Although she stood no chance, it allowed her to improve quickly.
By the eighth day, the families on the first floor had moved to live in the hallway of the fourth floor. The second floor, although the windows were also blocked by snow, remained steadfast and didn't move out.
The fourth floor was the floor leader's home, and they ran an extension cord through the door crack to let the other families use electric blankets, so it was relatively peaceful.
There were seven people from the two families on the first floor, now on the fourth floor, because more people meant more body warmth, a bit warmer.
Today, many people started complaining that they had run out of food at home. It had been more than a week, and it was time for this phase. In the last two days, they were still exchanging food in the group chat, but now they began to worry about going hungry tomorrow. Even though they rationed meals to each last three days, it wasn't enough, especially since vegetables and fruits were almost gone. In this era, not eating vegetables and fruits for a few days really made people uncomfortable.
The owner of apartment 501 constantly played the pity card, saying her grandson was young and needed balanced nutrition, always asking for food.
Some people felt pity for the old and the young in her family and would squeeze out a bit of whatever they had to give her.
Gu Pan found the owner of apartment 501 so annoying—she had done the same in her previous life, hoarding supplies. When others were starving, she still had lots of food left, even plenty of frozen vegetables, proving she already had a lot of reserves. Yet she still exploited others' sympathy to scrounge for food.
But this was the apocalypse, and Gu Pan had never thought to play the Holy Mother—she wouldn't interfere in others' business as long as it didn't involve her.
However, sometimes trouble finds you even when you don't seek it.
In the evening, out of nowhere, the owner of apartment 501 spoke up in the group chat: The night before it started snowing, I saw what looked like people from the seventh floor moving things in the parking lot. It seemed to be rice and flour, several bags. If they have so much, why can't they share with every household, and then no one will starve?
It wasn't surprising that this old lady saw these things; she loved gossiping and prying into privacy. She knew who lived on which floor and roughly what they did—only she could roam around on such a cold day when few ventured outside.
Gu Pan looked at Lu Ruisheng, "We have to go next door."
Lu Ruisheng naturally understood what his wife meant; if the neighbors admitted they were hoarding food, that would spell trouble.
They hurried out, and just as they were about to knock on the neighbor's door, Chen Shaonan opened it and invited them in.
Chen Shaonan's home didn't have an electric heater, so it was quite cold.
Wrapping herself in a blanket, Gu Pan went straight to the point without any pleasantries: "Teacher Chen, we don't want to share our food. First of all, no one knows when this snow will stop, or when things will return to normal, or when we'll be able to buy food. Second, if we don't distribute it evenly, we might end up being resented. Lastly, maybe some people like to hoard and actually have more than we do. Maybe you think we're selfish, but..."
"You're right, this isn't selfish. I was just about to come to you to say the same things. Since that's the case, let's think of a way to keep them from eyeing our supplies," Chen Shaonan said with definite relief.
This really surprised both Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng. Could it be that Chen Shaonan was also reborn, given his firm stance?
The couple subtly observed his home, wondering if it was filled with supplies. But then they thought, if they had hoarded a lot, they wouldn't easily let outsiders in, would they?
At this moment, Duan Shumei spoke up: "Not to hide it from you, we overdid it with being too kind in the past, lost our jobs because of it. We can talk about that some other time, let's discuss how to handle the current situation?"
Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng hadn't expected things to develop this way, but it was good news for them.
Lu Ruisheng said, "We have a few bags of cement and sand at home. I'll take a photo shortly and say that Teacher Chen helped me move it up a few days ago. I wanted to build a turtle pool on the balcony. Everyone knows I'm in the renovation business, so it'll sound reasonable."
Chen Shaonan nodded: "Alright, you go take the photo first, and then I'll share it in the group chat."
Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng agreed and went home.
At home, Gu Pan took some cement and sand out of the Space and took photos on the balcony.
Chen Shaonan had already spoken up in the group chat: The day before it snowed, I did help my neighbor across from me move some things, but it wasn't rice or flour—it was cement and sand, as he's in renovation and wanted to build a pond for turtles on his balcony.
The owner of apartment 501: Come on, aren't you just unwilling to share your food with us? Raising turtles, who are you kidding?
The floor leader of apartment 401: At this time, everyone must unite and help each other. Owners of apartment 702, if you really have food supplies, share them to help everyone out. Once this disaster is over, we will all thank you.
Gu Pan uploaded the photos she just took: It really is cement and sand. In a while, I'll put it at the door, and anyone who wants it can come and take it.
Then she added another message: I remember hearing the owner of apartment 501 chat with someone, saying that she stockpiled two freezers full of frozen vegetables and fruits. These are cheaper in summer but expensive in winter; she does this stocking up every year. I think her family should have plenty of food. Perhaps the floor leader can investigate thoroughly to see who has more to eat and how to distribute it fairly.