They were quite happy to have Xu Ming return. Although Mu Nan had only interacted with Xu Ming recently, he had developed a good impression of him. Being handsome is a bonus due to human nature's love for beauty. Additionally, Xu Ming had a great personality with a kind and steady demeanor, which made interactions very pleasant. Since they lived nearby and had looked out for each other during this time, they had developed some affection for each other. Naturally, they hoped for each other's safety and well-being.
Jian Chu and Yu Zibai had more history with Xu Ming than Mu Nan and his group. The two families had always lived close to each other. Unlike Mu Nan, who had been somewhat insular and less concerned with the outside world, Jian Chu and Yu Zibai would occasionally greet Xu Ming and exchange small gifts from their hometowns during holidays. Over time, this built a relationship of mutual familiarity. In the current situation, having familiar people around provided an extra sense of security.
Soon, Da Niu's family learned that a doctor had returned to the neighboring unit. Although they didn't say much, there was still some concern about the risk of infection, given that medical personnel are in the center of the epidemic and are at high risk. However, they couldn't bring themselves to drive someone away just because he had previously treated patients. They were still a bit scared and increasingly reluctant to go outside, even avoiding opening the door to check on noises outside.
After a few days of chaos, the building finally returned to calm. Most residents had settled in, while those who couldn't move in had no choice. The noise of the air conditioners at Yu Zibai's and Qin Huai's homes had been noticed by the floors above and below. Specifically, Jian Chu's family, whose air conditioner was installed on the balcony. Since the balconies of the floors above and below were not enclosed, any sound from the air conditioners could be heard, especially in the current quiet environment.
In recent days, someone had been lingering around their floor, peeking inside. If it weren't for the security door in the stairwell, they might have come directly to knock. However, even with the security door, the desire to borrow electricity remained. They thought it would be easy to extend a power strip through the window, and they were willing to trade food or water for it. If money was needed, they had that too. They just wanted a power strip to run a fan. Unfortunately, both Yu Zibai and Qin Huai flatly refused, with no room for negotiation.
Yu Zibai was relatively polite in explaining that distributing electricity was challenging, and they couldn't handle too much. Accepting one request would lead to others, making it impossible to refuse everyone.
The residents of the upper floors, who were tenants accustomed to business dealings, saw Yu Zibai's willingness to talk and suggested: "Turn off your air conditioner and just use fans. Sell us some electricity—like trading a battery's worth for a bottle of water or some food. If you have no electricity, people can survive, but without food and water, they can't. At least with food and water, people can stay at home and not go out."
Yu Zibai didn't want to argue further: "Sorry, please don't knock anymore. We don't sell electricity."
Despite this, the person didn't leave. Another resident from upstairs came down, likely thinking they could leverage the situation and negotiate better if more people were involved. The person from upstairs was also from Qin Huai's floor. Although Qin Huai's air conditioner was installed on the rooftop, the sound was faintly audible due to the current quietness. If only these two units had electricity, it would be better if they could get it closer to home.
"Who owns the generator? Why do only you two families have electricity? If you won't sell it, have the kid from the Qin family come and ask if he's willing. We've been neighbors for years, and that kid grew up under my watch. We'll trade extra food for a power strip."
Yu Zibai frowned and was about to return inside when the person continued to press and even used a metal rod to bang loudly on their security door.
Just as Yu Zibai was about to advise against this, Qin Huai came out. Before the person could speak, Qin Huai yanked open the security door, kicked the loud person away, and aimed his crossbow at his head: "You think you're entitled to my generosity? After I politely refused once, you should know when to stop. The electricity is from my own efforts. Why should I inconvenience myself for you so-called old neighbors? We don't use the air conditioner to save electricity for you. If you keep making noise, I'll shoot the hand you're knocking with!"
The person was visibly frightened by Qin Huai's reaction and staggered back several steps. Previously, when they installed the membrane downstairs, Qin Huai had generously given them the leftover material. They had hoped that, despite the rarity of electricity, Qin Huai would relent after a couple of pleas, but instead, Qin Huai had taken action.
The person's decades-old worldview made them believe Qin Huai wouldn't actually harm anyone and thought it was just a bluff. Despite being upset by the kick, they tolerated it to have a chance at electricity: "We just want to borrow a bit of electricity. We're offering compensation. After all, you've known me for many years. It's unbearably hot without electricity. If you can help, it would be appreciated."
Qin Huai chuckled lightly and fired a bolt from his crossbow, hitting the wall with a clang. The sting on the person's neck turned their face pale with fear, causing them to sit down weakly. Qin Huai walked over and picked up the bolt: "Want to see what this feels like in your flesh? Or should I get some blood from downstairs and soak this in it to give you a taste?"
Qin Huai then aimed the crossbow at the upper floor resident's door. The businessman quickly shook his head: "It wasn't me knocking. I-I don't want electricity anymore." He hurriedly retreated upstairs, not knowing where such an object came from; most people only had hammers or tools.
Qin Huai glanced at the person on the ground and then returned to the stairwell, closing the security door behind him.
Yu Zibai felt Qin Huai was unusually irritable today but didn't get a chance to ask further before Qin Huai shut the door behind him.
Yu Zibai looked at the frightened man and sighed, shaking his head before going back inside. At this point, trying to leverage old neighbor relationships for such matters was reckless.
When Qin Huai returned indoors, he first cleaned his hands with disinfectant wipes, then went back to the bed. He adjusted the blanket over Mu Nan, who had a fever patch on his forehead. The room's air conditioning was set quite high, which felt warm to Qin Huai but should be just right for someone with a fever. Turning off the AC entirely was not an option it would make things worse, as the heat would only exacerbate Mu Nan's already elevated body temperature.
Mu Nan opened his eyes and looked at Qin Huai. Qin Huai gently patted his back: "It's okay now. Just go to sleep, I won't make any noise."
Mu Nan murmured and closed his eyes while hugging his pillow. Although he might not be able to sleep, keeping his eyes closed seemed better than having a headache while awake. Maybe he would fall asleep eventually.
Qin Huai checked the time, got a new fever patch from the fridge, and replaced the old one. Fortunately, Mu Nan's fever wasn't very high, just 37.5°C (99.5°F). Otherwise, Qin Huai might not have noticed the fever had Mu Nan not looked sluggish and reluctant to get out of bed.
Seeing Mu Nan's pale lips, Qin Huai said, "You should have told me if you felt unwell. If you had told me about your headache yesterday, a bit of medication might have prevented this fever."
Mu Nan, eyes still closed, muttered, "I thought it was just a bad night's sleep."
Qin Huai asked, "Does your head still hurt?"
Mu Nan responded with a slight "mm," and Qin Huai told him not to lie on his side: "Lie here; I'll massage your temples for a while."
Mu Nan slowly adjusted himself back on the pillow. Qin Huai's cool fingers gently massaged his temples, providing some relief. Not wanting to worry Qin Huai with his sickly appearance, Mu Nan tried to make conversation: "Were there more people asking for electricity outside?"
Qin Huai replied, "I sent them away. Don't worry about it."
Mu Nan said, "Aren't we kind of flaunting it? Everyone else is suffering from the heat while we still have air conditioning. Won't people band together and come to forcefully take it?"
Qin Huai said, "It's unlikely. How many people would need to gather to make a difference? Even if they did, how would they divide the spoils? It's not a big risk in our situation. Besides, we'll have power restored soon enough. Even if it's only for an hour or so each day, our generator isn't very conspicuous."
Mu Nan suddenly remembered a drama he had watched a long time ago and said, "Brother, it's still summer, right?"
Qin Huai chuckled, "Does this heat feel like winter to you?"
Mu Nan replied, "In that drama, it said people who catch a cold in summer are foolish."
Qin Huai laughed, "So, are you saying you're foolish?"
Mu Nan said, "I don't know how the scriptwriters came up with that line. It's normal to catch a cold in summer. You can catch a cold from heat or cold."
Qin Huai said, "They probably just threw together whatever words they could think of, just like you're finding things to say when you don't want to talk."
Mu Nan grunted, hugged his pillow, turned to his side, and moved to the edge of the bed, distancing himself from Qin Huai.
Qin Huai had given Mu Nan medication with sedative properties, so Mu Nan fell asleep quickly. When he woke up again, it was nearly dawn. He had been tossing and turning, which disrupted his sleep schedule and made his illness worse.
However, he hadn't been in bed long before Qin Huai woke him up: "Eat something before you go back to sleep. Let's check your temperature."
Qin Huai used a mercury thermometer, which was more accurate than an electronic one. While Mu Nan held the thermometer, Qin Huai prepared noodles, adding a tomato to make a broth. The slightly sour aroma soon filled the air. Mu Nan said, "We have plenty of noodles in the storage. Why go through the trouble of cooking? You're sweating from the heat."
Qin Huai replied, "The ones outside are heavily salted. You should eat something lighter."
Mu Nan said, "But if it's too bland, I won't want to eat. I think illness should be met with food that stimulates the appetite."
Qin Huai glanced at him without engaging in this logic.
As the noodles cooked, he checked the thermometer and saw it read 37°C (98.6°F): "Does your head still hurt?"
Mu Nan shook his head: "Not anymore. I just feel a bit weak."
Qin Huai said, "It's normal to feel weak after a fever breaks. Eat some noodles, take your medicine, and then get some more sleep. When you wake up, we'll see if you still crave the cool air from the AC."
Mu Nan didn't respond, feeling a bit guilty.
Without body bags, the corpses retrieved from the ruins were transported to the crematorium on blood-stained trucks. The cremation site was in an area previously designated for demolition. It was once a flattened lot intended for construction but was used as a parking lot for a while. The intense heat made parking there unbearable, so eventually, no one dared to leave their vehicles in the open space. Now, it had become the cremation ground. Burning the bodies was wasteful of fuel. Even though wood was not scarce, there were so many bodies that they had to be burned in layers.
As for identifying the deceased, there were no resources for that now. They would have to wait for the disaster to end and conduct a census to determine how many lives were lost in this catastrophe.
Last night, the military had contacted headquarters via satellite phone, but the news was chilling. The earthquake had affected not only their province but the entire hemisphere. Many small countries had disappeared entirely. The situation in the other hemisphere was still unknown due to lack of contact, but it was expected to be dire.
In their country, no province or city was spared. There were no rescue operations. Coastal cities faced not only the earthquake but also tsunamis. Those who survived the earthquake couldn't escape the tsunami. The sudden disaster left no time for rescue efforts, and those trapped under the rubble were ultimately drowned by the rising sea.
Compared to others, they were really quite fortunate here—at least they only had to deal with high temperatures and were given some relief at night. In contrast, the cities currently facing tsunamis were truly despairing.
There would be no external aid. Everything from now on would have to be managed on their own. The government and military began to take control of the situation in the city, with the first priority being population relocation. Survivors needed to be moved away from densely populated areas to avoid a devastating outbreak of disease.
Initially, the plan was to relocate people from the surrounding cities and provinces. These areas, being closer to the outskirts, could move towards highways and less populated rural areas to avoid crowded zones. However, for those living in the city center, the situation was more complicated. Roads were blocked, and unless large vehicles could clear a path, the only option was for people to leave on foot. With only a few hours of cooler night temperatures available, it was practically impossible for all survivors to walk out of the city. Thus, those in the city center had no choice but to endure as best they could.
The surrounding cities tried to deliver medical supplies to the city center. After all, by evacuating, they saved some medical resources. The city center was now in a semi-isolated state, and efforts were made to preserve those who had already left. It was crucial to prevent the spread of the virus to the city. The authorities couldn't afford to abandon the millions still trapped inside; doing so would leave only a few survivors in their country. The hope was that the remaining population in the city center would manage to survive, and perhaps half of them would still be alive by the end.
Mu Nan and the others lived on the seventeenth floor, which was considered a high level. According to Jian Chu, they could faintly smell some decay from inside the apartment. It wasn't very strong, but it was definitely there if you paid close attention. While Mu Nan hadn't noticed much, he believed Jian Chu might have a heightened sense of smell. As for Mu Nan, he felt his sixth sense was stronger than most people's, which could be considered a special ability.
Xu Ming planned to isolate himself at home for at least ten days, avoiding all contact with the outside world. Since Xu Ming lived close to Jian Chu, they agreed to knock on the wall at a set time each day. A response would indicate she was still alive; no response would mean breaking in to handle the situation.
After the previous warning and threats, no one from the floors above had come back. As for how they continued to curse Qin Huai behind the scenes, only they knew. The teacher living downstairs from Qin Huai had also been up, asking if they could buy some electricity and run a power line to the lower floors. Qin Huai refused, and after that, the teacher's visits stopped. Qin Huai only saw the teacher's grandson and didn't know if the elderly teacher, who should be in his seventies this year, was still around.
Since Jian Chu mentioned the smell of decay, Qin Huai disinfected their home daily. He diluted disinfectant and cleaned the floors, and used an ozone generator to disinfect the house for an hour. Although he wasn't sure if this would eliminate the plague, maintaining a cleaner environment would reduce the chance of attracting pests.
Living on the upper floors was relatively better. By being careful with sanitation and sealing cracks and gaps, their situation was much better compared to those living on lower floors.
Previously, residents of lower floors had considered whether they would escape the plague when they saw piles of corpses replacing open spaces. Even the lowest floors, like the third, were better than those closest to medical tents. They sealed their windows and doors as much as possible, leaving the rest to fate.
Those who had exchanged homes to avoid climbing high floors were now regretting it as the stench spread and the air seemed filled with disease-causing bacteria. They realized too late that even the fifth or sixth floors were not that low, and buildings without elevators had at most seven floors. Others had managed to endure, so they thought they could too, especially in emergencies where lower floors might offer better chances of escape.
When the community finally received solar power for the elevators, those who had moved regretted it thoroughly. They had initially moved to avoid the heat and the exhaustion of climbing stairs without water or electricity. Now that power was restored, they could use the elevator to carry supplies from the ruins without enduring the hardship of climbing stairs.
Qin Huai and the others didn't know how many people had moved and regretted it. Communication had been cut off, so all they knew was what happened at their own doorstep. However, they did know that the Zhang family had regretted their decision. The day after the elevators were powered, the Zhang family of four came upstairs, causing a commotion.
The elderly Zhang matriarch seemed to be in good spirits. It was unclear whether they had just returned from a cooling station and had avoided the worst, or if they had escaped with the crowd during the chaos. If it was the latter, Zhang Grandma was truly in good health. In Mu Nan's previous life, escaping down the stairs had almost cost him his life, but this elderly woman, still full of energy, was healthier than most young people, at least more so than Mu Nan, who was just recovering from a cold.
The stairwell had security doors that had prevented many problems before. Now that the elevator was operational, it was much easier for them to come up, as there couldn't be another security door at the elevator entrance. Thus, the Zhang family came up without obstruction.
Mu Nan was sitting on the bed eating watermelon when he heard the long-forgotten sound of the elevator. He inadvertently dropped a piece of watermelon onto the bed, splattering his legs with watermelon juice. "Ah, such a perfect piece of fruit. It's fine; I can still eat it after picking it up."
Qin Huai, who had not stopped him in time, saw Mu Nan picking up and eating the watermelon and helplessly said, "I just disinfected the area. Aren't you afraid of getting poisoned?"
Mu Nan replied, "Isn't the poison killed by the disinfectant?"
Qin Huai: "...Your twisted logic is always so abundant."
Mu Nan, matter-of-factly: "Otherwise, would you just throw it away? Such a waste. It's not like it can't be eaten. By the way, didn't we just hear the elevator on our floor? Has the elevator been restored to power?"
Qin Huai handed him a tissue to wipe the watermelon juice from his legs and the bed, then went outside to check through the peephole before coming back in and closing the door. "The Zhang family has come up."
Mu Nan: "Oh, it looks like there's going to be a commotion. I just wonder if the couple can handle the Zhang family."