“What’s going on with you two? Didn’t you get the notice that you’re not supposed to stay outside?”
Director Wu from the community, wearing a new-type isolation suit, confronted the couple blocking the He family’s door without any politeness.
Hearing a sudden voice from behind, Old Cheng spun around in fright.
In the dead of night, seeing several white figures standing there, he felt his heart nearly stop, if it weren’t for the light from the solar street lamps, he was sure he would have had a heart attack.
“Director Wu… you… what are you doing here…”
Once he recognized the speaker, Old Cheng’s gaze started to wander nervously.
Director Wu wasn’t one to indulge him. If it weren’t nighttime, he might have dragged them away on the spot.
“Are you trying to catch blister disease? Why aren’t you going home immediately?”
Although he said it like that, Director Wu had already sensed something off about Old Cheng. Especially after he arrived with backup, Old Cheng’s wife hadn’t even lifted her head once, which only made Wu more suspicious.
Thinking of the recent incidents across many regions of the country, Director Wu immediately said, “Go home, right now. We’ll go with you. Today we’re doing a population census anyway…”
The population census was a temporary measure to prevent anyone from having an accident at home without timely rescue.
The rule required that every 24 hours, the community must check and register all residents. Naturally, such a large task could only be carried out with military support.
Just like now—Director Wu had two soldiers carrying wooden crates with him, to ensure the safety of the personnel. After all, there were always desperate people taking advantage of disasters.
Hearing that a population census was coming, Old Cheng panicked even more.
At this point, Director Wu understood everything.
Lin Su watched as Director Wu led the soldiers over and escorted Old Cheng and his wife away. Not long after, an ambulance arrived to take them.
Clearly, someone in Old Cheng’s household had contracted blister disease.
Although many people claimed the disease wasn’t contagious, anyone infected had to be treated in a hospital, both to treat the illness and to study the mechanism behind it.
After the ambulance left the community, a notification from the community arrived on Lin Su’s phone.
In the community’s large chat group, there were very few active members lately. Because of the power outage, many households couldn’t charge their phones. Even when community workers came for registration, they provided power banks for temporary charging, but with so many residents, the supply of power banks was clearly just a drop in the bucket.
Now, the community posted a notice in the group, briefly and clearly explaining what happened with Old Cheng’s family.
“Is Old Cheng trying to kill his own son?!”
Instead of taking his son with blister disease to a hospital, he ran to the He family, asking the two retired doctors to treat him. Many people who saw this couldn’t help but mutter that he was insane.
And there were quite a few people behaving like this.
It was only then that Lin Su realized that some of those infected didn’t dare go to the hospital, fearing they would be taken into isolation and never be able to return home. She had no idea where this idea came from.
At Building 9 in the villa district, the Cheng family was now crying and shouting.
Watching their only son being taken away by the ambulance, Old Cheng and his wife felt as if the sky were falling.
“Daddy…”
Before Old Cheng could even release his grief, his daughter’s call made him start scolding loudly.
“What are you shouting for? Go back to your room and hide. Don’t you want to end up like your brother?!”
Old Cheng’s wife was even more agitated: “Why wasn’t it you who got sick? Why your brother?”
The girl, frightened by her parents’ frenzy, retreated to her room. Meanwhile, Old Cheng and his wife began muttering about who had leaked their family’s situation, if they found out, that person would not be forgiven.
No one else cared about the Cheng family.
Over the next two days, power gradually returned across the country. With electricity restored, people could access far more information from the outside world.
That evening, every household in the neighborhood had lights on. Lin Su’s family was eating a simple dinner. That morning, the community had sent a message reminding everyone to watch the news channel tonight.
At exactly six o’clock, the news broadcast began. It was a nationwide live broadcast. The screen showed only a few staff members talking, no reporters, but what the spokesperson said immediately put the entire country at ease.
“Currently, the mechanism behind blister disease cannot be fully determined. But it is certain that the air, soil, and water outside are safe. As long as you do not directly expose your skin to sunlight, it is generally safe…”
“Since the outbreak of blister disease, nearly 200,000 patients have been recorded nationwide. The disease cannot yet be fully cured. Citizens are advised not to come into direct contact with sunlight…”
The first part of the news made many people feel relieved, but the second part immediately caused panic. This disease is apparently incurable?
Residents in front of their TVs couldn’t imagine what it would be like if blister disease couldn’t be treated.
The news spokesperson clearly had no way of knowing the public’s reaction. After reporting the situation with blister disease, the broadcast quickly moved on to other topics.
“…Currently, the nationwide average temperature is around sixty degrees Celsius. Depending on altitude, temperatures vary by more than ten degrees. Citizens are advised to take precautions against heat and sun exposure…”
“Due to evaporation caused by the high temperatures, the country’s available freshwater resources have decreased to forty percent of their original levels. Without effective measures and with no rainfall, this portion of freshwater can supply…”
“However, rest assured, our coastal cities have a large number of seawater desalination facilities…”
After the live news ended, a roughly ten-minute video clip began playing.
The clip showed changes in China’s grasslands, forests, oceans, and various animals.
The grasslands showed large-scale withering, with more than half turning from green to yellow.
The forests fared slightly better, but most of the greenery had faded. Many plants and flowers withered directly under the sudden spike in temperature.
The oceans, due to their vast size, were less obviously affected at first. However, some coastal areas saw large numbers of dead fish and shrimp washed ashore.
High temperatures raised seawater temperatures, preventing some shallow-water fish from diving into deeper waters. In the end, they could only face death.
The situation for animals was even worse.
Except in places like zoos where humans could intervene, many animals in forests and grasslands died outright.
The video didn’t go into detail about how the animals died, but it clearly wasn’t from disease, because the death came too quickly.
After the video ended, Lin Su noticed that many people were complaining online. They questioned why such videos were being broadcast. After watching, many viewers felt as if the apocalypse had arrived, losing the will to live.
Five consecutive days of water and power outages had already pushed many people to their limits. Now, seeing such stark images of the environment was a direct blow to some people’s mental state.
Lin Su could understand them. After all, when living conditions are harsh and even drinking water is difficult, it’s natural for people to struggle.
Fortunately, this wave of pessimism didn’t spread far. The next set of official announcements quickly countered it.
【New sun-protective clothing, with built-in mini air conditioning. Wear it and feel instant coolness…】
【Cooling patches. Stick them on for 12 hours of relief.】
【Super blackout curtains. One layer perfectly blocks sunlight, protecting you from blister disease…】
【Solar-powered power banks, solar fans, solar lamps…】
…
One hour after the news broadcast ended, a national-level shopping app went online. The range of goods wasn’t large, but everything looked very practical.
And the key point, everything could be bought with money!
Naturally, this was exciting!
After all, people outside were saying the apocalypse had arrived and that money had lost its value. Those without money might be happy, but those holding large sums certainly didn’t feel that way.
So, as soon as these practical items went online, they were quickly snapped up.
If it weren’t for purchase limits, they probably would have sold out even faster.
Lin Su and her group naturally joined the rush. Out of the five of them, three managed to get their items. Payment was made directly through the app, and the goods were to be picked up the next day at the community work station.
Exactly, after these heat- and sun-protection products became available, people who had been stuck at home for over seven days could finally go outside!
The government announced this news at midnight. As soon as it was released, the internet erupted.
People excitedly ran around sharing the news, celebrating the ability to finally move freely.
In the residential area, many neighbors came out of their homes and gathered along the roads of the villa district, chatting in small groups and checking in on how everyone had been doing these past days.
“Grandpa He, Grandma He, it’s so good to see you’re okay.”
Once the government allowed people to go outside, Lin Su immediately went with Wen Shiyun to visit the He family.
At home, it was just the two elders. Lin Su, Wen Shiyun, and the He twins were all friends, so naturally, they wanted to check in.
“We’re fine, we’re fine. The country is taking care of things, and Director Wu from the community is responsible. We two old folks are living comfortably at home. As for your Uncle He and Aunt, and Rongxuan and Qingfei helping at the hospital, if anyone’s tired, it’s them!”
Lin Su heard the worry and relief in the elders’ voices and comforted them with a smile. Then she and Wen Shiyun helped escort the two elders outside to chat with neighbors.
Naturally, before leaving, they mentioned the situation with the Old Cheng family.
When the group reached the road where the villa residents were gathering, the Cheng couple glared at them. Their expressions were anything but friendly—Lin Su even thought they looked downright malicious.
This family had never been well-liked in the neighborhood. They had hidden the fact that their son was sick, and in the past two days, had been scolding and hitting their two daughters at home. It was no wonder the neighbors, especially those living next door, disliked them so much.
“Here comes Old He, here comes Old He…”
Not far away, nearly ten people were gathered together, talking among themselves. When they saw the elderly Mr. and Mrs. He come out, someone immediately raised their voice to greet them.
“Old He, you’ve come at the perfect time. We wanted to ask if you could help get some heat-relief medicine?”
This seven-day-long water and power outage had left the villa residents deeply uneasy.
Although they weren’t afraid of power cuts thanks to their generators, the extreme heat had already ruined several of their home air conditioners. Having electricity felt almost useless. Fans worked, but in temperatures over sixty degrees, fans could only blow hot air.
In the end, the only relief during the day was sitting in front of an open fridge.
At night, like now, they could stand around chatting, but even then, it was only possible because someone had brought out two industrial fans from home and aimed them directly at the group.
Without those fans, nighttime temperatures above fifty degrees would still be enough to cause heatstroke.
Old He shook his head at their request. “I haven’t handled the medicine issue. When my son comes back, I can ask him for you. But I can’t guarantee anything…”
Everyone knew that in situations like this, medicine is tightly controlled by the state. Private stockpiling would be difficult.
“No worries, just being able to ask is already good enough.”
The person speaking was Lai Huaming from Building 5. Although he loved money, he was still fairly reasonable.
After talking about medicine, the group returned to their previous topic, asking Father Lin about air conditioners.
Listening from the side, Lin Su realized that several households in the villa district had already had their air conditioners fail over the past few days.
“Old Lin, life without air conditioning is impossible. Your supermarket must have some. Since we’re on good terms, I’ll pay top price…”
“Uncle Lin, don’t worry. I won’t let you lose out. Your supermarket’s air conditioners…”
Father Lin could naturally help with these requests, but he didn’t know the exact situation at the supermarket right now. He could only say, “Tomorrow night we’ll check the supermarket. If there are any, we’ll definitely make them available to everyone…”
But there was no need to wait until tomorrow night. Around 1 a.m., Father Lin received a phone call.
Lin Su was getting ready for bed, and the Wen family father and son had already returned home. Seeing Father Lin’s serious expression, it was clear he wasn’t speaking to the Wens.
“Yes… okay… no problem… no, no… that’s my thought… alright… good… you’re welcome, goodbye.”
As soon as he hung up, Lin Su asked, “Dad, what happened?”
Father Lin shook his head, his expression a mix of wistfulness, relief, and finally, resolve.
“It’s nothing. Just the government calling about the supermarket.”
They had discussed before that if the apocalypse broke out, it would be best to let the authorities take over the malls. If their family remained involved with the supermarket, people might assume they had access to a lot of supplies.
That would make them a target, whether for people coming to ask them to purchase items on their behalf, or for those trying to raid their goods. Either way, it would be dangerous.
Handing over the supermarket could avoid ninety percent of those problems.
Although Father Lin had mentally prepared for this long ago, when someone actually called to ask how the supermarket should be handled and whether he was willing to accept military oversight, he felt a pang in his chest.
It was a kingdom he had fought to build since his youth.
And now, because of this damned natural disaster, his kingdom was about to collapse.
But he did not regret agreeing with his daughter’s suggestion to hand the supermarket over to the authorities, the ones most capable of managing it.
So, the next evening, the Lin family, together with the Wens, drove to the supermarket. They had many tasks to complete that night.
Many other residents, including those from the high-rise area, also went out with them. They were preparing to scout the city.
Once so many people had left the neighborhood, naturally, they didn’t notice a few uninvited visitors arriving at their homes.