Сhaptеr 18: Ехtrеmе Heat
In Осtober, thе tempеrаturе hаd аlrеadу rеаchеd fifty-fivе degreеs Сelsius.
Тhe gоvеrnmеnt’s watеr аnd elесtriсitу rаtiоning аnnounсemеnts hаd also changеd from thе originаl еight hоurs рer daу to just four hоurs реr dаy.
It wаs now sеt from 10:00 a.m. tо 2:00 р.m. dаilу fоr watеr and eleсtriсitу suррly.
What pеорle wеre sсrambling for hаd shiftеd frоm gеneratоrs аnd solar рanels tо wаtеr tаnks and buсkеts.
The neighborhood grouр chаt еruрtеd intо argumеnts again ovеr the nеed tо buy wаter tanks and buckets.
【Which damned thief stole the gas from my car?】
【My car’s gas was stolen too!】
【How despicable! I suggest neighbors with cars check theirs—they probably have no gas left either!】
【It must be the same thief who stole my generator! My gasoline generator needs fuel to run!】
【Where’s the property management? Is anyone going to deal with the thieves in our complex?】
【Oh my god, we’re living in the same complex as thieves! Once this weather passes, my family won’t stay here anymore!】
【Why does our floor smell so bad? Is someone not flushing their toilet?】
【Our floor stinks too. It smells like someone’s meat has gone bad.】
【Maybe it’s some kid peeing or pooping wherever they please!】
【Whoever’s unruly kid it is, keep them under control! Don’t let them relieve themselves all over the place.】
【Don’t litter in the stairwell! Would it kill you to take your trash downstairs?】
【I just checked the parking lot too—my car’s gas was stolen as well!】
【Damn it, my car too!】
…
Jiang Ci scrolled through the neighborhood group messages, thinking the gas thieves were likely the two suspicious-looking men she had encountered in the parking lot the day she drove out.
In her memory, there were indeed two brothers in this building who were idle and did no proper work.
But she couldn’t recall which floor they lived on.
As for her own car, she had drained all the gas after driving back that day, so she wasn’t worried.
However, the complaints about the foul smell on certain floors caught her attention.
Over the past couple of days, while going up and down the stairs, she had indeed noticed a terrible stench below the fifth floor.
Having seen too many dead bodies in her past life, she was particularly sensitive to the smell of death. To her, the odor strongly resembled that of a decaying corpse.
That night, bundled up tightly, she began observing each floor starting from the fifth floor.
When she reached the third floor, she noticed the smell of rotting flesh was strongest there.
Each floor had three households, but she couldn’t tell which one was the source.
“Ahhh! Someone’s dead on the third floor! Dead!”
Jiang Ci pinched her throat and deliberately shouted loudly as she ran upstairs.
She didn’t stop until she reached the eighth floor, where she quietly switched stairwells to return home.
In the dead of night, her shouts woke up the entire building.
A crowd gathered at the third-floor stairwell, demanding an explanation from the residents there.
Of the three households on the third floor, only two opened their doors.
The innermost unit remained tightly shut.
Realizing something was wrong, everyone quickly found someone to pry open the locked door.
As soon as the door was pulled open, a pungent, suffocating stench of decay hit them.
The unit was occupied by an elderly woman living alone. In the extreme heat, she had succumbed to heatstroke at some point, unnoticed and unattended.
The old woman’s body lay on the bed, already decomposed and foul-smelling, covered in maggots, flies, and mosquitoes.Those who went inside covered their mouths and ran out retching.
No wonder there had always been a strange smell in the hallway—now the truth was finally revealed.
Someone quickly made a few calls on their phone to contact the property management, but unfortunately, the property management couldn’t reach the old woman’s family either.
Leaving the corpse to rot and stink like this wasn’t an option, yet no one was willing to touch a dead body.
In the end, the other two households on the third floor had no choice but to each send one man, fully equipped, to carry out the bed along with the corpse.
They contacted funeral home staff to take the old woman away.
When Jiang Ci passed by the third floor again the next evening on her way downstairs, she glanced into the old woman’s home.
She found the door wide open, the house turned upside down, and all valuable items, along with the last remaining bits of food and supplies, completely looted.
This was the apocalypse, and it was only just beginning…
In the later stages of the disaster, survivors, driven to extreme hunger, would even cook and stir-fry human corpses. Compared to that, looting a dead person’s belongings now was nothing.
Turning to go upstairs, when she reached the seventh floor, she unexpectedly saw the girl who lived on the same floor as her standing at someone’s doorway, being held by a man who was groping her all over.
Since the hallway was very dark, with only a faint light coming from inside the room, Jiang Ci couldn’t see clearly.
Vaguely, she felt the man’s figure looked familiar, as if she had seen him somewhere before.
Jiang Ci didn’t know what the relationship between the girl and the man was—perhaps they were a couple—but it wasn’t her business. After a brief glance, she went upstairs and returned home.
The 11th floor also had three households. Unit 1101 was hers, Unit 1102 was occupied by a university professor. When she bought the apartment, the property management had mentioned in passing that he might even be a scientist.
Unit 1103 was where the girl her age lived, a family of four including her parents and her seven-year-old brother.
Her parents were in poor health, and the family often brewed traditional Chinese medicine, which had a strong medicinal smell, so Jiang Ci remembered them clearly.
Over the next few days, two more cases of home burglary occurred in the building.
For a while, every household was on edge, and no one dared to trust their neighbors.
In the neighborhood group chat, the aunt from the 9th floor whose gasoline generator had been stolen was vigorously promoting her son, Zhou Junming.
She said her son was tall, handsome, could play the guitar, and sang well. Anyone willing to listen to him sing and play the guitar could exchange 2 pounds of rice for a visit to her home.
Another household on the 15th floor called for people in the building to go out together to search for supplies, claiming they had special connections and knew where resources were abundant.
No one paid attention to the 15th-floor resident’s call, but a woman from the 13th floor tagged the aunt from the 9th floor, saying she was willing to exchange 2 pounds of rice for her son to come to her home and sing a love song.
The aunt happily agreed and urged her son to take his guitar to the 13th floor to perform.
Zhou Junming wasn’t too willing—he found it embarrassing—but he couldn’t resist his mother’s pleas. More importantly, the family was truly struggling to make ends meet.
Reluctantly, he was ultimately forced to bow to life’s circumstances, carrying his guitar up to the 13th floor.
Two hours later, Zhou Junming returned, his face flushed, holding 2 pounds of rice.Seeing that although Zhou Junming looked a bit evasive, he was in a fairly good mood and didn’t show strong protest or dissatisfaction, his mother felt much more at ease.
Thinking that Zhou Junming was just a bit embarrassed, she didn’t ask further and only praised her son a few more times—saying he had grown up, become capable, and knew how to support the family now.
After all, her precious son had been raised with all her love and care. If it weren’t for the theft at home and the fact that they could no longer make ends meet, she wouldn’t have let her darling son go out singing to earn money.
What a bargain for that woman on the 13th floor—she’d better know her place!