Natural Disaster Hoarding to Survive Daily

Happy 22nd Day:  The Winter Water Storage Issue of the People in the Central Region ◎

At two o'clock in the morning, for some young people of the current generation, it was not yet time to enter deep sleep.

For example, Jiang Muyun was having a heated conversation with a few roommates in the alumni group, and there were several young girls downstairs in the opposite building who were quick to react, dressed neatly and holding small microphones, trying to wake everyone up.

Jiang Muyun was familiar with the layout of the Qin family's residence, so she first went to Room 1502 to find the clothes of Qin Shiwen and Qin Shiwu and then went to Room 1503.

The two tall guys in Room 1503 had placed the spare keys on the windowsill of the hallway, conservatively estimated to be two and a half meters from the ground. Jiang Muyun had to go home first and get a chair before she could reach them.

She chose the thickest winter jackets and sweaters from the wardrobe for everyone, including the thick thermal pants that were unattractively squashed at the bottom of the box. She packed them tightly into two large bags.

After Jiang Muyun took the clothes, the young girls downstairs were still calling out to people, but many lights had already been turned on in the residential area. Jiang Muyun heard the intermittent "thank you" being shouted.

Putting on the thick clothes suddenly slowed Jiang Muyun's movements. It took her a lot of effort to find the clothes. By the time she closed the door of Room 1503 with two large bags in her hands, Qin Shiwen was almost there.

The temperature had dropped too quickly, and the temperature difference was too large within a short period of time. Jiang Muyun didn't dare to take the elevator, so she decided to carry the bags and run down the stairs directly.

When Jiang Muyun was going downstairs, those girls probably saw that most of the households had turned on the lights, so they were about to go back into the hallway, preparing to go home.

Jiang Muyun hurriedly stopped them and said, "The temperature difference is too great. The elevator might malfunction. Remember not to take the elevator when you go upstairs!"

One of the girls who ran fast had already pressed the elevator button, but upon hearing Jiang Muyun's words, she immediately retracted her hand and gratefully shouted to Jiang Muyun across the way, "Got it, thank you!"

Jiang Muyun waved at them and then saw Qin Shiwen's car stop right under the streetlight.

Jiang Muyun deliberately put Qin Shiwen's clothes on top so she could take them out directly.

Qin Shiwen got out of the car with the air conditioning on and shivered as she put on the sweater, her movements stiff to the point where Jiang Muyun had to help her stretch the neckline. It wasn't until she put on the down jacket that she felt a bit better.

Jiang Muyun opened the back door of the car, put the bags with the clothes inside, and then got into the front passenger seat herself. A white mist escaped her mouth.

The car's air conditioning was running at full blast. Jiang Muyun rubbed her cold face and took out a thermos from her backpack, along with several paper cups stored in plastic bags.

Amber-colored liquid flowed out, and a pungent aroma filled the car.

Jiang Muyun handed a cup of ginger tea to Qin Shiwen, who gulped it down, causing the hot tea to make her hiss.

"Let's go to the City Hospital first since it's close by. After passing the City Hospital, we'll be near Zhao Jiahao's place."

Compared to Jiang Muyun, who had been shuttling between home and school, Qin Shiwen was obviously more familiar with the roads in South City.

Jiang Muyun nodded and pointed to the two large bags behind, saying, "The black bag contains Wu ge's clothes. Since he hasn't replied to any messages, should we call him when we get to the hospital?"

Qin Shiwen drove the car out of the residential area and thought for a moment, "Let's try calling him now. There aren't many cars on the road at this time. We'll arrive in twenty minutes. If we wait until we get to the hospital to call, we'll have to wait there for him."

If previously, when Jiang Muyun woke her up, it was just an abnormally fast drop in temperature, then now it was definitely an abnormally low temperature.

Such a low temperature was no joke. She was afraid that if they arrived late, the neighbors in Room 1503 would suffer from severe cold. It would be better not to waste any more time.

Qin Shiwu's phone was quickly connected.

"Wu ge, Wen jie and I will be there in about twenty minutes. Where should we meet?"

There was a lot of noise on the other end of the phone.

The sound of rolling wheels, hoarse shouts, crying, and the constant plea of medical personnel to "make way."

From the phone, it could be heard that the hospital was already in chaos.

Qin Shiwu's voice was also a bit hoarse, "Let's meet at the emergency entrance..."

Before Qin Shiwu could finish his sentence, a sharp female voice came from the other end, "Prepare defibrillation here. Someone come and push."

"I'll be busy for a while. I'll find you guys later." Qin Shiwu quickly hung up the phone, and Qin Shiwen and Jiang Muyun exchanged glances.

The car left the residential area, and there were quite a few vehicles on the road. Sirens of different frequencies mixed together, and occasionally, an ambulance with its lights on could be seen whizzing by.

Jiang Muyun and Qin Shiwen hurriedly arrived at the hospital.

The parking lot outside the hospital was already full, so they had to park the car on the side of the road and then run to the emergency building with a bag of clothes.

From a distance, they could hear the bustling noise of the entire building. People were coming and going outside the building, with medical personnel and family members pushing stretchers, running all the way.

When Jiang Muyun and Qin Shiwen arrived at the bottom of the emergency building, Qin Shiwu was leading a few people running out from inside.

Those people were all wearing white coats, their clothes slightly disheveled, and fine beads of sweat on their foreheads. As soon as they came into contact with the cold air outside, strands of white mist dispersed.

Qin Shiwen took out the clothes from the bag and distributed them.

Qin Shiwu and the others expressed their thanks while taking off their white coats and handing them over to Qin Shiwen. They shivered as they put on the clothes.

The City Hospital doesn't have a centralized heating system, so cooling and heating rely on air conditioning. The temperature drop today came too suddenly, and it's impossible to raise the temperature of the entire building with air conditioning in just a few hours.

They had been busy all along, never having a moment to rest their feet, but now, standing still for a while, they felt as if their whole bodies were freezing.

Jiang Muyun took out paper cups and poured ginger tea for each of them.

Qin Shiwu, putting on clothes, said, "We just heard the data. It says the temperature dropped forty degrees within two hours. You didn't turn off your car, did you?"

Qin Shiwen replied, "No, we didn't dare to turn it off. Afraid that once it's turned off, we won't be able to start it again."

Qin Shiwu sighed in relief. "That's good."

After everyone put on warm clothes and their white coats and drank a cup of ginger tea, they finally felt alive again.

From a temperature of minus 30 degrees to minus 10 degrees—that's previously from a temperature of nearly 30 degrees—all at once.

Under these two conditions, the body's perception of cold is completely different.

Without exaggeration, they really couldn't stop and dared not stop. There was always a feeling that if their bodies stopped moving, they would freeze in place.

The hospital is currently short-handed, and Jiang Muyun and Qin Shiwen also need to rush to the fire station. They can’t delay on either side.

Amidst the profuse thanks from Qin Shiwu's classmates, Jiang Muyun and Qin Shiwen headed toward their next destination.

The fire station was not far from the City Hospital. Jiang Muyun made a phone call, and by the time the call ended, they were already close to the fire station entrance.

Outside the fire station, there was also a constant flow of vehicles, not only fire trucks but also many private cars and electric bikes. They all seemed to be temporary returnees.

Some middle-aged men and women, not yet properly dressed, hurriedly ran inside while holding their jackets.

Zhao Jiahao and the others were not as rushed as Qin Shiwu. They even had time to take off one of their layered short-sleeved shirts and put on a sweater.

Jiang Muyun was curious, "I see everything is in chaos outside; how come you two have the time to be meticulous?"

Zhao Jiahao, while putting on his sweater, said, "Most of the emergency calls are going to the bar street. Nine out of ten people there have had too much to drink at night. As soon as they step outside, they lean on the railing and vomit. But they didn't expect the temperature to be so low, and their hands stuck directly to the railing. A trip can bring back eight drunkards."

After putting on his clothes, Zhao Jiahao began gesturing to Jiang Muyun and Qin Shiwen, saying, "I heard there are even people who sleep while hugging the railing. Their faces are stuck to it, and they ignorantly try to tear themselves away but can't."

Jiang Muyun and Qin Shiwen simultaneously covered their faces with scarves.

Li Anxuan, not interested in gossip, took a sip of ginger tea and explained, "The reason you see many returnees is that the higher authorities are organizing a joint meeting, preparing to sound the citywide air raid siren to wake up the citizens."

Zhao Jiahao chimed in, "I heard that there are too many procedures required for the air raid alarm, and it takes time to notify the various communities. The authorities are afraid of running out of time, so they're preparing in two ways. They sent available police cars and fire trucks from major brigades to residential areas to sound their sirens, just to wake the people up."

The task of sounding the sirens was assigned to the major brigades. It was a joint action by several departments, and they didn't have to bear the whole responsibility. Besides, there were limited fire trucks in the station, so even if they wanted to help, there was no place for them to do so.

Therefore, although it seemed bustling outside, these two individuals were not as busy as Qin Shiwu.

Jiang Muyun understood.

It was a practical issue.

An air raid siren couldn't be sounded just for fun; it naturally required time for application and approval.

And at two o'clock in the morning, the official order had to be issued to each community so that community staff could return to their positions and start working, which also took a considerable amount of time.

Moreover, not every community worker lived nearby, and they weren't on standby for twenty-four hours.

Furthermore, a single community was responsible for several residential areas, and some areas were quite large. Even if all the community staff were brought in, it might not be enough.

Not to mention the old city area, where there were more cockroaches in the community office than there were staff members.

By the time these places were mobilized, all the morgue beds in all the hospitals in the city would be in short supply tomorrow.

But the military and police were different. There were people on duty twenty-four hours a day, and the system was accustomed to occasional emergency tasks. Very few people turned off or put their phones on silent at night, so their response speed was naturally much faster than that of the communities.

Jiang Muyun recalled that in her past life, the same approach was taken in West City.

Back then, she was still in the dormitory when suddenly all the student groups exploded with chatter, and then the school broadcast came on.

Before long, the shrill sound of sirens echoed through the university.

At that time, because the school reacted quickly, she didn't realize that the sirens were meant to wake everyone up. She thought there had been an accident due to the rapid temperature drop.

After exchanging a few words, Zhao Jiahao and the others went back.

Although they currently didn't have any tasks at the station, they still needed to be ready at all times in case they were needed somewhere.

The same-city express delivery arrived, and Jiang Muyun and Qin Shiwen didn't have much else to do.

Qin Shiwen dropped Jiang Muyun off at home and then drove back to the provincial team. Before leaving, she asked Jiang Muyun for a few packets of ginger tea.

Jiang Muyun bringing the ginger tea reminded her that she needed to go back and give a cup to the kids on the team. She couldn't help but worry about them.

When Jiang Muyun returned home after a night of running around, she opened the door and saw Little White crouched in the corner, pitifully staring at the entrance.

As soon as Jiang Muyun came in, Little White pounced on her, whimpering and wagging its tail by her feet.

Jiang Muyun went to her room and turned on the warm air from the air conditioner. She scratched Little White's chin and said, "Other dogs bark so loudly; why do you just keep whimpering all day?"

Little White turned its head away and ignored her.

Jiang Muyun glanced at the thermometer: minus sixteen degrees.

It had dropped below the lowest temperature ever recorded in South City.

She took out her phone and opened Weibo. As expected, the trending topics were all related to the temperature drop in various places.

It seemed that the temperature drop came early, not due to geographical reasons.

She checked the weather forecast and looked at the temperatures across the country. It didn't seem to differ much.

Apart from being one day earlier than in her previous life, everything else was exactly the same.

The apocalypse had arrived.

Jiang Muyun flopped onto the sofa. Due to the thickness of her clothes, she bounced twice.

Her phone kept vibrating with notifications. Jiang Muyun checked and saw that it was the community group reminding everyone to store water in time.

She rubbed her head. It had been too long since the last winter with running water, and she had momentarily forgotten about the winter characteristics of South City.

Waking up on a cold morning and finding the tap frozen, was the humble reality for people in the central region during the low temperatures of winter.

Every time Jiang Muyun poured hot water on the tap to thaw it, she felt like a beggar, eagerly waiting for someone to warm up and give her some water.

Sometimes, unfortunate circumstances occurred when she hadn't started winter vacation yet and was in a rush to go to school in the morning. She almost shouted at the tap in her house, "Come on, give me some water, please."

Of course, that wasn't the worst part.

The most miserable thing was pouring hot water only to realize that it wasn't the tap that was frozen, but the water supply was cut off in the area.