Chapter 16
When the most intense wave of hail fell, of the eleven people who had returned from chopping wood, three were already dead, and one was injured but had managed to survive.
This all happened in about half an hour.
Three living lives vanished before everyone’s eyes.
Not to mention the places they couldn’t see.
“Waaaaah—”
“Husband!!!”
“…”
Cries and howls echoed throughout the entire community, in every building. Ji Yang felt suffocated listening to it. She tightly closed her doors and windows, returned to the sofa to lie down, and closed her eyes, using her consciousness to water and fertilize the thirty square meters of Chinese cabbage she had planted.
The fertilizer was made from kitchen waste, following a video tutorial. The smell… was indescribable. Fortunately, she could use her consciousness, so she couldn’t smell it.
It had to be said, for her half-baked, by-the-book farming methods, the Chinese cabbage was growing very well. As for the medicinal herbs, they had just sprouted and were also looking quite good.
Outside, the hail stopped for a while. Some people thought about taking this opportunity to run back; otherwise, they would freeze to death in the elevated ground floor.
Minus fifty or sixty degrees was no joke.
Some of the remaining people agreed, some disagreed. After some discussion, the three who wanted to leave took a deep breath and charged towards their own building.
Unfortunately, the distance between the buildings was large, and the snowy ground was pitted with many holes, making it difficult to walk. Moving quickly, they stumbled and were prone to falling.
But as time passed, they had also covered half the distance.
Just as the remaining people who hadn’t dared to leave were feeling a bit of regret, one person suddenly exclaimed, “Oh no, more hail!”
The other few quickly cupped their hands around their mouths and shouted at the top of their lungs, “Run faster, run faster!!”
“The hail is coming again, run faster!”
The people halfway there also noticed it immediately. Their faces changed drastically, and their legs pumped furiously, wishing they could fly back.
The next second, a pain shot through one man’s back.
He let out a muffled grunt, got up, and continued forward.
The other two were lucky enough to dodge the initial hail and surpassed him. Seeing that their own building was only twenty meters away, with their families watching right in front of them, they were filled with infinite strength and continued to press forward.
“Ah!” A tragic scream rang out unexpectedly.
One of them turned his head and saw that the person who had been running alongside him just now had a hole smashed in his head. The person had fallen and was still twitching.
In that moment, the hair on his whole body stood on end. Soon, he stepped into a hole and fell to the ground. His back was immediately hit several times, and the pain turned his face purple, but he still struggled to get up.
The last ten meters…
The family members waiting on the first floor finally couldn’t bear it anymore and ran out. “Come back quickly!”
Finally, the family embraced, hiding in the safe house. They looked at each other, all with smiles of having survived a disaster.
And beside them, a burst of crying erupted.
“Hey, don’t be impulsive—” someone shouted. A woman with a tear-streaked face ran out frantically, stumbling all the way to the man who had fallen more than thirty meters away. “Husband! Wuwuwu… I was wrong, I shouldn’t have let you go chop wood, hus—”
Soon, hail fell on her head.
The voice stopped abruptly.
The safe family’s smiles also vanished. Looking at the tragic scene outside, they only felt a chill in their teeth.
—
It wasn’t until late at night that the hail completely stopped and no longer fell.
But in the end, only four people managed to return to the community safely. Because of the five people who had been hiding in the elevated ground floor of the opposite building, even with a little charcoal given by a kind neighbor, two of them had quietly frozen to death.
By the time their families came looking for them in the middle of the night, they were already gone.
The remaining three were also on their last breath, their faces pale and bluish, as if they could stop breathing at any moment.
As for the others who had gone out during the day, only a small half of them returned one after another.
Needless to say, the rest were gone.
For a time, the building was filled with the sound of crying. In one family, only a newly pregnant woman was left; her husband and the brother who had come to pay a New Year’s visit were both gone.
Because of these circumstances, for the next few days, no one in the community dared to go out.
They would rather huddle under their blankets, shivering, using the last of their coal for a faint warmth, than go out, wholeheartedly hoping for the government to come and distribute relief food.
But they never came.
Ji Yang remembered that in her previous life, the government had divided its manpower into several batches: collecting supplies, building bases, distributing supplies, emergency rescue, mining coal and burning charcoal, bringing back countrymen who were stranded outside… there was simply not enough manpower. And they frequently encountered severe weather, causing various projects to be constantly interrupted, destroyed, and even selectively abandoned in the end.
The biggest loss in the disaster was the government, because at this time, eighty to ninety percent of the people still outside were government personnel.
Many mission teams lost contact and were never heard from again, even after the extreme cold had passed.
Under such circumstances, it was normal for them to fail to distribute relief food in time.
But for the other homeowners in the community, it was not normal. The government’s failure to appear in time greatly increased their panic, and the number of quarrels in the building increased significantly.
Only Ji Yang, avoiding these people, went out twice more.
Her motto was to dare to go out when others didn’t.
With her space, even in extreme situations, she could hide in it for a while if necessary. As a result of her efforts on these two occasions, her space had expanded by another three hundred and fifty square meters. So far, her space was already one thousand two hundred square meters!
The two-hundred-square-meter breeding area was currently completely sufficient, so Ji Yang allocated the extra space to the traditional Chinese medicine area. One could never have too much of these things.
However, by now, most of the stores that specialized in selling jade that she had noted down had already been visited by her. For the rest, she would have to search for them among piles of gold and silver in other jewelry stores.
It was a bit troublesome, and relatively speaking, the average quality of the jade in these stores would definitely be worse.
Ji Yang decisively gave up and didn’t go out anymore.
At the same time, the Chinese cabbage she had planted was also ready for harvest.
It had only been two months since she planted it, but it had grown very well. From thirty square meters of land, she had harvested a total of more than six hundred jin of cabbage. It was a super bumper harvest!
However, after this harvest, she didn’t plant Chinese cabbage in these thirty square meters anymore. Instead, she chose fruit trees—cherry trees, durian trees, orange trees, persimmon trees… she planted one of each kind.
She filled this plot of land.
While she was busy, time flew by.
Finally, after another twenty days or so, even though it was dangerous to go out, if they didn’t, they would die. Some people still mustered the courage to go out.
At this time, the outdoor temperature had unknowingly dropped by another five degrees. The lowest temperature at night had already reached minus sixty-five degrees. It was slightly better during the day, rising by about six or seven degrees.
This time, basically everyone went out in groups, fully equipped, to ensure that even if they encountered a disaster and were trapped outside, they wouldn’t freeze to death.
Before going out, the two building leaders even went door to door to ask if anyone wanted to go out together.
Probably because their stock was really running low, many people were willing to go out, including those from 1501. But Ji Yang still refused. Although it would have been a good way to fit in, for her, it was too much of a hassle.
With her current weapons and equipment, as long as she wasn’t besieged by a large group, she could retreat completely unscathed. So, it wasn’t a big deal if her neighbors knew she had some supplies.
This time, although it snowed quite heavily, everyone in the building returned safely, bringing back a small amount of supplies and a lot of firewood, which finally brought some laughter to the building.
Ji Yang also had some good news—the chickens, ducks, geese, quails, and button quails she was raising in her living space, except for the chickens, had all started laying eggs!
From this, she deduced that the time flow inside was at most one-fifth to one-fourth faster than outside.
Because under normal circumstances, free-range chickens start laying eggs at six months.
It had been less than four months now, so it wasn’t time for them to lay eggs yet.
She estimated that in another month, it should be possible.
The one hundred square meters of pasture she had originally planned had long since grown. Ji Yang took the opportunity to expand the entire breeding area. Currently, the breeding area was a total of two hundred square meters, and the males and females of the three species—pigs, cattle, and sheep—were raised separately.
Getting pregnant too early was not good for their health, and she was not a veterinarian. If there were complications during childbirth, she wouldn’t be able to do anything.
Therefore, she could only intervene manually for now, striving for late and healthy births.
But she didn’t have to worry so much about the poultry.
Ji Yang was very happy collecting eggs every day, but she didn’t like to eat them. So, she put some in the static space, left some for them to hatch themselves, and pickled some.
Strictly following the salted duck egg tutorial, she meticulously pickled them. The weather was too cold, so she put them in the house in her space. The time inside was flowing, which was perfect for pickling these things.
The first batch of pickled eggs was forty in total, not a large number, and the size of each egg was different. But Ji Yang, adhering to the principle that an egg is an egg, pickled them all together.
Just as she finished pickling this batch, another batch appeared.
These were the freshest eggs, laid just a short while ago. Since she had nothing to do, Ji Yang decided to make them into various fried or deep-fried eggs.
They would definitely be delicious when added to spicy hot pot, hot pot, or snail noodles.
No sooner said than done, Ji Yang immediately set up a pot and began to fry the eggs.
Her cooking skills weren’t great, but she could handle things that didn’t require too many steps. First, she made fried eggs with the quail and button quail eggs.
The eggs were tiny, so it took many of them to make a portion of fried eggs. She didn’t throw away the eggshells either, but collected them in a special garbage bag. When she had a certain amount, she would roast them in the fireplace, crush them, and feed them to the poultry and pigs for calcium.
Her motto was to recycle and not waste anything.
Ji Yang, who had lived through hard times, thought with a very planned-out mind.
After beating the eggs, she turned on the stove and heated the oil. Worried about splattering, she didn’t use a large iron pot, but a small electric pot. Seeing that the temperature was about right, she immediately poured the egg mixture in a little at a time.
The tender yellow egg mixture immediately spread into a ‘pancake’ on top of the oil. When it filled the entire small electric pot, she stopped. Soon, a fragrant smell wafted over. Timing it carefully, she used chopsticks and a spatula to help flip it over.
In a few minutes, a portion of fried eggs was ready.
To think that she had never dared to eat these calorie bombs before, just to maintain her slender figure.
Looking back now, she only felt immense regret for having missed out on so much delicious food!
Suddenly, Xixi, who had been squatting beside her watching her work, twitched its ears. Then, it immediately rushed to the door, vigilant as if ready to fight at any moment.
Ji Yang was not surprised by this.
At the beginning, it was fine. Every family had some surplus food and drink. But as time passed, many things were consumed and couldn’t be replenished, such as the various delicious seasonings for cooking. Even if there was no shortage of food, the taste was bland.
She ate well here every day. Even if she sealed her home as much as possible, it couldn’t be completely sealed. The faint aroma that drifted out normally wouldn’t travel far; even the people across the hall might not be able to smell it.
But the noses of those downstairs who had been eating bland food for a long time were as keen as a dog’s. They could smell even a tiny bit.
Therefore, during this period, people often ‘passed by’ her door. Ji Yang was not afraid. This situation would happen sooner or later. Who could blame them when everyone else was half-full or starving, while she could eat her fill every meal and had a rosy complexion? As soon as someone saw her, they would basically know that her family was not short of supplies. This was bound to happen sooner or later.
In the future, when things really got desperate, even if her family had no food, unless she opened the door and let them in to loot, she would still be targeted.
In her previous life, because she was alone, she was targeted as soon as she went to the base. She did everything secretly, afraid of being smelled, which led to her not eating or sleeping well.
In this life, since she had the ability, she would definitely not wrong herself.
Ji Yang continued to do her own thing without being disturbed. Xixi was different. It would go to the door to guard whenever it sensed something, afraid that someone would break in. The silly dog didn’t know that this door was very sturdy.
Perhaps because there was still a lingering fear of the law, even though they had many thoughts, they didn’t actually act on them, just came over to take a look.
But didn’t they usually come at mealtimes?
Ji Yang was puzzled. Could they have been attracted by the smell of her fried eggs? But she hadn’t added any seasonings. Who was it with such a keen sense of smell?
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
Xixi’s fur immediately stood on end, and it roared fiercely, “Woof woof woof!!!”