Chapter 22 Community Mutual Aid Association

July 9, 2092, the ninth day of the fog disaster. The fog had become so thick that it was impossible to tell if there was any difference compared to the previous day.

Bai Xiao woke up at seven as usual. Previously, there would have been the sounds of cars and people at this hour, but now the entire world had become exceptionally quiet.

She finished her training courses at nine as usual and began learning and downloading various types of knowledge from the internet. Thinking of this, Bai Xiao couldn't help but feel regretful about the power supply issue.

Over the past few days, she had downloaded a lot of encyclopedic knowledge onto her mobile hard drive. However, if things continued to develop like this, there might come a day when the power and internet were cut off. At that time, she would be unable to use electronic devices to read this information and continue learning.

The fog had arrived too quickly, and her survival experience was insufficient. She hadn't thought to buy a few generators or stockpile energy sources like gasoline and diesel.

Right now, there was no way to go too far to look for these things. She would have to wait for an opportunity later.

At lunchtime, Bai Xiao looked through the messages in the group while eating. An argument had broken out in the group at some point.

The cause was a child who had a high fever for an entire day that wouldn't go down. The child's parents demanded that the Property Management help send them to the hospital.

[Binhe Mansion Owners Group (496)]

[3#1-1001]: The child is only five years old. If something really goes wrong from the fever, can you Property Management people take responsibility for it?

[Binhe Mansion Building 3 Manager - Zhang Xiaoli]: Ma'am, the Property Management is not responsible for the private affairs of owners. This does not fall under our responsibility.

[3#1-1001]: Did I pay all those property fees for nothing? I don't care, you have to send a car to help us with lighting and scout ahead.

[Binhe Mansion Building 3 Manager - Zhang Xiaoli]: Sorry, the Property Management is not responsible for the private affairs of owners.

[3#1-1001]: Stop repeating that over and over.

...

After the same arguments were repeated several times, someone finally couldn't take it anymore.

[5-2-602]: 1001, take your suggestions to a private chat. The group was just discussing the establishment of a Mutual Aid Association.

[2-2-1103]: Exactly, this is a major matter of livelihood. Personal matters can be discussed privately with the manager.

[3#1-1001]: How can you people be so cold-blooded? If your children or parents were sick, wouldn't you be anxious?!

[6#1-901]: Actually, the Property Management is right. Legally speaking, this really isn't within their scope of duty.

[3#1-1001]: You must have received benefits from the Property Management to be siding with them like this.

[6#1-901]: Why are you attacking everyone you see? If you have that kind of free time, why not give the child some medicine or try to lower their temperature physically? What's the point of just attacking everyone here?

[5#2-704]: Exactly. You're demanding that others take responsibility for your child, yet you've been cursing in the group for half an hour. I haven't seen you taking care of the child.

[3#1-1001]: Do you people have any humanity? Why don't you just drive our whole family to death?

[1#2-1201]: Everyone, let's all say a bit less. 1001, calm down. Give the child some fever medicine first and observe. It's not that everyone won't help, but the fog is so thick, and many places on the road are blocked by accident vehicles. It's simply impossible to get to the hospital right now.

[3#1-1001]: The last packet of Children's Fever Medicine has already been finished.

[5-2-602]: Then why didn't you say so earlier? The group has been talking about the Mutual Aid Association since early this morning. Supplies are scarce now. Everyone can barter, sell, or buy if they have extra items. If you hadn't been making such a scene, the child might have already taken the medicine by now.

[3#2-302]: I still have Children's Fever Medicine at home. I only accept bartering, in exchange for one day's worth of food.

[3#1-1001]: Aren't you being too greedy? How can a packet of fever medicine be worth that much?

[3#2-302]: Think whatever you want. This is the situation right now.

[2#1-704]: Bartering. Selling a can of cola, want staple food. Noodles, rice, or steamed buns are all fine.

[4#1-503]: Bartering. Selling rice, want meat.

[1#1-1501]: Selling green vegetables, gold accepted for transaction.

...

The messages in the group after that were basically all transaction information. Some were buying and selling food, some were buying and selling medicine. Most were bartering, and only a small portion accepted cash or even gold.

She really couldn't understand what use gold would be in this kind of situation.

Bai Xiao shook her head and intended to put down her phone.

Just then, a group announcement was suddenly pinned to the top.

[Today, each building manager will come to your door to conduct a survey and determine all the items available for trade within the building. Afterwards, the information will be submitted to the Owners Committee for unified statistics to ensure efficient and fair trading for all residents.]

...

Around two in the afternoon, someone knocked on Bai Xiao's door.

Bai Xiao was originally hesitating about whether to open the door. She didn't intend to expose her supplies. If she opened the door, she could only say she had nothing to trade.

But if she didn't open it, people had actually already seen her coming and going these past few days. She might have to go out for other things later anyway. Avoiding them now wouldn't make much sense and might instead lead to a passive situation later.

After thinking it over, Bai Xiao placed her right hand on her lower back and opened the door in a defensive posture.

Outside the door was a middle-aged man she hadn't seen before. Seeing her open the door, he was also sizing her up.

"Hello, I'm Xu Zhen, the building manager of our Building 6. You can just call me Brother Xu. I live in Unit 1, Room 801. If you need help with anything, you can come find me." The man had a standard square face, was smiling, and spoke very gently.

"Hello, my name is Bai Xiao. I just moved in recently and don't have any items to trade." Bai Xiao nodded without much reaction and gave a brief self-introduction.

"Oh?" The man's smile cooled slightly. Taking advantage of his height, he looked past her to size up the interior of the house. Seeing that the furniture was indeed tidy and didn't look like someone had lived there for a long time.

He withdrew his gaze, looked at her, and added, "If there are no supplies to exchange, you can participate in the neighborhood patrol. One hour a day, taking turns on duty. If you don't want to, you need to hand over half a catty of food as payment for the Security Personnel services provided by other patrollers."

"What?" Bai Xiao never expected him to say such a thing. There was nothing about this in the group announcement.

She felt it was a bit ridiculous. "The group announcement didn't mention any of this."

"This is the result of a meeting between the Owners Committee and the building managers. Supplies are scarce now, and several incidents of fighting over supplies have already occurred outside. The residential area needs to arrange personnel for patrols."

Xu Zhen seemed to have expected such a question and explained proficiently.

Bai Xiao laughed upon hearing this. "Patrolling is the duty of the security guards. I've also paid the Property Management fees."

"You little girl, why don't you understand? I already said there aren't enough people." Xu Zhen's face completely darkened.

"I don't need protection from others. I won't see you out."

Bai Xiao didn't want to waste any more time arguing and decisively closed the door.

She thought this matter would end there, but she didn't expect that even greater trouble would soon come knocking.