63: The extreme cold officially begins

Old Mrs. Xu looked at the stairwell in confusion: “Who would come so late?”

“Could it be that girl Chenlu?”

Feng Chenlu had been let in by Old Mrs. Xu every time she came upstairs, and they had become familiar with each other.

“Grandma Xu, go back and rest, I’ll go check.”

After the door to 2102 closed, Jiang Fei took out a dagger for self-defense.

Just as she reached the stairwell, she heard a sound from outside the electric gate.

“Cough, cough, please open the door. I’m looking for Jiang Fei on the 22nd floor. I’m her relative.”

Li Yanping still had the nerve to come looking for her. Hadn’t she had enough of a beating during the day?

To be safe, Jiang Fei put on a transparent protective mask and opened the electric gate.

Li Yanping was wearing ill-fitting wool sweaters and pants, her cotton-padded jacket was nowhere to be seen, her face was bruised, her forehead was broken and oozing blood, making her look quite miserable.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Fei was on the 21st floor. Li Yanping was stunned for a moment, then immediately knelt on the steps with a thud:

“Fei Fei, it was Auntie’s fault before. Please forgive me.”

“I don’t want anything, just a cotton-padded jacket. Those people are terrible. They robbed my cotton-padded jacket after the officials left. Just pity a dog, cough, cough, cough.”

Li Yanping coughed violently, spraying saliva.

She had caught a cold from the freezing weather outside today.

Ignoring going to 1701 to find Jiang Zhengkang, she came to the 21st floor first thing.

This flu was very severe; the more people infected, the better! It would be best if that little wretch and her friends all died of illness!

Li Yanping’s eyes were malicious. Afraid that Jiang Fei, wearing a protective mask, wouldn’t get infected, she even moved forward a bit, trying to spray saliva on the other party’s shoes.

Seeing through Li Yanping’s little scheme, Jiang Fei stepped back in disgust, but said, “Auntie has knelt down to beg me, how can I refuse?”

“Wait for me here for a moment.”

The electric gate closed, and Li Yanping became suspicious.

Giving bread and now wanting to give a cotton-padded jacket, wasn’t Jiang Fei trying to mess with her?

She had acted abnormally when she was in the community. It must have been this wretch’s doing.

But if she left now, she couldn’t bear to part with the cotton-padded jacket.

Li Yanping hesitated, then wiped her saliva on the door and the doorknob.

Suddenly, the electric gate opened.

Splash—!

A bucket of dirty water splashed over her face. Li Yanping instantly became soaked, screaming as she wiped away the water: “Jiang Fei, what are you doing?!”

“I don’t have a cotton-padded jacket, but I can return that basin of water to you from back then.”

“A whole bucket, oh, much more generous than you.”

Li Yanping was so angry she wanted to curse, but Jiang Fei kicked her down the stairs.

“If you come up again, it won’t be water next time.”

Jiang Fei twirled the gun in her hand, as if she might pull the trigger at any moment.

Li Yanping, who had climbed up from the ground, dared not go up again and ran away, clutching her soaked body.

After disinfecting the stairs and door with alcohol, Jiang Fei locked the door and went home to sleep.

She wondered if Li Yanping liked her foot-washing water.

17th floor.

Li Yanping had nowhere to go, and was soaked and had a cold, so she had no choice but to come to 1701.

Only she and Jiang Zhengkang lived here.

Even though she had said harsh words during the day, Li Yanping habitually commanded, “Give me your cotton-padded jacket! I’m freezing to death!”

Jiang Zhengkang lay on the sofa, covered with a quilt, pretending not to hear, and turned his back.

“Are you deaf?! Have you forgotten who went through the gates of hell to give you a son and a daughter?!”

“I almost bled to death in the Hospital bed, don’t you remember any of this?!”

Jiang Zhengkang gritted his teeth, wanting to question, wanting that sharp voice to disappear forever.

In the end, for the sake of Li Yanping giving birth to two children for him, Jiang Zhengkang still got up from the sofa and gave her the quilt.

—

The temperature quickly dropped to -40℃; the extreme cold had officially begun.

Everyone’s routine blood test results were out.

In Building A alone, half the people were taken away by the officials and sent to the Hospital for centralized treatment.

Fortunately, the routine blood tests for the 21st and 22nd floors were all normal.

With no shortage of supplies, Jiang Fei enjoyed life at home. Today she set up a grill at the Supermarket to have a barbecue, and tomorrow she set up a stove to eat spicy hot pot skewers.

After eating and drinking her fill, she would go to 2203, petting the cat while watching Lu Yu train Xiao Chuxia and Ling Zhaorui.

The two of them were trained until they grimaced daily.

If it weren’t for having hoarded enough water beforehand, Xiao Chuxia and Ling Zhaorui would have stunk unbearably.

However, in less than three days, Jiang Fei’s happiness disappeared.

Xu Qianyao arrived on the 22nd floor.

Stubble appeared on his chin, and the skin under his eyes was faintly blue, clearly indicating he hadn’t rested well recently.

“Miss Jiang, you don’t know, this period has almost exhausted me.”

“The officials are strictly screening people infected with schistosomiasis, disinfecting every community, increasing the distribution of drinking water, and also watching residents to prevent them from secretly chiseling ice and drinking melted ice water. Supplies and medicines are being used up especially quickly…”

Jiang Fei raised her hand, signaling Xu Qianyao to stop: “Do you have something important?”

She still had to go back and pet Big Yellow!

Xu Qianyao instantly became serious: “Yes, I want to invite you and your friends to join our Rescue Team to search for medicine and supplies in the towns that were once flooded.”

“There are very few survivors in those places, so there should still be a lot of supplies left.”

At this point, Xu Qianyao lowered his voice: “I’ll be honest with you, experts predict that temperatures will continue to drop in the future.”

“Lincheng is no longer suitable for living. Director Ning plans to take the survivors to Qingyang City, the provincial capital of Su Province, once the temperature stabilizes.”

“Qingyang City’s Safety Shelter was completed last week, but it cannot accommodate tens of millions of survivors. The officials can only abandon a portion of the people.”

“Survivors who want to go to the Safety Shelter must have a quota.”

Survival of the fittest, this was unavoidable.

Jiang Fei was a little tempted.

With her reminder in this life, the Safety Shelter was established in advance and would certainly be able to withstand the disasters that would follow.

Yulan Garden was indeed not a long-term place.

She could also look for gold along the way, striving to upgrade the Supermarket sooner.

“I need 4 quotas. You know Lu Yu’s and my skills; we can be security. Xiao Chuxia is a medical student and has made many medicines from insects. Ling Zhaorui is an agricultural student; he understands cultivation.”

Jiang Fei told Xu Qianyao everyone’s strengths.

The old, weak, sick, and disabled would be abandoned, but talented people would not.

Xu Qianyao naturally understood this and readily agreed: “Then we’re set. At 8 AM two days from now, we’ll gather at the main gate of Yulan Garden.”

“The officials have formed many temporary Rescue Teams. Everyone will depart at this time, heading to different places. My team is responsible for going to Ze’an County.”

Jiang Fei: “I need to ask for their opinions. Whether they go or not, I will definitely go.”

“Okay.”

After seeing Xu Qianyao off, Jiang Fei went to 2203 and recounted his words verbatim to Lu Yu and the other two.

Lu Yu: “I’m going.”

Su Liuyuan was in Ze’an County.

They hadn’t been in contact for a long time, and might meet.

Ling Zhaorui and Xiao Chuxia whispered for a while.

Xiao Chuxia spoke up: “Miss, Ling Zhaorui and I have decided not to go. We’re afraid of holding the team back.”

Their foundation was too poor. Even with training from Lu Yu these days, they had only just improved their physical fitness.

This mission involved a long journey, and if they encountered danger, they would only burden Jiang Fei and Lu Yu.

Instead of being a burden, it was better to guard the home.

They had some confidence in dealing with the people in Building A.

Jiang Fei agreed: “Then you two stay and take good care of the house, and look after Big Yellow.”

Once the extreme cold arrived, the outside world also became completely chaotic.

She was afraid that if there was real danger, she wouldn’t be able to look after Xiao Hua Lao and Ling Zhaorui.

One was a doctor, the other a cultivator; they couldn’t have any problems.

As for Lu Yu.

Jiang Fei believed he had the ability to protect himself.

—

Two days later, 7:40 AM

Jiang Fei and Lu Yu, dressed in warm protective suits and carrying packed backpacks, went downstairs.

At minus forty degrees Celsius, breathing itself felt painful. Jiang Fei pulled up the cold-weather mask piled around her neck and also gave Lu Yu a pair of goggles, ensuring no skin was exposed on either of them.

When the temperature was cold, there was also a risk of frostbite to the eyes.

At the main gate of Yulan Garden, two black pickup trucks and two large cargo trucks were parked.

There was no one in the pickup trucks, but the two cargo trucks were already full.

A woman sitting in one of the cargo trucks looked at Jiang Fei’s attire through the window, her eyes filled with suspicion: “Captain Xu, is this the very capable girl you mentioned?”