21: Official intervention

The city Ai Yue lived in was a second-tier city; it had more than just a few police officers. Where had everyone else gone?

After driving around the city, Ai Yue returned home with doubts and told her parents about her findings.

Ai Guosheng pondered for a moment.

"Do you think the government is brewing some big move? Otherwise, people have died, yet they only sent two officers to handle it."

"I think the government won't just watch the people suffer and do nothing, at least during the early stages of the Apocalypse."

"Yeah, Old Ai is right. Yueyue, don't go running outside for a while. The authorities won't ignore this situation; it's just that the time hasn't come yet," Li Shilan said.

"Yeah, but this is a bit unusual. It's different from my previous life. I'm worried about variables that might affect major future events. If that happens, our advantage will cease to exist," Ai Yue said with a worried face.

"No matter how much you worry, the natural disasters will still come one by one; they won't change easily. Even if they do, don't worry. You've prepared sufficiently. Under any disaster, our chances of survival are higher than others," Ai Guosheng comforted her warmly, seeing her anxiety.

Ai Yue hugged her parents.

Since her rebirth, whether during the two months before the Apocalypse or the month since it arrived, Ai Yue had been in a state of fear and anxiety from time to time.

She feared her parents would still be beaten to death before her eyes and that she still wouldn't escape the fate of being cannibalized. This unease grew more severe as the natural disasters continued.

Ai Yue understood that to walk out of her nightmare and stop being tormented by bad dreams, she had to kill the gang that ate her and the gang that beat her parents to death. Only then would her heart be at peace and her nightmare end.

She remembered that in her previous life, she and her parents were kicked out of their home by Han Xiao five months into the Extreme Heat. At that time, the gang that killed her parents had been wandering around the Jinhua Residential Area. Although she didn't know where they were now, they would definitely be around there five months later.

However, she couldn't rule out the possibility that they had lived nearby all along. Driven by intense hatred, Ai Yue decided that if the authorities still hadn't made a move in a few days, she would go there at night to lie in wait.

Anyway, ordinary people couldn't beat her. As long as she handled the aftermath well, killing someone wasn't impossible. After all, with the authorities taking no action, society was gradually falling into chaos.

Before Ai Yue could go looking for the gang that killed her parents, the authorities finally made their move.

Fully armed SWAT teams captured all criminal suspects and those caught in the act from the past month. Those guilty of heinous crimes were executed on the spot to save social resources, while those whose crimes didn't warrant death were loaded into vehicles and taken away secretly to unknown locations.

The government's lightning-fast strike served as a great deterrent to petty criminals, and the society that was about to descend into chaos settled down.

Although it was unknown what the authorities had been doing in secret during this time, it was clear that they now had their hands free to act.

Then, the authorities released a shocking announcement: starting tomorrow, the use of national currency would be canceled, and all transactions would take the form of bartering until the natural disasters subsided.

This news left people reeling and confused.

Why barter?

How did we suddenly return to a primitive society?

Even though people were unwilling to believe this was the reality, they had no choice but to reluctantly accept it in order to survive.

To this end, the authorities specifically opened up an underground mall as a trading location and mobilized the entire city's resources to ensure the mall had electricity all night, keeping the air conditioning running to produce sufficient cool air.

When people heard about the sufficient cool air, they all expressed that they had to snag a spot in the mall. Going to the mall was much more comfortable than staying at home; it was a massive, free paradise for enjoying the air conditioning.

However, setting up a stall inside wasn't easy. The authorities had already considered this and immediately established rules, backed by armed forces.

To qualify for entry, first, as a seller, one had to have sufficient goods for trade to use a stall for free, and they had to leave immediately once all items were traded; regardless of whether the goods were sold out, they had to leave after three hours.

Secondly, as a buyer, one could only stay for twenty minutes. After twenty minutes, regardless of whether a transaction was successful, they had to leave immediately.

Anyone who stubbornly refused to leave would be directly evicted and permanently banned from trading.

People who saw the regulations couldn't help but protest, but the protests were futile.

Ai Yue gasped when she saw this message. The opening of the trading market was something that happened five months later in her previous life. Another event had occurred ahead of schedule. Ai Yue pursed her lips tightly and stared fixedly at the news report, her breathing becoming faint.

It seemed that some things were different from her previous life after all, but the changes were for the better, which was something to be happy about.

Over the next few days, as soon as night fell, Ai Yue drove back to her former residence in the Jinhua Residential Area to look for her enemies from her previous life.

But she found nothing.

After the authorities vigorously overhauled society, order was gradually restored. Some supermarkets, hospitals, and pharmacies had their power restored with government help and reopened.

People flocked to the open shops to enjoy the air conditioning. Large supermarkets, in particular, were so crowded there was no room to step. Security personnel played an active role; anyone who didn't move for more than twenty minutes was kicked out. Even so, it couldn't stop the enthusiasm of people squeezing in.

Finally, the authorities introduced a tough policy: all shops would only open for three hours, and anyone wanting to enter a supermarket had to queue and be let in one by one by security.

If someone blocked the path inside, they would be evicted immediately. However, as long as they didn't obstruct people coming and going, security wouldn't mind them enjoying the air conditioning in other areas.

The Extreme Heat continued.

Three months passed in the blink of an eye. No one knew where the authorities got the water and food, but in these three months, no one had died from a lack of them. One could only say the country's operational capacity was incredibly strong.

Some factories and companies also gradually resumed production. Only residential areas still lacked electricity, so office workers went to work with great enthusiasm.

If no accidents occurred, students would also gradually return to school.

Everything was developing in a positive direction. One could only say that human adaptability was truly formidable.

Even the Extreme Heat couldn't stop human development.

Five and a half months had passed since the start of the Extreme Heat. Ai Yue's family hadn't slacked off and continued to train every day.

Under Ai Yue's special training, the results were remarkable.

Ai Guosheng's progress was significant; he had developed a body of lean muscle and had never been so strong. With a bit of luck, he could even defeat an average expert.

Li Shilan still looked gentle, but anyone who underestimated her would surely pay a heavy price.

As for Ai Yue, she had already recovered seventy percent of her strength.

Having reached this level of strength, their high-intensity daily training was finally worth it.