66: Sinan is the world's number one unscrupulous merchant!

The entire neighborhood plunged into darkness in an instant, leaving only countless screams, the roars of zombies from the perimeter, and the crying of children. All sorts of sounds mingled together, rising and falling in an ear-splitting cacophony.

"True darkness has arrived." Si Nan held her chopsticks and waited quietly for ten seconds. Suddenly, with a "shua," all the lights in her room turned on. The generator had begun to serve its purpose.

In the entire neighborhood, only her home had electricity.

Everyone who could see her house looked over, frantically tagging the Property Management head and the Security Department. "Si Nan's house has power! Quick, check if there's something wrong with our lines."

But they forgot that no one was working at Property Management anymore. The remaining twenty-some people in the Security Department were scattered across the neighborhood's various gates, nervously guarding against zombies breaking in. Who had the time to care about whether there was power?

Every household fell into darkness. The lucky ones had a candle for light; the less fortunate only had the flickering ghost-light of a lighter. Everyone was dying of envy for Si Nan, feeling both love and hate for her.

Ma Bufan and Guan Xiaoning rummaged through all their cabinets but couldn't find a single candle. Finally, they had no choice but to beg Si Nan, "Sister Nan, do you have a candle you can give me?"

"I have some at my place, come and get them."

The one who answered Ma Bufan was Bai Zichuan. He was much luckier; during the day, he had just unpacked a large box of thick, red candles from a package.

With the New Year approaching, someone must have ordered them online for stock.

He didn't waste anything either. The four of them stayed in one room, placing the two children in the middle of the large bed to sleep and piling all the quilts on top to ensure they stayed warm.

Not only that, he was also lucky enough to unpack three brand-new down duvets, winter cotton clothes for the children, shoes, socks, and more from the packages. The couple was overjoyed, and their gratitude toward Si Nan grew even deeper.

So, when Ma Bufan and Guan Xiaoning ran over to get candles, he also packed a set for Si Nan. Ma Bufan didn't take them. "Sister Nan's house has power."

Bai Zichuan: "..."

He didn't stand on ceremony and took the candles back.

The truth was that Si Nan had many times more candles than he did. There was no helping it; the inventory at Century Department Store was simply too vast.

However, the darkness wasn't the most terrifying part. The worst thing was that without electricity, there was no heating in the rooms. Soon, the houses became colder than ice cellars. Even adults couldn't stand it, and the children were crying incessantly from the cold.

"So cold, so cold! I need a quilt. I'll pay fifty thousand to buy one, whoever has one!"

"Help—help! I only have one quilt. I'll pay sixty thousand for another!"

The group chat was filled with wails and various pleas.

But there are always clever people. Huang Jianli was one of them. In the darkness, he led two others, armed with weapons and using phones for light, into a building where a group had been wiped out. They went to search the homes of the dead for candles, quilts, cotton clothes, and other supplies.

Regardless of whether they were bloodstained, he took all the candles, lighters, quilts, and cotton jackets he could find. After sweeping through three floors, they ran into a group of over a dozen people on the fourth floor. The three of them immediately bolted downstairs.

Using the pitch-black darkness where you couldn't see your own hand in front of your face, they cleverly escaped back home, surviving the ordeal. When the candles were lit, the first things they illuminated were the faces of Gao Ming and Xu Songquan.

That's right, these two weren't dead yet, and they had successfully met up with Huang Jianli.

Gao Ming had originally wanted to find Si Nan immediately, but Huang Jianli talked him out of it. "The enemy is in the light while we are in the dark; it's more advantageous for a successful hunt."

Yes, since meeting up, the three of them had been plotting how to hunt down Si Nan, right up until the sudden power outage.

The public was furious, and the relevant departments issued a promise: from now on, power would only be supplied once a day at noon for two hours.

Si Nan knew the power would be gone soon. After finishing her meal and washing the dishes, she lit the fireplace. Soon, the cooled air in the room warmed up again.

Then, taking advantage of the fact that there was still hot water in the heater, she took a comfortable hot bath. Afterward, she nestled herself into the soft sofa to watch downloaded zombie movies.

Just five minutes into the movie, Zhuo Guangshun came to beg her. "Ahem, do you have any candles? I'll trade diamonds with you. One diamond for three candles."

Si Nan replied indifferently, "You can't eat those things."

"I'll trade for two."

Si Nan continued to ignore him.

Ten seconds later: "You profiteer! One for one, is that okay?"

"Deal!" Si Nan was exceptionally quick to agree.

So, two minutes later, Si Nan opened the courtyard gate a crack and took a box of diamonds handed over by Zhuo Guangshun. She took out a high-power magnifying glass and inspected them one by one.

Zhuo Guangshun didn't speak; he was already used to being angered by her. "Look, every single one is a Raw Cut Small Diamond. There are ten in total. I was saving them for my future wife."

Si Nan's hand paused. "If you put it that way, I don't want them anymore."

Zhuo Guangshun gritted his teeth. "You wouldn't dare. I've already taken a massive loss; do you really have the heart to let me be swallowed by the darkness?"

Si Nan smiled and put away the diamonds. "Why wouldn't I? Whether you're swallowed by darkness has nothing to do with me. It's only because I'm kind-hearted that I'm willing to trade these incredibly precious candles to you."

Zhuo Guangshun's face, stiff from the cold, twitched violently. Looking at the white trash bag hanging from his wrist, inside which lay ten scrawny white candles—each one not even as thick as his pinky finger—his hands were itching to beat Si Nan up.

His Raw Cut Pink Diamonds, worth 300 million, were only worth these few scrawny candles. This little girl wasn't just ordinary greedy; she was the world's number one profiteer!

"Kind-hearted? You should say you're black-hearted."

"Clang!" The closing of the courtyard gate was his only answer.

Zhuo Guangshun: "..."

Inside the gate, Si Nan clapped her hands. "Oh my, the leftover candles from ten years ago are finally disposed of."

Outside, there was a "thud" as a man fell into a snowdrift, getting a mouthful of dirty snow. He pounded the ground in frustration. "Did you have to say that before I even left?"

Back inside, Si Nan continued watching the movie, laughing as she watched. "This zombie is so stupid and funny—oh my, does this person have some terminal illness? The zombies don't even eat him; they just walk around him."

She had downloaded many zombie movies.

As she watched, someone screamed at the top of their lungs, "Everyone, look! Someone in Unit D just committed suicide by jumping off the building!"

Hearing this news, Si Nan only paused for a moment. In the Apocalypse, the lack of food was already enough to drive people to despair. Now that even the electricity was gone, it was even more hopeless.

Someone posted a video of the suicide in the group. When that person jumped, they looked both desperate and happy. "I'm finally free."

The Property Owners who were patrolling in shifts couldn't take it anymore either and all ran back home. It was too cold; they couldn't stand it.

Gu Jie and the others also went back, leaving only the personnel on duty at the four gates of the neighborhood. Everyone else retreated to the security room.

Turning on the emergency power lighting, Gu Jie had people move all the books and documents from the property office over. They cleared out a large stainless steel basin and burned paper to keep warm.

Then they changed shifts every two hours. Those who came off shift would warm themselves by the fire. When it was Gu Jie's turn, it was already close to dawn. However, as soon as he reached the neighborhood gate, his eyes filled with terror. He shouted at his subordinates in the duty room and then turned and bolted.