"Alright, alright, I get it." Jing Shu rubbed her temples, where a dull ache was beginning to bloom. This kid, Xiao Zhao, was hopeless. Why was he still trying to use logic and reason at a time like this? Arguing with a brick wall would have been more productive. If they waited for the official bureaucracy to grind out replacement paperwork, they would be stuck at this toll station until the next disaster hit.
Besides, after walking through the mud to reach this building, she hadn't seen a single person in the long, miserable lines who looked like they were doing any better than the rest. Yet she knew for a fact that some travelers from the nearby towns still had functional cars or other means of transportation. So what did that mean?
It meant that people were pulling strings to get in. Wu City wasn't refusing everyone; it was simply prioritizing those who could still feed themselves and settling the rest in slow, manageable waves afterward. After all, every new mouth meant another meal gone from the city's dwindling reserves. If the local government suddenly accepted this many refugees without a plan, the entire system would collapse when the food ran out.
Jing Shu reached into her bag and pulled out two generous handfuls of fragrant, warm fried rice, the scent of toasted grains and soy sauce immediately filling the cramped office. She stuffed a portion into each guard's hand. Just as their eyes widened and their attention loosened under the sudden temptation of real food, she activated the Cube Space's hypnosis ability. A subtle, invisible pressure radiated from her consciousness, pressing against their minds.
"Brothers, could you make an exception for us?" she asked, her voice calm and steady. "We will handle the paperwork once we are settled. Just let us through first."
For those not with strong willpower, a moment of distraction made the hypnosis much easier to land. She couldn't exactly walk up and demand entry, but with the lure of the rice and the mental nudge, the resistance crumbled.
Both men's expressions went a little blank, their gazes unfocusing for a second. Under Xiao Zhao's stunned stare, one of them cleared his throat and said, "Alright. Just remember to get that paperwork sorted as soon as you can."
The other guard nodded, already looking toward the door. "Follow me. We will take a smaller maintenance path to get your bus around the main congestion."
Xiao Zhao remained in a state of disbelief. That was it? After all his pleading and arguing, they were through just like that? He didn't snap out of his daze until Jing Shu called out his name, prompting him to hurry back to the minibus and turn over the engine.
It was only a small incident, but it made her realize just how precarious the situation had become. Wu City was facing a massive shortage of food and basic supplies. People could still manage to eat worm patties during the New Year, but now, with this sudden flood of refugees, where would the grain come from?
If the government ran out of food, what then? In the third year of her previous life, she had already been taxed heavily for grain. Every district had been forced to collect one million virtual coins' worth of materials. If it weren't for Li Yuetian helping her behind the scenes and her membership in Xingfu Shiyuan, which covered a portion of the required donation, she would have had to cough up her own precious resources.
Now that things were getting worse even faster, the government would definitely come to "harvest the leeks" again, squeezing the residents for whatever they had left.
And these were just the people from the smaller satellite towns moving in. She had been keeping an eye on the reports from larger cities before she left on this mission. Ningshan City alone had over a million residents, and the nearby areas of Qingshui Town and Zhuhuo Town were both low-lying regions. They were almost completely submerged in water and silt already. That would soon become a massive, unavoidable problem for Wu City.
It appeared the true food shortage was beginning in earnest during this fourth year.
The minibus crawled along the muddy arterial road, the wheels slipping and spinning with every wet turn. The mudslides from the fourth year had destroyed most civilian vehicles, leaving only heavy-duty trucks and modified buses to navigate the mess. The low-lying parts of the city were already buried deep in sludge. The old city center of Wu City had been built in a basin, and now that central heart had disappeared entirely beneath the earth. Everyone had been moving outward toward the higher ground at the edges, forming a huge, chaotic circular sprawl around what used to be the city's core.
Even Banana Community, which had once been a quiet and forgotten suburb, had now become one of the three main residential zones of Wu City.
Jing Shu jotted down quick, messy notes in her planner, her pen scratching against the paper as the bus jolted. The situation was tense, and she had to start planning her next moves immediately. With her mind full of these jumbled thoughts, she finally arrived home.
It had only been a month since she departed, but Banana Community had completely changed in her absence. Mudslides from the back mountain continued to pour down, spreading through the neighborhood until the muck reached thigh level. The community management had sealed every entrance and exit to the underground garages as an emergency measure, which was the only thing protecting the tens of thousands of residents living below the surface. Some buildings in the lower sections had their first floors completely flooded with silt, making them uninhabitable. Worse yet, more mud flowed down with every passing day.
It was a good thing Jing Shu had brought a full-body rain suit. Otherwise, trudging home through the freezing mud would have ruined her heavy coat beyond repair. Walking in a mud pit was a miserable experience. It was easy enough to step in, but getting your foot back out was a different story. The vacuum of the silt gripped her boots, and every pull required an exhausting amount of effort that left her muscles aching.
The mudslides made every aspect of life ridiculously hard. Just moving around the block took a massive amount of physical labor every day.
Still, plenty of people in the community were out in the sludge, bent over with shovels as they dug into the mud. They filtered the thick sludge through scraps of cloth to collect fine soil, which could be exchanged for two virtual coins per basket. That was enough to buy two Earthworm Patties.
Say what you will about the Chinese people, but when there's even a shred of hope, they will work like hell for it. A few baskets of dirt a day meant several days of survival. In this apocalypse, having coins and food was the only real security anyone had left.
Jing Shu carried a large box in her arms while Xiao Dou suffered behind her, flapping her wings in a desperate attempt to stay above the muck. The poor hen was coated from her beak to her talons in heavy, wet mud. By the time they reached the villa's gates, she looked like a walking ball of dark dirt. The weight of the filth dragged her down until she could barely lift her feet. Somehow, she managed to stumble home, her black eyes wide and watery as if tears were practically streaming down her feathery face. The world outside was no fun at all—she had feared she would never see her beloved grandma again.
Jing Shu stomped her boots on the porch, peeled off the heavy rain suit, and stepped onto the dry, clean tiles. She eyed the shivering, muddy chicken and said, "I have heard that beggar's chicken tastes amazing, especially when it's wrapped in fresh lotus leaves. Tsk, I guess we can skip the step of covering it with mud, can't we?"
The hen squawked in pure, unadulterated terror. Her wings beat uselessly against her sides as she scrambled into the house as if her life depended on it.
Hearing the commotion and the panicked squawking, Grandma Jing came running from the kitchen. When she saw her precious Xiao Dou looking like a blackened lump of coal, she almost burst into tears herself. Without a single thought for the mess, she scooped the muddy chicken up and began to fuss over her, cooing softly as she went to run hot water for a bath. The level of pampering was almost absurd.
Jing Shu could only stare at the empty doorway. "...Yeah, the family hierarchy is pretty clear."
Even so, Grandpa Jing quickly got up from his seat and went into the kitchen to warm up her dinner.
Back inside the cozy, familiar villa, Jing Shu took a long, hot shower to wash away the chill of the road. She changed into clean, soft clothes and sat down to sip a caramel macchiato she had brewed herself, the sweet scent of coffee and milk soothing her frayed nerves. With the hot meal Grandpa Jing had prepared sitting in front of her, she finally felt alive again.
Only her grandparents were home; everyone else was still busy with their various duties outside.
Grandpa Jing, who was unusually idle, was reclining on his massage chair. He was smoking his old dry pipe, the pungent scent of tobacco curling through the air as he listened to a recording of an opera. His thick brows were furrowed with deep worry, and even Grandma Jing didn't scold him for smoking indoors this time.
"Grandpa, you actually lit up? What has got you in such a bad mood?" Jing Shu teased, trying to lighten the heavy atmosphere.
He exhaled a thick puff of smoke and frowned at the floor. "Ningshan City has been struggling for a month, but it's finally going under. You know, when the big flood hit two years ago, half the city was underwater, but the people still stayed put. Now, I heard they are all being relocated to Wu City. But Wu City has already taken in several nearby towns. Even if those places send their remaining supplies and food over, how many people can we really feed?"
Jing Shu nodded. She had already guessed as much from what she saw at the toll station earlier. There were still massive crowds of desperate people stuck outside the gates. "So what? It's not really our problem yet. What are you worrying about?"