Chapter 15 Under Extreme Cold
For Zhang Fengqiang and the others, every minute and second of waiting for rescue was agonizing. They couldn't bear it for even a second longer and frantically pounded on the door of the 13th floor.
His patience wore thin, and he revealed his true colors, pounding on the door frame with almost all his might.
There has still been no response.
Suddenly, Zhang Fengqiang thought of something, turned around, opened the fire-fighting equipment in the building, and took out a fire axe that was more than half a meter long.
The rest of the crowd scattered like birds and beasts, creating a narrow passage. Zhang Fengqiang swung his axe, staggered to the door, and smashed it hard against the doorknob.
The keyhole was cleaved open by an axe, and the doorknob fell directly to the ground.
Zhang Fengqiang poked lightly with his finger, not daring to peek inside easily, but instead gripped the axe tightly, waiting for any movement from inside.
"Creak...creak..." The door was pushed open.
Aside from the creaking of hinges, there wasn't even the sound of a pin dropping.
Because of the power outage, the house was pitch black. The windows were open, and the freezing cold spread from the balcony to the living room. The curtains remained frozen and were being blown about by the cold wind.
The biting wind was like swords, howling and stabbing at everyone's exposed skin.
The stinging sensation brought me back to my senses.
Zhang Fengqiang and the others immediately searched the house, but it was empty and there were no signs of anyone breaking in.
An elderly person used to live in this room. Their children were all abroad, and they usually lived alone.
The old man committed suicide.
The reason is unknown.
In the face of extreme cold, some choose to linger on, while others choose to die peacefully.
Whatever choice you make, it is a trade-off made after weighing the pros and cons.
They worked together to close the windows and searched the house for useful supplies. Zhang Fengqiang's wife found a box of matches in the kitchen. They hurriedly found an iron basin, tore up a book, and lit a fire.
Warmth emanated from the flames, and light illuminated every disheveled and weary face.
"Let's divide into rooms."
Several people sat together to draw heat from the brazier, and Zhang Fengqiang was the first to make a suggestion.
The master bedroom was unanimously given to Zhang Fengqiang's family, Yuan Yong and his son on the 5th floor will have a side bedroom, and a man and a woman on the 6th and 8th floors can choose between a small study and a living room.
The woman on the 6th floor is named Lin Miaorong. She is 27 years old and has just graduated from university. Her family is well-off, and they bought her a house as soon as she graduated.
The man on the 8th floor is named He Liang; he's a programmer.
Neither of them wanted to sleep in the living room.
"You sleep in the living room."
Lin Miaorong was in a bad mood. She couldn't contact her parents, and her boyfriend was dead. She was unhappy and didn't want to argue with the man anymore. She left those words and rushed into the small study, slamming the door shut and locking it.
The others remained silent and went back to their rooms, leaving He Liang alone in the living room.
He clenched his fists tightly, the broken lenses of his glasses reflecting a cold light, obscuring his hateful gaze.
17th floor.
Lu An abruptly pulled back Yu Miaomiao's soft, warm down comforter, and she instinctively curled up.
But the man was still muttering to himself in his sleep: "Why is it snowing all of a sudden? Ouch... It's so cold. Someone, bring me my cloak."
"Yu! Miao! Miao! You son of a bitch, I have to wake you up every day! Are you trying to skip your workout again?"
"Woof!" Ma Jiang chimed in from the side, "I think so too."
Yu Miaomiao squinted her eyes, unwilling to open them.
But her hands were restless, accurately scooping up the little dumpling that was passing by the edge of the bed, taking a deep breath. The little dumpling looked disgusted but helpless, utterly dejected. She was the one who pampered her own human.
Yuanzi stayed far away, watching the show from the sidelines. Let's make it clear beforehand: if you rub it, you can't rub me, okay?
"Coach Lu, I'll get up right away. Right away, right away!" Yu Miaomiao smiled and reluctantly crawled out of bed before Lu An could lose his temper again.
She put on thick pajamas layered on top of each other, then slipped on coral fleece socks and fluffy slippers, all in one smooth, practiced motion.
It's a bit bulky, but very warm.
The power went out, the water froze, and the heating stopped. The snowstorm covered the solar panels, so the solar power was useless. However, they still had a generator, which was more than enough to provide central heating for the living room and one bedroom.
With two camping heaters on, and the outside temperature approaching -100 degrees Celsius, they managed to keep the indoor temperature around 10 degrees Celsius.
While Yu Miaomiao was sitting on the sofa eating a steamed bun, Lu An slipped a note into her hand. She opened it with a puzzled look. It was a note that Liu Pei from the 16th floor had slipped into the iron gate.
The text says that they went out to find supplies and found some unopened drinking water and canned goods. They want to exchange the water or canned goods for some daily necessities. His wife is menstruating, so it's not practical for her to have a change of clothes. He wants to exchange some sanitary napkins for his wife. He doesn't know if this is possible.
The water pipes outside are frozen. Water and food are essential supplies for people. If a man is willing to use water or canned food to change his wife's sanitary napkins, he must have a lot of supplies and he must treat his wife very well.
Yu Miaomiao and her group had plenty of supplies, more sanitary napkins than they could use in several lifetimes, and they didn't really need to barter.
However, she did not reject this kind of barter. Appropriate exchange of goods could prevent outsiders from suspecting anything, and it was a good way.
However, she still didn't trust Liu Pei's family. After discussing it with Lu An, Yu Miaomiao wrote a reply and slipped it back outside the iron gate.
The letter instructed them to hang the exchanged goods in plastic bags on the iron gate before noon and retrieve them at 3 PM. The exchange ratio would be determined by them. If they agreed, they could hang the goods on the iron gate at noon; otherwise, the matter would be dropped.
After replying to the email, I went back to my room, changed into my workout clothes, and started my training for the day.
In addition to basic physical training, Lu An began to teach Yu Miaomiao some basic karate skills, such as knee strikes, straight punches, side strikes with a knife, left and right elbow strikes, straight punches, slicing strikes, and front kicks in karate.
"Step forward with your right foot, shift your weight forward, and throw a straight punch with your left fist, palm down, at shoulder height, and throw the punch quickly." Lu An demonstrated without holding back, delivering a straight punch straight at Yu Miaomiao's face.
Luckily, she was very good at dodging, otherwise she would have had a nosebleed today.
But this was Yu Miaomiao's own requirement; she treated teaching as real combat, and every move she made was a life-or-death struggle with the enemy.
"Let's do it again, let's do it again. Demonstrate this step a little slower, I didn't quite understand it."
Three hours later, the two of them, drenched in sweat, lay on the yoga mat, panting heavily.
"I don't want to cook lunch." Lu An was so tired that he just lay there and gave up.
"Okay, so would you like pork knuckle rice or chicken cutlet rice?"
Yu Miaomiao's space was filled with steaming hot takeout boxes that smelled of cooking.
"It's pig's feet, you know, you are what you eat. My legs were really tired today, I need to nourish them..."
Yu Miaomiao got up, took out two servings of braised pork trotters from her spatial storage, and after thinking for a moment, also took out two cans of soda and a bowl of fish soup.
While she was preparing lunch, Lu An opened the door and went to the iron gate at the entrance of the building to take a look. Sure enough, there was a plastic bag hanging outside the iron gate.
"Canned tuna, the expiration date is still pretty fresh, I wonder where they got the supplies from." Lu An said as he took out four cans of tuna and a pack of biscuits.
How many packs of sanitary napkins should we give them?
"Five packs, three for daytime use and two for nighttime use."
Yu Miaomiao took it out from her spatial storage and put it into a plastic bag. She also included a pack of panty liners, each pack containing 10 pads. If she was careful with her spending, it should be enough for her wife for two or three cycles.
Lu An opened the iron gate a crack and quickly hung the items outside.