The walls of the house were riddled with rat holes, each about half the size of a fist. Scorching sunlight shot through them like laser beams.
Jiang Si and her dad mixed cement. Her mom and grandma, carrying disinfectant sprayers, gave the house a second round of sanitizing. Her grandpa stood on a ladder, using wall putty to patch the rat holes until they were smooth.
Big Black was nursing Little Black. The atmosphere was cozy, though it was a little hot.
In Jiang Si's space, there were a thousand cases of mineral water and two hundred large water storage barrels. They had to supply water for the farmland in her space, as well as for her family's daily use. Making ice to cool down consumed it even faster.
According to the trajectory of her past life, the purified water she had stored would be more than enough to last until the extreme heat passed and the rains returned.
When that time came, she could restock her water supply.
After all, her space wasn't static. Even though the storage barrels could sterilize the water, two years was the absolute limit for how long it could be kept.
But unexpectedly, the apocalypse arrived early, shattering all her well-laid plans.
Fearing the extreme heat would last much longer than in her previous life, Jiang Si didn't dare to use water freely anymore.
She decided to wait and see. If worse came to worst, she'd have to go find a water source herself.
She still remembered the location where Jiang Linhai had discovered groundwater in the forest in her past life.
It took the entire morning, but working together, the family managed to patch all the rat holes.
The chives in Jiang Si's space were growing well. She went in and cut two large handfuls, then took a few eggs from the side-by-side refrigerator.
Jiang Si handed the ingredients to Shen Baoying. "Mom, the chives are fresh. Let's make some chive pockets."
Shen Baoying smiled and nodded. "Okay, I'll get the mixed-grain porridge started first."
Jiang Si went to the kitchen with her and made some dog food for Big Black.
There wasn't much dry firewood left in the kitchen, so she took out some coal to use.
Shen Baoying said with a pained expression, "Coal is a finite resource. Once the rat swarms are gone, have your dad go chop some more firewood."
Jiang Linhai overheard and, picking up the washed chives, said, "I'll go chop some now. The temperature in the forest probably isn't as high. If I chop down one tree, it'll be enough to last us several days."
Jiang Si sighed. "Dad, don't be in such a hurry. Look outside. So many people are eyeing us greedily. Our supplies will last a long, long time."
CRASH—
A rock smashed against the window.
Big Black barked furiously. Jiang Si raced upstairs to find Jiang Chengwu aiming his gun, trying to deter the crowd swarming madly toward the courtyard wall.
BANG! BANG!
Two gunshots rang out, and two people fell dead. But the crowd outside the wall only grew larger. With their crimson eyes and splotchy red faces, they looked like mindless zombies.
Jiang Chengwu looked at Jiang Si, his brow furrowed. "Why aren't they afraid of dying?"
Jiang Si pulled a pack of explosives from her space. "Then let them all die!"
Among those frantically climbing and smashing the courtyard wall were countless familiar faces—relatives from the village.
The hand Jiang Chengwu reached out for the explosives faltered, but Jiang Si had already lit the fuse and decisively hurled it over the wall.
BOOM—
Screams of agony erupted amidst the smoke and dust. Jiang Si had wounded several people with just one explosive pack.
Even so, many people were still forming human pyramids to try and climb into their yard.
Gazing at the scene outside the wall, which looked like a zombie siege, Shen Baoying's face went white. She pointed at Li Cui, whose face looked disturbingly unnatural, and asked, "Have they mutated?"
Jiang Si handed out more explosive packs to her family before replying, "No. They probably ate the rats and caught hemorrhagic fever."
Shen Baoying's heart pounded in her chest. "Then why are they so determined to break into our house?"
"They probably all think we still have medicine. Without medicine, they'll die. If they risk it all and manage to snatch medicine from us, maybe they can survive," Jiang Si said, frowning.
With their faces contorted beyond recognition and bodies covered in blood, they still charged forward. It was impossible to know what was driving them.
Grandma sighed, unable to bear it. "Even if they rob us, with so many people, how much medicine could they possibly get? You can't cure hemorrhagic fever overnight."
"Everyone's desperate enough to hope for a miracle. They're all thinking they might get lucky and survive."
Her expression cold, Jiang Si tossed out several more explosive packs in succession. The screams were incessant, rising and falling in waves.
Li Cui struggled to support her weakened body and gave her family a vicious look. "We wait. Once they're out of explosives, we charge."
And with the people in front of them all dead, there would be no one left to compete with them.
Li Cui waited and waited, watching group after group of people scream and flee. Jiang Si's family's supply of explosives seemed endless.
She had no idea where they had gotten so many explosives.
'No wonder Jiang Si could afford to be so arrogant.'
Ding Sheng licked his cracked lips and said timidly, "Mom, let's go somewhere else and try to figure something out. If we just try to tough out the hemorrhagic fever, we might not necessarily die."
"Jiang Si blew up that loudmouth Zhang Mayi. She's ruthless enough to kill her own relatives. If we get any closer, we'll die for sure."
Li Cui shot him a fierce glare. "You're young and strong, so you might survive. But what about me? What about Junjun and Meimei? That family has explosives, and every one of them looks well-fed and clean. They must have tons of medicine and food hidden in there. If we just break in, our whole family will be saved!"
A sudden wave of palpitations hit him. Ding Sheng dry-heaved a dozen times before collapsing, too weak to stand. "But we can't even get in!"
"Yeah, Mom, why don't we go to the city and see if we can figure something out there?" his eldest daughter-in-law said.
Li Cui pointed in the direction of Longquan County. "It would take us hours to walk there! We have no water, no car, and we're sick. The temperature is so high, do you think you can handle it? Can the children handle it? People from the city are all coming to this godforsaken corner of ours to lick up scraps. If we really go there, COUGH COUGH COUGH... we'll probably die even faster than we would in the village!"
"If you don't want to die, you listen to me! We'll definitely get our chance!"
BOOM—
Unable to withstand the repeated explosions, a large section of the courtyard wall finally collapsed.
Zhang Qingzhi cried out, shocked and guilt-ridden. "Sisi, what do we do? I blew a hole in the wall! They're going to get in through there!"
Without the wall to block the blast, throwing any more explosives would mean blowing up their own house.
Jiang Si replied calmly, "Don't worry. If they break in, we'll get out. As long as we're all safe, that's all that matters."
While they were speaking, Li Cui had already led her family right up to the front of Jiang Si's house, where they were now trying to figure out how to get the door open.
Night was about to fall. Leaving the safety of their home would surely be even more dangerous.
Jiang Chengwu picked up a nail gun and said, "I'll go down and deal with them!"
Jiang Si stopped her grandpa and calmly took out an empty medicine chest and several pillboxes. She then poured a small amount of cement into the chest. "I have a plan."
Jiang Si tossed the medicine chest from the upper floor. It burst open on the ground, scattering pillboxes everywhere. The sight of what looked like life-saving fever reducers sent Li Cui into a frenzy. The moment she lunged to grab them, everyone else spotted the "medicine" on the ground.
Li Cui lunged forward and snatched up a pillbox, but the frenzied crowd trampled right over her. CRACK! Her wrist snapped. As she screamed in agony, the box was ripped from her hand.
Ding Sheng managed to grab a pillbox, but before he could even feel relieved, he was pinned to the ground and punched twice, hard.
His tightly clenched fist was slowly pried open. Just as the pillbox was about to be snatched away, he saw his wife spitting up blood nearby. A desperate resolve suddenly surged through him. He sank his teeth into the man's wrist, grabbed his wife, and made a run for it.
He hadn't even taken two steps before his own two younger brothers slammed him to the ground. "Junjun is still waiting for his medicine!"
"Meimei is only five! She's so little! Give me the medicine first!"