Chapter 16 - 16

Chapter 16 Human nature gradually turns evilIt's not hard to guess what those people will do next. The supermarket will only become more and more chaotic until everyone can no longer leave the store or the supermarket runs out of supplies."Who pushed my car away?" the woman screamed.Everyone looked into the distance and saw a woman holding a child looking around. It was obvious that the stroller had been taken away, and the unpaid items had become a lifeline in everyone's eyes.They instinctively made everyone grip the handlebars tightly, fearing they would be the next ones to have their cars stolen.Lin Xiuxiu had already put the packed vegetables in the car, but seeing everyone's expressions, she quickly put the vegetables back into her bag."I'll take it out when we pay the bill later. Everyone's eyes have changed now; it looks kind of scary!"Su Xiaoyu said, "Their current state is their true nature. You must remember that if you want to help someone, you must be clear about whether that person is worth helping. If helping someone will only harm you, it is better not to help in the first place, so that at least you will not get hurt."Lin Xiuxiu felt that she suddenly understood a lot. Perhaps it was because the arrival of the natural disaster revealed another side of human nature, forcing them to face reality.There's still a lot of household goods in stock, but the prices have doubled or tripled compared to before. We bought a few more based on our needs.Leaving the household goods section, I saw the meat section. Beef and lamb were out of stock; only pork and chicken were available.People are lining up.The butcher had a sign hanging above his head: pork was 80 yuan per jin (500g), with a limit of half a jin per person. Chicken was cheaper at 50 yuan per jin, with a limit of one jin per person.Prices are now several times higher than before, but people aren't too concerned about the price; instead, they're anxiously waiting to see if they can buy meat."Let's go line up and buy some!" Lin Xiuxiu was eager to try the meat. She had thought that since the vegetables were no longer flavorful, the meat must have been snatched up by everyone.It looks like there's still a chance to get a spot.Su Xiaoyu knew that the weather was hot and the meat was obviously not fresh."Forget it, don't buy it."Lin Xiuxiu: "Is it because the price is too high? I have money. Let's line up and buy a pound of pork and two pounds of chicken. That's enough for us to eat for several days."Su Xiaoyu pulled Lin Xiuxiu aside, "There's still a lot of meat in the refrigerator upstairs, enough for us to eat for a while. The meat here is obviously not fresh."If you get food poisoning, you'll have to go to the hospital. You saw the message in the group chat yesterday; the hospitals are overcrowded right now. Even if you go, you might not be able to see a doctor, and even if you do, there might not be medicine. In the end, you'll just have to go home and tough it out, and who knows, it might even develop into a serious illness!After listening to the analysis, Lin Xiuxiu could only turn around and look at the meat on the cutting board again, where people were still actively queuing up.Given the current situation, we couldn't eat just anything, so we decisively turned around and left, pretending we hadn't seen the meat.Along the way, I saw several groups of people fighting over something, some of them with black eyes and swollen faces, the scene was quite tragic.After being separated by security guards, each side gave their own version of events, and how the matter was resolved remains unknown.Su Xiaoyu pushed her cart to the checkout counter. The cashier quickly swiped through the cashier's hands, and the people ahead of her were paying thousands of yuan each, with one person paying a whopping 10,000 yuan. The man was fully armed, wearing a hooded sweatshirt, a thick face mask, boots, and non-breathable pants.Isn't this person hot?We didn't buy too much; we bought some dried wood ear mushrooms and dried green beans, and they bought the dried mushrooms at the end.This is just a small amount of food, which usually costs around 300 yuan, but the bill came to over 1400 yuan.As the weather gets hotter and supplies become scarcer, prices will continue to rise.The ground temperature is too high for large trucks to get in. Only two trucks can deliver goods each day, while there are hundreds of thousands of residents in the surrounding area. How can such a small amount of goods be enough?Initially, the government mandated that prices not exceed double the previous levels. However, following several major fires, this price ceiling was implicitly accepted. If you don't buy, someone else will; that's the reality. Everyone wants to survive. What's the point of saving money if you can't even afford food? You'll just end up using it to wipe your own ass.When I got downstairs, I saw Zhao Yong talking to someone in front of him. As I got closer, I heard him say..."The 3rd-floor resident's home was burglarized because the spare key was left under the doormat. Everyone should be careful not to leave spare keys outside." Zhao Yong, as the security manager, has always been conscientious, and since he also lives upstairs, any security issues would also affect his home.Upon hearing this, Su Xiaoyu immediately thought of the stairwell key, after those people left." Brother Zhao, I'd like to ask if you have the key to the building entrance?""Yes, did yours get lost?" Zhao Yong asked casually.Su Xiaoyu: "Yes! I can't find it. You see, we live on such a high floor, and we're afraid it might be dangerous at night. Could you give me the key?"Zhao Yong noticed another little girl who also looked thin and small, and realized she was indeed prone to accidents. After weighing the pros and cons repeatedly, he said..."Here's the spare key. Keep it safe and don't lose it again, or I won't have another key for you."Su Xiaoyu: "Don't worry, it won't get lost again!"Zhao Yong went back to the security room and found the key. If they hadn't lived on the top floor, they wouldn't have been able to hand over the key.Having successfully obtained the key, Su Xiaoyufelt that Zhao Yong was a good person and someone she could get along with.After returning upstairs, while Lin Xiuxiu was cooking in the kitchen, she delivered two packs of cigarettes to Zhao Yong in a black plastic bag.Zhao Yong's eyes lit up when he saw the cigarettes. He knew that because the cigarette factories had stopped production due to the high temperatures, all cigarettes had become more expensive. Such good cigarettes were selling for over a thousand yuan a carton, and they were practically priceless."Brother, you're such a good man! Men really understand men; when you're lonely, you like to have a smoke."Su Xiaoyu didn't feel embarrassed and wasn't too concerned about gender issues. On the contrary, at this moment, being male was better than being female.At least in the eyes of outsiders, she was a boy who could fight back.As I left the security room, I glanced at the main entrance and saw an old man standing there looking inside. When he saw her looking over, he quickly waved to her, as if to say, "Come on over, I need to talk to you."Seeing that it was already pitch black outside and there was no one else around, Su Xiaoyuwalked to the front door and opened it with her card.Now that there's electricity, you can use a card to open the gate. When there's no electricity, the gate closes automatically. Anyway, not many people go out; everyone is used to staying at home to get through the extreme heat.