Meanwhile, in the backyard...
Nami and Lily had been swimming outside for an hour since one o'clock. After the outside temperature began to rise quickly, they quickly ran back inside.
Although there was no TV signal, Nami was able to connect the TV screen to her laptop, allowing her to watch anime on a big screen.
After binge-watching an entire series for several hours straight, the two of them soon got a little bored.
"I'm hungry," Lily murmured.
"I'm hungry too... Let me go call Mom."
Just as Nami was about to get up from the sofa, all four of her missing family members finally came downstairs to the living room.
She instantly noticed their legs walking at a weird angle, and all of their hair was wet as if they had all just taken a shower at once.
Yet, there were no sounds of running water from the bathroom in the second-floor hallway.
"Oh hey, Nami, good afternoon." Yueyue yawned.
"Good afternoon... Why did you all take a shower so early? It's only six o'clock." Nami curiously asked.
"Oh, three of us just went to Mom's restroom to take a shower. You know, Mom's restroom is so big it can fit three people inside, so it's no problem," Yueyue explained.
Yuqi and Leyan both quickly nodded in agreement, their faces looking weirdly a little red as if they were hiding something.
"I went to the outside restroom to take a shower. Don't misunderstand anything, okay?"
Xiaoyun tried to explain himself, but only made it more suspicious as both Lily and Nami clearly could tell something was off.
"Sure, whatever... Mom, can you cook something? I'm so hungry." Nami complained, her hand rubbing her empty belly.
"Sorry. I'm going there right now!" Leyan instantly replied, her body suddenly being shot with a rush of energy.
"Oh right, I should tell you, Nami... Yueyue and I are in love."
Xiaoyun suddenly kissed Yueyue right in front of everyone's eyes, shocking even Yueyue as she couldn't believe what he had done.
"Hey——"
"I don't want to force you to hide. That will be unfair for you when Yuqi and Mom can happily show themselves in front of everyone."
After a long silence, Yueyue didn't try to argue back. At the same time, Yuqi and Leyan both raised their favorability of Xiaoyun way up.
They didn't expect him to be so direct for once—just completely caught off guard by his assertiveness.
"Thank you..." Yueyue replied as she leaned a little closer, surrounding Xiaoyun's arm with her chest.
"Xiaoyun, you really are never satisfied..."
Nami rolled her eyes as she turned her attention back over to the TV, with Lily's face still a little shocked by the turns of events.
"I'm satisfied, I'm good," Xiaoyun stated as his leg shook a little, his mind thinking back to what happened earlier in the shower.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, that's what all men say before they find another one."
With Leyan heading over to the kitchen to cook, Yuqi and Yueyue both sat next to Xiaoyun on the sofa.
"Ahem, Lily... Do you accept——"
"I already explained our family situation to Lily. You don't have to say anything to her." Nami interrupted, preventing Xiaoyun from continuing
"Brother Xiaoyun... I fully understand your love for Sister Yuqi and Sister Yueyue... And Auntie Leyan."
"T-Thanks you." Xiaoyun shyly murmured, turning his attention to the TV to hide his embarrassment.
Both Yuqi and Yueyue couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. But their face soon turned a little red as if they had just realized they were a part of the conversation.
---
Halfway through the anime, the light and the TV suddenly turned off.
"Did the power go off?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"Yeah, I think so... The house's power grid is connected to the city, so the entire city is probably in a blackout now."
Yuqi took out her phone and turned on the flashlight, lighting up the living room fully. Suddenly, the sound of plates crashing could be heard in the kitchen.
"Shit, Leyan's still cooking."
Xiaoyun quickly created a flashlight in his hand and rushed toward the kitchen, with everyone following right behind him.
"Leyan, you okay?" Xiaoyun asked, putting the flashlight on the table as he squatted down to help her from the ground.
"Yeah, I'm okay... did the power just turn off?" Leyan asked as she patted her butt for broken plate shards.
"Yep," Yuqi replied, grabbing a broom from the side before she handed it over to Yueyue to clean up the mess.
"Do we have a candle or anything? The phone isn't going to last." Yueyue raised her concern as she gathered all the broken plates into the container.
"Wait, I got a plan."
Xiaoyun quickly created several flashlights, turning them on before putting them into the corner of the kitchen.
The whole kitchen was fully lit up, even brighter than when the light was on, until he readjusted it to avoid direct contact.
"Leyan, can you still cook?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"Let me try it... Shit, the gas stove can't turn on," Leyan commented after not a single bit of gas smell came out of the stove at all.
"We have a spare propane tank that was meant for BBQ in this cabinet, if I remember correctly."
As Yueyue pulled out an entire propane tank from a cabinet near the sink, Leyan instantly realized what she was trying to do.
"Let me reconnect it. My parent had shown me how to do this before."
Leyan quickly wrapped around the stove, turning some sort of wheel before a gas hose fell onto the floor.
"Perfect. Now let me just connect——"
"Wait, let me touch this propane tank first." Xiaoyun interrupted, preventing Leyan from connecting the two.
"Oh, almost forgot."
After touching the propane tank, Xiaoyun quickly cloned a brand new one right on the spot, putting it right next to the old one.
"W-What? H-How did this thing just appear here?" Lily asked in shock, unable to believe what Xiaoyun had just done.
"Crap... Ahem, that's my special ability. Can you keep this a secret, Lily?"
After a short moment, Lily finally came back to her senses as she rapidly nodded in agreement.
"I-I swear never to tell this to anyone else!"
"No need to swear... Ahem, now these three propane tanks should last for a long time."
After making another propane tank, he quickly leaned himself against the wall as he could feel a headache setting in.
"You okay?" All three of his wives asked at the same time.
"I'm fine. Leyan, try connecting it."
As Leyan connected the pipe and firmly secured the pin, she turned it on slightly, only to smell a little bit of gas with no fire.
"Oops, forgot the stove igniter needs electricity. Xiaoyun, can you give me a lighter?"
"Sure."
With a lighter clicked, a stroke of blue flame suddenly caused a sudden boom in the kitchen before a small flame appeared below the frying pan.
"My bad. Almost forgot the gas was on for a bit too long." Leyan apologized as everyone got a little jump scared.
"Scared me a little," Xiaoyun murmured as everyone walked back away from the stove, letting Leyan resume cooking again.
As all five of them sat at the dining table waiting for dinner to be cooked, Yuqi soon raised a concern that started a new conversation.
"This is going to be a problem every night, isn't it?"
"I mean, we can restore power somehow... But we don't have a generator, and I doubt Xiaoyun ever saw a generator."
Xiaoyun nodded in agreement with Yueyue's comment as he showed a pair of empty hands in front of them.
"Then we need to look for a generator. Either at the nearby mansion or near the outskirts of the city," Nami stated.
"Yueyue and I will look for it tomorrow... I'll drive the car this time," Xiaoyun answered, showing confidence on his face.
"When did you learn how to drive a car?" Yuqi curiously asked.
"When I was in the past."
"Oh... right, I forgot."
"Okay, dinner is ready." Leyan interrupted the conversation as she carried the dishes one by one to the table.
---
After everybody finished eating, they all went back to their room and went to sleep, as there wasn't much to do in the dark
However, Xiaoyun's bed sheet and blanket were still in the washing machine, along with the blanket in his suitcase.
He tried asking each of his wife to sleep in one of their bedrooms, but all of them refused to let him in.
It was almost as if they had coordinated to reject him, leaving Xiaoyun with only one option.
Lying alone on the dark, cold sofa.
"Fuck man, how can I have three wives, yet I am sleeping on the sofa... I didn't even do anything wrong... Maybe I went a little overboard in the shower..."
Xiaoyun thought to himself, his mind beginning to realize he had so much more energy than usual.
"But like they kept taunting in front of me, what am I supposed to do? Whatever... I need to sleep."
He tried to remain still, but he kept rolling back and forth as the urge to sleep just wasn't there yet.
"Wait, why didn't I just think of making a brand new bed sheet? Whatever, I don't want to get up now... The sofa isn't even that bad."
After a while, Xiaoyun eventually fell asleep as the cold air from the open window blew over him on the hot summer night.
---
When Xiaoyun woke up and finished using the restroom, it was already eight o'clock.
"Leyan must be up early to cook breakfast," Xiaoyun murmured as he could hear the water running in the kitchen.
Entering the kitchen, all four of them, including Lily, were already eating breakfast at the dining table.
"Good morning, everyone."
"Good morning."
Just as Xiaoyun took a seat, Leyan came over from the stove to hand him his bowl of breakfast before sitting next to him.
"How's the sofa, honey?"
As soon as Leyan said it out loud, both of his wives let out a small chuckle, confusing Lily and Nami as they couldn't understand what was so funny.
"To be honest, the sofa isn't that bad. Being able to have the cold wind directly blow into you rather than sleeping in a hot room."
Xiaoyun tried to act as if it was totally great, but all three of them could clearly tell he was lying. Even Nami and Lily started to connect the missing pieces.
"Yeah, sure, that sofa is so damn comfortable to sleep in," Leyan smirked as even Nami chuckle this time.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you guys win."
---
A short breakfast later...
"Hey Xiaoyun, can you help me with something at the gym?" Yueyue asked.
"Sure, let's go to the gym then."
Inside the gym, Yueyue quickly pointed her finger at every single item in the gym.
"Can you clone them? Please!" Yueyue pleaded as she held Xiaoyun's arms inside her soft chest.
"Fine, fine, but why do we need this? Isn't one enough?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"Yuqi and Mom are finally thinking of exercising in their free time! Even Nami and Lily were thinking about it.
They actually want to get stronger to help us! Wouldn't you believe it?" Yueyue revealed in excitement.
"No wonder they ate so much in the morning... Let me try them one by one."
Xiaoyun walked up to the bench and cloned it easily. The dumbbell and rack were just as easy as the bench.
Eventually, Xiaoyun was able to clone every piece of equipment except the very last one in the gym.
"Okay, this treadmill is a little big... I mean, it's not as big as an entire mattress. How bad can it be?"
The moment he tried to imagine it in his head, he instantly fell to his knees as a sharp pain struck him in the head.
Fortunately, the pain wasn't for nothing, as a brand new treadmill was now next to the original copy.
"Shit... this thing is a little too complicated," Xiaoyun murmured as Yueyue slowly helped him back up.
"Let's stop——"
"Let me just do one more. I want to know my limit now better than later."
This time, Xiaoyun was much more prepared. He was able to resist the headache as the treadmill appeared, without falling onto the ground.
"Now it's all good."
Xiaoyun pressed his finger onto his temple as he sat down on one of the benches to recover a little.
"You sure you are okay?" Yueyue asked as her voice sounded very worried.
"Yeah, I'm good. Just give me a few minutes. You can go bring them to exercise now." Xiaoyun signaled for her to leave.
"O-okay, I will go bring them to exercise now." Yueyue left the gym.
After a few seconds, the headache was finally gone. With nothing else to do, he started exercising in the gym.
When the three of them finally showed up, Xiaoyun was doing a pull-up on the bar.
Seeing that Yuqi and Leyan were wearing a sports bra and yoga pants, he was a little stunned. In comparison, Yueyue was only wearing a tracksuit.
"Let's start doing some basic exercise... Just follow me and do these to warm up your body."
As Yueyue helped Yuqi and Leyan do their exercise, Xiaoyun couldn't help but look at their body following instructions.
His eyes were glued to their chest, which kept bouncing up and down every time they did a jumping jack.
"Shit, I need to lock in and focus."
Xiaoyun quickly shook his head and focused back on exercising, closing his eyes to avoid the temptation in front of him.
A few hours of exercise later...
Yuqi was completely exhausted, lying on the sofa in the living room. Leyan was sitting up on the sofa, but barely wanted to move her body.
"You guys are tired now? The soreness is only going to get worse tomorrow," Yueyue advised the two.
"Noooo, not like this. It's so damn hot without the air conditioner. I'm so tired." Yuqi complained.
Leyan nodded in agreement as she rolled down to her side, looking at Xiaoyun, who barely looked tired at all.
"Don't worry. You will get used to it after a week or so." Yueyue tries to comfort them, but the two can barely move at all.
"You tell me I have to do this for a week? I'm going to dieeee!" Yuqi complained again.
"It's not that bad... at least for me," Leyan suddenly spoke up.
"Yeah, that's because you go to the backyard and garden every day. Do you know how hard it is for an office lady like me to go exercise?"
Leyan didn't really have any way to argue back as Yuqi suddenly started rolling on the sofa like a dead fish.
"Wahhh, I am going to die."
"Stop overreacting... Hey Yueyue, when are we going out?" Xiaoyun asked, walking out of the gym just now.
"Um, how about an hour after lunch?" Yueyue suggested.
"Sure."
"Let me go cook lunch for you guys before you leave."
Leyan quickly gathered her strength to get back up and head inside the kitchen, leaving the three of them in the living room.
---
With time approaching one o'clock. Xiaoyun and Yueyue were both inside the car, with the garage door remote in their hands.
Fortunately, the garage door rolled up, indicating it had its own battery rather than being connected to the main city grid as it began to roll up.
"Man, this car. I miss it so much..." Xiaoyun murmured as he started having flashbacks to the past.
"What about this car?" Yueyue curiously asked.
"We bought this car for our second anniversary..." Xiaoyun replied as he started the car with the garage door fully open.
"Oh..."
"Anyway, let's get going."
A few minutes later, the two of them arrived at 305.
The gates and door had already been opened, most likely by the gang member who had already searched them.
After exiting the car and spending just ten minutes searching the entire house, the two could only find useless furniture.
They drove straight to 306 next, once again finding more useless furniture. Then they went to 307, which was the exact same thing.
Finally, they went to 308, which was again useless furniture.
"Shit, they really pick everything clean," Xiaoyun commented as they drove to their final destination, 309.
"Yeah..."
As he stopped the car, they could see several of the women with Huayi planting something in the backyard.
Meanwhile, Yezi and two men were standing in the front yard swinging a metal pipe at some sort of a makeshift dummy.
The moment they saw the car, Yezi instantly dropped everything before walking over to meet Xiaoyun and Yueyue.
"How's it going?" Xiaoyun asked, stopping right in front of the front porch of the mansion.
"Pretty good, pretty good."
"It looks like everything is getting set up," Xiaoyun commented, noticing all the things that had been put in place as a defense.
"Yep, I'm just teaching these two rookies how to use a bat now... Hey, you don't slow down! This is for your sake if you want to return home alive!
I'm not doing charity work or giving out free food! If you can't endure it, just leave!" Yezi yelled out loud after noticing one of the men slowing down.
"Yes, sir!" One of the men responded out loud as they started swinging it faster again.
"Ahem, what brought you here today?" Yezi curiously asked.
"Do you guys have a generator?" Yueyue asked this time.
"We just need to see it," Xiaoyun added before realizing how weird their request sounded.
"Oh right, yesterday the power went out... Actually, let me show you something. Let me drive for a second."
Yezi quickly hopped into the driver's seat, taking his key as they began driving towards their house before going past it.
Going even further, they drove past 301, then all the way to the gated entrance of the Luoping community.
Yezi finally stopped the car, hopping out before handing the key back to Xiaoyun as he led the two of them toward the small concrete building.
The moment the three of them entered, they could instantly notice a bunch of buttons and switches on a large desk.
"This is the security room with the camera monitoring both the front and back of the community.
And behind you, two electric switches are for the whole community. Fully connected to every single mansion." Yezi explained.
"How do you know all these?" Yueyue asked curiously
"Well, before the virus broke out, I used to be friends with one of the guards..."
Yezi fell into silence for a second as if it had triggered some bad memories. But he quickly recovered as he resumed his explanation.
"They told me that this left switch here cuts the community power grid away from the city in case of a power surge coming from the city.
If we have power but we don't flow towards the city on accident, we need to flip this. Since the city is completely out of power, now we can switch it."
Yezi flips the left switch with nothing happening, which was to be expected as there was no power anywhere.
"How about these switches down here?" Xiaoyun pointed at the other ten switches.
"Those are the switches for each individual house. Yours is the 303... so the fourth one from the left." Yezi responded before moving his hand down.
"I am going to flip all of them except 309 and 303... Here, let me show you the generator now."
As they walked out of the security room, Yezi once again requested the car key from Xiaoyun before driving back towards 309.
"Just a bit further down..."
Watching Yezi drive beyond 309, they were a little surprised to see the last house of the Luoping community.
"This house isn't actually a mansion like the others... This is just an employee's house at 310. It's just a bunch of bunk beds and nothing else."
The two followed Yezi into the concrete house, walking past all the beds before entering another concrete room.
"This is where the electric room is. They usually have walkies and talkies to communicate with each other on each side.
Anyway, here's the standby generator that they had built for this community... Let me take out the key for this."
With the key inserted into the lock, Yezi finally revealed the generator Xiaoyun and Yueyue had been looking for.
It wasn't just a single one either.
There were three generators right next to each other, fully attached to the wall, that looked extremely large combined.
"The issue I have with this damn thing is it doesn't have any gas... so it's practically useless, as you can see."
Yezi turns the generator on, only to hear a bunch of clunking sounds before nothing really happens at all.
"So we need to get gas somehow if we want power... that's what you two want to see, right?" Yezi asked.
"Yeah... Having no power is like going back to the Stone Age," Yueyue commented as they both walked up to have a closer look.
As Xiaoyun stared towards the three giant machines in silence, he suddenly had an idea pop up in his head.
"Wait. I have several canisters of gas inside my car. Let me get it from the back. You two stay here."
He quickly ran back out of the room before they could speak up, going all the way to the back of the car to clone three filled-up gas cans.
Slowly, he carried them into his arms as he began walking back into the concrete room.
"Here is the gas."
Yezi was a little shocked, but he didn't question it right away as he popped open the gas can before pouring it into the fuel tank.
With a single pull, the generator began roaring as the light in the room suddenly started flickering.
"How the hell did you get all these? Did you rob an entire gas station?" Yezi asked in confusion as he emptied out an entire gas can.
"Um, I just had some stocked up before the virus outbreak for my car," Xiaoyun explained, making an excuse on the spot.
"Thank god you did that... Anyway, let's start this thing."
After watching Yezi flip a few more switches, the light finally stopped flickering, fully illuminating the room with barely any dark corners.
"Now the power should be online again. This thing is pretty powerful, but also eats gas like crazy.
I think this can at least last a few days. Use as much power as you want since this thing has no control over how much it consumes."
"Okay... I'll definitely do that."
As they walked out of the room, Yezi suddenly kicked the wall on the way out of the house as if he suddenly realized something.
"Man, who the hell designed this shitty generator——Ow!"
"Don't worry. We have several more gas cans at home. We um..."
Xiaoyun's brain froze, realizing the reasoning he came up with was way too far-fetched to be believable.
"You don't have to explain it... Anyway, let's leave this place now. I'm getting sick of the concrete smell."