Jing Shu quickly returned the salute, but accidentally raised her hand too high, turning it into a Young Pioneer salute. She was a little too excited.
In this office, a dozen desks and chairs were arranged to handle multiple disputes at once—fights, theft, and other incidents. Since the arrival of Earth's Dark Days, Wu City had seen a rise in theft. Nearby, several thieves were locked at desks, along with couples fighting and opportunists committing misdeeds.
Jing Shu was excited because she saw two massive safes embedded in the wall, colloquially known as gun vault safes. Each had a dedicated guard stationed nearby.
China was different from other countries. After the apocalypse, foreign places were like sci-fi movies every day. But in China… well, in her previous life of 32 years, Jing Shu had never seen ordinary people own weapon vaults.
If the apocalypse abroad was a game of thrones relying on firearms and heavy weapons, China's apocalypse was more like a battle of farm tools—shovels, sickles, hoes, and groups acting like street gangs. The scale and sophistication were far lower.
In TV novels, the apocalypse often allowed easy looting of equipment caches. In Jing Shu's world, it never succeeded.
Firstly, the apocalypse didn't arrive suddenly. It crept in slowly, like boiling a frog in warm water. By the time you realized, it was too late, and social systems hadn't collapsed overnight.
Secondly, small-scale attempts only got people killed.
Thirdly, even if the cache was in front of you, you couldn't open it without the code. Strong safes would lock automatically. You couldn't pry them or smash them—they were solid metal blocks.
Fourthly, even with the code, opening required network authorization, on-site authorization, and verification—like transferring more than 500,000 yuan in a bank needing online approval. Even if you overcame every obstacle, opening one safe didn't mean you had ammunition. Safes and bullets were separate. You could have bullets without a safe, or a safe without bullets. Choose one.
Acquiring weapons in China was extremely difficult. Jing Shu had been trying for a long time. Today, by coincidence, she actually found a safe and could stand openly beside it. Otherwise, standing there uninvited would have gotten her beaten to a pulp.
Could Jing Shu not be excited?
Standing beside the safes, she sent a voice message to Su Lanzhi while using the Cube Space. She touched the safes, storing their contents invisibly. The safes didn't make a sound.
Yes! It worked!
The safes were tall and heavy, holding roughly dozens of weapons. More advanced weapons were likely in a stricter equipment cache.
Jing Shu quickly took two unnumbered handguns, minimizing the chance of discovery, then grabbed some bullets from another safe and loaded them. The entire process took less than five seconds.
"Please make calls somewhere else," the guard waved her away, keeping people from approaching.
"Sorry, sorry," Jing Shu slipped away, nearly saluting again.
Using Cube Space to steal might have been the most humiliating "golden finger" in history. But for survival, Jing Shu did it anyway and planned to practice later to increase her options.
Soon Jing An finished his recording and came out, scratching his head helplessly. "I get too excited and can't control myself."
Young Zhaoyun shook Jing An's hand jokingly. "Remember not to hit faces next time. The swelling made it hard to hear anything. I had to guess everything."
"Absolutely," Jing An replied.
"Alright, thanks to you, we caught the biggest industrial water seller locally. In a few days, you'll record your heroic deeds officially. For now, go home."
Jing Shu and her parents left together. Even though it was daytime, Wu City's streetlights dazzled like night. Skyscrapers' giant LED screens flashed light shows, making the city a sleepless spectacle—the final brilliance before the storm.
A snow-clearing vehicle constantly swept thick dust from the roads. Pedestrians wore double-layer masks and hats, short sleeves and shorts, holding thirty-yuan milk teas but too afraid to drink them for fear of sand.
These people struggled to make a living. Elderly and children no longer dared go out in the heat.
On the way home, Jing An admitted he had been unusually impulsive lately, always wanting to fight. Su Lanzhi nodded. "I lost a tooth today. A female colleague, Tian Qing, deliberately provoked me to please Yu Caini while selling a house. I lost control and slapped her twice."
Jing Shu's mouth dropped. So her butterfly effect had caused Su Lanzhi to lose a tooth over the house-selling price conflict with Yu Caini. It hadn't happened in her previous life.
"Are you okay?" Jing An asked, anxious.
"She wanted to scratch me. I lightly shoved her, but she slammed herself into the wall hard, head bleeding, seven stitches. She's ruthless, and I got demerits, lost bonus, had to write a self-criticism. So infuriating," Su Lanzhi complained.
"You're okay, that's what matters," Jing An said, holding Su Lanzhi's hand while driving, ignoring the backseat.
Jing Shu twitched at the corner of her mouth. Her mother didn't realize how strong she was now; it wasn't entirely intentional that she got hurt.
Spirit Spring had turned mild hens into fierce battle chicken, carp into combat piranhas, and her family into people who solved problems with force. Maybe this was one downside of Spirit Spring. It could stir Baozi's anger, which Jing Shu found amusing.
Back home at 6:30 PM, Jing Shu cooked porridge with leftover rice, adding water and boiling over high heat. Marinated tenderloin was chopped and rinsed with hot water to remove scum and smell. Preserved eggs were chopped and added when the porridge was ready, along with oil, salt, and scallions. Delicious preserved egg and lean pork porridge was served! Side dishes included chilled enoki mushrooms and cold sliced beef tendon.
By 7 PM, the family watched TV while eating. The situation was grim. Continuous heat had killed livestock and damaged crops, burning most nearly-ripe and mid-ripe vegetables and grains, causing prices to triple. Originally, the Dark Days were expected to reduce crop yields for one month. Now, except for temperature-controlled greenhouses, the next quarter would see no harvest.
[Wang Qiqi 13]:"@everyone, I just got back from the hospital. Unfortunately, neighbor Luo Hao died from metal poisoning and heatstroke. Rescue was ineffective."