The authorities were about to launch round-the-clock propaganda, endlessly broadcasting what exactly the so-called "Artificial Sun" was, how it would benefit each provincial capital once built, and reassuring people that since no one knew when the Earth's Dark Days would end, the Artificial Sun could replace everything.
They told everyone not to panic. Once the Artificial Sun was completed, all difficulties would be solved. The people only had to "tighten their belts and endure this period." Soon, many began to pin their hopes on it.
Online, those apocalyptic rumors collapsed by themselves. The news channels proudly displayed fresh vegetables cultivated in experimental stations, glistening under the cameras as if full of vitality.
Jing Shu did not know how to judge this matter. After all, the Artificial Sun belonged to the most cutting-edge scientific achievements. She could not simply accuse it of stealing all public resources and causing countless deaths.
Because in truth, during the Earth's Dark Days it had once succeeded. It had produced grain in limited amounts, saving many lives. Most importantly, in that year of drought and poisoned water resources, it managed to rescue countless people who would otherwise have died of thirst.
So Jing Shu felt she had no right to evaluate such a great endeavor in the name of human survival. Nor did she want to bother with matters so distant from her life. Jing Shu only wished to live more comfortably in the apocalypse.
But the key point now was: gas supply cuts.
By the middle of the third month of the apocalypse, electricity had already been restricted to 3.5 hours a day, and water was entirely dependent on tanker trucks. Now they were told that after the Artificial Sun plan was put into action, the entire nation would lose natural gas service. For Jing Shu, who had a large stockpile of ingredients, this was rather troublesome.
The news advised people to prepare more cooked food in advance. Once natural gas was gone, they could use coal stoves or induction cookers as substitutes.
Coal merchants immediately tripled their prices, expecting crowds to swarm their depots. To their surprise, very few buyers came. Only after a few days did they understand: most households had no vegetables left. Their frozen foods were nearly gone. A month later, people would only have rice or noodles to cook in electric rice cookers. Even if they had a few scraps of vegetables, they had no oil to stir-fry with, so they would simply boil everything together.
In that case, what use was coal? Were they supposed to stir-fry the air?
It did not take long before all privately stored coal and charcoal across the country was requisitioned.
At first the public complained loudly, but soon they too realized: with no water, no vegetables, no oil, and no seasoning, what good was natural gas?
"Dinner, dinner!" Grandma Jing carried the last dish, stir-fried green peppers with king oyster mushrooms, to the table. Jing Shu served everyone bowls of winter melon meatball soup. As the saying went, one sip of soup before meals helps you live to ninety-nine.
Thanks to the villa's full facilities, they had circulating water to wash vegetables and abundant seasonings to cook with. Grandma Jing, Grandpa Jing, Third Aunt Jing Lai, and Wu You'ai all came over each evening to eat together at the villa.
"Third Sister, your work is tough. You should keep the meat you're given and eat it yourself," Jing An said, pointing helplessly at the braised chicken on the table.
"If I leave it sitting without refrigeration it will spoil. Stop fussing and eat," Jing Lai urged.
Recently, Jing Lai had been working in the west of the city, processing cooked food for the government. Each week she received rations of cooked chicken, pork knuckles, and similar meats, all of which she brought back to store in the villa's refrigerator. Though she always said they were for everyone to eat whenever they wanted, she had never once taken any herself.
"She's just like that, strong-willed. Don't mind her. She feels embarrassed, eating at your place every day," Grandma Jing whispered quietly to Jing Shu.
After dinner, Jing An put the dishes into the dishwasher. The family gathered in the shrunken dining room for fruit and held a small family meeting.
Grandpa Jing began, "The situation now is even worse than the famine of our time. Back then at least we could grow crops. Now we cannot grow anything. As for this Artificial Sun the news keeps talking about, I don't think it sounds reliable."
"I go to the slaughterhouse in the west of the city every day. The poultry are almost completely processed already. It's too miserable. At this rate, in a few years you won't even see a single animal in Wu City. Once the frozen meat and this batch of cooked meat are gone, people will realize that for a very long time there will be no meat at all." Third Aunt Jing Lai shuddered every time she thought of years without meat.
Su Lanzhi countered, "If we have no vegetables, we can plant. If we have no electricity, we can generate our own. If there's no natural gas, we'll just use the coal stove. The backyard has a few tons of coal, though I think it's not enough. They say long-term high temperatures will cause sea levels to rise. What if in the future it's endless snow instead? Better to buy a few more tons of coal and stack them outside the villa tomorrow."
"Alright, I'll build a small shed outside. Once the Earth's Dark Days end, we can dismantle it," Jing An agreed.
"Dad, you and Grandpa should also reinforce the chicken coop, add another layer. There's really not enough space anymore," Jing Shu quickly added.
Wu You'ai adjusted his glasses and showed everyone a picture on his phone. "Not only that. In the past two months, crime rates have soared."
"Letting the tiger back to the mountain!" Grandma Jing exclaimed, frightened. "These days we must not go out. Such sins."
Wu You'ai's lenses glinted coldly. "Grandmother is right. It is indeed deliberately letting the tiger back to the mountain."
Jing Shu raised her brows. In her previous life she had muddled through without understanding anything, only learning the truth much later. This time, nothing had yet happened. Could it be that Wu You'ai actually knew something?
"Why?" Jing Shu asked with real interest.
"Relaxed management to bait criminals. Let them stir up chaos, then finally there is a reason to wipe them all out in one go. It saves food supplies. At present, society cannot sustain a complete ecological cycle. But if you abandon one group, let another group die, you can save the remainder. Naturally, they will sacrifice the criminals.
This is only a wild analysis by my mentor, but judging from the circumstances, Wu City will definitely not be peaceful. We should think about what happens if we are targeted, or chased by a mob with knives. After all, this villa of yours is luxurious and obviously stocked with food." Wu You'ai bit off half an apple in one crunch.
"Damn, damn, damn! Even if it's just wild analysis, it's eerily accurate! This is a god-tier prophecy! In my past life I never thought of this. I never understood why the chaos lasted for half a year before it was brutally crushed. At first the measures were so gentle, afterward so bloody. They did not leave a single survivor. Even those who escaped early on, when they later came out for relief grain, were directly executed. It was like two entirely different styles of rule." Jing Shu clenched her fist, the bones cracking. It seemed that even with a second chance at life, there were still many truths she had been kept in the dark about.
"What on earth does your professor study? Spouting nonsense all day," Third Aunt Jing Lai grumbled, dissatisfied with her daughter's frightening words.
"Grandpa, Dad, we should set some traps, just in case," Jing Shu suddenly proposed.