The whole family raised their glasses to celebrate, and amidst a chorus of blessings, they began to eat!
Jing Shu was especially emotional. In her previous life, at this very time, her mother had suffered heatstroke and been forced to stay home "waiting for reassignment." Her father had stood in a supermarket line under temperatures exceeding 40°C, and at night, when it dropped to 3°C, he would spread thick quilts on the ground in the line to sleep and keep his spot.
That was probably when Jing Shu truly grew up. She not only had to take care of her mother but also had to prepare all their meals for the day between 5 and 7 in the evening, then ride her bicycle three or four kilometers to deliver them to her father. He would stay in line until the following night just to buy some grain.
Every household left someone in line at the supermarket. Eventually, it evolved into people spreading quilts on the floor, with family members bringing meals during the day, creating a spectacular scene of entire families lining up together. This continued until chaos broke out: robbery, looting, and killings. Eventually, the government simply shut down the supermarkets.
Of course, this also meant many people suffered heatstroke while waiting in line. But with hospitals having run out of medicine, all they could do was drink some water, lie down, and hope they survived.
There were also many elderly people dependent on medication to stay alive. Without their medicine, they slowly passed away.
Such scenes were rare in Jing Shu's new community, but in older neighborhoods filled with elderly residents, deaths occurred in large numbers. Many people who used to be quiet and obedient began to riot.
But in this life, Jing Shu's family sat together neatly around the dining table, eating vegetables no one else had, drinking milk no one else could get, and using electricity that had become a luxury. Even water, now an extremely scarce resource, was no longer a worry. Jing Shu's family had two large storage tanks, enough to last half a year if carefully rationed.
Jing Shu felt deeply grateful. She had been reborn and was finally living the life she had long dreamed of in her previous life. They no longer had to stand in long supermarket lines, constantly fearful and anxious.
"The fourth thing to celebrate is that Jing Lai is now the head chef at the municipal government canteen!" This time, Grandpa Jing raised his glass, and everyone clapped enthusiastically.
All the poultry from the slaughterhouse in the west of the city had been processed into cooked food and stored. The temporary workers were dismissed, but Aunt Jing Lai, who worked diligently and endured hardships, was kept on.
As the family celebrated, Jing Shu and Wu You'ai's phones buzzed repeatedly. When they checked, they found their group chat was blowing up.
[Wang Xuemei No. 2]: "Help! There are five or six men with knives at my door, and one of them is trying to pry it open! I keep calling the police, but the line is always busy! There are three of us in the house! We're in Building No. 2, Apartment 401!"
It was a terrible time for this to happen, as more than half the residents were at the supermarket lining up. Wang Qiqi quickly responded, telling them that if the robbers broke in, they must not resist and should give them whatever they wanted. Then she started asking if anyone was home.
When everyone heard that the attackers were armed, almost all of them hesitated. The security guards at the gates had gone home days ago, unable to afford food with their monthly salary of three thousand yuan. That left the community vulnerable, and opportunistic criminals took advantage.
Wang Qiqi finally said that if they didn't act together, these criminals would likely target other homes next. She called on all the men at home to bring knives and gather at the entrance of Building No. 2 to scare them off. After much effort, they managed to gather seven or eight men.
Jing An immediately grabbed the two longest watermelon knives from the kitchen and prepared to head out, but Grandma Jing blocked his way. "Son, you can't go throw your life away!"
"Mom, I'm doing this so that if anyone comes to rob our house, others will help us too!" Jing An insisted.
But Grandma Jing refused to let him go.
In the end, Jing Shu suggested that Jing An stay in the car some distance away, just to count as an extra body, which finally convinced the elderly woman.
Jing Shu also went along, supposedly to keep an eye on Jing An, but in truth, she wanted him out of harm's way while she acted.
In her previous life, Jing Shu had killed people who wanted her dead, stripped clothes from corpses, slept beside dead bodies, and scavenged leftovers from the deceased. After drinking Spirit Spring water in this life, she constantly felt a violent urge to kill.
So this time, she had only one goal: combat experience.
Unfortunately, they were too late. By the time they had gathered, the robbers had already broken into the apartment.
Building No. 2 was far away. Even driving, it took Jing Shu two minutes to get there, and she parked near the entrance of Unit 3.
"Turn off the lights and engine. Stay in the car and do not go anywhere. I'll go meet the others and come back for you!" Jing An, wearing a helmet and fully armed, rushed off with a knife.
Jing An believed wholeheartedly in the principle: "If I help others, they will surely help me in return." It was a good sentiment, but the apocalypse would teach him otherwise.
Jing An went into Unit 1. Jing Shu grabbed a real iron rod and got out of the car to follow him. Just then, a group of men ran out of Unit 3, and they collided head-on.
There were six of them. Four carried machetes, and two lugged sacks of rice. They reeked of blood. The moment Jing Shu smelled it, her body tensed. A surge of uncontrollable excitement overwhelmed her.
"Hey, Brother Tao, that girl back there resisted. But look, another one came out. She's dark, but with that figure, she must be a woman." One of them stepped forward, trying to grab her with his knife.
Jing Shu hadn't expected to run right into them, but the stench of blood triggered something deep inside her. Adrenaline flooded her body. Her heart raced, her body heated up, and her senses sharpened. In the darkness, her eyes glimmered as if glowing, and her vision seemed clearer.
Without hesitation, Jing Shu swung the rod down hard. With a deafening crack, it smashed into the man's skull, and the iron rod snapped under the force. The man let out a scream and crumpled to the ground.
Before the others could shout, "Kill her!" a boulder came hurtling down. They only heard the whistling sound as it cut through the air before it smashed into flesh with a dull thud. Pain exploded across their bodies.
The one struck in the head had his brains splattered everywhere and collapsed unconscious. Another was hit in the stomach, one in the legs. Both went down, unable to move.
Jing Shu's Cube Space weapons were devastating. From a distance of seven to eight meters, she had killed three men instantly. Two others were injured, shielded slightly by the bodies beside them.
As the injured men screamed in pain, crushed beneath conical stones, Jing Shu approached step by step. Her vision in the darkness was unnervingly sharp. She saw their tear-streaked, snot-covered faces, and one man had even wet himself. For reasons she couldn't explain, the sight thrilled her.
"What are you doing? No! Ahhh!"
Jing Shu rammed the broken rod into their throats. Her strength was terrifying, and her first battle ended in victory within seconds.
She quickly cleaned up the scene. Her body still buzzed with excitement, but once the adrenaline subsided, fear crept in. She hadn't expected herself to be so violent. Was this the Spirit Spring's influence?
"If I'd been able to kill like this in my last life, I wouldn't have died, would I?"
Of the five conical stones she had thrown, one had broken, but the other four were intact, cushioned by the bodies they crushed. Jing Shu smashed them into the ground, dug large pits, buried the corpses, and retrieved the stones.
Only after calming down did she head upstairs, where she heard Wang Xuemei's sobs. It turned out her husband and daughter were dead.