After a long period of recovery and daily nourishment fit for a pig farm, Jing Shu even brought nutritious meat broth for Wu You'ai every time to help Wu You'ai heal. The holes in Wu You'ai's leg had finally filled in. Maybe it was the Spirit Spring, because the scars were faint, though the skin was still a little sunken. No one knew if it would ever fully recover.
There was still no word on Shangguan Jun from the Zhetian gang or the man codenamed Zero. Jing Shu could only wait for news from Officer Yang Yang.
Wu You'ai had clearly grown fairer and plumper, with more flesh than before.
To save time so the water trucks could move on quickly, each household sent one representative with a large barrel to report headcount and liters. Wu You'ai checked the numbers on a phone and recorded them.
"Jing Shu's household, 29 liters. Wang Qiqi's household, 10 liters. Wang Cuihua's household, 12 liters. Wang Xuemei, 3 liters. Zhang Bingbing gets a double portion for pregnancy, her household is 12 liters."
Jing Shu took her barrel and stood at the very front. Jing Shu also had a special privilege now. In the future, Jing Shu would not need to queue for distributions.
"Did you hear? Jing Shu's family gets 29 liters."
"Why so much for her? Is our outreach staff playing favorites?"
"Her parents are civil servants, and there are two elders at home. Of course the quota is higher."
"Look at her, still so clean when water is this scarce. I heard they even keep frogs at home. Not exactly a water-poor household. No wonder they live in a villa. Even in the apocalypse, they have their ways."
Jing Shu listened to the gossip and smiled faintly.
The water truck arrived, brimming with the source of life. Armed police raced against time. Amid cheers, they handed out the water and hurried to the next stop. Neighbors in the community did not bother with anything else. They lifted their buckets and gulped down mouthfuls on the spot.
"So cool and refreshing."
"So sweet. Tastes like Nongfu Spring."
"So satisfying."
For more than half a year, no one had taken a truly satisfying drink like this.
Many burst into tears. They had once turned up their noses at muddy water. They had once scoffed at sharing a single bucket per family. They were ashamed. Lao Wang next door had been boiled alive by hardship, and they were still alive. It had not been easy. The wailing started up again as neighbors sat on the ground, drinking and chatting through their tears.
Jing Shu lugged the bucket home and sighed without knowing why. To produce this water, the government had poured in unimaginable manpower and money. It looked like only a few days, but the resources burned by operating the artificial sun were astronomical. Every second cost tens of thousands. Imagine what these days had consumed.
This time, the artificial sun had practically overdrawn resources across China, making those nonrenewables even scarcer. Add the lack of sunlight, the ultimate killer, and the apocalypse crept ever closer to doomsday.
But as Jing Shu said, if they did not use those resources, and with no knowing when rain would come, many more people would die of thirst. The government would not risk waiting for the rain.
At least the investment paid off. It was not just the sweet water. The government also used the artificial sun to cultivate vegetables and produce the purest energy.
That energy was being funneled into new research.
As for the vegetables, they would be supplied citywide in Wu City once a week. Wu You'ai posted the announcement in the chat: "@everyone Starting tomorrow, every major supermarket will supply vegetables once per week. One portion costs 1 virtual coin. Ice pops are 0.1 virtual coin per portion. One portion per person."
Hearing there would be ice pops, the community was over the moon. In this extreme heat, eating something frozen would be pure bliss.
Jing Shu did not know about their bliss. Jing Shu only knew the landlord's foolish son was very happy, eating ice cream every day in exchange for diesel.
From today, though, diesel probably would not be traded by the ton anymore. Petroleum magnate Qian Duoduo's family had likely lost at least half their fortune, even cutting their number of bodyguards in half.
Fortunately, a few days ago, Jing Shu had made spicy-strip–flavored ice cream for the landlord's foolish son and traded for all the diesel Jing Shu wanted.
It was worth mentioning that Jing Shu finally met the landlord's foolish son. It was not a pleasant process, but thinking of how much his father had paid, Jing Shu held back from blowing up. Of course, a little beating was unavoidable.
Customer is king, sure.
After long analysis, Jing Shu concluded the foolish son loved the spicy-strip flavor, so Jing Shu extracted the spicy broth and blended it into the ice cream. In plain terms, Jing Shu soaked the spicy strips, poured the liquid into the mix, and churned. The flavorless soggy strips did not go to waste either. Jing Shu mashed them into the ice cream.
Jing Shu took a bite. Sweet, salty, and spicy.
Nervous, Jing Shu brought the test batch to the landlord's son to try. The next day she was summoned and told to bring her tools. Jing Shu packed a cooler and the ice cream, then rode in a luxury car to the Xishan Villa area.
Though the sky was dim, Jing Shu's night vision was good enough. The car passed her eldest uncle's home and left the noisy city behind, heading deeper into the quiet. Soon they were on a mountain road, circling round and round. Jing Shu could see clouds draped around the peaks.
Before the apocalypse, this deep mountain scenery would have been lovely. Too bad the trees had all been cut and stacked in piles.
Jing Shu suddenly thought of the Xishan dismemberment case. Ahem.
Seven or eight minutes later, they rounded one mountain, crossed a bridge, and drove an even broader mountain road. Jing Shu even saw a cableway. In thirty-odd years across two lives, how had Jing Shu never come to this place in Wu City?
"Excuse me, are we there yet?" Jing Shu could not help asking.
"We have already arrived," the driver said.
"???"
"Are you kidding me? There are houses in this desolate wilderness for kilometers around?
Seeing Jing Shu's look, the driver smiled with a I-looked-like-that-too-once expression. This was the fourth time he had ferried this lady. She must be a valued guest. He explained:
"From the start of the mountain road, it is private land. These mountains all belong to Mr. Qian. The area we passed earlier used to be a sightseeing mountain, with sunrise viewing, cableway rides, and skiing in winter. The grounds we just passed are Mr. Qian's golf course. This side is the staff base. Ahead is the orchard, though most of it has died now. On the other side is the ranch, with the young master's favorite animals. I hear there is even a leopard. The area we are crossing now is the guest villa district. We are about to arrive."
Jing Shu's mouth slowly fell open. Poverty really had limited Jing Shu's imagination.