Chapter 132: Shen Que, the Severe Cold is Coming
"Shen Que, if you don't clean yourself up today, don't even think about sleeping with me."
In the past, after their playful sparring or working in the space, Meng Ci would always have Shen Que take a bath in the space before they came out together.
But today, Meng Ci thought that since he had been bullied so badly by Shen Que, letting him take a comfortable bath would only be too kind.
So Meng Ci decisively led Shen Que out of the space and made him bathe in the minus sixty-degree temperature.
Shen Que complied with Meng Ci's wishes and fetched a basin.
The water on the stove was already hot, and Shen Que poured it into the basin. After adjusting the water temperature to a suitable level, he found a stool, placed the basin next to the stove, and began to wash himself.
"Hisss!" Shen Que drew in a sharp breath as the icy cold sensation instantly swept over his body.
"Hmph!" Meng Ci watched with satisfaction at Shen Que's pained expression, thinking to himself, "This is what you get for bullying me!"
Shen Que gritted his teeth and endured, quickly scrubbing his body, hoping to end this torturous bath as soon as possible.
Meng Ci sat nearby, watching Shen Que's punishment with a smug smile, feeling incredibly pleased.
Serves him right for bullying me.
Although he thought this, Meng Ci was still worried about Shen Que catching a cold, so he added more firewood to the stove.
He didn't want Shen Que to freeze and fall ill, leaving no place to seek medical help.
Seeing Meng Ci's tough words but soft heart, Shen Que felt a wave of warmth.
He hurriedly washed himself clean.
Then he approached the sofa and looked at Meng Ci, who had successfully pulled off his prank.
When Meng Ci woke up the next day, he couldn't help but rub his sore waist.
His muscles were good, but his back was suffering.
Taking out a cup of passion fruit juice from the space, Meng Ci drank most of it in one go, feeling his dry lips improve.
Soon, it was June 19th.
The weather was clear and sunny that day.
Thinking about how the temperature would drop to minus seventy degrees tonight, Meng Ci felt extremely conflicted.
After sighing twice, Shen Que stuffed a piece of sugarcane into Meng Ci's mouth.
"What are you sighing for?"
Meng Ci bit into the sugarcane, chewed, and spat out the residue before saying, "The temperature is about to drop. Many more people will die tonight."
Meng Ci clearly remembered the scene described in the book: Before the apocalypse, M City had over ten million permanent residents. After the torrential rain and acid rain, the population dropped to over eight million.
However, on the night when the extreme cold hit, more than half of the people passed away peacefully in their sleep.
The minus seventy-degree cold lasted for five days, causing the population to plummet again.
After the extreme cold ended and the ice melted, as the temperature gradually rose, the corpses and garbage in the flooded areas began to rot and emit a foul odor, leading to a series of flu outbreaks and other infectious diseases.
Then came the period of extreme heat.
Meng Ci still remembered that in the novel, when the zombie era arrived, the population of M City had shrunk to around one million.
After the zombie rampage ended, only about five hundred thousand people survived in M City.
However, thanks to Shen Que's early warning, the government would likely issue timely announcements to the public at key locations to prevent severe population loss.
Sure enough, around three in the afternoon, an off-road vehicle drove back and forth three times near where Meng Ci and Shen Que lived, loudly announcing the upcoming temperature drop.
"Attention all residents, attention all residents."
"There will be a significant temperature drop tonight. Please stay warm, please stay warm."
The voice from the loudspeaker repeated the message over and over, as if afraid that someone might not hear it.
By now, the snow had piled up to the eighth floor, and even though Meng Ci lived on the seventeenth floor, he could still hear the complaints of the residents downstairs.
"Damn it, the temperature keeps dropping. When will this crazy weather end?"
"F*ck, we've covered everything we can at home. What's the point of your announcement now? Can't you give us some blankets?"
"Yeah, I don't even have clothes to wear. How are we supposed to stay warm?"
...
The residents grumbled and complained about the cold weather and the lack of supplies.
They had been trapped at home for several days due to the sudden heavy snowfall, with food and water running low and insufficient warm clothing.
However, in the face of such harsh weather, Meng Ci could only save himself, not others.
Listening to the dissatisfied conversations of the people downstairs, Meng Ci sighed.
He then sat back on the sofa, continued to crack sunflower seeds, and waited for the temperature drop to arrive.
He knew these people must be suffering greatly, as the sudden temperature drop caught everyone off guard.
Before the apocalypse, winter in M City was cold, but temperatures rarely dropped below minus ten degrees, and such low temperatures would only last for a few days.
On a regular day, whether at home or at work, there were air conditioners and other heating facilities to provide warmth, so people only needed to wear a light down jacket when going out to withstand the cold.
However, who could have predicted that the temperature would drop so drastically and so quickly?
At this moment, naturally, people did not have enough warm clothing at home, let alone thick blankets.
Although Meng Ci sighed inwardly, he had no intention of sharing his own items.
Because he understood that once night fell, to survive, the surviving residents might search everywhere for warming supplies, even resorting to violence over them.
Sure enough, as expected, around five o'clock in the evening, Meng Ci heard a commotion outside.
He hurried to the balcony and saw two men arguing fiercely over a blanket.
"This blanket is clearly mine; let go of it right now."
"Bullshit, this blanket belonged to my cousin, who froze to death. You're trying to steal his blanket; aren't you afraid of being haunted by his ghost at midnight?"
...
After listening for a while, cracking sunflower seeds, Meng Ci learned that the blanket had been stripped from a dead body.
But to survive, who would care about such things?
In the end, the man who spoke first pulled out a knife from his pocket and pressed it fiercely against the throat of the one who tried to take his blanket.
The man with the cut on his neck clutched the wound and slowly fell to the ground, his face full of disbelief.
Clearly, he couldn't believe that in broad daylight, with security patrols nearby, the other person would dare to attack.
The killer clutched the blanket tightly and fled without looking back, fearing it might be coveted by someone else.
Those passing by, upon seeing a dead body on the ground, felt neither fear nor the urge to report it to the security team. Instead, they quickly left the scene.
It was as if the lifeless body on the ground was nothing more than a piece of rotten meat.