Ren Xing had been spoiled since childhood and never once tolerated being treated like this. Furious, he snapped, "Why are you yelling at me? How was I supposed to know she didn't change the locks? Any normal person would have changed them!"
Except Lan Jin wasn't a "normal person" in the usual sense. In her last life, she had changed the locks, and these two had still broken in. So really, was there any point in doing it again?
In fact, Lan Jin had assumed these two would come snooping much earlier. She was surprised they had held off this long and only just now opened the door.
But they had both missed one very critical detail: no one lived here anymore.
After Lan Jin moved out, she'd left the windows in every room open. The real estate agent had come by a few times and closed them again, but still, this home had once been filled with everything she and her fiancé had prepared for marriage. All of it was top quality.
But no matter how good a house or its furnishings, without anyone around to seal it up, poisonous fog would still seep in through every crack. So although the air inside looked fairly clear, there was still a lingering layer of thin, poisonous mist.
Ren Xing and Meng Ying walked in completely unprotected and lingered far too long. That still, trapped fog had plenty of time to reactivate. Before they realized it, the poison had clung to their exposed skin.
After failing to find anything useful, the two argued for a bit and went back home — one sulking on the couch, the other hiding in the bedroom. It wasn't until their skin started itching that they both suddenly remembered the conditions inside Lan Jin's old place. Panic spread across their faces as they turned to look at each other.
As for the consequences? They would have plenty of time to feel the results.
…
Just as the matter of contribution points finally settled down, a new problem reared its head: trash.
Thinking back, it made sense. From the moment the poisonous fog appeared, no one had taken their garbage out. At first, the doors couldn't even be opened. Later, when it was technically possible, everyone had been too busy scrambling to deal with bigger crises. No one had time to worry about garbage. Now that all the supply exchanges had wrapped up, it became impossible to ignore.
"Is there anyone handling trash? Our garbage has been piling up for over two weeks. It hasn't grown mold or bugs yet, but the smell is awful."
"Same here. The whole place stinks. It's this sharp, sour stink. And we can't even open the windows to air things out. The smell's trapped in the house. It's disgusting."
"Just dump it in the hallway. That's what we did."
"So that's why there's so much trash out there. Look, I get that keeping it inside sucks, but come on. The hallway's a shared space. We still have to go down to pick up supplies. Do you really want everyone gagging from the smell? Can't you think about other people for once?"
"Forget being considerate. I just want to know how you've got the guts to dump trash in the hallway. Aren't you worried someone's going to dig through it?"
Everyone reading the chat paused, confused.
"Who'd go through someone's garbage these days? You think people are that desperate for food?"
"No, I mean your garbage. Aside from the distributed rations, did you eat anything else? If someone checks your trash and sees something you shouldn't have, it's obvious. They'll know right away. Hasn't anyone asked to borrow food from your place recently?"
"Are you stupid? Who'd leave trash in their own hallway floor? You dump it somewhere else, obviously."
"Oh wow. That's just foul."
"By the way, the hallways haven't been too safe lately. Seriously, I'm warning all of you. Don't open your doors. Don't go outside unless you absolutely have to."
"We're talking about trash here. What are we supposed to do with it? Let it pile up forever? If we don't do something soon, there really will be bugs."
Lan Jin had been reading through the group chat in her spare time. Although she hadn't said anything, she was aware of the trash problem too.
Most trash used to be incinerated, but burning garbage created smoke — and with poisonous fog already thick outside, adding more smoke would only worsen the situation. And even if they wanted to burn it, it might not even ignite properly in this air. Burning was clearly not an option.
That left only one solution: burial.
J City was huge, with a massive population. Naturally, that meant a massive amount of garbage. To bury it, they'd first have to find suitable land, dig pits, then go door-to-door in each neighborhood collecting it, then transport it outside for burial. That wasn't something that could be done quickly. No matter how much people complained, there wasn't much that could be done about it for now.
After a while, someone finally posted a semi-useful suggestion in the chat:
"Actually, we could try washing and drying our trash before throwing it out. That way it won't smell, and we might even be able to reuse some of it."
"???"
"???"
A whole line of question marks followed, and then the sarcasm kicked in.
"You want us to wash our trash? Are you kidding me? Do you even hear yourself?"
"Exactly. If it wasn't trash, I wouldn't be throwing it out. If I clean it, what's the point of tossing it?"
"But... it kinda makes sense? Like, okay, forget about instant noodle bowls, but those self-heating meal containers? If you clean them properly, maybe they can be reused. Even if you don't reuse them, at least they won't rot or stink. Honestly, that's not a bad idea."
"But we're on water rations. Where are we supposed to find extra water to clean trash?"
"It's limited by time, not by volume. You get water morning and night for a while, right? Just wash the dishes during one of those times. It doesn't use that much water. Don't tell me you weren't washing dishes before?"
"Exactly. And aside from food containers, we don't really generate much other trash. If we clean the smelly stuff, our homes will smell way better."
"Maybe... but what about the old trash? It's been sitting around for over half a month. Who wants to dig through that to wash it now? Look, I say we just clear out everything we already have, then moving forward we can handle things more carefully. Sound fair?"
Even if that sounded reasonable, it still didn't fix the current mess. The authorities said nothing. The community staff clearly had no intention of responding to the complaints.
At the neighborhood committee office:
"I think everyone's suggestions make sense. If we handle trash more carefully in the future, we won't need to collect as much. But the garbage that's already piled up? That still needs to be cleared. I could already smell it the second time we delivered supplies. The hallway was rank."
"Yeah, but even if we collect the trash, where do we put it? The old dumpster spots are still the same. They're tiny. Even if we manage to drag a whole building's worth of trash out there, pile it all up in the garbage corner, the upper-floor folks might breathe easier, but what about the people on the lower floors?"
"Exactly. This isn't something we can fix easily. Let's just play dead for now. When the higher-ups issue new orders, we'll follow them then."