Su Han said, "I can swim. I will go with you to take a look. After that, we can take turns going out. If we find supplies, we will divide them according to the work done, so no one will feel unfair. You can all rest assured."
Hearing Su Han say this, everyone relaxed a little. But since it was the first trip, they still wanted to wait. They decided to see how this trip went before making any decisions.
...
The small kayak was not as hard to control as they imagined. Plus, the two paddlers were experienced. Soon, they left the community and reached the general area of the supermarket.
Su Han was the one who went into the water. He put on a diving mask that had been shared somewhere and swam straight toward the supermarket. Just as Lao Gao had said, there really was nothing down there.
The two then went to the cooperative. After a whole day and night of rain, the water level, which had already been almost to the top, had completely submerged the cooperative.
At roughly the spot above the cooperative's roof, a small whirlpool-shaped hole was sucking water down violently.
This had to be the hole Lao Gao and the others had smashed open. If that was the case, then the cooperative was probably truly empty. But some things had to be checked personally. Su Han dove back underwater to take a look.
From the outside, it was really impossible to see inside the supermarket. And with the cooperative buried deep underwater, it was impossible to enter. So when Su Han surfaced, he said, "Nothing. I looked through the glass and there's nothing inside."
Though they already expected this result, the two still felt a bit disappointed. Not long after, their eyes turned to the office building across the way. But it was just an office building. They could only leave disappointed again. Since the four of them had already swept the building earlier, there was no way any supplies remained for others.
Though the first outing went smoothly, it did not save any time. The whole day was spent with no supplies found. When they got home, everyone gathered and had to discuss their next plan.
"Where do we look for supplies? The water reached the 4th floor this morning. Now it's already up to the 5th floor. The rain has been heavy these past two days. If we don't find supplies quickly, it will only get harder later."
"Everyone knows that. With this much rain, it'll flood again in a couple of days. If we don't bring supplies back now, where else can we go? We might not even be able to leave the building."
By now, it was no longer a matter of strength in numbers.
Everyone gathered but no solution was found. Instead, everyone grew uneasy. Su Han said irritably, "You all should go back for now. After you've left, think about where we can get supplies. No matter what, they only lend us the kayak for one week. We cannot waste even a single day."
Su Han sent everyone away and his frustration eased.
Besides, there was something more urgent he needed to do—find a place to live. His home was on the 6th floor, but the water had already risen to the 5th floor. This place was no longer suitable to live in. He had already arranged with a middle-aged man who lived alone on the 23rd floor. Once Su Han was ready, he could move in anytime.
Of course, living in someone else's home wasn't free. The middle-aged man charged him one meal a day as rent. It wasn't expensive, but supplies were precious now. Adding a meal a day meant Su Han had to be able to pay.
So he hadn't dared to move up until it became absolutely necessary.
But now, he had no choice.
...
While Su Han's meeting ended on a sour note, the atmosphere upstairs was quite different.
The four of them gathered at Lao Gao's place again. Lao Gao spoke frankly about supplies, "The supplies we found yesterday are barely enough for us to eat for a month. But it doesn't seem like this rain will stop. I'm worried the water will keep rising and finding supplies will become even harder.
So I think we should go out more these days. Even without the small kayak, that big kayak is enough for us. We can't carry all the supplies in one trip if there's a lot, but if there's only a little, the kayak can hold it."
Since every family had their own supplies, someone needed to stay in the building to guard them. So the four would never all go out at the same time.
Ling Jiang agreed and asked, "But where do we find supplies? With the cooperative the way it is, I doubt that's an isolated case. We only have the office building left to sweep, right?"
"Yes, that's what I mean. Before everyone else starts scavenging, we should check the nearby office buildings first. At first, I thought the higher-ups had already reclaimed the supplies, so there would be nothing left here.
But not every company has been cleaned out. Even a little bit of supplies is our hope for survival. We can't leave anything behind."
Since they had to find supplies anyway, it wasn't too much to bring back some other things too. Lan Jin said, "I think since we are always looking for food, if we find other supplies, we can pick some up too. It's getting colder these days."
Everyone was surprised and didn't quite understand at first. But Huang Jinghe, who had read many post-apocalyptic novels, suddenly spoke up.
"Sister Lan, do you mean the temperature has been dropping fast lately and you're worried it might suddenly get cold later?
Like in apocalyptic stories where it gets extremely cold or there's a sudden heatwave after the rain? You want us to prepare in advance since we keep going out for supplies anyway.
Why not bring back some other supplies at the same time? Sister Lan, is that what you mean?"
"Yes, exactly. It's like not letting thieves leave empty-handed. Our main task is food, but if there's no food, we can still bring back other supplies to store. Because if we've already been to a place and found no food, are we really going to come back empty-handed?
So when we go out for supplies, we should go with that mindset—bring back whatever else we can. Who knows what the weather will be like after the heavy rain? We need to be ready."
No one opposed Lan Jin's caution. After all, the seasons were messed up now. In January, the temperature could reach 33 degrees Celsius. Who could guarantee what the temperature would be later?
Stocking more supplies at home was a form of insurance, whether they used it or not.