Just like Lan Jin said, even if those supplies were not food, they had already gone out once. Would they really come back empty-handed?
"I agree with your idea," Lao Gao said after thinking it over. He felt she made a lot of sense. No matter what kind of weather comes next, they would have to go out anyway. It was only natural to bring back anything useful along the way.
Huang Jinghe and Ling Jiang had no objections either. This was just a simple thing, so why argue?
But then Lao Gao paused for a moment and said, "Actually, a few days ago, when I was fiddling with the walkie-talkie frequencies, I accidentally overheard some news. There's a black market near us."
Black market?
Does a black market even exist in the apocalypse?
"The worse the world gets, the more things happen. Especially those with abilities—at times like this, they can do things we can't."
Lao Gao continued, "I didn't catch all of it clearly since the signal was bad, but it sounded like you could exchange supplies there. Things like gold or jewelry could be traded for food. I had thought, if there were large amounts of supplies in the cooperative, we could take all the non-edible stuff there to trade.
But who would've guessed there was nothing left? So I didn't mention it before. But Sister Lan's idea of storing supplies is good. We can save them first and find the right moment to trade for what we need. That's a good plan too."
Lan Jin really planned for them to store more supplies for themselves, but if such a trading platform existed, it would be good for everyone.
Speaking of temperature, it had indeed dropped too fast these past few days. Two days ago, the outdoor temperature was over 60 degrees Celsius. Yesterday it was only 40 degrees. Today it was just 33 degrees. With such a big temperature drop, who knew what tomorrow would bring?
With such heavy storms, if the temperature dropped further, they wouldn't be able to go out to find supplies. So they had to act quickly.
...
The next day.
The weather changed suddenly.
Wind and rain battered everything.
It was like the heavens were against them. With such heavy wind and rain, what use could a small kayak possibly be? Lao Gao immediately canceled today's trip.
"Just bad timing," Lao Gao sighed, holding the walkie-talkie. "Supplies are important, but life is more important. If rain hits the kayak, it'll probably sink quickly. We still have supplies, so let's rest for a couple of days first."
Just as Lao Gao finished speaking, Huang Jinghe, standing on the balcony, saw some neighbors pushing a kayak, preparing to go out for supplies.
Huang Jinghe hurriedly called out, "Come to the balcony and look! These people want to go find supplies in this heavy rain. Don't they want to die?"
By the time the three of them went outside, Lao Gao's kayak already had two people standing on it. Soon, the two sank with the kayak.
Lao Gao was speechless. "Those people really don't care if they die. Losing people is one thing, but I hope they don't lose the kayak too."
But sometimes, things happen exactly the way you say they won't.
The sunken kayak soon floated back up, ignoring the two struggling in the water, drifting along the current to the side. When the two recovered, the kayak was already some distance away.
By the time they tried to grab it again, the kayak had drifted around a corner and disappeared downstream.
Now, not only was Lao Gao stunned, but everyone who saw this scene was frozen. Losing the kayak was no small matter, especially since they hadn't found a single supply yet. Almost everyone stood at the corridor on the 6th floor, completely shocked and unable to react.
Lao Gao finally snapped on the balcony, cursing loudly, "Fuck, damn it."
His curses poured out uncontrollably, but no one stopped him. Luckily, they only borrowed the small kayak. And fortunately, Lan Jin's big kayak was still intact.
Ling Jiang said, "Great, with no food, they'll be causing trouble in a couple of days."
Huang Jinghe looked at Lao Gao and asked, "Are you going to go find trouble with them now?"
"I won't bother. I said one week, that's one week. If the kayak isn't back in a week, don't blame me for being ruthless."
Lao Gao could wait, but others could not.
Some families who had already run out of food started teaming up at night to pry open their door locks.
Because Nana had already made a threat once, Lan Jin was no longer the prime target. This time, the unlucky one was Huang Jinghe, who looked like the second weakest.
Huang Jinghe was already prepared. At night, he barely dared to sleep deeply. At the slightest rustling, he grabbed his baseball bat.
Feeling that wasn't safe enough, he also took the watermelon knife Sister Lan Jin had secretly given him.
But lock-picking wasn't easy. Even the semi-professionals before couldn't open the locks, let alone these inexperienced people.
The noise outside was loud, but the lock wouldn't budge, which was infuriating.
Inside, Huang Jinghe was anxious to death, silently cursing himself. "Come on, open it, hurry up. My arms are getting tired holding this bat and knife. Open already."
But without experience, it wasn't something that could be rushed.
Even the person helping outside said, "Hurry up already."
"I want to hurry too. I don't know how to do this. I told you, we don't even have tools. How do you expect to open the lock?"
Just as the group was about to start fighting with each other, Lao Gao, annoyed, came out of the house. With a smile, he said, "Can you open it or not? If not, get lost. Stop making noise at the door. You're keeping me from sleeping."
The lock-pickers were stunned for a moment, then straightened up. They were here to steal supplies. If they couldn't open this door, no problem. Another door was already open—it saved them effort.
There were five of them in the corridor, all confident and threatening, "Humph, whether we can open it or not isn't your business. But since your door is open, don't think you can close it again. Be smart and hand over your food. Otherwise, don't blame us for being ruthless."
Lao Gao sneered, "I want to see just how ruthless you think you can be."
After saying that, he kicked the man who had spoken to him. The man flew over a meter away, hitting the wall hard with a thud, then slid down slowly.