Volume One, Chapter 13: Suddenly Cut Off from Water and Electricity

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The one speaking was Chen Wei’s son, Chen Chen. His hair was dyed in a riot of colors like a parrot's feathers, and he leaned against the door in a limp, careless manner. The weather was hot; he wore a tank top, revealing large tattoos on his neck and arms.

“What tricks do you have?”

Chen Chen yawned. “If they don’t comply, cut off the water supply. Still don’t comply? Cut the electricity. If that’s not enough, claim her grocery store is non-compliant and shut it down.”

“Hey! Didn’t expect you to have brains like that,” Chen Wei’s eyes brightened.

...

Inside the grocery store, Qiao Yuan shut and double-locked the front door.

“Why are you here today? It’s not the agreed time yet.”

Ning Jue looked quietly at the neatly arranged medicines and food supplies in the corner.

“The temperature reached forty-eight degrees today. My body’s fine, but my sister and two friends are struggling to endure it.”

“So you want me to help buy air conditioners?”

“Fans would do too.”

“To get air conditioners, I have to go to the city. We have fans here in the store.”

Qiao Yuan said this and immediately went to the household goods section to fetch a table fan. Then she went into the yard, hiding in a corner out of Ning Jue’s view, and took out a solar power generator from her space, placing it on a cart used for moving things.

Qiao Yuan pushed the cart into the grocery store.

“Take a few more rechargeable lamps from the outdoor supplies shelf.”

“My friend is helping me buy a diesel generator, but it hasn’t arrived yet. These should be enough for now.”

As she spoke, Qiao Yuan also pushed over a shopping cart. “The medicines are organized; the heatstroke prevention drugs are all in the blue bags.”

“Thank you.”

Ning Jue made two trips to transport the supplies out. Xie An and Qi Zheng stood by the door to help divide them.

Qiao Yuan went back into the grocery store again. “That old man doesn’t look like a good person; he might cause you trouble.”

Qiao Yuan curled her lips. “With you as my major customer, that’s enough to keep my little store afloat. If worse comes to worst, I’ll just quit.”

“By the way, you have so much gasoline. How do you plan to transport it?” Qiao Yuan asked.

Ning Jue smiled bitterly. “There are only three of us—like ants moving house.”

After exchanging a few words, Ning Jue left.

Qiao Yuan resumed sorting stock.

[Ding dong! Task 4 has been issued. Please fill the space within one day.]

One day! Fill the space?

Qiao Yuan examined her space—five hundred square meters.

This is bad!

Without hesitation, she collected all the items in her grocery store into the space.

Even so, she only filled two hundred square meters.

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Fortunately, the grocery store could automatically restock, so she planned to just gather the new stock again.

However, the restocked goods did not move at all.

[Ding dong! Grocery store items cannot be used as props to complete the task.]

—Then why was it possible the first time?

[Because the system had a bug.]

For once, the system gave an explanation.

But Qiao Yuan didn’t have time to marvel; she changed into clean clothes and immediately drove into the city.

Shortly after she left, several repairmen circled her small yard and eventually climbed a nearby utility pole.

To fill the space, she had to buy bulky items.

She recalled the last system upgrade trapped her in a post-apocalyptic world. Just in case, she needed to prepare items useful in such a scenario.

Qiao Yuan went to the RV market and bought three nearly new secondhand Mercedes motorhomes. Staff filled them with fuel and delivered them to her warehouse.

At noon, she ate a few bites and then went to the city’s water station, purchasing five tons of bottled water at wholesale price.

Finally, she bought ten thousand servings of pre-made meals at the largest wholesale market in Nanyuan City.

All the supplies were delivered to the warehouse. Qiao Yuan stored them one by one in the space.

By nightfall, the warehouse was completely empty.

[Ding dong! Task 4 completed.]

[Reward: 100 square meters of space, one space-sharing key.]

Her original 500 square meter space expanded to 600 square meters, and just as Qiao Yuan was dazed, an antique bronze key appeared before her.

The instant Qiao Yuan touched the key, the system’s prompt sounded again.

[Space-sharing Key]

[The host may bind one person to wear the key. The keyholder will share usage rights of the space with the host.]

Qiao Yuan was stunned for a moment. If she gave the key to Ning Jue, he wouldn’t have to struggle to carry goods out every day.

And wouldn’t that make their transactions much simpler?

He could just put gold and silver treasures into the space, and she could take them out.

Qiao Yuan shouted with excitement.

After having dinner in the city and confirming delivery times with Xu Lian, she returned home.

Parking at the door, Qiao Yuan stared in surprise at the grocery store window.

She was sure the lights were on when she left, so why was the store pitch black now?

Upon entering, she realized the power was out—not just electricity, but water too.

Qiao Yuan stepped outside to check the surrounding neighbors and confirmed only her house had lost power and water.

No doubt, this was Chen Wei’s doing.

But she still had a generator in her space.

Qiao Yuan flicked her hand, and the diesel generator appeared in the yard. She studied the manual for a while.

Twenty minutes later, the grocery store was brightly lit.

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Water was even easier to solve. She simply parked one of the motorhomes in the yard to serve as a bathroom.

But this couldn’t go on. Chen Wei had to be dealt with once and for all.

Yet, unlike her foster parents, Chen Wei was not a great villain nor had he harmed her life.

Sending him to the post-apocalyptic world seemed a bit too cruel.

As these thoughts crossed her mind, she drifted off to sleep to the chirping of insects.

A night without dreams, and at six in the morning, Qiao Yuan woke up promptly.

She eagerly anticipated what useful item she might draw from the blind box today.

Holding a disposable paper cup, Qiao Yuan fell into thought.

Blind box draws really were unreliable!

Xu Lian had arranged a delivery for tonight, so she could rest well for the day.

The space contained the entire grocery store’s supplies, enough for Ning Jue and three others to eat and drink.

Moreover, after today’s experiment, she discovered the space had no time flow.

Frozen dumplings remained exactly as they were when put in, unchanged when taken out.

This meant Ning Jue didn’t need to worry about food spoilage.

...

...

“Ning Jue, it’s already fifty degrees today,” Qi Zheng said nervously, looking at the thermometer.

The basement was somewhat cooler but still over forty degrees.

The three of them fanned themselves with the electric fan Ning Jue had brought back, sweat streaming down their bodies uncontrollably.

Ning Jue anxiously watched Ning Lin and her two friends. Because of the heat, they had little appetite these past few days, their faces visibly thinner.

“Tomorrow is the agreed delivery day with Qiao Yuan. As long as she prepares the supplies, the air conditioner here can be used.”

The solar generator they brought back was small in capacity and couldn’t power the central air conditioning of the villa.

“But brother, we can’t go out during the day. How can we help you transport supplies?” Ning Lin looked up and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

Qi Zheng gritted his teeth. “If it really comes down to it, we’ll seek help from the military. Otherwise, you’ll keep being a burden.”

“Brother Qi Zheng is right. The temperature rises every day. We can’t go out, leaving everything to you alone—I just can’t bear it.”

Ning Lin’s eyes reddened as she turned away, unwilling to let Ning Jue see her expression.

Heatstroke was no joke. Today, when Ning Jue went down the mountain to search for supplies, she saw several people who had died from the heat after going outside.

At that moment, the recently reinforced iron gate of the villa rattled loudly.

“Someone’s here! Someone’s here!”

“Hello! Please open the door and help us!”

“We’re the Fengxiu City garrison!”