Chapter 16: The Thrifty and Economical Housewife

Liang Yuan pointed to the balcony outside the kitchen and said, "I have a generator here."

Yang Mei was overjoyed and quickly ran around the kitchen counter to the north balcony.

Liang Yuan's apartment had a structure with balconies on both the north and south sides. Besides the balcony in the living room, there was also one outside the kitchen.

The freezer and the generator were placed on the north balcony behind the kitchen, while the refrigerator was inside the kitchen.

Upon hearing the humming sound of the generator, Yang Mei's eyes widened in disbelief, shining with surprise.

"Electricity, you actually have electricity here!"

"This is great, so great, sob..."

She was so excited that she started crying.

It should be noted that the entire community had been without electricity since the second day of the great flood.

Back then, her refrigerator at home also had a lot of frozen goods, but with the heat in June, the fridge couldn't work without power, making it impossible to store food.

This led to a lot of food going to waste, which could have lasted her family for half a year if they had been frugal.

Now, seeing that Liang Yuan had a generator, she was naturally elated.

Then she suddenly thought of something and turned to look at Liang Yuan, excitedly saying, "Little brother, can this generator charge a phone? My phone is dead. If we can charge it, we might be able to contact the outside, contact the government..."

Liang Yuan looked at her excited expression and shook his head slightly, "Don't get your hopes up. I've tried a long time ago. Not only can't we contact the outside world, but there's also no network. Except for the radio, none of the communication or network devices work anymore."

Yang Mei's smile froze. She couldn't believe it and blurted out, "No... that's impossible, right? It's just a flood. How could there be no signal at all? Signal towers are usually taller than buildings; they shouldn't be damaged."

After all, she was well-educated and knew that mobile signals came from towers.

Liang Yuan didn't waste any words and handed her his phone, "If there was a signal, don't you think I would have called for help? See for yourself."

Yang Mei hurriedly took the phone. Liang Yuan's phone was fully charged, but the signal bar was completely empty, not a single bar.

Yang Mei was a bit agitated and couldn't help but say, "Could it be your phone? Do you have another phone? I heard that iPhone signals are bad; do you have an Android phone?"

Liang Yuan, speechless, took out another phone and handed it over, "This is a Xiaomi, also with a SIM card. Check it yourself."

Yang Mei tried for a while and indeed couldn't find any signal at all.

She was stunned, "What's going on? What's happened to the world? Sob..."

She suddenly felt overwhelmed and covered her face, crying.

Liang Yuan took back his phone and said, "The world has changed in unimaginable ways. If it was just an ordinary flood, there would still be some signal, and the government wouldn't have completely failed to take rescue measures."

"But after six months, we haven't seen any government rescue. I have a radio at home, and I listen to it often, but there's been no rescue announcements."

"We have to endure. Who knows when this rain will stop."

Yang Mei's hopes were crushed. She knew everything Liang Yuan was saying, and over the past six months, many people had been holding on to the hope of government rescue.

However, as time passed—one month, two months—everyone gradually recognized a reality.

The government's rescue may never come.

Deep down, there was still a sliver of hope.

For the more vulnerable people, this hope was even more significant.

They knew clearly that only government rescue could save them.

Yang Mei was one of these people.

Yet, Liang Yuan's words shattered her last bit of hope.

Liang Yuan ignored her and continued peeling a potato, "You'd better prepare yourself mentally. The world has changed. Change your old ways of thinking. People like Li Zhiqiang and Liu Erlong out there have lost all moral boundaries."

"As time goes on and food becomes scarcer, they will grow increasingly desperate. If they can't find food, they might start to eat..."

He didn't finish the sentence.

However, Yang Mei, trembling, knew exactly what he meant.

If they really had no food, those people... would eat humans!

She trembled and said, "No, that won't happen. There's a mini-mart at the gate of the community. Many things are floating in the water. They can salvage that; it won't come to... eating... eating..."

She couldn't bring herself to say the word.

Liang Yuan didn't respond, contemplating the issue of salvaging food.

But with the violent storm outside and the raging floodwaters, the underground garage and sewers were everywhere, potentially bringing strong undercurrents.

A single mistake and they could be swept underwater.

Moreover, this flood could be an influx of seawater. Who knows what kind of dangerous sea creatures might be in there?

If it's just salvaging things from the building's windows, that's one thing. But leaving the building to go to the supermarket at the community gate carries a different risk.

Of course, some people in desperate situations would ultimately choose this path.

Liang Yuan's food was also running low. If it weren't for the sudden appearance of the system, he might have had to take this route too.

But he had one very important question left.

What exactly did the system mean by mutated beings?

Was it related to the flood outside?

What kind of risks would these mutated beings bring him?

These were all questions he needed to consider.

The system's lottery was also random. What if he was unlucky and didn't get any food?

Moreover, the lottery required points, and he still didn't have a stable way to get points.

So far, he knew that there were mutated sardines in the flood.

In the building, there were also mutated humans.

However, Liang Yuan hadn't yet discovered what distinguished mutated humans from normal ones.

While washing potatoes, he pondered these issues.

By this time, Yang Mei was gradually calming down.

Seeing Liang Yuan peeling potatoes, she quickly wiped away her tears and walked over, "Little brother, this way of peeling is too wasteful. Let me do it."

Liang Yuan glanced at her and said, "Calmed down?"

"I'm sorry. I just felt completely hopeless," Yang Mei said.

Liang Yuan nodded and handed her the potato, "Everyone is hopeless now, but survival is instinctual. Few truly want to die."

"And right now, it's easier to want to die. Living is the hardest part."

Yang Mei silently nodded, taking the knife, scraping off the potato's skin rather than using a peeler.

This way, the potato would be wasted the least.

Liang Yuan watched, appreciating Yang Mei's frugality.

He had always been more spendthrift and hadn't considered such detailed ways of saving.