17 No Power and No Water

The entire city's atmosphere gradually grew tense.

Under the extreme cold, even if the air conditioners were on, indoor temperatures remained below freezing.

This made it difficult for the people of Jinghai City, who were not used to experiencing temperatures below freezing, especially in the southern region.

Moreover, the people of Jinghai City didn't have the habit of hoarding supplies. After three days of heavy snowfall, the refrigerators in every household were gradually running low on supplies.

As snowflakes swirled outside, even the sun in the daytime was obscured by thick clouds, making it hard to distinguish between day and night without a clock.

On the morning of the fourth day, Ye Xingchen got up from bed. After freshening up, he took out a steaming crab roe xiaolongbao from his dimensional storage and sipped soy milk. While glancing at his wristwatch, he knew it was almost time for the action to begin.

Ye Xingchen stuffed a juicy xiaolongbao into his mouth and started counting down in his mind.

Two, one.

As the countdown ended, the group chats on his phone exploded.

This was the fourth day since the apocalypse had arrived, and the real show was about to start.

Ye Xingchen knew what was going to happen today, so he slept early last night, eager to wake up early this morning to watch everyone's performance.

In fact, nothing major had happened. It was just that on this day, the entire Jinghai City would suddenly experience a power outage.

Furthermore, not long after, due to the cascading effects of the power outage, the water supply from the water company also stopped functioning properly.

The water supply system malfunctioned, resulting in sudden water cutoffs in every household.

Ye Xingchen looked at his watch. The timing of these events was exactly the same as in the previous life.

At the beginning of the apocalypse, no one thought this extreme cold disaster would last long. The authorities were making every effort to support the situation, trying to solve this once-in-a-millennium snow disaster.

However, as time passed day by day, they realized that this disaster couldn't be solved with manpower alone.

With freezing weather, major hydroelectric power plants stopped working one after another. Even thermal power plants were affected because their staff couldn't get to work due to the heavy snow blocking their routes, leading to a halt in electricity generation.

After electricity storage had been depleted in cities across the country, a nationwide power outage became an inevitable occurrence.

At this moment, only a few nuclear power plants were still operational.

And the electricity generated by these nuclear power plants was primarily supplied to the authorities.

Power and water outages plunged the lives of ordinary citizens into panic and darkness.

Yet, Ye Xingchen had already set up two silent generators to continue powering the safe house.

Opening his phone, Ye Xingchen noticed that almost every chat group had 99+ unread messages.

"Do you still have power at your home?"

"We don't have power! And the water supply is cut off too! What's going on?"

"No idea, same here. Woke up early this morning, only to find that the power was out."

"Do you have water?"

"What's happening? There wasn't any notification about water cutoff?"

"What about property management? When will the power be restored? It's so cold, and if the power isn't restored soon, the elderly at home won't make it!"

"What about the authorities? Where are the officials? Why aren't they stepping in? If this continues, people will freeze to death!"

"Yeah! They always shout their slogans so loudly! Why are they hiding like turtles now?"

Ye Xingchen shook his head silently.

At this moment, the authorities were probably overwhelmed.

Survival now depended on individuals themselves.

Ye Xingchen knew that from today, the true meaning of the apocalypse had arrived.

Losing modern conveniences like electricity, water, and food, people were about to face massive casualties.

Thinking of this, Ye Xingchen looked around his well-fortified safe house with lingering fear. If it weren't for reliving a second life and enduring the suffering of the previous life, if he hadn't made early preparations, he might have ended up like them, freezing to death in this harsh winter.

As Ye Xingchen gazed at his well-protected safe house and felt the spring-like warmth, he finally felt a sense of reassurance.

After mentally sensing the stocked supplies in his dimensional storage, Ye Xingchen contentedly opened the homeowners' group chat in the villa area.

If it weren't for the advanced technology nowadays and the fact that phone batteries no longer stop working due to low temperatures, as well as the fact that the three major network operators have their own backup power sources, these people probably wouldn't even be able to use their phones now.

However, with a massive power outage, the reserved power sources would eventually be depleted. When that time came, phones would still become useless pieces of junk.

"Damn it! How much longer is this snow going to last?!"

"The air conditioning is no longer working, and it's already more than thirty degrees below zero inside the house!"

"If this continues, we're really going to freeze to death!"

"The water's cut off too. Are we supposed to drink snow water?!"

"Where are the officials? Why haven't they said when the power will be restored?"

"We're out of food already. But the heavy snow has sealed off the doors, and we can't go out. What should we do?!"

Some people started mentioning Liu Qilong.

"Uncle Liu, do you still have food at home? Could you sell us some? We're even willing to pay ten times the price!"

"Uncle Liu, you told us all to stay home and not go out before. Now we're out of food at home. We listened to your words. You have to take responsibility for this!"

"When is the help from above coming to rescue us? Does anyone know at all?!"

Some even started mentioning Zhang Yi in the group.

"Zhang Yi, your family has connections, right? Did they tell you what the higher-ups are planning?"

"Yeah, Zhang Yi, what's the plan of the higher-ups? We're already out of food. Even if we don't starve to death, we'll freeze to death soon."

Facing the neighbors' questions, Zhang Yi was also filled with anxiety and panic.

At this moment, he was more afraid than the other homeowners.

Others were still unaware of the higher-ups' plans, but Zhang Yi's father was the right-hand man of the higher-ups. He had messaged Zhang Yi early on.

"Now the whole world is experiencing heavy snowfall, not just our country."

"This snowfall is strange. According to experts, it's a rare global snow disaster that hasn't happened in hundreds of thousands of years. This might be another large-scale mass extinction event, that is... the apocalypse!"

"Although the authorities are trying to figure it out, you also know, Little Yi, that our country has over a billion people. The authorities can't possibly manage it all."

"Several major cities in our country have already come to a standstill."

"I'm stuck over here and can't make my way back. Little Yi, you must find a way to store as many supplies as you can. Don't think it's too much!"

"Stock up on food and heating sources! Be careful not to let others discover this!"

"We don't know how long this snow will continue. I've sent people to deliver supplies to you, but there are too many obstacles on the way. You have to come up with a plan."