Mobile Shelter

Chapter 8 Stockpiling Supplies

It was precisely because of the court's swift response that patrol officers like Dong Hao were created, going door-to-door to investigate and register every possible superhuman in each household as quickly as possible.

Initially, the police didn't explicitly tell low-ranking officers like Dong Hao that there had been an epidemic, but rather that they needed to understand the situation of all residents in their jurisdiction to prevent the disease from spreading further.

That's why, when Dong Hao learned about Dong Qi's situation, Dong Qi's name wasn't on the list he submitted.

Because of the social customs within the Great Xia Dynasty, the more prosperous the city, the less likely it is that dehydration will go unnoticed. In remote areas, because of the better neighborly relations, coma caused by dehydration will be discovered quickly.

Only someone like Dong Qi, living alone in the suburbs, could remain undetected during the onset of his illness, thus completing the entire awakening process.

This sudden dehydration disorder did not only occur in Great Xia, but affected everyone on the entire planet Earth. However, only a few countries like Great Xia responded promptly when the symptoms appeared.

Many other countries, for various reasons, did not respond promptly during periods of high incidence of dehydration, resulting in numerous deaths.

However, precisely because of this, those who survived the onset of the illness generally awakened various superpowers.

Those people, having suddenly gained immense power, caused unrest in their region.

Fortunately, the areas where they originally lived were not very stable, so the turmoil caused by those with superpowers did not have a significant impact.

But because of this, all countries have begun to take this issue seriously.

Because he still had some drafts left, Dong Qi didn't continue writing when he got up in the morning. Instead, he drove to the market to buy some items.

This suburban market area originally consisted of just two streets with about thirty or forty shops specializing in bulk wholesale business.

But over time, people from many surrounding villages started riding their own tricycles to sell their agricultural products here, eventually forming a relatively large market.

Although there are many brands here that you can't find in city supermarkets, you can still buy the brands you want if you're willing to spend the money.

Having experienced lockdowns due to pandemics on Earth before, Dong Qi spent a large sum of money to stockpile a large amount of supplies this time.

Although it's relatively easy to find trucks for transportation at the wholesale market here, for safety reasons, Dong Qi prefers to use his own truck to transport goods in batches rather than asking a large truck to help with the transportation.

Although he made five or six round trips a day and was quite tired from repeatedly unloading goods, Dong Qi still managed to purchase enough supplies for one person to use for more than six months as planned.

The day after Dong Qi finished purchasing the supplies, the temperature suddenly dropped by more than ten degrees without any warning.

Actually, it was already the end of the year and winter was approaching, so although people felt the temperature was a bit abnormal, they didn't pay much attention to it.

What no one expected was that the sudden drop in temperature was just the beginning.

As night fell, snowflakes began to fall sporadically. While snowfall in the three northeastern provinces is normal, it was surprising that even high-temperature regions like Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, which are close to the equator, experienced snowfall.

Under normal circumstances, even during the coldest period of winter, the temperature in those areas is above zero. Even in the rare extreme weather events, the temperature only drops below zero for a short period of time, and that is only for one or two days.

This time, however, the snowfall was not just about ice chips as in the past; it was getting worse and worse.

Down jackets that were originally just for display in shopping malls are now in short supply.

On the contrary, in regions like the three northeastern provinces, which experience this once a year, many families have already started purchasing winter supplies, so this sudden drop in temperature has little impact on them.

Pengcheng, where Dong Qi lives, is located at the junction of the north and south. Although the lowest winter temperature does not reach minus 20 or 30 degrees Celsius like in the three northeastern provinces, it occasionally drops below minus 10 degrees Celsius for about a week. Therefore, many families have already prepared heating equipment.

In urban areas, even if a home doesn't have central heating, many families will install a wall-mounted boiler during renovations or keep an electric heater at home.

Any family with some experience knows that the colder the weather, the worse the heating effect of an air conditioner. No matter how good the advertised effects are, the first choice for heating is a gas-fired wall-mounted boiler, and the second choice is an electric heater.

In contrast, detached villas like Dong Qi's, located in the suburbs, typically have underfloor heating in the bedrooms and studies due to their larger size, and use wall-mounted boilers for heating.

In spacious rooms like the living room, burning coal or wood in a fireplace, while not aesthetically pleasing, is very practical.

Upon noticing the temperature drop, Dong Qi immediately closed the basement entrance to prevent snow from entering the basement.

As for why Dong Qi took precautions in advance, we have to mention the painful experience of a blizzard one year that caused the entire basement to be filled with snow.

Perhaps because he had food in hand, he was not particularly panicked, even though he was watching the blizzard outside and listening to the latest snow disaster warning issued by the meteorological bureau.

With nothing else to do, Dong Qi could only continue writing to replenish the drafts he had used up over the past few days.

Faced with the sudden heavy snow, no one paid attention on the first day, especially the southerners who had never seen snow before. Instead of being nervous, they braved the snow to enjoy this rare weather in the south.

But the heavy snow continued on the second and third days.

For northerners, blizzards are commonplace, and while they have some impact, it's not a major one.

For most southerners who lacked experience in dealing with blizzards, this was a disaster.

If one can barely keep warm by wearing more clothes and covering oneself with more blankets, then several days of continuous heavy snow is a catastrophic disaster for southerners who do not have the habit of stocking up on food.

Three consecutive days of heavy snow caused many farmers' markets to close, and even though some large supermarkets remained open, getting there was still a huge problem.

Compared to the three northeastern provinces, it not only has rich experience in snow removal, but also a large number of professional snow removal vehicles.

Having no practical experience or professional snow removal equipment, the people in the south were helpless in the face of half a meter of snow piled up on the roads.

Not to mention that due to the temperature, not only electric vehicles but also many gasoline vehicles are extremely difficult to start.

At this point, the only way to go out and buy food was to brave the snow on foot.

However, because of the temperate zone, many households lack clothing that can withstand sub-zero temperatures, so many people are wrapped in their own quilts and brave the snow to go to the supermarket to buy food.