Chapter 178

After breakfast, Jiang Cheng sent people to pick up Engineer Yu and the others, along with the water plant’s water tanker.

Emergency water tankers were meant to provide drinking water during natural disasters, large-scale events, and brief water outages.

Once the tanker returned, transporting water between the residential area and the Bailiang River would be much more convenient. Jiang Cheng would no longer need to go along herself.

The temporary government of the High-Tech New District held a meeting, attended by key personnel from all the communities in the district.

Since June, they had endured two zombie outbreaks. It was the first time they had held a meeting with morale this low.

Everyone’s eyes looked a little empty.

They were deeply discouraged.

Jiang Cheng glanced around the room and spoke. “Feeling dispirited? That won’t help. We still have to solve the problems in front of us.”

There was no time to be discouraged. Every problem before them was brutally real—far too real.

The first was the water supply.

There were only three water-type ability users in the entire High-Tech New District.

Gao Yuxuan was holding his laptop.

He turned his head and looked around, then spotted Zhao Yi taking care of Zhang Lesi. Zhang Lesi could no longer see, but she was still attending the meeting as an observer.

Gao Yuxuan turned back and stared blankly at the laptop screen.

He and Zhao Yi had been compiling statistics on the ability users.

Both of them were highly sensitive to data, and they had long known that there seemed to be an underlying balance in the proportions of the various ability types.

They had mentioned it to Song Jingshuo before. Song Jingshuo was even more sensitive to data; he had glanced over their spreadsheet and agreed with them immediately.

At the time, however, all the necessary infrastructure was still functioning, so the pattern had not been especially obvious.

Now that the water, electricity, and gas had all been cut off, the “balance” in the ability-user data suddenly stood out.

Fire, electricity, metal, and earth were the most common types. They were the most ordinary, the most practical.

Wood-type ability users, who were directly connected to everyone’s ability to fill their stomachs, dropped sharply in number. There were only a precious few of them.

Once the water stopped flowing, they suddenly realized: Why were there so few water-type ability users?

With both water and wood in short supply, Gao Yuxuan could see that line of balance even with his eyes closed.

It kept people alive.

But only barely alive.

The water problem involved far more than drinking.

There was drinking, cooking, and bathing—and one especially crucial matter: flushing toilets.

How could modern toilets function without water?

The situation meant that life with modern toilets would soon be leaving them behind.

That was deeply painful and depressing.

“Then we’ll do this.” Jiang Cheng made the final decision. “Drinking water will be supplied centrally. We’ll run a trial first, then decide whether to impose quotas.”

“All residential communities are to stop using their toilets and switch to dry latrines.”

“Set up communal bathhouses.”

“Establish centralized cafeterias.”

These measures would address the problems caused by the loss of water and gas.

“There are still plenty of vacant apartments. Everyone should move downstairs. If necessary, open several communal dormitories on the lower floors.”

This was because without electricity, the lights and elevators could no longer be used. Living on the upper floors had become extremely inconvenient.

Song Jingshuo was one example. He lived more than twenty floors up.

The electricity problem also needed a solution.

Gao Yuxuan raised his hand. “Renxin Hospital.”

To guarantee uninterrupted power for surgeries and intensive care, the hospital had to maintain a continuous electricity supply.

Hospitals usually had diesel generators and battery banks.

Many factories had them as well, but the industrial park had burned too fiercely the previous night. People had already been sent there to assess the situation, but they still did not know whether the fires had gone out.

“Diesel generators?” Jiang Cheng rested a hand against her chin and thought. “Bring them over first. We’ll figure out the rest afterward.”

The heavy vehicles all ran on diesel.

The gas stations in the High-Tech New District had already been emptied by their group. Later, when they went into the city, they had found fuel tankers.

Fortunately, the main people still using vehicles were the temporary governments in the various districts. Their consumption was negligible compared with the city’s total reserves. At least for now, they were not facing an immediate fuel shortage.

Even so, Jiang Cheng asked, “Can the generators be modified? Wind power? Hydropower? Human power? Can the battery banks be charged directly by electricity-type ability users?”

“We’ll have to test all of them,” Gao Yuxuan said. “Wind power isn’t feasible, and hydropower would be difficult under the circumstances. I have the most confidence in human power.”

Someone said, “Damn, are we going to have to build a human-powered charging array?”

Gao Yuxuan disagreed. “Why build a human-powered array? There are so many abandoned cars outside. Differential gears, pulleys, rear axles—we can dismantle them. There are more than enough. Let’s build one ourselves! As long as we have a single generator, the efficiency will absolutely surpass that of a human-powered array.”

“The precision requirements are too high.”

“Haiyang, say something! This is your field!”

“I support Yuxuan. We can give it a try. I’ll draw up a design first.”

Jiang Cheng did not interrupt the arguments and discussions among the engineers.

In fact, as the arguments and discussions grew more heated, morale gradually began to recover.

That was a good thing.

In the end, they decided to try building a transmission aggregation system.

After a long discussion, the emptiness had disappeared from everyone’s eyes. The young people were beginning to regain their natural spark.

When the meeting ended, everyone got busy.

Some tasks had to begin immediately—

The civil engineer quickly sketched out a simple diagram and explained every detail to Aunt Pan.

Since they had no tools for drawing lines on the ground, several people simply separated and stood at the key points to serve as human markers for Aunt Pan.

“Auntie, from there to me—yes, straight across, then turn.”

“Deeper. Wait, let me squat down and try it, to see whether the compartments are far enough apart.”

The metal-type ability users urged them, “Hurry up and decide the distances. We need to build the frames.”

The people who had gone to inspect the Bailiang River returned. “It’s still burning. It looks like it won’t stop for several days.”

After considering the matter, they decided not to send the fire-type ability users to put out the flames in the industrial area. Who knew what those factories contained?

“There are explosions all the time. It’s too dangerous to go in. We’ll wait for it to burn itself out.”

The generator and battery bank at the hospital were too heavy to move by human strength alone. This was where Jiang Cheng had to step in.

Before leaving, Jiang Cheng searched around the courtyard and found Mo Li.

The handsome young man was squatting on the ground, both hands resting in front of his paws, sitting exactly like a cat.

The little children crowded around him.

“Is that really Mo Li?”

“Look at his eyes!”

“It is Mo Li!”

The handsome boy’s eyes looked black at first glance, no different from anyone else’s. But when the sunlight struck them, their green color became visible.

Once the children confirmed that it was Mo Li, they all marveled.

A small hand reached up to touch his head. “Mo Li, where did your pointy ears go?”

Mo Li lifted a foot, intending to scratch his ear, but discovered that the bones and joints of his new body were not suited to the movement. So he scratched it with his hand instead. “They became like this.”

“Mo Li, can you still turn into a big cat?”

“Yes.”

“Can you still carry us around the courtyard?”

“I can.”

“Then right now—”

“Not right now.” Jiang Cheng hurried over to stop them.

She told Mo Li, “If you want to change into cat form, go inside first. And when you change from cat form back into human form, go inside first too. When you’re in human form, you have to put on clothes before seeing anyone. You can’t see people while naked.”

Mo Li said, “Oh!”

“I’m going out for a while.”

Mo Li made as if to stand, but Jiang Cheng pressed him back down. “Stay here and play with everyone. I’m going to Renxin Hospital.”

There were no zombies left anywhere within the High-Tech New District. It was a clean, safe zone, so Jiang Cheng did not need Mo Li to accompany her.

The little ones had been badly frightened yesterday. Several of them had looked pale with fear.

They had cried when they saw what Zhang Lesi looked like. They all liked Zhang Lesi very much.

Now Mo Li was playing with them, and it was clear that the children were feeling much better.

Cats had always been the best at soothing people.

Interestingly, the thing people had accepted most readily was animals turning into human beings.

But the absence of flush toilets—and having to use pit latrines in the future—was enough to make many people feel as though the sky were falling.

When Engineer Yu arrived at the youth apartments with the technicians, he found the place bustling with activity.

The main framework and pits for the pit latrines had already been completed. The civil engineers and Aunt Pan had finished their work and withdrawn.

The metal-element superpowered people had taken over, starting on the partitions and the flooring around the pits.

The gleaming footboards had been fitted with nonslip ridges, and the doors had bolts.

There were separate men’s and women’s toilets.

They looked no different from ordinary public restrooms—apart from the fact that they were pit latrines.

This was the most urgent task.

They would build the bathhouse after this was finished.

At the moment, though, everyone was discussing whether to build a boiler themselves or get one from somewhere else.

With Jiang Cheng’s storage space, transporting large equipment was unbelievably convenient.

The earthen stove had been expanded and modified further. From now on, it would be the main kitchen.

The fire-element users got the flames going, and the temporary cooks had already begun preparing lunch. The aroma was already wafting through the air.

A huge water tank stood there, with faucets running all the way around it. People kept coming over with cups, bottles, buckets, or kettles to collect water.

A gigantic cat, as huge as an elephant, carried a group of little ones around the courtyard on its back.

It was the same cat they had seen on television—and the one they had seen yesterday. But yesterday, it had still looked like an ordinary kitten. Today, they had finally seen it in its giant form.

Song Jingshuo came over and clasped Engineer Yu’s hands in both of his, greeting him solemnly. “Thank you for all your hard work over the past month or so!”

Engineer Yu only said, “It was what we should do.”

Then he added, “All twelve water trucks have been driven back.”

Song Jingshuo tightened his grip. “That’s exactly what we need.”

With the water trucks, Jiang Cheng no longer needed to accompany them personally.

The water tanks would not need to be moved either, and they could build several more to increase their storage capacity.

Song Jingshuo said, “The rooms are ready. Since there’s no electricity now, we’ve prepared rooms on the second floor.”

Engineer Yu had no particular demands. “As long as they’re habitable.”

When he went up to see them, he found that the conditions were actually quite good. The youth apartments had originally been fully furnished.

The fashionable young people had also furnished them with decent furniture and appliances.

Several young people helped carry water upstairs for him.

The buckets they had stockpiled through Buy More More were finally proving extremely useful.

Engineer Yu thanked them.

When it was time to eat, someone called him downstairs for a meal.

No matter what happened, people still had to eat.

Engineer Yu’s spirits were somewhat low, but he still had to go downstairs for lunch.

Once he got there, he found that almost everyone was young, and every one of them was eating heartily.

They chatted as they ate.

“Let’s go take a look at the private schools. Aren’t they boarding schools? They have dormitories and bathhouses, and usually their own boilers. We can just bring one back.”

“Let’s scout the place first. Once we know what it’s like, we’ll report back to Jiang Cheng and go move it together.”

“Let’s hurry. If we can’t bathe much longer, Zhang Lesi is going to start yelling at us.”

“Hahahahahaha!”

For some reason, Engineer Yu found that he had an appetite after all.

So what if there was no water, electricity, or gas?

Wasn’t this simply the way the country had lived several decades ago? Wasn’t it the same kind of life he had experienced as a child?

It was nothing serious.

As long as there were people around, that was enough.