NOVPUB60: Chapter 48: Self-Defense Forces
60 -48: Self-Defense Forces
After everyone was stunned for a while, Gu Yanzhi dropped another bombshell.
“Also, don’t forget, Uncle Zhang has already noticed that a lot of elderly people have disappeared from the streets.”
“Yanzhi, are you saying…”
“I’m not sure, but I can’t rule out the possibility.”
Gu Yanzhi was actually certain; she had experienced this shock in her past life.
By the later stages, it had become the norm.
Some people couldn’t bring themselves to harm their own families, so they heartlessly traded them for supplies.
Others directly swapped with different families.
Gu Yanzhi had seen such scenes with her own eyes.
In her past life, it happened earlier, a big pot hung over a fire containing various shapes of meat chunks, emitting a putrid yet strangely aromatic scent.
Those who had more spices used them liberally to cover up the stench, while those with less only added a pinch of salt, or even nothing at all. 𝔫𝖔𝖛𝖕𝖚𝔟.𝖈𝖔𝔪
A group of people, close to starving mad, didn’t mind the scalding heat and began grabbing the meat before it was fully cooked.
She vividly remembered, in her past life, she was taken out by Mr.
Yan and witnessed this scene, and she vomited so severely that it was disorienting.
He kindly offered a slice to Gu Yanzhi; upon hearing this, how could she not know what that unidentified meat was?
Moreover, what Mr.
Yan ate couldn’t have been the rotten-smelling kind that had been dead for many days outside; Gu Yanzhi suspected it was likely freshly killed.
Feeling nauseous again, Gu Yanzhi couldn’t help but curse at the hypocritical and ruthless monster in front of her.
This also led her to successfully provoke Mr.
Yan’s disgust, and he sent her back to Gu Qiang.
After returning, for a while, her meals consisted entirely of that kind of meat.
Gu Yanzhi had to pretend to comply, hiding the meat and pretending to eat it before she was given something normal.
Later on, Gu Yanzhi was always anxious at meals, fearing she might accidentally consume it.
Gu Yanzhi also realized that those who ate and those who didn’t were destined to be two groups, unable to coexist.
Those who ate only forced those who didn’t to either join them or become food, believing that the abstainers inherently despised them.
The memories that surfaced made Gu Yanzhi feel queasy.
She clenched her thigh tightly to prevent herself from vomiting on the spot.
Song Zhao quickly handed over his thermos, filled with hawthorn juice, originally prepared for Gu Yanlin to help soothe the feeling of vomiting.
Anticipating that today’s meeting might not be too friendly, he had intentionally prepared two cups.
“Seal up all the uninhabited windows.”
Recently, Gu Yanzhi and Song Zhao had indeed noticed that the windows outside appeared to have been tampered with, although the building materials used were of the highest quality, so they hadn’t been pried open yet.
Initially, Gu Yanzhi thought it was just some people desperately searching for food, trying to sneak in to find some.
But linking it with this incident made her thoughts not so simple.
One must know, there were three elderly people and two children in their building, likely a prime target for the bad elements.
“How are we supposed to seal them, if we can’t find materials right now?” Liu Sisi said anxiously.
Her family and Xiao Lin’s were the most at risk in this building, having both elderly and children.
“Go to the office building, look for construction materials like sheet metal, wooden boards, anything goes.
If all else fails, smash the office building walls and bring back some bricks.”
“We don’t need cement with this weather; just splash some water, and it’ll freeze solid against the wall in no time.”
Uncle Zhuang, with his construction background, came up with this idea on the spot.
“However, we’d better also seal up the windows we’re using; you never know how depraved these people can be,” Uncle Zhuang continued to suggest.
Covering the windows would worsen the lighting inside, but it would save a lot of trouble.
“Let’s all take a few days off and get the walls fixed first,” Uncle Zhang finally decided.
The next day, everyone in Building 10 got busily to work.
Besides the first day when fifteen people acted together to gather materials and smash walls.
For the next two days, the fifteen split into two groups: one was in charge of building walls at home, the other handled material transport.
Three elderly people were responsible for logistics, arranging everything systematically.
The activity on Building 10’s side quickly caught the attention of others.
When asked, everyone simply said it was for safety.
Nowadays, rescue supplies were dwindling, and a few robberies had already occurred outside.
Although the rescue teams suppressed them promptly, this explanation wouldn’t raise any suspicion.
In just three days, everyone had finished retrofitting.
They sealed up everything that could be sealed.
Uncle Zhang’s family even moved from the 13th to a vacant apartment on the 14th floor, previously inhabited by Squad 532.
They sealed all windows below the 13th floor, leaving only one window for everyone to use for entry and egress.
Gu Yanzhi provided the materials to add a security window to this particular window, not allowing for external access.
Every time someone entered or exited, someone inside had to help open and close it.
Though inconvenient, it was safe.
To allow for light, the windows in everyone’s apartments were sealed with thick blocks of ice prepared a day in advance, which could be quickly secured to the window frames with a splash of water.
Some of the ice blocks, which didn’t freeze solidly, still held fast once set; even smashing would require significant effort to break them.
From the 10th to the 16th floor, they blocked every possible gap.
Floors 17 and 18 did not require this as Gu Yanzhi had already modified the windows during renovations.
Lastly, everyone pooled materials together, clumsily constructing a new door for the building, installed at the stairwell on the 13th floor.
Beyond this, Building 10 also established a self-defense force.
Their housing complex’s small population didn’t suit having one or two people per household participate.
After discussion, thirteen people, two per night, stayed on the 13th floor, stationed to patrol and ready to sound the alarm at the first sign of trouble.
The thirteen did not include Gu Yanlin and Zhuang Nanyang; both were military men not often home and had limited leave, so they weren’t counted.
The alarm was also provided by Gu Yanzhi; they had tested it once, and it was loud enough to wake everyone in the building.
Plus, it was battery-operated with a long standby time— a single size-five battery could last a year.
Each night, two of the thirteen, typically by household, paired up; Sister Li and Xiao Lin formed one unit, and in the end, Uncle Zhang, with his family being the largest and most disadvantaged, volunteered to take two night shifts, one with his wife and one with his daughter.
Given that Uncle Zhang’s family bore the brunt, everyone chipped in some supplies as compensation.
