007 Adding Insult to Injury (Seeking bookmarks, investments, and votes)

Zhang Su said with extreme frustration, "I really should have brought up those things you bought last night!"

"Oh..." Zheng Xinyu let out a soft cry, her face filled with regret. "You're right, Brother Su. Those things... if we had them, we could at least hold out for a month. In a month, surely rescue would have reached us by then!"

Zheng Xinyu had agreed to a fan challenge: to not end her livestream or leave her bedroom for a month. In other words, she wouldn't open the door, and everything would have to be done inside the room.

She had ordered a significant amount of supplies for all her basic needs, and to ensure the challenge's success, she had prepared thoroughly, purchasing enough for roughly fifty days.

She had bet everything on this challenge, spending nearly all the money she had saved over the past year, hoping to turn a bicycle into a motorcycle. Tomorrow was supposed to be the start of the challenge, but the sudden, earth-shattering catastrophe had turned everything into a bubble.

Zheng Xinyu felt a little resentful, but she didn't complain too much, knowing that she couldn't afford to be negative or pessimistic at a time like this.

Zhang Su pulled at his hair in frustration for a long while before suddenly realizing that this would get them nowhere. He patted his cheeks and said, "We’ve lost our outside supply line. Let’s start by taking inventory of what’s left in the house!"

As he spoke, he subconsciously looked toward the front door, thinking that the "goalkeeper," Brother Li, was likely still out there.

"Okay!" Zheng Xinyu agreed readily.

"Let’s start by getting water!" Zhang Su stood up abruptly, saying as he walked, "Even if it’s not for drinking, there are plenty of other uses for it. Go get some containers!"

However, when the two walked into the bathroom with buckets and basins to collect water, they were stunned. When they turned the faucet, it acted like a patient with a prostate issue—squeezing out a few drops before falling silent.

The water was cut off.

So, all their debating about whether the water was safe to drink had been completely pointless.

The tap water seemed to say: "You two keep arguing; I’m leaving."

The pair looked at each other in silence. This was truly pushing them toward a dead end.

"Charge everything that can be charged!"

The network signal and water were gone; electricity and gas would likely follow soon.

"Only phones and power banks can be charged. But without a signal, what’s the point of a phone?" Zheng Xinyu was deeply dejected. Her reliance on the internet was a hundred times stronger than Zhang Su's. She lived online, completely addicted, and without it, she felt listless and drained.

"Think on the bright side. What if the network comes back? And even if it doesn't, phones have many other functions. We’ll find a use for them!"

Zhang Su started busy work as he spoke. Just as he said, everything capable of holding a charge was plugged in: phones, power banks, razors, clocks, nightlights, even the electric toothbrush didn't escape.

"Oh!"

Just as she finished, Zheng Xinyu let out a mournful cry.

"What’s wrong?" Zhang Su asked curiously.

Zheng Xinyu pointed to the toilet. "No... there's no water. What are we going to do about using the bathroom?"

Zhang Su rubbed his forehead. "Is such a small thing worth a fuss? Use the toilet as usual for the small stuff, and use trash bags for the rest. I thought it was something major!"

"That's so disgusting... isn't there another way?" Zheng Xinyu frowned, panic creeping in at the thought of not even being able to use a flush toilet.

"If we can't leave the house, this is our only option. Just seal the trash bag and put it in the bathroom. It’ll be fine."

Zhang Su didn't see it as a big deal; there were far more distressing things to worry about than that.

Zheng Xinyu pouted and scratched her bottom, feeling an endless sense of melancholy.

"Stop dawdling. Close the curtains and let's take inventory!" Zhang Su urged, beginning the most important task: counting their resources.

*Swish, swish, swish.*

As the curtains were pulled shut one by one, the room grew dim.

The two returned to the living room and turned on the lights. Zheng Xinyu asked, slightly confused, "Brother Su, closing the curtains... is it because you're afraid someone will see us?"

She didn't understand why they should do this. Shouldn't they let others know there were survivors here so that rescue efforts could be organized?

Zhang Su nodded. "We aren't the only ones cut off from water and the internet. Every household has a finite amount of supplies. One must always be on guard. Would you be willing to share your life-saving supplies with strangers?"

Zheng Xinyu froze. She prided herself on being kind-hearted, often feeding stray cats and dogs, but the thought of her own survival rations being taken away made her heart tighten, and she shook her head violently.

"Good!" Zhang Su said with approval, then added, "The Trolley Problem will play out at any time during a disaster. Xinyu, remember: your own life always comes first. Never be foolishly compassionate!"

The usually generous and kind Zhang Su had always possessed a ruthless and decisive side. Which face he showed depended entirely on the environment he was in.

"I understand, Brother Su. I won't be a pushover!"

A flicker of determination appeared on Zheng Xinyu’s face, which looked slightly haggard without makeup. Yet, when she made this decision, she had no idea how difficult it would be when faced with the real choice.

Once the doors and windows were tightly secured, Zhang Su and Zheng Xinyu worked busily to tally the most important survival supplies: food and water.

Since most of the items were piled in Zheng Xinyu's room, Zhang Su simply moved all the other food there.

"I've never been in here before, but I honestly didn't know your room was worse than mine!" Zhang Su stood with his hands on his hips, looking around her boudoir with disdain.

Used clothes and socks were tossed in the corner, scattered items lay around the trash can, and the computer desk was covered in snack crumbs. Not to mention the bed, which was strewn with cheap dolls from a claw machine.

"Hey! I didn't have time to clean up, okay? Don't get distracted!" Zheng Xinyu blushed in shame.

Zhang Su clicked his tongue and shook his head. He wasn't actually surprised; many young women’s rooms were like this these days. He had seen far worse.

"Let's see... including drinks and alcohol, we have about 75 liters of liquid. Twelve packs of instant noodles, and damn, there are so many bags of Luosifen—twenty-two of them. Four boxes of self-heating hot pot, eight boxes of self-heating rice..."

After some organization, they concluded that the two of them could last half a month. If they were frugal, twenty days wouldn't be a problem—assuming the electricity and gas didn't cut out, which would change the situation entirely.

Fortunately, most of the food was instant, requiring no significant time to cook, which saved them a lot of unnecessary trouble.

Most of these items were Zheng Xinyu's stockpiles; Zhang Su had only contributed two five-packs of instant noodles and two boxes of self-heating rice.

"Um..." Zheng Xinyu looked at the water piled together and asked weakly, "Brother Su, I don't think the water will last half a month. Does that mean... we just... stop washing?"

Yes, when Zhang Su was planning their consumption, he hadn't considered hygiene at all. It wasn't that he hadn't thought of it, but rather that he had pushed it to the back of his mind.

Strictly speaking, they didn't have much water left, and most of it was in the form of various drinks, making the water incredibly precious.

Hearing Zheng Xinyu’s question, Zhang Su was about to raise his voice when he suddenly remembered the "big guy" at the door. He quickly lowered his tone and said, "Don't even think about washing right now. Just let yourself get stinky!"

With no way to flush their waste and no way to wash, it wouldn't be long before the two of them became quite the smelly pair.