Chapter Twenty-Five: The Corn Quartet

Half an hour later, the off-road camper van slowly came to a stop beside the entrance of the residential complex.

Noticing the unfamiliar vehicle approaching, the two men stationed at the guard booth immediately raised their steel forks in alert, signaling for her to stop.

Jiang Huan opened the car door and revealed her face. The two men, who had just received cigarettes from her earlier, relaxed at once and even came over to ask if she needed help parking.

Such a privilege?

Jiang Huan glanced at the two of them. “You’re on duty, so call a couple of people to help me move some things.”

Move things?

The two men exchanged puzzled looks as Jiang Huan opened up the camper. “I found a camper van, which already had some supplies inside. On the way back, I came across a small shop and brought back whatever was useful. Get a couple of people to help move everything to the property office. I’ve already said I’d hand over a portion of the supplies.”

Excitement was barely concealed on their faces.

They were currently under Wu Gang’s management at the property office, and all their food and accommodation came from there. Whatever Jiang Huan handed over would eventually trickle down to them in some way. With this in mind, they eagerly went to call the others who were off shift.

As soon as they said supplies were being moved to the property office, there was no need for further urging. People sprang from their beds, hurriedly throwing on coats and hats, jogging over to help. Four grown men finished the job in a single trip. Jiang Huan told her younger brother to go upstairs first while she made her way to the temporary property warehouse on the first floor.

Wu Gang looked tired, but when he saw the supplies, a bit of relief appeared on his face. “Miss Jiang, you’ve been lucky.”

“Not too bad,” Jiang Huan replied. “But I ran into some people trying to hijack the car on the way back. The windows and body were damaged. If it’s not repaired in time, it probably won’t be drivable again.” She made no attempt to conceal how hard these supplies had been to come by.

Wu Gang pinched the bridge of his nose. “Miss Jiang, we at the property office have witnessed your hard work and know the contributions you’ve made. In the days to come, this will not be forgotten.”

This was a promise that Jiang Huan would receive special treatment in the future.

Not only that, he confided a secret: the network infrastructure was nearly complete. At the moment, only the property management and the building captains could use it, but to make it available to everyone in the area, more materials were needed. He produced a device, no bigger than a palm, looking much like a basic mobile phone, but with very limited functions.

“Use this for now. Once we have all the materials, it’ll be improved.”

Jiang Huan took it and tried it out, finding it reminiscent of the cell phones from twenty or thirty years ago, with a communication function like the earliest version of QQ—only text messages could be sent.

The communicator could be used for calls within a radius of about two hundred meters.

“When will those materials be found?” she asked. If she happened to have any on hand, she didn’t mind ‘coincidentally’ finding them next time she went out.

Wu Gang thought for a moment and handed her several sheets of paper. “This is a notice from above for the managers of each temporary survivor gathering point. There are official materials, of course, but under the current circumstances, there’s no way to provide free services or assistance to the public anymore. Everything requires contribution points.”

Jiang Huan took the papers and skimmed through them. She hadn’t heard of this before, and only after reading did she understand why it was distributed only to administrators.

The messages were listed one after another—never mentioning the word ‘apocalypse’, yet every sentence described the reality of it.

If these messages were released all at once, it wouldn’t just cause panic; some might lose all hope, even harming those around them or succumbing to despair.

The most frightening part was that, aside from the initial free distribution of supplies, all subsequent supplies would require survivors to organize search efforts themselves, or to exchange goods for contribution points to trade with the authorities for what they needed.

The previously stated prediction that the freeze would end soon had now been extended to half a year.

Jiang Huan tapped the documents lightly with her finger. “According to this, the community will soon need to be integrated and everyone will have to be as self-sufficient as possible. That’s not going to be easy.”

“True,” Wu Gang replied. “The first time I took everyone out to gather firewood, I realized how tough it would be to mobilize them. But no matter how hard it is, it must be done. Someone always has to take the lead. That’s why, Miss Jiang, I truly admire your independence and decisiveness. In future work, I may use your example to encourage others to go out and search for supplies… Of course, if anyone ever causes you trouble, our property office will handle it for you, any time, anywhere.”

Jiang Huan pushed the documents back to him. Apart from the contribution point system, none of the other rules could restrict her.

As for Wu Gang’s proposal: “I agree to being used as an example. In exchange, please have my vehicle professionally repaired. I’ll provide the materials myself.”

“Deal! Not a problem. I know a veteran mechanic who’s been fixing cars for years. Today we’ll have your car inspected, and I’ll let you know what materials are needed.”

Jiang Huan nodded, rose to take her leave, and after deducting her ‘commission’ for the property office, the remaining supplies were carried upstairs by three young men. As they left the temporary warehouse, the survivors huddling in the lobby for warmth immediately fixed their eyes on them.

“So much stuff—is that all for her from the property office?”

“No, I saw her drive in today. She managed to find both a vehicle and supplies. What luck.”

“I think she’s just brave. With this weather, she still went out.”

“I got a good look—the car had dents and cracks. This trip must not have been easy…”

The crowd buzzed with speculation as Jiang Huan ascended to the fifteenth floor. The three young men hesitated, remembering that she had claimed everything above the fifteenth floor as her domain. “Should we still go up?”

“Come on up,” Jiang Huan said. She had already installed her security system; anyone with ill intentions wouldn’t escape its alarm.

They made it smoothly to her door, stacking the supplies in a neat row outside.

The room, already cramped by the addition of a pedal-powered generator, would be even more crowded once all these items were brought in.

She handed each of the three young men a bottle of cola. Watching them head downstairs in high spirits, Jiang Huan began to ponder.

She needed to make use of the other rooms—turn them into functional spaces for different purposes.

The downside of doing everything herself had become clear these past few days. In her previous life, she lacked the ability to enjoy any privileges in the apocalypse. This time around, she wanted to live like a boss, hire a few people, make her life easier, and lighten her own load.

She put all the supplies at the door into her storage space, opened the door, and entered. Jiang Xi, honest as ever, was already back on the pedal-powered generator after her short trip to the property office.

Jiang Huan called him down for dinner. “Anything you’d like to eat?”

Jiang Xi thought for a moment, pulled out a tablet, and showed her a still image from a snack market in Cornland—fiery red spicy rice cakes, chicken feet, bubbling stone pot bibimbap, and steaming fish cake soup.

Jiang Huan understood. “You want Cornland-style food today?”

“I do.”

She couldn’t recall if she had specifically collected the dishes in the picture, but she definitely had the ingredients for fish cakes, rice cakes, and chicken feet. She set about preparing them—boiling water, adding soup packets.

In the ready-to-eat section, she found stone pot bibimbap and spicy chicken feet. The fish cake soup was already on the stove, and she cooked the rice cakes, tossed them in sauce, and stir-fried them. The four dishes Jiang Xi wanted were soon ready.

Glossy, tender spicy chicken feet that fell off the bone with a bite; chewy, saucy rice cakes; piping hot, savory fish cake soup; and a hearty stone pot bibimbap with egg and a full spread of side dishes. The siblings sat face to face and dove into the feast before them.

Before long, a mound of chicken bones had piled up high on the table.