Mobile Shelter

Chapter 10 The Snow Stops

The reason is actually quite simple. Outsiders like Dong Qi mostly prefer to buy supplies in the city center because it's more troublesome to go there each time, so they always buy in large quantities.

Locals generally own land, and even those who have switched to growing cash crops always have enough food stored up year-round.

As for water usage, it goes without saying that although every household has access to tap water, many families also have wells in their yards.

There is groundwater in most of the area, so the total cost of digging a well for your own use is not much, less than 10,000 yuan.

When Dong Qi bought the villa, the sales department provided a well for everyone who paid. Although the water volume wasn't large, it was sufficient for watering flowers and washing the car in the yard, meeting daily needs without any problems.

Therefore, compared to the food crisis facing urban areas, the impact on suburban areas is relatively small.

Unlike the urban areas, although there was no impact on survival, the heavy snow caused devastating damage to economic income. All the crops and produce planted in the fields were frozen to death after the snow disaster.

The month-long snowstorm has had a significant impact globally, but fortunately, Daxia has good infrastructure.

Therefore, even though the blizzard lasted for a month, most areas of the Great Xia did not experience power outages or internet disruptions.

As for the water outage, it's been snowing heavily outside anyway, so as long as you don't mind the dirty snow, you definitely won't die of thirst.

In addition, the Great Xia court began disaster relief a week after the snow disaster struck, so although there were some casualties in Great Xia, the number was not as serious as expected.

During the snow disaster, Dong Qi tried to upgrade his natal artifact using his mental power, but the results were not entirely without progress; they were merely negligible.

Because of this negligible progress in upgrading, Dong Qi abandoned the upgrade method that relied solely on consuming mental energy.

On the first day of bidding farewell to the old year and welcoming the new, the heavy snowfall suddenly stopped, and the clear sky made yesterday's heavy snowfall seem like an illusion.

Although the blizzard suddenly stopped, most people were not in a hurry to go out, after all, as the saying goes, it's not cold when it snows, but it's cold when the snow melts.

Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, people from both the north and the south stayed at home and did not go out.

Everyone thought that with snow more than a meter thick, it would take several days to melt, even with salting.

In just one night, on the second day of the new year, all the snow on the road had melted into meltwater.

The sudden melting of snowmelt directly caused flooding around the world.

Most importantly, the sudden snowfall and melting snow meant that many underground facilities were not properly waterproofed in time.

Especially in most subway stations and underground parking lots, even with the best drainage facilities, water accumulation is inevitable when a large amount of snowmelt suddenly erupts.

However, compared to the previous snow disaster, this flooding will at most cause the subway to stop operating and a large number of cars to be flooded, and will not have much impact on the survival of most people.

The day after the snow melted, the yamen (government office) once again arranged for the patrol officers to collect information on each household in the jurisdiction, and Dong Hao came to knock on the door again.

At this moment, Dong Qi was using a water pump to clear the water from the basement. Although it had been sealed off in advance, a small amount of water still leaked due to the large volume of water, but fortunately the amount of water was not large.

Seeing that the gate was open, he went straight in. After seeing the water accumulation in the basement, Dong Hao immediately asked, "What's the situation here? Have you suffered any damage?"

"Luckily, I took precautions beforehand, so it only leaked a little and it's not a big problem. The snow has just melted and you've been sent out again."

"Of course, since I was put in charge of this area, if I don't come, who will?"

"By the way, you're in luck, kid. You just finished your big shopping trip and then this snowstorm hit. If it had come a few days earlier, or if you had delayed your shopping by a few days, then..."

Before Dong Hao could finish speaking, Dong Qi interrupted him directly: "That won't make me starve. I'm just going to buy some consumables."

There's still plenty of vacuum-packed rice stored at home. Even if the snow lasts another two or three months, let alone just one month, I won't go hungry.

Hearing Dong Qi's joking rebuttal, Dong Hao said helplessly, "Don't be such a jinx. It's not that serious here yet. If it rains for another two or three months, it'll probably be like the south. Tsk tsk tsk, that'll be terrible."

Dong Hao's words piqued Dong Qi's curiosity, and he quickly followed up with, "What's the situation in the south?"

When Dong Qi asked, Dong Hao didn't keep him in suspense: "The South has never experienced a blizzard, so let alone experience in preventing snow disasters, most households don't have heating equipment."

With such heavy snow, the air conditioners were completely ineffective. Fortunately, there was no power outage, so many households were boiling water to raise the indoor temperature while also dismantling furniture to make fires for warmth.

During the entire snow disaster, there were not many casualties, but the economic losses were incalculable. It is estimated that ordinary families will not recover for two or three years after this snow disaster.

"Alright, just listen to what they say over there. I'm here to talk to you about something important."

Seeing that Dong Hao's tone was becoming more serious, Dong Qi didn't pay much attention: "Isn't this just a routine registration? What could be the problem?"

Dong Hao: "Do you know what an Awakened One is?"

Dong Qi: "What Awakened One?"

Dong Hao: "Before the snow disaster, just like you, we endured three days of dehydration without replenishing our water supply. After waking up, we all basically awakened some kind of special ability."

Although there had been a blizzard outside for a while, the imperial research institutes didn't rest, which is why your affair came to light.

Seeing Dong Hao staring intently at him, Dong Qi wasn't nervous because of what the other had just said. Knowing Dong Hao well, his expression remained unchanged. Instead, he smiled and asked in return:

"So what? Besides, you're just a lowly constable. If something really big happens, will you even get a chance to handle it?"

Seeing Dong Qi's nonchalant reaction, Dong Hao's expression also changed: "As expected, you can't hide anything from me."

Your situation is not an isolated case. The imperial court initially kept it a secret quite tightly, and originally assigned a special person to handle this matter, but it was interrupted by the sudden snow disaster.

If the snow disaster had kept everyone at home, it wouldn't have been so bad, but some awakened individuals' abilities were actually enhanced during the snow disaster.

Instead of staying home obediently during the snow disaster, they went out and caused trouble.

Even though the snow has melted now, given the current conditions, those originally in charge of this matter simply do not have the means to immediately travel to various regions across the country.

The imperial court was afraid that the awakened ones would cause trouble, so they directly arranged for us constables to visit them one by one, since we were the ones who went to register them in the first place.

To be honest, when they asked us to register and report, I felt something was amiss, so your name wasn't on the list when I submitted it.

So I won't ask what abilities you've awakened. I'm just here to tell you to stay home and work hard for now, and don't go out wandering around aimlessly.