On the first day, the four of them cleared out all the wood from the 24th and 25th floors.
On the second day, they did the same for the 26th and 27th floors, sweeping them clean.
But after two days of walking through sixteen apartments across four floors, they hadn't seen a single soul. The number of empty homes made them inwardly uneasy.
"Where is everyone?" someone finally asked.
The truth was, the residents had already made arrangements. To keep the four of them from turning desperate and targeting others for food, everyone had moved in together long ago.
With the water levels constantly rising, the lower floors had become uninhabitable. But going too high meant getting too close to these four, so after some discussion, they decided to settle on the 28th to 30th floors. After all, wasn't there a separate security door on the 31st floor? If things ever got bad, they could lock it and use it as a barrier.
So no matter how cramped it got, they stayed put on those three floors, leaving the lower levels completely empty.
On the third day, when the four reached the 28th floor, they finally found people — frozen stiff, huddled together for warmth.
Looking at the frozen figures clinging to one another, Huang Jinghe's expression grew uneasy. "How about we…"
"How about we…" Lao Gao repeated, watching Huang Jinghe, waiting to see what he was about to suggest.
Just when Lao Gao thought he was going to say something compassionate, Huang Jinghe finished, "How about… we throw them off the building? Living in the same block as them makes my skin crawl, and they're way too close."
Ling Jiang exhaled in relief and teased, "They died miserably enough, and you still want to toss them out? You're something else."
Huang Jinghe grimaced. "I can't help it, it creeps me out. Sure, they're frozen solid now, but when the weather warms up, we'll have a real problem. Might as well toss them now."
Lan Jin raised an eyebrow. "Do you even know when it'll get warm again?"
That… he honestly didn't.
Lao Gao stepped in. "Alright, how about we just move them into one room and lock it? If you're still creeped out, we can check whether the 31st floor is empty. If it is, we'll lock the security door. We can always unlock it ourselves when we need to leave. That good enough?"
It was definitely better than leaving them out in the open. Besides, Lao Gao had a point: "I'm on the 33rd floor. I don't know what you're so afraid of."
"It's different."
The situation was different. Living people and dead people weren't the same. One fear was physical, the other was mental — but both were fear all the same.
Since Huang Jinghe had brought it up, it was on him to deal with. Thankfully, Lao Gao helped, and it didn't take long to lock all the frozen bodies inside a single apartment.
Meanwhile, Lan Jin and Ling Jiang were busy dismantling any burnable wood they could find.
The 28th floor's four households were all gone, but when they moved on to clean out the 29th and 30th floors, they were surprised to find some survivors.
Since people were still living there, they didn't disturb them and moved on to the 31st floor.
That floor had originally been home to a single household. But during the heavy rains, fearing the residents two floors down, they'd moved out and never returned. Lao Gao assumed the floor was empty and promptly stripped all four apartments for wood.
After hauling the wood back, Lao Gao pulled out a heavy padlock and sealed the security door tight. The way he moved, it was as if he thought the people downstairs were already eyeing their precious wood.
Lan Jin smirked. "Afraid they'll come up to steal it?"
"No, I'm afraid they'll sneak up while I'm asleep."
…
After three days, they had finally gathered every scrap of wood in the building. They still didn't plan to leave yet. Their focus now was on making charcoal. At dawn, the four of them headed up to the rooftop and got to work.
For four people who had never done this before, things went… very badly. They wasted plenty of wood and ended up with no real charcoal, just a small basin of ash.
They all stared at the ash, hearts aching.
While they were crouched there, wondering if they'd missed a step, a sudden scream echoed from below the rooftop.
Ling Jiang rushed to the edge. "That sounded like…" She leaned over and peered down.
On the frozen surface below, she saw not just one person, but many. Some were walking in pairs, others alone, but all of them slipped and fell every so often. The constant yelps and tumbles would've been hilarious if you were only watching.
But the sight made Huang Jinghe frown. "Does this mean… we can go out now?"
"Looks like it. How about we wait one more day, then try going out tomorrow?"
The other three immediately agreed. "Alright."
But that was tomorrow's problem. For today, they were determined to get the charcoal right.
Looking at the precious piles of wood, Lao Gao couldn't take it anymore. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Sister Ling, how about we do it at your place? Have Grandma Ling teach us. Otherwise we're just wasting wood."
They really didn't know what they were doing. And just burning the wood directly made too much smoke, especially since it was coated in chemicals. They needed charcoal to heat their homes safely.
Ling Jiang glanced at their failed attempts and didn't even try to refuse. "Fine. I was going to suggest it anyway. I wouldn't be freezing like this if I'd just been burning at home."
…
Somehow, the charcoal-making task ended up in Huang Jinghe's hands.
He didn't mind, and went to the balcony to learn from Grandma Ling.
Meanwhile, the other three gathered near the balcony to plan where they'd look for supplies tomorrow.
Lan Jin said, "We've been thinking about gathering supplies, but the ice outside won't be easy to walk on. I saw a few people fall earlier, and their clothes and skin stuck to the ice. We should think about safety too."
Ling Jiang nodded. "Yeah, that's important. My god, I saw one person's skin stuck to the ice — it looked painful. I suggest bringing a bottle of hot water. If we get stuck, we can pour it on and free ourselves."