699: Chapter 122: The Recent Trend Seems Off 699: Chapter 122: The Recent Trend Seems Off Cui Xiaoying refused to take any money, which made Wang Yunxiao feel embarrassed.
If he took the money, he could let Li Mumu stay here with all due rights.
If not much money, would you let the poor widow serve you for free?
That would only leave them the option to compensate in other ways, by buying more food and firewood.
Li Mumu is a carefree person.
She laid down on the warm brick bed and fell into a deep sleep in less than five minutes, without any fear of being in a stranger’s house.
Is it because she’s confident in her abilities or because she trusts Wang Yunxiao too much?
This is a question.
At eight o’clock in the evening, Wang Yunxiao was boiling water in the outer room.
Youtiao and Loach arrived running through the snow and brought a burst of cold wind when they opened the door.
“This weather is really strange!”
Huddled next to the road, Youtiao rubbed his hands and said in a low voice, “Brother, all the firewood has been sold out, the coal too.”
Wang Yunxiao frowned: “That’s normal, after all, nobody expected such heavy snow today.”
“That’s true.
Tianmen never had such heavy snow in previous years…”
These days, most people in the city still heat with firewood.
Gas heating and steam heating are luxuries only the wealthy can afford.
As for coal, Tianmen City does not produce it locally; it has to be transported from outside.
Luckily, thanks to the Machine Manufacturing Bureau, a major coal consumer, a coal transportation line from Jin State to here was established early on.
With large transportation volume, the costs can be reduced.
Although the price is still not very appealing, ordinary people can manage it if they grit their teeth.
The school, however, does not lack coal, as there’s a student cafeteria that needs to cook daily.
The main reason still lies in this extreme weather.
Nobody’s a fool; everyone thinks of hoarding more.
If you hoard, I also hoard; the result is obvious.
A heavy snowfall suddenly dropped the temperature in Tianmen City from the teens Celsius two days ago to below zero.
Normally, once the snow stops, the warm and damp air from the sea would quickly raise the temperature back.
But this time, it’s not normal.
On the third day, the temperature still had not risen significantly, and Wang Yunxiao again saw military vehicles on the streets.
“Explosion in the gas pipelines of the Seaside District?”
Li Mumu, who had been sleeping soundly on Cui’s warm brick bed for three days, finally regained her strength and returned to the school library to browse through newspapers accumulated over the past couple of days.
“Are you okay now?”
Wang Yunxiao looked skeptically at the young girl who seemed to have regained her vitality.
The way she nearly looked dead the other day almost scared him to death.
It wasn’t just her; many students at the school had developed various conditions, with quite a few getting sick and taking leave.
“I’m okay now, let’s have hotpot for lunch!”
While saying this, Li Mumu couldn’t help but yawn involuntarily.
“Really okay?”
Wang Yunxiao looked doubtful.
I don’t think you seem okay at all.
“I’m fine!”
Li Mumu earnestly patted her chest to assure him.
But when the hotpot was brought back at noon, after eating a few bites, she couldn’t keep her eyes open again.
“Should I take you to the hospital for a check-up?”
Wang Yunxiao was quite helpless.
“No!”
Li Mumu had her own unspeakable difficulties and could only force a smile.
She now realized that she didn’t truly want to eat hotpot, or rather, the mutton slices couldn’t satisfy the growing hunger within her anymore.
To cultivate on the Righteous Path of the Demon Dharma Gate, one needs to absorb nature’s spiritual energy and the essence of the sun and moon.
And as her cultivation progressed, the nature’s spiritual energy in the Real World could no longer satisfy her needs.
It felt like being short of oxygen, no wonder she felt drowsy.
There were solutions, though not entirely without consequences.
The most convenient and quick method was to switch to the Heretical Path, consuming humans or sucking blood.
Another option was to stop cultivating.
Or, like the Immortals recorded in books, seek a Blessed Land of Cavernous Heavens brimming with spiritual energy.
And… hibernate.
The heated brick bed Wang Yunxiao had prepared for her in the air-raid shelter perfectly suited Li Mumu’s tastes.
The dark, enclosed environment involuntarily instilled a sense of safety akin to returning home in her.
If it were in the past, Li Mumu would consider this place a prison.
But times have changed.
Young people have their preferences, and so do the elderly.
Without reaching a certain age, one cannot appreciate the true taste of liquor, nor discern the quality of a play.
Now, Li Mumu, being in a bottleneck period of her cultivation, suddenly understood the feelings Xia Yubing had when she intensively cultivated in the Containment Department.
Finding a coffin to lie in, closing her eyes, and sleeping until the end of time seemed like a delightful thing.
Boy, Sand, your idea is really grand!
“It’s still not firm enough, needs to be heated for a couple more days…”
“No worries, I will sleep properly and won’t roll around!
Wang Yunxiao, I owe you a favor for this.”
The bed was quite large, somewhat a waste for one person to sleep in, but if she transformed into her demon form, she could curl up perfectly.
“The ventilation here isn’t great, you should leave the door slightly open…”
“Don’t worry, I’m not a child.”
Once you leave, I’ll block the door!
If not for the need of firewood to warm the brick bed, Li Mumu would really like to block the door and sleep here until spring arrives.
Back in the classroom, before Wang Yunxiao’s butt even got warm, Youtiao came running to snitch.
“Big bro, there was a monster causing trouble last night.”
“A weasel stirring trouble?”
“What weasel?
It’s the kind of monster that eats people.
Heard it chewed someone up to the half.”
Wang Yunxiao couldn’t really do anything about it, as Principal Zhou would say, you all don’t need to train anymore, leave opportunities to the youth.
The incident involved a neighbor next to a lower-grade student’s family home; he happened to be on leave to recuperate at home, and nearly got bitten to death when he went out to check on noises in the middle of the night.
Now, the big brothers of their class, the Yang brothers, have already taken a few people to investigate the situation.
Five youngsters went out for the night, and by the next day, only two and a half returned.
Yang Tianyu lost an arm, Yang Dahe was severely injured and was rushed to the hospital overnight for emergency treatment; he has not woken up since.
Another classmate died on the spot.
The guy was said to have practiced martial arts, always taking the lead in fights at school.
Unfortunately, he had never cultivated the Garrison Soldiers Dharma Gate, relying solely on his own fighting skills, which didn’t fare well against evil spirits.
Yang Tianyu, with eyes red, found Wang Yunxiao.
“Give me a few guns!”
Back in the day, when Wang Yunxiao took them to the Wei Family, he swept their private arms depot clean.
At the time, he even mocked Wang Yunxiao internally, thinking there was no point in targeting their weapons and ammunition over gold and luxury – were they planning a rebellion?
Now, he finally realized that being without firearms was truly untenable.
In fact, having guns might not even have been effective; ordinary bullets wouldn’t pose much threat to evil spirits.
Wang Yunxiao spread his hands, “None!”
“Can’t I buy them with money?”
“You should call the police.”