Back then, he also got ten bags of flour. In the past six months, he has been mixing rice, flour, and miscellaneous grains to eat, and more than half of it has already been consumed.
Skillfully slicing the meat strips, he also cut up four green peppers, and couldn't help but worry about another serious problem.
"The most pressing concern now is the basic infrastructure like water, electricity, and gas."
"Currently, the tap water has already been contaminated, the power system collapsed in the second week of the torrential rain, and if it weren't for the generator and my second-hand outdoor battery, charging the computer and phone would be a hassle."
Fortunately, before the internet went down, he had downloaded a large number of survival documents and various useful knowledge from the internet.
All stored on the computer and external hard drives, deleting quite a few teacher's works in the process.
Whenever he had time, he would look through these files, thinking that he would greatly benefit if he ever needed to use them.
At the very least, he should learn more while he can still generate electricity.
"Another deadly issue is the gas. The external gas has long been cut off. Luckily, when I renovated the place, I got two large gas tanks."
Yes, he still used gas tanks at home, which were rarely seen in urban households now.
When Liang Yuan was renovating, he hadn't connected the water and electricity, and didn't want to waste money renting a place, so he moved in early.
Needing to cook for himself back then, he bought two gas tanks, each weighing 15 kilograms.
Soon after he bought them, the natural gas was connected at home, and he regretted it, feeling he had wasted money on the gas tanks.
Unexpectedly, less than two months after the flood, the natural gas stopped.
As the water level continued to rise and government relief was delayed, these two gas tanks became extremely useful.
For the past three months, he had been relying on these two gas tanks to cook and boil water.
Honestly, he was lucky to have a pressure cooker at home; otherwise, the gas in the tanks would have run out long ago.
If he didn't have gas, cooking would be difficult.
The people taking refuge in the hallway were collecting floating wood and plastic for firewood.
Besides, water sources were the deadliest issue.
Although there was water everywhere outside, it was all seawater with a salty taste.
Countless corpses floated in the water, along with mutant creatures, and no one knew if drinking it would cause problems.
The rainwater from the sky could be collected, and Liang Yuan saw several neighbors hang bottles and jars outside their windows for water.
His water source also came from rainwater.
However, every time before use, he would filter it and boil it again to ensure it was safe to use.
As he pondered, he finished cutting the green peppers.
Liang Yuan skillfully heated the oil in the pan. As for ginger slices, garlic, and cooking wine, he ran out of those long ago.
But he still had some green onions growing on the balcony.
However, due to lack of sunlight for half a year, they looked a bit malnourished, thin as threads.
He didn't touch those green onions and swiftly poured in the soy sauce, quickly stir-frying the meat strips.
As he stir-fried, the meat strips turned an appetizing caramel color, releasing a mouth-watering aroma.
Taking advantage of the high heat, Liang Yuan tossed in the green pepper strips, stir-frying briskly.
As he added salt, a dish of fragrant and flavorful green pepper pork stir-fry was completed.
Liang Yuan turned off the stove and opened the pressure cooker, pouring the green pepper pork stir-fry into it.
In the pressure cooker, rice was cooking.
With no electricity at home, the electric rice cooker had long been unusable; now, he cooked rice with gas.
A pressure cooker cooks rice faster and saves gas, with the rice done in just five to ten minutes.
This was the secret that allowed him to persist so long with just two gas tanks.
As he stirred the dish with the rice, a delicious meal of green pepper pork stir-fry over rice was ready.
While stirring, Liang Yuan felt fortunate.
He knew very well that after half a year of the flood, the people outside had long been in a state of material scarcity, with some even having no place to stay.
Many rooms were packed with people; hallways and corridors were also occupied.
Some people, having no place to stay, became desperate and forced their way into others' homes.
Others even took to building makeshift shelters on the water.
Of course, the issue of supplies was the biggest problem.
While he didn't know about others, the young couple across from him had been coming almost every day the past week, practically begging for food.
Initially, the male neighbor came to borrow food, and Liang Yuan thought that since they were neighbors, they might help each other in times of crisis.
So, he lent them some food.
But as time passed, everyone realized that the world was falling apart.
After six months of torrential rain and the government's failure to organize effective relief, months ago the politicians on TV repeatedly urged for self-rescue.
Since then, Liang Yuan stopped lending food to the people across.
In the past month, the male neighbor had stopped coming to borrow food, instead sending his wife to sneak over and beg for food.
Each time she came knocking, she wore very provocative clothes.
Liang Yuan didn't know them well, having only seen them in the elevator occasionally to say hello.
He learned from eavesdropping in the homeowners' group chat that they were locals.
This apartment was bought in full after demolition compensation.
Locals in Linjiang City were wealthy; most demolition recipients were nouveau riche, owning several properties.
Due to the birth policy back then, most families only had one child.
Families with only one daughter would try to find a son-in-law.
However, some people specifically targeted these locals, pretending to marry into the family to drain their money.
After these incidents became known, locals became wary of marrying outsiders, and it became common for locals to marry only other locals.
They didn't follow traditional marriage customs but rather practiced merging families.
Two families would merge into one, eliminating the need for bride price and dowry.
They aimed for fairness, with future children taking one parent's surname each.
The neighbors across the hall were such a young couple who had merged families.
The man looked average, appeared to be in his early thirties, while the woman was stunning, around twenty-seven or eight.
Especially her large, round breasts, several times when she came knocking, Liang Yuan almost couldn't resist opening the door.
Just as he was thinking about this, he heard a soft knock on the door.
Liang Yuan paused, recognizing the familiar knock immediately.
"Speak of the devil," he chuckled.
This barely audible knock could only belong to that young couple across the hall.
If it were robbers, they wouldn't knock; they'd break in directly.
Liang Yuan walked to the door and picked up the mirror at the entrance, using it to check the peephole.
Outside the peephole was a young woman in a figure-hugging light yellow dress, around twenty-seven or eight years old, with long black hair.
Her figure looked curvaceous in that dress.
The pair of large, round breasts stood out, creating a deep cleavage.
Her facial features were very delicate, somewhat resembling the actress Yang Gongru.
Liang Yuan adjusted the mirror's angle, making sure there was no one else around, then opened the inner door.
"Sister Mei, is there something you need?"
Coincidentally, the woman also had the surname Yang, but her name was very common, Yang Mei.
Liang Yuan was only twenty-five, so it was fitting for him to address her as Sister Mei.
Yang Mei's face looked slightly pale, and her lips were a bit chapped.
But she had clearly groomed herself before coming out, with glossy black hair and light makeup.
It seemed her lip balm had run out; otherwise, she wouldn't have left her lips chapped.
"Little brother, Sister… Sister hasn't eaten for days. We've run out of food at home. Could you be kind and lend some food to Sister?"