Chapter 21: A Drop in the Bucket

After the last bit of snacks in the grocery store was snapped up, some out-of-control people did not even spare the dried goods.

The fat man could not stop smiling. He never expected that his little cleverness, combined with this sensitive timing, would allow goods worth only a few tens of thousands of yuan to generate nearly two million, pushing him directly into the ranks of the wealthy and leaving him stunned in Hemudu Town.

To him, what happened in City B was a trivial matter. Why were everyone so panicked? The modern era was not ancient times. In the age of heat weapon s, what were you to a monster? With machine guns, artillery, and missiles all at once, not even dregs would be left. “Really a bunch of idiots,” the fat man muttered, packing the money into a snake-skin bag, locking the small grocery store, and happily going back to his nest to count his money.

Those who failed to buy anything all showed expressions of disappointment, regretting why they did not have such courage.

Zhou Liming took a long time to catch his breath. The scene of the money transaction just now had sharply changed his worldview. He felt extremely depressed to find that even though he earned a few tens of thousands of yuan a month, he could only afford to eat instant noodles. Money… suddenly became incredibly important in his mind, or perhaps money was always important.

With a bitter face, Zhou Liming touched the few hundred yuan in his pocket, the spare money he had saved since the Orphanage. Now, he could not even buy the crumbs of an egg yolk pie.

“Surely the Town Government can get some food?”

Holding this thought, Zhou Liming struggled to squeeze toward the supply point at the intersection where the Town Government was located. This was Zhou Liming’s only hope now; otherwise, he, the children, and Dean An Xiaowei would all go hungry, waiting to see if things would improve tomorrow.

The buildings on both sides of the town streets were tightly closed. Such high vigilance meant no one dared to be sure whether any accidents would occur.

When Zhou Liming finally struggled to reach the intersection, the people there were packed tightly, unnaturally dense. Those who once considered themselves superior and had some money now pushed forward like ordinary street folk. Having gone hungry for a whole day, they no longer cared about their previous demeanor; they only wanted to fight for a mouthful of food.

The Town Government officials were indeed distributing food. To be precise, they were dispensing porridge, just like in ancient times.

After such a earth-shattering event, Hemudu Town was also in a very dangerous situation. Some officials, who were more sensitive to news than ordinary people, had left earlier. But as the saying goes, wealth comes from risk. A Deputy Mayor gritted his teeth and led a group of town cadres who were willing to stay to carry out preliminary rescue work. They took grain out of the granary, collected all the pots and bowls from the market, and set up an LCD large screen at the bridgehead.

All this risky effort finally paid off. When instructions came down from above, and when they discovered that there was still a Deputy Mayor and several town cadres in the entire town, rapid promotion became inevitable. The Deputy Mayor was truly appointed as the Town Party Secretary and concurrently served as the temporary head of the rescue command…

Whether it was out of a genuine desire to serve the people or for other motives, for Zhou Liming at this moment, he did not need to think about it or know it.

As long as good deeds were done, regardless of their original motives, at least it was a good thing, which was worth recognizing. Without their organization of people and strength, the huge crowd gathered here would have long turned into chaos. The number of people trampled to death would be unimaginable.

Due to a lack of staff, it was already good enough to distribute porridge; how could they maintain order on the scene?

Zhou Liming originally wondered if there would be an orderly distribution process. However, the people on the scene were squeezed into a group, all surging forward. It was extremely chaotic. It was basically a case of whoever grabbed the front got the food. In such a situation, if you cared about order, you might queue up all night and still not get any porridge.

Thinking of Dean Zhou and the children, Zhou Liming took a deep breath, then pulled his hand back and rushed forward regardless of the consequences.

The place where the porridge was distributed was formed into a large circle using some tables. More than half faced the street, and the smaller half was connected to the main door of the granary. The porridge was cooked in the granary and then transported here.

When Zhou Liming squeezed to the front, he saw more than twenty middle-aged men and women putting spoonfuls of white porridge into white foam boxes. As soon as the porridge was put down, hands would immediately take away the foam box containing the porridge. Although there were more than twenty people distributing the porridge, it was far from enough hands for such a large scene.

However, what Zhou Liming did not expect was that when he squeezed up to the porridge distribution point, the porridge bucket in front of him had already become completely empty.

At this time, a person with some official demeanor walked out with a bitter face and held a loudspeaker to say, “Everyone, I am very sorry. The grain in the granary has run out, and we cannot temporarily mobilize any more. Those who did not receive any please believe the government. Grain will certainly be transported in tomorrow. Please endure tonight.”

Hearing this news, the crowd froze collectively. The lively scene fell into an absolute silence for several seconds.

“Fuck your bullshit. How could the granary have no grain?”

A shrill voice rang out, breaking this mysterious silence.

The official holding the loudspeaker knew it was bad and hurriedly explained, “Everyone knows the role of the granary. It is already dead in name only. A few years ago, the policy changed, and after many agricultural taxes were canceled, where would the granary have any grain left… Everyone please listen to me. The granary really has no…”

The people, excited for a moment, did not listen. Under someone’s shout of “Let’s go in and check. How could the granary have no grain?”, the people rushed toward the granary.

Zhou Liming actually believed it because a distant rural relative of Dean Zhou had once visited the Orphanage. Zhou Liming heard her say that the town’s granary was almost completely empty. Many empty warehouses were even rented out to individual enterprises, using this rent to subsidize the staff working in the granary, treating it as a bonus.

The once glorious and prosperous granary had become an absolutely dry and empty government office with no extra benefits.

Understanding this, Zhou Liming knew that tonight, going hungry was certain. In this town, it was impossible to find any grain. Edible things were probably all bought out long ago. Furthermore, there were too many people gathered here. The entire town’s grain was but a drop in the bucket.

“Tomorrow?”

Zhou Liming smiled bitterly, but at the same time, he felt fearful. With the capabilities of the Fierce Beasts, it might not even take until tomorrow before they appeared in this area of Hemudu Town. Even Yuyao City would not escape the fate of City B. At that time, those who fled City B might not be safe.