Call Me Daddy

“It’s not just our city. Based on the current information, nearby cities like Yunzhong, Kaiyun, and Fubei are all experiencing signal loss and power outages.”

Su Yiqing worked in the municipal government office and had climbed the ranks over the years. In the city, aside from a few powerful businessmen, it was people like him who worked in government departments that could obtain firsthand information as soon as it was available.

Though it was true that the power was out and there was no signal, leaving them unable to gather information from the outside world via phone or internet, human ingenuity always finds a way. Hundreds of years ago, there were no networks or mobile phones—did that mean ancient people couldn’t communicate?

Moreover, they now had faster and more convenient transportation. Government officials had immediately dispatched people to nearby cities and the provincial capital. From the time the power outage began last night until now, there had been enough time for those sent out to make a round trip.

The information received so far wasn’t encouraging. The anomalies weren’t confined to their city alone.

Leaders quickly convened a meeting with some of the unit’s officials. Halfway through the discussion, someone rushed in and whispered something to the leader. Upon hearing it, the leader’s expression instantly changed.

“The team we sent to the provincial capital has returned. What I mentioned earlier was too limited. It’s not just nearby cities; the entire country is now experiencing a complete power outage.”

As the political center, the capital had acted far faster than local governments. Upon discovering the issue, they quickly organized a special group to maintain order in various provincial governments.

The colleague who had been sent to the provincial capital learned this news and immediately rushed back to deliver the grim report.

The satellites had disappeared, which caused the loss of signal for mobile phones and other communication devices. But the disappearance of satellites had far-reaching consequences beyond just that. Many devices that relied on satellite navigation had also failed. All airline flights had been grounded, with only a very few planes that navigated purely by inertia still operable.

At around 9 P.M. last night, the moment the satellites disappeared, countless transportation accidents involving planes, ships, and more occurred. However, due to the loss of signal, officials couldn’t even issue a single casualty report. Many people likely didn’t yet know that their loved ones had been involved in accidents at that time.

Secondly, there was the power outage. No one could determine the cause. The equipment wasn’t faulty; the electricity had simply vanished inexplicably from the world. They couldn’t even identify the principle behind it, let alone restore power.

The provincial capital had issued the highest-level security alert. This sudden and unprecedented event presented the most severe challenge yet to the government’s capabilities.

Calming the public and maintaining order and stability were now their top priorities.

But clearly, after hearing this news, the government officials sitting in the meeting room began to panic. They knew how heavy their responsibilities were, but at the same time, they were even more concerned about their families.

How should they relay the message to their families, to make sure they were prepared?

The power outage had occurred out of nowhere, and all the satellites had mysteriously vanished.

What about other countries? Were they facing the same situation as China, or was this anomaly actually a conspiracy by countries like Chou Country, Sha Country, and Tou Country, united against China?

No matter the case, it seemed they had to prepare for the possibility of losing satellites and electricity for a long time, along with all the infrastructure dependent on them.

This would undoubtedly change the way most people lived, especially those residing in cities.

Stockpile food, water, and various supplies; this was the immediate message everyone present wanted to send to their families. But as they instinctively reached into their pockets to call their loved ones and tell them to prepare, they remembered—phones could no longer make calls.

Su Yiqing withdrew the hand he had stretched toward his pocket.

He wasn’t particularly worried about food. His mother had always had the habit of stockpiling grain. Every season when new rice was harvested, she would buy hundreds of pounds of it to store in their family’s granary. If they were careful, their large family could stretch it out for 2 or 3 months. Not to mention, besides rice, their granary also held sweet potatoes, potatoes, and dried corn—foods that were easy to store.

Moreover, their family had several acres of land in the countryside, where his mother grew all kinds of vegetables and fruits. Compared to his colleagues who had grown up in the city, he wasn’t too concerned about food.

Su Yiqing figured that if they were going to stock up on things, they should focus on materials that would be difficult to produce later on.

If the power outage lasted for a long time, any items requiring further processing would likely become luxuries—things like toilet paper, sanitary products, and common medications. He felt there were far too many things they needed to buy.

Unfortunately, he had no way of contacting his wife. Su Yiqing could only hope that she would have enough intuition to come to his workplace as soon as possible.

***

Kong Yao and Su Yiqing indeed shared a deep understanding, though it wasn’t in finding him; it was in their alignment on stockpiling supplies.

The moment Kong Yao arrived at the shopping street, she headed to one of the few general stores and bought twenty packs of toilet paper, each containing ten rolls, along with twenty bundles of old-fashioned flat toilet paper. These flat sheets were about the size of A4 paper, with roughly a hundred sheets per bundle. They were cheaper and more durable than regular toilet paper, but also rougher. Deng Caihua preferred using this kind of paper, not only because it was cheap but because it didn’t tear easily while wiping, unlike toilet paper, which often required several sheets folded together.

In addition, Kong Yao picked up ten tubes of toothpaste, twenty bars of soap, two large bags of laundry detergent, and a variety of other miscellaneous household goods.

When it was time to pay, Kong Yao instinctively pulled out her phone to scan the QR code for payment.

“Miss, there’s no signal right now!”

The shopkeeper didn’t immediately realize either, until he had already handed her the printed QR code and then remembered the issue himself.

Kong Yao patted her forehead—how foolish she had been!

She had been so focused on the fact that her phone still had battery and could be used for scanning payments, but had forgotten that without the internet, neither Alipay nor Feixin would open.

“Wait a minute, let me see how much cash I have on me.”

Kong Yao felt a bit embarrassed as she rummaged through her bag, beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

Who still carried cash these days? She found a few coins stashed in a compartment of her bag, probably left there who knows when, but when she pieced them together, it barely amounted to 20 yuan.

She thought about going home—her parents surely had cash on hand.

“Altogether it’s 428, right? Just round off the change,” Su Aobai said, pulling out his wallet and handing the shopkeeper 400 yuan.

“It’s a small business, don’t worry about it. Since you’re my first customers today, I’ll just let it slide,” the shopkeeper smiled as he accepted the money, checking the hundred-yuan bills before agreeing cheerfully.

Everyone was probably preoccupied with the power outage and the lack of signal, and there really hadn’t been much business on the street today.

“Good thing you brought cash, Er Bai.”

The two of them, along with the shopkeeper, loaded the household goods they had just bought into the trunk of the seven-seater SUV.

Earlier, Kong Yao had thought her brother-in-law borrowing such a large vehicle to pick up their mother from the hospital was overkill. But now, seeing how useful it was for loading all their purchases, she realized it was the right choice.

She had bought so many odds and ends, and yet the rear of the vehicle was still half-empty. Even if they filled the trunk completely, there were still two spacious rows of seats for additional goods.

“Yeah, I had planned to give Mom a big red envelope when I came back this time.”

As he spoke, Su Aobai pulled a duffle bag from the back seat, unzipped it, and showed his sister-in-law the stacks of hundred-yuan bills inside, all freshly withdrawn from the bank. Some bundles still had the bank straps around them—it looked like there were 40 to 50,000 yuan.

“This is perfect!”

Kong Yao’s eyes lit up, and she and her brother-in-law hurried off to the next shopping stop.

With cash in hand, what was there to worry about? Time for a big shopping spree.

She didn’t bother with any polite talk about borrowing money to buy things. Their families were close, and she wasn’t the type to take advantage. When the power came back on, she would naturally transfer the money for the purchases back to him.

Moreover, if the power outage and lack of signal turned out to be long-term, Kong Yao would likely choose to temporarily return to the countryside with her children to live with her mother-in-law. The supplies she was stocking up on would most likely be used there as well.