Blackstone Code

The heavy snow fell slowly from the sky, very slowly, because the snowflakes were so big that they were as big as a child's hand.

The larger ones are as big as the palm of an adult's hand.

Each piece is slightly curved and swirls down in the air, fluttering like goose feathers.

If it falls on the ground, it will not melt immediately. Instead, it will pile up there and be covered by another piece after a few seconds, becoming part of this cold world.

Southerners have rarely seen such heavy snow in the past. A local shivering on the roadside looked at the rapidly whitening world with some emotion.

"My wife and I and my family used to pay money to go north to see the snow."

His words made people queuing up to receive relief food on the roadside couldn't help but laugh.

It never snowed in the south in the past. The southernmost part of the federation is in the subtropical zone, so snow only happens once every few years.

As the most attractive season among many seasons, many southerners have never seen it in their lives.

From TV and literary works, they cannot truly experience the beauty of the falling ice and snow, and they cannot feel the chill hidden behind the beautiful atmosphere.

So every year, many southerners spend money to travel to the north to see the snow.

But now, they don't have to spend any money.

Maybe his joke made people feel less heavy, or maybe it was because the atmosphere here was good and people started to communicate.

Every time they open their mouths, a puff of hot air comes out.

"In the past, every time the weather station said it would snow, it would just rain. I was always very upset. They were so dishonest in what they said."

"But now I extremely hope that everything will remain as usual, and a heavy rain will end this damn thing tomorrow!"

People chatted about the past, present, and future. The queue kept moving forward, and people continued to pick up from behind and continue queuing.

After more than half an hour, the man was almost numb from the cold, and finally it was his turn.

"Each person has one serving of beans, two servings of potatoes, and some butter and sugar cubes." The staff member in thick clothes glanced at the man in line and asked him to open the food box he was carrying.

Then put in a spoonful of still-steaming kidney beans, two tablespoons of mashed potatoes, and a separate cube of butter and sugar.

These provided him and his family with food for three days.

After winter, supplies become even more scarce. Even though supermarkets sell all kinds of fresh food, few people can afford it.

Because it's too expensive.

The man in line said thank you twice, and then left quickly. His family was still waiting for him to take the food back, and he couldn't stay on the road for too long.

He suddenly started walking quickly, which warmed his body a little.

Heavy snow accumulated on the ground, which made it squeaky when stepped on, but not slippery.

It will only become slippery after part of the snow melts and freezes, but it will take at least half a year until this day, and the weather will not rise again until May or June next year.

There are many people on the road, all receiving relief food or relief commodities. There are many collection points, and each collection point belongs to a different "power".

To put it simply, they all belong to different shelters, and there are many strict conditions for receiving food or cold-warming items from them.

For example, you have to sign a occupancy agreement with them and live in their shelter for at least ten years before they will distribute basic food and supplies for free.

And not everyone can sign the contract. They only want young people, men and women, who are required to be healthy and have at least a high school education. The requirements for children can be appropriately relaxed.

And it is said that there are many other conditions. He asked about it once and lost interest.

The conditions were too many and too harsh, and he didn't really want to go to that kind of private sanctuary.

Maybe there were fools among the people at first, but as more fools were picked away, there weren't that many fools left.

Many people say that private shelters are actually a conspiracy and that those who run private shelters are the same slave owners of the past.

As long as you sign a contract to enter a private sanctuary, you sign the contract and become a slave.

After crossing two streets, the man in line returned home, and the warm room made him feel alive again.

It’s really dangerous to go out in winter now. The super cold air blows on people’s faces like knives. It doesn’t take long for the skin to dry out.

It is not noticeable in the cold air, which is slightly better. After the blood starts to circulate again in a warm room, the wound will not only leak tissue fluid and platelets, but sometimes even bleed.

Moreover, these wounds are difficult to treat and can cause severe pain.

After checking that there was no obvious frostbite on his face, hands and feet, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The wife divided the food into three bowls for three days and placed two of the portions on the balcony.

It only takes two or three hours for it to freeze into a lump.

Perhaps this is one of the few benefits of ultra-low temperature weather. For friends in the south, it saves money on air conditioning.

"Kidney beans and potatoes again.", the wife complained, "I want to vomit every time I see these two things..."

The man sighed, "It's good to have something to eat, so don't be picky. This is the only thing they can provide us for free."

Under the irradiation of high-tech particles, the growth cycle of kidney beans is shortened to only about 25 to 30 days. Potatoes are currently the main food source due to their cold resistance and extremely high yield per acre.

High in protein, high in starch, plus butter and sugar, the federal government's relief food has a very reasonable ratio.

If you are willing to pay a little more, you can get fresh vegetables, but basically no one will pay more to get a serving of vegetables.

The half-finished mashed potatoes with black pepper chicken flavor were heated and divided into four bowls. There was still a lot left in the pot, which was from the evening.

Two children came out of the room. The girl was older, already seventeen years old, and the boy was younger, only thirteen years old.

As soon as the girl sat down at the table and saw the mashed potatoes in the bowl, a desire to vomit struck her. She quickly ran into the toilet and retched for a while.

Anyone who eats any delicious food for more than a month or two will have the worst experience!

"Put away the mashed potatoes and I'll just have some beans."

The couple didn't force it, but the little boy took the food that his sister didn't want to eat and put it into his own bowl. After finishing the meal, he wiped his mouth and left.

The girl ate some beans and left. She couldn't stand the food.

In fact, the couple can't stand it, but they are both adults. They know that if they don't eat, it will be an unacceptable result. Unpalatable food is not unacceptable.

"The couple next door is planning to move out." My wife suddenly said this while eating food that actually tasted good but made me feel uncomfortable.

The man in line was stunned for a moment, "Are they going to the shelter?"

"I heard that they didn't win the lottery. Did they go to a private shelter?"

The wife nodded and mentioned the name of a private shelter, "They need to recruit 300,000 people there, and there is still a big gap, so they have increased some benefits and lowered some standards."

"Anyone under the age of 45 can apply, but they must be in good health."

The couple are in their early 40s, the husband is 41 years old and the wife is 39 years old. They have not applied for other private shelters before.

In addition to conspiracy theories that shelters may be places where people eat people, the more important thing is that the men in line are not qualified to apply for shelters.

Especially after Catherine came to power, she seemed to have no time to deal with the issue of new immigrants. Now that major shelters are filled with high-quality "immigrant resources," their needs for native residents have become more stringent.

For example, some relatively large shelters only accept applications from young skilled workers when it comes to recruiting residents within the federation, and do not allow parents to be brought along.

The lowest level of cheap labor has been filled by new immigrants, who come from all over the world and are well-educated, young, and healthy.

They were willing to accept harsher terms that no one in the Federation could accept.

The man in line was silent for a while, "I hope they made the right choice."

His wife hesitated to speak, but he actually knew what his wife wanted to say.

They queued up for the official shelter number, but they didn't get it.

This means they need to live on the ground for at least another year, and it is said that next year will be even colder.

This also means the continued shortage of various supplies. They are not a wealthy class. They just want to live underground earlier.

The man in line took a few mouthfuls of food in silence, and suddenly thought of something, "I'm going out tomorrow morning."

The wife stopped digging mashed potatoes and looked at her husband in surprise, "What's the matter?"

There was a smile on the man's face, "Isn't our company bankrupt?"

"The company owes some debts, including our last three months' salary, and now the federal government intends to solve this debt problem related to us."

"They help the factory pay us the arrears of wages."

There was also a smile on the woman's face. This might be the first good news after winter, "How much money can I have?"

The man was a little unsure, "About more than 2,700 yuan."

The smile on my wife's face faded a lot, "This much?"

The man suddenly didn't know how to answer this question. In fact, the amount of money was not small, after all, it was more than 2,700 yuan.

But to say that it is a large amount of money is obviously impossible.

The most common ground beef outside already costs over a hundred pounds a pound, which is more than twenty pounds of beef for this little money.

But...it is extra income after all, and it can be considered a surprise!

"Then you go early tomorrow, in case there are too many people receiving money from me..."