Meanwhile, in the backyard...
Nami and Lily had been swimming outside for an hour since one o'clock.
But the two moved back to the living room to start watching TV, as the temperature was getting too hot outside.
Although there was no TV signal, Nami was able to connect the TV screen to her computer and start watching anime.
After binge-watching an entire series for several hours straight, the two were getting hungry.
But just as Nami was about to go up to call Mom, all four of them walked down with their legs at a slight, weird angle.
Their hair was wet as if they had all just taken a shower at once, despite the absence of water sound in the outside bathroom.
"Oh hey, Nami, good afternoon." Yueyue yawned.
"Good afternoon... why did you all take a shower so early? It's only six o'clock." Nami curiously asked.
"Oh, three of us just went to Mom's restroom to take a shower. You know, Mom's restroom is so big it can fit three people inside, so it's no problem," Yueyue explained as her face blushed.
Yuqi and Leyan both quickly nodded in agreement, their faces blushing red as they thought back to what happened earlier.
"I went to the outside restroom to take a shower. Don't misunderstand anything, okay?"
Xiaoyun tried to explain himself but only made it more suspicious as the two clearly could tell something was off.
"Sure, whatever. Mom, can you cook something? I'm so hungry." Nami complained.
"Right, I'm going right now!" Leyan replied, seemingly much more energetic than usual.
"Oh right, I should tell you, Nami... Me and Yueyue are in love."
Xiaoyun suddenly kissed Yueyue right in front of the two, not hiding anything at all.
"Hey——"
"I want to be honest with Nami about this, okay? I don't want to force you to hide. That will be unfair for you when Yuqi and Mom can happily show up in front of everyone."
After a long silence, Yueyue realized that Xiaoyun's actions were helping her.
At the same time, Yuqi and Leyan both raised their favorability of Xiaoyun way up as they didn't expect him to be so direct for once.
"Thank you..." Yueyue bowed down in gratitude.
"Xiaoyun, you really are never satisfied..." Nami murmured as she looked over Yueyue's happy face.
"I'm satisfied, I'm good..." Xiaoyun stated as his leg shook a little, thinking back to what happened earlier in the shower.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, that's what all men say before they find another one."
Nami shifted her attention back to the anime as Leyan headed to the kitchen to cook, with Yuqi and Yueyue sitting next to Xiaoyun on the sofa.
However, halfway through the anime, the light and the TV suddenly turned dark.
"Did the power go off?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"Yeah, I think so. The house's power grid is connected to the city, so the entire city is blackout now."
Yuqi took out her phone and put on the flashlight, lighting up the living room fully.
Suddenly, a plate drop could be heard in the kitchen.
"Shit, Leyan's still cooking."
Xiaoyun quickly created a flashlight and ran toward the kitchen.
"Leyan, you okay?" Xiaoyun asked as he lifted Leyan from the ground.
"Yeah, I'm okay... did the power just turn off?" Leyan curiously asked as she went over to get a broom.
"Yep," Yuqi replied as the rest arrived at the kitchen.
"Do we have a candle or anything? The phone isn't going to last." Yueyue pointed out.
"Wait, I got a plan."
Xiaoyun created several flashlights, put them on the counter and table, and then turned them on.
The whole kitchen was now so lit up that it was even brighter than when the light was on.
"Leyan, can you still cook?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"Yeah, the stove we use is a gas stove... but we might run out of gas soon."
Xiaoyun quickly grabbed the propane, cloned it, and put it right next to it.
"Now, this should last for a long time."
Xiaoyun leaned to the side as he could feel a headache setting in, but it quickly went away as he shook his head a little.
As Leyan went back to cooking the food, the four sat down in the kitchen chairs.
"This going to be a problem every night, isn't it?" Yuqi pointed out.
"I mean, we can't restore power. We don't have a generator. I doubt Xiaoyun ever saw a generator."
Xiaoyun nodded in agreement with Yueyue's comment as he showed an empty hand.
"Then we need to look for a generator, either at the nearby mansion or near the outskirts of the city," Nami stated.
"Let Yueyue and I look for it outside tomorrow. I can drive the car this time." Xiaoyun suggested.
"When did you learn how to drive a car?" Yuqi curiously asked.
"When I was in the past."
"Oh... right, I forgot..."
"Okay, dinner is ready." Leyan interrupted the two as she carried the dishes to the table and sat down next to Lily.
---
After everybody finished eating, they all went back to their room and went to sleep as there was much to do.
However, Xiaoyun's bed sheet and blanket were still in the washing machine, along with the blanket in his suitcase.
So he tried asking them one by one to be able to sleep in one of their rooms, but all of them refused to let him in.
It was almost as if they had coordinated together to reject him, leaving Xiaoyun with only one option: to lie alone on the dark, cold sofa.
"Fuck man, how can I have three wives, yet I am sleeping on the sofa... I didn't even do anything wrong... Maybe I went a little overboard in the shower..."
Xiaoyun thought back to his actions ever since he had woken up from the nap in the afternoon.
"But like they kept taunting in front of me, what am I supposed to do? Whatever... I need to sleep."
Xiaoyun turned around on the sofa several times but couldn't fall asleep, no matter how hard he tried.
"Wait, why didn't I just think of making a brand new bed sheet? Whatever, I don't want to get up now... It's not even that bad."
After a while, Xiaoyun eventually fell asleep as the cold air blew over him on the hot summer night.
---
When Xiaoyun woke up and finished getting out of the restroom, it was already eight o'clock.
"Leyan must be up early to cook breakfast," Xiaoyun murmured as he could hear the water running in the kitchen.
As he entered the kitchen, all four of them were already eating at the dining table.
"Good morning everyone."
"Good morning."
Just as Xiaoyun took a seat and picked up his bowl, Leyan moved next to Xiaoyun and decided to ask something.
"How's the sofa honey?"
As soon as Leyan said it out loud, all three of them laughed as they saw him sleeping on the sofa in the morning, except Nami and Lily, who looked confused.
"To be honest, the sofa isn't that bad. Being able to have the air conditioner directly blow into you rather than having the cold air just being in the air."
Xiaoyun tried to act as if it was totally great, but all three of them could clearly tell he was lying. Even Nami and Lily realized what had happened.
"Yeah, sure, that sofa is so damn comfortable to sleep in," Leyan smirked as everyone laughed out loud again.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you guys win."
After a while, everybody finished the breakfast.
"Hey Xiaoyun, can you help me something at the gym?" Yueyue asked.
"Sure, let's go to the gym then."
The two headed to the gym, and then Yueyue pointed to every single item in the gym.
"Can you clone them? Please!" Yueyue pleaded as she held Xiaoyun's arms.
"Fine, fine, but why do we need this? Isn't one enough?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"Yuqi and Mom are finally thinking of exercising in their free time! Even Nami and Lily were thinking about it. They actually want to get stronger to help us!" Yueyue excitedly jumped.
"No wonder why... that makes sense. Let me try them one by one."
Xiaoyun walked up to the bench and cloned it easily. The dumbbell and rack were just as easy as the pull-up bar.
Eventually, Xiaoyun was able to clone every piece of equipment except the last one.
"Okay, this treadmill is a little big... I mean, it's not as big as a bed. How bad can it be?"
Xiaoyun imagined it in his head, only for him to instantly fall to his knee as a sharp pain struck him in the head.
But at least the new treadmill was there now.
"Shit... this thing is a little too complicated..."
Xiaoyun slowly stood back up as Yueyue carefully supported him.
"Let stop——"
"Let me just do one more."
Xiaoyun wanted to know his limits, so he cloned another one next to it. This time, Xiaoyun was much more prepared.
He was able to resist the headache as the treadmill appeared, without falling almost unconscious like the first attempt.
"Now it's all good."
Xiaoyun pressed on his temple as he sat down on one of the benches to recover.
"You sure you are okay?" Yueyue asked as her voice sounded very worried.
"Yeah, I'm good. Just give me a few minutes. You can go bring them to exercise now." Xiaoyun signaled for her to leave.
"O-okay, I will go bring them to exercise now." Yueyue left the gym.
After a few seconds, the headache was finally gone. With nothing else to do, Xiaoyun started exercising.
When the three finally showed up, Xiaoyun was doing a pull-up on the bar.
Seeing Yuqi and Leyan were wearing a sports bra and yoga pants, Xiaoyun was a little stunned.
In comparison, Yueyue was only wearing a shirt and track pants.
"Let me help you guys. Let's start doing some basic exercise..."
As Yueyue helped the two do the exercise, Xiaoyun couldn't help but look at the two following instructions.
As Xiaoyun moved onto the bench, his eyes were glued to their chest, which kept bouncing up and down every time they did a jumping jack.
"Shit, I need to focus."
Xiaoyun quickly shook his head and focused back on exercising.
A few hours later...
Yuqi was completely exhausted, lying on the sofa in the living room. Leyan was sitting up on the sofa but barely wanted to move.
"You guys are tired now? The soreness is only going to get worse tomorrow," Yueyue advised the two.
"Noooo, not like this. It's so damn hot without the air conditioner. I'm so tired." Yuqi complained.
Leyan nodded in agreement as she rolled down to her side, looking at Xiaoyun, who barely looked tired at all.
"Don't worry. You will get used to it after a week or so." Yueyue tries to comfort them, but the two barely could move at all.
"You tell me I have to do this for a week? I'm going to dieeee!" Yuqi complained again.
"It's not that bad... at least for me," Leyan suddenly spoke up.
"Yeah, that's because you go to the backyard and garden every day. Do you know how hard it is for an office lady like me to go exercise? Wahhh, I am going to die."
Yuqi started rolling on the sofa like a dead fish as she looked dead in the eyes.
"Hey Yueyue, when are we going out?" Xiaoyun asked as he walked back from the gym.
"Um, how about an hour after lunch?" Yueyue suggested.
"Sure." Xiaoyun nodded.
"Let me go cook lunch for you guys before you leave." Leyan quickly headed to the kitchen after she finished talking.
---
After eating lunch, it was now one o'clock.
Xiaoyun and Yueyue got into the car inside the garage.
"Man... this car," Xiaoyun murmured as he started having flashbacks.
"What about this car?" Yueyue curiously asked.
"We bought this car for our second anniversary..." Xiaoyun replied as he started the car and opened the garage door with the remote.
"Oh..." Yueyue quickly realized this car had been here before she was born.
"Anyway, let's get going."
After a few minutes later, the two arrived at 305.
"Let's go search this one."
The gates and door had already been opened, most likely by the gang member who had already searched it.
After searching the entire house, the two could only find useless furniture.
The two drove to 306 next, once again finding more useless furniture. Then they went to 307, which was the same thing.
Finally, they went to 308, which was again useless furniture.
"Shit, they really pick everything clean," Xiaoyun commented as they drove to 309.
As the two drove there, they could see several of the women with Huayi planting something in the backyard, with Yezi and two men standing in the front swinging a metal pipe.
Seeing Yezi waving at his car, Xiaoyun stopped the car, and the two got off.
"How's it going? It looks like everything is getting set up," Xiaoyun commented as the two walked towards him.
"Yep, I'm just teaching these two rookies how to use a bat. Hey, you don't slow down! This is for your sake if you want to return home alive!
I'm not doing charity work or giving out free food! If you can't endure it, just leave!" Yezi yelled out loud as one of them was getting tired.
"Yes, sir!" The man started swinging it faster again.
"So, what brought you here today?" Yezi asked.
"Do you guys have a generator?" Yueyue asked.
"We just need to see it..." Xiaoyun added but realized how weird that request was.
"Oh right, yesterday the power went out for the entire city... Actually, let me show you something. Let me drive for a second."
The three got in Xiaoyun's car and drove toward Yezi's 301 house, then to the gate entrance of the Luoping community.
Yezi stopped the car and walked toward the small concrete room where the security hung out.
As the three entered, Yezi pointed at the control.
"This is the security room with the camera both monitoring the front and back of the community. And behind you, two are the electric switches for the whole community." Yezi explained.
"How do you know all these?" Yueyue curiously asked.
"Well, before the virus broke out, I used to be friends with one of the guards... they told me that this left switch here cuts the community power grid away from the city in case of a power surge coming from the city."
"Anyway, what matters is if we have power but we don't it flow towards the city on accident, we need to flip this. Since the city is completely out of power, now I can switch it."
Yezi flips the left switch, but nothing changes. It only separates the power between Luoping and the city, which both had no power.
"How about these switches?" Xiaoyun pointed at the other ten switches.
"Those are the switches for each house. Yours is the 303... so the fourth one from the left." Yezi responded.
"I am going to flip all of them except 309 and 303... Now, only these two houses can have power.
Here, let me show you the generator... It's just a street from here."
Yezi got back into the car, and the two followed him.
Yezi drove past 310, the last house of the Luoping community that the two had yet to see.
"This house isn't actually a mansion like the others... This is just an employee's house... It's just a bunch of bunk beds and nothing else."
The two followed Yezi to the concrete room to the side of the house.
"This is where the electric room is. They usually have walkies and talkies to communicate with each other on each side. Anyway, here's the standby generator that they built."
Yezi pointed out the three generators attached to the wall, which looked massive when put together.
"Issue I have with this damn thing is it doesn't have any gas... so it's practically useless, as you can see."
Yezi turns the generator on, but nothing happens.
"So we need to get gas somehow if we want power... that's what you two want, right?" Yezi looked back at the two.
"Yeah, having no power is like going back to the stone age," Yueyue replied.
Xiaoyun hesitated for a second but decided to try something.
"Wait. I have several canisters of gas inside my car."
Xiaoyun quickly ran back out before anyone could catch up, filled three gas cans, and walked back in.
"Here is the gas."
Xiaoyun handed one of the cans to Yezi, who filled the entire generator as it began running.
"Oh my god, how the hell did you get all these? Did you rob an entire gas station?" Yezi commented as he loaded the gas cans to the next generator.
"Um... I just had some stocked up before the virus outbreak for my car." Xiaoyun awkwardly scratched his head as he made an excuse on the spot.
"Okay... Anyway, let's start this thing." Yezi started the generator as it started running.
"Now the power should be online again. This thing is pretty powerful but also eats gas like crazy. I think this can at least last a few days.
Use as much power as you want since this thing has no control over how much it consumes... Man, who the hell designed this shitty generator."
Yezi kicked the wall in frustration, but it only caused more pain to himself.
"Don't worry. We have several more gas cans at home... we uh——"
Xiaoyun realized he couldn't find a good excuse, as nobody would have a large stockpile of gas lying around at home.
"As long as we have enough gas, it's all good. Anyway, let's leave this place now. I'm getting sick of the smell."
After they arrived at 309, the two said goodbye to Yezi and then got back inside the car.
"Where did you get the gas cans? You seen touched one before?" Yueyue curiously asked.
"Yeah, of course I did. I literally used to fuel up this car with it once when I ran out of gas on the road," Xiaoyun explained as he started up the car.
"Time to go back home."