The building was also dark, and only the daylight from the windows could barely see a distance in the hallway. The height of the eighteenth floor is really not as tired as ordinary employees who only know sitting in the office typing computers and making phone calls.

Everyone was okay at first, but then they walked slower and slower with their briefcases, and even needed to support each other to go on, and the soreness on their thighs and calves gave these white-collar workers deep memories.

Many people were so hot that they took off their coats and didn't even want to say more, and there was only the sound of heavy wheezing on the cascading stairs.

But no matter how long the journey is, there is still an end to it, and finally the eighteenth floor is reached, and everyone comes to their familiar office location.

"Great, it's finally here. ”

"I've never been so tired since I graduated from college. ”

"Let's turn on the lights. ”

A few people walked to the switch on the wall, and pressed it a few times, but the office didn't mean to light up at all.

"Where's the computer, can it be turned on?"

"I can't do it here, what about yours?"

"No, the server is not on, there is no power. ”

"What about colleagues on other floors?"

"There was a power outage everywhere, not at all. ”

The minister put down his briefcase and coat in his office chair, and without saying a word, he pulled up the blinds, and the height of the eighteenth floor made the daylight extraordinarily abundant, and the office lit up at once.

Yoshiyuki Suzuki, as the minister in charge, naturally the desk is also next to the window, watching his colleagues like headless flies who don't know how to deal with the current situation, he quickly picked up the phone on the desk, which is a special line that can be dialed abroad, but it is also silent inside, and there is no sound at all.

"In that case, people won't be able to work, right? What about the accumulated business at hand?" he couldn't help but complain.

------

Yui Suzuki rushed to the school very normally, and at the door of the classroom, she pretended to be calm and cheered herself up, rushed into the classroom with a smile on her face, and shouted, "Morning, everyone!"

When her phone is out of battery, she is afraid of missing out on her friends, and if she dares to leave the group, everyone will be unanimously ostracized, which is no less than a disaster for her.

In the classroom that should have been full, there were only a dozen seats of classmates, and everyone was chatting, and several good sisters immediately waved in response when they heard Yui's voice.

"I'm really sorry, the power is out in that part of my house, and I haven't received any text messages from you..."Yui apologized before she had time to put down her bag.

"Your house is also stopped?"

"Are you too?"

"It's so inconvenient for our family, and it's troublesome. ”

Hearing that the power went out at the homes of several friends, Yui secretly breathed a sigh of relief in her heart, that's good, it's not her own fault, and the atmosphere of chatting suddenly became warm.

At this time, a girl rushed into the classroom panting and sat down in the seat next to Yui, looking very embarrassed.

"How did you do that? sweating profusely?"

"The tram didn't run today, so I almost couldn't come, but fortunately I lived not too far from the school. ”

"Oh my God~, how did you get here?"

"I came on my mother's battery-powered bike, and I was exhausted, and there were all the cars that couldn't move all the way, and everyone was running on the road. ”

"Wow. ”

"The electric button didn't respond, so I had to pedal it, which was terrible heavy. ”

"The sweat on your head is like someone has poured a basin of water, which is really exaggerated. ”

......

The scattered students in the classroom were chatting, and a teacher rushed into the teacher's podium and loudly announced, "Due to some circumstances, Mr. Mochizuki cannot arrive at school on time, so please study on your own in the first class and be careful to keep quiet." ”

As soon as his words fell, a louder voice rang out in the classroom, "Great!"

The teacher shook his head helplessly, the power was out in the school, and the radio in the classroom could not be used at all, so he could only notify each classroom one by one, and said while exiting the classroom, "Everyone, be quiet, who can help write on the blackboard, please." ”

"Good. A weak male voice answered the teacher's request.

"Mr. Ando can't come in a hurry, so everyone is studying on their own. ”

Louder cheers rang out from the next class.

"Long live self-study!" is like a festival for everyone who has a headache with homework.

------

In the lecture hall of the university, there are only a few dozen students in a class that can usually fill a classroom of several hundred people.

"There's still no power here. A boy who ran to the teaching area to look for a plug in the floor, and then looked at his mobile phone for a while.

"Anyway, what's the scope of this power outage? The streets I passed through were all out of power, and many shops were not open, so I didn't have breakfast. ”

"I don't know, at most three or four districts, this is already a very serious accident, and the governor must come out to apologize. ”

"Isn't your hometown in Kanagawa, call back and ask about the situation over there, and see if there is a power outage too?"

"You stupid, you can't use your phone now, and you can't change the battery, who knows what's wrong. ”

"yes, I forgot. ”

"You idiot, are you going to laugh at us?"

"We can't go to class without electricity, so let's go to Suzuki's house and read manga. ”

"Suzuki, your house is nearby, isn't it far away?"

Kenji Suzuki sat absentmindedly in his position, and as soon as he heard someone coming in at the gate, he immediately turned around to see if the goddess in his heart, Nakamura-san, was coming, and he didn't hear a few friends talking about the topic at all.

"Stupid, what are you thinking?" his friend reached out and tapped Kenji on the head, "It's really hopeless." ”

Kenji Suzuki didn't have time to refute, but he saw several friends from Nakamura coming in at the gate, but there was no figure of Nakamura-san inside, so he quickly got up and asked, "Excuse me, why isn't Nakamura-san with you?"

"Satomi? I haven't seen her today? She's a little far away, so I don't know if I can come over. ”

"Thank you. Disappointed, Kenji sat down again, looked at the dead phone, and sighed involuntarily.

"What's wrong with this guy, it's mysterious today. ”

"How could this be all of a sudden?"

"I don't know, is it in heat?"

"Hahahaha~" Suddenly there was a burst of hearty laughter in the small group.

------

In the supermarket, Guanghui pushed the shopping cart and walked around the delicatessen area, but the shelves were empty everywhere, and there were basically no items to choose from.

A clerk walked over with a pile of tied coins and was grabbed by Mitsue.

"What is the matter, this lady?"

"Why are there no bentos? ”

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but the bread and bento haven't been stocked up yet. ”

"Don't you have any rice balls? Where's your cook?"

"I'm very sorry that the delivery car suddenly couldn't move, the supermarket supplier couldn't deliver the goods at all, and many of our employees lived too far away to come to work on time. The clerk seemed to be in a hurry to get to the cash register, and after answering a few words, he left in a hurry.

Then there is no way, who knew that the scope of this power outage was so large, it came so urgently, everyone was not prepared at all, and some urgently needed goods had already been snatched up.

Guanghui took some candles, lighters, and matches in her shopping cart, and looked at the gradually empty supermarket, not knowing where to start.

Just as she picked up the instant ramen and looked at it, she heard someone say, "Get more water, the water is out at home, and I don't know when it will come, the bathroom is always needed, not too much." ”

Yes, you can go hungry, but you can't go without water, that's crucial.

Guanghui immediately rushed to the pure water area, a five-liter bottle of mass sales, took six bottles in one go, and then all kinds of cans, it's right to take more, it won't be bad if you can't put it in the refrigerator.

By the time the checkout was reached, there was a long line in front of a dozen cash registers, each twenty or thirty meters long, which was unimaginable in normal times.

"Oh my God, when will this be checked?"

"238 yuan, 198 yuan, 128 yuan, 350 yuan..."

All electronic devices could not be used, and the customer service at the cash register could only set up an abacus on the counter, and the superposition of one commodity after another, the ancient Chinese invention reactivated its original role at this moment.

"Mitsue, good afternoon. A lady from the team next to her greeted Mitsue.

When Guanghui saw it, it turned out to be an acquaintance wife on the sixth floor of the residential building in his community, and hurriedly responded.

"If this continues, it's too late to even clean and do laundry. Mitsue complained.

"yes, so I decided to give up my housework today and have a relaxing day. Mrs. Xiangshu smiled, "Look, I don't even prepare to cook, so I bought self-heating food." ”

Guanghui also picked up the can and said, "My family eats mapo tofu today, and if you heat it in hot water, you can pour it on the rice, which saves a lot of trouble." ”

"A little helpless, right?"

"One thing, it's very relaxing, I can have time to read what I've wanted to read for a long time. ”

Both of them laughed at this.

"I'm sorry. Due to the power outage at the supermarket, you are unable to use your bank card, so please be prepared with cash, and our checkout is limited to cash payment. A clerk stood on a cash register counter that had stopped service, shouting loudly into the blackened crowd.

"Earlier, if I have been in line for so long, you should have posted a notice in advance. One customer immediately complained.

"I'm really sorry, the printer in the office is broken, we can't print the notice, we are short of manpower, and we don't have time to draw by hand. The clerk took the shopping basket from the customer, put it on the cash register, and apologized.

The ATM is also black, the display screen does not respond at all, many customers give up after trying to insert the bank card into the card reader, the computer can not be used at all, the developed modern technology is useless at this moment, turn around and leave the supermarket in disappointment, the queue for checkout is suddenly much less, basically female, are housewives in the nearby community, and the men who are used to going to work simply can't think of carrying cash with them to shop.

------

Yoshiyuki Suzuki stood in front of the window, looking at the people traveling downstairs with carts, not knowing what he was thinking.

"No, you can't use this either. "A subordinate walks around the office with a radio.

"You young people are too useless, aren't you?"

"I don't know what to do with this power outage to the running tram?"

"I had to get off the bus and come over. ”

"Minister, you say this because your home is near the company, but we live several districts away, and it takes an hour and a half just by tram, and if you walk over, it will be dark. ”

"It's two stations, not nearby. Yoshiyuki Suzuki corrected his subordinates' mistakes in a straight manner.

"It's not enough to rely on the forms printed yesterday, a lot of information is saved in the computer, if you want to turn over the paper account, then you have to go to the warehouse to find it, there is no electricity and you can't see the specific location, they are stacked in cardboard boxes. ”

"Don't say it's too late to send the evaluation report, the head office still has to rely on our estimate to propose specific compensation to the Huaxia company that has dealings before, that is an astronomical amount, and it depends on whether everyone's two bonuses this year are rich or not. Yoshiichi Suzuki said with a grim face.

"Probably not, electricity will come soon, right?"

"It's nerve-wracking, why is there a power outage? It's still a big city like Tokyo. ”

"Other departments are also in a mess, and it seems that we are not the only ones who have problems. ”

"Isn't it strange that the plug doesn't work, the battery doesn't have power, and even the tram can't be driven?"

"It's all electrical-related, right, it's really puzzling. ”

"It doesn't seem to be a simple blackout, it's not an attack, like the kind of electronic warfare that experts say. ”

"Have you noticed the move of the Huaxia government a few days ago? A large number of troops have been stationed in cities and towns, and the military management system has been implemented, saying that it is for war preparation and training.

"Are you saying that there is also a power outage in Huaxia? Isn't it a few wards in Tokyo?"

"Is there any definite evidence of what you said?"

"I'm just guessing, I can't make phone calls now, I can't get TV or radio news, so where will I know the news outside of Tokyo, maybe it's a power outage in Tokyo. ”

The minister watched his subordinates' topics get farther and farther away, and they were about to talk about the international field, and hurriedly spoke up, "I know everyone is worried, in short, our work cannot be carried out without electricity." ”

After thinking about it, the minister sighed and announced, "In that case, then everyone can get off work today and go home." ”

"What?" Suzuki Yoshiyuki was surprised, "Isn't it a problem to just get off work like this?" As the minister's deputy, he has an obligation to remind the minister of the decisions he has made.

"Actually, it was an instruction from the top of the headquarters, as if they knew something, but they didn't say it. In short, let's go home from work immediately, many colleagues live far away, and it must take a long time to walk, so pay more attention to safety. ”

"Hooray!" the young staff jumped for joy.

"What are you doing~" Yoshiyuki Suzuki was unhappy.

After leaving the office building, he came to a bicycle shop near the company, and people were constantly pushing brand new bicycles out of the front of the store, and it was obvious that the business of the store was very good. You can't just run home, and there's no way to buy a bicycle and ride home, it's really an out-of-budget expense.

At the moment, the bicycle shop is a lot empty, and there is an orange bicycle parked in the center of the store, with a price tag of 44,800 yuan.

Yoshiyuki Suzuki, as a man, was reluctant to ride a red bike, and after looking at it for a while, he noticed that there was also a pale yellow bicycle in the corner of the store, a color that he could accept.

"Excuse me, how much does that car cost?"

"I'm sorry, this is a scrapped item that is not for sale with missing parts, and it can't be sold now. There are a lot of customers today, and the only thing left in the store is the red one. ”

When Yoshiyuki Suzuki was still struggling, another customer entered the door, glanced at the situation in the store, and before he could speak, Yoshiyuki Suzuki immediately said loudly and alertly, "Then I want this car, can I ride it away?"

The truth that the hands are fast and the hands are slow, as the righteousness of the old fritters in the workplace, is still very clear in my heart. Although the price of the bicycle is a little more expensive than usual, and the color is not to his liking, in this situation, he has no choice, and no matter how slow he is, he can only walk home.

"Because of the power outage, we only accept cash. The store manager said politely.

"No problem, I'll pay right away. Yoshiyuki Suzuki is glad that he has a lot of money, and he always has 200,000 cash in his wallet, which can fully cope with the current situation.

Yoshiyuki Suzuki, who went home, found a figure sitting on the stairs when he went upstairs, and was startled, and looked carefully to find that it was an old lady who lived on the eighth floor, and looked at the half-full bucket on her legs.

Yoshiyuki Suzuki asked politely, "Are you okay?" Without waiting for the old lady to answer, he lowered his head and continued to climb the stairs, he rode a bicycle for several kilometers, and he was also very tired.

Today's dinner at the Suzuki family was between a few candles.

Rice cooked on a gas stove is served in a Chinese food pack that can be eaten while heated, and there is little sound when the family eats.

Yoshiyuki Suzuki finished slicing the rice in a few bites and wrote the numbers in the account book by the candlelight on the table.

"At this time, don't take your job home. Guanghui opened her mouth to persuade.

"It's because of these extraordinary times that I need to take my work home and deal with it. This time, the information is very critical, the semi-annual award in June depends on it, and with the money, you can take the children to travel abroad, and everyone will have fun at that time, and without my job, everyone will not even have to eat. Yoshiyuki Suzuki complained, the pen in his hand still not stopping.

Yui, who just wanted to open her mouth to praise her father, heard her father's last two words, and immediately lowered her head again.

His son, Kenji, was in no mood to eat anymore, so he put down the dishes and chopsticks in his hand, got up and left the table with a lit candle.

"Be careful with fire. Guanghui reminded her son.

Kenji walked to the bathroom without saying a word, and his mother's words came from behind him, "Do you want to use the bathroom?" The toilet doesn't flow water, so you can use the water from the bathtub to flush it in the toilet, and pay attention to conservation. ”

Guanghui ran back and forth several times today, buying hundreds of liters of pure water to pile up at home, which is where it comes in, water is indispensable.

"Mom is talking to you, how can you agree~" The father scolded his son loudly without raising his head.

Kenji ignored his father's reprimand and left the restaurant.

"Who is this kid like? ”

"Adolescent children, it's normal. ”

"When you are still in adolescence, it would be good to be able to support yourself after graduating from college, then he will know that the emotional farts of adolescence are useless, and society doesn't care what period you are. ”

"Why is the toilet also broken, and the toilet is not for electricity?" asked her daughter Yui, who is very particular about personal hygiene as a girl.

"I don't know, maybe it's the water pressure or something, we live on the tenth floor, the pressure is not enough, the water tank on the roof is empty, the pumping motor can't move, the water can't come. ”

"I'm full, and I'll take the candles. ”

"Okay, I'll do the rest, watch out for the fire. Guanghui took the plate from her daughter's hand, turned around and put it in the kitchen sink, looked at the sink full of dishes, and turned the faucet a few more times, but not a drop of water came out of it.

Returning to the dining table, he put his hands on Yoshiyuki's shoulders, "Husband, will it be back to normal tomorrow, right?"

"Who knows? Those officials know about quarrels all day long, they don't do anything, and when it's their turn to deal with problems, they start to shirk their responsibilities. ”

Without water, you can't do housework, you have to save the purified water you buy, and you don't have to wash the dishes and clothes for the time being.

The rare relaxed Guanghui came to the balcony, and when he looked up, he noticed the bright starry sky overhead.

"Husband, come out quickly. Mitsue happily called out to her husband.

It's a pity that Yoshiyuki is still buried in sorting out the numbers in his hand, which are the materials he wants to submit to the headquarters.

Standing on the balcony on the tenth floor, looking around, Guanghui noticed that the building as far as the eye could see was pitch black, and only a few faint candles were revealed.

Overhead, there is the silence and darkness that blends in with the city, and countless stars shine in the night, intertwined into an unforgettable picture that makes people feel serene.

Yoshiyuki finally finished processing the information in his hand and put down the pen, only then did he remember his wife's call, and also got up and went to the balcony, noticing Guanghui who was standing on the edge of the balcony looking at the starry sky silently.

Yoshiyuki's heart seemed to be a little moved, and he walked to Guanghui's side in a few steps, stood side by side with her, and reached out to hold Guanghui's hand on the balcony railing, it should be good to keep a little more warmth between husband and wife at this moment. Who knows, one hand went down, but he pressed the air, and Guanghui quietly removed his hand.

Yoshiyuki glanced at his wife obliquely, okay, and angry.

There is no electricity, the teacher has not come for a day, it is all self-study, naturally there is no homework, Yui who went back to the house is playing with a mobile phone that has no power and does not know what to do, and picks up a fashion magazine, and the clothes on it cannot be seen clearly in the dim candlelight.

Yui had no choice but to place the candle between the magazine and herself, and put her head close to the candle so that she could see the pattern on it.

As I was looking at it seriously, I heard an extremely subtle crackling sound in my ears, and before I could react to what it was, Yui smelled a smell of burnt protein in her nose again, and she was startled.

"It's hot, it's hot!" it turned out to be too close, and the candle burned his low-hanging head, which was really unlucky.

I couldn't stay in the house, so Yui had to go out of the room again, and I happened to meet my brother Kenji who came out on the other side, and the two almost bumped into each other.

"Come and have a look, too. Guanghui heard the movement of the children and hurriedly greeted him on the balcony, "The starry sky tonight is really beautiful." ”

The daughter and son had nothing to do, so they also came to the balcony and raised their heads.

In the night, a huge band of light stretched across the night sky, and countless stars gathered around it like a splash of mist, hazy. The band of light has a psychedelic dark blue, which is extraordinarily mysterious and seductive, and the band of light shines and lights up the entire night sky, and the moon disappears without a trace tonight, and the starlight replaces the moonlight and illuminates the whole world.

"Why is it so bright?" Yui was surprised, it was a sight she had never seen before.

"This is a scenery that can only be seen without the pollution of lights. Tokyo is lit up all year round, and there is hardly a chance to see it. Dad explained that he was a local and remembered that when he was a child, he could look up and see this night sky, but as the city got bigger and there were more and more lights, this view had disappeared for a long time, and now it is a rare opportunity to enjoy it with his family.

"What is the light band, and why is it so bright?"

"That's the Milky Way. Kenji replied.

"Eh, does such a thing really exist? isn't it made up by manga and Rito?" exclaimed Yui excitedly.

"Are you stupid people studying?" Dad couldn't help it, a son and a daughter were both idiots.

"It's really nice to do that once in a while. "Mom stretched her waist and rarely got together with her family to enjoy the peace that she had not seen for a long time.

The world was in total darkness for the first night of a power outage.

。