Actually, even having a passbook is useless now.

  None of the computers used for handling transactions at the branches or the data servers at the head office survived the EMP strike.

  So right now, only cash can truly function as a circulating currency.

  However, even if you have cash in this current period, you still can't buy anything.

  After the experience of hiding in the underground shelters, all residents who have stockpiled supplies now place immense importance on their survival goods.

  As for the major factories producing these daily necessities, they have already been taken over directly by the imperial authorities, with all supplies being centrally allocated.

  The merchants still selling goods at high prices are basically small-scale retailers or community convenience stores—the end-point sellers in various areas.

  The supplies stored in the warehouses of large supermarkets have long been requisitioned by the authorities. It's just that collecting the remaining goods from those small shops is more troublesome, so the authorities might not interfere.

  Although the authorities don't care much about the supplies in those small shops, they are extremely important for the community and neighborhood offices. Therefore, these offices, in coordination with their local patrol stations, have directly confiscated all the supplies stored in those small shops.

  At this time, although it seems the meteor swarm disaster has ended, until normal order is restored, there is still some chaos in the outside world.

  After all, due to the EMP, many factories and companies have completely shut down, leaving the vast majority of people with nothing to do.

  Anyone who has studied history knows that the more people are unemployed, the more easily chaos breeds.

  The imperial authorities understand this principle too, which is why they are preparing to provide work as a form of relief.

  After all, most households have no food reserves at the moment, and the authorities have also brought the vast majority of supplies on the market under control. If these people are not properly settled, a great rebellion led by charismatic leaders could emerge again soon.

  By this point, Dong Hao is deeply grateful for Dong Qi's warning and admires his own father's courage—that even before the news was confirmed, he was willing to spend most of the family savings to stockpile supplies.

  Although Dong Hao has his status as a patrol officer, during this period, he has come to clearly realize that money can sometimes be even more useless than toilet paper.

  At this moment, everyone still recognizes the value of paper currency, and under the strict control of the authorities, the prices of goods have not skyrocketed.

  However, no matter who tries to use paper money to buy supplies, they can't get anything. It feels like society has reverted to the ancient era of bartering.

  Although Dong Hao knows that Dong Qi isn't short of supplies, after settling his own family, he still packed a backpack of daily necessities, intending to visit and thank Dong Qi for the warning.

  However, Dong Hao went and knocked on the door three times at different hours, but Dong Qi never answered. If it weren't for the neighbors saying Dong Qi had gone out, Dong Hao would have thought something might have happened to him.

  Dong Qi, who should have been staying quietly at home, upon discovering that after the EMP strike, most vehicles couldn't start at all and there were basically no cars on the roads, immediately grew greedy and headed for the industrial area in the eastern part of the city.

  Because the Great Xia Dynasty had detected the meteor disaster in advance, the vast majority of people in Pengcheng had successfully taken shelter in the underground spaces before the disaster struck.

  The underground spaces established in advance by the authorities are mostly concentrated in the densely populated old city areas.

  In contrast, the industrial areas on the outskirts of the city, lacking such underground spaces, did not have arrangements for people to take shelter there.

  This also means that even though most people have now left the underground shelters, due to the vehicle damage, it's unlikely that anyone will go to the industrial parks far from the urban area in the short term.

  Moreover, Dong Qi's scavenging targets are very specific, so the chances of running into others are actually not very high.

  While Dong Qi is still active in the suburban industrial areas, constantly scavenging for metal, even with the authorities' strict control, some chaos inevitably breaks out from time to time.

  The root cause of this chaos is almost always food.

  Although the authorities distribute daily supplies at set times, the rations issued are only enough to barely keep everyone from starving. They aren't sufficient to fill anyone up—not the adults, nor even the women, elderly, or children.

  Actually, if there were a genuine food shortage, people wouldn't complain much and could endure it.

  But as the saying goes, people worry not about scarcity, but about inequality. Even though everyone hid in the underground shelters for so long, the truth is, Pengcheng isn't actually short of food right now.

  Although Pengcheng is ostensibly a third-tier city, as a key transportation hub, it has several logistics and warehousing service areas where large quantities of goods in transit are stored.

  Although the imperial court mandated that all local government offices centralize supplies for unified distribution to maintain stability, the reality on the ground often became distorted through interpretation and execution.

  It's like school cafeterias. Even when all dishes are sufficiently supplied, the servers, hoping to take home leftovers, deliberately shake their serving spoons, resulting in diners not getting full portions.

  The same issue occurred with supply distribution in Pengcheng. The rations allocated by the government offices were theoretically enough for everyone to eat their fill.

  However, actual distribution involved skimming, so the supplies people received fell short of normal consumption needs.

  Those emaciated by hunger, while collecting their rations, saw the well-fed, flush-faced distributors and discovered large amounts of untouched, wasted food in the trash.

  Rage instantly filled the minds of those who witnessed this. In the past, when everyone was ordinary, such waste might have been met with only a token, self-imposed penalty.

  But now, however low the probability, many Awakened with special abilities had emerged in the city.

  Most of those who could endure the three-day Dehydration Syndrome to awaken were individuals of formidable will and resolve.

  Previously, they might have obediently followed the arrangements of the authorities, knowing that even with awakened abilities, they were still vulnerable to firearms.

  But now, driven to the brink of starvation, these Awakened no longer feared the patrolmen's guns.

  After all, each Awakened possessed different abilities, which remained largely concealed until used.

  Facing those flush-faced distribution officers, driven by the need to survive and eat their fill, many people formed small groups.

  The Awakened hid among them, and together, these crowds stormed the warehouses storing the supplies.

  If just one or two individuals caused trouble, the armed patrolmen might have directly shot the troublemakers.

  But when confronted by the charge of dozens or even hundreds, even with their weapons' safeties off, the patrolmen ultimately had to stand down.

  It wasn't that they lacked enough ammunition to eliminate the crowd before them, but they understood the reasons behind the people's uprising.