《Apocalypse: After Being Reborn, I Stocked Up on All Supplies》


 Chapter 3: The Magical Space

    <h4>Chapter 3: Chapter 3: The Magical Space</h4>


    "Hello, ma''am, the store specifically instructed that the boletus should be eaten hot. If it cools down, fry it again in a pot and don''t reheat it in the microwave, okay? Otherwise, it might cause poisoning and hallucinations," the delivery guy handed over the food with a serious look and exined.


    "Okay, thank you," Jiang Yan reached out to take it.


    "Could you please leave me a five-star review when you''re free?" The young man smiled naively and then turned to leave.


    "Sure," Jiang Yan closed and double-locked the front door before carrying the food inside.


    Ever since she had learned of her mother''s idental death, as a food blogger, she hadn''t really enjoyed a proper meal.


    Now, even back from the dead, she still felt no appetite.


    But today was the seventh day after her mother''s death, so she had ordered her mother''s favorite spicy crab, boiled fish, stir-fried boletus with hot peppers, stir-fried king oyster mushrooms with green peppers, deep-fried stinky tofu, stir-fried vegetable hearts, and a small serving of fragrant rice.


    For herself, she ordered a bowl of Mountain City noodles and a cup of passion fruit and lime tea.


    After all, she needed to be full to have the strength to work, whether she felt like eating or not.


    But for now, she first needed to wash off the bad luck and dirt from her body.


    Jiang Yan ced the takeout on the dining table and went straight to the bathroom.


    After taking a shower and quickly finishing her meal, it was already afternoon.


    With three billion in her ount, she didn''t rush out to splurge but instead opened herputer to carefully n the tasks ahead and sort out the inventory list of goods she needed.


    After all, how to spend three billion, how to buy and store a lifetime''s supplies, and whether some materials required connections that money couldn''t solve... all these weren''t decisions to be made on a whim.


    Moreover, future natural disasters were unpredictable, and only by making the mostprehensive preparations could she face any disaster unflinchingly.


    Fortunately, her mother, knowing her daughter''s love for travel and good food and having attained wealth enough to liquidate herpany, had already disposed of all surplus real estate, shops, warehouses, etc.


    @@novelbin@@


    This spared Jiang Yan much effort in handling the assets.


    Only the penthouse vi where Jiang Yan was currently living was left.


    Regarding vehicles, she kept only a ss A motorhome for her daily outings and a Pagani Huayra for when Jiang Yan returned to the country.


    Jiang Yan remembered from her previous life that during her confinement in the basement, she had overheard a conversation between Song Deming and his mistress detailing that the disaster started with high temperatures, followed by torrential rain, and then floods and mudslides.


    All of this meant that she could no longer live in her vi after the heat wave passed.


    The ground was simply too low.


    To avoid moving back and forth, she decided to find a high-rise residence.


    And to use that as a base to make thorough preparations to withstand high temperatures, extreme cold, and water leakage.


    Renovations including odor and formaldehyde removal would take time, so the first thing to do was that, and she had to require the renovationpany to use all environmentally friendly materials.


    She nned to finalize the big n immediately and then call the real estate agency, also asking them to help her rent a warehouse that was high, safe, and well-sealed.


    So overall, she needed to dispose of the two vis and cars she currently had.


    After all, that ss A motorhome and sports car would be of little use in the apocalypse; it was better to exchange them for an all-terrain motorhome.


    She had seen on social media a foreign model called the Apocalypse Fortress, expensive but much more practical than the ordinary motorhome.


    Objectively speaking, the two properties Jiang Yan had were not easy to sell.


    Because wealthy people generally prefer to buy new homes and seldom opt for second-hand ones.


    The best to sell would be those small apartments or Western-style houses that people buy out of necessity.


    Thus, she decided to let the agency list them at a significantly discounted price.


    After all, if they couldn''t sell now, they would be worthless once the disaster struck.


    As for the cars, as long as the price was right, they could easily be sold to the second-hand car market.


    There were also several limited-edition Herm¨¨s handbags and a few collector-grade wristwatches at home.


    These bags and watches were highly sought after in the second-hand luxury market and could be easily sold at high prices.


    Additionally, her mother had also stored some valuable gold and jewels in her name at the Anming City Commercial Bank vault.


    She would definitely keep these gold and jewelries.


    Because as various natural disasters struck, cash had already be useless paper, but gold and jewelry still had some value for exchanging goods in the early and middle stages.


    Money was avable.


    But what materials to buy and how to store them were another big issue.


    Jiang Yan suddenly remembered the spatial ''golden finger'' described in the novels she read in college and subconsciously touched her jade bracelet, sighing:


    "Ah, if only I had a ''Space'' of my own."


    In her mind, those bracelets or pendants would automatically activate a space after contact with blood.


    And in her previous life, Song Deming and Zhang Kai had cut off her hand that had touched the bracelet, but it didn''t have such a miraculous effect.


    Moreover, she seemed to have already acquired a ''Cannibal Flower'' golden finger that could devour living things.


    However, as Jiang Yan spoke, her jade bracelet on her wrist suddenly shed.


    Jiang Yan thought she was hallucinating.


    But then she rubbed the jade bracelet with her finger and muttered again, "If only I had a ''Space'' of my own!"


    This time, the bracelet''s light shed even brighter!


    Jiang Yan: "!!!!" It really wasn''t a hallucination!


    In a state of excitement mixed with apprehension, Jiang Yan began to frantically repeat the phrase, like the magical chant "Open Sesame."


    After ten seconds, the bracelet emitted a brilliant golden light.


    Jiang Yan instinctively closed her eyes.


    When she opened her eyes again, the priceless jade bracelet on her wrist had disappeared.


    And the ''her'' who was sitting in front of theputer in the study praying a second ago was now in a magical Space!


    So, she actually had a second rebirth golden finger!!


    Thank you, Mom!


    Thank you to the past self who had gone through hardship and didn''t meet a good end!


    As for the Space reward, though it waste, it came atst!


    Jiang Yan burst into tears of joy.


    She wiped her tears with her hand, took a few deep breaths to calm her emotions, and started to carefully observe her surroundings:


    The entire Space was rectangr, surrounded by denseyers of white fog.


    Inside, the whole area was about the size of a standard ser field, divided into ck, white, and gray areas.


    The ck area was covered with thick, slightly moist ck soil.


    It looked extremely fertile, probably very suitable for nting!


    Jiang Yan also noticed, unlike the Spaces in those novels which could only store items, her Space had sunlight, wind, and air!


    The sunlight was warm on her skin.


    The breeze was gentle andforting.


    And the air was not only incredibly fresh but also seemed to have a healing effect.


    In just a few seconds since she arrived, she felt all the tiredness, weakness, oppression, and negative emotions swept away instantaneously!


    She could faintly hear the sound of flowing water.


    So, there was likely water in the Space too!

 Chapter 7 - 7 Getting Pumped Up

    <h4>Chapter 7: Chapter 7 Getting Pumped Up</h4>


    Jiang Yan had been preparing to stockpile goods for just a month or two, but with the remaining time, she nned to do something more thrilling.


    "Sister Yan, if you want a high-rise residential ce, I can only get the keys from thendlord tonight. As for the other one, I have the keys on me, so shall I take you to see it tomorrow?" Du Ziteng''s face was full of fatigue when he said this.


    He considered himself to have good physical strength and had been working as a real estate agent for so long that he was used to it.


    However, after walking nonstop under the sun all afternoon, it was impossible not to be tired.


    But looking at Jiang Yan, she seemed full of vigor and not at all like someone who had juste back from a transcontinental flight and walked around all afternoon for a funeral.


    Not only was Jiang Yan not tired, but she actually felt light and full of energy.


    It was as if she had been injected with chicken blood.


    She reflected for a moment, and it seemed that this change in state had manifested after she came out of the Space.


    At that time, she was too busy "acting" with that fake journalist, so she neglected it.


    Now, she could see that her condition was indeed no longer the weakness she felt when she came out of the Space in the morning.


    Could it be because of the Space?


    She decided that she would check it again when she went home tonight.


    "Okay, you''ve had a hard day, let''s go back," Jiang Yan retracted her thoughts and nced at her watch; it was already half-past seven.


    "Sister Yan, I''ll head back first then, and you should rest early when you get home. Also, be safe on the way," Du Ziteng said after bidding farewell to Jiang Yan. He was about to turn and head to his SUV when Jiang Yan stopped him:


    "Old Du, remember to keep the warehouse, selling the house, and buying the house a secret for me."


    "Okay, Sister Yan, don''t worry, I understand," Du Ziteng smiled with a sincere and simple gaze. Seeing Jiang Yan wave her hand to indicate he could leave, he then turned and departed.


    Back at home, Jiang Yan first entered the Space.


    Indeed, the Space had the effect of Washing Essence and Marrow.


    And the longer she stayed in it, the more pronounced the effects.


    She even felt the impurities within her being turn into a light grey mist and slowly drift away from her body.


    Moreover, after an afternoon''s "nourishment," the withered rose she had nted in the ck soil had turned green as if reborn.


    The new shoots that sprouted earlier had grown much bigger.


    Even the other rose nts in pots, though not nted in the soil, had their withered yellow leaves noticeably starting to turn green.


    So, not only was the fertile ck soil in the Space magical, but even the air seemed to nourish all living things.


    Additionally, the time flow in the ck [nting Area] was clearly faster than that of the real world.


    And the time flow in the grey [Warehouse Area] was static.


    She spected that the time flow in the white [Residential Area] should be consistent with the outside world.


    After reaching these conclusions, Jiang Yan stayed in the Space a while longer before returning to her room.


    She nced at the banks'' text messages on her phone; throughout the day, she had spent nearly thirty million on bottled and barrelled mineral water, renting warehouses, buying water storage tanks, second-hand shelves, and so on.


    It wasn''t a lot, considering she had settled her water supply for several lifetimes.


    Tonight was the seventh day since her mother''s passing, and after arranging the meals prepared for her mother, she had a simple meal herself before taking herptop into the bedroom.


    She nned to organize a n for the key tasks she needed to handle in the three months before the apocalypse and roughly sort out the list of goods to stockpile.


    Although money was the least of her concerns at the moment, she couldn''t just buy things on a whim.


    Additionally, she would not visit the supermarket for the time being.


    Besides the surveince cameras there, purchasing goods following her stockpiling strategy meant the supermarket''s stock levels would be too low, and it might spark unnecessary attention online or from people with bad intentions.


    She''d visitter to supplement with some misceneous small items when necessary.


    For her, who was currently in the public eye, less was more.


    Moreover, she could look up information online about how much food, meat, oil, and the like an average person consumes in a lifetime.


    Although she wasn''t familiar with these statistics, a quick search online would provide some references.


    She hadn''t eaten pork, but she had certainly seen pigs run.


    On the other hand, although Jiang Yan now had the title of a wealthy heiress, she had also experienced frugality in her childhood, where every penny counted.


    At that time, online shopping wasn''t as developed as it is now.


    It''s true that Father Jiang and Mother Jiang started by delivering parcels, but initially, they also did odd jobs, carrying bricks at construction sites, lugging sacks in logistics parks, and Mother Jiang worked as a waitress in restaurants, among other things.


    There was an old saying that the children of the poor were forced to grow up early.


    Jiang Yan began helping out with cooking at the age of six, standing on a stool.


    Even though the first few times the dishes she cooked were half-raw, overly salty, and the rice burnt, not only did her parents not scold her, they gave her much encouragement.


    This made her identally fall in love with the art of cooking.


    Whenever she had time after school, she would help out and prepare the meals.


    Later, as the family''s fortune improved and they made more money, they had a maid at home, and Jiang Yan no longer cooked.


    After graduating from college, she didn''t pursue a master''s degree but followed her passion and became a food and travel blogger.


    However, her role as a food blogger wasn''t just tasting different cuisines and giving reviews.


    Whenever she had the chance, she would try recreating the dishes she liked at home, and even attempted to replicate ancient recipes she found in old texts.


    She had even secretly apprenticed herself to a Michelin three-star chef and an executive chef from a five-star hotel.


    If not for her family...


    But these were memories from her previous life.


    Jiang Yan sighed softly to herself, returning to sort through the list of supplies.


    *


    The next day.


    Early in the morning, the used car dealer that Jiang Yan contacted had arrived at her door.


    The depreciation of cars is harsh, and since she quoted low prices, the top-of-the-line RVs and sports cars were quickly hauled away by the dealer using a tow truck.


    While she was waiting for the transfer procedures at the used car market, she casually bought a second-hand small box truck that had been taken in by a car dealer but not yet repainted or made to look new.


    It wasn''t that Jiang Yan couldn''t afford a new truck, but this truck wasn''t just for now.


    She nned to take it out from the Space and use it temporarily when an appropriate moment arrived after the apocalypse had begun.


    An old domestic second-hand truck wouldn''t be too conspicuous amidst the ruins of the post-apocalyptic world.


    Moreover, at the moment, no one could imagine that a billionaire heiress who only loved luxury cars would be rushing around daily in a second-hand 130 small truck.


    This would indeed disguise her frequent outings to gather supplies well.


    She had gotten her A1 driving license a few years ago, specially for driving an RV to shoot travel vlogs.


    So driving this small truck was more than manageable for her.@@novelbin@@

 Chapter 8: Swipe the Black Card As You Please!

    <h4>Chapter 8: Chapter 8: Swipe the ck Card As You Please!</h4>


    The transfer of ownership for the RV and the sports car was quickly taken care of, and Jiang Yan also finished processing the paperwork for the van.


    She even had someone clean and disinfect the entire cab and van space.


    Dressed as usual in casual sportswear, wearing a wig, cap, and a mask, Jiang Yan drove the van directly to the city''srgest wholesale market.


    The wholesale market was located quite far from the city center, and various dys had urred with the vehicle sale procedure.


    By the time she arrived in the van, it was already past ten in the morning.


    Jiang Yan had researched online and found that buying basic foods like grains and oils was best done at ces like this¡ªthe prices were rtively affordable, and most importantly, the quality and supply were guaranteed.


    She had an appointment with Du Ziteng to view properties in the afternoon, so she nned to get the bulk of the staple goods sorted out in the morning.


    This was Jiang Yan''s first visit to a wholesale market.


    Although it was alreadyte, the ce was bustling with people.


    Jiang Yan spent an hour touring the whole market, inquiring about prices, and getting a basic understanding of the market situation for staple foods before finally entering thergest grain and oil wholesale store in the market.


    @@novelbin@@


    Several employees were attending customers inside the store, and their eyes became vignt at the sight of her, with her backpack, masked face, and cap.


    The store owner, however, was more perceptive and immediately recognized that the fully armed girl in trendy sportswear was someone with substantial purchasing power.


    She paused the drama she was watching on her pad, stood up, and walked towards Jiang Yan with a cheerful greeting,


    "Beauty, are you looking to buy something?"


    Jiang Yan nced at the other customers and spoke in a lowered voice, "Madam, I want all the goods in your store."


    The store owner: "??!!"


    What, everything?!!


    Did I hear that right?!


    I must have gotten up too quickly and am hallucinating...


    The store owner, experienced in big business and ustomed to surprises, curved her eyes into a smile and asked again,


    "Beauty, how much are you looking to buy?"


    Jiang Yan calmly stated, "Madam, I''m buying everything. Additionally, for Wuchang Rice, T country fragrant rice, Zhefang Rice, as well as the high-quality rice, how much stock do you have? I want at least six thousand kilograms of each. For the remaining items like flour, beans, organic camellia oil, the best quality peanut oil, and rapeseed oil, I''d like five thousand kilograms each. For the rest whose names I haven''t mentioned, three thousand kilograms each."


    There wasn''t any imported olive oil for sale here¡ªshe nned to go abroad directly to buy thatter.


    Jiang Yan had researched the previous night. If a person were to live to 100, they would need approximately ten thousand kilograms of rice, one thousand kilograms of cooking oil, two thousand kilograms of sugar, and two hundred kilograms of salt in a lifetime.


    As for herself, her daily staple food consumption was low, and she normally consumed less oil, less sugar, and less salt, but she would still need about half of that amount.


    Moreover, the [Storage Area] in her Space was not affected by the flow of time, so she did not worry about storing too much rice or oil¡ªwith fresh rice turning into old rice or cooking oil going bad.


    As for salt, after Japan released nuclear-contaminated water, sea salt might also have food safety issues.


    The store was selling Rock Salt, so she nned to stock up on that, too.


    Anyway, having money and space, she could afford to be a little indulgent.


    Additionally, although the ck soil in her Space was cultivable, she wasn''t particrly hopeful about her own nting abilities just yet.


    nting simple vegetables, melons, greenery, and flowers was okay, butrge-scale nting of rice and wheat was better left to experimentation with a few nts.


    Besides rice, the store also sold High Gluten Flour, Low-gluten flour, yeast powder, ck Rice, Purple Rice, Small Rice, glutinous rice, quinoa, sesame, Buckwheat, red beans, soybeans, green beans, peanuts, and more.


    Being from the South, her diet leaned more towards rice, but she was not averse to flour, beans, and was willing to buy it all.


    Among the grain products, she particrly liked egg silver thread noodles and decided to purchase some as well.


    In another corner of the shop, there was ck sugar, brown sugar, White Sugar, crystal sugar, Honey.


    Further down were table salt, soy sauce, sesame oil, and various other condiments.


    She had always controlled her sugar intake and didn''t eat much, but when the severe cold of theter stages of the apocalypse set in, sugar would be valuable.


    Plus, she was originally stocking up for the apocalypse, so it was essential not to buy less.


    Being able to purchase most of the supplies from one shop saved her from running around elsewhere.


    "Buy everything... eight thousand kilograms???" The store owner was naturally speechless for a second, but a merchant''s keen intuition and professional habits made her respond before her brain did:


    "Beauty, I''ll check the exact stock levels for you in a bit, and if we don''t have enough here, I can arrange to have it shipped for you. But are you sure you want to buy everything? For these items, the deposit alone could be more than tens of millions. After all, the most genuine and best quality Wuchang Rice is not cheap, you know."


    As the shop owner finished speaking, Jiang Yan had already taken out her bank card:


    "Calcte the total for me, both the deposit and the full amount. You can swipe for the deposit first. For the delivery, I''ll give you a few warehouse addressester¡ªjust contact me before your people head over."


    The store owner took a quick nce at her ck card, her pupils dted with shock for a second, and after a swift scan of the other customers in the store, she carefully gestured towards a tea table in the back of the shop with a cautious voice:


    "Little sister, how about youe sit in my room and have a cup of tea? I have a few things to rify with you. After all, your order is superrge, and I don''t want to make any mistakes that might cause you a dy."


    For someone in business like her, being able to run a big operation that stood firm in the market for many years was also rted to her careful and cautious approach.


    She actually liked having big customers like Jiang Yan, but she was also afraid that she might have other motives for buying so much on the whim.


    After all, the government has always been cracking down on hoarding.


    Moreover, the quantities Jiang Yan needed would require arranging additional supplies.


    The price of the goods andmodities futures had connections too.


    If anything went wrong in the middle, they might have to handle the goods priced high due to shipments arriving during peak pricing, potentially leaving them holding expensive stock.


    Jiang Yan nced inside the room and nodded in agreement.


    The store owner was forthright and clever. The two quickly finishedmunicating.


    She told Jiang Yan that because she was buying such arge amount of goods, she could only pay a deposit, not an earnest deposit.


    Although the two terms sounded simr, their meanings were different.


    After all, an earnest deposit could be refunded if the order waster cancelled, but a deposit couldn''t be.


    Jiang Yan clearly understood.


    In addition, the store owner mentioned a big issue: White Sugar was a strategic material, and concerning salt, she was buying too much to sell her all at once.


    If she insisted on buying so much, they might have to charge extra to seek out channels and rtionships.


    For Jiang Yan, this was not a problem.


    After all, problems that money can solve aren''t really big problems.

 Chapter 9 - 9 What? A fly restaurant?

    <h4>Chapter 9: Chapter 9 What? A fly restaurant?</h4>


    Empowered by her financial capacity, thedy boss quickly promised she could handle it.


    Jiang Yan, after buying rice, flour, grains, and oils, then went to another rtivelyrge dried goods and seafood store in the market.


    Though she would buy fresh goodster, since she was already there, she figured she might as well stock up on dried goods for emergencies.


    Vermicelli, tofu skin, ss noodles, ck fungus, shiitake mushrooms, tofu sheets, wakame, kelp, nori, shrimp shells, white fungus, tea tree mushrooms, dried scallops, dried abalone, dried sea cucumbers, dried oysters, dried ms, handmade dried sea fish, grilled eel slices, dried squid, and so on¡ªshe bought 5000 kilograms of each.


    The wild mushrooms, such as truffles, morels, bamboo mushrooms, and boletus, were Jiang Yan''s favorites; she effortlessly bought 1000 kilograms of each.


    These wild mushrooms wouldn''t be avable after the apocalypse.


    As for the artificially cultivated ones, their taste differed too much from the wild varieties.


    The wild ones did taste good, but they also came at a "beautiful" price, costing her several million in one go.


    However, she actually wanted to buy more, but s, the store simply didn''t have enough supply.


    Since it wasn''t the season for fresh wild mushrooms, she nned toter visit the wild mushroom wholesale market and buy some freshly iced ones to store.


    After leaving the dried goods store, she turned her head to the sauces and condiments shop.


    Dace with salted ck beans, preserved tofu, various Lao Gan Die, Pixian Douban, soybean sauce, sweet bean sauce, Chopped Pepper Sauce, side dishes, spicy cabbage, pickled cucumbers, pickled radishes, pickles, lunch meat, Yellow Peach Canned Fruit, lychee canned, Mixed Fruit Canned, and so on, she bought 5000 boxes of each.


    She loved spicy vors and also had a habit of cooking herself, so she simply bought 100 kilograms of each spice¡ªdry chili, Sichuan pepper, ck cardamom, patchouli, fennel seeds, and ck pepper.


    She also bought 1000 boxes of hotpot bases¡ªspicy, Tom Yum Gong, clear broth, mushroom soup, medicinal herbs, cattle oil, clear oil¡ªshe had it all.


    The amount of hotpot base and spices wasn''t much, just enough to fit directly on the small truck.


    Actually, in the wholesale market, there was a specialized store for marinated goods, which sold ham, cured meat, pickled meat, sausages, dried beef, etc.; Jiang Yan bought 3000 kilograms of each.


    Salty duck eggs, preserved eggs, pressed ducks¡ªthese were things she didn''t really like to eat on a regr day, but she still symbolically bought 500 kilograms.


    As for meat, eggs, milk, and such, she still nned to primarily stock up on fresh items, so she didn''t buy too much of the marinated meats.


    There was also a store selling convenience foods in the market.


    With her supply reserves, she could eat everything fresh, and in her n, aside from bulk buying fresh fruits and vegetables, in a few days, she nned to order a bunch of ready-made meals from five-star hotels and time-honored restaurants.


    But she would asionally crave instant noodles like instant hot-and-sour noodles or Luo Si rice noodles, and, concerning future life in the apocalypse, there was actually a lot of uncertainty.


    Now that she had the money and the space, it would be a waste not to buy.


    With that thought, Jiang Yan stepped into the store.


    Various vors of instant noodles, rice noodles, Luo Si rice noodles, hot and sour noodles, self-heating rice, self-heating hotpot, sausages, cured eggs, and more¡ªshe bought 10,000 boxes of each.


    After leaving that store, she sessively visited a beverage store and a prepared foods store.


    C, Sprite, Orange Juice, Coconut Juice, and the like¡ªshe bought 5000 cases of each, while Electrolyte Water, Dongmu Leaf, Coconut Water, various vors of soda water¡ªshe directly bought 8000 cases of each.


    Coffee was her favorite. Cold Brew, Caramel Mhiato, Velvet Latte, Coconut Latte, and various vors of canned coffee, coffee beans, and so on¡ªshe bought 8000 cases of each kind.


    She had enough tost several lifetimes¡ªa unt of wealth at its finest.


    In the prepared foods section, Spicy Crawfish, Thirteen Spices Crayfish, Garlic Roasted Shrimp, Steamed Scallop with Garlic and Vermicelli, Pickled Fish, Pepper Pig Stomach Chicken, Sichuan Pepper Chicken, Fish Maw Chicken and so on¡ªshe bought 5000 cases of each.


    The snack shop didn''t escape her sweep either; she got various vors of Potato Chips, Potato Crisps, Corn Crisps, Sunflower Seeds, Watermelon seeds, Dried tofu, her favorite braised chicken feet, pickled chicken feet, Spicy Lotus Root, Pork jerky, Duck Neck, Beef jerky, Beef Shadows, Prunes, Hawthorn, Seaweed, sesame cake, cookies, various kinds of chocte, energy-supplying Snickers, candy, and more¡ª5000 cases of each.


    Nuts were her true love¡ªhazelnuts, pistachios, macadamia nuts, paper-shell walnuts, almonds, pecans, Brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, hickory nuts, gingko nuts¡ªoriginal vor, mustard vor, charcoal grilled, caramelized¡ª5000 cases of each vor.


    After nonstop picking of items and swiping her card, it was almost 4 p.m.


    She had been busy shopping and hadn''t had a chance to eat¡ªher stomach growled with hunger. But she felt an indescribable excitement and sense of security.


    In her past life, despite having several billion in assets, due to the machinations of her evil stepfather, Song Deming, and the sudden onset of the apocalypse, she, with a broken hand, starved to death. In the end, she even became their family''s meal.


    The money was still there, but the person was gone.


    In this life, she wouldn''t let such a thing happen again.


    She realized she was a bit crazy with her stockpiling, but, no matter! Better to stock too much than too little!


    Besides, the money wouldn''t be any more than a pile of scrap paper in a few months if not spent now.


    Additionally, the house viewing she had originally scheduled with Du Ziteng for today had to be postponed to tomorrow.


    As she discovered, right next to the grain and oil wholesale market, therey the traditional Chinese medicine wholesale market.


    There''s no time like the present; she nned to have a meal and then go "sweep" through there.


    "Boss, are there any good eateries around here?" Jiang Yan asked the marinated goods store owner after sending him the warehouse address.


    On hearing her question, the owner strode with big steps to the entrance of his stall, and with a warm gesture, he directed her:


    "Yes, at the turn ahead, in the innermost part of the small alley, there''s a beef rice noodle shop. The environment is really poor, but the taste is super good, and they''ve been selling for several decades now. However, thedy boss there doesn''t do evening business; she usually closes up before 4 p.m., so you''d better hurry if you''re going!"


    "And thatdy boss has quite a temper, so be mentally prepared," he added after giving her the directions.


    "Oh, thank you, boss. I''ll go take a look," said Jiang Yan, and then she quickly walked towards the alley.


    Being a food blogger, she wasn''t just interested in tasting dishes from high-end restaurants, like Michelin ck Pearl ones. She also made regr visits to some obscure roadside stalls tucked away in narrow corners.


    Some of these small shops were in very poor conditions and tucked away at hard-to-find locations, colloquially known as "fly restaurants,"monly frequented only by locals.


    Strangely enough, these ces served very ordinary food that somehow tasted extraordinary.


    The curious aspect was that once these hole-in-the-wall establishments moved or upgraded their decor to improve the environment, the taste changed.


    Furthermore, the majority of these small shops had temperamental and extremely prouddy bosses¡ªalmost a standard feature.


    @@novelbin@@


    However, for the seasoned food explorers out to uncover these secrets, everyone justughed it off and took it as part of the experience.


    ¡ª¡ª*¡ª¡ª*¡ª¡ª


    Special Note: The grains and other goods she purchased were all of the highest quality from top-tier brands, so the prices were not like those of ordinary grains (for example, while you can buy regr rice for a few yuan per kilogram, the best and top-tier Wuchang Rice starts in the triple digits). Please do not question the author''s life experience¡ªas even if shecks it, one can always look up such information online! (hands on hips)

 Chapter 11 - 11 Consumption Downgrade

    <h4>Chapter 11: Chapter 11 Consumption Downgrade</h4>


    Although there were sounds of water in the Space, Jiang Yan had never discovered where the water flow was.


    Additionally, the Space could automatically identify and purify garbage, indicating that managing food, clothing, shelter, and transportation within the Space was feasible.


    She had directly tossed the Imperial Concubine Chair from the living room into the Space.


    Rummaging through her backpack, she tallied up the deposit receipts and realized that her goal of one and a half small targets for the day had vanished.


    Nevertheless, grains and traditional Chinese medicinal materials were the focus of her stockpiling efforts.


    Though the purchase price of the medicinal materials exceeded her n, thankfully, the overall budget was under control.


    Folding up the receipts, she took out her phone and settled into a rxed "Ge You Slouch."


    Gathering strength in the Space, she casually scrolled through the news, where the top trending story nationally was about an earthquake on a small ind in Japan, which was dealing with the backflow of sea water due to nuclear wastewater discharge.


    @@novelbin@@


    Thement section was filled with cheers.


    There were also posts about extreme and abnormal weather abroad, with most instances involving temperatures higher than in previous years and people flocking into street fountains to cool down.


    However, it didn''t seem rted to the apocalypse.


    Checking her social media ount, thement section was full of requests for updates and expressions of concern.


    But there were also a handful of trolls filled with malice, saying she was a harbinger of disaster, cursing her father and mother, and so on.


    Some even remarked that with both her parents gone and owning a car and property, she was considered a hotmodity on the marriage market.


    She couldn''t be bothered to deal with it now.


    Whether replying or deactivating her ount, it would only draw more attention to her.


    The apocalypse wasing in three months; she might as well let the keyboard warriors continue ranting a while longer.


    After skimming through with disinterest, she closed the app.


    Although she had spent her entire budget for the day, it did not stop her from adding items to her online shopping cart.


    With that in mind, Jiang Yan quickly essed various emerce tforms, continuing her frantic spree on misceneous small items.


    The list included various styles of wigs and different fashion garments.


    After all, with cameras everywhere on the streets, if she went out every day in simr attire, her bulk purchasing pattern would definitely attract attention.


    After spending two hours in the Space, Jiang Yan emerged.


    As incredible as the Space she had acquired was, she did not n to stay there for life.


    Jiang Yan had an innate sense of crisis.


    Or rather, she was someone who deeplycked a sense of security.


    Now, with the consecutive departure of her father and mother, her sense of crisis and insecurity had intensified.


    From her perspective, no matter how good a person or an item was, she would instinctively have the courage to turn around or give up immediately.


    Besides, the Space appeared without reason, and who knows, it might also disappear without trace in the future.


    She could make good use of it, but that didn''t mean she had to rely on it for life.


    Setting all that aside, making sure she could adapt to life outside was also one of the considerations for her survival in the post-apocalyptic world.


    *


    The next day.


    Jiang Yan drove the small van "ho-ho-ho" and arrived on time at the location Du Ziteng had sent her.


    Seeing her "fully equipped" in a trendy sports outfit, stepping down from the driver''s seat of a second-hand van, Du Ziteng''s jaw nearly dropped to the ground.


    Yesterday she had been driving a shy Pagani Huayra and was dressed in outfits worth several tens of thousands, yet today, she had switched to a second-hand domestic 130 van, and her clothes were merely a few hundred yuan.


    "Sister Yan, this¡ª" seems like a significant downgrade in spending!


    Du Ziteng dared not finish his sentence.


    Even a dying camel is bigger than a horse.


    No matter how much she downgraded, she was still beyond the level he aspired to reach after years of striving.


    Jiang Yan nced at him calmly, "What''s wrong?"


    "Nothing, nothing at all." Du Ziteng chuckled awkwardly, then pointing to a nearby residentialplex, he said to her,


    "Sister Yan, thisplex fits your requirements well. There are only five residential buildings,beled A to E; all are finely decorated and have been ready for almost five years, with a decent upancy rate. Four buildings have 24 floors, and one has 32 floors, which is building A. The one on the outside hasmercial space on the ground floor and a fresh supermarket of over a thousand square meters; it''s very convenient for living.


    Just past a street corner, there is a small shopping center and a pedestrian street, where you can go for a stroll, get a coffee, do some nail art, and so on. Furthermore, there is a third-grade hospital and a government nursery school nearby; the overall amenities are quite good."


    Listening to Du Ziteng''s introduction, Jiang Yan looked up at the name of theplex: Shallow Bay.


    The name was interesting.


    The connotation was also good.


    It reminded her of something that Song Deming and his mistress Zhang Qiqi had casually mentioned during a chat¡ªthe deluge back then had flooded most of Anming; there was a ce called "Shallow something," which fared somewhat better, but by the time they thought of evacuating, it was toote.


    The sh flood and mudslide that followed outside their vi cut off all paths.


    Thinking about it now, it was probably this ce.


    "Beep¡ª" Du Ziteng swiped the ess card and took Jiang Yan into theplex.


    She quickly surveyed the surroundings; the environment in theplex was standard fare, with five buildings neatly enclosing a garden in the center.


    Inside the garden, there was an oval pond with water lilies.


    The pond had some dead aquatic nts floating, left unattended.


    Also, there were clotheslines strung with bedding and underwear outside some unit doors.


    This indicated to a certain degree that the property management of theplex was subpar.


    However, it wouldn''t be long after the apocalypse began that the property staff would each go to their own homes.


    Good or poor management, it wouldn''t make much of a difference to the residents.


    It was probably during work hours; other than a few elderly people with children, theplex was quiet.


    As Du Ziteng led her towards building A at the far end, he borated,


    "Sister Yan, we''re going to look at the 32nd floor. There are four units per floor, and thendlord is a young man who bought it for his wedding house. Unfortunately, when he was about to register the marriage, he found out his girlfriend had run off with someone else. Thendlord, not wishing to dwell on sentimentality, is eager to liquidate and go back to his hometown to start a business. It''s quite a pity."


    After hearing his gossip, Jiang Yan couldn''t help butugh, "What''s there to pity? Business is always more enticing than dating."


    "..." Du Ziteng paused for a second but quickly realized the impact of his mother''s supposed real-life "disappearance" must have profoundly affected Jiang Yan and he quickly changed the subject,


    "Right, right. By the way, Sister Yan, we had a few inquiries about those two properties you have yesterday. The offered prices were quite good; if all goes well, you could sell them this week. But if you''re not in a hurry, I think you could wait for the prices to go a bit higher before selling. After all, both the location and reputation of the quality of those two buildings are quite excellent."


    Without hesitation, Jiang Yan replied, "No need, sell them as soon as possible. The difference between the down payment for a second-sale on three properties and that on a first-sale is quite significant, after all."

 Chapter 13 - 13 Generous with Money

    <h4>Chapter 13: Chapter 13 Generous with Money</h4>


    "It''s nothing, just checking out the environment around the stairwell," Jiang Yan said, and after ncing at the freight elevator indicator light, she followed him into the passenger elevator.


    The house was quickly viewed, 120 square meters, four bedrooms and three living rooms, with ayout that runs from north to south, very square and proper.


    For high-rise buildings with elevators, the shared area is at least 20%, plus the wall thickening and so on that she wanted to do, the actual usable space is probably only around eighty or ny square meters.


    The apartment was nicely decorated, with water, electricity, gas, and a fully equipped kitchen; apart from furniture, one could move in right away with just their bags.


    There were three other households nearby.


    Two households'' doors were adorned with couplets and had simple shoe cabs ced at the entrance, and dried pine and iris hung from the door eaves, indicating that there were upants.


    @@novelbin@@


    The unit next to the one Jiang Yan was looking at, she didn''t know whether it was upied, but the doorframe and surroundings were clean.


    She had actually thought about simply buying the entire top floor, but the chances of finding a top-floor apartment for sale were quite slim.


    Moreover, buying an entire floor, while it would make security easier to design, was too conspicuous.


    It could easily make her a target for everyone''s arrows.


    "Sister Yan, what do you think of this ce, if it doesn''t suit you, we can look at anothermunity. Thatmunity is also very good," Du Ziteng, seeing her standing at the entrance and staring nkly at the other units, couldn''t help but say.


    "No need, this will do," Jiang Yan said directly without hesitation.


    If she hadn''t met Zhang Qiqi, she definitely would have gone to see the other option.


    But now, it would certainly be this ce.


    If she remembered correctly, after the natural disaster, the torrential rain would at least flood up to the 20th floor.


    Zhang Qiqi lived on the 7th floor, so she would just wait and watch the drama unfold here.


    Of course, seizing the opportunity to properly deal with her was naturally part of the revenge n.


    Du Ziteng was taken aback by her quick decision.


    "By the way, Sister Yan, you still need to make some preparations before moving in, and since you''ve sold your vi, where will you live? If you don''t mind, you can stay at my ce first. My wife just returned from culinary school at New Oriental, and since you''re knowledgeable about food, you could offer some suggestions on her dishes."


    Jiang Yan declined his kind offer and said with a smile, "I appreciate the thought, but the Intercontinental Hotel is also another home of mine, don''t worry."


    *


    Jiang Yan entrusted all the property transfer procedures to Du Ziteng and found a well-known decoration and securitypany, giving them specific instructions for the decoration and security instations.


    Put simply, in addition to enhancing instion and fire and water resistance, she also had ayer of thermal and sound instion material added throughout the apartment.


    The roof and walls were also reinforced with metal.


    The door was made with twoyers, using the thickest steel tes, almost bulletproof.


    The windows were reced with bulletproof and instive ss, underfloor heating was installed, and she had the decorationpany make a convenient circr opening in the exterior wall for potential emergencies.


    Not only that, but for the two smaller bedrooms and the study windows, she had the decorationpany seal them off with concrete and bricks.


    Top-floor apartments inherently have some deficiencies; they are prone to leaks and are cold in winter and hot in summer, so it''s not unusual for owners to make renovations.


    However, hearing Jiang Yan''s extensive renovation requests left the other party a bit dumbfounded.


    Especially when they heard about sealing up windows and balconies, they thought she intended the ce for storing urns or the like.


    Even after seeing various peculiar requests, thepany''s manager was baffled when he heard she wanted to reinforce the walls and ceiling with metal, wondering if she was aiming for a tightly sealed all-metal "coffin".


    But Jiang Yan was generous with the payment, so thepany had no choice but to obey and allocate many workers to finish the job quickly.


    After all, the timeline Jiang Yan provided was very short, only two weeks, and she demanded that all materials must be environmentally friendly.


    As for the surveince, she found another reputable securitypany owned by Anming.


    Her requirement was that the instation be sturdy and discreet, while also able to connect to a backup power supply.


    She had them install devices on the hallways of the 32nd floor, 31st floor, 20th floor, 7th floor, outside the living room''s floor-to-ceiling windows, on the roof, and at the entrance of the first-floor unit.


    Her request was a challenging one.


    Not technically challenging, but installing discreetly without alerting the property management and avoiding detection was the tricky part.


    However, with the generous fee she offered, they naturally didn''t want to miss such a big order.


    As for dealing with the property management, as long as the manager was taken care of, things would be much easier.


    How to handle it was not Jiang Yan''s concern.


    She was only interested in the oue.


    Of course, whether it was the decoration or the securitypany, Jiang Yan had them sign a confidentiality agreement.


    Such documents are meant to deter honest people rather than scoundrels, simply providing a means of restraint.


    Having arranged everything with the apartment, Jiang Yan resumed her frantic buying spree.


    She prioritized meat, eggs, dairy products, and medicines.


    Frozen meat didn''t taste good, so Jiang Yan took extra effort to go directly to farms to make purchases.


    However, many farms have dedicated suppliers, and as a sudden customer like her, they couldn''t offer much quantity.


    She wasn''t in a hurry; if she couldn''t buy enough domestically, she nned to visitrge farms overseas in a few days.


    Even so, she still bought five thousand kilograms each of beef and pork, and three thousand kilograms each ofmb and chicken.


    For ducks, geese, pigeons, and the like, she bought a thousand kilograms each.


    She had particr fondness for hotpot and additionally ordered a thousand kilograms each of fatmb rolls, fat beef rolls, tripe, omasum, duck intestine, liver, etc.


    She bought thirty thousand fresh chicken eggs, and randomly bought eight thousand fresh duck and goose eggs.


    She also bought ten tons of fresh cow milk, and symbolically bought two tons each of sheep milk and camel milk.


    For convenience, she had previously ordered ten thousand packs of individually packaged cow milk and yogurt online.


    She bought five thousand kilograms each of butter and cheese.


    After buying these, she had the farms, ording to the different parts of cows, sheep, and pigs, immediately deliver the cut meat and organs to the cold storage warehouse she had temporarily rented.


    Then, as soon as the suppliers left, she promptly stored all the meat in "Space".


    After finishing with the meat, she went to the seafood wholesale market.


    She purchased different kinds of fish, shrimp, crab, shellfish, oysters, conches, and abalones, ranging from three thousand to five thousand kilograms each.


    Simrly, she nned to bulk up on more seafood when traveling abroad.


    By the time Jiang Yan took everything supplied to the warehouse, including grains, oils, meat, eggs, milk, and so on, into "Space," nearly a month had passed.


    The delivery times for the various materials didn''t always align, and sometimes she encountered situations where there was simply not enough space to store everything and had to schedule deliveries in staggered batches.


    However, she had been keeping busy during this period.


    She bought one hundred units each of charging piles, small domestic wind turbines, and hand-cranked generators.


    She acquired ten sets ofrge energy storage batteries, and she bought three hundred pieces each of wireless charging packs and hand-cranked charging treasures.

 Chapter 14 - 14 Liquid Gold

    <h4>Chapter 14: Chapter 14 Liquid Gold</h4>


    Photovoltaic sr panels and their associated equipment were quite expensive; a single square meter cost over twenty thousand.


    She bought two thousand square meters, and forty million went "whoosh," just like that.


    These costly photovoltaic panels were intended for use in the Space.


    After all, sunlight was abundant there.


    She bought extra, so if any were damaged and irreparable, they could be readily reced.


    She also bought five hundred tons of liquid hydrogen fuel and natural gas each.


    Even though she could mentally control all the materials inside, Jiang Yan still felt apprehensive while storing these two types of cargo in the Space.


    It felt as if she had ced two massive time bombs inside.


    Additionally, she purchased a thousand tons each of various gasoline and diesel grades, five hundred tons of engine oil, and ten tons of antifreeze.


    Jiang Yan had looked up that a ton of smokeless coal could be used by an ordinary family for one to two months, which she barely needed.


    But to be prepared for the possibility of severe cold weather in the future, she bought a thousand tons just like the smokeless coal to store in the Space.


    She also bought a bunch of heating equipment: heaters, heaters, barbecue heaters, small suns, graphene floor heating mats, electric heating nkets, heating nkets, oil radiators inrge, medium, and small sizes, and electric fire pits ¡ª three thousand of each. Add to that, heat packs, hand warmers, Mugwort knee patches, warming uterus patches, hot water bags, she got a thousand boxes of each.


    The air was also highly likely to be polluted during theter stages of the apocalypse, which made her purchase three hundred units each of high-power air filters and purifiers.


    Considering the rainstorms and cold waves, she bought fifty high-power water pumps and twenty dehumidifiers.


    Moreover, besides buying a heap of seeds and seedlings, she purchased a lot of tobo and alcohol.


    Liquor, red wine, beer, foreign liquor, she didn''t skip any, from high to low-grade.


    @@novelbin@@


    However, the quantities varied; she bought a thousand cases of high-grade, three thousand of mid-grade, and five thousand of low-grade liquor, red wine, and foreign liquor.


    For beer, she got five thousand cases of regr beer and three thousand cases of craft and higher-alcohol imported beers.


    For tobo, she got five thousand cases across high, medium, and low grades.


    Tobo and alcohol might not seem significant ordinarily, but they be valuablemodities, almost like liquid gold, during critical times.


    Therefore, she nned to stock them for possible urgent needs.


    After all, the days ahead were long, and she didn''t know what or who she would encounter.


    Clothing was also a key part of her stockpile.


    However, her stockpiling ns were split into two categories: everyday clothing and specialized clothing.


    Specialized clothing and essories such as windbreakers, padding jackets, warm clothing, windbreakers, anti-cold clothes, instion clothes, constant temperature clothing, protective clothing, radiation protection clothing, protective earplugs, protective masks, goggles, etc., were all about function and quality. Hence, she bought the best brands, keeping to the most inconspicuous and in designs.


    Even the colors of these clothes were uniformly ck, white, or gray, with a thousand sets in her size, and two hundred sets each in oversized,rge, and small sizes.


    She didn''t purchase much-specialized clothing and left some space for buying overseas.


    For everyday clothing, she now avoided the high-end malls she previously frequented, not even the mid-range ones; she directly went to wholesale clothing, shoes, and hat markets.


    Style and brand weren''t important; convenience, durability, andfort were her main criteria.


    After all, wearing luxurious designer brands during the apocalypse would merely signal to everyone:


    Hey, I''m very rich, I have a lot of resources, I''m foolish with money,e rob me, quickly!


    Excluding skirts, she bought ten thousand pieces each of clothes, pants, shoes, hats, socks, underwear, scarves, and gloves for all seasons.


    Regarding sizes, she couldn''t guarantee her body wouldn''t change throughout her lifetime, so she bought mainly medium with small,rge, and extrarge sizes making up thirty percent.


    Some seasonal clothing and pants not avable in physical stores were directly bought online.


    In fact, she knew online shopping was more economical, but fearful of a "seller''s show turning into a buyer''s nightmare," she ultimately gave it up.


    Additionally, for the offline store purchases, she had another requirement: everything had to be dry-cleaned and then packaged and delivered to a designated warehouse.


    As for the costs, of course, she had paid them.


    The merchants were initially stunned, but business is business, and theyplied with all her requests.


    The clothing and hat wholesale market also sold bedding.


    Thus,tex mattresses, cotton mattresses, down mattresses, cashmere mattresses, duvet covers, sheets, pillowcases, pillow towels, bed skirts, down quilts, cashmere quilts, wool quilts, cotton quilts, and summer quilts, she bought a thousand sets of each.


    To prevent insects and for impromptu external amodations, she also bought five hundred units each of small, medium, andrge mosquitos and tents.


    During this period, she tirelessly visited various pharmacies, neither overlooking online nor offline stores.


    Foremost, she bought iodide pills to prevent nuclear radiation, cing orders in batches for three thousand bottles; Prussian Blue for assisting in treating nuclear radiation was also bought in a thousand bottles.


    With the mask period as a predecessor, treatments for colds like Lianhua Qingwen capsules, Ganmao Ling effervescent tablets,pound paracetamol and amantadine tablets; for fever reduction such as ibuprofen, acetaminophen, Xiao Chaihu; for treating diarrhea like norfloxacin, montmorillonite powder, ofloxacin; for stomach ailments likepound aluminum bismuth tablets, Jianwei Xiaoshi tablets; for treating heatstroke like Huoxiang Zhengqi Shui, Shi Di Shui; for treating altitude sickness like Gao Yuan Hong Jing Tian; for heart conditions like rapid rescue heart pills, nitroglycerin tablets, and more, she bought as many as possible.


    Additionally, everyday medications like amoxicillin, fenbid, Yunnan Baiyao, safflower oil, injury medicines, ster patches, Wuji Baifeng pills, Motherwort, bandages, gauze, alcohol, iodine, band-aids of all sizes, Qingfei Huatan pills, cough syrup, replenishing lung qi pills, Root of Isatis indigotica, various kinds of functional eye drops, small raincoats, antibiotics, anti-inmmatory medicines, and even treatment for hemorrhoids like Mayinglong, she bought some of each.


    Various vitamins, lutein, liquid calcium, liver protection tablets, fiber, protein powder, anti-glycation pills, blood replenishment oral liquid, and many others were also bought in vast quantities.


    Limited by domestic drug control andpared to those traditional Chinese medicine ingredients, the quantity of Western medicines wasn''t much.


    For Jiang Yan herself, it was already enough.


    However, she still nned to stock up as much as possible when traveling abroad and upon returning to the country.


    Besides medications, the blood glucose meters, cervical and lumbar traction devices, intermediate frequency therapy devices for treating arthritis and cervical spine diseases, maic therapy devices for relieving muscle spasms, blood oxygen meters, oxygen generators, breathing machines, nebulizers, foldable wheelchairs, fully automatic massage chairs, and more, were also bought inrge quantities.


    She even secretly purchased several fully-equipped negative pressure ambnces and stored them in the Space.


    The furniture and electrical appliances in the vi could be moved partly to the new house, with the remaining also all being thrown into the Space.

 Chapter 16 - 16 Global Shopping

    <h4>Chapter 16: Chapter 16 Global Shopping</h4>


    Jiang Yan calcted that she still had about twenty-two or twenty-three billion left, so she felt quite confident.


    However, when converted to US dors, that was just over three hundred million.


    She didn''t know how much the weapons would cost; she was a novice in that area and could only make decisions once she was abroad.


    During this time, she had used every avable channel to exchange a few million US dors.


    The ck card also supported automatic currency conversion, but the consumption limit was only about four million.


    The rest required some special methods.


    On June 1st, Children''s Day, after collecting thirty thousand servings of ready-made food ordered from five-star hotels, Michelin restaurants, various time-honored brands, as well as barbecue and hot pot restaurants, and eight thousand cups of milk tea with assorted vors from several famous tea shops, she boarded an international flight bound for Maple Country.


    Jiang Yan was originally a travel and food blogger, running all over the country and abroad.


    Her passport was full of visas from many countries, all processed for one-year multiple-entry.


    She chose Maple Country first because she needed to buy arge quantity of goods there, and the visa for that country was about to expire.


    As for the few other countries she needed to visit, their visas were still valid, and she could take her time.


    Although her physical condition had been greatly improved by Space during this time, the continuous travel, coupled with the more than ten hours of international long-haul flight, still left her somewhat fatigued.


    Fortunately, she didn''t really need to worry about jetg anymore.


    Jiang Yan''s destination in Maple Country was Wen Vige.


    There was arge Chinesemunity there, and it was adjacent to Beautiful Country, where many resources could be obtained.


    However, the first thing she did after getting off the ne was to buy a second-hand fruit brand smartphone and a few anonymous SIM cards.


    Then, she found a coffee shop, ordered an iced Americano, and logged onto some well-known domestic websites to anonymously post a warning:


    #Attention!! A natural disaster will strike in early August, advise all citizens to stock up on supplies in advance!!#


    Below the post, she also included some simple advice on what families could store.


    The post was sessfully sent quickly.


    Whether it would be deleted or whether anyone would believe it was no longer her concern.


    Although it seemed somewhatissez-faire, she nned to persist in posting such anonymous warnings to herpatriots every day during her time abroad.


    She had originally wanted to do this while she was still in China, but she feared causing unnecessary trouble and hence gave up the idea.


    Afterpleting these tasks and eating something simple, Jiang Yan began her day of shopping and sightseeing in a foreign country.


    The warehouse had been remotely arranged from back home, and she had made ns and notified vendors in advance for the procurement sites in case they needed to adjust their stock on short notice.


    Maple Country, known for its cold climate, was famous for its winter gear and outdoor survival items. It also boasted the world''srgest fishing industry and was rich in timber.


    Additionally, the country sold the world''s lightest mosquito helicopters, which could be mastered after only fifteen hours of actual flying time.


    Jiang Yan had already earned her private pilot license and, as a travel blogger, had even filmed several episodes of her flying nes.


    Now, handling this small aircraft was a breeze.


    Speaking of cold-weather gear, Russia produced good winter clothing as well and boasted a significant store of natural gas.


    However, with daily "bang, bang, bang" there, it wasn''t very safe, so she abandoned the idea of going.


    As for fishing, Japan had the most and the best quality.


    @@novelbin@@


    Sadly, that was in the past. Since they had shamelessly started dumping radioactive water, she wouldn''t buy from them even if it were free.


    Jiang Yan first went to buy winter clothing.


    Padded jackets, cotton clothes, fleece clothing, outdoor T-shirts, windbreakers, hiking boots, outdoor mid-calf boots, snow boots, waterproof jackets and pants, and so on¡ªshe bought a variety of each in different sizes, two hundred of each category in total.


    She also acquired three thousand units of other matching items, such as bvas, shoe ice grips, Martens boots, anti-slip chains, goggles, and ear warmers.


    She had already bought a lot of winter clothing in China, but the same brands were cheaper here, and she ended up spending over ten million dors in total.


    Mainly because down jackets were expensive, starting at over ten thousand each, and adding up the rest, it wasn''t a small amount of money.


    After clothes, she bought a bunch of seafood.


    Most seafood in Maple Country was pollution-free, and the waters from Japan hadn''t reached this area yet, so many seafood items had a great taste, especially raw.


    She bought one thousand kilograms of each type: lobsters, abalones, king crabs, geoducks, tunas, yellow croakers, star groupers, sea cucumbers, salmons, and so on. She also purchased one thousand kilograms of other regr seafood items.


    She bought five hundred bottles each of ketchup and chili sauce.


    When buying timber at a lumberyard, whether it was a sudden thought of "Bald Strong"¡ªa character from animation¡ªor a spur-of-the-moment decision, she also bought three logging machines, two grapplers, one timber cutter, and three excavators.


    After purchasing five hundred tons of timber and two mosquito helicopters, Jiang Yan directly traveled from Wen Vige to Beautiful Country.


    Beautiful Country was a key destination on her trip.


    After all, weapons, yachts, helicopters, amphibious vessels¡ªall ording to her stockpiling n¡ªwere to be procured there.


    Although some states in Beautiful Country didn''t prohibit guns, purchasing weapons through legal channels still required documentation.


    Jiang Yan had practiced with real guns at a shooting range several times with friends, but it was just practice.


    She was neither a citizen there nor a green card holder, so she naturally couldn''t have a gun permit.


    However, when she first went abroad, her parents, concerned about her personal safety, hadmissioned an organization to find her a few top-notch bodyguards.


    This organization was said to have extensive connections.


    She naturally went straight to the agency manager of this organization.


    Although referred to as an organization, in Beautiful Country, it had a reputation for dealing with both the legal and the underworld.


    It was rumored they even had a private army and engaged in some transactions not allowed in the open, such as being the hidden backer of the dark web, and so on.


    None of these were Jiang Yan''s concerns, as long as they could secure the weapons for her.


    The reason she was reluctant to face those dodgy weapons suppliers was that it would be the same as handing over her wallet and head to a tiger.


    She had previous dealings with this organization, which had a decent reputation and word-of-mouth in the industry.


    All she had to pay was a substantial brokerage fee.


    Compared to her life, she was more than willing to pay this money.


    Of course, the organization was also helpful in exchanging the bigger sums of US dors.


    Before leaving the country, Jiang Yan, following their instructions, opened several securities ounts in HK and transferred fifteen ambitious targets in advance through various channels.


    The weapons were soon delivered to the warehouse she had designated.

 Chapter 17: Moving the Arsenal

    <h4>Chapter 17: Chapter 17: Moving the Arsenal</h4>


    Heavy machine guns, sniper rifles, the famous AK47s, assault rifles, submachine guns, handguns of various models, and corresponding bullets¡ªshe bought a huge pile of them all. There were also luminous diode stun guns that incapacitate without killing, tear gas, smoke bombs, bulletproof vests, and so on.


    The seller joked that this Asian girl, Jiang Yan, had single-handedly cleaned out their entire armory. Jiang Yan responded with augh that the seller had also emptied all six of her wallets.


    Indeed, with themission on top of the cost of the weaponry, Jiang Yan''s fifteen little financial goals werepletely drained in one go.


    Spending money like water, Jiang Yan truly felt the pinch this time.


    Furthermore, as per her request, the seller also encrypted and provided aplete set of VR practice scenarios for all the weapons.


    These scenarios utilized the world''s most advanced 3D technology and supported holographic projection mode.


    At home, Jiang Yan could immerse herself in virtual reality within the Space, practicing shooting, changing magazines, and participating in variousbat scenarios set up for real-life exercises, among other things.


    She bought these weapons just in case they might be needed.


    After all, in theter stages of the apocalypse, social order would cease to exist, resources would be extremely scarce, and there might even be mutations in flora and fauna.


    Having firearms would be far better than just having knives, sticks, and clubs.


    Otherwise, forget about heavy machine guns¡ªthe recoil of just handling a handgun and changing its magazine were in fact quite challenging for her.


    In reality, using firearms wasn''t as effortlessly portrayed as in movies.


    In addition to firearms, she bought a bunch of cold weapons including fire axes, tactical axes, knives, swords, crossbows, crowbars, sleeve swords, and more.


    Electric saws, electric drills, multi-functional toolboxes, helmets, anti-cut gloves, anti-wolf spray, electric shock sticks,bat uniforms, self-defense gloves, tactical scarves, tactical goggles, and tactical shlights were also part of the haul.


    Outdoor survival watches, signal res,ser pens, telescopes, avnche airbag backpacks, waterproof cold-proof clothing, diving suits, fishing tackle, fishings, oxygen bottles,passes, rangefinders, multi-functional fire-starters, flints, and so on were also not overlooked.


    After finishing with the weaponry, Jiang Yan bought two miniature helicopters, a trailer off-road vehicle, two automatic off-road vehicles, a small yacht, off-road motorcycles, snow and sand vehicles, amphibious boats, speedboats, kayaks, dinghies, motorboats, and escape parachutes, all of which she stored in the Space.


    Among these, the off-road trailer known as the ''Fortress of the Apocalypse'' was the most expensive, costing her nearly two million US dors.


    However, the vehicle truly looked formidable and was extremely sturdy; its interior was fully equipped with amenities that made it a movable vi for Residence.


    Afterpleting all these purchases, another 0.5 million US dor goal was gone.


    Fortunately, the overall budget was still under control.


    Leaving Beautiful Country, Jiang Yan went straight to Kangaroo Country.


    Livestock farming was exceptionally developed in Kangaroo Country, producingrge quantities of beef,mb, and dairy products.


    Jiang Yan stocked up on the beef,mb, and dairy products she hadn''t managed to buy enough of at home.


    She also purchased many canned goods¡ªmeats, vegetables, fruits¡ªall kinds.


    @@novelbin@@


    Windmill Country was her fourth stop on this global shopping spree, a country not originally on her hoarding list.


    In her mind, the ce was better suited for windmills, Tulips, and vacationing.


    But upon discovering that Windmill Country had the world''s most advanced sr-powered yacht, she made a special trip there.


    This yacht, a new product just researched and developed by a renownedpany, had justpleted its trial runs. It featured an automatic hydraulic lifting system that kept it stable while docked, rising up to 3 meters when necessary to protect the home from storms, floods, and even withstand winds up to 251 km/h*.


    The yacht''s roof was equipped with 30kW sr panels and used 1000 kWh lithium-ion batteries for storage*.


    Its futuristic and science fiction design, including the four rooms designed with eco-friendly principles, turned it into a cozy andfortable living tform when not sailing.


    This meant that in the event of an earthquake or cial melting and sea survival, she would have another home besides the Space and the off-road trailer.


    A home that was broader, morefortable, and cozier than the trailer.


    A "home" that could be onnd or at sea.


    Of course, the price of this new "home" was also quite handsome¡ªover two million US dors disappeared with a "whoosh" before even being put into the Space.


    Windmill Country was also the world''s leading producer of Lithography Machines, but a cursory nce at the price by Jiang Yan left her momentarily speechless.


    Jiang Yan did not linger and headed directly to Hexagonal Country, a ce fertile with vineyards and famous wineries.


    However, she didn''t visit Lafite Winery; instead, she chose the equally renowned White Horse Vineyard.


    She bought a batch of wines with various sweetness levels, and some special vintage red wines also fell under hermand.


    Most of the batch of red wines she bought was meant for collection, with only a small portion for personal use.


    After all, once the apocalypse struck, those special vintage wines would be rarities.


    And, like the aged MaoTai she bought, they would also be liquid Gold.


    Hexagonal Country was also famous for producing the world''s best skincare products, which was actually the primary reason for Jiang Yan''s visit.


    Serums, lotions, day creams, night creams, masks, sunscreens, tanning products, whitening products, moisturizing, lifting, firming products, she bought them all without restraint¡ªeach type, each function.


    Lipsticks, hand creams, body lotions, beauty devices, facial steamers, ckhead extractors, facial cleansers, massagers were all acquired.


    She understood that in the apocalypse, be it in terms of clothing, appearance, or even the condition of her skin, she couldn''t afford to appear too unusually different from other people¡ªespecially in the early stages when her own abilities werecking and she needed to lie low and gather strength.


    Yet, these items were too tempting for a woman, better to have them ready.


    As for how much or whether to use them, that could be decidedter.


    She also particrly bought tanning lotion, partially with the foresight of concealing her fairplexion.


    Afterpleting her shopping spree, Jiang Yan reviewed her hoarding n and discovered she had forgotten to procure olive oil.


    Olive oil from Hexagonal Country was among the world''s top ten, but its production was low and expensive.


    With Rich Country leading the olive oil production, conveniently neighboring Hexagonal Country, she simply made a trip there directly.


    The ham in Bull Fighting Country was also renowned, and she bought three hundred top-quality Iberian pigs'' hind legs on the spot.


    Jiang Yan''s final destination for the global shopping was Rich Country.


    The nation with only a cloth atop its head but the richest in the world.


    Rich Country boasted the world''s top crude oil production and ranked eighth in natural gas.


    These energy resources would be essential in the apocalypse because, although she had enough food tost several lifetimes, the "food" for her yachts, airnes, and vehicles was far from sufficient.


    So, she bought five little goals'' worth of gasoline and natural gas of various grades.


    *


    *The marked sections are references from online articles.

 Chapter 19 - 19 High Temperature

    <h4>Chapter 19: Chapter 19 High Temperature</h4>


    The mosquito''s head must have fallen off and then got crushed by the wheels of a car.


    But the creature that resembled a mosquito was as big as two adult hands!


    In Jiang Yan''s memory, mosquitoes actually can''t withstand high temperatures or cold.


    Generally, when temperatures rise above thirty degrees or drop below ten degrees, mosquitoes would die off because they stop reproducing.


    Could this be some new species she didn''t recognize??


    Jiang Yan took out her phone, snapped a long-distance photo and after scanning her surroundings for any of itspanions, she quickly got into her car.


    She shut the doors and windows with one fluid motion.


    The young man finished his phone call, took out cleaning equipment and several bottles of mineral water from his trunk, and washed the bloodstain off the windshield before he too hurriedly got into his car.


    "Ma''am, sorry for the dy," he wiped the sweat off his forehead, apologized, and then quickly started the vehicle.


    Jiang Yan: "It''s fine."


    She just searched the picture online topare, and the search results showed that this species had Aedes-type body characteristics.


    Aedes mosquitoes are most adept at spreading yellow fever, dengue fever, and encephalitis.


    But in reality, there''s no mosquito of that size.


    The world''srgest mosquito is the Holorusia mikado with a size of up to 35mm, and it only feeds on nectar, not blood.


    And the amount of blood spilled just now was at least 50.


    If these were indeed mutated mosquitoes, one could only imagine the kind of disaster humanity would face.


    After all, if mosquitoes could mutate, then other creatures were likely to as well.


    Jiang Yan searched to no avail, so she simply posted the photo anonymously online:


    #Help, #UnknownSpecies, Found a creature resembling a giant mosquito, do you recognize it? And she tagged several science influencers and official science academies.


    "Ma''am, that insect certainly looked like a mosquito, but mosquitoes absolutely cannot grow to that size, what do you think?"


    The young man, still with a sense of horror, finished speaking and then suddenly "huh"-ed in surprise, saying, "How strange, why does the temperature keep rising today?"


    Hearing this, Jiang Yan nced up.


    Indeed, the external temperature disyed on the dashboard had skyrocketed to 40 degrees!


    And it was around five in the afternoon now, not the hottest part of the day.


    The online discussions about high temperatures and rising temperatures had suddenly be more frequent.


    If Anming, with its normally mild climate, was like this, then those cities known as the four furnaces would be even worse.


    It looked like the apocalypse was likely toe early.


    Jiang Yan rubbed her temples and closed her eyes, beginning to ponder what preparations she still hadn''t made.


    *


    Returning just in time for the evening rush hour, the roads were congested more than usual.


    By the time Jiang Yan got back to Shallow Bay, it was almost seven o''clock.


    Not far from the front entrance of the district, an ambnce and several police cars were parked, their red and blue lights shing nonstop.


    A crowd of Shallow Bay District residents, frightened and talking animatedly among themselves, surrounded the vehicles, with men, women, old, and young among them.


    The entrance to the district''s underground parking lot was cordoned off with police tape.


    Combined with the constantly rising temperatures, this scene made people feel unnerved.


    Seeing this, Jiang Yan got out of her car early.


    The air outside was unbearably hot.


    Even in her full gear, Jiang Yan felt it was getting hard to breathe as she walked faster.


    Just as she reached the entrance of the district, she heard the crowd of onlookers loudly discussing.


    "My God! It''s terrifying! They say the person was sucked dry!"


    "The blood hole on her body, it was as big as my son''s fist!"


    "I heard it was a mosquito as big as a human face that bit her, and all her blood was sucked out!"


    "Don''t stir up panic. An adult has at least 4000ml of blood, how could it all be sucked out!"


    "The point is it''s not just one, big brother, it''s a bunch of them!!!"


    "A bunch??!! Could it be that the mosquitoes have mutated?!"


    "Crap, I''ve heard that only female mosquitoes feed on blood; it can''t haveid eggs in there after feeding! Good Lord, it''s someone from Building D; looks like we can''t go over there in the future!"


    "God! Could it really be that the apocalypse ising!! Look how hot it is today!! I don''t remember Anming ever being this hot before!! That''s right, I saw a post with a warning; wow, that person is amazing, they actually predicted it!!!"


    "Where is the post, that person is so impressive, dig it out, I want to see it!"


    "It seems to be posted by a foreigner, pretty awesome, wait, let me see if it''s been deleted."


    "..."


    Despite sweating profusely, a group of people were still discussing the situation with great fervor.


    Jiang Yan felt a chill in her heart.


    So, the Blood Mosquito that she encountered on her way earlier was not an isted case...


    Soon, several medical staff members in full Protective Clothing, escorted by the district property manager and security guards, quickly walked out of the district carrying a medical stretcher.


    The person on the stretcher was covered with a white cloth from head to toe.


    Behind the medical staff were a fewmunity police officers and a short-haired woman who looked like an official worker.


    The woman with short hair, looking somber, nced at the crowd that refused to disperse and raised her voice:


    "Residents, with the weather being so hot, don''t stand around chatting; head home quickly! Make sure to close your doors and windows tight! Also, tell your parents to stay in for the next few days and note out for square dancing."


    Outside the main entrance of Shallow Bay District, by the fresh produce supermarket, there was a fairlyrge square.


    Usually, by seven thirty, the sound of square dancing would punctually begin to swell in the area.


    "Boss, what exactly happened?" someone in the crowd asked loudly.


    The short-haired woman dodged his question and said, "Mister, nothing has happened. With temperatures this high, it''s easy to get heatstroke! You guys should head home now!" After speaking, the short-haired woman added another sentence:


    "Residents, let me remind you all, please don''t spread rumors, don''t believe rumors, don''t create rumors! Whatever there is to know, the authorities will announce officially through official channels as soon as possible!"


    Jiang Yan didn''t stick around to hear more; she pulled her suitcase and quickly headed back to Building A where she resided.


    If Blood Mosquitoes were also found in her district, it was clearly unwise to remain exposed outside.


    Most people, though, hold a hope against hope mentality, always thinking that the mosquito bites were isted cases.


    The building identified with Blood Mosquito presence was Building D.


    It was immediately sealed off, with workers in Protective Clothing and carrying disinfection equipment hurrying in and out.


    The entrances of other buildings looked as usual.


    @@novelbin@@


    Most people could not possibly be vignt and cautious instantly because of temporarily rising temperatures or the appearance of Blood Mosquitoes.


    Jiang Yan belonged to the minority; she didn''t stop until she returned to the 32nd floor.


    She lived in 3201 and nced at her few neighbors'' doors out of habit before entering.


    The door of the neighboring 3202 was still tightly closed as if uninhabited.


    The Door of 3203 was half-open, with two Beer crates from some outer shore ced outside, haphazardly filled with empty beer bottles.


    The sound of men and women''s boisterous voices and the clinking of sses could be hearding from inside.


    Judging by the noise, they seemed to be celebrating a child''s birthday at home.

 Chapter 20 - 20 Cash is King

    <h4>Chapter 20: Chapter 20 Cash is King</h4>


    The door to room 3204 was tightly closed.


    There were two pairs of shoes by the door, a pair of men''s ck leather shoes and a pair of women''s beige casual sneakers.


    It looked like they belonged to a couple or a married pair who had just returned home from work.


    Jiang Yan had previously stocked up overseas and had momentarily given the renovationpany a temporary password to adjust something, so she had given them a one-off code.


    Although that password was now invalid, she reset all the passwords before opening the door.


    After double-locking both doors, setting the air conditioning to 28 degrees, Jiang Yan flopped down onto the couch in the living room.


    The space had a "Washing Essence and Marrow" effect on her body, so during her time abroad, she would spend an hour or two inside each night after returning to her hotel.


    Her overall physical condition kept improving.


    However, because she had been on edge every day, now that she was rxing at home, she actually felt a bit fatigued.


    This fatigue was not physical but more on a mental level.


    Jiang Yan closed her eyes andy down for a while, recovering some energy before she sat up.


    She nced around the room''s corners to see if there were any oversights in her refuge.


    She had removed all non-load-bearing walls in the two smaller bedrooms and the study, leaving only the master bedroom.


    The whole ce seemed much more spacious.


    The drain in the bathroom had been sealed with cement by the renovationpany and even covered with a coat of waterproof paint.


    In the living room, two sets of real fireces had been installed, each with two separate, concealed smoke outlets.


    She thought of these fireces while stockpiling in the Maple Country.


    She used to think a generator and air conditioning would suffice, but news from the Maple Country made her realize that in extreme cold, these real fireces would heat the room far better than any air conditioner.


    Moreover, air conditioning units are installed on the exterior walls, and there was no telling when a line or part might fail.


    Traditional heating and cooling methods turned out to be more reliable in extreme weather.


    Additionally, to prevent any creatures from entering through the smoke outlets, she had not only installed a filter but also designed a manual valve.


    Remembering the massive Blood Mosquito that hit her car window earlier today, Jiang Yan rose quickly to shut those two valves.


    Moreover, when the renovationpany came to the living room, she took out an anti-surveince detector from the space and did a thorough sweep.


    Apart from the devices she had ced, no new surveince equipment was detected.


    Harmful intentions should not be fostered, but precautions against others are necessary; this had always been Jiang Yan''s code of conduct.


    After finishing these tasks and taking a warm shower, Jiang Yan heard her stomach growling.


    Lately, she had been subsisting on various hotel meals and Western food, but she found herself missing the simplicity of home-cooked dishes.


    However, she didn''t feel much like cooking today, nor did she want to eat the prepared meals from restaurants.


    She simply took an egg and a handful of green onions from the space and quickly whipped up a fragrant egg fried rice for herself.


    She also made a simple cabbage soup without any oil or salt, mixed a dipping sauce, and served it with a small dish of spicy and vorful side dishes.


    Simple yet delicious, Jiang Yan finished the meal and the soup to thest drop.


    After eating, she threw the dishes into the dishwasher, grabbed a bottle of chilled soda water, and leisurely turned on the TV.


    On her free days, she would listen to financial news and y a round of King''s battle game, today was no exception.


    "Japan initiates the 100th discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea... the internationalmunity strongly condemns... Japan admits initially secreting low-concentration nuclear-contaminated water withoutmunicating with local fishermen..."


    "The world is bracing for the hottest year on record... temperatures surge globally... experts state the causes include the tropical Pacific''s surface warming... El Ni?o... increased sr activity..."


    "... citizens are reminded to store at least ten days'' worth of food and drinking water at home... stay indoors as much as possible until the heatwave subsides... avoid working or walking outside in high temperatures... heatstroke... call emergency services promptly..."


    After listening to the news intermittently for an hour, Jiang Yan also finished her game session with the unfortunate end of three straight losses.


    The news mentioned a global temperature spike but not the mutated Blood Mosquito attacks.


    Jiang Yan guessed that the Blood Mosquito might be a problem only in Anming.


    ncing at the thermometer, the outside temperature was still 41 degrees. Although it had only increased by one degree Celsius since 5 p.m., it was now nearly ten in the evening; this temperature was obviously abnormal.


    Jiang Yan muted the TV and took out her pad to check the surveince footage.


    At the entrance of Building A, several men were rushing out, fully geared with electric bike helmets and gloves, carryingrge non-woven shopping bags.


    It seemed they had been informed of the Blood Mosquito attacks and the officials'' advice to stock up on food and water.


    There were also a few fearless ''lone heroes'' dressed in shorts, slippers, and boxer shorts, ready to walk their dogs in the garden.


    @@novelbin@@


    In the footage, some delivery riders carriedrge boxes of ice cream, popsicles, and chilled beer, all stored in specially designed cooler boxes.


    One of the delivery riders was even carrying an unopened standing fan, probably ordered by someone unwilling to go out and preferring to use a courier service instead.


    Each rider wore a helmet and mask, and most of their yellow work clothes were soaked.


    At several other floors'' elevator lobbies, there were several people waiting to get on the elevator.


    Most likely, they couldn''t stand the heat and were going out to buy fans, or perhaps some were prompted by the news to start procuring goods in advance.


    After all, following the mask incident, most people''s stockpiling instincts were fairly strong.


    Jiang Yan watched the surveince for a while, not discovering anything new, and then put down the pad.


    Tomorrow was going to be an extremely busy day for her.


    With the sudden rise in temperature and the emergence of the mutated Blood Mosquito, she had rescheduled everything nned for the next two weeks to concentrate on aplishing it all tomorrow.


    ncing at her phone, several suppliers had sent messages confirming deliveries for the next day.


    The two sets of automated waterless nting machines Jiang Yan had ordered before going abroad had arrived.


    She also bought four high-power ice-making machines, several specially designed luxury private mobile Apple Cabins, and ten suits of newly mass-produced jet flight suits from the UK, priced at 3 million yuan each, which would also be delivered tomorrow.


    The lease on the warehouse she rented was just about to end these couple of days.


    Jiang Yan had also arranged for the bank to prepare a substantial amount of cash for her.


    She nned to finish paying the remaining bnce for these goods tomorrow, then take most of the money to buy gold bars, and the rest she nned to withdraw and throw into the space.


    In times of peace, collect antiques; in times of chaos, buy gold¡ªthis principle is timeless.


    Besides, in the early days of the apocalypse, cash is king.

 Chapter 21: The Smiling Man

    <h4>Chapter 21: Chapter 21: The Smiling Man</h4>


    Jiang Yan actually didn''t need to buy anything anymore, but it was better than letting the money lie in the bank and turn into numbers.


    Additionally, the jewelry stored in the vault under her mother''s name was to be retrieved tomorrow.


    After replying to all the delivery arrangement texts, it was still early before bedtime, so she nned to enter "Space" first for a check.


    Just as she was about to enter "Space" by thought, the door was pounded "bang, bang, bang."


    Yes, pounded.


    And pounded very forcefully.


    Jiang Yan twisted her brows and picked up the pad to check the surveince.


    Her surveince used the best brand, not only was the image high-definition, but it also had audio reception capability.


    Outside stood a middle-aged man with a high-built, heavy-set face, and a middle-aged woman with a slightly thin figure, round face, and hair in a bun.


    The woman was also holding a palm-sized, carved white porcin te with a piece of yellow peach cream cake and a clear stic fork on it.


    The temperature was too high; the cream on the surface of the cake had melted, and the pieces of yellow peach were all sticky and drooping on the side.


    Both of them had very red faces and some fine beads of sweat on their foreheads, probably from the heat.


    The local people in Anming, mostly ustomed to the winter-warm, summer-cool greenhouse environment, had no resistance to today''s sudden scorching weather.


    And very few people had air conditioning installed at home.


    Mostly, only west-facing rooms or hotels and hostels would consider installing it.


    One could imagine the level of difort of ordinary people.


    Jiang Yan nced at the screen, the man''s steps were wobbly, and his eyes clearly seemed a bit groggy.


    No one visits without a reason.


    What kind of situation would bring a couple to knock on a doorte at night together?


    If it was because of a child''s birthday to deliver a cake, but now it was nearly ten o''clock, wasn''t it toote?


    Also, the apocalypse had not officially started yet, and the clich¨¦ neighbor-knocking scenarios seen in novels were ying out before her...


    Although it might be her own overthinking, Jiang Yan still raised an eyebrow and pretended not to hear.


    "Bang! Bang! Bang!"


    With a louder banging sound, the woman raised her voice and said, "Little sister, I know you''re inside, please open the door."


    "Yes, little sister, we are neighbors from 3203, please open the door for us," the man next to her politely chimed in.


    As soon as he finished speaking, the woman next to him red fiercely at him and reprimanded him in a low voice:


    "Zhou Guangfu, why are you talking like a rogue? Is it appropriate for you to call her ''little sister''?"


    The flesh on the man''s face twitched, and he said with a smile, "Wife, I''m just following your lead..."


    The woman ignored him, continued pounding on the door with her fist, and her voice grew a bit louder, "Little sister, please open the door! We have something urgent to speak with you about!"


    @@novelbin@@


    Well, this was bing endless.


    Fine, the apocalypse hadn''t started yet, so she might as well see what this couple was up to.


    Thinking this, Jiang Yan stood up, took a medical mask from the entrance, and with a "creak," she opened the inside door.


    Jiang Yan had installed two doors.


    The inside door was a solid bulletproof steel te.


    While the outside door had a top third portion consisting of finger-thick metal mesh, allowing one to clearly see the people outside.


    This metal mesh was actually electrifiable, but Jiang Yan had not activated it yet.


    Her entryway was also specially modified, perfectly blocking everything inside the house as soon as the door opened.


    As soon as the door opened, the hot air from outside "whooshed" in, making Jiang Yan feel as if she had suddenly stuck half of her head into a sauna.


    While the cold air inside "whooshed" out through the holes in the metal mesh.


    The couple standing outside instantly felt a wave of coolness on their faces.


    The two exchanged a meaningful look, their bodies involuntarily stepping forward.


    But seeing Jiang Yan''s cold gaze, they paused.


    The woman, curious, tried to peer behind to see the inside of the living room but failed to see anything and then turned her gaze back to Jiang Yan with an embarrassed smile, saying:


    "Hello, little sister, I am Zhang Chunmei from next door, 3203, this is my husband Zhou Guangfu. Could you also open the outside door for us? It''s our child''s birthday today, and we have saved a piece of cake especially for you. We would like to invite you to share in our joy."


    After saying this, she added, "We apologize for the intrusion. In fact, we had tagged you in the owners'' group chat earlier, seeing that you hadn''t responded for a while, we decided toe and knock directly."


    They say you don''t p a smiling face; Zhang Chunmei believed Jiang Yan would be the same.


    Owner''s group?


    During her time overseas stocking up, Jiang Yan had almost totally deleted and exited various groups and casual friends.


    Completely severing the superficial rtionships from her previous life.


    The only group she kept was Shallow Bay''s owners'' group.


    After Du Ziteng finished helping her with the property purchase, a man named Zhang Qiming in the homeownermittee added her and pulled her into the group.


    Although Jiang Yan had been silent and never spoke, she had never thought of leaving the group.


    After all, knowing the enemy is the key to victory.


    She had prepared to stay in "Space" and in her house after the apocalypse started, but that didn''t mean she could cut herself off from the world entirely.


    Staying in the group for now, she could grasp some information about the situation around her and the official response and measures if disasters urredter on.


    The idea of checking the group where she was tagged? She doubted she would bother.


    After hearing Zhang Chunmei''s words, Jiang Yan''s expression didn''t change much, and she calmly said:


    "Thank you both, I appreciate the gesture, but I''ll skip the cake. Keep it for the children. If there''s nothing else, I''m going to close the door now. Also, I don''t like being disturbed, please don''t knock on my door again, thank you!"


    Jiang Yan finished speaking, didn''t wait for a response, and directly turned around to leave.


    Seeing this, Zhang Chunmei looked embarrassed for a moment, then quickly put on a smile and said, "Little sister, just wait a moment; I have a small favor to ask..."


    Wow!


    As expected, this cake was a bribe.


    Ah, but no.


    She''s no chicken.


    Jiang Yan paused, turned around, and with a sharp look in her eyes, said, "What?"


    Zhang Chunmei was shaken by her calm gaze, and her tone changed instantly, "you" became "you" more respectfully.


    "It''s like this, little sister, Anming suddenly heated up today, it''s almost forty-two degrees inside our house. My two children and two elders have never encountered this situation before; the elders even have heart-rted illnesses and are feeling overwhelmed. My husband did buy an air conditioner on some East emerce tform, but the instation won''t happen until tomorrow.


    I was thinking, since you just installed two air conditioners recently, I wanted to ask if our elderly and children could temporarily stay in your living room for the night.


    You don''t have to worry, the children are well-behaved, and the elderly are very clean. They won''t make your house dirty or messy. If it''s really not possible, we can pay you some money, which could include the cost of a hotel stay and extra for the electricity."


    "Cough, cough, cough!"


    Jiang Yan ignored her and suddenly started to cough violently while covering her mouth.


    Seeing her light blue medical mask, Zhang Chunmei and Zhou Guangfu nced at each other, baffled, then involuntarily took a big step backward.

 Chapter 22 - 22 Are You Kidding Me?

    <h4>Chapter 22: Chapter 22 Are You Kidding Me?</h4>


    Jiang Yan watched the expressions and gestures of the two people, thinking they would choose to give up, but to her surprise, He Chunmei bit her lip, vowing solemnly,


    "Little sister, it''s fine, I''ll just have the elderly and children wear doubleyer masks! If they get infected, we won''t me you!"


    "Yeah, yeah, big sister, the key point is that other families don''t have air conditioning installed. The budget hotels outside do have air conditioning, but my parents have some underlying health issues. Plus, we just saw in the owners'' group that the D building has blood-sucking mosquitoes that can kill. So if we''re next to the house, it''s easier for us to take care of their meals and daily needs." Zhou Guangfu quickly added with an ingratiating smile, exining away.


    The couple was like aic duo performing, with one setting up the jokes and the other delivering the punchlines.


    Jiang Yan had nothing else to do at the moment, so she simply stood behind the door, quietly watching their performance.


    Zhou Guangfu had just finished his piece when He Chunmei chimed in again, even starting to preach a big principle:


    "Right, little sister, if that doesn''t work, we could give you a bit more money. How about an extra hundred yuan per night for amodation and electricity for the air conditioning? We''ll bring a tent and won''t stay long, we''ll move back as soon as the air conditioning is installed the day after tomorrow.


    For washing and using the toilet, they wille back to our own home to do it, and at mealtimes, we''ll cook for you too, so you won''t have to cook by yourself.


    Besides, you know, we''re all neighbors here, where we meet each other all the time. We ought to help each other out, especially since everyone has their difficult moments, don''t you agree?"


    He Chunmei''s performance and lines were somewhat clumsy, and Jiang Yan finally couldn''t stand it anymore.


    "Uh-huh, big sister, you''re right. Neighbors should indeed help each other out!"


    She said this and then, with a change of tone and a sly glint in her eye, she added,


    "Big sister, my credit card and mortgage are about to be overdue¡ªhow about you help me pay them off first?!"


    He Chunmei, with a face full of smiles anticipating Jiang Yan''s agreement to let them in, froze as thetter half of Jiang Yan''s sentence hit her like a bucket of ice water. She choked up, her face turning a mottled mix of pale and flushed.


    But she recovered quickly and raised her voice, saying, "Young girl, that''s not the same thing, this¡ª"


    He Chunmei was cut off midway, the words "Are you kidding me?" not yet spoken, when Jiang Yan mmed the door shut with a bang and went back inside.


    "This¡ª"


    He Chunmei, who was somewhat of a leader at work and the major breadwinner between her and her husband, making the decisions at home, had never been snubbed this way.


    Unable to control her anger, she raised her foot to kick the door but, recalling Jiang Yan''s icy gaze, it turned into a vicious stamp on the ground instead.


    Zhou Guangfu gently patted her shoulder, trying to calm her down, "Alright, wife, I told you this approach wasn''t right. After all, who wants to live with strangers?"


    "But this is a crisis period! We''re just borrowing the ce for a day or two. Plus, I know theyout of ourmunity. Her master bedroom has an en suite bathroom. I''m just bringing a tent to stay in the living room; it doesn''t affect her at all!


    And I''m offering her a hundred yuan a day for one room! Think about it, where are shared rental rooms that expensive?! Those interns at our workce, staying in shared apartments in themunity, they only pay fifteen hundred yuan for a four-bedroom, two-living-room apartment per month. That works out to only ten yuan per room per day!!"


    "Alright, alright, wife, if she doesn''t want to take us in, there''s nothing we can do. Let''s go back," Zhou Guangfu, seeking peace over conflict, quickly tugged at He Chunmei''s sleeve.


    "Hmph! What''s there to be so arrogant about! She''s clearly a shameless mistress supported by someone! I saw that mane with her to view the house! Otherwise, how could a young girl afford such arge apartment!! And every time I see her going out, she''s all wrapped up. It''s because she''s got something to hide!" He Chunmei fumed.


    "Alright, wife, keep your voice down, careful not to be overheard," Zhou Guangfu, now quite sober, urged her as she began to rant excessively.


    "Let them hear, what am I afraid of! I mean, why did I end up with someone so cautious and unprofitable like you!" He Chunmei had nowhere else to direct her anger, so she took it out on Zhou Guangfu.


    While speaking, she didn''t forget to twist Zhou Guangfu''s arm viciously.


    The twist was so fierce, Zhou Guangfu winced in pain, but he couldn''t say anything in response; he could only bear it and said,


    "Alright, let''s head home. My parents'' pensiones out tomorrow. I''ll talk to them about giving it all to you, okay? Don''t be too angry, it''s bad for your health, huh."


    "That''s more like it!" He Chunmei snorted coldly and thrust the cake te into his hands, storming off into the house.


    Jiang Yan did not hear their bizarre conversation; after she shut the door and went inside, she entered the Space.


    In the Space''s "nting Area", the ck soil wasrgely empty except for a few lonely rose nts here and there.


    The pile of saplings she bought earlier was stacked off to one side, still not nted.


    The saplings were in good condition, having only ceased growing.


    In the white "Residential Area", apart from an Imperial Concubine Chair and a set of desks and chairs, there was nothing else.


    Tomorrow, Jiang Yan would ce her personally designed and custom-built luxury mobile Apple Cabin there.


    The Apple Cabin featured a healing guesthouse design style and even included an outdoor swimming pool.


    The room had three floors in total, adding up to over a thousand square meters, just upying half the area of the white "Residential Area".


    Standard Apple Cabins cost around 3000 yuan per square meter, but she had the other party use the best materials and finest furniture and essories, such as Hansi Country bathroom fixtures, Noodle Country furniture, and Tuji Country carpets, which altogether cost almost 6000 yuan per square meter.


    A bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom, multimedia theater room, gym, outdoor swimming pool, and so forth were all equipped.


    A holographic shooting range was also to be installed in the multimedia theater room, which ounted for thergest area of the space.


    Tomorrow, Jiang Yan would also head to the warehouse in advance to take out part of the sr panels stored in the Space and have them installed directly on top of the Apple Cabin.


    @@novelbin@@


    That way, once she moved the Apple Cabin into the Space''s "Residential Area", she could transfer some of her living quarters there.


    After staying in the Space for a while, Jiang Yan returned to her room.


    She booked a car for the next day and, after setting the air conditioning to sleep mode, went to bed.


    After wandering abroad for a month, she did indeed need a good night''s sleep.


    *


    The next day, Jiang Yan woke up just after seven.


    Checking the thermometer and the weather on her phone, the temperature outside had soared to a staggering 45 degrees.


    She looked at a few other countries and cities and found that aside from a few desert regions with higher temperatures, the rest were not much different.


    It was quite astonishing.


    Curious about the public and official reactions, she decided to check the news first.


    Just opening a well-known app, a few scorching hot posts quickly popped up, each with likes andments exceeding a million.

 Chapter 25 - 25 Hello Sister

    <h4>Chapter 25: Chapter 25 Hello Sister</h4>


    "Dad, I have something rather disrespectful to say, but if you died now, could you even afford to die?!


    Can''t you see the homeowner group chats? The hospitals, the police stations, even the crematorium phone lines are all busy!


    The mother from 403, Old Liu''s ce, she just had an acute myocardial infarction because of the extreme heat and is now lying stiff at home!


    With the temperature so high, the body might start to stink tonight!


    So if you died, where would I bury you?! Not to mention, the trash room in ourmunity is already piled up like a mountain and swarming with green-headed flies!"


    He Chunmei''s words were extremely unpleasant to hear and burst out like rapid gunfire¡ªnon-stop and utterly relentless.


    "Chunmei, you''re beingpletely unreasonable and obstinate!!"


    Zhou Shangyou was so angry that he banged his walking stick on the floor tiles before sighing to the sky, "Ah, what sins has our Zhou Familymitted?!"


    After saying this, it wasn''t clear whether it was the heat or He Chunmei''s words that got to him, but his vision darkened and he copsed to the floor.


    Jiang Lifeng shivered with fright and reached out to grab his sleeve: "Old man!"


    "Grandpa!"


    "Grandpa!"


    The two children dropped their stools with a "tter" and ran over.


    @@novelbin@@


    "Dad!"


    The tall Zhou Guangfu stepped forward and caught Zhou Shangyou.


    He Chunmei was briefly flustered for a second, then quicklyposed herself and began giving orders,


    "Zhou Guangfu, take responsibility for helping our dad go home to rest! I''ll handle banging on the door here, I refuse to believe she won''t open it this morning!"


    In her eyes, it was better if her mother-inw Jiang Lifeng, who had a chronic disease and often disagreed with her, was gone.


    But her father-inw Zhou Shangyou had a high retirement sry, and he definitely couldn''t just die like that¡ªhe was the family''s cash cow!


    "Wife, let''s just go home!" Zhou Guangfu''s brows were knitted tightly, he sighed deeply.


    Their daughter had developed jaundice and pneumonia right after birth, was alone under a nurse''s care being treated with phototherapy every day, and had tubes all over her forehead...


    Whenever they recalled that sight, the couple was so heartbroken they couldn''t stop crying.


    And ever since then, whenever their daughter caught a rtively severe illness, He Chunmei would be a bundle of nerves.


    It wouldn''t be an exaggeration to say she could go temporarily insane.


    And after hearing that heatstroke had a fatality rate of 20%-70%, and their baby Beibei showed symptoms of nausea, vomiting, and fever, He Chunmei was noticeably panicking:


    "Go back if you want to! If this goes on, baby Beibei will die sooner orter. I''d rather go to jail today than leave them without air conditioning! Baby Beibei, you stay here with mom, don''t you dare go back!"


    He Chunmei, her eyes bulging with rage, finished speaking and lifted her hand to furiously knock on Jiang Yan''s door, "Little sister! Open the door!!"


    Zhou Guangfu could only shake his head helplessly, called his mother Jiang Lifeng, and helped his father Zhou Shangyou back home.


    The two children didn''t dare wander off and could only go stand by the door of 3202, looking on at their mother dumbly.


    The scene unfolded before her eyes as if in high-definition.


    Jiang Yan stared at the screen, took a deep breath in silence.


    Was this a case of bearing guilt despite being innocent because one possesses a treasure?


    If it were her previous life or any other time, she would have undoubtedly opened the door without hesitation to let them in.


    But now, she knew this was just the beginning of the apocalypse, not its true descent.


    Most people thought things would get better once these few days were over.


    Only she knew that the days ahead would only be worse and harder.


    Once she let someone in now with a soft heart, there''d be no hope of them leavingter.


    Especially seeing their aggressive and unyielding attitude.


    It was very possible even a hostile takeover of her house wasn''t out of the question.


    In the scene, He Chunmei''s roar could be heard again:


    "Little girl, stop pretending! Open the door now, or I''ll break it down!!"


    He Chunmei didn''t know that Jiang Yan had left home early and had been ignoring the door, so she finally picked up a small hammer she had brought.


    Seeing her aim the hammer at the keypad lock, it seemed she was ready to smash the lock and force her way in.


    But only Jiang Yan knew that even if the keypad lock were hammered to pieces, the door would still remain closed.


    Unless the lock core was blown up or the entire door was taken down.


    In the scene, He Chunmei had lifted the small hammer again.


    But she didn''t smash it right away, instead, she started gasping for air with her other hand on her waist.


    The room temperature was too high, and after her loud yelling for so long, she was already short of breath with a flushed face.


    Jiang Yan frowned slightly and with nimble fingers quickly activated the anti-intrusion system.


    But she wasn''t too ruthless, opting only for a mild 110V electric shock as a little lesson.


    The apocalypse hadn''t truly begun, and it wouldn''t be quite right to electrocute someone to death in one go.


    And there were two children watching.


    "Little girl, I''m knocking onest time. If you don''t open, don''t me me for not being nice!" He Chunmei said, and again her palm knocked "bang bang bang!"


    With her final p, an excruciating sensation as if being devoured by millions of ants surged through her body from her palm.


    He Chunmei screamed "Ahh!!" and instinctively stepped back, her hand losing strength and dropping the hammer with a "ng."


    "Mama, what happened?!"


    "Mama!!"


    The two children were startled and rushed to help He Chunmei.


    "Don''te over!" He Chunmei wasn''t ignorant; she knew she had been electrocuted.


    Today, she hadn''t tied her hair into a bun; it was loose.


    For a moment, she clearly saw her hair stand on end from the corner of her eye.


    He Chunmei took a few deep breaths to steady herself and then stood still, observing the metal mesh, but she couldn''t see anything out of the ordinary.


    "Mama?" the little boy called gently when he saw his mother standing in ce, quickly stepping closer.


    He Chunmei snapped back to reality, a fierce look shed in her eyes, and she growled, "Little girl, you''re cruel! We''ll see about this!"


    She carefully picked up the hammer from the ground and said to the children,


    "Let''s go, baby, Beibei, we''ll go home first."


    If she couldn''t knock on the door alone.


    Then what about a group of people?


    The few hundred households in thismunity, like hers with elderly, young, sick and those with babies in need of air conditioning, were not few in number.


    Strength in numbers, she didn''t believe it wouldn''t work!


    Whether it was moral coercion or outright usurpation, everything bes easier with more people!


    With that decision made, He Chunmei handed the small hammer to her son to take his sister home first, then took out her phone and quickly sent a message to the home-owners'' group:


    [A-3203: Dear neighbors, does anyone need air conditioning to cool down today? Please message me if needed!!! Special note: only for households with the elderly, infirm, or pregnant!]


    The message had just been sent when an attractive woman with the user image "A-701" added her as a friend from the group.


    [Hi sister, I''m the new neighbor Zhang Qiqi :)]

 Chapter 26 - 26 Stirring Trouble

    <h4>Chapter 26: Chapter 26 Stirring Trouble</h4>


    When Liu Lei and his team finished up and left, it was already twelve noon.


    The main assembly of the Apple Cabin and instation of photovoltaic sr panels took too long.


    After assembling and debugging, they had to wait for the cleaners to clean inside and out several times, and then carried out eptance checks for various facilities and electrical equipment.


    Fortunately, the jet-powered suits, waterless nting machines, and ice makers were all delivered during this time frame.


    They were just stored in another warehouse a short distance away.


    After all the supplies had been checked and everyone had left, Jiang Yan stored everything in her Space.


    @@novelbin@@


    There were still some time before the bank reopened in the afternoon, and she was hungry, so she simply took out a portion of sour and spicy noodle sd with beef tendon and a cup of chilled coconut juice sago soup from the Space for a quick meal.


    This extremely refreshing noodle sd with beef tendon was a find from some old brand shop tucked away in a forgotten corner, and was second to none in vor.


    The proprietress was not as pretentious as the chubby sister from the rice noodle shop.


    She readily epted Jiang Yan''s order for three thousand portions, and even threw in fifty free roujiamo and three thousand cups of sour plum drink.


    After eating, Jiang Yan sat lonely on a small stool for a while to rest.


    She didn''t choose to go into the Space.


    Inside the Space, it was always temperature-controlled and veryfortable, but the temperature difference was too greatpared to the outside.


    She was going to be out and about for the afternoon and was afraid she wouldn''t be able to cope with the outdoor heat, not to mention the sudden changes from cold to hot could easily make her sick.


    Around the time she estimated the banks would open, Jiang Yan took out a brand-new Harley motorcycle from the Space and rode at breakneck speed towards the bank.


    This motorcycle didn''t have a license te, it could even be considered a smuggled item.


    After all, she bought it abroad and then threw it directly into the Space.


    She was of course aware that driving an unlicensed vehicle could result in a temporary impoundment of the vehicle and a 200 yuan fine.


    However,pared topeting with the apocalypse for time, such a penalty was insignificant.


    And at that moment, the traffic police probably didn''t have the energy to care.


    In the Space was a second-hand light truck with a license te, but under today''s circumstances, it was obviously not convenient to use; unlike the motorcycle where, in an unmanned alley with no surveince, it could simply be touched and stored away directly.


    After the bank and buying gold bars, she also experienced some dys.


    Moreover, due to people''s panic and desire for safe assets, the price of gold had increased from over eight hundred a gram yesterday to over two thousand a gram today.


    And the price was still soaring.


    Normally, those gold bars cost just over six hundred.


    Even jewelry stores were now crowded with people.


    After all, gold was everyone''s first choice for a safe-haven asset.


    However, Jiang Yan''s mother was once a super VIP at a renowned jewelry group''s Anming branch, so naturally, Jiang Yan didn''t buy from the counter.


    She went straight to thepany''s gold processing nt.


    Behind most well-known jewelry brands in the market is actually one grouppany.


    Thesepanies have gold processing nts in only a few cities.


    Anming happened to be one of them.


    After purchasing the gold, Jiang Yan went to the bank vault to retrieve the jewelry her mother had stored for her, then rode back to Shallow Bay.


    On the way back, she didn''t forget to listen to the local news via her Bluetooth headset.


    The outside temperature had already reached fifty degrees Celsius, and the heat waves in the air were visibly scorching.


    The ground temperature must have been even higher, literally scalding.


    She could even feel through the motorcycle''s tires that the asphalt road had be a bit sticky and soft.


    Along the way, gas stations, shopping malls, and pharmacies, and so on, all saw long lines.


    From time to time, she saw a few people who had fainted in the middle of the road.


    Those heading to the malls were either stocking up on supplies or sneaking out with their families against the "one person per household" security measure to enjoy the air conditioning and avoid the heat.


    The entrance to the malls also had additional security, but it was impossible to stop the sweaty crowd desperate to fight their way inside to cool off.


    Subway stations were also packed with people trying to escape the heat.


    In fact, early this morning, apart from some essential service units and special industries, mostpanies had been officially requested to close and work from home, yet many people still went to their offices voluntarily.


    It wasn''t due to a strong sense of professionalism.


    It was because the climate in Anming City was pleasant, and people typically didn''t have the habit or need to install air conditioners in their homes, but the office buildings were mandated to have central air conditioning.


    However, even more people, especially the middle-aged, were risking the scorching heat and the danger of giant blood-sucking mosquito attacks, struggling against the weight to secure supplies for their families.


    Additionally, the news mentioned a new discovery.


    The giant blood-sucking mosquitoes usually start to swarm from five-thirty in the afternoon and continue until seven the next morning.


    As for the reason, even the experts did not exin.


    They just advised people who went out to make sure to get home before five o''clock.


    Despite this, there were still asional attacks by blood mosquitoes on the streets.


    However, the number of incidents was rtively fewer.


    There were also quite a few car rear-end collisions or spontaneousbustion due to ack of water in the radiator.


    Fires broke out in some high-rise buildings and old residential areas.


    The billowing smoke that arose was eerie.


    Even some remotely located shops selling refrigerators and freezers had already experienced vandalism and looting.


    All in all, the whole world was a chaotic mess at a nce.


    *


    Shallow Bay.


    Zhou Guangfu helped his father into the house and after ensuring he was alright and had regained hisposure, he grabbed the electric scooter keys and hurried out the door.


    Since the mask incident, their household had developed the practice of stocking at least a month''s supply of rice, flour, and cooking oil.


    He Chunmei also made pickles and cured meat sausages every year.


    But he still needed to stock up on supplies in case of emergency.


    Especially since the fever-reducing medicine for the children was nearly finished.


    Additionally, he needed to buy Chlorpromazine Hydrochloride Tablets, Aspirin Enteric Coated Capsules, and other medicines for the treatment and prevention of heatstroke.


    With both Chinese and Western medical clinics overrun, they could only rely on taking medicine for a temporary solution.


    Fortunately, his elderly mother, though frail, was still using a towel to wipe down his granddaughter''s body, providing her with physical cooling.


    And his grandson was doing the same for himself at a basin.


    There was no need to go to the bathroom; the watering out of the tap was already hot.


    To prevent blood-sucking mosquitoes from flying in, all the windows in the house were sealed shut, and not even the mosquito screens dared to be opened.


    Their home was on the top floor with bitter cold in the winter and scorching heat in the summer. The entire ce was sweltering like a steamer, twenty-four hours a day from day to night.


    They did put a lot of bottled water in the freezer, but the amount of ice water was too small to make much of a difference.


    He Chunmei didn''t tell her husband about her n to gather a crowd to "assault" apartment 3201.


    In the homeowners'' group chat, only one person from each household was present, so Zhou Guangfu was naturally unaware of the messages she sent.


    Soon, about twenty people gathered in the public area on the 32nd floor.

 Chapter 27 - 27 Want to Pinch Her to Death!

    <h4>Chapter 27: Chapter 27 Want to Pinch Her to Death!</h4>


    Among these people were men, women, old, and young, but most were mothers with children, and there were even two pregnant women with big bellies.


    After all, in such extremely hot weather, adults might be able to hold on for a bit, but the bodies of children and the elderly had a hard time enduring it.


    Several mothers whose children were already showing adverse reactions to the heat followed after seeing He Chunmei''s message, their minds hazed over in their panic.


    But upon arrival, everyone realized that there were no ready-to-use air conditioners; instead, they needed to band together through a collective "siege" to fight for them.


    Some felt that this vited their moral bottom line and left without even listening to He Chunmei''s full n.


    Yet, there were also those who knew that such a "siege" was hical, but when it''s their child who is hurt, it''s the mother who feels the pain.


    For the sake of their sickly children at home, they decided to join in the "struggle."


    With the lesson learned from being electrocuted, He Chunmei didn''t go forward to pound on the door this time but stayed a good distance away.


    She had a megaphone that had been unearthed from some neglected corner ready in her hand, nning for a collective shout to force Jiang Yan out, then to use the power of the crowd to press her into opening the door.


    "Sister Chunmei, this seems illegal..." After hearing He Chunmei''s n, someone from the remaining crowd checked on their phone.


    The high temperature made phones heat up to a scorching temperature after just a few taps, so many people had simply put their phones away in their pockets and weren''t using them.


    At this, they all took them out.


    The one who had spoken was a young girl who read aloud, "''Maliciously blocking a door is a civil infringement that obstructs the right of passage and is illegal.''"


    Hearing this, the others exchanged nces for a second.


    He Chunmei gave her a disdainful look and raised her voice, "Law? Who cares about that now?! Let me tell you, I just found out that most of ourmunity security has been called away by the police station! Why were they called? It''s because they''re running out of police force.


    Our area is still okay, but in some other ces, there''s already all sorts of smashing, looting, and robbing! You''ve all seen it on certain apps and tforms!"


    "Yeah, it''s not normal times now. The inte is filled with rumors about the apocalypse arriving. The police probably won''t be able to deal with such trivial neighborhood issues. They say the bold ones die of recklessness, and the timid ones die of hunger. Besides, we haven''t really done anything!"


    "Exactly! You can''t even book an instation for an air conditioner nowadays; people outside are smashing and grabbing fridges and freezers just for ice blocks to cool down. My husband went to buy one this morning, was about to pay, and it was snatched right out of his hand!"


    "That''s right! We''re just saying it''s too hot inside, and we like to chat here, so what?! Can''t we gossip at our own doorstep now?!"


    "No matter how you slice it, she''s the selfish one! Our building is full ofrge apartments over 120 square meters, and there she is, a young girl living in such a big space, cooling it all by herself. If that''s not wasteful, what is?" The person who said this indignantly was Zhang Qiqi.


    She hade up by herself.


    Her home did have a cool fan, but the air it blew was nothing but hot, hardly better than nothing.


    Her son, Song Xiaofei, had symptoms of fever and was lying at home.


    Just thinking about it made her hate Jiang Yan to death.


    If it weren''t for her, Song Deming wouldn''t have died, and she wouldn''t have had to move out of the vi because of the debts incurred by Song Deming.


    Right now, she could have been lying in a vi, enjoying the air conditioning and eating ice cream!


    Moreover, though she didn''t know exactly what had transpired, she always felt that her brother''s death and Song Deming''s death were definitely rted to Jiang Yan.


    The police even imed that she was not involved in the deaths of the two, clearly they had been bribed with a hefty sum!


    Especially since that shameless woman vanished after leaving the police station, and despite having millions of followers, she stopped updating her TikTok and Weibo ounts. If that''s not fleeing due to guilt, what is?


    If she ever found her, she was determined to strangle her with her own hands!


    "I think Qiqi is right. Anyway, you all know the impact high temperatures can have. Let me remind you, we are all parents here, and the mortality rate for heatstroke is not low! Especially now that the hospitals are packed, it''s impossible to squeeze in if you get sick.


    If something actually happens to the children, we, as parents, will regret it for a lifetime," He Chunmei said, her voice firm and meaningful as she scanned the crowd.


    At herpany, she was at least a junior manager.


    She understood a bit about how to y on people''s psychology.


    Those with strong principles or with lesser needs had already left upon hearing her n.


    Those who remained were either still undecided in their hearts or had a strong need for air conditioning.


    @@novelbin@@


    Moreover, most people have what''s called herd mentality or a tendency to follow the crowd.


    As long as she focused on what mattered to them most and moved them withpassion and reason, she could usually convince (or trick) them.


    Especially now that there was a charming and good-looking Zhang Qiqi in the crowd, leading the way.


    Men might be powerless against beautiful women, but sometimes, so are women.


    Sure enough, after listening, everyone fell silent.


    An old person who had heard that privately blocking a door was illegal and was about to go home stopped in their tracks.


    "Chunmei, I suddenly remembered, I think I saw a girl leaving your block this morning. She was tall, had a great presence, and a slim figure, just dressed a bit oddly. Since she was a stranger, I made a special note of it.


    Since you mentioned earlier that girl was a mistress being kept by someone and loved to cover her face, I bet it was her," one of the pregnant women said.


    Shallow Bay had been delivered for several years now, and Building A was mostly filled with residents who had been there for years, familiar faces to each other.


    The only new residents recently were on the seventh and thirty-second floors.


    She leaned on one hand on her waist, the other gently stroking her belly, beads of sweat the size of beans on her forehead, her face flushed red.


    "That exins it! This morning I nearly screamed my throat raw, and she didn''t react at all, just like a dead person!" He Chunmei couldn''t help but stamp her foot in frustration.


    Upon hearing this, a trace of malice shed in Zhang Qiqi''s eyes, and she sneered,


    "Ha! Sister, isn''t that even better! There are Blood Mosquitoes out there now, and I''ve heard that hotels with air conditioning are already fully booked. She''ll have toe home sooner orter, and we''ll just block her door!


    Besides, let''s just do it! If she doesn''t agree to let us in, we''ll go up and snatch her keys ourselves! We have a bunch of trump cards right here!"


    After saying this, she didn''t forget to nce at the two pregnant women and a few elders, her tone clearly suggestive.


    He Chunmei nced at Jiang Yan''s door nervously and frowned,


    "Her door has both a passcode and fingerprint locks, there are no keys."


    "Sister, isn''t that even easier?!"


    Zhang Qiqi said with a crafty look and shot He Chunmei a meaningful nce...

 Chapter 30 - 30 You Need Some Shame!

    <h4>Chapter 30: Chapter 30 You Need Some Shame!</h4>


    "Look, Qiqi, I told you she woulde back! It''s almost 5:30, and the Blood Mosquitoes are about tounch arge-scale operation. Going out at this hour is a dead end!"


    He Chunmei pulled Zhang Qiqi''s hand and walked back while talking confidently.


    The others were taken aback by her words, but then they came to their senses.


    The government had issued a Blood Mosquito alert at noon, advising citizens to return home by 5:30 and to keep doors and windows tightly shut.


    Most of the people involved in the "siege" were from Building A, but there were also a few from other buildings.


    If they were to go backte, they might encounter the Blood Mosquitoes.


    However, previously, only the residents of Building D had encountered them, and there hadn''t been much talk about other buildings.


    Plus, at this moment, the resident of 3201 was about to return, and victory seemed within reach, so those few did not want to give up just yet.


    Everyone exchanged nces and ultimately decided to stay.


    They happened to hit the peak time when other residents were returning home, and the elevator stopped frequently, struggling to reach the 32nd floor.


    Just when everyone started doubting whether Jiang Yan had actually gone up, the door to 3204 squeaked open.


    A young couple in their twenties came out.


    The man was tall and straight, sporting a crew cut and about 1.78 meters tall.


    The woman was of average height, well-proportioned, with her long ck hair tied into a high ponytail.


    Both were dressed in quick-drying, sweat-wicking shorts, sporting shoes, and wearing sports watches, looking like they were about to go for a workout.


    "Su Dai, Sun Jingtao, you guys were home after all?! Perfect timing,e join us!" He Chunmei quickly greeted them enthusiastically as she saw them.


    Su Dai was a fitness trainer, and Sun Jingtao was a former military officer, now working in the security department of a certain institution.


    Normally, on weekends at this time, they would go to the gym near theirmunity, where Su Dai worked, to exercise.


    The weather had been too hot these past few days, and with the emergence of Blood Mosquitoes that attacked people, they had recently chosen to climb stairs within the building instead.


    Having stayed home all day today, they were getting restless. But with the temperature so high, continuing to climb stairs was clearly unrealistic.


    So, they nned to walk around on different floors, treating it as a walk.


    Hearing what He Chunmei said, Su Dai smiled slightly, speaking softly, "Sister Chunmei, we would rather not join."


    He Chunmei hadn''t expected her to refuse and felt somewhat embarrassed.


    After all, residents from other floors and buildings had responded to the call to participate. As neighbors, shouldn''t they support each other even more?


    Most importantly, the group she was leading consisted of the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the pregnant.


    If it came down to a scramble, the odds would be fifteen to eighty-five.


    But she knew the backgrounds of Su Dai and her husband''s work, especially Sun Jingtao, who clearly had some capabilities.


    If she could gain their support, their chances of winning would be a hundred percent.


    Thinking of this, He Chunmei raised her voice slightly and said,


    "Why not join? You''ve been cooped up at home all day, aren''t you hot? I saw the weather forecast, and it''s going to be even hotter the day after tomorrow! You don''t know, that youngdy in 3201, she has two big air conditioners at home! We are all neighbors; we should be united at this moment~"


    Her words sounded a bit like moral ckmail, and others chimed in after her.


    "Exactly, both of you, join us, the more people, the greater our strength!"


    "Miss, let''s do it together!"


    "..."


    Sun Jingtao, a straightforward person, was displeased upon hearing this,


    "Sister He, aren''t you misunderstanding the word ''battle line''? A battle line implies struggle and enemies; since we''re all neighbors, why bring up the word ''battle line''?!"


    At this, He Chunmei''s face turned sour for a moment, and she spoke in an elder''s lecturing tone, "Ah, look at what Xiao Sun is saying; I was just making a casual analogy."


    "What casual analogy? Blustering all day about air conditioning like jumping monkeys! People need to have a face, trees need bark! If she doesn''t want to let you in, why do you insist unreasonably?


    Look at the mess you''ve made on the 32nd floor! Moreover, ganging up on a youngdy, what kind of behavior is that?!


    And involving children as well, is this how you set an example for the kids?! Have some dignity!" Sun Jingtao retorted emphatically.


    Muscles tensed as emotions built up like gunpowder in each individual.


    Upon hearing Sun Jingtao''s retort, He Chunmei also became angered, and she justified staunchly,


    "How can you talk like this, Xiao Sun?! Her apartment is so big, the air conditioner will cool one person or a group just the same, and it''s so hot these days, everyone is getting heatstroke! Isn''t it only natural for her to lend a hand?! Besides, we are not asking for free!"


    "Sister Chunmei, she doesn''t owe you a kinship; choosing to help you is a favor, not helping is her right, what ''natural'' are you talking about here, why should you trouble the youngdy?" Su Dai gently took Sun Jingtao''s arm and spoke slowly.


    She and Sun Jingtao had acted early, having bought an air conditioner from an online tform as soon as they noticed the abnormal weather.


    The air conditioner was scheduled to be installed tomorrow morning.


    Their apartment was situated at the opposite end of the same corridor as Jiang Yan''s. They had clearly witnessed everything that had happened at Jiang Yan''s door today.


    At this pace, He Chunmei and the others would soon replicate their tactics against them.


    So, in a way, they and Jiang Yan were on the same side.


    @@novelbin@@


    By rifying their stance now, it was much better than dealing with the mess the day after tomorrow.


    Additionally, the couple''s values were rtively upright on normal days.


    Seeing the couple in sync, He Chunmei scoffed mockingly,


    "Su Dai, you and your husband are speaking without a care in the world! If your child who died in the womb had been born sessfully, he or she would be three or four years old now, right?! If you had a child and they might suffer from heatstroke, would you still speak so lightly?!!"


    "You¡ª" Su Dai''s face changed abruptly upon hearing this.


    She pursed her lips, her eyes reddened, and her fists clenched as she moved to confront He Chunmei, but her husband, Sun Jingtao, pulled her back.


    "Baby, don''t stoop to her level; she''s just being an unreasonable lunatic today!" Sun Jingtao was actually more angry than she was, but he held back, his forearms bulging with restrained fury.


    If they were to physically confront He Chunmei now, wouldn''t that just divert the problem towards them?


    He wasn''t foolish.


    Moreover, he worked in an institution.


    Although he was in charge of an inconspicuous security department, he was still a leader and needed to be mindful of his external influence and image.


    Others were about to step forward and mediate when Song Xiaofei, who had been watching the elevator floor indicator, suddenly cried out,


    "Mom! Mom! The elevator''s almost at the 32nd floor!"

 Chapter 31 - 31 "Defy the Gods, Slay the Gods!

    <h4>Chapter 31: Chapter 31 "Defy the Gods, y the Gods!</h4>


    The crowd exchanged nces, and as if by an unspoken agreement, their gazes abruptly shifted toward the elevator entrance.


    He Chunmei, who had originally wanted to continue her tirade against Su Dai and her husband, instantly shut her mouth.


    @@novelbin@@


    Watching this bizarre scene unfold, Su Dai couldn''t help but shake her head and murmured into Sun Jingtao''s ear,


    "Honey, don''t you think this scene is like a melodrama where melodrama opens the door to itself? It''s utterly melodramatic!"


    She didn''t want to continue watching the drama, nor did she want to get involved, so she simply took her husband by the hand and turned toward the fire escape stairs.


    "Ding!"


    The elevator doors slowly opened.


    Everyone was already poised and ready to crowd forward.


    But upon seeing Jiang Yan carrying a huge electric saw and walking out with an imposing aura, they involuntarily took a few steps back.


    Jiang Yan, 168 centimeters tall, had on eight-centimeter thick-soled, slip-resistant shoes with instion.


    She wore sunsses on her face and was d in an aluminum foil instion suit that appeared oundishly sci-fi.


    She may have been slender, but her powerful presence was overwhelmingly oppressive.


    At first nce, she even resembled the cool, tough warrior from a Resident Evil movie.


    Add to that the sharp electric saw in her hand, buzzing with a piercing roar.


    Forget everything else, the intimidation and horror factors were at their peak in an instant.


    It was as if her face bore the words "I''ll defeat all gods and Buddhas in my way."


    He Chunmei wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead and exchanged a look with Zhang Qiqi, whispering,


    "Oh my god! That girl has such a huge electric saw, where did she get it?!"


    "Sis, could it be that she borrowed it from the property management office on the first floor? But their saws don''t look that big." Zhang Qiqi also seemed puzzled for a moment.


    When she had just moved in, she had visited the property management office twice and saw some small electric saws.


    But He Chunmei quickly grasped what was happening and signaled others in the crowd with her eyes.


    A couple of kids who had been prepared to rush at Jiang Yan hesitated after seeing the buzzing saw and froze timidly.


    The arguments that the crowd had been brewing for a long time were stuck in their throats now, unable to be voiced.


    Before they could speak, Jiang Yan snapped the electric saw off with a "click" and gazed at the crowd, word by word, she dered,


    "I''ll say this onest time, leave my doorstep within ten seconds, otherwise, don''t me me for being impolite!"


    Jiang Yan did not want to waste words with them.


    Her approach was to cut through the mess swiftly.


    Upon hearing her words, everyone looked at each other, uncertain for a second.


    Some people had been instigated, thinking they had nothing better to do and simply joined in on the meddling.


    Then there were a few mothers who had experienced their husbands'' infidelity during pregnancy, and they absolutely despised mistresses.


    Naturally, they projected this hatred onto Jiang Yan.


    So, after hearing He Chunmei''s inmmatory remarks, they all thought Jiang Yan was a mistress and wanted to punish her.


    But now, seeing this stance and feeling her aura, they realized that even if she was a mistress or not, it didn''t concern them.


    She was not someone to be trifled with.


    Indeed, she was untouchable.


    Someone quickly weighed their options, preparing to make an excuse to leave.


    After all, it was just about enjoying air conditioning to cool off; it wasn''t worth risking their lives.


    Zhang Qiqi caught a glimpse of everyone''s shaken resolve from the corner of her eye and hurriedly put on a smile, stepping forward to say,


    "What is this, little sister? We''re all neighbors and good sisters, right? Can''t we just talk¡ª"


    "p!"


    Before Zhang Qiqi could finish saying "it out," Jiang Yan sneered and, with a flick of her hand, ced the shiny de of the saw heavily on Zhang Qiqi''s shoulder.


    "!!!"


    The cold metal touch and weight pressing down caused Zhang Qiqi''s pupils to constrict and her body to shudder involuntarily.


    "Heavens!"


    The crowd was also startled, uttering a cry of rm.


    "Mom!"


    Seeing this, Song Xiaofei quickly ran over and clung to Jiang Yan''s leg, "Auntie, please, don''t hurt my mom!!"


    "Little sister, is it really necessary¡ª" He Chunmei''s words were caught in her throat.


    That''s because she clearly saw Jiang Yan''s wrist flip lightly, cing the electric saw de neatly on Zhang Qiqi''s shoulder, next to her tender neck.


    The crowd couldn''t help but wipe sweat off their brows for Zhang Qiqi.


    If Jiang Yan identally hit the button, Zhang Qiqi''s head could be off.


    Although it was a society governed byws, Jiang Yan might not dare to act recklessly.


    But judging by the clothes she wore and her current behavior, she might just be crazy enough.


    Would a madwoman kill someone in front of witnesses?


    Who knows.


    Anything was possible.


    Additionally, those with nothing to lose have no fear of those with everything to lose.


    These people all had families to take care of.


    She might not dare to provoke them directly, but what if she secretly targeted their elderly parents or young children¡ªwhat would they do?


    Some of them started to chicken out.


    Others sneakily dialed emergency numbers.


    But it was clear the line was busy.


    A woman picked up her phone, whether she was nning to secretly take evidence or to live stream, Jiang Yan caught her with a nce.


    She fiercely scolded, "Put that phone down!"


    The woman was shocked for a second and resentfully ced her phone down.


    Jiang Yan clenched her other fist, patiently adding one more sentence:


    "I can make it very clear to you, whether I live in a thousand-square-meter house or sleep on a five-hundred-square-meter bed has nothing to do with any of you! Also, whether I let youe in is a question of whether I''m willing to sumb to your moral ckmail.


    But, if you keep blocking my way back, you are obstructing my right of passage, and that''s a legal issue! If you''re sure you want to break thew, I won''t hesitate to amodate you!!"


    Her speech was clearly aimed at the unruly crowd.


    The crowd, already inclined to back down, were just too embarrassed to do so.


    Upon hearing this, they began motioning to each other, bowing their heads in their own guilt and dispersing.


    With Jiang Yan standing at the elevator entrance, they didn''t dare go near.


    They went straight to the fire stairs and descended to the 31st floor before transferring to another elevator.


    "Sis, sis, what are you going to do?" Zhang Qiqi, now devoid of her prior arrogance, saw the crowd leaving and shivered even more, her face growing increasingly pale.


    Jiang Yan gritted her back teeth and coldly squeezed out two words: "Whittle you."


    "Whittle, whittle me? Why? I haven''t said anything! If you''re going to whittle someone it should be He Chunmei!


    It was all her stirring us up, saying that you''re a mistress, saying you''re utterly vile!!


    Saying that you..." Zhang Qiqi was tongue-tied for a second, pointing at the only remaining He Chunmei and wailing.


    He Chunmei, hearing her words, turned various shades of anger on her face.


    She wished she could march up and p her hard.


    Jiang Yan sneered, "Need a reason to whittle you?!"


    After speaking, she took several deep breaths.


    She had indeed imagined countless ways to deal with Zhang Qiqi.


    But now,


    Just endure a bit longer!


    She must maintain her reason!


    Upon hearing her words, Zhang Qiqi felt a chill down her back, her legs went weak, and she nearly knelt down right in front of Jiang Yan.

 Chapter 32 - 32 This Step is Rather Harsh

    <h4>Chapter 32: Chapter 32 This Step is Rather Harsh</h4>


    "Auntie, please don''t kill my mom! My mom knows she was wrong! She really does! She won''t dare do it again! Waaa!"


    Song Xiaofei, clutching Jiang Yan''s leg tightly with both hands, cried out with tears and snot "streaming" down, his small face lifted towards Jiang Yan as he wept hysterically.


    He appeared to be about five or six years old, his chubby round face flushed red from the heat and a slight fever.


    Song Xiaofei didn''t understand the grievances and disputes of adults.


    But whenever he did something wrong at home and was about to get a beating, he''d resort to saying things like this.


    Then his mother would soften, and her hand would be much lighter.


    He believed the auntie in front of him would probably be the same as his mom.


    "I, I won''t dare again, I beg you to spare me once..." Zhang Qiqi''s face was pale, her body trembling as she spoke in a stammering voice, mimicking her son''s plea.


    She no longer dared to address Jiang Yan as a sister, fearing that any careless words might provoke her further.


    Provoking a mad woman, there''s no good oue.


    Just like how the whole incident was actually led by He Chunmei, yet the person who unfortunately ended up on the firing line was herself.


    Moreover, even though the other party was wearing sunsses, she could still sense endless rage and hatred from her tone and breathing.


    About this, she was utterly baffled.


    It was as though something was flickering in front of her, but right now her mind was too hot and scared, muddled as if filled with sticky paste.


    Jiang Yan ignored their pleading cries.


    She gripped the electric saw in her hand, her gaze distant as she looked at Zhang Qiqi, her thumb rubbing back and forth over the power switch.


    After ncing at several surveince cameras installed by the property management at a higher angle, she suddenly lifted the chain of the electric saw from Zhang Qiqi''s shoulder.


    Just as Zhang Qiqi and He Chunmei let out a sigh of relief, they saw the electric saw "buzzing" to life again with a deafening roar.


    Under the astonished and frightened gazes of the three, Jiang Yan lifted the saw, swirling a fierce wind, and swiftly sliced toward the side of Zhang Qiqi''s head.


    "Oh God!!" He Chunmei''s eyes widened as she covered her mouth tightly with her hands.


    Despite her fright, she did not choose to turn and flee back home.


    It was a society governed byw.


    She believed that no matter how mad or angry Jiang Yan was, she wouldn''t just kill someone in broad daylight.


    To kill a thousand enemies and harm oneself by eight hundred¡ªthat would be a fool''s act.


    The young girl''s behavior was a bit crazy, but she should know what''s trivial and what''s important.


    "Aaaaah!!!" Meanwhile, Zhang Qiqi clenched her eyes shut and her lips tight, screaming wildly asrge beads of sweat "pattered" down her forehead.


    She had been so scared that she couldn''t move, and her calves were shaking violently.


    "Mom!!" Song Xiaofei let go of Jiang Yan''s leg and ran tear-faced towards Zhang Qiqi.


    Contrary to his expectations, his mother''s head wasn''t "relocated."


    Jiang Yan''s electric saw stopped less than 0.01 centimeters from Zhang Qiqi''s ear.


    But the wine-colored long hair on the right side of her head was still chopped off halfway by the high-speed rotating saw.


    Thick strands of hair floated in the hot air for a moment before slowly scattering on the ground.


    @@novelbin@@


    "Snap!"


    Jiang Yan turned off the saw, nced at Song Xiaofei, the murderous look in her eyes finally settling on Zhang Qiqi''s face, then she said coldly, word by word,


    "Consider this a lesson for today. If we meet again, you won''t be so lucky!!"


    After speaking, she forcefully squeezed out a word through her teeth that pierced the air:


    "Get lost!!"


    Be it settling personal vendettas or making an example out of someone, today''s purpose had been temporarily achieved.


    As for Zhang Qiqi''s life, it could be spared for the time being.


    If she wasn''t mistaken, in no more than ten to fifteen days, with the arrival of extreme temperatures, social order would definitely copse.


    Then, how she wanted her to die would be her decision to make.


    Upon hearing this, Zhang Qiqi didn''t dare say a word.


    With weak legs and a powerless body, she hunched over, grabbed Song Xiaofei''s hand, and sprinted towards the staircase.


    With such high temperatures, running a few steps would leave a person gasping, but she had no choice but to bite the bullet and endure.


    After dealing with Zhang Qiqi, Jiang Yan''s gaze swiftly turned towards He Chunmei, the instigator behind everything.


    He Chunmei didn''t expect everything to end so quickly.


    She ncefrightfully at the pile of cut hair on the ground, her heart beating wildly in her chest.


    Just as Jiang Yan was about to lift the electric saw, the door of apartment 3203 creaked open, with Zhou Guangfu stepping out, a frantic look on his furrowed face.


    "Come back quick, honey; Dad is in bad shape!!!"


    Upon hearing this, He Chunmei gave Jiang Yan an awkward smile and said, "Sister, I''ll make up for my wrong to you another day," then sprinted off as fast as her legs could carry her.


    The old man was the evergreen tree that made money for the household¡ªthey couldn''t afford to lose him on a whim.


    He Chunmei slipped back into the house in an instant, but Zhou Guangfu stood at the door, not entering.


    His face grave, he nced at Jiang Yan and awkwardly said, "You have my apologies, little sister; my wife, she¡ª"


    He stopped mid-sentence, unable to continue as if the words stuck in his throat.


    Jiang Yan looked at him calmly and without saying a word, carried the saw back to her own apartment 3201.


    Clearly, Zhou Guangfu had merely found an excuse to save He Chunmei''s face.


    But this way out was quite ruthless.


    After all, it was made at the expense of his own father.


    Zhou Guangfu watched her retreating figure, shook his head with a heavy sigh, then turned back into his home.


    As soon as he entered, he saw He Chunmei standing with her arms crossed and an angry look on her face:


    "Zhou Guangfu, you''ve really grown some guts! Lying to me without even blinking an eye!"


    At this moment, Zhou Guangfu''s father was stooped over, fetching several bottles of ice water that had just frozen in the fridge for his grandson.


    "Wife, you should be grateful that I saved you. You know how heavy that electric saw in that girl''s hand is? At least eight kilograms! She was holding it up effortlessly with one hand, and for quite a while.


    That saw almost cut into someone just now, but she controlled it with ease, as if it was nothing.


    What does that tell us? It tells us we can''t afford to provoke this person! From now on, let''s not mess with her anymore!" Zhou Guangfu looked at her with righteous indignation, his face serious.


    "..."


    Seeing her husband''s sudden departure from his usual timid and yielding ways, He Chunmei couldn''t help but feel stunned.


    *


    Apartment 3201.


    Jiang Yan entered the room and casually turned on the anti-intrusion program of the smart home system.


    Because of the home''s instion materials, the temperature inside was actually a few degrees lower than outside.


    Although it was still stuffy, the temperature difference made her face, exposed to the air, feel instantly cooler.


    She put down the saw, took off her sunsses, and, after removing her insting clothes and shoes, turned on the air conditioning to 30 degrees Celsius. She then copsed onto the soft sofa.


    She was tired.


    Extraordinarily tired.


    She''d been running around all day like she was in a battle, and when she got back, she performed a "one vs. many" scene.


    Saying she wasn''t tired was not an option.

 Chapter 34 - 34 Black Pearl Dinner (Seeking first order on launch~)

    Chapter 34: Chapter 34 ck Pearl Dinner (Seeking first order onunch~)


    Jiang Yan¡¯s window ss was double-zed.


    It was heat-insting, cold-insting, and bulletproof.


    Besides, she had the decorationpany apply ayer of thetest foreign-developed single-directionalposite ss film, originally used on high-end cars, on the outside.


    This film not only had excellent heat and cold instion effects but also had a special feature, allowing her to see outside clearly.


    However, for those outside, even if she didn¡¯t draw the curtains, her room appeared entirely dark.


    The privacy was exceptional.


    This effectively prevented any nosy individuals from using telescopes or flying drones to ¡°spy.¡±


    After adjusting the telescope¡¯s pupil distance and various parameters, Jiang Yan looked towards the group of people in the garden.


    There seemed to be several officials in white shirts and ck trousers talking to the property management staff.


    The property manager and several supervisors were also present.


    They spoke as they walked towards the underground parking garage.


    Everyone wore helmets and gloves, covering every bit of exposed skin thoroughly.


    Of course, their faces were as red and sweaty as freshly cooked oil-braised prawns.


    Officials?


    Underground parking garage?


    Jiang Yan quickly went over these two terms in her mind, and then it dawned on her.


    Shallow Bay had five buildings with roughly over five hundred households.


    If parking spaces were constructed at a regr one-to-one ratio, there would be at least five hundred spaces.


    Calcting ten square meters per small car parking space, the total underground parking garage would cover over five thousand square meters.


    This didn¡¯t even include the scattered civil defense parking spaces.


    So, with such high temperatures, it was very likely that the underground parking spaces were to be temporarily requisitioned as a cooling shelter for themunity.


    However, most of the parking spaces had been sold, with only a few rented out.


    Whether the owners were willing to relocate their cars was a big issue.


    Because leaving their cars outside would not only expose them to high temperatures but also to safety risks.


    But what puzzled Jiang Yan was, considering the heat, such an arrangement could have been settled with a simple official notification or a phone call.


    She couldn¡¯t understand why they needed to visit in person.


    Shallow Bay was situated rtively high, and the geological structure of this area was also quite solid.


    The developer of this estate was a state-owned enterprise, known for the reliable quality of their buildings.


    Normally,pared to things like school districts or transportation convenience, this wasn¡¯t considered a special advantage.


    However, during the rainy season, this area could withstand much more than many other estates in the city.


    Could it be that the officials had already anticipated the rainstorms following the heatwave?


    After all, she had been reborn, perhaps there were also capable people among the higher levels of the government.


    However, that was a question whose answer would only be revealedter.


    Jiang Yan didn¡¯t dwell on it.


    The group entered the garage and didn¡¯t emerge for a long time.


    They most likely entered the buildings directly from the underground garage.


    She put away the telescope and began to contemte the most pressing issue in her life at the moment: what to eat tonight?


    She had casually eaten some refreshing cold noodles in the warehouse at noon.


    Tonight, she needed to indulge in a feast to satisfy her cravings.


    Especially since today marked thepletion of a milestone event: stocking up all necessary supplies before the disaster struck.


    It was indeed a cause for celebration.


    Jiang Yan thought for a moment and took out a bottle of top-tier red wine worth over seventy thousand from the Space, along with a set for one of natural crystal wine decanter and high-stemmed sses.


    To enhance the ceremonial feel, she also took out a candleholder set and a luxury table runner from her vi to set up on the dining table.


    After opening the red wine, she slowly poured it into the decanter to let it breathe and then proceeded to the bathroom.


    She leisurely soaked in a rose bath, got up to dry her hair, changed into a soft and cool silk nightgown, and then walked over to the dining table.


    She slightly leaned forward, bringing her nose close to the decanter to take in the sweet, moist aroma of linden flowers¡ªthe wine was perfectly aerated.


    Now, it was dark outside, and the temperature had terrifyingly reached fifty-eight degrees.


    In the garden outside, the streetlights dimly shone, with not a single person in sight.


    But she could faintly see the traces of Blood Mosquitoes.


    Their size and numbers had visibly increased.


    Across and in the neighboring residential buildings, every home was brightly lit.


    A nce revealed individuals frantically filling up bathtubs with water, some hurriedly preparing rice and dishes while there was still electricity, water, and gas.


    Some parents were furiously spanking their children with dusters, and some couples were heatedly fighting; others seemed to have elderly or children suffering from the heat and were kneeling on the ground, sobbing.


    A few households, probably those who had air conditioning installed in the past two days, were facing the same situation Jiang Yan encountered in the afternoon.


    However, while Jiang Yan resolved it outside her door, somewhat violently and decisively, these households, clearly unprepared, opened their doors attempting to negotiate patiently with the others.


    Two households, originally already populous, could not withstand the persistent coaxing from neighboring residents and allowed them to move in.


    Everyone knew about the impending power outage, so realistically, the air conditioning wouldn¡¯tst long.


    However, some still harbored hope based on the officials¡¯ announcement: endure for a couple of days and the temperatures would drop, and utilities would resume.


    Moreover, the Shallow Baymunity had a backup power supply.


    No matter what, it couldst for two or three days.


    Of course, there were also harmonious families performing their various tasks and young couples not minding the heat, all cozied up together.


    All in all, life had its vors¡ªsweet, sour, bitter, spicy, it had it all.


    But those things had nothing to do with her.


    Jiang Yan briefly nced and then quickly closed the curtains with her phone.


    She had already nned the dinner menu during her bath: exclusive dishes from a certain ck Pearl Restaurant.


    Peppery and tender Angus beef steak, dry shiitake mushroom sauce crystal shrimp balls, lemongrass crispy milk pigeon, garlic sauce baked lobster, broth vegetables, stewed abalone in coconut shell, tempura fritiria, refreshing seaweed sd, and rice wine with osmanthus.


    With a mere thought, four meat dishes, two vegetables, one soup, one sd, and one dessert appeared neatly on the dining table.


    Although it seemed like a lot of dishes, the portion of each was actually quite small.


    For instance, the crystal-clear bouncy shrimp balls, just four pieces.


    The fragrant and crispy milk pigeon, two small pieces.


    @@novelbin@@


    The crisp, tender, and refreshing seaweed, three small bites.


    The richly fragrant and nicely tart rice wine, just half a small bowl.


    The dishes merely upiedrge, aesthetically pleasing tes.


    When she ordered from these ck Pearl restaurants, five-star hotels, and time-honored restaurants, she bought the containers along with the food.


    Although it was much pricier, it beautifully presented the dishes.


    Being a former food blogger, not only did she demand the dishes to haveplete vor profiles, but she also had specific standards for presentation.


    The Space had both preservation and warming effects, so these dishes, just like being freshly served from the restaurant, saved her the hassle of reheating them.

 Chapter 36: Throwing ’Shi’ from a High Altitude

    Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Throwing ¡®Shi¡¯ from a High Altitude


    Jiang Yan¡¯s brow furrowed ever so slightly.


    The visitor was none other than the chairman of the Shallow Bay homeowners¡¯mittee and the admin of the homeowners¡¯ group chat, a forty-year-old divorced bachelor, Zhang Qiming.


    She didn¡¯t have much interaction with Zhang Qiming; they had merely added each other on WeChat when shepleted the property purchase and moved in.


    It was he who had added her to the Shallow Bay homeowners¡¯ group chat.


    At this moment, to say he looked greasy was more a visual impression than anything else.


    The weather was too hot, and there was a water outage, making all of Zhang Qiming¡¯s hair stick together, slick and stered to his head.


    His face, flushed from the heat, was also greasy, both on his face and neck.


    If one were to swipe a hand over it, it might even be possible to fling off a handful of oil and sweat beads.


    The man lingered outside her door for a few seconds before picking up his phone to make a voice call to her.


    Jiang Yan was quick, directly pressing the button to power off her phone.


    Outside, Zhang Qiming, upon hearing ¡°The number you have dialed is currently unavable,¡± found his previously furrowed brow rx.


    It seemed that her phone did have battery; she simply had switched it off.


    No wonder she hadn¡¯t answered any of the myriad messages he had sent her.


    She hadn¡¯t shown up in the homeowners¡¯ group chat either.


    But in his view, this was to be expected.


    Many had kept their phones off afterst night¡¯s major power outage, to conserve battery and ensure they could use it when it was crucial.


    Zhang Qiming didn¡¯t turn to leave; instead, after a second¡¯s hesitation, he lifted his hand to knock on Jiang Yan¡¯s door.


    But unexpectedly, the moment his palm hit the iron door, a strong electric current crackled, ¡°zzt¡±, coursing through his palm and throughout his body.


    There was a faint smell of pork lightly scorched emanating from his hand.


    ¡°Ow! Ow! Ow!¡±


    The electric shock was sudden and unexpected!


    Zhang Qiming trembled violently as if stricken by Parkinson¡¯s, his body reflexively contorting backward like an octopus, leaping several steps away.


    The scorching and pain on his palm forced several involuntary expletives before he managed to contain himself.


    At this moment, he appeared pale as paper, with beads of sweat falling like rain from his forehead as if a hidden water pipey buried in his hair.


    Jiang Yan had actually only activated a 110V low-voltage defense.


    But Zhang Qiming¡¯s hands were damp with sweat, and his body was wet, which meant the electric shock was significantly worse than He Chunmei¡¯s had been.


    Once the trembling in his cheeks had stopped and his heart had settled a bit, he took a cautious nce at the door and didn¡¯t dare touch it again. Instead, he stepped a bit closer and shouted:


    ¡°Young President Jiang, are you inside? I have something important to discuss with you, but your phone is off!¡±


    Upon hearing this, Jiang Yan¡¯s brow furrowed even deeper: that title¡­


    She remembered Zhang Qiming lived on either the 27th or 28th floor.


    Only three or four floors separated him from the 32nd floor.


    But with today¡¯s high temperatures, not to mention climbing stairs, just walking around outside would leave one gasping for air.


    @@novelbin@@


    Yet he had made his way to her doorstep first thing in the morning¡­


    Obviously, he hade prepared.


    Nevertheless, she still didn¡¯t n to respond, deciding to y dead all the way through.


    Zhang Qiming continued to shout: ¡°Young President Jiang, is your phone running out of power? I have several power banks at my ce. Do you want toe over and charge your phone?¡±


    Jiang Yan almost couldn¡¯t helpughing upon hearing this line, which sounded like something a sleazy guy would say.


    After finishing his words, Zhang Qiming suddenly paused.


    Though it was the dry winter season when touching objects like wool could cause static shocks, the effect he just experienced was clearly more than a mere static shock.


    Following his intuition as a once engineering-savvy man, he had definitely been electrocuted!


    The safe voltage for the human body is 36 volts.


    The voltage he had experienced was clearly higher.


    So, Jiang Yan¡¯s house must have a backup power source!


    Putting this together with what he knew about her having air conditioning installed¡­


    Zhang Qiming felt as if he had discovered a new continent, his heart swelling with glee: ¡°Young President Jiang, open the door! Is your air conditioner working normally!!¡±


    Jiang Yan didn¡¯t want to continue listening to his babble; she turned off the surveince sound and continued to y dead.


    Zhang Qiming called out a few more times at the door.


    Imagining that she must be in her bedroom with the door closed, enjoying the air conditioning and not hearing him, and fearing to knock again, he eventually turned around and left, his expression sullen.


    He had not made it to the stairwell when the door of 3203 creaked open, and He Chunmei emerged with a smile, calling out to Zhang Qiming:


    ¡°Brother Zhang, do you have a power bank at home? Could I borrow it?¡±


    On hearing this, Zhang Qiming turned and gave her a scornful look before replying:


    ¡°Chunmei, at your age, shouldn¡¯t you stop eavesdropping around the corners like a child?¡±


    ¡°Look at the way you say it, Brother Zhang! With your voice so loud and strong, who needs to eavesdrop? By the way, what was that you were calling that crazy girl, Xiao Jiang? You know her? Why not share some gossip with me?¡± He Chunmei batted her eyes at him and leaned in with an expressive face full of curiosity.


    Mainly, the weather was just too hot, and with a son and daughter both sick, she would have otherwise nned to inquire about the background of the person in 3201 at the property management office.


    She had asked the property manager, but received no response.


    Moreover, word of bad deeds spread far, even if good deeds stay unrecognized.


    Her involvement in barring Jiang Yan from returning home had spread throughout themunity overnight.


    Of course, many were also ming Jiang Yan for not being more cooperative.


    ¡°Chunmei, you¡¯re a mother of two; try not to be so nosy, will you? If it¡¯s not meant for you to know, don¡¯t pry into it!¡±


    Zhang Qiming finished speaking, turned around, and left via the stairwell without looking back.


    Some secrets are only valuable if kept to oneself.


    If this gossiping woman were to overhear it, all the efforts he had made regarding Jiang Yan would be in vain.


    He Chunmei¡¯s smile stiffened as she watched his retreating figure; she cursed silently to herself and dejectedly went back inside.


    *


    Once Jiang Yan saw that Zhang Qiming had walked far enough away, she picked up her phone again.


    As soon as it powered on, a barrage of messages and news alerts pop-pop-popped up.


    The homeowners¡¯ group chat was filled with quarrels and pleas for help.


    It had continued until after three in the morning.


    Most likely, it wasn¡¯t that everyone had gone to sleep, but rather that most people¡¯s phones had run out of battery.


    The subsequent messages were sporadic.


    Jiang Yan¡¯s fingers scrolled swiftly, but her gaze quickly fixed on a slightly eerie photo.


    Someone had taken advantage of the dark pre-dawn hours to use the patriotic phone¡¯s moon-shooting mode, capturing a distant photo of a central garden that was shared in the group chat.


    In the blue-gray image, the garden¡¯s colorful stic pathways were littered with several ck figures.


    Fewer figures were scattered among the flowerbeds,wns, and woods.


    Jiang Yan zoomed in on the photo, and her pupils abruptly contracted, nearly dropping her phone to the ground.


    The ck figures were bodies, each one shriveled and unrecognizable!


    On one of theparatively ¡°fresh¡± corpses were densely packed blood mosquitoes, each the size of a face!


    Jiang Yan felt her trypophobia about to act up at the sight.

 Chapter 37 - 37 Consequences Are Coming!

    Chapter 37: Chapter 37 Consequences Are Coming!


    ¡°Yue~¡±


    Even through the screen, one could smell the intense odor of corpses decaying under the high temperatures, and Jiang Yan couldn¡¯t help but retch.


    The Blood Mosquitoes in the footage, as if they hadtched onto her own skin, sent shivers down her spine, chilling one to the core!


    Scientifically speaking, a human body¡¯s blood would onlypletely coagte after 24 hours post mortem.


    Of course, due to factors like temperature and bodily diseases, this coagtion could either take longer or shorter.


    But around the skulls of those mummified corpses, there were clearly dried pools of blood.


    This indicated that the bodies, when thrown out of their homes, had been dead for less than 24 hours!


    And the body that was swarmed with Blood Mosquitoes, with blood not yet fully drained, was clearly a recent drop.


    The distributor of the photo was from Building E, Unit 1104, who used a profile picture depicting a vast and openndscape.


    Most likely, he was a mature and steady gentleman.


    [E-1104: Everyone, look at this! Is this a distortion of human nature or the decay of morality?! F*ck, who does that?!! Absolutely inhuman!!!]


    [E-1605: The police line is constantly busy, but I¡¯ll keep calling!!! Those heartless bastards, you¡¯ll get yours eventually!! F*ck!]


    [C-2303: Cough, cough, cough, the brother upstairs is too naive¡­]


    [D-703: Damn! I¡¯ve only seen objects thrown from high ces! How did it turn to throwing bodies?! Can we still live in this apartmentplex?!! Rage.jpg]


    [A-702: Isn¡¯t that a bit much?! It¡¯s only been a few high-temperature days; we¡¯re not at the apocalypse yet. How can they go so far?!!]


    [C-602: God! It¡¯s that exaggerated; how will we live after this?!!]


    [B-101: Damn it, which merciless bastards did this! How do you expect us first-floor residents to live!!! I curse your children to be born without assholes!!!]


    [C-104: Once Pandora¡¯s box is opened¡­ contemting_face.jpg]


    [¡­]


    Following were various angry swears and curses.


    The group chat revealed that soon after daylight, once the Blood Mosquitoes had returned to their nests, the property management braved the high temperatures and blistering sunlight to clean up all the corpses.


    They then ced them in the square dance area at the entrance of themunity, doused them with gasoline, and burned them all together.


    Jiang Yan felt a sinking feeling after looking through the information.


    This was truly bewildering.


    She admitted that it was not easy to handle bodies in sixty-degree heat.


    But, in any case, giving the deceased some basic dignity should be the bottom line for their families.


    And this was just the beginning.


    Seventy-degree weather hadn¡¯t even arrived yet!


    The flooding that reached the 20th floor hadn¡¯t arrived yet either!!


    Since these people are now willing to throw their deceased loved ones downstairs as casually as tossing out the trash.


    Imagine what it would be like when supplies dwindled to nothing.


    However, this also indicated one thing, despite official media efforts to reassure and subtly influence the poption, many people had already believed that the apocalypse had arrived.


    Jiang Yan took a deep breath, pulled herself together, lifted her coffee, and drank the lot in one go, then checked the messages from Zhang Qiming.


    Zhang Qiming: [Young President Jiang, have you woken up? Hi.jpg]


    Zhang Qiming: [I identally wandered into the property management surveince room yesterday and discovered this, but rest assured, I¡¯ve already erased the data on their side, so it won¡¯t affect you. And since the power supply in ourpound has been cut, nobody else can check it now! Smile.jpg]


    Zhang Qiming: [32F-No.7-surveince_video_clip.avi]


    Jiang Yan: ¡°¡­¡±


    She clicked to open it, exactly the moment she emerged from the elevator carrying an electric saw, until the moment He Chunmei bolted back home.


    Zhang Qiming: [Young President Jiang, you really looked powerful! I¡¯m tempted to give you a hero¡¯s BGM, you¡¯re like Wonder Woman! Also, just between us, you look way better in person than on social media! Even though you were wearing sunsses, I recognized you instantly! I¡¯m a huge fan!! ps. I didn¡¯t recognize you before when I added you on WeChat because you were very discreet, so please forgive me!]


    Zhang Qiming: [Young President Jiang, back to the matter at hand, there¡¯s a lot of information in the residents¡¯ group chat. I guess you don¡¯t have time to look through it all, so let me just brief you:


    The authorities and property management are setting up a temporary refuge in the underground garage, and they will start arranging for the residents to stay there starting tonight. They will provide a small amount of drinking water and canned goods likepressed biscuits, but we¡¯ll have to collect these supplies ourselves when the government¡¯s delivery arrivester.


    I noticed you didn¡¯t sign up, so I voluntarily registered for you, and I will also collect the supplies for you. After all, you live on the top floor, and in a couple of days, the temperature is going to rise to seventy degrees! You probably won¡¯t be able to stand it!]


    Zhang Qiming: [Young President Jiang, please send me a message or call after you see this. The underground parking will have big open berths, and I¡¯ll try to get the property management to arrange a spot in the corner just for you, which will be a bit more private! Hehe.jpg]


    Zhang Qiming: [Young President Jiang, have you woken up yet? Staring.jpg]


    The sender kept addressing her as Young President Jiang with a polite ¡°you¡±.


    Jiang Yan¡¯s eyelids twitched, and goosebumps spread across her arms like they were about to fall off.


    What, exactly, was his angle?


    Regardless of his unwarranted attentiveness or ulterior motives, she was toozy to care at the moment.


    As she expected, the underground parking lot would indeed be converted into a temporary refuge.


    Over five hundred parking spaces, for over five hundred households, amounted to roughly ten square meters per family.


    That was ample space for a single person like her.


    But it was obviously crowded for families with both elderly and children, leading to a sharing of space.


    With an average of three people per household, there were altogether one thousand five hundred people.


    Although some of the apartments were unupied, with the property management staff included, the number wouldn¡¯t differ much.


    That many people, crammed into such an area, eating, drinking, relieving themselves, sleeping¡ªthe image was hard to fathom.


    And since the water and power were already cut off, essing bathrooms became a serious issue.


    However, not moving down there was likened to waiting for death.


    Above was a steam cage.


    Below was a prison cage.


    @@novelbin@@


    But at least the temperature would be somewhat lower, plus they had electricity, water, and food.


    Of two evils, choose the lesser one; obviously, the underground option was better.


    Furthermore, although this high temperature came unexpectedly, the government¡¯s emergency response and solutions were fairly quick.


    As for the future¡­


    These were not issues for Jiang Yan to consider.


    Merely watching surveince and texting had already derailed her training schedule.


    Jiang Yan switched off her phone and got up to go to the second-floor gym.


    *


    Elsewhere.


    Descending floors was much easier than climbing them, so Zhang Qiming quickly made it back down to the 28th floor.


    Just as he switched from the stairwell to the corridor of the floor, having faced rejection at the door on the 32nd, he spotted a familiar figure from afar:


    It was the beautiful supporting actress from the footage sent to Jiang Yan, Zhang Qiqi.


    But now, she had a bob cut level with her ears and wore an even more revealing floral dress than the day before.


    Despite her sweaty face, she still carried an air of elegance.


    When she had first moved in, she had sought him out several times to coordinate over some issues.

 Chapter 39 - 39 Best Brother Ever

    Chapter 39: Chapter 39 Best Brother Ever


    Because of palpitations, Zhang Qiqi¡¯s legs trembled, and she could only slowly descend the stairs, step by step, with both hands on the railing.


    After quite a while, she returned home to room 701 as if in a trance.


    Just as she entered the room, a message from Zhang Qiming arrived, timed just right.


    Zhang Qiming: ¡°Dear Qiqi, the owner of room 3201 is named Jiang Yan, the daughter of ¡®The Disappeared Her¡¯ that recently went viral in Anming City, with a fortune worth several billions. Keep it a secret for me, okay? Once the heatwave passes, there will be benefits for you!¡±


    ¡°Jiang¡ªYan???!!!!¡±


    Zhang Qiqi¡¯s pupils shrank as she read the name, her mind exploded, and sheprehended the situation fully.


    @@novelbin@@


    She hadn¡¯t expected to encounter that despicable little wretch born to Li Meizhen!


    No wonder she humiliated me publicly yesterday!


    Also, it was my own fault for losing my head yesterday; I should have realized this connection sooner!


    Zhang Qiqi leaned back against the door, took several deep breaths, and clenched her fists tightly.


    The humiliation she had faced in front of Jiang Yan, the death of her brother and son¡¯s biological father Song Deming, and her longstanding jealousy of Jiang Yan and Mother Jiang¡­


    All the past grievancesbined, Zhang Qiqi wanted nothing more than to storm up to the 32nd floor.


    But facing her directly, she was clearly no match.


    Luckily, by tomorrow night at thetest, all homeowners in Shallow Bay would have to move to the underground parking space.


    By then, everyone would be sleeping in argemunal area, making it easy to end her life while they slept.


    If it had been a day earlier, she might have hesitated because of the police or the crime itself.


    But now, overnight, those neighbors had started throwing corpses from high ces.


    Chaos and disorder, the copse of morality, had quietly begun at a certain point.


    They say if you don¡¯t remove the roots when cutting weeds, they will grow back when the spring breeze blows.


    This time, she would make sure there were no loose ends!


    Thinking this, she opened the chat box and sent a message to Zhang Qiming.


    Her message roughly meant to arrange for her and Jiang Yan¡¯s sleeping areas in the underground garage to be as close as possible.


    Zhang Qiming: ¡°Why? I recall you two were upstairs just yesterday¡­¡±


    Zhang Qiqi: ¡°Brother Zhang, honestly speaking, I¡¯m her fan. They say better to resolve old grievances than to let them grow. I hadn¡¯t recognized her before; otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t have dared provoke her. Being neighbors might help improve our rtionship.¡±


    Upstairs, Zhang Qiming was still basking in the good moments they had just shared.


    At this moment, Zhang Qiqi could essentially ask him for anything, and he likely wouldn¡¯t say no.


    Zhang Qiming: ¡°Okay, the amodation arrangements are managed by the property management. Shall I go ask the manager?¡±


    Zhang Qiqi: ¡°Bro, you¡¯re the best, love you, muah~¡±


    After sending the message, she covered her mouth and retched.


    At that moment, Song Xiaofei, groggy, walked out of the bedroom.


    Seeing the scene, he timidly said, ¡°Mom, am I going to have a little brother?¡±


    Zhang Qiqi: ¡°¡­¡±


    *


    3201.


    Afterpleting her strength training at the gym, Jiang Yan spent another half hour on the elliptical machine.


    After stretching for a while, she quickly took a shower.


    An hour and a half had passed in this whole process.


    She changed into light sportswear, tied her hair into a high ponytail, and headed straight to the next-door multimedia entertainment room.


    After setting up the holographic shooting range, she mentallymanded the system to retrieve a 4D assistant suit from the ¡°Inventory Area¡± that was paired with the holographic practice, provided by the arms dealer.


    This suit, when worn, could simte the smell of gunpowder from firearms, a 1:1 recoil after shooting, and even the sensation of being hit in abat training scenario.


    In essence, a simple suit amassed various advanced technologies.


    Jiang Yan started her practice with the smallest and simplest handgun.


    Having prior experience with real firearms, she easily followed the tutorial.


    However, being able to shoot and aiming urately were two different matters.


    Determined, she practiced all morning.


    Her afternoon training on yachts and excavators was thus postponed.


    Prioritizing tasks was necessary, whether in work or training.


    Especially firearms, as they were crucial for protecting oneself in critical moments, needed to be mastered first.


    She continued practicing until 4:30 in the afternoon, when her right index finger ached, prompting her to stop.


    She had only trained inbat scenarios for about half an hour.


    Suddenly, she regretted immersing herself in the game Kings of Glory before; she should have yed PUBG or CS instead.


    Combining gaming experience with real-life scenarios would have improved her skills significantly.


    But there was no medicine for regret in the world.


    Jiang Yan turned off the holographic projection equipment, stood up, grabbed a white towel, and wiped the sweat from her forehead before heading downstairs to the living room.


    Outside the living room¡¯s floor-to-ceiling windows, the sun shone brightly, and a gentle breeze blew.


    She took a bottle of NFC orange juice from the fridge, drank it leisurely, and then turned her phone back on.


    The anti-intrusion system on her iPad hadn¡¯t triggered any rms throughout the day.


    This was within her expectations.


    So, checking the homeowner¡¯s group chat, the news, and catching up on outside conditions through her phone was essential.


    Surprisingly, the news app still showed various old news stories.


    Thinking it was a bug, Jiang Yan refreshed several times, only to find it unchanged.


    She logged into her ount and tried posting a status.


    ¡°Duang! Server malfunction, please try againter!¡± a red error message popped up.


    Jiang Yan frowned, feeling an ominous premonition.


    She opened the homeowner¡¯s group chat.


    Property management had posted numerous important announcements.


    She quickly scanned them, and they were about the temporary shelter arrangements in Shallow Bay¡¯s underground areas. Summarized, the points were:


    1. Those who bought underground spaces are the priority. These homeowners can simply stay in their spots. As for those with only one or two members but who own four or five spaces, the same applies.


    The overall management of the underground shelter follows property arrangements, but homeowners with multiple spaces can offer them, either paid or free of charge, within their capabilities.


    2. Those who rented spaces still within their lease period are treated the same;


    3. Homeowners who hadn¡¯t bought or rented any spaces would be subject to temporary adjustments. This included but was not limited to sharing spaces with others or being ced in temporary or civil defense spaces.


    4. Non-homeowners, only renters, will be amodated on a priority basis after homeowners.


    5. ording to the weather forecast, the next week will see temperatures ranging from 65 to 80 degrees. If one insists on staying in their own home, all consequ¡­


    6. Those wanting to seek refuge nearby in official air-raid shelters must file a report with property management before proceeding; otherwise, they must bear the consequences of being denied entry.


    Photos from the scene were also posted.


    In one day, the underground garage had been cleared and cleaned, and ayer of red-patterned stic clothid down for moisture-proofing.


    As for the remaining beds and personal items, homeowners must bring their own.


    This arrangement was as simple as could be.

 Chapter 40 - 40 She Doesn’t Care, She Can Fly

    Chapter 40: Chapter 40 She Doesn¡¯t Care, She Can Fly


    Jiang Yan had just finished scrolling through the important messages in the owner¡¯s group chat when the property manager dropped an electronic spreadsheet in the group.


    ¡°Shallow Bay Underground Temporary Shelter Arrangement.xls¡±


    Property Manager 1: Following official notification, all Shallow Bay owners please move your living supplies to the underground parking by 12 a.m. tonight (space is limited, it¡¯s rmended not to exceed three items per person). See spreadsheet for your residence location and parking spot number. Those not present by 12 a.m. are considered to have forfeited their ces, with the responsibility on themselves.


    Property Manager 1: Some temporary parking spots will be reserved for official supply storage; the shelter is only for temporary respite from the extreme heat, the conditions are basic, so please be understanding. In this special period, we ask that all owners band together to ovee these difficult times! Struggle.jpg


    Jiang Yan clicked open the spreadsheet and quickly found her own information:


    Resident Name: A-3201;


    Head of Household: Jiang xx (Female);


    Parking Spot Purchased: No;


    Parking Spot Rented: No;


    Reported Going to Official Shelter: No;


    nned Amodation Area: Shared Area ¨C Misceneous Section, F Zone-414 (Co-inhabitants: D1103, Liu xx (Female); D1103, Zhang xx (Female); D1103, Gong xx (Female));


    Well, a parking spot of less than ten square meters is squeezing in four people.


    Thetter are clearly several girls sharing a lease.


    She nced again at the others¡ªthose without parking spots or without rented spots, their situation was likely simr to hers.


    Only then did she realize that in the Shallow Baymunity, there were quite a few tenants.


    Additionally, four or five families had reported that they would go to the official shelter.


    Seven or eight households of elderly people, left behind while the young people weren¡¯t at home and were residing in the high-rise, had simply given up on descending the stairs and were prepared to quietly face death.


    Indeed, in such hot weather, even young people can hardly bear it, let alone the elderly with various chronic illnesses.


    Just making it halfway down the stairs could bring on a fatal illness.


    The neighbors, who usually helped each other, were now all remaining silent as well.


    The heat and Blood Mosquitoes arrived swiftly, but the numbness and callousness of the people came even faster.


    The property staff, not a few of whom had thrown in the towel these past two days and returned to their hometowns, were also involved in organizing the shelters in coboration with the officials and had likewise ignored the choices of those elderly people.


    Jiang Yan had her Space, and naturally, she wasn¡¯t going to squeeze into an underground shelter with over a thousand people.


    Not to mention the inconvenience of men and women of all ages living together, there would be snoring, farting, teeth grinding, sleep talking, and a bunch of noisy children.


    She absolutely couldn¡¯t stand such an environment.


    But for her to choose to stay home would be too conspicuous.


    After all, she lived on the top floor.


    Of all the floors, the topmost are the least resistant to high temperatures.


    Many developers, in order to save on construction costs, had cut corners on the instion coating and waterproof materials on the roof.


    This state-owned enterprise was no exception.


    Jiang Yan quickly made up her mind: she would pretend to go to the official shelter alone, avoiding the collective living arrangement underground and other people¡¯s gossip.


    Then she would put on her jet flight suit and take advantage of the dark, windy night to stealthily fly back home.


    There was no better solution than that.


    With that thought, Jiang Yan stood up and exited her Space.


    As soon as she set foot in her apartment, a wave of heat enveloped herpletely.


    It was like walking into a dry sauna room.


    She looked at the thermometer, and it was already 62 degrees Celsius outside.


    It wasn¡¯t as bad inside thanks to various instion measures. Even without the air conditioning on, it was around 58 or 59 degrees.


    But that was still high.


    The temperature in a sauna¡¯s dry steam room is about 80 degrees.


    But there, one has an ice towel covering their face.


    It cools down your face while also preventing respiratory difficulties.


    People sit still, and after getting hot, they can choose to leave at any time.


    But now, obviously, that was not the case. This oppressive heat was continuously there, causing great difort.


    Jiang Yan¡¯s living room had a floor-to-ceiling window facing the garden, while her master bedroom window faced the outer side of themunity, where she could see the urban buildings and street views outside.


    She walked over and watched for a while.


    The streets were dead silent.


    The only living things were the sporadic Blood Mosquitoes flying in the air.


    Not afraid of the high heat or bright light, they sought targets that could provide fresh blood.


    She took out her phone to check the map and quickly chose a temporary stopping point for her outing.


    Her flight suit could only fly for 8-10 minutes, so the ce to rest couldn¡¯t be too far.


    And with the current high temperatures, along with the potential threat of Blood Mosquito attacks, she couldn¡¯t go far either.


    Just thinking of those increasinglyrge mutant mosquitoes made Jiang Yan¡¯s back go cold.


    She had plenty of mosquito repellents in her Space. However, thinking about what the experts had said earlier, that homemade traditional Chinese medicine mosquito repellent bags were much more effective thanmercial repellents against these Blood Mosquitoes, she once again entered her Space.


    She dug out a previous piece of news which listed twelve types of herbal ingredients:


    Mugwort, Mint, Angelica dahurica, Lemongrass, Peri Leaf, Lavender, Honeysuckle, Clove, Rosemary, Nard, Patchouli, Camphor Leaf.


    Lavender, Honeysuckle, and Lemongrass were present in the herbal tea she had bought.


    Rosemary, Clove, and Patchouli were in the spices she purchased.


    @@novelbin@@


    As for Mint, she only had fresh ones that she bought with groceries.


    She took some out to the space outside, cing it by the floor-to-ceiling window to dry in the high heat.


    She couldn¡¯t find Nard.


    The rest, such as Mugwort and Angelica dahurica and so on, she had bought the herbs in bulk.


    With a thought, Jiang Yan took all these supplies out of the ¡°Warehouse Area¡± along with tworge-sized gauze rolls and a sewing kit and began sewing small pouches.


    She wasn¡¯t very good with needlework; the dozen or so bags turned out crooked, looking as if a bunch of ck worms had crawled across them.


    However, as long as they served their function, it was fine.


    After she finished sewing the bags and casually ate a bowl of cold noodles and drank a bottle of ice-c, the Mint was almost done drying.


    The traditional Chinese medicine mosquito repellent bags were quickly made.


    She took out the backpack, which was previously disguised with instant noodles and tissues, once more and hung a circle of repellent bags on it.


    After changing into the instion clothes, she also strapped several bags onto her neck, legs, and arms. Fully armed, she then left the apartment.


    The scent of these herbs was very strong. Even through the insted suit¡¯s hood, Jiang Yan could smell the intense aroma of traditional Chinese medicine.


    She locked the door, set the intrusion prevention system to a high level with 500v electric shock strength, and then headed towards the stairwell.


    The doors of apartment 3203 and 3204 were half-open, and He Chunmei and her group seemed busy preparing the items to be taken to the underground parking.


    asionally, He Chunmei¡¯s voice could be heard bossily instructing Zhou Guangfu inside the apartment.


    It wasn¡¯t just them either; the doors on other floors were all half-open.


    The temperature in the corridor was a bit lower than inside the homes. To prevent Blood Mosquitoes from entering, nearly all families had shut their windows tightly.


    The only air cirction was between the living rooms and the corridors.


    All property-managed doors to the buildings and entrances to the underground parking were shut tight.


    In such heat, no one dared to go out.

 Chapter 41: Cruel Enough!

    Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Cruel Enough!


    Shallow Bay had be a perfectly secure and enclosed space.


    Now, Jiang Yan was about to leave this safe area alone.


    On her way down the stairs, she encountered a few scattered people carrying basins and thin quilts.


    Jiang Yan¡¯s outfit made her look like arge, moving, conspicuous package.


    However, everyone was already hot and tired, their faces red, necks thick, and breaths heavy.


    Despite their surprise, they were too exhausted to say anything, only managing to give her a thumbs up as they gasped for breath.


    Perhaps because she had spent a long time in Space these past days, Jiang Yan felt her physical condition had considerably improved.


    Although she was wearing slightly heavy instion clothes and a hat,


    the air around her was stuffy and hot.


    Yet when she descended the stairs, it didn¡¯t seem too ufortable.


    However, when she encountered people entering, she deliberately walked slowly.


    Half an hourter, Jiang Yan finally reached the first floor.


    It was only around five o¡¯clock at that moment, but in the garden outside, she could already see Blood Mosquitoes asionally flying by.


    After the appearance of the Blood Mosquitoes, Jiang Yan specifically searched for scientific information about them.


    Normally, male mosquitoes live only one to three weeks, while females can live up to one or two months.


    After mutation, the lifespan of these mosquitoes increased overall.


    But one thing hadn¡¯t changed:


    Female mosquitoes must feed on blood for their ovaries to develop and to reproduce.


    Experts imed that only when the temperature exceeds seventy degrees Celsius could Blood Mosquitoes potentially self-destruct.


    This likely meant that at seventy degrees, the external sources of blood for female mosquitoes, whether humans or other animals, would all be dead.


    The remaining humans and animals had already taken good cover.


    Gradually,cking food and conditions to reproduce, the mosquitoes would finally starve to death.


    However, this process seemed somewhat lengthy.


    Jiang Yan didn¡¯t think too much, opened the door, and quickly headed towards the residentialplex entrance.


    The air was filled with visibly rolling heat waves.


    The stic road in the garden had deformed due to the high temperature, and the ground temperature was much higher than the air temperature.


    Walking on it, Jiang Yan could feel the burning and soft surface through her eight-centimeter-thick instion shoes.


    In some areas, it even formed a candy-floss effect with the soles of her shoes.


    Fortunately, it was not an asphalt road.


    She guessed the vehicles that came to deliver supplies must be special vehicles; otherwise, with the current temperature, the water in the vehicles¡¯ radiators would have boiled.


    Moreover, the entire garden in the residentialplex looked ghastly and smoky.


    Several more hideously distorted mummies had been added to the flower beds.


    They were likely thrown down by family members in broad daylight, and their blood had already been drained by the mosquitoes.


    Thewns were long dried up, and the ground was densely littered with dead earthworms and various insects.


    Many of the shrubs and flowers were also wilted.


    The water in the central pond in the garden had dried up, and the silt at the bottom waspletely cracked.


    The previously dense water lilies and the aquatic nts within had withered, along with some dried small fish and shrimps.


    In view, there was a dense array of various colored garbage bags and pull-tab cans, and liquor bottles.


    Some likely contained human waste, which, baked by the high temperature, emitted bursts of intense, foul odor.


    However, the property management no longer had the energy to clean these up.


    No one in themunity groupined either.


    After all, from morning till now, the temperature continued to slowly rise.


    Everyone was struggling to survive, let alone act as moral custodians.


    In the group, it went from righteous indignation to silence in just half a day.


    Jiang Yan also saw many dead birds and wild cats.


    She even saw two dried squirrels.


    Without exception, one could see wrist-sized blood holes on their bodies.


    Both humans and animals, not only died from the extreme heat but also suffered secondary destruction from Blood Mosquitoes.


    In just a short distance, the sights Jiang Yan encountered were startling.


    Moreover, the garden was really too smelly.


    The stench of corpses, feces, kitchen waste¡­


    Even though she was covered with herbs and wearing an instion hat,


    the waves of foul smells still drilled into her nostrils.


    She didn¡¯t dare to linger and quickly walked towards the gate of the residentialplex.


    It was only at the gatehouse that she discovered, after the power outage, the ess control had failed, and the gate was locked with a U-shaped lock.


    The gatehouse was open and equally empty.


    This situation was expected by Jiang Yan.


    In broad daylight, she couldn¡¯t possibly sneak out an electric saw to break the door.


    She had to hide in the gatehouse, take out her cellphone, and send a message in the owners¡¯ group.


    This message was really meant for others to see.


    A-3201: ¡°[@Property Manager One: I am going to the nearby official shelter, please unlock the main gate of theplex, thank you.]¡±


    Property Manager One: ¡°[@A-3201, dear owner, I haven¡¯t seen you file a report, and if you file now, you can only go tomorrow. The chances of being rejected if you go now are very high.]¡±


    A-3201: ¡°[No need to file, I have my own way of solving it, just open the gate for me.]¡±


    Property Manager One: ¡°[Alright then¡­..please wait a moment, someone will be sent over shortly.]¡±


    A fully equipped security guard from the property management soon walked out from the underground parking entrance.


    ¡°Miss, how are you going?¡± he clicked the lock open.


    Jiang Yan gave him a nce and said calmly, ¡°I¡¯ll walk.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± The security guard looked incredulous for a moment, then said:


    ¡°Miss, the official supply vehicle is about to arrive, actually, if you wait and see, maybe you can take their vehicle back? That one seems to be specialized and can withstand high temperatures. The other few who registered to go to the official shelter are also taking that vehicle.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, no need,¡± Jiang Yan smiled politely, declined, and then stepped out of theplex.


    The security guard watched her retreating figure and her strange attire, internally giving her a huge mark of respect.


    @@novelbin@@


    Just after locking the gate, he saw Director Zhang Qiming and Manager Liu Dahonging over with a group.


    They were also tightly covered, wearing electric motorcycle helmets on their heads.


    ¡°Manager Liu, Director Zhang,¡± the security guard politely greeted.


    Liu Dahong nced outside theplex, frowning slightly:


    ¡°Hey, hasn¡¯t the official car arrived yet? Wasn¡¯t it supposed to be here by five? If it doesn¡¯te soon, and the Blood Mosquito swarm arrives, it¡¯ll be disastrous.¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we first take shelter in the gatehouse? The sun is too harsh.¡± Zhang Qiming suggested.


    The few did not object and filed into the gatehouse.


    After closing the door, they took off their helmets.


    ¡°It¡¯s really Manager Liu who¡¯s capable. The authorities have now given you such a big responsibility,¡± Zhang Qiming said as he took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, pulled one out, and handed it to Liu Dahong.


    It was too hot, and they dared not smoke.


    However, that didn¡¯t prevent them from holding it to their noses and momentarily relieving their ¡°yearning.¡±


    ¡°Ah, Brother Zhang, you tter me too much. Speaking about it, it¡¯s quite bothersome. Look at these over fifteen hundred people; having to arrange them all into the underground parking within a day.


    The timeframe is tight, and the task is heavy.


    Not to mention, the work environment is already severe. My men below have been bedridden several times in these two days.


    There aren¡¯t enough people, and they¡¯re not giving us enough money!


    Damn, the authorities just keep assigning tasks and painting big pictures!


    The key is whether it¡¯s really the apocalypse like the inte says, so you can¡¯t just outright refuse and stop working!


    And then, these owners, always being so picky. Watch, tonight, with so many people crowded together, who knows what might happen!¡±


    After cursing andining, Liu Dahong¡¯s tone suddenly changed, and he gently patted Zhang Qiming¡¯s shoulder, saying:


    ¡°So, Brother Zhang, from tonight to the next few days, we¡¯ll really need to rely on ourmunity¡¯s most authoritative homeowners¡¯mittee!¡±


    The two exchangedpliments, and the other subordinates felt it wasn¡¯t their ce to chime in.


    Zhang Qiming¡¯s brow furrowed slightly, he sighed and kicked the metaphorical ball back:


    ¡°Ah, handling so many people is indeed difficult. We in the homeowners¡¯mittee are too weak to make our voices heard; we can only rely on the property staff to manage the scene.¡±


    The two silently sighed for a while.


    ¡°Heh, big brothers, this isn¡¯t simple,¡± Zhang Qiqi, who had been standing silently next to Zhang Qiming, suddenly spoke in a low voice.


    Everyone¡¯s gaze sharply turned towards her.


    Zhang Qiqi¡¯s expression was calm, and she chuckled coldly: ¡°If there are too many people, just reduce them by killing with a borrowed knife.¡±


    Everyone: ¡°¡­¡±

 Chapter 45: Natural Disaster VS Man-Made Calamity!

    Chapter 45: Chapter 45: Natural Disaster VS Man-Made Cmity!


    Jiang Yan had just stretched out her hand to push open the hidden door when a wave of stuffy, intense coffee aroma and heat hit her face.


    @@novelbin@@


    Even through the instion hat, she could feel the heat inside.


    If the temperature outside was around sixty-six or sixty-seven degrees, then the temperature inside was at least seventy degrees.


    She didn¡¯t immediately go in, but stood at the door, waiting for the high-temperature air inside to merge with the outside, while also taking the opportunity to observe the storage situation inside.


    Due to theck of lights inside, it was pitch-dark.


    She took out an emergency light from Space and shone it inside, seeingrge, neatly stacked cardboard boxes.


    After a while, the sensation of the heatwave was gone, and after confirming there was no danger, she stepped in.


    Inside, it was indeed a whole different world.


    Not only did she find a lot of well-packaged coffee beans, coffee powder, coffee capsules, sugar, cinnamon powder, hazelnuts, almonds, there was also a pile of limited edition blind box gifts for sale.


    On another shelf, there were severalrge cardboard boxes of sealed paper cups of various sizes.


    Additionally, there were a few brand-new, unopened imported coffee machines.


    One of these coffee machines could cost several hundred thousand.


    There were also some brand-new bean grinders, tampers, ice makers, hand brew kettles, and filter cups.


    Jiang Yan collected all of them into Space.


    As for the boxed hazelnut spreads, chocte, milk, cream, etc., they had spoiled in the high temperatures of the past two days.


    She chose to ignore them.


    Just as Jiang Yan was about to leave, she saw five somewhat familiar cardboard boxes piled up in the corner of two adjacent shelves.


    Upon closer inspection, whoa, they were all 52-degree Flying Fairy Maotai!


    Six bottles to a box, a total of 30 bottles!


    Liquor spoils under high temperatures because the heat causes the seals on the bottles to deteriorate, leading to evaporation and reflux of the liquor.


    Although the temperature was extraordinarily high at the moment, the seal of Flying Fairy was still reliable.


    Jiang Yan didn¡¯t think twice and immediately collected them all into Space.


    Moreover, the fact that these valuable goods were still left behind indicated that when people evacuated the shop, they had not anticipated the high temperatures to persist and rise.


    Otherwise, these goods would have been moved away long ago.


    After clearing the storeroom, Jiang Yan returned to the dining area.


    At that moment, it was nearly six o¡¯clock outside.


    She checked the weather on her phone, which showed sixty degrees.


    But Jiang Yan guessed the actual temperature was probably close to sixty-six or sixty-seven degrees.


    The pile of Blood Mosquitoes that had been stuck to the ss wall, after waiting in vain, had finally left reluctantly.


    Jiang Yan thought it was still early before dark, so she decided to enter Space.


    After taking off her instion hat, instion clothes, shoes, sunsses, and various other items, she habitually clicked on the surveince to take a look.


    Due to the high temperature, all the original surveince circuits in theplex had activated their circuit fuses for protection and had automatically shut down.


    However, the cameras Jiang Yan had installed were still functioning normally.


    Themunity¡¯s surveince used ordinary electrical wires, while her surveince wire was insted with silicone rubber, with a working temperature range of -60¡ãC to 180¡ãC, well able to withstand both cold and heat.


    If not specifically switched, the surveince screen was usually in a six-gridyout.


    The screens showed everything as normal.


    asionally, some people, bare-armed and bare-legged, were moving supplies underground.


    The temperature was so high that everyone dared not move too quickly.


    Seeing nothing new on the screen, Jiang Yan drank a bottle of chilled soda water and then headed straight to the second floor of the Apple Cabin, to the gym.


    Taking out her boxing gloves, Jiang Yan started practicing on the punching bag.


    She had impromptly learned some mixed martial arts when she had encountered a new season of the UFC during her travels abroad.


    At the time, she felt the sport was somewhat bloody, but now it seemed perfect for self-defense.


    Unknowingly, it was past nine in the evening already.


    Since the high temperatures had arrived, the nights had be veryte.


    Anming City, which normally got dark around eight o¡¯clock, wouldn¡¯t bepletely dark until about eight-thirty.


    Feeling that enough time had passed, Jiang Yan put her instion clothes back on.


    Before leaving Space, she habitually clicked to check the surveince again.


    As soon as the screen connected, she saw the corridors of Building A, on the first and seventh floors, swarming with Blood Mosquitoes and littered with bodies lying haphazardly.


    The ground and walls were sttered with bright red spots.


    Judging by the shapes of the corpses, there were adults, elderly, children, and even infants.


    Other high floors had them too, but rtively fewer.


    If a person was only dealing with a few simple mosquitoes, it was much easier.


    But the problem was that when a swarm of mutated giant mosquitoes attacked in dense numbers, there were always unprotected weak points.


    Once any mosquito¡¯s sharp proboscis prated, the consequences were unthinkable.


    ¡°Help!¡±


    ¡°Mom, don¡¯t worry about me, just run!¡±


    ¡°Quick, retreat! There are mosquitoes over there too!¡±


    ¡°Damn, who went out and didn¡¯t close the door?! If I find out, I¡¯ll definitely sacrifice her to the heavens!¡±


    ¡°¡­Mom, wake up! Please don¡¯t leave me alone! Wuuuu¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­..¡±


    Heart-rending cries for help, sounds of struggle, and terrified screams of escape from the surveince screen came intermittently.


    ¡°!!!!¡±


    Jiang Yan¡¯s pupils shrank, for a moment thinking she had switched to the wrong screen.


    After scrutinizing it for a few moments, she involuntarily gasped.


    The solid bastion of Shallow Bay had, within a few hours, turned into a hunting and ughterhouse for Blood Mosquitoes!


    This puzzle confounded Jiang Yan.


    Was it possible that a resident had forgotten to close the door after opening it?


    Or had the property management staff just thrown in the towel en masse?!


    But that shouldn¡¯t have been the case!


    She took off her instion hat, sat down on the sofa with the pad, and set the yback speed to 32 times the normal rate.


    The unit door had been manually opened around eight-thirty at night.


    Jiang Yan returned the yback to normal speed when the image jumped to the moment the door opened.


    ording to previousmunity management requirements, from six in the evening to seven-thirty the next morning, themunal doors were strictly forbidden to open.


    This was because this period was the active feeding time for the Blood Mosquitoes.


    This rule was exceptionally clear and ingrained in the minds of both residents and property management.


    But strangely enough, a young man wrapped up tightly with a helmet and mask opened the door.


    He nced around to make sure there was no one else around, then propped the door open even wider.


    Not only that, but he also took something resembling a wedge from his pocket to prop the door firmly open.


    After doing all this, he sneaked out.


    Soon after, a horde of huge Blood Mosquitoes rushed into the corridor.


    Jiang Yan furrowed her brow, rewound the footage to the moment the young man hade in, then paused and zoomed in.


    She quickly recognized the person.


    He was one of the property managers she had seen at the entrance to the underground parking lot, with a group of people in white shirts, just the day before.


    However, he wasn¡¯t the manager, probably just one of the supervisors.


    Jiang Yan remembered him so clearly because the sports shoes he wore had a pattern of pale yellow with red rims, like mes.


    The red me pattern under the fierce sun made it even more irritating to the eye.


    So she had taken a special nce at them at that time.


    Moreover, the young man¡¯s left hand was unusual, having six fingers, and thus he was the only one not wearing gloves on his left hand.


    This matched the characteristics of a security supervisor¡¯s hands she had encountered when dealing with property issues before¡­


    Jiang Yan felt a sinking feeling:


    Why would he do this?!


    Was he acting out of a sense of revenge triggered by stress?!


    In her memory, there were still at least ten more days of high temperatures to endure.


    Shallow Bay had an underground parking lot where the residents could take shelter and avoid the heat for the next few days.


    Nearby, several oldmunities had no underground parking facilities and just had to endure.


    Subsequent downpours would also likely leave Shallow Bay rtively less affected due to its higher elevationpared to othermunities.


    It could be said that Shallow Bay had the advantage during both the heat and rain.


    It was a pity that they had not yet ovee the natural disaster before facing this man-made cmity!

 Chapter 47 - 47 Mom, I Saw Superman!

    Chapter 47: Chapter 47 Mom, I Saw Superman!


    ¡°Daddy! There¡¯s one there too!!¡±


    ¡°Daddy, be careful!¡±


    ¡°Honey, watch your right!¡±


    ¡°My God! We¡¯ve been targeted too!!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Buzz¡­buzz¡­buzz!¡± A deafening sound arose in the air.


    Huge swarms of mosquitoes, like ck clouds, fluttered hungrily for the rare treat they had encountered.


    Panic spread and grew among the migrating masses.


    The road was soon filled with wailing cries and the hissing sound of mosquito repellent being sprayed.


    Those repellents couldn¡¯t kill the Blood Mosquitoes, only momentarily drive them away at best.


    Whether they could hold out until they reached the official refuge, nobody knew.


    Some people were also heading toward the shopping center.


    Two backpackers even approached the ss doors of the cafe to look inside.


    Jiang Yan was sitting in a somewhat hidden corner at this time, and with the room pitch-ck, outsiders naturally couldn¡¯t see her inside.


    However, they had no intention of going in anyway.


    This storefront was even hotter than one¡¯s home, and entering it was tantamount to waiting for death.


    There was no subway station here, just a two-level underground parking lot below the shopping center and a supermarket.


    Jiang Yan guessed they had probably seen the high-temperature weather forecast for theing days on their phones and hade here temporarily to take shelter underground.


    After a while, there were fewer people outside.


    Jiang Yan judged that the time was about right and stood up, taking a bulky, jet-powered flight suit out of Space and donning it over herrge instion clothes.


    This flight suit weighed sixty kilograms, heavier than her own weight by more than ten kilograms.


    Wearing it was like having a man strapped to her back.


    Only because her physical condition had improved, otherwise, with today¡¯s cumbersome outfit, she would have been immobile.


    Jiang Yan had just put away the U-lock on the door when she saw a few dried-up corpses lying on the tiles outside the ss door twitching.


    A chill went through her heart:


    Could it be that they were turning into zombies?


    And this wasn¡¯t a movie or a novel, after all.


    During her puzzlement, a swarm of half-finger-length, fully transformed juvenile mosquitoes burst through the skin of the corpses.


    To be exact, they wriggled out from the necks, faces, mouths, and even the bellies of the dried-out corpses.


    ¡°!!!!¡± Jiang Yan¡¯s pupils contracted, and she inhaled instinctively.


    Mosquitoes usuallyy their eggs on the surface of the water, with each female mosquitoying 50-500 eggs at a time.


    But after the high temperatures, the city¡¯s ponds, rivers, and variouskes had almost dried up.


    Jiang Yan had wondered how these mosquitoes survived and bred.


    Now it seemed the mystery was solved.


    All hosts that had been drained of blood by the Blood Mosquitoes, whether humans or animals, became the breeding grounds for their eggs and their transformation.


    Jiang Yan felt a cold sweat all over her body.


    Fortunately, those juvenile mosquitoes were probably not as aggressive as the adults.


    She patiently waited a while longer, and when the swarm of juveniles also buzzed away, she finally opened the door and stepped out.


    The flight suit¡¯s directional control was manipted by arm movements that controlled the jet streams.


    Thus her hands now held neither an electric mosquito swatter nor repellent.


    Empty.


    But, generally, mosquitoes can only fly as high as six stories.


    As long as she flew quickly above the seventh floor, the number of mosquitoes would drastically decrease.


    Of course, the possibility that the mutated mosquitoes had stronger flying power couldn¡¯t be ruled out.


    But as long as she flew fast and high enough, they couldn¡¯t catch up with her.


    Even so, Jiang Yan wasn¡¯t in a hurry.


    She methodically activated the flight suit¡¯s power switch, testing the stability of her aerial hover just half a meter off the ground.


    Once she was sure there were no errors, she gradually increased the jet power.


    With the increase of the jet stream, Jiang Yan quickly ascended to the space above the seventh floor and then slowly flew toward Shallow Bay at a 45-degree angle.


    Soon.


    Eighth floor.


    Ninth floor.


    ¡­


    The ravaged urban area was bing more distant from her.


    Jiang Yan¡¯s flying altitude was gradually increasing.


    After passing by an old residential area, she would reach Shallow Bay.


    She wasn¡¯t afraid of being spotted.


    After all, with her fully armed, bizarre look, there was no fear of recognition.


    However, she still hovered mid-air to observe for a moment before arriving at Shallow Bay.


    By this point, people in the buildings should have moved to the underground parking garage.


    The houses were pitch ck, without a sliver of light to be seen.


    It was like a lone Ghost City standing there.


    As Jiang Yan flew past the old residential area near Shallow Bay, in a seventh-floor room, a pale and weak little girl suddenly opened her eyes wide in disbelief.


    The girl, about three or four years old, was wearing a nearly new pink Barbie princess dress.


    On her head was a delicate and exquisite rhinestone tiara, with a charming little bracelet hanging from her chillingly cold little hand.


    At the moment, her parents were resting quietly beside her, neatly dressed as well.


    Her mother wore a pretty pale yellow floral dress and had carefully applied makeup.


    Her father had shaved his beard cleanly and evenbed his hair with hair oil.


    Sadly, the temperature was too high.


    Her mother¡¯s makeup had run, and her father¡¯s hair oil was damp.


    Two empty medication bottles sat on the bedside table¡­


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Nannan? Are you feeling unwell?¡±


    Feeling her daughter stirring, Zhang Xue tried to force her heavy eyelids open a bit.


    ¡°Daddy, Mommy, I¡¯m so hot, but I saw Superman, yeah!¡±


    The child¡¯s eyes shone like two bright stars in the night, full of innocence and curiosity, and she gently tugged at her parents¡¯ hands, speaking in a sweet voice.


    ¡°Superman?¡± Her father, Zhao Lei, also opened his eyes, gazing silently at his wife with red-rimmed eyes.


    ¡°Yeah. He flew by just now.¡± The girl tried to lift her small face, speaking earnestly.


    @@novelbin@@


    But after only a couple of sentences, she felt her breathing be rapid.


    With tears in her eyes, her mother tilted slightly and nted a heavy kiss on her daughter¡¯s forehead, whispering softly,


    ¡°Nannan, go to sleep. Ah, the magic will work only when you¡¯re asleep, and then we can not only see Superman but also meet many little elves that wille for us!¡±


    ¡°Wow! Mommy, can the little elves cure my illness? I really don¡¯t want to go to the hospital for injections anymore; it hurts so much.¡±


    ¡°Yes, the little elves have a lot of magic and can fulfill Nannan¡¯s wishes!¡±


    ¡°Mommy, do the little elves have big air conditioners at home, so Daddy and Mommy won¡¯t suffer as much?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Zhang Xue¡¯s nose tingled, and she choked without being able to speak.


    She turned slightly to wipe away her tears secretly.


    ¡°Mommy, can I meet Peppa, George, and Doraemon in the Magic Castle?¡±


    ¡°Yes! Of course! Whoever you want to meet, you will!¡± Zhang Xue used thest of her strength, dering with certainty.


    ¡°Then I want to be friends with George and Peppa, and I want to borrow a bunch of stuff from Doraemon; then, just like the Superman just now, take Daddy and Mommy flying all over the world!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Nannan, all your dreams cane true!¡± Zhao Lei bit through the quilt, his eyes red and voice choked.


    ¡°Daddy, Mommy, I¡¯m so hot and sleepy. I¡¯m going to sleep first. I love you. You have to follow, or the magic won¡¯t work together. I really want to enter the Magic Castle with Mommy and Daddy, hand in hand.¡±


    The girl¡¯s voice grew fainter, and her little hand, originally clutching her parents¡¯, slowly slid away.


    ¡°Daddy and Mommy love you, too.¡± Zhang Xue tried to speak, but she was overwhelmed by an endless drowsiness.


    ¡°Mmhmm, Nannan, you sleep first, Daddy and Mommy love you, too!¡± Zhao Lei used hisst bit of strength to pull his wife and daughter, who had already closed their eyes, tightly into his embrace.


    The next second, the six-foot-tall man was buried in the nkets, weeping silently.

 Chapter 48 - 48 Cant Enter the House

    Chapter 48: Chapter 48 Can¡¯t Enter the House


    Within a minute, Jiang Yan had already flown to the 32nd floor of Building A.


    The jet-powered suits she had bought generally reached speeds of over 200 kilometers per hour, it¡¯s just that she wasn¡¯t too familiar with operating them, which made her flight slower.


    She nced around a few times, fortunately, no Blood Mosquitos had followed her.


    She controlled the suit to hover outside the living room window and then carefully took out her phone from her bag.


    Looking at the screen, she saw a big exmation mark indicating the signal and unconsciously smirked.


    Oh no!


    All her calctions, yet she hadn¡¯t anticipated that her cell phone would suddenly lose its signal!


    With no cell phone signal, the smart home system was definitely unusable too¡ªwhich meant her n to enter through the window was ruined.


    Luckily, her suit could still fly for a while longer.


    Also, there were still three methods to get back inside her home now:


    One method was descending from the roof.


    She remembered that from the roof to the 32nd floor, there was just one iron door, easy for breaking open the lock.


    The staircase below the iron door, however, was suspended some distance above the corridor floor.


    For her, this wasn¡¯t a problem at all.


    The second method was entering through the corridor windows of the 32nd floor, but that too required smashing the ss.


    There was a pile of hammers in Space, making breaking the ss easy.


    But, she remembered the dimension of the corridor window was small, and she was wearing a lot of gear, looking akin to a Michelin tire.


    To get in, she¡¯d have to dismantle the window frame too.


    Moreover, once the window was shattered, whether it be Blood Mosquitos or the uing storm, both would enter the corridor.


    The third method was to enter normally through the first floor, which also involved breaking ss or locks.


    This was the hardest and most tiring, and also the most likely to get noticed.


    After all, it involved using an electric saw to violently break the lock.


    Thinking it over, the first method seemed much simpler.


    With that thought, Jiang Yan increased the power of her suit slightly using the controls and flew straight to the roof.


    Despite wearing instion shoes, when shended on the roof the intense heat was palpable.


    This was Jiang Yan¡¯s first time at such a ce.


    Few items were on top: a room resembling a rooftop water tank, and two electricity boxes ced side by side.


    Besides that, there were three small circr flowerbeds.


    However, the flowers and grass in those beds were long dead.


    What remained were a bunch of wires hanging in mid-air, probably for residents to hangundry.


    Although it was highly unlikely for anyone to be on the rooftop at this time, Jiang Yan still surveyed cautiously.


    To avoid any sudden mishaps, she decided not to immediately remove the bulky suit but instead, with a thought, took out a dagger and shlight from Space.


    She quickly found the iron door and its ordinary lock, which Jiang Yan pried open in no time.


    With a ¡°creak,¡± she opened the door and after ensuring everything was normal inside, she entered.


    She found a rope in Space, tightly secured the iron door, and then controlled the suit to descend directly into the corridor.


    The corridor was dark and quiet.


    Jiang Yan did not linger but quickly headed towards her own unit, 3201.


    Perhaps because the floor was too high, Blood Mosquitos had not ventured up to the 32nd floor.


    There were no bloodstains in the corridor, only asional bits of trash, likely dropped when He Chunmei and others were moving.


    Having reached her apartment door, Jiang Yan realized another serious issue:


    The home intrusion system was currently set at rmingly high voltage, 500V.


    Now, without a cell signal, she naturally couldn¡¯t switch or adjust the defensive setting.


    There was a manual control panel, unfortunately installed inside the bedroom¡­


    Luckily, she was always cautious, otherwise she would have been reduced to ashes if she had raised her hand as usual.


    Thinking this, Jiang Yan couldn¡¯t help but give a wry smile.


    Was this a case of her own making?


    But who could have expected that in less than half a day, there would be no inte?


    Luckily, she still carried a home of her own with her: Space.


    Without dy, Jiang Yan entered Space with a thought.


    Compared to the sweltering, dark outside world, Space was bathed in bright, sunny warmth.


    She removed her flight suit and instion clothes and went straight for a shower.


    After changing into loose-fitting home clothes, the fatigue from ¡°drifting¡± outside all night hit her, and she went straight to bed.


    She took out her pad and started watching a popr variety show she had downloaded earlier.


    As she watched, she suddenly felt hungry.


    The reason was simple: the show was broadcasting a scene where the guests were traveling to a tropical country to enjoy seafood instant noodles.


    She could almost smell the aroma through the screen.


    Jiang Yan swallowed, feeling like a greedy cat, and stood up to head to the kitchen.


    She put a pot on to boil, then added a pack of Tom Yum Goong soup base to it.


    The water boiled quickly, filling the kitchen with a spicy, refreshing scent enhanced by rich coconut.


    Jiang Yan took out a pack of sour pickle noodles, opened it, and ced the noodle cake in the pot.


    Then, with a thought, she fetched from the Inventory Area some almost entirely fresh shrimp, crab sticks, and ms, cleaned them, and added them to the pot.


    @@novelbin@@


    Finally, as the noodles cooked to a perfect chewy texture, she added thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms.


    Topped with sometro, a delicious bowl of seafood instant noodles was ready in no time.


    Jiang Yan finished it off, broth and all.


    As a food blogger over the years, she had never really controlled her diet.


    Mainly because she had a naturally slim physique, no matter how much she ate, she never gained weight.


    If not for her health indicators appearing normal on medical reports, she would almost suspect she had hyperthyroidism.


    Now, in the apocalypse, her slim appearance added a significant sense of security.


    After the meal, she discovered her phone had signal again.


    In excitement, Jiang Yan left Space with her phone in hand.


    With no protection on her, returning to the corridor felt like being thrown into a dry sauna.


    Hot.


    Not ordinarily hot.


    She took out her phone, opened the smart home system, quickly shut down the intrusion program, then entered the password and scanned her fingerprint.


    With a ¡°beep,¡± the door opened.


    The apartment was stuffy, almost suffocating her.


    But the feeling of home was always good.


    It was an indescribable feeling of security, etched in her bones.


    This feeling was iparable to her perfect Space.


    ncing at the living room thermometer, the temperature had reached sixty-eight degrees.


    Jiang Yan closed the door and didn¡¯t turn on the lights.


    After returning to the bedroom, she entered Space once again.


    Upon checking her phone, the Shallow Bay owners¡¯ chat was lively as ever.


    Despite the afternoon¡¯s gruesome blood and wind, people seemed to have survived the ordeal.


    Comints were still being aired.


    Cursing towards Jiang Yan and others was ongoing.


    But mostly, everyone had returned to entertaining themselves.


    Some were sharing photos and videos of an underground shelter in the group.


    As there was a backup power supply, there was light inside, but not very bright.


    After all, it was uncertain how long the intense heat wouldst, so electricity had to be conserved.

 Chapter 49 - 49 Good News

    Chapter 49: Chapter 49 Good News


    The property management had scattered a few air conditioners around the corners.


    The area around the air conditioners was mainly arranged for families with babies and the elderly.


    However, looking at the people inside, almost all of them were wearing very little, their faces were flushed from the heat, and beads of sweat were still on their foreheads.


    It seemed that the effect of the air conditioners was not very apparent.


    After all, the cooling capacity of air conditioners used in ordinary households was at most two or three horsepower, and the radiation range was only about thirty to forty square meters.


    This underground parking garage, however, was several thousand square meters.


    Additionally, it might also be due to there being too many people.


    But regardless, it was obviously much better than the high temperatures of sixty to seventy degrees above ground.


    Someone even took a few photos of fresh bloodstains on the walls and posted them in the group.


    It must have been the Blood Mosquitoes that entered in the afternoon, flying in through the pedestrian passageway.


    Below, naturally, there was a barrage of curses that insulted generations of ancestors.


    There was also a picture of dense smoke billowing and mes soaring into the sky.


    It looked somewhat eerie because within the raging mes, it was clear there were stacked silhouettes of people.


    Jiang Yan recognized after a careful look that it was the dried-up pond in the center of the district garden.


    It must have been turned into a temporary crematorium by the property management.


    After all, with temperatures rising higher and higher and the number of Blood Mosquitoes increasing, there had been quite a number of deaths in the afternoon; they likely didn¡¯t have the energy to transport the bodies out of the district anymore.


    Further down, Jiang Yan came across a video.


    The person taking the video was doing something like a live broadcast, narrating while filming.


    People were sitting or lying down on the simple bedding.


    Some were already hunched over, sleeping with their hands covering their ears.


    But there were also those sitting together ying cards, chatting.


    And some were nursing their children alone.


    There were also a few families, who seemed to be wailing loudly.


    They must have had family members who passed away during the Blood Mosquito attack in the afternoon.


    In such an environment, expecting silence was obviously a luxury.


    Fortunately, at least nobody was smoking.


    Of course, it might also be that the cigarettes at home had long been smoked up.


    After Jiang Yan roughly understood the situation, she was about to exit the homeowners¡¯ group chat, but her gaze paused at the number of members listed at the top of the chat.


    Shallow Bay Homeowners¡¯ Group (306).


    Jiang Yan: ¡°¡­¡±


    She remembered that the homeowners¡¯ group was previously at a full capacity of 500 members.


    Good lord!


    Within one day, nearly two hundred households were gone.


    That meant a decrease in poption by at least six hundred people¡­


    Wasn¡¯t this a bit too outrageous?


    In Jiang Yan¡¯s mind, the surveince footage uncontrobly resurfaced.


    Additionally, she seemed to have seen again, faintly, in the video shot by the homeowners on the scene, the owner of that pair of shoes.


    And that security supervisor should have been distributingpressed biscuits or something to the homeowners at the time.


    Now, looking at the suddenly reduced number in the group, a strange spection popped into her mind.


    *


    In the following days, the mobile signal was intermittent.


    The temperature also steadily rose from the previous sixty-seven or sixty-eight degrees to over seventy degrees.


    Every day, there were supportive messages sent from the tel operators.


    The government had also sessively opened up some temporary shelters and mass-sent the addresses.


    At the same time, the government also opened up some temporary supply depots to the public for free.


    But due to limited capabilities, people needed to go and collect supplies themselves.


    Moreover, government personnel had also entered home-owner groups across the city.


    There weren¡¯t many though, just one or two people per group.


    Jiang Yan suddenly understood why WeChat was still functional after many apps had crashed on arge scale.


    The government was likely supporting it from behind, ensuring that information could be delivered to the public at the earliest opportunity.


    The homeowners¡¯ group chats had fewer irrelevant conversations, but heated arguments began to emerge.


    The likelihood was that the food delivered by the government was not sufficient.


    Conflicts were inevitable once resources became scarce.


    Some suspected that the property management and homeowners¡¯mittee were working together to embezzle the supplies.


    But they had no evidence.


    Even though government agents were in the group, their role was more to stabilize public sentiment; they couldn¡¯t conjure up supplies.


    Or rather, there were supplies, but in the current environmental conditions, they couldn¡¯t be transported.


    Also, looking at the situation shared in the group, when the temperature rose above seventy degrees, the Blood Mosquitoes, which had mutated in unthinkable ways, were still dense.


    Only when the temperature reached seventy-five degrees did they begin to decrease.


    @@novelbin@@


    Gradually, the mosquitoes became fewer and fewer, eventually disappearing from sight.


    On the tenth day of the high temperatures, the government entrusted the tel operators to mass-send a message that was very heartening:


    All Blood Mosquitoes in the world havepletely disappeared!


    And if they held on for another ten days, there was an eighty-percent chance that the high-temperature weather woulde to an end.


    This was the only piece of good news since high temperatures had hit the world.


    Though the temperatures would only get higher in the following ten days, it at least gave those who were alive a glimmer of hope.


    Afterward, the intermittent mobile signal waspletely lost.


    The electricity in Shallow Bay¡¯s underground garage seemed to have been depleted before the signal had disappeared.


    The homeowners¡¯ group chat was as quiet as a mouse.


    During this period, Jiang Yan spent almost all her time studying in the Space.


    Her daily schedule was packed, from eight in the morning until ten at night, excluding meal times and a half-hour nap, she was learning everything in rotation ¨C flying, yachting, digging, shooting, nting.


    It was like force-feeding a duck.


    It was only because shecked a venue with water that yachting and boat practices remained on drynd at the dry duck stage.


    The Legos she had bought to pass the time and the various movies, TV series, variety shows, and animations she had downloaded were bing rather superfluous.


    She would only asionally check them during meals or before sleep.


    However, she knew in her heart that this was a case of enduring hardship before enjoyingfort.


    The high temperatures had isted everything, creating excellent conditions for her studies.


    Once the high-temperature weather was over, and those who had been avoiding the heat underground returned to normal life,


    her surrounding world would no longer be as quiet and safe as it was now.


    asionally, Jiang Yan would return to her room from the Space.


    On one hand, she wanted to allow herself to properly adapt to the high-temperature survival environment; on the other hand, after the signals stopped, all sources of news were cut off, and she wanted to see if there would be some changes in the street scenes outside.


    Or rather, she hoped to be able to see the shadow of official rescuers on the streets outside one day.


    On the eighteenth day of the high temperatures, they suddenly dropped to sixty degrees.


    It was still very hot, but this brought Jiang Yan some joy.


    It was highly possible that in two days, the high temperatures would end.


    On the neenth day of the high temperatures, they continued to drop, reaching just over fifty degrees.


    As dusk approached on this day, Jiang Yan stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window and finally saw active vehicles on the street.


    She hurriedly brought out her telescope.


    Sure enough, there were several delivery trucks with a unique color.


    Judging by the color, the trucks must have been painted with insting materials, and the tires were also special, able to rtively withstand high temperatures.


    The vehicles also stopped in front of Shallow Bay District.


    To prevent any scrambles for supplies, armed warriors were the first to jump out.


    Soon after, a bunch of people who looked nearly out of breath, staggering, walked up from the underground garage.


    The government had not given up on any citizen.


    Even though the weather forecast predicted that the temperature was likely to return to normal the next day.


    Delivering supplies now was clearly in a race against time.


    After all, many people might not be able to hold on till one dayter.


    Moreover, the high temperatures hade so unexpectedly that their previous preparations had indeed been too limited.


    Later, when Jiang Yan came out of the Space, she heard a ¡°thump-thump-thump¡± sound of helicopters in the sky.


    She hurriedly walked quickly to the floor-to-ceiling window.


    Several military helicopters flew across the night sky at a very slow pace and very low altitude.


    Below the helicopters hungrge double-sided glow banners.Update by n0vgo. co


    The message stated that the government would carry out a fumigation of the entire city in a day and reminded those still living in the buildings to ensure their doors and windows were tightly shut.


    Actually, even if the government hadn¡¯t reminded them, very few people would leave their doors and windows open.


    Of course, whether anyone was still alive in the buildings under such high temperatures was unknown.


    One dayter.


    The temperature acted like a lunatic and plummeted within one day to around thirty-seven or thirty-eight degrees.


    People who had been repressed underground for a long time rushed to the surface.


    But just to be safe, no one dared to return home.


    Those who lived on high floors were afraid they wouldn¡¯t be able to get back down if they went up.


    Those on lower floors were still terrified of the Blood Mosquitoes.


    The signal and electricity were still absent.


    But soon after, the wind began blowing.


    Raindrops started to drift down from the sky, something that had been absent for a long time.

 Chapter 51 - 51 Storm 2 (In PK, please follow and vote!)

    Chapter 51: Chapter 51 Storm 2 (In PK, please follow and vote!)


    Su Dai¡¯s face grew worried the moment she heard him, reaching out to tug at his hand, ¡°Husband¡­¡±


    Sun Jingtao reached back and pinched her hand reassuredly,


    ¡°Baby, my body can still take it. You just wait for me on the first floor for a while, and we¡¯ll go home togetherter.¡±


    ¡°Right, let¡¯s all pitch in! We are all residents of the samemunity, and at times like this, we should unite and stand together!¡± Zhang Qiming also made an official appeal.


    He had be much more haggard recently, with an unkempt beard.


    He had given most of the remaining supplies at home, along with the government-issued supplies, to Zhang Qiqi.


    However, he had a premonition that all the investment and effort he put into Zhang Qiqi this month should pay off tonight.


    At that thought, he felt a faint sense of excitement and impatience.


    The two of them followed a few security guards to move sandbags.


    A few other male residents from medium and low floors silently followed suit.


    Liu Dahong, however, frowned and walked in silence at the back.


    The majority of the remaining people quickly walked towards their respective unit doors.


    The first group who entered didn¡¯t get far before smelling the strong, putrid stench of rotting corpses mingled with dried blood.


    Outside was the incessant sound of rain, but inside, it was pitch ck.


    A few people identally tripped over a corpse that hadn¡¯t been thrown away in time.


    ¡°Thud!¡±


    The instant their faces and hands collided with the dried corpse, the sharp stench of decay pierced their nostrils, while the eerie sensation of the skin sent shivers down their spines.


    Some even saw masses of maggots squirming out of the corpse¡¯s eyes, mouth, nose, and ears.


    ¡°Yuck!¡±


    ¡°Damn it!!¡±


    ¡°Aaaaah!¡±


    Someone stepped on a Blood Mosquito corpse.


    ¡°Squish!¡±


    It was unclear whether it was the blood left inside the Blood Mosquito that sprayed out, or if the mosquito¡¯s body had rotted into a puddle of yellow pus.


    The fetid smell in the air grew stronger and stronger.


    The panic among the people also intensified.


    Screams, curses, and cries rose and fell in session.


    ¡°Boom!¡±


    After the piercing thunder, lightning streaked across the sky, casting stripes of white light through the windows.


    Wall bloodstains, floor bloodstains, dried corpses, severed limbs, and faces twisted and deformed by fear¡­


    At first nce, it was like the set of an immersive horror film.


    Half an hourter, the residents of the lower floors finally returned home in a state of panic and confusion.


    Those who lived higher up were still slowly climbing.


    They were all weak now, having to stop and catch their breath after climbing just a few floors.


    Jiang Yan stood in front of her bedroom window, silently watching the outside.


    Lights flickered weakly from some of the apartment block windows.


    But most of the windows were pitch ck.


    Possibly because there was no electricity or candles left at home.


    @@novelbin@@


    Or perhaps a family had failed to survive this natural disaster and disaster brought by humans, and they were all gone.


    The rain continued to pour down harder and harder, and soon the height of the water had submerged the pool where corpses were burnt.


    The slope leading to the underground parking lot of themunity had been turned into a wide river by the converging water.


    Waste, rubbish, and some corpses of Blood Mosquitoes soon floated to the surface.


    At this rate, by midnight, it was estimated that half of the first floor would be submerged.


    Just a half-hour ago, the owners of the first floor were excited about living close to the water, being the first to catch the moon, and could easily go out with basins and buckets to collect rainwater.


    In thetter half-hour, they began to fall into the fear of their home possibly being flooded and needing immediate evacuation.


    But this wasn¡¯t Jiang Yan¡¯s concern. She frowned for a while but then withdrew her gaze.


    The room was pitch dark at the moment; no lights were on.


    She recalled the memories from her past life.


    The high temperaturessted less than a month, aligning closely with what happened in her previous life.


    And as for the heavy rain, from the conversations she overheard between Song Deming and Zhang Qiqi, it seemed tost for over a month continuously.


    If these natural disasters were just a repeat of her previous life, only having urred a month earlier,


    Then, there was another tough battle to face next.


    Besides, behind these natural disasters were often secondary disasters to some extent.


    And the severity of these secondary disasters wasrgely linked to the conditions of each city.


    For example, when high temperatures struck globally, the people of Anming, who barely need air conditioning due to the year-round spring weather, were clearly less preparedpared to families in tropical and subtropical areas where air conditioning was a standard feature.


    Even though the power outageter on made air conditioning and other appliances useless, clearly thetter had managed to secure better preparation time for themselves.


    Simrly, while heavy rains fell all over the world, cities withprehensive subterranean pipeline construction and good drainage systems, or those situated at higher altitudes, fared much better than cities that were low-lying with outdated or absent drainage systems.


    Anming obviously did not have the advantage in either respect.


    The warm winters and year-round spring of Anming, much like a flower in a greenhouse, kept its citizens well-protected on ordinary days.


    Everyone livedfortably in such a pleasant climate.


    But when these extreme weathers hit, it was clear that coping would be much harderpared to those cities used to harsh climates.


    Not to mention extreme cold weather and heavy snowfall.


    The entire city could hardly muster a few snow plows.


    And theing heavy rains would test the city severely.


    In her memory, the city¡¯s drainage had always been a problem; even ordinary heavy rains could flood the streets.


    Many joked about swimming to work, which indeed was often the reality.


    Moreover, over the years, the city seemed as though it was sitting on a thousand-year-old treasure hidden underground.


    Constant digging and filling only exacerbated these secondary disasters when the heavy rains came.


    Although there were such problems, Jiang Yan still chose not to leave the city.


    Compared to her, these issues were not really issues at all.


    Rather than moving to a strange city, it was better to stay put in her familiar territory.Upd@te by n0vgo .c0


    However, surviving alone in the apocalypse wasn¡¯t just a matter of simply choosing toy low for anyone, regardless of where they were.


    But these were issues to be faced over time.


    For now, her priority was to get food and warmth sorted out.


    She had been acting as an ¡°observer¡± in secret all afternoon and hadn¡¯t had time for dinner yet.


    ¡°Achoo!¡± Jiang Yan sneezed reflexively.


    She nced at the thermometer; the temperature had dropped again.


    In just an hour or two, the temperature had quickly fallen back to twenty-one or twenty-two degrees.


    This temperature would actually feelfortable.


    But after bing ustomed to sixty or seventy degrees for a while, suddenly reverting to this temperature seemed somewhat cold.


    She got up, pulled the ckout curtains closed in the bedroom, and turned on a small night light.


    Then, she took out her tablet and opened the surveince footage.


    She first checked the first floor.


    The water had just begun to overflow the lowest step of the unit door, and some residents were alreadying out dragging their suitcases.


    Once the hallway lights went out due to the power outage, the cameras switched to infrared shooting mode.


    In the lens, those people turned and entered the pedestrian staircase.


    They were most likely going to start knocking on doors of residences upstairs to ask for shelter.


    She was on the 32nd floor; they wouldn¡¯t reach her any time soon.


    Even if they did, she could just refuse to open the door.


    But Jiang Yan guessed that some people might choose to take over empty apartments.


    After all, a quick look in the residents¡¯ chat group would tell which rooms were definitely emptied of people.


    She then checked the seventh floor where Zhang Qiqi lived.


    It was empty.


    The screen switched to the 32nd floor just as He Chunmei¡¯s gaunt, bitter gourd-like face appeared at her own doorstep.

 Chapter 52: A Lot of Information

    Chapter 52: Chapter 52: A Lot of Information


    ¡°Husband, that girl next door probably won¡¯te back from the government shelter, right?¡±


    He Chunmei stood more than a meter away from Jiang Yan¡¯s door, holding an almost dead shlight, and shed it a few times towards the wire mesh above the door.


    The shlight was actually very dim, and after looking up for a long time, she couldn¡¯t discern anything.


    When many people had rushed out into the rain ¡°for fun,¡± their family had stayed in the underground parking lot and didn¡¯t go out.


    They didn¡¯t get rained on; they were dry.


    But she had been frightened by that doorst time.


    Even now, with the whole city experiencing a power outage, she still felt the aftereffects and dared not get too close.


    ¡°It¡¯s highly likely that she wille back,¡± Zhou Guangfu opened the door with a ¡°creak¡± and let his daughter and son enter the house first before answering her.


    He Chunmei: ¡°Oh, why?¡±


    ¡°Before it was extreme heat, and the government¡¯s temporary shelters were all underground or in the mountains. Now with the torrential rain, those ces have be disaster areas for floods andndslides. The government will definitely choose to evacuate.


    If it were me, I would certainly follow the government personnel in search of a new location. But she doesn¡¯t seem like someone who can endure hardships. With the storm outside so severe, she would probably choose toe home first.¡±


    Zhou Guangfu finished speaking and then changed the subject with a hint of suspicion: ¡°Speaking of which, wife, didn¡¯t you me her for not opening the door for us before? Why are you suddenly concerned about her now?¡±


    ¡°Who has the time to be concerned about her! I just think there¡¯s a good showing up! And it¡¯s going to be the juiciest dog-eat-dog show!¡± Upon hearing this, He Chunmei¡¯s lips curved unconsciously, and her voice involuntarily rose a notch.


    Zhou Guangfu¡¯s previously calm face suddenly darkened upon hearing this:


    ¡°Wife, aren¡¯t we too preupied with our own troubles to care about this? What kind of trouble are you nning to stir up now?¡±


    His parents had passed away on the first night they moved down to the underground parking garage.


    His father suffered a myocardial infarction induced by the heat, and his mother had a stroke, passing away in the middle of the night.


    With the death of his parents, he seemed to have woken up.


    In the past, for the sake of family harmony, he always tried to tolerate everything He Chunmei said and did.


    To outsiders, this seemed somewhat spineless.


    He was aware of it, but chose to ignore it.


    But now, with his parents gone and after experiencing more than twenty days of life that was neither human nor ghostly, he realized there was no need to tolerate it any longer.


    ¡°I¡¯m not concocting anything! It¡¯s not my turn to take action this time. We just need to prepare our small stools at home, along with peanuts and melon seeds! Husband, you know what happened when she went to the shelter; she left the sectional door ajar, and look how many people from our Building A it killed?!


    Even Zhang Qiqi¡¯s son was bitten to death by that swarm of Blood Mosquitoes! Ha! Just wait until those peoplee back home to recuperate in the next couple of days, and then when that heartless, selfish, cold-blooded brat gets back, there will be quite a show!!¡± After saying this with schadenfreude, He Chunmei didn¡¯t forget to snort coldly through her nostrils.


    ¡°¡­¡± Upon hearing this, Jiang Yan from the surveince side raised her brows slightly.


    The amount of information was quite substantial.


    ¡°Alright, wife, you didn¡¯t see it with your own eyes. Let¡¯s not follow the crowd without evidence. Let¡¯s go home.


    Aren¡¯t you tired of standing all this time?¡± Zhou Guangfu frowned and eventually suppressed the anger rising in his heart.


    But He Chunmei was somewhat persistent:


    ¡°What do you mean there¡¯s no evidence?! Many people saw her leave, and she herself posted in the group saying she was going to the government shelter!


    And besides, if one person says there¡¯s something wrong with her, it might not be true. But now, so many owners from our Building A say there¡¯s something wrong with her, so there must be!


    @@novelbin@@


    Just wait and see. Zhang Qiqi has been looking up to Zhang Qiming and Liu Dahong for support, and has even teamed up with the owners whose families were attacked by the Blood Mosquitoes. They are just waiting for her toe back and tear her into pieces!!


    Who knows, the other buildings might join in too! She sure strutted around with an electric saw in front of us, a group of the old, the weak, the sick, and pregnant.


    This time, in front of so many people, with a few security managers from the property present, I want to see how she jumps around!


    I actually hope she hurries back!!!¡±


    Zhou Guangfu, listening to her machine-gun-like words, had long since furrowed his brows into a small mountain: this was bing more and more unreasonable!


    ¡°Wife, don¡¯t you want to go home? Fine, continue giving your impassioned speech here! I haven¡¯t slept well for over twenty days! I¡¯m tired!¡± Having said that, he exhaled deeply, turned his head, yanked open the door, and strode into the house.


    The iron door mmed shut with a ¡°bang!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± He Chunmei stood there, stunned for a moment: was this the first time her husband had lost his temper with her??


    Just as she was about to knock on the door, she heard footstepsing from the stairway.


    Turning her head, she saw Sun Jingtao and Su Dai, drenched, looking like two drowned rats.


    The memory of being verbally humiliated by them in front of everyone before sprang to mind, and with a sour mouth, He Chunmei¡¯s words came out faintly:


    ¡°Yo, young people really enjoy themselves, eh, Xiao Sun, Su Dai, did you go out for a romantic walk in the rain?¡±


    Most of those who had rushed into the rain earlier were young people.


    Like them, who had not gotten their clothes wet and had simply returned home directly from the underground parking lot.


    ¡°Spring¡ª¡±


    Su Dai was about to exin that they had gone to help the property move sandbags when Sun Jingtao grabbed her, ¡°Let¡¯s go home, baby. There¡¯s no use exining to her when her words are so stupid and boring.¡±


    Su Dai¡¯s lips pursed, and she obediently murmured an ¡°Mm.¡±


    The two of them, hand in hand, turned around and went back to their house.


    In the past, everyone, no matter what, would have still considered their neighbors¡¯ feelings.


    Most of the time, people could keep a smile on their face while inwardly cursing.


    But now, even seven- or eight-year-old kids knew that the apocalypse had arrived.


    There was no need to indulge anyone anymore.


    Left with a cold shoulder, He Chunmei stood silently for a few seconds, a bit ashamed, before finally opening the door and going back home.


    Jiang Yan watched the nk surveince screen, recalling the words He Chunmei had said earlier.


    So, Zhang Qiqi had prepared a ¡°wee back¡± gift for her.


    Heh.


    She had actually nned to go knock on their door a littleter.


    Well, good.


    Thene at me with all you¡¯ve got!


    *


    Once again, her stomach ¡°gurgled¡± a few times, and Jiang Yan realized that she really needed to find food.


    She put down her pad, stood up, and took a lightweight handwoven silk shawl from the wardrobe, draping it over her shoulders before going into the Space.


    She had been eating too much spicy hot pot recently and felt a bit overheated, so she was nning to eat something light tonight.


    With a thought, the one-person meal set she had previously ordered from a Cantonese tea restaurant appeared on the dining table:


    Pork rib and Chinese yam congee, nched Chinese broli, steamed chicken feet with soy sauce, pan-fried yellow croaker, spicy and sour lotus rootlets, plus a cup of iced lemon tea.


    The dishes were simple, yet they had all the qualities of good food: color, aroma, and vor.


    Jiang Yan ate contentedly and satisfactorily.

 Chapter 53 - 53 Someone Broke In

    Chapter 53: Chapter 53 Someone Broke In


    Jiang Yan leisurely finished her dinner, and by then it was eight in the evening.


    Although there was no distinction between day and night in Space, it still looked sunny and bright at the moment.


    Thinking about how she had crammed herself with intensive training for over twenty days, she decided to give herself a break tonight.


    For instance, she could use this time to test the results of her agricultural nting studies.


    The patch of ck soil outside the Apple Cabin had been neglected for a long time.


    Beside it, a rose nt, previously brought in from a vi for testing, bloomed all alone, looking pitiful.


    She wasn¡¯t short of fresh vegetables and fruits, but she did focus on applying what she had learned.


    With that thought, Jiang Yan, moved by a thought, first took some vegetable seeds from the ¡°Inventory Area¡±.


    These seeds included Chinese cabbage, bok choy, tomatoes, chili peppers, as well as corn, cucumbers, Chinese broli, and chives.


    The germination rate would be very low if chive seeds were directly nted in the ground.


    Following the video she watched, she took a small bowl and added a shallowyer of water to soak them.


    After soaking them for two or three days and then nting them, she could slowly enjoy a cycle of growth and harvesting.


    The remaining Chinese cabbage, tomatoes, chili peppers, and corn were rtively easier to handle, requiring only a light sprinkle of soil and daily watering.


    Once the seedlings grew, some of the rtively robust ones could be transnted to a designated area.


    Jiang Yan felt that when she had the time, she should find some bricks or white nursery fences to section off thisrge expanse of ck soil.


    Sections like a fruit area, flower area, vegetable area, and medicinal herb area.


    This way, not only would it look neat and pretty, but it would also make management easier.


    She had previously inspected this ck soil; it naturally retained some moisture, so a casual sprinkle during watering was sufficient.


    However, she could now only use the stored tap water for irrigation, at most, adding some nutrient solution to it.


    Indeed, this type of water wasn¡¯t conducive to nting.


    Because over time, the soil could bepacted and hard.


    It would be nice to find natural stream water.


    At this thought, she suddenly remembered that she had indeed heard the sound of water in Space.


    But strangely, she had never seen where the river was.


    The sound seemed to being from the junction between the white ¡°Residential Area¡± and the ck ¡°nting Area,¡± and faintly, at the very top near the edge of the white fog, she could even hear the sound of water ¡°gurgling¡±.


    It was somewhat reminiscent of a spring and a slender stream.


    But at the moment, they were allpletely invisible.


    Jiang Yan suspected that Space must have some mysterious aspects that she hadn¡¯t figured out yet, simr to the dense white fog surrounding the space.


    How could she reveal them?


    How could she disperse the white fog?


    Could her Space still be expanded?


    These three questions, Jiang Yan pondered without finding any solution.


    She nned to flip through some post-apocalyptic novels in her free time in a couple of days to see if she could find some inspiration.


    The vegetable seeds were soon all sown, and she then took out a small packet of rose seeds and soaked them in water in a bowl.


    She nned to nt these soaked rose seeds around the ck soil in a couple of days.


    This way, when they sprouted branches and bloomed, they could be woven into hedges, which would not only be beautiful, but also pleasantly fragrant.


    Ifbined with a white or green nursery fence, it would be even more perfect.


    @@novelbin@@


    Near the Apple Cabin, Jiang Yan nned to turn that area of ck soil into a garden area.


    In this way, when she woke up in the morning and looked out the window at the flowers and grass, her mood would be much better.


    Moved by a thought, she retrieved peonies, tulips, lilies, daisies, hyacinths, gardenias, Sailing Smoothly, Crane Flower, and roses from the ¡°Inventory Area¡±.


    These were all ready-to-nt bulbs and seedlings.


    Jiang Yan, wielding a small flower trowel, dug little holes one by one, then nted these seedlings and bulbs into them, and covered them with soil using a small rake.


    She nted a small patch of each.


    She had witnessed the miraculous effect of the ck soil on the roses.


    But when the peony was nted, and the leaves suddenly turned very dark green, she was still shocked for a moment.


    After all, peonies are not easy nts to grow; they are very particr about soil and climate.


    In her memory, throughout Anming City, only the Anming Botanical Garden had specifically nted a small patch.


    Jiang Yan suddenly felt as if she were taking an agricultural exam, and the ck soil had been helping her cheat all along.


    In any case, no matter how poor her skills were, the seedlings seemed to thrive upon touching the soil.


    Alright, then she would focus on getting familiar with the nting process.


    After doing all this, two hours had passed.


    On the ck soil the size of one-third of a ser field, she had only nted an area the size of one-fourth of a basketball court with vegetables.


    As for the flower garden, at most, it covered one-third of a basketball court.


    It wasn¡¯t that shecked the energy to nt the remaining area, but rather she thought to wait until this batch of vegetables sprouted and the flower seedlings bloomed before attempting the rest.


    After all, this was the first time in her life she had tried farming.


    Standing next to the ck soil, looking at the few small patches of soil moistened with water, Jiang Yan felt quite a sense of achievement.


    If she didn¡¯t consider gardening a job, it actually felt quite therapeutic and rxing, though a bit tiring on the back and legs.


    Jiang Yan put away the gardening tools, took off her muddy rain boots, and immediately headed to the bathroom.


    After neatly washing up and drying her hair, shey on a lounge chair by the open-air swimming pool to read a book for a while, and around eleven in the evening, she finally left Space.


    Outside, it was pitch ck, and it was still pouring rain amid shes of lightning and the rumble of thunder.


    However, she still decided to sleep outside tonight.


    For many, this night was bound to be sleepless.


    Some were anxious about whether this downpour, like the previous high temperatures, would be increasingly severe.


    But others were still mentally caught in the excitement and thrill of having narrowly escaped death from the heat.


    As for Jiang Yan, she felt more of a genuine sense of returning to the real world.


    After turning off the dimly lit nightlight, she got up and opened the ckout curtains in her bedroom.


    Out of habit, she nced outside the window, only to notice some figures darting through the central garden of the district.


    Indeed, darting.


    And the direction they were moving toward was Shallow Bay District, or more specifically, Building A, which had the highest floors in the area.


    The rain was falling so heavily and densely that one really couldn¡¯t make them out unless paying close attention.


    Only because Jiang Yan¡¯s senses had been enhanced by Space and because the individuals seemed to be gathering like a ry, one pulling another into view, were they noticeable.


    Otherwise, even from this distance, she might not have spotted them from lower floors.


    Moreover, given the timing.


    Something was off.


    She picked up her pad and switched to the surveince feed on the first floor.


    Sure enough, the unit door on the first floor of Building A, which was normally locked by the property management, had been pried open.


    The water level had already risen above the threeyers of sandbags at the door, reaching about the lower leg of an adult.


    From this, she inferred that the water level in the garden outside must at least have reached waist-deep.


    Inside the unit door, a group of people, families with luggage in tow, were stealthily making their way toward the staircase, crouching as they waded through the water.


    By their manner of walking, they didn¡¯t seem to be from this district.


    And the fact that they were collectively heading to the highest floor of Building A was too obvious.


    Her brow furrowing slightly, Jiang Yan picked up a telescope from the bedside table and looked towards the entrance of the district.


    As expected, there were more people outside, climbing over the wall into Shallow Bay District.


    At the entrance gate, luggage and various other items were continuously being thrown over the fence.


    Those who had climbed over first were standing underneath to catch them.


    It all seemed very organized and disciplined.


    Normally, the surrounding walls of the district were equipped with electric, spiked wire fences and surveince cameras.


    But now, these two security measures were clearly just for show.

 Chapter 55 - 55 Deliberately Provoking War

    Chapter 55: Chapter 55 Deliberately Provoking War


    Billowing smoke and the sound of stir-frying in an iron wok emerged from the stairwell, probably owners had dismantled wooden furniture to make a fire and cook in the corridor.


    Without electricity, the smoke detectors and fire sprinklers in the passageways were also ineffective.


    The pungent, choking smell of smoke and fire permeated everywhere.


    Jiang Yan had actually been restless at home for quite some time, but she still chose to hunker down at home and not go out.


    Moreover, because a bunch of unknown ¡°intruders¡± had temporarily arrived in the building, she temporarily abandoned her n to go down to the seventh floor to seek revenge on Zhang Qiqi.


    After all, at this moment, everyone, whether He Chunmei or others, thought she had gone to an official refuge and had not returned.


    So, she would just live peacefully for a few more days.


    As for Zhang Qiqi, with the rain so heavy now, she was naturally trapped in the building.


    She would just let her bounce around for a few more days.


    While others were worried sick about their next meal, Jiang Yan spent her days busily shuttling between Space and the safe house, happily engaged in her activities.


    Study, hands-on practice, gourmet food, fitness, entertainment, nting¡ªshe had a full schedule of various activities.


    The various vegetable seeds previously scattered in Space had also sprouted into small tender seedlings about an inch long.


    Following agricultural tutorials, she chose some rtively robust ones and transnted them one by one.


    Seeds for chives and roses were also sown, and now tiny green sprouts were popping up here and there.


    The flowers she had nted earlier were growing vigorously as well.


    She estimated that it wouldn¡¯t be long before they bloomed.


    Jiang Yan suddenly realized that ever since she started nting vegetables and flowers in the ck soil of Space, the entire Space hade to life.


    Perhaps this was the magic brought by new life.


    If she were to raise some animals as well, would it feel even better?


    But with the heatwave and rainstorm outside, it was uncertain whether any small animals were still alive.


    Only after the rain stopped could she find the right time to go out and look.


    *


    That morning, just after she had finished breakfast, she heard intermittent noises through the surveince, and she quickly picked up her pad.


    It came from the 20th floor¡¯s footage.


    The usually empty elevator waiting area and the corridor were now crowded with people.


    Men, women, old, and young alike.


    Some hadid down mats and pitched tents in the elevator waiting area.


    A few others were standing, gathered at the door of Apartment 2003.


    Seeing the furious expressions on everyone¡¯s faces, it was highly likely there was a conflict brewing.


    Jiang Yan switched the disy to single-screen mode, put on the Bluetooth earpiece, and turned up the volume a little.


    ¡°Zhao Xiaobo, what the hell gives you the right to live in Su Laifu¡¯s house?! Even if his family all died a few days ago, you can¡¯t just muscle in like that?!!¡± roared a thick-voiced, aggressive man with a square face and inverted triangle eyes.


    The man was rather strapping, with a tattoo of ck and red intertwined on his arm.


    Though his hair and beard were unkempt, at first nce he didn¡¯t look like someone who had spent twenty days underground, hungry one meal and full the next.


    Several men and women of simr age stood beside him.


    A few men were holding kitchen knives, sharpening rods,rge wrenches, and small hammers¡ªweapons cobbled together from household items.


    Despite them being improvised, one could sense their ominous and lethal intent.


    In women¡¯s hands were children being led or luggage being dragged, seemingly multiple families banded together.


    ¡°It¡¯s not like that, Gao Dazhuang, the house is empty anyway, and just now you sneaked over to pry open the door, weren¡¯t you aiming for this? Stop showing off your cleverness and ignoring your own faults!!¡± retorted the middle-aged man inside named Zhao Xiaobo with curly, unkempt hair, equally unwilling to stand aside.


    His wife and child had died the day before, and he was seething with anger with no outlet for his fury.


    In his hand tightly clenched a Bone Chopper.


    ¡°Exactly, why can¡¯t we live here?! Many from the first and second floors have moved up to live in empty apartments! Why don¡¯t you confront them!!! Damn! You think we¡¯re easy to bully?!!¡± Another naturally curly-haired young man cursed bitterly, probably Zhao Xiaobo¡¯s brother.


    Both men were irate,pletely oblivious to the fact that their opponents were already struggling to restrain themselves, weapons in hand.


    Gao Dazhuang flexed his wrists and scoffed, ¡°Damn right I¡¯ve set my sights on the twentieth floor, and what are you going to do about it?!!¡±


    ¡°Old Gao, these two are just screws begging to be tightened! Why waste words with them?! Either way, we¡¯ll live in this room today, whether they let us or not, we¡¯ll live in it!!¡±


    A man with a Pot Lid Head, looking ferocious, finished speaking and swung the hammer in his hand viciously toward the door.


    With him taking the lead, the others pounced like starving wolves.


    Some women behind tightened their pupils and stepped aside, while others quickly covered their children¡¯s eyes with their hands.


    ¡°Pff!¡±


    ¡°Thud!¡±


    ¡°Aow!!¡±


    ¡°Thud!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    In between screams of agony and the sound of heavy blows, bright red blood and chunks of flesh sttered everywhere.


    The scent of gore spread through the moist, moldy air.


    ¡°Damn it!!¡±


    ¡°Dare to kill my brother, I¡¯ll fight you all to the death!!¡±


    ¡°Ah!!!!¡±


    ¡°Pfff!¡±


    ¡°Thud!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    Those living out in the corridor, confronted with this savage and bloody scene, shrank back against the wall.


    Those in tents simply shook as they silently zipped their tents shut.


    And a few people looked on, their eyes empty and numb, oddly calm.


    Less than a minuteter.


    The two curly-haired men were bloodied and limp as Gao Dazhuang and his group dragged them out.


    @@novelbin@@


    The one named Zhao Xiaobo had part of his skull caved in and shattered, his brain matter saturated with blood dripping on the floor.


    ¡°Fourth Brother, go open a window!¡±


    Someone dashed forward to open the corridor windows.


    ¡°Boom!¡±


    The cold wind poured in, carryingrge raindrops.


    ¡°Plop!¡±


    ¡°Plop!¡±


    The two fresh corpses were thrown into the water.


    Their blood quickly diffused, but was soon washed away by the torrential rain and disappeared.


    ¡°Fuck! There¡¯s blood all over the living room floor; living here is so unlucky!!¡±


    ¡°Brother Dazhuang, I was too rash just now; if I had known, I should have dragged them out to settle this.¡± Pot Lid Head said with a sheepish smile.


    ¡°Drag them out? They had weapons in their hands, just like us!¡± another man interjected.


    ¡°Forget it, let¡¯s go inside first, andter find a rag to wipe it up a bit,¡± Gao Dazhuang took charge, preparing to step inside.


    Just then, a coquettish voice echoed from the distant corridor.


    ¡°Well, well, Brother Dazhuang, your several families crammed into this apartment must feel squeezed, right? Besides, now that you¡¯ve reached the 20th floor, why not think about moving a little higher, settle it in one go?¡±


    Hearing this all too familiar voice, Jiang Yan¡¯s eyes darkened slightly.

 Chapter 57 - 57 They Don’t Deserve It!

    Chapter 57: Chapter 57 They Don¡¯t Deserve It!


    Jiang Yan watched the figures disappear into the 20th floor¡¯s surveince footage with an unfazed expression.


    Good, none of them bothered toe down themselves.


    Since they¡¯vee, it¡¯s time for Zhang Qiqi¡¯s demise.


    Previously, the loudmouth He Chunmei had said that Zhang Qiqi had sought out Liu Dahong and Zhang Qiming for backing, and she was also gathering lower-floor residents to trouble her.


    Although the torrential rain should prevent other building¡¯s residents froming over, the number of people she saw was still unexpectedly high.


    However, even if they brought several times the number of people, it wouldn¡¯t scare her.


    After all, they were not a regr army.


    Besides, climbing from the twentieth floor to the thirty-second floor would take several minutes at best.


    She had a rtively ample amount of time to prepare.


    Luckily, she had already made preparations in advance.


    With that thought in mind, Jiang Yan went straight into the wardrobe room of the Space Apple Cabin.


    There, a heap of pre-selected firearms, ammunition, and bulletproof vestsy on disy.


    After donning the bulletproof vest and changing into a set of ckbat uniforms, she put on half-fingerbat gloves, then took a small handgun with a 9 mm caliber that could hold 20 rounds, and finally slipped two tear gas canisters into her pocket.


    She could actually take all these items out from the space with just a thought, but with so many prying eyes around, she didn¡¯t want to expose her space.


    There were also stacks of machine guns and potent bombs in the [Inventory Area].


    However, those bombs were the kind that harmed the user almost as much as the enemy, so she definitely couldn¡¯t use them now.


    As for the machine guns, while they might be the most intimidating, using them against these people would be like using a cannon to kill a mosquito.


    inly put, they didn¡¯t deserve it.


    And she couldn¡¯t fully reveal her actual capability just yet.


    Even though it was daytime, the hallway was quite dim, making protective sunsses unnecessary, but Jiang Yan still picked up a ck mask decorated with a skull pattern and put it on.


    Dressed in this gear, Jiang Yan felt as if she had newly joined the special forces sub-unit of Shallow Bay.


    After exiting the space, Jiang Yan checked the intrusion prevention system on the exterior door, confirming it was adjusted to a high voltage of 500V.


    Her target today was Zhang Qiqi.


    And the other party¡¯s target was clearly the entire 32nd floor.


    So, she prepared to hold her position and see what sort of shenanigans this group of people would pull off first.


    With a thought, she took out a Coconut Latte to sip slowly, and then she took out a pad to switch the surveince feed to fullscreen on the 32nd floor.


    Outside, Liu Dahong had just led a group of people, panting and wheezing, up to the 32nd floor.


    The women and children among Gao Dazhuang and his group had been temporarily left on the 31st floor.


    Liu Dahong waved his hand, and everyone stopped at the corridor entrance.


    Compared to the dirty and chaotic lower-to-middle floors, the 32nd floor was significantly cleaner.


    The residents¡¯ doors were also tightly shut.


    At the moment, a thunderous downpour was taking ce outside. Their footsteps, messy and heavy as they came up, were almost imperceptible to those inside the rooms.


    Of course, it was also natural that they couldn¡¯t imagine someone woulde ¡°raiding¡± their homes.


    ¡°Four households, which one do we start with?¡± Gao Dazhuang looked around and asked.


    He wasn¡¯t very familiar with the 32nd floor, only remembering that 3201 housed an independent operator named Jiang xx, who had incited public anger.


    Plus, after the cell phonespletely died, the residents¡¯ room numbers in the chat group were no longer avable.


    Zhang Qiqi nced at Jiang Yan¡¯s house and said, ¡°Since we¡¯re here on a formal mission, we should definitely start with 3201. However, I don¡¯t know if that little slut has returned from the official shelter.¡±


    After speaking, she showed a sinister smirk and added, ¡°If she¡¯s back, tonight you guys can have your fun with her. As for tomorrow, heh, I¡¯ll make her and her love-struck mother wish they were dead!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s simple. Just kick the door down to find out,¡± Pot Lid Head said, taking a step forward. Zhang Qiming called out to him, ¡°Wait a moment.¡±


    Pot Lid Head looked at him quizzically, ¡°??¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s electricity on that door, and it¡¯s a thunderstorm outside. Don¡¯t just p it carelessly; be careful of electrocution,¡± Zhang Qiming said with palpable apprehension regarding Jiang Yan¡¯s door.


    Pot Lid Head looked at him as if he were an idiot, not buying it at all, ¡°Ha! I thought there was some serious reason. Afraid? Please! Electricity is what I need the most! Do you have electricity? Do you? Who the hell, after being full, has the luxury to electrify their door these days? If someone had that, I¡¯d immediately kneel and call him grandpa!¡±


    While saying this, he even gestured toward a few people around him.


    The others all shook their heads.


    Apart from food and water, electricity was the mostcking resource now.


    Let alone now, even ten days ago, if there was any, it would have been used up long before.


    The key point was, it was just a regr resident in a normalmunity.


    Even if they had the foresight to install a hand-cranked generator at home, it could not have produced much power.


    ¡°Suddenly, I remember this residence was renovated twice before; everybody, be a bit more careful.¡± Liu Dahong, who had remained silent until now, suddenly spoke out of the blue.


    Everyone was stunned and turned their gaze towards him.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly what was installed, but her renovationpany once sought me out.¡± They even gave him a 5,000 yuan red packet.


    Not only did they give one to him, but also to the security supervisor, the cleaning supervisor, and the engineering supervisors responsible for power, surveince, and fire safety, in varying amounts.


    After having sorted out the whole nest of rats, Jiang Yan¡¯s house renovation progressed as smoothly as possible.


    Knocking walls, smashing windows,ying wires across hallways¡ªback then, the property management from top to bottom was ¡°united,¡± turning a blind eye to everything, without even checking the blueprints.


    Looking back now, it was clear she had been well-prepared.


    @@novelbin@@


    ¡°Liu Rui, you go check it out,¡± Liu Dahong nced at a young man on his left and instructed, ¡°It¡¯s raining with thunder now. Be careful.¡±


    ¡°Yes, boss.¡± The young man, wearing insting shoes and gloves, carrying arge tool box, walked straight ahead.


    ¡°Wow, Manager Liu, that¡¯s professional!¡± Gao Dazhuang saw this and couldn¡¯t help but give Liu Dahong a thumbs up.


    Liu Dahong smiled, ¡°We brothers live off this line of work; it was also mentioned by Brother Qiming before, so we made some special preparations.¡±


    The young man named Liu Rui had reached the front of 3201. He took out an insting pad from his toolbox toy in front of the door and then took out an audiovisual high-voltage detector.


    As a sharp beep sounded, Liu Rui stepped back in horror and turned to say, ¡°Boss, there¡¯s high voltage on the door!! 500 volts!!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    This was beyond belief!


    The crowd was initially shocked, then excited.


    Electricity.


    After food, water, and medicine, it was electricity they needed most!


    Pot Lid Head outright cursed and was just about to kneel and call her grandma.


    Oh, no.


    Jiang Yan was a woman.


    Calling her ¡®grandma¡¯ would be more urate.


    Liu Dahong pondered for a second and said, ¡°Pity the current disruptor is out of power; otherwise, we could have used it. If ites to it, smash in from the rooftop window. The property management has spare ss for maintenance anyway, so it won¡¯t affect subsequent living.¡±


    Gao Dazhuang nced at him, ¡°Manager Liu, isn¡¯t that unnecessary? Wouldn¡¯t we be paying a steak price for a b of tofu?¡±


    ¡°Brother Gao, you don¡¯t understand. If the door is electrified, it¡¯s possible that the power equipment and switches are all inside. With electricity, we can do a lot of things. Otherwise, as survivors from othermunitieseter on, our brothers¡¯ electric batons will only serve as rubber-coated steel pipes,¡± Liu Dahong said with a hint of self-mockery.


    Though Pot Lid Head felt that his point made sense, he still joked:


    ¡°But it¡¯s storming with thunder from morning till night outside, who knows which scumbag brother keeps swearing falsely, and if we go from the outside, we might just get fried by a thunderbolt.¡±


    His joke made everyone feel even colder.


    Liu Rui packed up his tools and came over, adding:


    ¡°Yes, boss, I advise against going from the outside. Although it just involves tying ropes from the rooftop to lower someone down, we need to use metal to break the ss, and indeed, it¡¯s too risky with the chance of getting struck by lightning.¡±


    ¡°Hey, my straight male brothers, can¡¯t you guys think outside the box for a second? There was ¡®borrowing light by piercing the wall¡¯ in ancient times, and today we have ¡®piercing the wall for electricity.¡¯ Look, there¡¯s an essible entry right there,¡± Zhang Qiqi said, tilting her head to indicate the room next to Jiang Yan¡¯s, 3202.

 Chapter 58 - 58 Despair

    Chapter 58: Chapter 58 Despair


    Liu Dahong followed Zhang Qiqi¡¯s gaze towards Apartment 3202 and said,


    ¡°3202? I remember this unit seems to be reserved for offsetting the construction expenses. The owner is the construction unit that built thisplex. I just don¡¯t know if it has been rented outter?¡±


    Jiang Yan was actually a bit curious too.


    Was there someone living in 3202?


    In her recollection, she had never seen the residents of 3202.


    Apartment 3203 housed He Chunmei¡¯s family, which she knew about.


    As for 3204, it seemed to be a loving young couple.


    She had bumped into them once when she first moved in and went downstairs to throw out the garbage.


    Beyond that, she didn¡¯t know.


    After all, she had prepared herself to stay put in her own home for the long haul and wasn¡¯t very interested in her neighbors.


    While they were talking, the property management staff had already gone up and started pounding on the door forcefully, ¡°Is anyone there?!¡±


    The steel door didn¡¯t budge, but the dust on the door frame silted down.


    ¡°If there¡¯s someone inside,e open the door quickly. If you don¡¯t open it, I¡¯m going to break in!¡±


    ¡°Bang, bang, bang!¡± While the property staff was speaking, they swapped for a sledgehammer to smash the door lock.


    ¡°Creak¡ª¡±


    Next door in 3203, He Chunmei pushed open her door and peered out, wearing a look of schadenfreude as she said:


    ¡°Wow, what¡¯s blowing the wind today, bringing Manager Liu and the boys up to the 32nd floor? Wow! Such a spectacle, such momentum, isn¡¯t that a bit too fierce?¡±


    After that, she didn¡¯t forget to viciously side-eye Zhang Qiqi.


    She hadn¡¯t noticed Liu Dahong and the othersing up earlier.


    It wasn¡¯t until Liu Rui went to check the power and let out that high-voltage scream that she and Zhou Guangfu realized what was happening.


    However, seeing Zhang Qiqi, Zhang Qiming, and Liu Dahong with a bunch of menacing people, she thought they had finallye to seek revenge on Apartment 3201.


    She hid behind the door¡¯s peephole and watched for a while, feeling it necessary to join in the posse against Apartment 3201.


    After all, everyone knew that Liu Dahong now had manpower and resources, and she wanted to use the opportunity to curry favor.


    So, without a second thought, she opened the door.


    Her husband, Zhou Guangfu, couldn¡¯t hold her back.


    Liu Dahong paid no attention to her sycophantic praise but gave her a cold re and said indifferently: ¡°He Chunmei, since you¡¯ve alreadye out, don¡¯t go back in.¡±


    He Chunmei¡¯s heart sank, ¡°Manager Liu, what, what do you mean?¡±


    Before her wordspletely fell, Pot Lid Head and two other property staff had already stepped forward and ripped her door open.


    He Chunmei lost her bnce and got dragged out.


    Inside, Zhou Guangfu, who had been eavesdropping at the entrance, was startled, ¡°Brother Liu, what are you doing?¡±


    Next to them, Zhang Qiqi looked at him with a coquettish smile, ¡°Brother Guangfu, of course, it¡¯s your ce that our Brother Liu has taken a liking to. Hahaha!¡±


    ¡°Zhang Qiqi! You shameless vixen!!!¡±


    Seeing her making eyes at her husband, and recalling her betrayal in front of Jiang Yan, He Chunmei¡¯s rage erupted, and she raised her palm to p Zhang Qiqi¡¯s face violently,pletely missing thetter half of her statement.


    Zhang Qiqi agilely dodged her p, loudly jeering:


    ¡°Sister Chunmei, I¡¯ll take that as apliment! After all, since ancient times, no ugly woman or old woman has ever been called a fox spirit! Like you, no one would ever call you that in their lifetime because you just don¡¯t fit the bill!!!!! Hahahahaha!¡±


    ¡°You! If I don¡¯t rip your mouth to shreds today, my name isn¡¯t He!¡± Upon hearing this, He Chunmei, with eyes zing with unrestrained fury, charged towards Zhang Qiqi.


    Zhang Qiming and another property staff member immediately reached out and blocked her.


    Inside, Zhou Guangfu was moreposed than He Chunmei.


    He suddenly realized something was amiss from Zhang Qiqi¡¯s words and the ill-intentions in everyone¡¯s eyes. He frowned, turned, and ran towards the kitchen to grab a cleaver.


    He hadn¡¯t expected Pot Lid Head, who stood at the door, to be one step ahead, wielding a blood-stained sledgehammer that smashed down on the back of his head.


    ¡°Thud!¡±


    @@novelbin@@


    ¡°Crack!¡±


    ¡°Daddy!¡±


    ¡°Daddy¡ª¡±


    On the sofa inside the apartment, two children who had been sitting ¡°whooshed¡± to their feet and screamed heart-wrenchingly as they rushed out.


    He Chunmei turned around at the sound and saw Zhou Guangfu lying in a pool of blood, unrecognizable. Her pupils contracted, her legs gave out, and her shrill voice was full of despair:


    ¡°Husband!!¡±


    ¡°How can you be so cruel andwless?! I¡¯m going to fight you with everything I¡¯ve got!!!¡± He Chunmei, her eyes bloodshot with rage, iled her arms and charged at Pot Lid Head.


    Little did she know, the unarmed her was no match for them.


    ¡°Thud!¡±


    A hammer blow aimed directly at her forehead.


    Zhang Qiqi looked at He Chunmei falling and couldn¡¯t help but smirk with a mocking, coldugh:


    ¡°What¡¯s the point of saying that at this time? Our Brother Liu is thew, he is the sky!¡±


    ¡°Mommy!¡±


    ¡°Thud!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    Less than a minuteter, the entrance of Apartment 3203 was drenched in blood.


    The bodies of the family of four, as usual, were mercilessly thrown out the window by them.


    The thick scent of blood soon permeated the entire floor¡¯s corridor.


    The white ceramic-tiled floor was also streaked with curving, intermittent red lines and falling blossoms.


    Those lower-floor residents who hade up to seek revenge on Jiang Yan were now several of them scared to the point of wetting themselves.


    But they didn¡¯t dare turn and leave.


    Fearing to offend Liu Dahong and his entourage, they couldn¡¯t afford the consequences.


    Gao Dazhuang looked at Pot Lid Head with a somewhat displeased expression and said, ¡°Actually, it would have been sufficient to make them move down to Apartment 2003. There was no need to kill them right away.¡±


    After all, there were two children involved.


    He was a parent himself.


    Despite his usual harshness, he could never bring himself to harm children.


    But Pot Lid Head, without blinking an eye, had wiped them out entirely.


    Utterly inhumane, reaching the depths of immorality.


    He thought of himself as a man of resolute action, but today he realized he was nothing.


    So, Zhang Qiqi and Pot Lid Head, these two, had to be watched out for in the future.


    ¡°Brother Dazhuang, it¡¯s the apocalypse already, might makes right, why are you suddenly so merciful like a saint? If a problem can be solved neatly in a minute, why bother bickering with them for half a day?!¡± Pot Lid Head, now with bloodshot eyes, spoke dismissively.


    Gao Dazhuang furrowed his brow and took a deep breath, not responding to his words.


    On the other side, they had already smashed open the door of Apartment 3202.


    The door creaked open, releasing a strong, musty smell.


    Everyone looked inside and were stunned.


    There was no one inside, nor was it habitable.


    A leaking roof had raised the wallpaper and the living room¡¯s floorboards.


    Cracks mottled the ce, and the musty odor was strong.


    But it was still good it was the top floor.


    The bathrooms in the middle and lower floors had already started to backflow sewage.


    ¡°Holy shit! This is supposed to be the offsetting unit given to the construction unit! Just look at this! Damn, the developers are really heartless!¡± Someone cursed angrily.


    Liu Dahong nced around inside and said, ¡°Alright, enough talk, let¡¯s get down to business.¡±


    Liu Rui stepped forward to direct:


    ¡°This wall is load-bearing, so when you break it down, try to do it in a smaller area, forming a passage just big enough for one person to get through.¡±

 Chapter 59: Youth

    Chapter 59: Chapter 59: Youth


    3204.


    Su Dai and Sun Jingtao were clenching their fists behind the peephole, silently watching everything that happened outside.


    If it weren¡¯t for Su Dai desperately stopping him, the visibly agitated Sun Jingtao, his veins bulging, would have charged out with the Bone Chopper when Pot Lid Head tried to strike again.


    Seeing the crowd filing into 3202, a shiver ran down Su Dai¡¯s back, and she finally let out a sigh of relief,


    ¡°Honey, they are tantly robbing us! During the heavy rain a few days ago, when Liu Dahong organized everyone to move sandbags, I thought he was responsible and cared about the welfare of the Shallow Bay residents.


    Now it seems he had a sinister n all along!¡±


    ¡°If I had known this, I should have killed him when I first found out he was skimming off the official supplies!¡± Sun Jingtaomented, shaking his head regretfully.


    Unfortunately, the opponent had already gained the upper hand.


    It was toote for regrets.


    A trace of concern flickered in Su Dai¡¯s eyes, ¡°Honey, should we just give up our apartment? We could live in the corridor on the 31st floor!


    Once they break into 3201, we¡¯ll be their next target!¡±


    Better safe than sorry.


    Better to save our skins first.


    ¡°No.¡± Sun Jingtao drew back from the peephole, shaking his head with certainty.


    Su Dai: ¡°?¡±


    ¡°I saw Ye Qing, he just came up and didn¡¯t join Liu Dahong¡¯s group.¡±


    ¡°Ye Qing?¡± Su Dai paused and peered through the peephole before turning back with a puzzled expression,


    ¡°You mean that young student who lives in 0101 with his grandparents,ing from a family with no parents?¡±


    Sun Jingtao nodded and hummed in affirmation.


    Su Dai: ¡°What does that have to do with us? What can a kid who¡¯s just entered his second year of university do?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t understand. Xiao Yees from a family of police officers, unfortunately, his parents sacrificed their lives in their duty to apprehend fugitives when he was young. He has since lived with his grandparents.


    His grandparents are not mobile and suffer from chronic diseases that require treatment at the traditional Chinese medicine clinic next to ourmunity, which is why they moved from his parent¡¯s official residence to our estate.


    Don¡¯t underestimate him; he was specially recruited by the nation as a national defense student and is also the champion of this year¡¯s national university martial arts routinespetition.


    I suspect he¡¯s here because his grandparents were killed by the Blood Mosquito attack, and he¡¯s likely here for revenge against 3201.¡±


    Su Dai: ¡°Honey, you¡¯ve been exining for a while, and I still don¡¯t understand.¡±


    Sun Jingtao sighed and patiently exined,


    ¡°1. In the underground parking lot, Zhang Qiqi kept insisting that it was 3201 who intentionally let the Blood Mosquitoes in when they went to the official shelter; I think there¡¯s something fishy about it.


    The girl from 3201 may be solitary and detached, but she¡¯s not devoid of morals ormon sense;


    2. To catch a thief, catch the king first. If we could persuade Ye Qing to take down Liu Dahong, then the rest, who are just a disorderly mob, would be easy to deal with.


    Besides, considering the owners and the property management as well as Gao Dazhuang¡¯s people, it¡¯s actually one-on-one. If we could persuade the other owners, our chances of winning would be much higher.¡±


    ¡°Gao Daxiong is quite formidable too, brutally ruthless in killing as we just saw,¡± Su Dai still looked worried.


    The Gao Daxiong she mentioned was none other than Pot Lid Head, considered among the Tang brothers with Gao Dazhuang.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t your husband here too? I¡¯m confident in dealing with him,¡± Sun Jingtao said and then added,


    ¡°To tell the truth, it would be great if that girl from 3201 were at home too. I heard she single-handedly wielded an eight-kilogram electric sawst time, she must have some fighting ability.


    Moreover, if she had electricity in her door, that electric saw would be quite powerful, much better than our cold weapons.¡±


    Su Dai seemed to understand but not quite, and as she was about to press for more answers, a noisy ringtone erupted from the opposite end of the corridor.


    ¡°The river flows eastward, and the stars in the sky follow the Big Dipper, hey hey follow the Big Dipper¡­¡±


    The music wasing from the front door of 3201.


    The couple exchanged shocked nces, and Sun Jingtao¡¯s face immediately pressed against the peephole.


    Not only Su Dai and Sun Jingtao were shocked.


    But also the low-floor homeowners waiting outside to confirm if Jiang Yan was home.


    Of course, there was a group at 3202 wielding hammers and crowbars digging through Jiang Yan¡¯s outer wall.


    ¡°Manager Liu, there¡¯s someone in 3201!!!¡± someone in the crowd outside eximed.


    Everyone ¡°thundered¡± out of 3202.


    Leading the charge was Zhang Qiqi, hands on hips and ring fiercely at the door of 3201,


    ¡°Jiang Yan, you bitch,e out!! I want your life for my dead son today!!!¡±


    The others also shouted, ¡°Bitch,e out now!!!¡±


    ¡°Fuck! I thought she hadn¡¯t returned, and finally, I could avenge my parents!!¡±


    ¡°That shameless bitch, it was her who let the Blood Mosquitoes in!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    The crowd erupted in ancestral curses, but no one dared to move forward.


    After all, with a 500v high voltage on that door, no one wanted to identally turn into charcoal.


    Liu Dahong raised his hand, and everyone instantly shut their mouths.


    @@novelbin@@


    He stepped closer to the door of 3201 and asked solemnly,


    ¡°Miss Jiang, are you at home?¡±


    Though his words were polite, his grip on the rebar crowbar was tight.


    The door of 3201 creaked open.


    But not fully.


    To be exact, it was open by the width of two palms, with three or four chains as thick as a thumb hanging from the door.


    As the crowd surged forward, a chilly female voice came out from the gap of the door amplified through a loudspeaker,


    ¡°I advise you to stay where you are! Otherwise, don¡¯t me me for being rude! Do I need to exin the consequences of a 500v electric shockbined with a water cannon?!!!¡±


    The crowd hesitated, their bodies instinctively retreating several steps.


    Zhang Qiqi clenched her mrs, taunting, ¡°Jiang Yan, don¡¯t be a fucking turtle hiding inside, have the guts toe out and talk!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not even worthy to talk to me, get lost!¡± Jiang Yan coldly sneered.


    ¡°You!¡± Zhang Qiqi¡¯s face turned a myriad of colors, her hand gripping a knife was about to go forward to argue when Zhang Qiming grabbed her.


    ¡°Miss Jiang, we came here today just to get an exnation! Everyone knows only you left thepound for the official shelter from building A, so we want to ask, did you open that door and forget to close it?!


    It¡¯s thundering and raining outside; I hope you can touch your conscience and tell us the truth!¡± A bespectacled, rather refined man raised his voice to inquire.


    ¡°Yes, yes, if you lie, may the heavens strike you with five thunderbolts!!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    Justice has its protagonists, and debts have their debtors.


    Though people were agitated by Zhang Qiqi¡¯s words, they couldn¡¯t be one hundred percent certain that it was this girl who let the Blood Mosquitoes in.


    Most inside were honest people who couldn¡¯t engage in ruthless and unreasonable behavior like Gao Daxiong and Liu Dahong.


    Listening to the childish words of the crowd, Jiang Yan¡¯s indifferent tone came with a hint of sternness, ¡°Do you want to know the truth?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± the crowd replied restlessly in unison.


    Liu Dahong and Zhang Qiqi exchanged knowing looks.


    Several property managers gave him a hint immediately, confirming no one was around when they opened the door themselves.


    As for the surveince, it had been without power for a while.


    Notably, the surveince was under their control; if they couldn¡¯t see it, no one else could.


    Jiang Yanughed coldly, ¡°Then send a representative from your homeowner group up here, and I¡¯ll give you something! Let you see for yourselves!!¡±


    Hearing this, Liu Dahong¡¯s brow slightly furrowed.


    ¡°Neighbors, don¡¯t be fooled by her few words; what evidence can she have? If any, they are all forgeries, fake!¡± Zhang Qiqi nearly leaped out.


    Those homeowners ignored her words and looked at each other for a second.


    No one dared toe forward, mainly nervous about that 500v high-voltage door.


    Additionally, they feared Jiang Yan was bluffing.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go.¡±


    Just at this moment, a teenage boy about eighteen or neen, dressed in ck, emerged from the back of the crowd.


    He was tall and straight, his face gaunt fromck of nutrition, showing no expression.


    His messy, long hair covered a pair of somewhat indifferent eyes.

 Chapter 61: Punishment, Though Late, Has Arrived!

    Chapter 61: Chapter 61: Punishment, Though Late, Has Arrived!


    ¡°Brothers, attack!¡±


    Liu Dahong raised his palm and silently gave the order.


    Guan Sanqiang took the lead, charging into the crowd.


    Ye Qing quickly noticed something was wrong and immediately shielded the disy screen behind him.


    Sun Jingtao, who had been mingling with the property owners, effortlessly swept his leg forward.


    ¡°Snap!¡±


    Guan Sanqiang couldn¡¯t dodge in time and fell t on his face.


    Liu Dahong frowned and immediately recognized Sun Jingtao.


    They had already investigated the backgrounds of several residents when they were preparing to attack the 32nd floor.


    Knowing he was a special forces soldier who had been forced to retire early for special reasons.


    They had even tried to persuade him to join them, which is why they hadn¡¯t targeted apartment 3204 initially.


    But at this moment, since he had made his stance clear, regardless of their internal dread, they had no choice but to deal with him as well.


    After all, once a person is dead, they no longer pose a threat.


    The property owners clearly sensed something was amiss, but they were confused and didn¡¯t know what to do in that instant.


    Just as Liu Dahong was about to direct his men to capture Sun Jingtao and Ye Qing, he heard a ¡°creak¡± and the door of apartment 3201 swung openpletely.


    His eyes twitched, initially flickering with caution, but soon filled with excitement and malevolence.


    He gestured towards the door of 3201 and bellowed:


    ¡°The door¡¯s electricity is gone! Catch that girl!¡±


    As everyone was ready to rush forward with sticks and knives in hand, they froze midway.


    From behind the dark muzzle of the gun, a girl fully equipped like a 007 agent walked out of 3201 with a heroic demeanor.


    Compared to the tension and aggressiveness of the crowd, the girl exuded a rxed sense of control over the entire situation.


    Everyone¡¯s pupils constricted, and their muscles tensed up, a shade of panic settling in:


    ¡°Guns???¡±


    Good heavens!


    How did she get a gun?!


    Guns are strictly prohibited in the country!!!


    It must be a high-quality replica!


    It has to be!


    Sun Jingtao also rubbed his eyes, thinking he was seeing things.


    But he noticed the model and style of the gun in Jiang Yan¡¯s hand were the ones he had seen before when he used to browse foreign military media over the firewall.


    This was truly baffling.


    If she really had a gun, wouldn¡¯t today¡¯s scenario be a downright surprise attack?


    ¡°Heh, you little slut, finally showed yourself! Thinking you can fool people with a starting pistol! Do you think we are clueless?!!¡±


    Zhang Qiqi, seeing everyone intimidated by Jiang Yan¡¯s small handgun, sneered and charged at her with a knife.


    Deep down, she too harbored a flicker of doubt.


    After all, Jiang Yan¡¯s attire resembled that of an agent who had time-traveled here.


    This was immensely different from her mental image of Li Meizhen, the love-struck fool whose daughter lounged around enjoying food and scenic trips every day.


    But s, once hatred and jealousy are ignited, they tend to blind the mind and eyes.


    ¡°Bang!¡±


    Jiang Yan barely lifted her eyelids, her icy gaze cutting through the air towards her.


    Without wasting words, her arm swung lightly, and a bullet shot directly towards Zhang Qiqi¡¯s right knee.


    ¡°Oww!!!!!¡±


    In a sh, blood spurted, and bone-shattering pain radiated from the shattered knee throughout her body.


    Zhang Qiqi cried tears of pain, her face contorting grotesquely.


    ¡°Bang!¡± Another shot rang out, and another bullet raced towards her left knee.


    @@novelbin@@


    Within five seconds, she copsed with a ¡°thud,¡± both hands pushing against the ground as her knees hit the floor.


    Blood gushed out, quickly spreading through her pants.


    Her legs shed with the floor tiles, ¡°crack,¡± and the broken leg bone snapped right at the knee!


    ¡°Oww!!!¡±


    ¡°Mom!!!¡± The cries of agony were continuous and piercing.


    Zhang Qiqi¡¯s knees quickly filled with a pool of blood.


    ¡°You little slut, I¡¯m going to fight you!!¡± Zhang Qiqi, driven mad by pain, supported herself on the ground, attempting to crawl towards Jiang Yan.


    ¡°Bang!¡±


    ¡°Bang!!¡±


    Two bullets flew from the chamber.


    Instantly, Zhang Qiqi¡¯s arms bore two new, violently bleeding holes!


    This time, she nearly passed out from the excruciating pain.


    ¡°!!!!!!!¡±


    ¡°Damn it!!¡±


    ¡°Motherf******!!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    The others¡¯ pupils contracted, all hurriedly retreating in terror.


    Their fear stemmed not only from the fact that she indeed had a gun.


    But also, was her marksmanship a bit too precise?!


    It was shockingly urate!!


    And disabling arms and legs within seconds, was that not too cruel?!


    She was like a ruthless killing machine!!!


    A wave of horror swept over everyone, as if they had seen a ghost.


    A few of the more timid property owners wet themselves, instinctively preparing to run down the stairs.


    But unexpectedly, Sun Jingtao, as if prepared, quickly shut the fire exit door leading to the staircase.


    In his view, today¡¯s issues had to be resolved here.


    Otherwise, they would be endless troubles.


    The 32nd floor would never have peace.


    Gazing at the Bone Chopper in Sun Jingtao¡¯s hand and the veins bulging on his arm, people were caught in a dilemma, not knowing whether to stay or leave.


    ¡°Qiqi!¡±


    Zhang Qiming rushed forward to help Zhang Qiqi, but ¡°Bang!¡± a bullet struck right beside his foot on the tile.


    Zhang Qiming¡¯s eyelids fluttered in fright, his legs jittering wildly in the air.


    Jiang Yan red at him: ¡°Get back.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± Zhang Qiming, his heart trembling, quickly retreated to a corner.


    Liu Dahong frowned, standing still, gripping his crowbar tightly, rapidly contemting his next move.


    Pot Lid Head, seeing this, was not angry but delighted, thinking Jiang Yan was looking elsewhere. He gripped a small hammer, preparing to sneak closer.


    After all, to him, this was a chance to obtain weapons, not to be missed.


    Before Ye Qing could intervene, a ¡°Bang!!¡± rang out, and a bullet raced towards his arm.


    ¡°Ow!¡± Pot Lid Head grimaced, grabbing his bleeding wrist.


    ¡°ng!¡±


    The hammer fell from his hand, and a blood hole on his hand back started spewing blood wildly.


    Gao Dazhuang and the others gasped in shock.


    This time, everyone knew Jiang Yan meant business.


    Silence fell over the scene.


    All they wanted was to leave.


    To leave safely like quails.


    What the truth was didn¡¯t matter anymore.


    Taking advantage of the apocalypse to rise above others in theplex didn¡¯t matter anymore.


    Jiang Yan stood her ground, her expression cold as she scanned the crowd and dered loud and clear:


    ¡°I¡¯m telling you, I don¡¯t care if you mistake me for someone who lets Blood Mosquitoes in! But, I think it¡¯s necessary to give you low-floor property owners a piece of the truth! At least it can let your deceased family members rest in peace!¡±


    ¡°However, since some clowns continue to test my limits, don¡¯t me me for being ruthless! From now on, everyone throw your weapons to the corner!


    After three seconds, whoever dares to move, I¡¯ll shoot them dead! Whoever tries to leave, I¡¯ll shoot them too!!


    And if anyone doesn¡¯t believe and still wants to die,e forward and try!!!


    I mean what I say today!!¡±


    ¡°Miss Jiang, please, I beg you, spare me¡­ I realize my mistake¡­ I really do!¡± On the other side, Zhang Qiqi finally came to her senses, crying hysterically, her words broken and intermittent.


    Because her body was in too much pain.


    That pain made her feel like countless spiked needles were fiercely stabbing her with each word she uttered.


    ¡°Miss Jiang, please just shoot me dead! I can¡¯t take it anymore!!! Aahhhh!¡±


    Zhang Qiqi¡¯s howls were heart-wrenching and moved everyone to their core.


    With her hands and feet broken, she was probably losing her mind.


    Jiang Yan gave a faint coldugh.


    Was this already too much?


    Shooting her would be letting her off easy!

 Chapter 63: Let Me Tell You a Secret

    Chapter 63: Chapter 63: Let Me Tell You a Secret


    Jiang Yan didn¡¯t speak or move at that moment but slowly walked towards Zhang Qiqi, whoy in a pool of blood beside her, gun in hand.


    After all, the video had finished ying, and what remained was a grudge between the property owners and the murderer of their parents and spouse, evidently unrted to her.


    Guan Sanqiang, who stood up first, wanted to rush to grab the Bone Chopper from Sun Jingtao¡¯s hands but was caught by the agile Ye Qing.


    Ye Qing produced a sharp dagger that gleamed with a chilling light, perhaps having been on his person all along.


    ¡°Fuck, you little shit, you don¡¯t want to live anymore!¡±


    Guan Sanqiang¡¯s eyes were bloodshot, and he was only halfway through his words when he saw Ye Qing¡¯s cold and fierce gaze sink, and with a nimble twist of his wrist, he thrust the dagger forward swiftly and precisely.


    ¡°Puchi!¡±


    The cold metal pierced through a vital spot in his chest, and Guan Sanqiang felt a stabbing, numbing pain that instantly spread throughout his body.


    His muscles contracted, his veins felt as if they were severed, and he suddenly could not muster any strength.


    ¡°Speak! Were the doors in the other buildings also opened by you guys from the property management?!¡± Ye Qing¡¯s one hand tightly grasped the cor of his shirt, while the other held the dagger, slowly twisting it inside his flesh.


    The torture of slow slicing was nothingpared to this.


    Guan Sanqiang felt as if his heart was being shredded with a fork, the pain making him sweat profusely and ck out, screaming miserably for mercy:


    ¡°Please stop the knife!! I¡¯ll tell, I¡¯ll tell!! It was Liu Dahong who made us do it! We were the ones who opened the doors in the other buildings and then framed the homeowners! Said that they killed people, so that when the authorities couldn¡¯t manage the situationter on, we could keep the excess supplies!!¡±


    ¡°It was Zhang Qiqi who gave our boss the idea, saying we should kill with a borrowed knife!! That way, there would be far fewer troublesome homeowners!!¡±


    ¡°Yes, yes, the instigator was Zhang Qiqi! I was also deluded by evil spirits!!¡±


    ¡°Liu Dahong, in the end, it was your people who executed the n!!¡±


    ¡°Fuck!! Zhang Qiming, you fucking coward who only thinks with his dick!¡±


    ¡°¡­..¡±


    Soon, it was dog-eat-dog among the property management team.


    With limbs inplete ruin, lying in a pool of blood, Zhang Qiqi had already lost so much blood that she passed out from the pain.


    At this moment, hearing her own name, she reflexively shuddered all over.


    She was about to open her mouth and eyes, but felt a foot stepping heavily on her shoulder de.


    The force of that foot was still bearing down.


    ¡°Crack!¡± Zhang Qiqi felt as if her bones were being crushed.


    Her body, which had already numbed to the loss of pain, cried out again in agony as she spat out a mouthful of blood.


    ¡°Jiang, Jiang Yan, don¡¯t, don¡¯t kill me. I¡¯ll tell you a secret¡­¡±


    Zhang Qiqi¡¯s entire body began to tremble, her voice weak and intermittent:


    ¡°Your mother wasn¡¯t killed by me, nor did she die from a shark attack while diving. It was during a dispute with Song Deming out at sea. She disagreed with altering her will, so he smashed her to pieces and threw them into the sea for the sharks¡­¡±


    ¡°This was told to me by Song Deming himself¡­ Please, I beg you, spare me, I really don¡¯t want to die¡­ Hehehehe, why don¡¯t you kill me! Why don¡¯t you kill me! Is the knife not sharp, or do you not have the strength¡­ You tell me, I¡¯ll help you¡­¡±


    Jiang Yan listened to her insane babblings, and hot blood shot ¡°bang¡± straight to the crown of her head.


    Suddenly, she had the impulse to strangle her and destroy everything around her.


    But she couldn¡¯t; she had to keep control.


    She tilted her face slightly and pursed her lips, but still, salty, warm tears involuntarily spilled out of her eyes.


    Under her feet, the deranged Zhang Qiqi kept shaking like a sieve.


    She wanted to beg for mercy, but it felt as if her throat was choked by coagted blood.


    Her muscles tensed ¡°abruptly¡±.


    Because she could distinctly feel a sharp and cold metal de beginning to trace along her face.


    Immediately after came the pain of flesh splitting and peeling.


    Soon, the metal de moved to her body.


    A low voice, like that of a devil, whispered in her ear:


    ¡°Zhang Qiqi, well, let me also tell you a secret. That Bone Chopper from Song Deming¡¯s vi is pretty good, I remember you bought it, didn¡¯t you? Zhang Kai, Song Deming, they were both dispatched thanks to that Bone Chopper¡­


    Tsk, their deaths were quite gruesome, half of the skull I even put back into ce myself, I guess when you get to the underworld, you wouldn¡¯t recognize them anymore.¡±


    ¡°!!!!¡±


    Zhang Qiqi¡¯s pupils dted, as if suddenly understanding something. But by then, she had been picked up like a chicken, her form falling apart.


    She felt herself being dragged along by someone pulling her cor.


    Through her blurred vision, she could see a winding, twisted trail of blood left on the floor.


    ¡°Bang!¡±


    The sound of a window being opened.


    ¡°Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!!¡±


    ¡°Boom!¡±


    Wet rain and cold wind gushed toward the back of her head.


    She wanted to beg for mercy but felt as if her body was thrown out from high above like trash.


    Ice-cold, bean-sized raindrops pattered all over her wounded body.


    Amidst the shes of lightning and thunder, she fell rapidly through the rain like a broken leaf.


    ¡°Smack!¡±


    A red ssh was stirred.


    Under thebined forces of freefall and gravitational eleration, Zhang Qiqi¡¯s body, already disjointed, felt as if her organs were instantly shattered.


    In the murky water, filled with rotted corpses, garbage, and unknown creatures, the water washed into her mouth, nose, ears, and eyes.


    Soon, the fresh scent of blood attracted unknown creatures lurking in the water.


    ck, thumb-thick creatures like leeches crawled onto her body, one after another, to suck the little blood left in her body.


    And some rodent-type animals also gathered, starting to gnaw at her bones and flesh.


    ¡°Ah!!¡±


    Zhang Qiqi mustered all her strength to swallow a breath of resentment, then opened her eyes wide, kicked her legs, and joined her ex-husband, son, and brother in theherworld.


    Jiang Yan closed the window, stood still for a moment taking several deep breaths, wiped away her tears, and walked quickly to the door of her home.


    The chaos in the hallway continued.


    Only shocking red was in sight.


    From thetest situation, Liu Dahong¡¯s group was almost entirely annihted.


    Mainly because thebat strength of Sun Jingtao and Ye Qing was too strong, and they were helped by homeowners filled with hatred.


    Liu Dahong and his men naturally could not fight against multiple opponents.


    Of this bunch, the one who died the most tragically was me Shoes Guan Sanqiang.


    The only survivor was Zhang Qiming.


    Although he was also an aplice in Liu Dahong¡¯s misdeeds, fortunately, he hadn¡¯t done anything too outrageoustely and had an eptable reputation in the past.


    But he had also lost a leg.


    The remaining conflicts concentrated between Gao Dazhuang¡¯s group and the remaining property owners.


    Mainly because the homeowners had all witnessed their brutal killing of family 2003 and He Chunmei, which deeply terrified them.


    Plus, they were already bloodshot with fury.


    Many had been repressed and saddened for a long time, harboring rage and grievances with nowhere to vent.


    Now without the constraints of morality andw, some inner malice amplified and released as if their inner demons had suddenly awakened.


    @@novelbin@@


    Pot Lid Head had long been torn to pieces in a corner.


    Gao Dazhuang¡¯s group, originally hiding on the 31st floor with their wives and children, also came up.


    Sounds of punching and kicking, painful howls, and children¡¯s inconsble crying were incessant.


    Jiang Yan didn¡¯t want to get involved any further.


    She frowned, quickly made her way through the chaotic crowd, opened the door, and returned home.


    Having secured the door and activated the highest-level intrusion prevention system, she copsed onto the couch, exhausted.


    The excellent soundproofing of the room kept out all the chaos.


    At this moment, her world finally consisted of only her.


    Perhaps because shepletely let go of the tightly wound emotions and defensive state, her body uncontrobly began to shake.


    This was her first time directly killing someone.


    But in such a harsh, apocalyptic survival environment, this would definitely not be herst time¡­


    Meanwhile, the number one viin of Shallow Bay and the crisis on the 32nd floor had been temporarily resolved.


    But outside the window, the lightning and thunder, the fierce winds, and heavy rain continued.


    The prelude to the apocalypse had just begun; she had to pull herself together.


    The key difference was,pared to those unfortunate people struggling for survival in the doomed world, she was the super lucky one with an invincible ¡°Space¡± and enormous amounts of supplies.


    It wasn¡¯t her turn to be wallowing in self-pity.


    With this thought, Jiang Yan stood up, nced at the ck clouds outside the window, and went directly into her sunny ¡°Space¡±.

 Chapter 65: Give Priority to Miss Jiang

    Chapter 65: Chapter 65: Give Priority to Miss Jiang


    Sun Jingtao lived on a higher floor, where the impact was not so noticeable.


    But those remaining owners involved in ¡°defending their rights¡± were almost all lying on mats in the lower hallway, where the experience was very direct and intense.


    They could hardly spend every day in a panic and vomiting at the sight of decaying corpses, so they unanimously raised their hands and voted against it.


    3202 was actually vacant, but it was adjacent to Jiang Yan¡¯s living room, and Sun Jingtao was afraid it might have a bad influence on her.


    The others were even more apprehensive of Jiang Yan.


    If she became unhappy with their way of handling things, it wasn¡¯t impossible for her toe out and give them a ¡°bang¡±¡ªa bullet of her own.


    As for He Chunmei¡¯s home, it was clear that it was livable, but they could not use it.


    So they simply moved the bodies and limbs to the 31st floor first, nning to burn them all when they found kerosene.


    Anyway, it was raining heavily outside every day, and the power had been out for a long time, so there was no fear of the floors catching fire or anything.


    Additionally, when Ye Qing interrogated Guan Sanqiang earlier, he had confessed that among the supplies stored on the 17th floor by Liu Dahong and his group, there were a few barrels of kerosene in 1000ml containers.


    Although it was just a temporary storage of the corpses for a few days, the four households on the 31st floor were clearly opposed.


    However, they also heard and even quietly witnessed from the crack of the door the gruesome incident upstairs. In the end, besides stubbornly saying some threats like ¡°Hurry up and handle it, or you will see what¡¯sing to you,¡± they could do nothing about it.


    Most of the bloodstains on the tiles and walls of the 32nd floor had already dried.


    The water had been shut off a long time ago, so there was no way to wash the floors.


    Sun Jingtao simply went to He Chunmei¡¯s bathroom and found a dirty cotton mop, wet it with rainwater from the window, and quickly mopped the corridor.


    The mop was soon stained red with fresh blood.


    Ye Qing simply tore off the bedsheets from He Chunmei¡¯s master bedroom and followed Sun Jingtao¡¯s wet mop. Holding the sheet down with his feet, he wiped the bloodstains clean.


    The bloodstains on the floor tiles were significantly reduced, but at a nce, the entire 32nd floor still looked like hell on earth.


    Su Dai, who had been cautiously observing from inside her home, came out now.


    The scene witnessed through the peephole, and the sensation of being in the midst of it with the pungent smell of blood, were clearly different.


    Su Dai covered her mouth, retching, wanting to turn back, but seeing her husband still busy in the pool of blood, she gritted her teeth and bore the difort, quickly walking toward him.


    The couple, like survivors of a cmity, embraced each other tightly without a word.


    The others unintentionally got a dose of public affection, instantly feeling full despite their previously empty stomachs.


    Even those who lost their wives in the Blood Mosquito incident began to silently miss their nagging but good-cooking spouses.


    ¡°Brother Tao, what do we do now?¡± Seeing Su Dai emerge from Sun Jingtao¡¯s embrace with tearful eyes, the polite bespectacled man finally asked.


    He was Tian Jiliang, formerly an investor for a local listedpany in Anming.


    The leaderless crowd looked at Sun Jingtao with confused and hopeful faces, like headless flies.


    ¡°We don¡¯t do much, everyone goes back to their own homes, to their own mothers,¡± Sun Jingtao said, looking down at his wife¡¯s worried eyes, speaking in a calm tone.


    @@novelbin@@


    Previously, due to the urgency and principle, he had no choice but to take the lead.


    But now, after experiencing the reality of life and death once again, he just wanted to go home with his wife and have a good reunion.


    As for being the leader, he really had no interest in it.


    The crowd exchanged nces for a second: ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Brother Tao, why don¡¯t we strike while the iron is hot and find Liu Dahong¡¯s supply cache? Be careful of long nights that breed more dreams,¡± Ye Qing said, his eyes cold as he suddenly addressed the crowd.


    In his daily life, he was actually not one to talk much.


    But deep down, he was very clear about many things.


    They had all heard about the property management secretly hoarding supplies.


    If they didn¡¯t go now, it would not be guaranteed that someone else wouldn¡¯t sneak thereter.


    Anyway, people in the building now had nothing but time.


    Going floor by floor, they would eventually find it.


    Others quickly reacted to his words: ¡°Right, right, Brother Tao, supplies are important, take us with you!¡±


    There are no walls in the world that don¡¯t have leaks.


    People¡¯s minds are inscrutable on ordinary days, not to mention in this apocalyptic environment.


    They didn¡¯t know when the rainstorm would stop; having even a little more supplies meant a little more hope for survival.


    Although everyone was living very hard now, and many even wanted to just die,


    who could really face death lightly and calmly when it came down to it?


    And today, they had fought for their lives to take down the property management people.


    No matter how you looked at it, they deserved the proximity to the supplies and the favorable position.


    The first ones to merit the supplies were themselves.


    Sun Jingtao, listening to Ye Qing¡¯s words, pondered for a second.


    ¡°Go ahead, husband, I think Xiao Ye is right,¡± Su Dai said, urging him as she saw her husband¡¯s furrowed brows.


    Sun Jingtao thought for a few seconds, sighed, and said, ¡°Alright then.¡±


    A team quickly and vigorously made their way to the 17th floor, where the property management stored their supplies.


    The door lock was soon pried open.


    When they opened the door, everyone was stunned.


    Liu Dahong obviously lied to Jiang Yan by giving her false hopes.


    Thankfully, she was wise enough not to be deceived.


    The so-called storeroom of supplies was actually just half a bedroom¡¯s worth of stock.


    There were six cases of canned bread, eight cases of bagged White Sugar, twenty cases of braised beef vor instant noodles, five cases of dehydrated Beef Jerky, ten cases of meat cans, eight cases of dehydrated vegetables, seven cases of dehydrated fruits, eight cases ofpressed biscuits, and thirty small bottles of drinking mineral water.


    The rest, like ready-to-eat rice, Snickers bars, and self-heating hot pots, had already gone bad from leaking in the high temperatures.


    People were somewhat indignant, wishing they could drag Liu Dahong and his people¡¯s bodies out for whipping.


    The property managers would rather let these supplies spoil here than keep hiding them, truly showing a ck-hearted and cruel nature to the bone.


    After all, during the previous high temperatures underground, they were so short of water they even resorted to drinking urine.


    Sun Jingtao scanned the supplies and said:


    ¡°I personally suggest that we take one of each item and give it to Miss Jiang in 3201. The rest of us can divide the remaining equally, how does that sound?


    After all, if it wasn¡¯t for her today, many things wouldn¡¯t have ended up this way.¡±


    The others were naturally reluctant inside because it meant that they would get even less for themselves.


    After all, they had many mouths to feed at home, with both old and young waiting to be nourished.


    And that Miss Jiang, clearly looking well-off in every aspect, appeared unconcerned about food and clothing, as if it was none of her business.


    But as Sun Jingtao said, the victory and acquisition of the supplies were indeed closely rted to Jiang Yan.


    And among those present, it was Sun Jingtao and Ye Qing who were the strongest fighters, and they seemed to be on the same side.


    So, although people had theirints, no one dared to voice their opposition.


    It was Tian Jiliang who pushed his sses up and spoke with a look of worry:


    ¡°Brother Tao, I agree with this division. However, although she wore a mask today that covered her face, herplexion and state seemed far superior to ours.


    Her home must be well-prepared, probablycking nothing and disdaining thesemon supplies.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I bet she wouldn¡¯t even want these, I haven¡¯t even heard of these food brands before,¡± others nodded in agreement.


    Sun Jingtao didn¡¯t wait for them to finish speaking and raised his hand to interrupt:


    ¡°Whether she wants them is her business, but whether we give them and show our intention and attitude is ours.¡±

 Chapter 68 - 68 The True Arrival of the Apocalypse

    Chapter 68: Chapter 68 The True Arrival of the Apocalypse


    3201.


    After luxuriating in avish red wine bath and resting on the couch for a while, Jiang Yan thought about what to do next when she heard a ¡°beep-beep¡ªbeep-beep-beep!¡± the two short and three long rm sounds from the monitor.


    If she remembered correctly, this should have been the warning tone indicating the portable energy cab in the safe house was running low on power.


    She promptly took off her bathrobe, changed into a set of lightweight sportswear, and then exited from ¡°Space.¡±


    As soon as she returned to the living room, she felt the temperature outside was much colder than before she had entered ¡°Space.¡±


    This cold wasn¡¯t just due to the temperature difference between ¡°Space¡± and the safe house.


    Most likely, there had been another drop in the outside temperature.


    She walked over to the wall and nced at the thermometer.


    Sure enough, the outside temperature had now dropped to 12 degrees, and indoors, it was only 20 degrees.


    Generally, the indoor and outdoor temperature difference was about 5 degrees.


    However, because her room used insting materials, the difference was even greater.


    With this rate of temperature drop, likely, once the rainstorm ended, everyone would face the most severe problem of extreme cold.


    ording to her not so urate memory from herst life, prior to the extreme cold, there would be a major earthquake and a widespread gue of mutant bugs.


    Jiang Yan suddenly felt that the natural disasters in this lifetime were more severe than in thest.


    First, there was the sudden extreme heat, followed closely by heavy rain.


    Before people could react, the rain had flooded their doorsteps.


    At the onset of the disaster, most people harbored some luck, thinking they might be spared.


    It was this mentality that caused people to miss the best opportunity for self-rescue during an unsuspecting wait.


    Of course, some with a keen sense of crisis had prepared, but they were in the minority.


    Moreover, logically speaking, during the previous high temperatures, many reservoirs, rivers, and underground rivers had dried up.


    The initial rains would likely have been absorbed.


    But they were not.


    This only meant that the rainfall was too vast, far exceeding the natural absorption capacity of these channels.


    Many people¡¯s food supplies at home would have run out long ago.


    If the rain had been lighter and the water levels had risen more slowly, they could have gone out and scrounged for supplies at zero cost.


    Even if those supplies had spoiled during the previous high heat, they could have served to stave off hunger for a while.


    But now, continuous torrents of rain and thunder had trapped everyone inside their homes.


    Any hope and means of searching for supplies werepletely cut off.


    Even if some families had rubber boats and dared to venture out in the rain, the supplies were already submerged deep under the water.


    Without navigation and positioning, everything was a vast ocean.


    Finding anything was questionable.


    @@novelbin@@


    Without professional equipment and sufficient manpower, retrieval would be very difficult.


    Of course, some people would attempt to reach high-rise office buildings.


    But how much supplies could they scavenge?


    Especially since even the most powerful authorities had suddenly disappeared without a trace¡­


    All signs indicated that none of this was a good omen.


    Jiang Yan¡¯s brow furrowed slightly as she walked straight to the master bedroom.


    From here, she could see the central garden of the Shallow Bay District and other buildings, as well as the rising water level.


    But today¡¯s rain was so dense that it almostpletely obscured the view, forcing her to take out the high-powered telescope.


    She had not checked in a while, and now the water level had already risen to the 12th floor.


    The building across the darkness was deathly still.


    She could faintly see sparse figures moving upward.


    Of course, asionally, some figures appeared ¡°forcefully jumping¡± from the windows.


    These figures seemed to have alive and dead among them.


    The drama of survival of the fittest was not only happening in building A, but also in other buildings and districts.


    After watching for a while, Jiang Yan put down the telescope and calcted the time.


    Ifpared to herst life, the rainstorm would likely reduce somewhat when it reached the 16th floor, in about two or three days.


    By that time, the rain would still be falling, but sparser and might even pause for three to four hours.


    When exactly it would stop, she did not know.


    This period wouldst only three to four days.


    These three to four days would be the only window of opportunity for everyone to find supplies and survive.


    After that, the likelihood of people going out and surviving dropped almost to zero.


    Four dayster, a heavier rainstorm woulde again.


    The water levels would start to rise crazily and flood most parts of the city.


    Anming¡¯s geographical environment was unique, surrounded by mountains and resembling a basin in the center.


    It was very likely that the floodwaters rushing from all directions on the mountains would inundate the city.


    And most people would either starve, drown, be washed away by the flood, or lose their lives in the survival of the fittest during this super rainstorm.


    That would mark the real onset of the apocalypse.


    From that moment, those who still harbored a sliver of hope inside wouldpletely plunge into endless despair.


    The subsequent earthquakes and mutant bug disasters would im more lives.


    Then, with theing extreme cold, all things would be entrapped in ice, and human wickedness would be fully unleashed.


    In herst life, it was during this extreme cold that she became a meal for Song Deming and his mistress¡¯s family.


    As Jiang Yan recalled these events, her mood unconsciously turned heavy.


    Returning to the living room, she nced out the floor-to-ceiling window.


    The shopping center she had visited earlier had been a vast ocean a few days ago.


    The high-rise apartment built next to it, though not as tall as Shallow Bay Building A, was still half visible above the water.


    The old district she had flown over in her flight suit had long since disappeared under the rooftops.


    The entire city, as far as the eye could see, was pitch dark.


    Only during the shes of lightning could one catch a glimpse of a few isted high-rise buildings standing alone in the rain.


    ¡°Beep-beep¡ªbeep-beep-beep!¡±


    The portable energy cab¡¯s secondary rm pulled Jiang Yan¡¯s thoughts back from her heavy memories.


    In her safe house, other than the master bedroom, pirs, and load-bearing walls, she had asked the renovationpany to connect the remaining areas with the living room, so the energy cab was ced right next to a pir in the corner of the living room.


    Jiang Yan walked over, turned off the main switch, then ced her hand on the portable energy cab, thought ¡°retrieve,¡± and stored the energy cab into ¡°Space.¡±


    The top of the Space Apple Cabin was equipped with photovoltaic panels for recharging.


    With another thought, she took out a fully charged portable energy cab.


    She turned on the switch, and the safe house was powered up again.


    However, she did not immediately return to ¡°Space.¡±


    As the monitors and intrusion detection systems reconnected to the power, they required a reboot process.


    She nned to wait until these devices restarted and confirm everything was functioning normally before entering ¡°Space.¡±


    ¡°Beep!¡±


    Soon, all the devices and screens had resumed normal operation.

 Chapter 70 - 70 Mutton Hot Pot

    Chapter 70: Chapter 70 Mutton Hot Pot


    ¡°When Su Dai said this,¡± her initial joy and excitement at seeing Jiang Yan had vanished, reced by slightly reddened eyes.


    The children¡¯s room had been prepared in advance when she was pregnant.


    Although they didn¡¯t know whether the baby would be a boy or a girl at that time, she decorated it ording to her own preferences.


    The atmosphere had a girlish style, soft and tender, filled with many Barbie dolls.


    Unexpectedly, an ident happened, and they lost the child.


    The room had been left unused ever since.


    Sun Jingtao knew what his wife was grieving about, squeezed her palm as a gesture offort, and earnestly looked at Ye Qing, saying,


    ¡°Xiao Ye, the situation now is not like before, and we don¡¯t know when this heavy rain will stop. Moreover, today we made enemies with those people on the 17th floor, and it¡¯s uncertain if they harbor resentment and might secretlye to cause trouble again. If we live together, it would be easier to look after each other in the future.¡±


    Hearing their persuasive words, Ye Qing did not reply immediately.


    He nced at the tightly closed door of apartment 3201, pondered for a second, and then said,


    ¡°Alright, I will then impose on Brother Tao and Sister Dai for a while.¡±


    @@novelbin@@


    Sun Jingtao and Su Dai, hearing his agreement to move in, felt their heavy hearts instantly lighten with joy.


    *


    On the other side, Jiang Yan stored the pile of supplies that Sun Jingtao and the others had brought into the Space.


    The safehouse was damp and chilly. She didn¡¯t bother turning on the air conditioner and simply entered the Space.


    Looking at the lush green vegetables growing in the ck soil, she, who hadn¡¯t eaten all day, suddenly felt an appetite.


    She knew what she would eat today.


    Old Beijing Lamb Hotpot!


    The previously nted cabbage and lettuce had grown about the length of a palm.


    At this moment, they were perfect for the hot pot ¨C tender, crispy, and sweet.


    There were also a lot of fresh vegetable seedlings in the [Inventory Area].


    But those that she had nted herself and just pulled from the ground surely had a unique vor.


    Besides, such vegetables, they say, are grounded, and eating them benefits the body¡¯s maic field.


    No sooner said than done.


    She took a colorful stic basin from the kitchen, put on rain boots, and went into the field.


    Fortunately, in this Space, she saw no trace of insects among the vegetables and flowers.


    What she feared most since childhood were, besides snakes, hairy caterpirs, cabbage worms, earthworms, and other soft-bodied creatures.


    If she was unlucky enough to identally touch one with her fingers, it might just send her heart racing.


    Speaking of insects, Jiang Yan remembered the fruit seedlings she hadn¡¯t yet nted.


    From agriculture tutorial videos she had learned that 90% of the world¡¯s fruits and vegetables, like apples, strawberries, pumpkins, tomatoes, etc., required bee pollination to bear fruit,


    Whereas wheat, rice, oats, and such were pollinated by the wind, so their fruition was not bee-dependent.


    If she nted these fruits butcked bees, would they still bear fruit?


    Or, could they produce delicious fruits?


    Alternatively, she could pollinate them manually.


    That meant using a cotton swab or small brush to work within the flower pistils, but the workload¡­


    Suddenly, she felt shecked nothing at that moment except for a buzzing swarm of bees.


    This somewhat seemed like ¡°shirking one¡¯s duties.¡±


    If word got out, those starving and struggling outside could hardly imagine.


    She wouldn¡¯t be ridiculed, or even receive scores of disdainful nces.


    However, speaking of bees, she remembered Anming had a bee research institute and a base.


    She had seen it while driving past before, located on the western side of the city near the foothills, and the two facilities were less than a kilometer apart.


    The reason she remembered it vividly was that she had been surprised that there was a ce dedicated to studying bees.


    That area was rtively elevated, so it might not have beenpletely submerged by now.


    But considering the possibility of sh floods and mudslides there, and given the prior high temperatures, it was uncertain whether the institute, the base, or any bees had survived.


    Jiang Yan thought for a moment, her gaze drifting over the pile of emerald greens still with dirt on her hands, and decided that eating was a priority.


    After all, she hadn¡¯t eaten anything all day.


    She stood up, went to the kitchen to wash the freshly picked cabbage and lettuce seedlings, then with a thought, she took out a set of Old Beijing Lamb Hotpot from the[Inventory Area].


    Fattymb rolls, fatty beef rolls, hand-slicedmb and beef, beef tendon,mb tripe, fresh shrimp paste, frozen tofu, lotus root slices, potato slices, bamboo shoot strips, enoki mushrooms¡­ it had it all.


    Additionally, there were several of her favorite Old Beijing snacks, Donkey Kick, Sweet glutinous rice cake, jujube flower cake, and others.


    Both the variety and quantity were meticulously arranged.


    Besides, for this Old Beijing Lamb Hotpot set she bought, other than the ingredients, it traditionally included the original pot equipment and dipping sauces.


    The pot was a traditional type, a copper stew pot, with charcoal in the center and the pot on the side for the hotpot.


    It was said that when camping in the wild, the smokeless coal could even be substituted with dried cow dung picked up by hand.


    As for the pot base, she did not use the restaurant¡¯s.


    Instead, sheid ayer of ice at the bottom of the pot, added a few slices of fresh ginger, a few red dates, two segments of green onions, a few drops of red wine, and poured in a bottle of natural mineral water before covering the pot.


    This eating method, she hade across many years ago in a private small shop hidden in a residential area in the north.


    The typical mountain spring water base retained the original vors and freshness of the ingredients to the maximum.


    She used a kitchen lighter to ignite the smokeless coal, and while waiting for the water in the pot to boil, she prepared two kinds of dipping sauces for herself.


    One was the standard sesame sauce dish for Old Beijing Lamb Hotpot, to which she added a bit of Chinese leek flower.


    Although she wasn¡¯t quite used to the taste of Chinese leek flower, she mixed it mainly for tasting.


    Thus, she prepared another bowl of local ssic dipping sauce:


    Small Rice chili, fermented bean curd, sesame oil, oyster sauce, crushed sesame, crushed peanuts,tro, garlic paste, a touch of soy sauce, and aromatic vinegar, plus a hefty spoonful of local dipping sauce essence: Fishwort herb, perfectly mixed.


    This dipping sauce maximally enhanced and released the vor of the ingredients, creating an unmatched delicacy.


    After eating, Jiang Yan went outside the Apple Cabin to take a stroll and admire the flowers and nts she had nted, before going back to the second floor multifunctional audio-visual hall to continue her studies.


    By around ten o¡¯clock at night, she went to bed.


    Listening to light music and reading for a while, she then closed the ckout curtains andy down to sleep.


    Such moments were leisurely,zy, and pleasant.


    Still, Jiang Yan always felt something was missing.


    Was it because she had been home alone for too long?


    However, before she could delve into her thoughts, having experienced the ¡°battle mode¡± in the morning and soaked in a red wine bath, she quickly drifted into a deep sleep.


    In the middle of the night, all was silent.


    Suddenly, a faint rustling noise echoed in the room.


    In the Space, where she always felt particrly rxed, Jiang Yan hummed a few times, turned over, and continued to sleep deeply.


    ¡°Rustle~¡±


    The sound came again.


    Two secondster.


    A long leaf with a serrated outline, asrge as a palm, gently lifted the nket and slowly peeked out.

 Chapter 81: The Rain Has Stopped, Let’s Go!

    Chapter 81: Chapter 81: The Rain Has Stopped, Let¡¯s Go!


    Over the past few days, Jiang Yan and Sun Jingtao had barely left the upper floors, so they knew little of what was happening below.


    However, that didn¡¯t mean the people below weren¡¯t interested in them.


    Even items from He Chunmei¡¯s home had dwindled significantly.


    They had been quietly taken by those living below, in the dead of night.


    Yet those people did it without anyone noticing.


    ¡°Actually, I¡¯m a bit curious,¡± Su Dai couldn¡¯t understand.


    ¡°Puzzled, to be honest.¡±


    Ye Qing nced at her and said pointedly,


    ¡°Preying on the weak and fearing the strong is human nature. In their eyes, we are neighbors up for negotiation and moral coercion, but that gang is a methodical and ruthless mob; there¡¯s noparison.¡±


    Su Dai: ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean that people will start moving to the 32nd floor? Should we lock our doors?¡± She quickly realized the implication, with a glint of doubt and worry in her eyes.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s unnecessary for now. In a couple of days, if the rain stops like Xiao Ye said, it wouldn¡¯t be convenient if we lock the door when both our families need to move in and out.¡±


    While speaking, Sun Jingtao nced at Jiang Yan out of the corner of his eye, only to see herposed, with barely any expression on her face.


    Something suddenly urred to him, and he looked at Jiang Yan, ¡°Right, Jiang Yan, did you just go down to the 15th and 16th floors?¡±


    Jiang Yan nodded.


    At this point, there was no point in hiding anything.


    ¡°It looks like you and Xiao Ye are on the same page,¡± Sun Jingtao chuckled, continuing,


    ¡°If the rain stops, it¡¯s best if we go down together if we can. Breaking the stairwell windows will be noisy and we don¡¯t know what it might attract. An extra hand means extra safety. How does that sound?¡±


    Sun Jingtao seemed to guess Jiang Yan¡¯s intention and probed.


    Actually, he wanted to say that he and Ye Qing, as two able-bodied people, would be stronger than her at breaking the metal frames of the windows, but he never voiced it.


    His wife had earlier suggested that Jiang Yan join them in searching for supplies, but she refused, so Sun Jingtao didn¡¯t bring it up again and skirted around the issue.


    Jiang Yan nced through the door of room 3202 at the gloomy sky outside and said, ¡°Okay.¡±


    After a few more exchanges, Jiang Yan shared the discovery of the Mutated Leech and said goodbye, picking up her Fish Shooting Gun and returning home.


    Once home, as usual, she activated the intrusion prevention system and set it to a high voltage of 500 volts.


    She suddenly realized a problem, which was that the intrusion prevention system could only be deactivated whenever she left home.


    What if she had to be out for long in the future and Ma Longbiao¡¯s gang broke into her ce?


    It¡¯s true that they said they wouldn¡¯t interfere with the 32nd floor.


    But that was just a stalling tactic from the other side.


    She pondered whether to leave the Cannibal Flower at home to guard the ce while she was out.


    The downside was that it might expose the Cannibal Flower.


    If worstes to worst, she figured she could just stash the home supplies into the Space when she left.


    The walls, firece, and such that couldn¡¯t be taken away, she could still reim even if others broke in.


    She looked at the thermometer in the living room; the outdoor temperature had dropped to 8 degrees, and the water must be even colder.


    This wasn¡¯t good news for most people.


    After all, going out to search for supplies would likely mean having to wear nothing more than a swim ring.


    But this wasn¡¯t what Jiang Yan should be concerned with.


    @@novelbin@@


    She walked around the house, checking for leaks in the roof and walls, and, finding none, she entered the Space.


    No sooner had she stepped in than the warm touch in her palm became an irresistible urge to emerge.


    Jiang Yan knew it was Hua Bao eager toe out, and she couldn¡¯t help but raise her palm and softly say,


    ¡°Hua Bao,e out~¡±


    After getting permission, the Cannibal Flower couldn¡¯t wait to ¡°swoosh¡± out¡ªa green vine sprang from her palm and steadied itself beside her.


    It began to grow, stopping only when it reached Jiang Yan¡¯s height.


    The Cannibal Flower¡¯s shiny ck eyes swiveled, and with some discontent, its scarlet tongue licked its sharp fangs, saying,


    ¡°Heh heh heh! Mom, you should have let me out to eat that bully who was mean to you! Hmph!¡±


    As it spoke, the two leaves on the vine even struck a waist-on-hips pose as if mimicking a human.


    Looking at the rich ck soil behind it, Jiang Yan had a momentary sensation of being in the game nts vs. Zombies.


    She couldn¡¯t help but smile, and said,


    ¡°I could handle it just now. Besides, you¡¯re my trump card and can¡¯t be revealed carelessly, you know.¡±


    After all, it could only be used once a month¡ªit had to be saved for a critical moment.


    ¡°Heh heh heh?¡± Mom, what¡¯s a trump card? A spare tire?


    Jiang Yan: ¡°¡­¡± What has this child been watching all day?


    Her smile could hardly contain itself.


    These days, while she was drawing the ¡°treasure map¡±, the Cannibal Flower had been cramming knowledge like crazy.


    Its method of learning was a bit like the sci-fi movie ¡°Transcendence¡± she had watched long ago, where the female protagonist had the ability to instantly acquire knowledge.


    And the Cannibal Flower was the same.


    Its leaves only needed to touch books orputers to absorb the knowledge within.


    And the absorption was quick¡ªfaster than 8G inte.


    All of the encyclopedias Jiang Yan had pre-downloaded to herputer had been consumed by it.


    The books she had bought from the bookstore were also picked apart.


    Even the various movies, TV shows, and animations she had downloaded to herputer had been gobbled up in their entirety.


    The speed was astonishing.


    How much it remembered, Jiang Yan did not know.


    She had been busy with the ¡°treasure hunting¡± and hadn¡¯t checked.


    *


    The next day.


    Jiang Yan woke up naturally at 7:30 am.


    The first thing she did after getting out of bed was to leave the Space and check the water level outside.


    Indeed, the water level had risen over the 15th floor, almost reaching the edge of the 16th.


    But one could visibly see that the rain had lessened.


    At this rate, it wouldn¡¯t be long before she could leave.


    She felt a little excited¡ªshe had been cooped up at home long enough.


    If today¡¯s outing proved sessful, she would have hope for upgrading her Space and the Cannibal Flower!


    She decided to leave earlier to avoid others in the building.


    With the lighter rain, residents from other floors were likely to find a way out.


    They would be looking for food and drinking water, whereas she was only after gold and jewelry.


    With that in mind, Jiang Yan quickly got out of bed, washed up, and ate a renowned beef noodle soup from Taiwan, followed by arge cup of Caramel Mhiato.


    Thebination might be strange, but the calories and energy were sufficient.


    Compass, theodolite, diving equipment, and other essentials had been prepared in advance from the Inventory Area.


    After a brief warm-up at home and collecting all the portable items into the Space, she took an inconspicuous rubber dinghy and left her apartment.


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