“Why is the great doctor here at this hour?”
It was nearly eleven at night. As a doctor who had to wake up early for work, He Qing Fei clearly wasn’t here for a casual visit, there was something she needed.
Wearing a camisole and shorts, holding her phone, He Qing Fei saw Lin Su still busy at the computer and laughed: “Big boss working overtime this late! You’re even busier than me, a doctor!”
Lin Su’s eyes were fixed on the medicine column in her spreadsheet. Without waiting for He Qing Fei to explain, she spoke first.
“Qingfei, I have a list here. Can you help me get these supplies?”
She then sent a screenshot of the list of medical supplies, items that the public generally couldn’t buy, to He Qing Fei’s phone.
He Qing Fei’s expression immediately turned serious when she saw the list. “Are you planning to open a clinic?”
Her words were not exaggerated. Many of the medical devices on Lin Su’s list were items typically used in clinics or even small hospital surgeries, completely unnecessary for ordinary people.
Lin Su didn’t explain. Instead, she lifted her gaze firmly toward He Qing Fei. Even sitting while He Qing Fei stood, Lin Su’s determined look showed no hint of weakness.
“Qingfei, we’ve been good friends for many years. You know my character. These things are very important—I can only ask you for help.”
He Qing Fei’s family, the He family, were a medical lineage. Several generations had been doctors, especially her grandfather and grandmother, both nationally renowned acupuncture masters. The He family also ran several private clinics in the province.
Entrusting He Qing Fei to purchase the items on the list was currently the most time-efficient approach.
Lin Su needed to confirm all the supplies in the next few days. After that, she would move on to preparing the next stage of her plan.
She wasn’t worried that He Qing Fei might become suspicious or draw conclusions. Their families had known each other for over ten years, and she and He Qing Fei had been close friends for more than a decade. This level of trust was natural.
Additionally, while placing orders with major supermarket suppliers today, Lin Su had noticed some anomalies. Many suppliers mentioned that most of their inventory had been purchased by local government departments, leaving only a very small portion available for the supermarket. Multiple suppliers revealed similar information.
Knowing this, Lin Su felt a small sense of relief. It likely meant that the government had also noticed the abnormal weather and was taking some necessary preparations.
Seeing Lin Su so serious, He Qing Fei nodded immediately. “Alright, I won’t ask any more questions. I’ll arrange the items for you tomorrow. They should arrive within a week at the earliest.”
Hearing He Qing Fei’s promise, Lin Su couldn’t help but smile with relief.
“I still don’t know what’s going on with you, but if you need help with anything, just let me know…” He Qing Fei said, then slapped her forehead. “Almost forgot…”
Lin Su looked on curiously, finally understanding why He Qing Fei had come.
Following He Qing Fei’s lead, Lin Su opened her phone and checked the Qingshui Villa owners’ chat group. Sure enough, there were 999+ unread messages. The pinned announcement at the top was about a scheduled power outage.
“The weather is so hot. If they cut the power in the middle of the night, I’m worried the elderly and children won’t be able to handle it. It’s only a few days into this month, and our hospital has already admitted over twenty cases of heatstroke, not even counting the milder cases yet…”
As He Qing Fei spoke, Lin Su had already read through the notice.
For two consecutive months, temperatures had hovered near forty degrees Celsius, and residents’ air conditioners hadn’t stopped running. Industrial electricity usage was also soaring. This pushed total electricity consumption beyond the grid’s capacity.
When electricity demand exceeds capacity, it’s necessary both to increase power generation and conserve electricity. This was a nationwide problem, making it especially difficult to ramp up power output. The only practical solution was scheduled power cuts to reduce strain on the grid.
Many residents in the chat group were now complaining about the unbearable heat. These people mainly lived in the high-rise area. Unlike the villas, each household there didn’t have backup power. Once the backup ran out, only a generator could be used.
Looking at the 999+ complaint messages, Lin Su sighed helplessly.
He Qing Fei continued, “My dad asked me to come over and see if your family can manage to get a solar generator by tomorrow?”
The neighborhood would start scheduled power cuts from tomorrow night, lasting from midnight to six in the morning. Six hours at an average night temperature of thirty-five degrees Celsius would be unbearable for many.
“My diesel generator broke down. With the sun so strong these days, my dad said we might as well get a solar generator,” Lin Su explained.
Lin Su nodded after hearing this. “I’ll have a solar generator delivered to your home tomorrow. I’ll also provide an extra set of solar panels for you.”
He Qing Fei brightened immediately and hugged Lin Su, laughing with delight.
Seeing her smile, Lin Su’s mind was already on the power cuts. The scheduled outages meant Lao Yang at the farm would need to speed up his work.
While Lin Su promised a solar generator to He Qing Fei, back at the villa, Lin’s father was being approached by other neighbors.
The next day, Lin Su continued her purchasing trips, while her father stayed home following up on the villa renovations. That’s when a neighbor came directly to their door.
The villa complex had nine houses in total. Lin’s family lived in House 1, the Wen family in House 2, and the Hu family in House 3. Houses 1, 2, and 3 formed the first row. The second row consisted of House 4 (He family), House 5 (Lai family), and House 6 (Qu family). The third row had Houses 7 and 8 unoccupied, and House 9 was the Cheng family.
Although there were only a few families, each had a different background.
The neighbor pestering Lin’s father was from House 9, the Cheng family.
“Well, Brother Lin, your house is under renovation again!”
Lin’s father was discussing the installation requirements for the underfloor heating with Lao Wu when he was pulled aside by Lao Cheng.
“Brother Lin, your family has connections, can you help get a solar generator for me?”
Since Lin’s daughter graduated last year, her father had been less busy. The neighbors he was familiar with were mainly the Wen family next door and the He family behind them. As for Lao Cheng, he only exchanged greetings occasionally.
The sustained high temperatures over the past two months had caused solar generator prices to soar, and supplies were tight. Lin’s family had used their connections to secure ten units while his daughter was preparing her stockpile. Last night, his daughter said one would go to the He family. One would definitely be reserved for the Wen family, and the rest couldn’t be moved for now.
Thinking this through, Lin’s father said bluntly, “Solar generators are in short supply right now, and there aren’t many available. If you urgently need one, you’d be better off getting a diesel generator.”
Lao Cheng had come to Lin’s precisely because he didn’t want to spend so much on diesel. Hearing this, he shook his head. “No, that won’t work, diesel is way too expensive…”
Lin Su didn’t know anyone was trying to take advantage of her family. She had eaten breakfast early and drove out to the family warehouse in the suburbs.
She had learned on the morning of August 2 that a natural disaster apocalypse was approaching. That afternoon, she started drafting a supply list, adjusting supermarket inventory, and ordering goods from suppliers.
Now it was August 4, and quite a bit of stock had already arrived at the warehouse. Particularly, all the supermarkets in An City had sent part of their inventory over according to her instructions.
After getting out of the car, Lin Su unlocked the warehouse and went inside. The warehouse was built on Lin family property, with only a security guard at the entrance and multiple surveillance cameras inside. Seeing the rows of shelves stacked full of supplies, she felt a strong sense of security.
In an apocalypse, money would no longer be the foundation for survival. Supplies, especially food, were what really mattered.
In less than ten minutes, Lin Su had stored all the goods into her space. This space was strange, almost infinitely large. Yesterday she had loaded several large trucks into it, yet it didn’t seem full.
This was ideal, as it allowed her to continue collecting supplies without worry.
Still, Lin Su had some reservations about the space. After storing the warehouse’s supplies, she deliberately left the goods in the neighboring warehouse untouched. If a crisis arose later, those supplies might serve a different, unexpected purpose.
After finishing with the supplies, Lin Su took out the batch of stainless steel water tanks that had arrived earlier. She also brought out a bundle of plastic hoses.
The warehouse had a small pantry with several faucets.
Lin Su connected one end of a hose to a faucet and the other end to a water tank. Filling one of these large tanks took about an hour. Since there were six faucets, she could fill six tanks at a time.
After setting up the tanks, Lin Su drove to a nearby cold storage to collect another batch of supplies.
She had previously tested ice cream in the space, and after two days it showed no signs of melting or spoilage. Confident, she began storing these supplies in the space as well.
Running a supermarket at home made buying frozen goods in bulk more cost-effective, so the Lin family had set up a cold storage. The cold storage wasn’t very large, but a batch of freshwater seafood had been delivered yesterday. Combined with the existing stock, Lin Su transferred everything into the space to free up room for the meat being delivered from the farm.
Naturally, after collecting the goods, she returned to deal with the filled water tanks. By the end of the morning, Lin Su had filled more than ten tanks. When she drove home at noon, she learned that someone had come to the house asking for a solar generator.
“You didn’t agree to it, right?” Lin Su asked, taking a bite of roast duck leg as she looked at her father.
“Of course, your dad refused. If he hadn’t, I would’ve been the first to rush out and chase Lao Cheng away. With rolling blackouts everywhere, not just solar generators, even diesel or gasoline generators are in high demand,” he said.
Lin Su felt extremely lucky hearing this. Just a couple of days ago, when they ordered the solar generators, they were still able to get them. They were expensive, but worth it!
“Oh, by the way, Mom and Dad, this afternoon I’m going to collect some meals for the space. Whatever you want to eat, I’ll get it and store it there.”
During the coming apocalypse, it would be hard for anyone to get enough to eat, let alone enjoy gourmet food. Lin Su savored the taste of the roast duck and couldn’t bear for such delicious food to go to waste.
After saying this, she continued outlining her plan: “Dad, tonight I’m meeting with the other villa owners. With these rolling blackouts, I think we can start the second phase of our plan.”
Once tonight’s discussion was over, Lin Su planned to fly to Lin family supermarkets across the country the next day to start collecting supplies into the space.