Shen Hanyin grabbed two oversized black garbage bags and headed downstairs.
When she reached the first floor, three men were already waiting there.
On the ground lay several flotation devices improvised from dismantled foam boxes connected together. There were also two life rings and three empty water-cooler bottles taped together and strung into a floating chain.
Looking down at the plastic bags in her hands, Shen Hanyin suddenly felt a little embarrassed.
She had a spatial storage ability and had only come along to keep up appearances. Maybe because she felt too secure, her brain had short-circuited. She silently reminded herself not to be so careless in the future.
The three men didn’t say anything, probably assuming she simply hadn’t prepared proper equipment.
Everyone was dressed similarly, with only their heights and builds differing.
One looked slightly overweight and of average height. The other two had normal builds. One was a little shorter than the other, but both were clearly over 185 centimeters tall.
Life had improved people’s nutrition over the years. Young men really were getting taller and taller.
Shen Hanyin was 168 centimeters tall. With height-increasing insoles, she still looked shorter, but the difference wasn’t too obvious.
The tallest man spoke first.
“Seventeenth floor?”
“Yeah.”
Shen Hanyin answered in a male voice.
No one seemed suspicious.
“I’m from the third floor. He’s from the tenth.” He pointed at the slightly shorter man beside him. “And he’s from the fifteenth.”
The chubby man nodded.
“Let’s go.”
To reduce strain on her voice, Shen Hanyin had deliberately adopted a quiet, taciturn persona. The less she spoke, the lower the chance of being exposed.
The moment they opened the building door, floodwater surged inside.
No one spoke.
Then again, when you were about to steal, who had the courage for idle conversation?
The rain still hadn’t stopped.
Outside, it was almost impossible to keep one’s eyes open. The water had already risen above knee level.
Fortunately, there was no strong wind. Otherwise, simply leaving the building would have been difficult.
A journey that normally took a few minutes ended up taking much longer.
…
When they finally arrived at the supermarket, the man from the third floor pulled a toolbox from his bag and began prying open the rolling shutter.
After struggling for quite a while, he finally got it open.
The four of them slipped inside.
A shallow layer of water already covered the supermarket floor.
The man from the third floor immediately took out his phone and filmed every shelf.
“This place is small. Aside from snacks, there isn’t much here. Let’s take everything we can.”
The moment he finished speaking, all four people simultaneously grabbed bags and began stuffing them with supplies.
Then he added:
“Seal the bags and tie them together. Load them onto the foam boards, life rings, and bottles. The guy from the fifteenth floor and I will drag the first batch back to the building. The seventeenth-floor guy and the tenth-floor guy stay here and keep packing.”
“After we unload, the fifteenth-floor guy stays behind to guard the supplies so nobody steals them.”
“Then I’ll come back with the seventeenth-floor guy for another trip.”
“The tenth-floor guy keeps packing.”
“Do your best. Let’s carry as much as possible.”
The third-floor resident clearly had courage and a good head on his shoulders.
Nobody objected.
They got to work immediately.
…
Looking at their makeshift transportation equipment, Shen Hanyin figured it couldn’t support anything too heavy.
She started with noodles, self-heating rice meals, instant noodles, and bread.
When she thought it was time to haul a load back, she noticed the men from the third and tenth floors wrapping fifty-kilogram bags of rice in plastic film and hoisting them onto their shoulders.
She couldn’t help being impressed.
Some people simply deserved to never go hungry.
Carrying a fifty-kilogram bag of rice through floodwater while dragging additional supplies was impossible for her.
Instead, she chose ten-kilogram bags.
The resident from the fifteenth floor copied her example and also picked smaller bags.
That put her mind at ease.
Since they were all supposedly men, the difference wouldn’t stand out too much.
The small neighborhood supermarket didn’t have much rice, flour, or cooking oil in stock to begin with.
After several trips, those essentials were completely cleared out.
…
As the three of them continued packing supplies, two unfamiliar men suddenly appeared.
“Who are you people? What are you doing?”
“Who do I look like?” Shen Hanyin replied immediately, pretending to be the supermarket owner. “If I don’t move this stuff now, it’ll all be underwater.”
The two men paused.
They looked suspiciously at Shen Hanyin, then at the men from the third and tenth floors.
After a brief silence, one of them asked:
“Boss, are you selling anything?”
“Sure. What do you want?”
To avoid unnecessary trouble, Shen Hanyin made the decision herself.
It was better to let them take something and leave peacefully.
Besides, most of the valuable supplies had already been moved.
The two men hurried toward the shelves.
After scanning the area, they realized only snacks and miscellaneous goods remained.
“Boss, is there anything else? What about rice? Selling any rice?”
Since leaving the building, Shen Hanyin had spent hours standing in cold floodwater.
The water level had risen even further.
Her legs were numb from the cold.
Her patience was long gone.
“No. Buy something or leave.”
Her blunt attitude made the two men stop arguing.
They grabbed plastic bags and began stuffing them with whatever remained on the shelves.
Once they had filled four bags, they prepared to leave.
The man from the third floor stepped directly into their path.
Then he pulled out a WeChat payment code.
“Eight hundred yuan each. Pay before you leave.”
The two men exchanged looks.
Their fists clenched for a moment.
Then relaxed.
Without another word, they scanned the code and paid.
The third-floor resident turned back toward the others.
“Take everything we can carry. We’re not coming back.”
…
Shen Hanyin and the tenth-floor resident acknowledged him and quickly packed the remaining supplies.
Together, they struggled back toward Building Nine.
When they entered, the emergency access route on the first floor had already been opened.
The stairwell leading to the second floor was piled high with supplies they had transported earlier.
Following the plan, they carried everything up to the third floor first and would divide it afterward.
The resident from the tenth floor looked puzzled.
“With all this commotion, nobody from the first floor came out?”
The man from the fifteenth floor replied:
“Their lights haven’t been on for days. They probably evacuated before the flooding got this bad.”
…
They had left at 7:30 in the morning.
By the time everything was moved to the third floor, it was already past three in the afternoon.
The man from the tenth floor spoke first.
“I’m leaving my share here for now. I’m exhausted.”
He only took two boxes of self-heating meals.
“I’ll come back tonight.”
The fifteenth-floor resident was equally tired and left his things there as well.
The man from the third floor didn’t object.
Shen Hanyin couldn’t do that.
Right now, she could hide her physique beneath the rain gear.
If she came back later after resting, it would be much harder to disguise herself.
She hadn’t even cut her long hair yet.
“I don’t have transportation equipment,” she said. “I’ll just take a smaller share. I’m not tired. I’ll carry everything upstairs now and won’t come back.”
Nobody had any objections.
Since supplies had been sorted by category during packing, finding items wasn’t difficult.
She selected:
Two bags of rice
One container of cooking oil
Two ten-kilogram bags of flour
Two bags of instant noodles and self-heating meals
One bag of toilet paper
One bag filled with bread
One bag filled with chocolate and nuts
One carton of crispy noodles
Half a bag of sausages
Two cases of bottled water
After carrying the rice, flour, and oil upstairs, she returned with a large cardboard box and packed everything neatly.
Then she looked at the man from the third floor.
“I don’t want anything else.”
“Okay.”
He didn’t care.
After all, everyone planned to compensate the supermarket owner after the flood.
No one minded how much each person took.
…
Back in her apartment, Xiaobai immediately ran over and rubbed against her legs.
Shen Hanyin took softened cat food from her space and poured it into the bowl.
Then she crouched down and quietly spoke to the kitten.
“I’m leaving food here.”
“You need to learn how to control how much you eat.”
“I need a shower. I’m exhausted.”
Perhaps she truly wasn’t the most qualified pet owner.
Xiaobai was still too young and could only eat softened food.
Automatic feeders weren’t an option.
Although Shen Hanyin wasn’t particularly affectionate, she had never once let the little cat go hungry.
…
The sixth day of the torrential rain.
When Shen Hanyin woke up, she pressed the light switch several times.
Nothing happened.
She pulled open the curtains.
Outside was pitch-black.
Looking across the city, she couldn’t spot a single illuminated window.
The power was out.
She took out her phone.
No signal.
No internet.
WeChat remained stuck on a loading circle.
Without hesitation, Shen Hanyin disappeared into her space.
It was time for some zero-cost shopping.