From then on, Shen Hanyin visited Times Square every day.
The place was far from peaceful.
Robbers preyed on other robbers, fights broke out constantly, and people died there almost every day.
In this extreme cold, emotions and blood ties seemed frighteningly fragile.
Shen Hanyin personally witnessed a man sell his own wife in exchange for a single jin of rice.
As the woman begged and cried, the only thing visible in the man’s eyes was excitement at obtaining food.
What Shen Hanyin couldn’t understand was why anyone would buy a woman in times like these.
What could possibly be more important than food?
More than ten days passed.
No one showed any interest in her cigarettes or liquor.
Finding the right buyer really did require luck.
After packing away her small stool, Shen Hanyin headed home.
She had barely left the square when someone called out to her.
“Shen Yan! Help me!”
It was a woman’s voice.
Without even turning around, Shen Hanyin kept walking.
“Shen Yan! I know you have a gun! Save me!”
She ignored it completely.
Only an idiot would respond.
Keeping her head down, she quickly left the square.
After that incident, Shen Hanyin stayed indoors for several days.
The woman had publicly mentioned that she owned a gun.
She was worried someone with bad intentions might hear it, recognize her, and cause trouble.
During her free time, she harvested the vegetables growing in her space and planted new seeds.
The fruit saplings grew slowly.
She wasn’t even sure whether they would eventually bear fruit.
Still, it didn’t really matter.
She already had more fruit than she could ever eat.
The accumulated time inside her space had now reached fifty-two hours.
The number of teleportation uses stood at fifty-one.
Since she entered the space daily to bathe and cook, a significant amount of stored time had been consumed.
Since her “zero-cost shopping spree,” however, she hadn’t used teleportation once.
The supplies in her space were already sufficient.
With farming added on top, she could probably eat comfortably for several lifetimes.
Back then, her fear of unknown disasters had driven her to stockpile obsessively.
She had originally intended to prepare supplies for only one person.
Yet without realizing it, she had accumulated more and more.
Still, it wasn’t a waste.
Even if she hadn’t bought all those supplies, keeping the money would have been meaningless now.
The solar panels on the roof had already been taken down.
The temperature was simply too low for them to function.
Instead, Shen Hanyin brought out a portable power station.
Its only drawback was poor battery life.
Even with an expansion unit attached, it could only operate for around five hours.
She also assembled a pedal-powered generator.
Whenever she exercised, she could generate electricity at the same time.
Both the bedroom and living room had electric heaters.
There were electric blankets as well.
Perhaps surviving the extreme cold wasn’t quite as impossible as it seemed.
To conserve time inside her space, Shen Hanyin moved a gas stove into her apartment.
Meals with mild smells were cooked at home.
Only dishes with stronger odors were prepared inside the space.
After breakfast, she cleaned the apartment.
While drinking water, she noticed a silver-white cat hair stuck to her cup.
Calmly, she plucked it off and tossed it into the trash.
She was already used to such things.
Suisui was still small and didn’t shed much yet.
Once the kitten grew up, Shen Hanyin knew she’d have her hands full.
After finishing her chores, she prepared to head to Times Square again.
The place wasn’t just useful for trading.
It was also where she could observe how people were surviving.
And if there was ever any news from the government, she wouldn’t miss it.
With everyone bundled up in layers against the cold, the chances of her disguise being exposed were extremely low.
Even so, Shen Hanyin still applied a little makeup before leaving.
Unexpected accidents happened all the time.
She couldn’t afford to become her own weakness.
The only thing she disliked was the height-increasing insoles.
They were never comfortable.
Before leaving, she reminded Suisui to stay away from the power strip.
Then she stepped outside once more.
The first day passed uneventfully.
Nothing happened.
The following day, before she had even reached the entrance of the residential complex, she saw a large fight erupting nearby.
There were dozens of people involved.
The scene was complete chaos.
Amid the confusion, Shen Hanyin managed to recognize Luo Qi, Xu Chengyi, several familiar residents from Building 9, and a number of strangers she had never seen before.
The reason she could identify them at all was simple.
Everyone only had one or two sets of clothes these days.
People wore the same outfits over and over.
For a moment, Shen Hanyin hesitated.
Should she help Luo Qi and Xu Chengyi?
After all this time, she had gained a clear understanding of how insignificant individual strength truly was.
She couldn’t even deal with the residents of Building 9 properly.
Most of the time, she could only wait and react.
What she needed was a partner.
Someone to exchange information and resources with in this isolated, frozen city.
But trusting people was dangerous.
Finding a reliable companion during a disaster was incredibly difficult.
Shen Hanyin and Luo Qi shared many similar views and ways of thinking.
Yet that similarity also revealed obvious flaws.
People like them trusted human nature more than emotions.
In the end, Shen Hanyin decided not to interfere.
Whatever happened would happen.
Just as she was considering whether to return home, she suddenly heard a familiar voice shout:
“It’s him! Shen Yan!”
It was the woman from the sixth floor.
Then she screamed,
“Kill him, and all my food is yours!”
At her words, more than ten people immediately charged toward Shen Hanyin.
Every one of them carried weapons.
Two even held long blades.
Shen Hanyin’s expression stiffened slightly.
She drew her Tang saber.
It looked like escaping easily today would be impossible.
Her mind raced.
There were too many enemies.
A pistol couldn’t eliminate all of them instantly.
If she tried to stand and fight, she wouldn’t have enough protection for herself.
Fortunately, she was wearing anti-slip boots.
Running shouldn’t be a problem.
Originally, Shen Hanyin intended to strike first.
But these opponents were clearly different from the usual mob.
After only a few exchanges, she found herself at a disadvantage.
Retreating toward an open area, she pulled out her pistol and shot two people.
Then she turned and ran.
While sprinting away, she fired several more shots over her shoulder.
Unfortunately, her marksmanship was mediocre.
Combined with her mild nearsightedness, every bullet missed.
Without hesitation, she gave up shooting altogether.
Shen Hanyin ran all the way out of the residential complex.
Then she slammed directly into someone.
The impact knocked both of them to the ground.
Looking back, she saw her pursuers closing in.
One of them swung a blade straight toward her head.
Shen Hanyin rolled off the stranger she had collided with and narrowly avoided the attack.
The blade crashed down where she had been lying moments earlier.
At almost the same time, the man she had collided with rolled aside as well.
Unfortunately, he rolled in exactly the same direction she did.
The next moment, he landed directly on top of her.
Shen Hanyin strongly suspected it was intentional.
The man was heavy.
She couldn’t push him away.
She couldn’t even stand up.
With no other option, she pulled out her pistol and pressed it against his head.
She didn’t care who he was.
She simply couldn’t die here today.
Suisui was still waiting for her at home.
Before she could pull the trigger, the man grabbed her wrist and twisted it sharply.
The pistol was stripped from her hand in the same motion.
That hurts.
Did he break my wrist?
Despite the pain, Shen Hanyin didn’t cry out.
She could only imitate a normal male voice.
If she screamed, her disguise would be exposed.
The man stood up and effortlessly hauled her to her feet.
Now the pistol was pressed against her own head.
Then she heard his voice.
“What exactly are you doing?”
From disarming her to getting back on his feet, the entire sequence had happened in seconds.
Shen Hanyin’s heart sank.
This man was incredibly strong.
She had absolutely no room to resist.
Even her pursuers stopped, startled by the sudden turn of events.
When the woman from the sixth floor saw what had happened, she burst into hysterical laughter.
“Shen Yan!”
“You refused to save me!”
“Now it’s your turn!”
Shen Hanyin didn’t want to die.
She had no idea who this man was or what he intended to do.
The only thing she could do was try to persuade him.
“They’re trying to kill me.”
“I panicked and pointed the gun at you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Could you let me go?”
The man remained unmoved.
Lowering her voice, Shen Hanyin continued,
“If you let me go, you can keep the gun.”
Still no response.
Growing anxious, the sixth-floor woman shouted,
“He killed my husband!”
“He stole food from everyone!”
“He’s ruined so many lives!”
“Kill him! Get rid of this menace!”
Under normal circumstances, Shen Hanyin wouldn’t have bothered arguing.
Today was different.
Her life was literally in someone else’s hands.
Drawing upon every ounce of acting talent she possessed, she immediately replied:
“That’s a lie!”
“I’ve never killed anyone!”
“This gun belonged to my father!”
“My father died because of you!”
“And now you’re slandering me!”
Shen Hanyin was usually quiet and reserved.
The woman had never expected her to start lying so smoothly.
Completely losing control, she screamed:
“Whoever kills him gets all the food in my apartment!”
“And him too!”
“He installed a security door in the fire escape stairwell!”
“He must have been preparing for this from the beginning!”
“Maybe he’s the one who caused the flood and this cursed weather!”
“He never goes out looking for food!”
“He must have huge stockpiles hidden at home!”
“Kill him!”
“I’ll take you straight to his apartment!”