Countdown Day 11, 11:00 PM.
When the bustling city gradually fell into sleep and neon lights flickered beyond the single-sided bulletproof glass, the top-floor penthouse of Cloud Summit Heaven No. 1 Tower was still brightly lit.
Lin Qi wore a sharp black work tank top, exposing her fair yet explosively powerful arms. She stood alone in the spacious, luxurious master bathroom, holding a heavy industrial pipe wrench, staring coldly at the thick municipal main water pipe embedded in the wall.
In the apocalypse, what was more valuable than gold, diamonds, or even weapons?
Only one answer: clean water.
In her previous life, two months after the disaster began, terrifying rains mixed with tsunami backflow completely destroyed the global water purification system. Soon after, extreme cold froze all the heavily contaminated water sources. Then, corrosive acid rain arrived, leaving not a single safe drop of liquid on the surface.
Lin Qi would never forget that night of extreme cold and thirst.
She had personally witnessed a once high-and-mighty corporate executive trying to lick a drop of filthy water dripping from a sewer ice stalactite—only to have his throat torn open by mutated giant rats.
The cracked, bleeding throat, the sensation of swallowing like knives—that kind of despair was beyond imagination for anyone who had never lived through the apocalypse.
Although she had already installed an aerospace-grade reverse osmosis purification and internal circulation system in her rooftop greenhouse, capable of producing clean drinking water from urine and wastewater…
It still wasn’t enough.
A heavy-firepower deficiency syndrome patient never believed in “barely enough.”
Machines could wear down, filters could fail. To ensure she could comfortably take hot baths for fifty years in this isolated steel fortress, she had to stockpile an enormous amount of the purest initial water source before the water supply collapsed.
“Clang!”
Lin Qi violently twisted off the luxury gold-plated faucet with brute force.
Then she pulled out a ten-centimeter-diameter military-grade high-pressure fire hose from her spatial storage. Using metal clamps, she firmly fixed it onto the main inlet pipe.
Because this was the top-floor penthouse of Cloud Summit Heaven, the developer had installed a separate high-power booster pump system. The water pressure here was dozens of times stronger than normal residences.
“Everything is ready.”
Lin Qi closed her eyes and sank her consciousness into the infinite space.
Inside the absolute stillness of the white void, in addition to mountains of supplies and steel oil tanks, fifty gigantic structures stood neatly arranged.
Fifty “100-ton food-grade PE water tanks.”
Each one was over ten meters tall, like massive white fortresses.
In this space, water would never evaporate, never breed bacteria or algae. Even after ten thousand years, it would remain as pure as the moment it entered.
Lin Qi opened her eyes.
“Countdown Day 11. Water reservoir—open the gate.”
She grabbed the red valve handle and yanked it down hard.
“BOOM—!”
A deep, beast-like roar erupted inside the pipe system.
A violent, pressurized water surge burst through the hose like a wild beast.
But instead of spilling onto the floor—
It was swallowed instantly by the spatial vortex at the hose outlet.
“Rumble—!”
The sound of raging water echoed through the entire penthouse.
If someone were standing outside, they would see the top-floor smart water meter spinning at terrifying speed, almost blurring into a phantom.
Its gears screeched under overload, emitting a faint burnt-metal smell.
“Too slow. Not enough.”
Lin Qi frowned slightly.
Fifty 100-ton tanks meant 5,000 tons of water. A single pipe couldn’t fill them quickly enough.
Without hesitation, she rushed out and violently opened every water inlet in the penthouse.
Bathroom, guest room, kitchen industrial pipe, rooftop irrigation lines—
All eight main water inlets were forcibly modified and connected to spatial extraction points.
“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”
Eight water lines ran simultaneously.
The entire building’s top floor became a roaring storm of water pressure.
Down in the basement, the booster pump system immediately triggered emergency alarms, going full power as it desperately pushed municipal water upward.
Meanwhile, residents across Cloud Summit Heaven suddenly noticed something strange.
“My shower pressure just dropped to a trickle!”
“What the hell? Call property management!”
“It was fine a second ago!”
Chaos erupted in the residential group chats.
Technicians rushed into the pump room only to find the pressure readings completely off the charts.
“What the hell is this… did someone empty a swimming pool upstairs?!”
But none of it mattered.
Inside the penthouse, Lin Qi leaned lazily on the sofa, sipping iced red wine, listening to the roaring symphony of water.
She watched the water levels rise rapidly inside her space:
1000 tons… 2000 tons… 3000 tons…
This wasn’t just water.
This was her future comfort, cleanliness, and survival security.
At 4 AM—
“Clang.”
The fiftieth 100-ton tank filled completely.
Total: 5,000 tons of pure water.
“Done.”
Lin Qi smiled coldly and shut off all valves.
The building fell silent again.
Only the burned-out smart water meter remained as proof of the madness.
She stood in front of the window, looking at the dark sky.
All supplies were now complete:
Food, meat, energy, weapons, heat, electricity, greenhouse, soil, and water.
A perfect apocalypse ark had been forged in just over ten days.
And then—
The system erupted.
[Ding!]
[Detected: 5,000 tons of water storage completed!]
[Reverse osmosis purification + ecological circulation system: fully closed loop achieved!]
[All five core modules completed: physical defense, fossil energy, renewable energy, extreme cold protection, and water cycle ecology!]
[System Notice: Fortress Level 1 unlocking progress reached… 100%!]
A violent surge of energy exploded in her consciousness.
[Full-system intelligent defense core activated!]
[Warning: Ultimate ability—“Absolute Defense Red Line”—initiated!]
A blood-red laser-like line suddenly ignited inside her perception.
It crawled along the fortress structure like a living creature—
wrapping around walls, glass, doors, ceilings—
forming a complete, sealed killing boundary around the entire penthouse and rooftop.
A crimson cage.
A death zone.
Lin Qi stared at it.
“It’s done.”
But this was only the beginning.
She glanced at her flight check-in notification.
“M Country. Final preparation phase.”
She put on her black tactical coat and slid a titanium combat knife into her boot.
Then she walked toward the massive steel vault door.
“My minigun and Barrett rifle…”
“They should be ready to fire.”