“Dad, Mom, Younger Brother,” Lin Wan lowered her voice, her expression extremely serious. “From now on, we also need to store more water. After the power outage, it won’t take long before the water supply stops too. Also, none of the supplies we’ve stockpiled at home can be revealed to anyone.”
“If someone comes to us for help, we can help if we’re able to—for now, because order still exists—but we also can’t be overly saintly. As for the owners’ group chat, or if someone knocks on the door asking for help or wanting to trade things, ignore them. Our family just moved here—remember, we have nothing.”
“Mom, you and I should try not to speak loudly at home. Dad and Little Yang can, but you and I should be careful—just in case. In the apocalypse, women suffer the most.”
“Mom… later, help me cut my hair short. It’ll be easier to manage from now on.”
Lin Jianguo immediately nodded. “Wanwan is right! From now on, our family must be extra careful. Shulan, control your emotions—don’t get startled so easily. Little Yang, same for you. Stop making a fuss over everything.”
Li Shulan and Lin Yang both nodded heavily, their faces full of tension.
“Dad, Sis…” Lin Yang swallowed and pointed at the faintly humming fan and several power banks charging nearby. “With this little electricity… how long can we last?”
Lin Jianguo took out his bookkeeping notebook and flipped to the page where he had calculated power consumption.
“You don’t need to worry. If this isn’t enough, we still have the diesel generator. And I’ve calculated it—if we only maintain the bare minimum: lighting, phone charging, and this fan, then the electricity charged by the solar panels during the day will be enough to support both daytime and nighttime use.”
He paused, his voice turning more solemn.
“If we want to run the rice cooker too, then we’ll temporarily turn off the fan and add a few more blocks of ice. The effect will be the same.”
He looked up.
“So ice will be our main method of cooling. Wanwan, do we still have enough ice in the Space Dimension?”
“Yes!” Lin Wan nodded firmly. “The dozens of tons of ice Mom ordered from the wholesale market earlier were almost all stored in the Space Dimension. It won’t melt inside there. If we use it sparingly, it’ll last for a month or two without any problem.”
This was undoubtedly good news.
At that moment, sudden urgent and forceful knocking sounded from the floor below. The noise was extremely loud.
A hoarse male voice rang out in the corridor, filled with frantic desperation.
“Old Zhang! Old Zhang, open the door! I know you’re home! Can you lend me your car? My wife fainted!”
“Old Li, it’s not that I don’t want to lend it to you. My car is at the company—I didn’t drive it back. You know how the roads are now, it’s so hot they’re practically melting. I was worried the car would break down on the way, so I didn’t drive it back. I took the bus home today.”
“Then do you have any medicine for heatstroke? Can you give me some? Just a little! My wife really fainted! Please! I’ll pay you! Double! No—five times!”
The neighbor’s door seemed to open a crack. A cautious and exhausted voice came out.
“Old Li… it’s not that I won’t give you any… I don’t have much left either… it’s so hot now, and the power’s out… there are elderly people in my house too. We need it…”
“I’ll kneel for you, alright?!”
The hoarse voice carried a sob. With a thud, he seemed to actually kneel down.
“Just a little! Save my wife! I’ll work like a slave for you in the future!”
After a brief silence, the door slammed shut heavily.
“Sorry… I’m really sorry… You should hurry and take your wife to the hospital.”
Immediately after that came the man’s desperate howl—like a wounded beast—and the dull sound of his head hitting the wall.
Inside the Lin family’s home, the four of them held their breath, their hearts pounding as they listened.
For a little bit of medicine, someone had knelt and slammed his head against the wall…
Only a few hours after the power outage, the cruel reality had already begun to bare its fangs.
Li Shulan tightly covered her mouth, afraid of making even the slightest sound. Her eyes were filled with fear and lingering dread.
If not for her daughter, the ones wailing in despair outside—or even turning into monsters—might have been them.
Lin Wan quietly opened the door and walked toward the stairwell. She slowly went down one floor and looked out.
In the corridor, the man was slumped by the door, clutching his head. His shoulders shook violently as he let out suppressed, hopeless sobs.
His wife was more than seven months pregnant. She was already considered an older expectant mother, and the sudden extreme heat had caused her to faint.
He had called the emergency hotline, but the line had been busy the whole time. He had thought of his colleague Old Li, who had a car and often kept medicine at home because someone in his family was frequently ill. He had only wanted to ask for a little medicine—just a little.
He hadn’t expected Old Li to be so heartless.
A trace of sympathy flashed in Lin Wan’s eyes.
She took out a box of Acetaminophen (to be taken according to medical advice) from the Space Dimension and tossed it toward him before quickly hiding.
Hearing the sound, the man lifted his head. When he saw the box of medicine, he became extremely excited. He grabbed it, looked around to make sure no one was watching, and hurriedly ran downstairs.
Only after the man had left did Lin Wan peek out from the corner.
She sighed softly.
The extreme heat had only just begun.
She turned and returned home, gently opening the door. Facing her family, she whispered in a voice almost too quiet to hear:
“Close the door quickly. Don’t let anyone see what we’re doing.”
She also wondered whether anyone lived in the unit across the hall, 1602. No one had been seen returning these past few days.
At that moment—
The small USB fan hummed softly.
The faint chill released by the ice blocks barely fought against the rapidly rising indoor temperature.
The family of four sat gathered around the ice. Sweat slowly formed on their skin, but compared to the people outside who had already fallen into complete despair, this place was practically heaven.
“Dad… the power probably won’t be restored…” Lin Wan wiped the sweat from her forehead, her voice heavy.
“Don’t expect it within the next day or two,” Lin Jianguo interrupted, his eyes sharp. “Such a large area, such extreme temperatures—the repairs will be extremely difficult.”
“What we need to think about now is whether the situation will worsen further. If the water supply stops… what will we do then?”
His words fell like a block of ice into everyone’s hearts.
A power outage was already this difficult.
If the water stopped too…
That would truly drive people to death.
The suffocating heat continued late into the night.
The temperature dropped slightly.
In the silent darkness, some bold people—or rather, those who had no food stored at home—began to move.
Gradually, voices began to appear in the residential community downstairs, and the place grew lively. Beams of flashlight light flickered on.
“…Let’s go take a look… the supermarket at the entrance of the residential community is open 24 hours… maybe it’s still open…”
“Let’s go… I need to buy some food… I didn’t prepare anything at home. No one even accepted my food delivery orders today… I’m starving… Come on, let’s go together.”
“It’s so damn hot. When will this end? The weather forecast is completely inaccurate. They said the temperature is 43 degrees—damn it, it feels like over 60 degrees to me. And they even said the high temperatures might continue.”
“Damn it, at this rate I can’t even go to work. Even working from home means working. I wonder if the company lost power too. It’s unbearably hot at home.”
Lin Yang leaned against the window and looked down, whispering his report.
“Dad, people are going downstairs. Looks like they’re going to buy things.”
Lin Jianguo and Lin Wan exchanged a glance.
“Dad,” Lin Wan suddenly said, her eyes flickering, “why don’t we go buy some things too? Even though we have everything in the Space Dimension, no one ever complains about having too much. We still have tens of thousands of yuan in cash. If we don’t use it now, it’ll become worthless paper.”
“Hm?” Lin Jianguo looked at his daughter.
“Right now, everyone is only panicking because of the power outage. They’re not completely desperate yet. The supermarket still has things for sale—especially food and drinks.”
Lin Wan spoke faster.
“It’s hard to restore electricity, but social order hasn’t completely collapsed yet. We must seize this last opportunity to sweep the shelves again! Especially food—grain in particular. The more the better!”
“If we wait until everyone realizes that the natural disaster won’t end, it’ll be too late to buy anything.”
Li Shulan was startled when she heard this. She turned to Lin Wan.
“Go out again? It’s still so hot outside. Even though it cooled down a bit, going out could still cause heatstroke!”
“Mom, it’s dangerous now—but it’ll be even more dangerous later. We have to slowly adapt,” Lin Wan said firmly. “When everyone finally realizes what’s happening, all the food and water in the supermarket will already be gone.”
“At that point, people will really die for a bottle of water or a mouthful of food.”
Lin Jianguo only thought for three seconds before making his decision.
“Wanwan is right! Little Yang, change into dark clothes and wear a hat and mask! Come with me!”
“Wanwan, you and your mom stay home. No matter who knocks on the door—don’t open it!”