Lin Wan walked back into the living room barefoot, no longer paying any attention to whatever Zhou Qing was shouting downstairs.
The faint coolness of the wooden floor gave her a small sense of reality.
She walked into the living room, grabbed the remote control from the coffee table, and—without even realizing the force in her fingers—pressed the power button hard.
With a soft humming sound, the large LCD television on the wall lit up instantly, the sudden brightness making her squint.
On the screen, the impeccably made-up face of a female anchor from the news channel filled the display. Her precise and formal voice echoed throughout the spacious living room:
“…Breaking news: multiple regions in the Southern Hemisphere continue to suffer from a rare heatwave. In some areas, temperatures have already exceeded 50 degrees Celsius, setting a new record since meteorological records began. Authoritative experts analyze that this may be a precursor to global extreme climate anomalies. However, citizens are advised not to panic. Governments worldwide have already activated the highest-level emergency response plans to fully ensure public welfare…”
“That’s it!”
Lin Wan’s breathing suddenly stopped, as if someone had tightly gripped her throat.
All the blood in her body seemed to lose its warmth in an instant and freeze solid.
She stood nailed to the spot, her eyes locked on the screen, her pupils shrinking to needlepoints.
The female anchor’s familiar face on the television, every word from her previous life’s memory, now felt like poisoned ice spikes drilling viciously into the cracks of her bones.
This was the news.
This exact report!
In her previous life, this piece of news—treated by most people as nothing more than a casual conversation topic, something to remark on with a simple “This year’s weather sure is strange” before forgetting about it—had actually been the opening curtain of the apocalypse.
It had been the first funeral bell announcing the end of the world.
The first wave had been the extreme heat in the Northern Hemisphere, hot enough to melt asphalt and cause people to faint alive in the streets. Even taking a breath had felt like swallowing burning coals.
Immediately afterward came endless torrential rain, as if the heavens themselves had burst open. Floodwaters surged like maddened beasts, collapsing dams and swallowing entire cities.
Then, just when everyone thought they had endured the floods…
An extreme cold wave arrived without warning, freezing the entire world into a block of ice.
One disaster followed another. Natural calamities worked like a preprogrammed meat grinder—precise, cold, and merciless—crushing human civilization inch by inch.
Lin Wan’s body swayed.
Unable to support herself any longer, her back slammed against the cold wall with a dull thud, and she slowly slid down along the smooth surface.
She curled up in the corner, her forehead pressed against her knees, her shoulders trembling uncontrollably.
She wasn’t crying.
It was the emotions trapped in her chest—suppressed for an entire lifetime—mixed with the despair of freezing to death, the unbearable agony of watching her family die before her eyes, the bone-deep regret of being betrayed by someone she trusted, and the overwhelming hatred of being abandoned by the whole world…
“Uh… ah…”
A suppressed sob, like the whimper of a dying beast, was forced out between her clenched teeth.
Her fingernails dug deeply into her palms, leaving several blood-red crescent marks, yet she felt no pain at all.
Time passed—perhaps as long as an entire century, or perhaps only a few breaths.
Suddenly, Lin Wan lifted her head.
Her eyes, washed by tears, were now filled with terrifying red blood vessels.
Every trace of weakness, pain, and despair inside them had been replaced by a nearly insane ferocity.
She braced herself against the wall and staggered to her feet.
“Dad… Mom… Little Yang…”
Her voice was hoarse, but it carried a resolute power that allowed no doubt.
“This time…”
She took a deep breath, her chest rising and falling violently.
“I will never let anyone hurt you again! This time, our whole family will survive and live well!”
“I can’t wait,” she murmured to herself.
“Not even a single minute!”
She rushed into her small study room and yanked open the desk drawer with a loud bang, grabbing a pen and paper.
The pen tip stabbed heavily into the blank A4 paper, making rapid scratching sounds. She pressed so hard that it nearly tore through the page.
“Food”
Compressed biscuits (high calories, long shelf life) — 20 boxes!
Military canned food (beef and pork preferred) — at least 10 boxes!
Luncheon meat (high fat, very filling) — 10 boxes!
Instant noodles of all flavors (quick meals with soup) — fill an entire shopping cart!
Vacuum-packed rice (50-jin bags) — 50 bags! No, 100 bags!
Milk powder (both infant and adult kinds! Protein source!) — 5 boxes each!
Chocolate and energy bars (quick calorie replenishment) — buy as much as possible!
Dehydrated vegetables and dried fruits (vitamin supplements) — large quantities!
Salt! Sugar! Oil! Seasonings! — stock by the carton!
In her previous life, her younger brother Lin Yang had starved while curled in her arms, his face gaunt and hollow. In the end, he hadn’t even had the strength left to cry.
Countless people hadn’t frozen to death—they had starved to death in the frozen ruins.
“Water — the source of life!”
Bottled purified water (18.9L barrels) — start with 100 barrels!
Water purification tablets (lifesaving after water sources become polluted) — 50 bottles!
Portable outdoor water purifiers (multi-layer filtration) — 10 units!
Water storage tanks (large capacity, food-grade) — 20 tanks!
After the extreme cold, rivers froze, pipes burst, and melted snow became mixed with decaying matter and unknown pollutants.
A single bottle of clean water could make two strong men fight until their heads were cracked open.
“Medicine — the last lifeline!”
Antibiotics (amoxicillin, cephalosporin) — 10 boxes!
Fever reducers (ibuprofen, acetaminophen) — 20 boxes!
Painkillers — large quantities!
First aid medicine (iodine, alcohol, hydrogen peroxide) — 10 sets!
Gauze, bandages, medical tape, hemostatic powder — stock by the carton!
Multivitamin tablets (essential when fresh fruits and vegetables are unavailable long-term) — 20 bottles!
Chronic illness medications (if her parents need them) — prepare one year’s supply!
Old Man Zhang next door—the cheerful elderly man who always stuffed candy into her hands—had died simply because he cut his finger while clearing broken ice. The small wound became infected, festered, and he burned with fever.
At that time, the only two antibiotic pills she had left had already been given away the day before—to Zhou Qing, who had pretended to care about her—in exchange for half a piece of moldy bread for her younger brother.
When Old Man Zhang died in agony, his cloudy eyes had still been looking at her…
That image…
“Cold-Weather Supplies”
Cold-resistant assault jackets rated for –20°C (at least three sets per person!) — prepare all family sizes!
High-end outdoor down jackets (three sets per person) — capable of resisting –50°C!
Top-grade goose down sleeping bags (extreme temperature rating below –30°C) — 10 units!
Self-heating warm patches (lifesaving to carry) — 1,000 pieces!
Solid alcohol fuel (smokeless, relatively safe) — 100 boxes!
Smokeless coal (long-term heating) — 10 tons!
Diesel generators (high power!) — two units, with matching diesel fuel stockpiled!
Electric blankets and hand warmers — large quantities!
Her father, Lin Jianguo…
Those hands, scraped raw and bloody, jammed into the frozen window frame!
That frozen, despairing figure like an ice sculpture…
He had frozen to death.
Frozen alive.
That piercing cold had hurt thousands of times more than knives carving into the heart.