Tools and Weapons — The Fangs of Survival!
Multi-functional military shovel (for digging snow, clearing paths, self-defense) — Five!
High-strength fire axe (for breaking ice, close combat) — Three!
High-strength nylon rope (for climbing and securing) — Five hundred meters!
Large crowbars (for breaking doors, prying ice) — Five!
Compound crossbows (long-range deterrence) — Two sets! With plenty of arrows!
High-powered flashlights and headlamps (long-lasting) — Twenty!
Spare batteries (all the same type) — Ten boxes!
Walkie-talkies (short-range communication) — Ten units!
The weapons were still too few. Guns were impossible to obtain. If it came down to it, she would just buy more knives—whether fruit knives or kitchen cleavers, it did not matter. The more, the better.
When law and order completely collapsed in the apocalypse…
When “neighbors” turned into starving wolves fighting over the last bite of food…
When trust itself became the most luxurious poison…
Kindness and weakness were nothing but invitations handed directly to death!
The only things that could protect her family were the strength in her hands and constant vigilance.
The pen tip scratched wildly across the paper. Every word she wrote, every number she recorded, corresponded to a face from her previous life—a face that had died miserably, a painful wail, a cold corpse. Each entry was soaked in blood and tears and the bone-deep lessons of that life.
When the densely packed list was finally finished, Lin Wan suddenly slammed the pen onto the desk.
Her eyes were sharper and more resolute than ever before, like a blade tempered in fire.
She had to act immediately!
Even if everyone pointed at her and called her crazy or insane, she still had to start stockpiling supplies right away. Time would not wait for her. In just over ten days, the apocalypse would arrive.
She pulled out the chair, walked to the computer desk, and sat down before turning on the computer.
The dim glow of the screen illuminated her bloodless face.
Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she skillfully logged into several major online shopping platforms.
She quickly typed keywords into the search bar. The pages scrolled rapidly as product images streamed past like flowing water.
Her finger hovered over the left mouse button, aimed directly at the “Buy Now” button.
Suddenly, a cold chill shot up from her tailbone and raced across her entire back, making her scalp tingle and her fingertips turn icy.
No!
If she placed massive orders so recklessly now—sweeping up survival supplies like a raid—did those platforms’ monitoring systems exist for nothing?
Abnormal data would be flagged immediately. It might even trigger alarms and be reported to certain sensitive departments.
In this era where information was almost completely transparent, any unusual behavior would be watched closely by countless invisible eyes.
Her plan to stockpile supplies for self-preservation would become a giant target before the apocalypse even arrived.
And besides…
Money!
She quickly opened her mobile banking app. The screen’s glow lit up her tightly furrowed brows.
Current savings: 128,576.43 yuan.
Financial investment: 150,000.00 yuan (locked, redeemable tomorrow).
Altogether, it was less than 280,000 yuan.
Facing the enormous supply list she had written down, that amount of money was nothing more than a drop in the ocean.
It would not even be enough to fill the gaps between her teeth.
Making money had become the most urgent matter.
How could she get the savings in her father and mother’s hands? Her father was still planning to invest in the stock market—how could she stop him?
She bit down hard, a metallic taste of blood spreading through her mouth.
For now, she could only use all her current savings to purchase the first batch of the most basic supplies—foods and a small amount of medicine that were least likely to raise suspicion on the platforms.
Rice, flour, salt, sugar, instant noodles, vitamins…
If she bought them in larger quantities, she could barely explain it away with excuses like “opening a small convenience store” or “purchasing employee benefits for a company.”
As for the rest…
The missing money…
She could only find ways to leverage something bigger.
Loans? Mortgages? Or even… selling something?
Her mind spun rapidly, calculating possibilities and risks.
Time.
Money.
Those were the two things she lacked the most.
Her steady nine-to-five job at the Botanical Garden, peaceful and comfortable as it was, looked like something she would have to quit immediately.
She needed to devote herself completely to this race against death to gather supplies.
Those supplies were the only path for her entire family to survive.
Lin Wan rubbed her face hard and took several deep breaths, forcing the tight muscles on her face to relax. She squeezed out an expression that looked as “normal” as possible.
She stood up and walked toward the door. Her fingers rested on the cold doorknob. After taking another deep breath, she gently turned it.
Before she realized it, the afternoon had arrived.
“Sis! I’m back!”
A lively teenage voice burst in like a gust of wind.
Sixteen-year-old Lin Yang rushed into the entrance, drenched in sweat. He kicked off his sneakers in one smooth motion and tossed his schoolbag casually onto the shoe cabinet with a loud thud.
He wiped the shining sweat from his forehead and grinned as he complained,
“It’s like a giant furnace outside today! I swear it’s a few degrees hotter than yesterday. Just running a couple steps and I’m already out of breath!”
When he looked up and saw Lin Wan standing at the living room doorway, the smile on his face froze instantly, replaced by shock and worry.
“Sis? What’s wrong with you?”
He hurried over in a few quick steps and leaned in closer, staring at Lin Wan’s paper-white face and the bloodshot eyes that clearly showed she had been crying. His voice changed pitch.
“Why does your face look so scary? Sis, are you sick?”
He instinctively reached out to touch her forehead.
Looking at her younger brother’s face—still carrying a trace of baby fat, filled with sunshine and carefree innocence—Lin Wan’s heart felt as if an invisible hand had seized it tightly, squeezing until it ached with sour pain.
In her previous life, the only thing left on that face had been the bluish-purple stiffness of frostbite and frozen terror…
She forcibly suppressed the surge of bitterness rising in her throat. Tilting her head, she avoided her younger brother’s reaching hand. At the same time, she reached out and ruffled Lin Yang’s sweat-damp hair with a bit more force than she realized.
Her voice was steady with effort, even carrying a hint of deliberate casualness.
“What nonsense are you talking about? I just had a… really terrifying nightmare. I haven’t fully recovered from it yet.”
She pushed Lin Yang toward the hallway, the force slightly stronger than necessary.
“Look at you, you smell like sweat. Go wash your hands! Dinner will be ready soon. Mom’s in the kitchen.”
“Oh… just a nightmare?”
Lin Yang visibly relaxed. His tense shoulders slumped, though he still looked at Lin Wan suspiciously a couple more times.
“You scared me to death! Your face was so pale it looked like—well, never mind. As long as you’re fine!”
He muttered as he shuffled toward the bathroom in his slippers, the slap-slap sound echoing down the hall.
“Sis, that nightmare must’ve been really brutal to scare you like that…”
Listening to the sound of running water from the bathroom and her younger brother’s off-key humming, the forced smile on Lin Wan’s face vanished instantly.
She could not tell anyone.
Not even her closest parents, or the younger brother she loved the most.
Before the disaster truly shattered everyone’s illusions, she could not say a single word.
Otherwise, she would only be treated as a mentally unstable lunatic.
Or worse—she might attract even more terrifying trouble.
This path was destined to be walked alone.
Carrying the blood-soaked secrets of her previous life on her back, she would grit her teeth and move forward step by step.