[edited]

“There’s nothing at home…”

“Then just be careful,” Jiang Ning replied after a moment’s hesitation. She agreed, realizing it would be much safer if he had food in hand.

Rather than taking advantage of her, it’s better to go out and do it.   

1801 glanced around the living room and said, “Thank you for taking care of Doudou.”   

“It’s nothing, you helped me yesterday too.”    

Jiang Ning, being cautious by nature, stored away her supplies early. The kitchen only had winter melons, pumpkins, and Chinese cabbage.   

Huo Yishen nodded slightly and left immediately.    

Her food plans were interrupted. Jiang Ning turned on the bathroom light and continued struggling with the half cleaned pig intestines in the space, only to have the power cut off suddenly.    

She closed the door and quickly entered the space.    

The power in space didn’t go out, which filled her with joy and gave her more confidence in the dark apocalypse.    

People’s hearts are unpredictable. Even when facing a child, Jiang Ning was particularly cautious. She cooked cabbage noodles at night.    

Since Doudou couldn’t eat eggs because of the cold, she added a slice of sausage. Unexpectedly, Doudou enjoyed it.    

Now that they are familiar with each other, Doudou is no longer shy around her. “My sister’s cooking is delicious, but my brother’s rice is always spoiled.”    

1801 was probably in his early 20’s, so it was normal for him not to know how to cook. Seeing that she had a good appetite, Jiang Ning added another half a bowl. .

It wasn’t even six o’clock, and the sky was completely dark.    

The terrain of Jinrong Community is relatively high, but the water still reaches the gate of the community. The group was still lively, but there was obviously less food being shared. The raging typhoon and power outage finally made them feel afraid, and the tense atmosphere started spreading.   

Jiang Ning raised the price to 30 yuan, but still, no one spoke up.   

Firstly, they are neighbors. If they are greedy for money, it will be awkward to meet in the future. Secondly, they were also afraid and had taken precautions against this ghostly weather.   

When the power went out, the whole city fell into darkness. The bright lights of the past could no longer be seen, and an invisible uneasiness followed.   

Jiang Ning pulled the curtains and turned on the solar lights.   

Doudou was scared and subconsciously grabbed the corner of her clothes.   

Since she’s not used to taking care of children, she could only keep using the tablet to play cartoons.

Around eight o’clock in the evening, 1801 came back.   

Dressed in dry casual clothes and carrying a bag of things, “Jiang Ning, thank you for taking care of Doudou.”   

The bag was quite heavy, containing a bag of potatoes, two cabbages, 2 kilograms of noodles, a box of cold medicine, an alcohol stove, and solid alcohol tablets.   

Huo Yishen reminded her, “If there’s a power outage, there might also be a water outage. You better stock up.”   

Jiang Ning thanked him and hesitated, but eventually accepted the goods.   

As soon as he left with Doudou, she immediately closed the doors and windows and turned on the exhaust fan. Then she started cooking: braised pig intestines, red cooked pig intestines, hot and sour stir fried pig intestines…   

Sweet and sour spareribs, pork rib and corn soup, flame drunken goose, and stir fried beef with green peppers.   

She kept busy until late into the night, then went out to throw away the kitchen waste, only to find water stains on the corridor floor.  

Water stains with shoe prints, disappearing at the doorstep of 1801…  

Going out during the day, and even at night?  

Three stainless steel gates, tirelessly stocking up day and night regardless of danger and not only he reminded her to stock water, but the items given all had significance.  

Back in her room, Jiang Ning fell into contemplation. This 1801 was not simple.  

…  

The rain was chilly, and sleeping was extremely comfortable.  

It remained dark outside, and Jiang Ning continued to bury her head in sleep.  

When she got tired of sleeping, she opened her phone to find it was already past ten in the morning.  

She walked to the balcony, everything outside was gloomy, and the boundary between the sky and water was indistinguishable.  

There was a faint noise at the bottom of the building. Jiang Ning looked down and saw that the water had flooded into the neighborhood, and the ground floor residents were just starting to deal with it.  

There was a power outage yesterday, so the group was much quieter, but some people still posted pictures of water reaching the ankles of a group of residents.

The emergency hotline was unreachable, and even if it went through, it was useless as the duty station was already flooded.  

While residents grumbled, they hurriedly moved their belongings upstairs.  

This area was right next to the university town, where houses were rarely empty, and those who didn’t live there would rent out their homes.  

Some smart individuals were already asking in their group chat, who could temporarily accommodate them?  

Normally it wouldn’t matter; neighbours could support one another but now not only there’s a power outage, but even the gas is cut off this morning.  

Rescue teams can’t come in, who dares to casually take in others?  

It’s easy to invite people, but it’s hard to send them away. What if they don’t leave once they come in?   

Finding a shelter is a problem, but now even finding food is difficult.   

They are afraid of helping others only to make enemies; the chat group fell silent.   

The ground floor residents are annoyed; they can’t block the corridor, can they?   

With continuous rain and typhoons, how can one live in the damp corridor? Adults can tolerate it, but how about the children?   

Many people were unwilling, so they went upstairs one by one, knocking on each door and asking.   

If it doesn’t work out, they can just pay to stay in a hotel.   

Either the residents didn’t speak up, or their homes were already full, leaving no room for others.   

The door was knocked on again. Jiang Ning was surprised at the speed of the ground floor, but it turned out to be 1801.   

He had just woken up too, with a tired look on his face. “I changed the door at home; is it okay to put the old one in the stairwell?”   

Jiang Ning agreed and offered to help right away.   

The two worked together to install the old door on the stairs to the 18th floor.   

Though it was said to be helping, 1801 did most of the work; Jiang Ning only lent a hand and even received a key.   

When the residents from the 1st floor came up, seeing the door at the staircase, they grumbled and turned back downstairs.   

Jiang Ning listened to the commotion outside. This was good, as it saved a lot of trouble and danger.

This door has temporarily prevented a lot of trouble, but that may not be the case in the future. If that happens then her door will be installed as well. Others aren’t stupid; if two doors were suddenly installed, it’s easy to figure out that there’s stockpiled food on the 18th floor.  

Once they swarm up, no amount of doors can stop them.   

When the extreme cold comes, it’s not too late to take it out.   

…   

The natural gas was cut off, Jiang Ning dragged out a gas cylinder from the space, and after a while of fumbling, she installed the stove. Then closed the doors and windows tightly and continued to cook.   

Even if the smell escaped, it would be washed away by the rain.   

But it was extremely uncomfortable; Jiang Ning’s body was covered with the grease scent, and the kitchen smelled as bad and humid like a sauna.

But if she didn’t cook now, she wouldn’t dare to light a fire later.   

After eating a spicy hotpot and sweating all over, she felt refreshed.   

The water level continued to rise, already reaching halfway up her calves.   

To avoid anxiety, Jiang Ning turned off her phone, took a comfortable nap, and then after that she entered the space to cultivate the area.   

Seeing the timer ticking down, she rolled up her sleeves and got to work.   

Time is of the essence, she used a lot of force when handling the hoe, and soon her two tender hands were blistered.   

Even though ten square meters didn’t seem like much, working on it was extremely exhausting.   

After turning over the soil and leveling it, Jiang Ning divided it into four sections, sowing different vegetable seeds in each, and also sprinkled some eggplant seeds, green pepper seeds, cucumber seeds to be planted in the corners.   

With such a small plot of land, it had to be used efficiently without waste.   

The space synchronized with the outside, but it seemed to disregard the season. After thinking about it, she planted a sapling of pomelo and a sapling of old age grapes in the corners.   

She tried rushing up, but it still took her two hours. She feels so distressed just thinking about it.   

After leaving the space, she found that the water had stopped, and the network connection was unstable.

It felt like the whole world was about to stop…