Zheng Weili had been listening by the stairwell for a long time that morning. The night before, a girl living alone on a lower floor had not only had her door pried open in the middle of the night but was also gang-pressed and bullied.

Her face was covered, so no one knew who it was.

“You and Lu Yu should be careful too. Our floor isn’t safe anymore.”

There had been some noise last night, and Jiang Ning wondered why Zheng Weili hadn’t noticed it earlier. But when she saw the marks on Zheng Weili’s neck, she understood everything.

She had overexerted herself and slept like a log.

With water, electricity, and gas all cut off, and no entertainment to pass the time, more exercise was inevitable.

In the apocalypse, with disasters frequently occurring, it’s already hard enough for adults to survive, and for women, pregnancy was a disaster.

Jiang Ning was at a loss—how could she warn someone like her who had never even eaten pork?

Not wanting to be too blunt, she asked indirectly, “Weili, you have a competition next month, right?”

“Yes,” Zheng Weili said with a wistful expression. “I don’t know when this damn weather will end—it’s messing up my training. I can only practice aimlessly at home. Yesterday, I got itchy hands and even used Lu Yu as a punching bag.”

She still hoped to compete and figured they would take precautions. Once both fully accepted the apocalypse, she could remind them properly.

When returning to her room, Jiang Ning glanced at the tightly shut door of 1801.

…

In the early hours, before the lock-pickers could get upstairs, Zheng Weili pounded on the door.

Jiang Ning opened the door to find Zheng Weili bare-handed and Lu Yu holding a knife; simultaneously, the door to 1801 opened.

Facing the united residents of the 18th floor, the few lock-pickers initially looked guilty, but then became brazen and threatened harshly, “If you’re smart, hand over the food. Otherwise, don’t blame the knives in my hands for being merciless.”

Jiang Ning said coldly, “Who said we have any food?”

“Isn’t that obvious? If you don’t have food, why do you bother locking your doors?” The leader waved his knife. “We’re starving to death, but you’re all living fat and happy, hoarding food and not caring if we die. Who does that?”

“Cut the crap and hand over the stuff, and I’ll let you live.”

Actually, Jiang Ning only ate about 80% of a full meal each time, expending much energy training, and there was no need to avoid contact with others, but the rest were starving and pale.

Their vigor and spirit couldn’t be hidden.

These people had starved so badly they lost all decency. Reasoning with them was like talking to a wall.

Jiang Ning was too lazy to argue. “Fine, if you’ve got the guts, come on up and take it.”

She gave Zheng Weili a meaningful look.

Though only a few knocked on the door, there were countless others hidden in the dark. If they didn’t make an example today, more would keep coming.

Zheng Weili understood and instinctively positioned Lu Yu behind her.

Seeing how arrogant the 18th floor gang was, they suddenly kicked open the steel door and charged up the stairs, waving their knives.

Jiang Ning stepped aside and slashed at the leader with her knife.

Having personally witnessed a mother and her three children jump to their deaths, Zheng Weili felt emotionally repressed. When she saw these scum, she couldn’t help but quickly dodge and land a heavy punch to the man’s abdomen.

The man rolled down the stairs, slammed heavily against the door, and lay motionless.

1801 stood firm without moving, dislocating the attacker’s arm directly.

For a moment, screams echoed throughout the floor, chilling and terrifying in the darkness.

Jiang Ning struck several more blows, all carefully avoiding vital points, but blood kept spurting, staining the floor in a shocking display.

There were six attackers in total—three were injured by cuts, others had their arms dislocated, were beaten nearly to death by Zheng Weili, and Lu Yu never even got a chance to strike.

Jiang Ning stood at the stairwell entrance holding her bloodied knife and asked, “Do you want food, or do you want to die?”

The leader clutched his bleeding arm, yelling angrily and mournfully, “You—killing people is against the law!”

“Against the law?”

Jiang Ning tore off their face coverings. Though she couldn’t name them, she recognized several from having met them before. Two were active members of the community group—usually well-dressed and lively, but now masked and doing evil under the disaster.

She took out her phone to photograph them. “You can call the police—let’s see who they catch.”

Unexpectedly, the 18th floor had banded together. They didn’t even have the strength to fight back and, pressured by the situation, had to back down.

“We had no other choice. We’re desperate. You haven’t lost anything. Just pretend nothing happened and let us go, okay?”

They had been so arrogant before, now reduced to cowardly begging on their knees.

If it had been just Jiang Ning, they could have quietly killed her, but today’s was a joint action meant to deter others.

She glanced at 1801 and Zheng Weili, both silent. “You’re lucky today. Next time, not so much. Get lost!”

The noise was so loud that no one else dared open their doors.

Jiang Ning and the others didn’t clean the blood on the floor—they just closed the door and went upstairs.

Lu Yu, having just witnessed 1801’s fierce skill, wanted to take the chance to get to know their neighbor better. “Hi, I’m Lu Yu. I just moved in a few days ago. You’re really skilled. What do you do?”

Huo Yishen, with an expressionless face, stepped to the door and replied, “You guess.”

Lu Yu was speechless.

Zheng Weili saw this and pulled her boyfriend away. “Let’s go.”

This kind of person was clearly not a street thug—probably someone important. Asking questions carelessly could cause trouble.

The deterrent worked well; no one dared bang on their door for several days after.

Jiang Ning opened the curtains early. The typhoon still raged wildly, fiercely slamming against the doors and windows, making the whole building seem like it was shaking.

The typhoon had arrived early and lasted for a full fifteen days with no sign of stopping.

Her worries were coming true. The disasters weren’t just intensifying—they might never end.

But life had to go on. Survive one day at a time.

Xiaobai’s belly was huge, and her appetite was enormous. When Jiang Ning teased her with some greens, she noticed bloodstains on the cardboard.

Touching her belly, she saw Xiaobai was restless and uneasy—she seemed about to give birth.

A new life in the apocalypse—after raising them, Jiang Ning could make spicy rabbit head, cold rabbit meat, braised rabbit, dry pot rabbit chunks, shredded cold rabbit salad—all delicious just to think about.

Soon, the first baby rabbit was born.

Good, it looked only a few centimeters long, not much bigger than a mouse.

When Doudou arrived, Xiaobai had already had six babies. She secretly took out two wilted cabbage leaves from her pocket. “Xiaobai has babies, eat quickly.”

There were ten babies total, twelve mouths to feed, making Jiang Ning worried about how to feed them all.

Just feeding pellets wouldn’t be enough, but with the half-month of typhoon and rain, the sky was gloomy, and the balcony greens lacked light and were yellowing.

If not for secretly using the space to cheat, the plants would have withered long ago.

The plants grown inside the space were thriving and lush, pleasing to the eye. That morning, Jiang Ning couldn’t resist and picked some choy sum to wash and cook noodles.

Homegrown, and incredibly delicious.

Two fruit tree seedlings were also alive, especially the old bay tree, which was budding.

Jiang Ning told herself everything was moving in a good direction.

Taking care of the rabbits, exercising, reading, sleeping in—life was still pretty fulfilling.

She had formed a new habit: every morning upon waking, she’d listen to the sound of the wind outside.

Listening so much, she had become half an expert.

On the eighteenth day, the wind sounded a bit off.