Chapter 32: A Party of Four

Jiang Yuan was quite content on her end, but outside, things had already descended into chaos.

The first floor had been flooded, and two households were seeking shelter elsewhere.

However, not many people were willing to take others in.

Apartment 0101 had a family of four: two sons, the older one in high school and the younger in middle school.
With girls in the household, hosting others would clearly be inconvenient.

Apartment 0102 was rented by three young people—two men and one woman.
Among them, one man and the woman were a couple.

The building group chat was blowing up, with people asking to be taken in, but no one responded.

Sun Yian was tagged (@) in the group too, but he just made a token gesture, vaguely encouraging everyone to help—and that was it.

The situation was pressing. With no other choice, the first-floor residents began knocking on doors, one floor at a time, hoping someone would take them in.

Soon, they reached the 21st floor. Jiang Hang stood by the door watching for a long time. When he saw no one from apartment 2102 respond, he didn’t step out either—nor did he let Qin Yue open their door.

The person knocking was a young man, probably from apartment 0102. Seeing no one answer, he left cursing under his breath.

Song Yi’s incident earlier had stirred up quite the commotion.
Many residents had now decided to go out and scavenge for supplies, taking advantage of the water level not being too high yet.

Jiang Yuan knew that once people ran out of food, they’d start getting desperate. The surrounding stores would likely be looted.

Just as she was thinking about this, she got another call from Xia Chaoyang.

Without hesitation, Jiang Yuan hung up and blocked the number.

Then Bai Mengmeng tried calling too. Jiang Yuan repeated the same action as before.

In her previous life, Jiang Yuan provided the money while they went out to buy supplies. On the surface it seemed fair, but they only gave her scraps—how much they actually kept hidden, who knew?

In this life, she wasn’t going to be taken advantage of. If anyone wanted a favor from her, the sun would have to rise from the west.

---

By the afternoon, quite a few people had actually gone out of the neighborhood.

Jiang Yuan stayed by the window, observing carefully. People from Building 13 and possibly other buildings were also out.

She was almost out of fresh vegetables and water at home, but luckily, the vegetables in her space were growing well.

She had just used the newly unlocked well to water them. They’d be ready to harvest soon.

Leafy greens were great that way—didn’t matter if they were big or small, you could eat them anytime.

Life was passing slowly and leisurely.

By evening, her mom had stewed tomato beef brisket, stir-fried some mung bean sprouts (grown naturally at home), steamed white rice, and served some previously prepared pickled vegetables.

Just as they picked up their chopsticks, the doorbell rang.

No need to guess—it was clear who it was. Everyone else had been blocked off at the emergency exits.

Only Song Yi had the means to reach their door.

“Mom, Dad, you two go ahead and eat. I’ll go check.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“No need. If anything’s wrong, I’ll call you.”

Despite her saying that, Jiang Hang watched the surveillance feed carefully, monitoring his daughter’s safety.
If anything went wrong, he’d rush out immediately. Even Qin Yue handed him a hammer, just in case.

Then she returned to the table and started giving Little Nuan more food.

The little girl could sense the tense atmosphere. She quietly lowered her head and ate without saying a word.

---

Out in the hallway, Song Yi was the first to speak.

“Jiang Yuan, if you’re free tonight, let’s head out together. There’s a supermarket nearby.
If we don’t go, someone else will take everything.”

Was he talking about the one she visited yesterday?

“Sure. But the water level’s risen too high. I think it’s probably neck-deep out there now.”

She gestured to show the height—on someone her size, the water would likely reach her shoulders or even higher.

“Yeah, but I’ve got an inflatable kayak. We can use that.”

“The water’s deep now, and most of the shops are probably half-flooded.
But that supermarket has two floors. The food is upstairs, so it should still be accessible.”

When he mentioned that, Jiang Yuan felt a stab in her heart—those gold and silver jewelry displays!

“Right, supplies are important. But I remember there were two jewelry counters on the first floor of that store.”

“You want them?”

“Yes, but they probably locked those up well. I’m not sure we can open them.”

Song Yi looked confident and said calmly, “Don’t worry—I’ve called for help.”

“There are others?”

Now Jiang Yuan was surprised.

“Yes. A guy from Apartment 0902—a top student in mechanical engineering. Picking locks is a piece of cake for him.

And a girl from Apartment 1101. It’ll be the four of us.”

They were from the same building, and neighbors needed to stick together.

The guy on the 9th floor had the skills, but what was the girl from the 11th floor bringing to the table?

Looking at Song Yi, Jiang Yuan instantly understood. He probably had a thing for the girl and was just doing her a favor.

After all, who doesn’t appreciate something beautiful?

“No problem. But how did you get in touch with them?

Don’t get me wrong—if we’re going out together, I need to know who’s involved.”

“Of course.”

Song Yi nodded and explained.

“When I went out earlier, a lot of people added me on WeChat.

I selectively messaged a few. That way, our 21st floor won’t end up being everyone’s target.”

Hmm. Fair enough.

But this also meant they themselves might now be at risk.

Jiang Yuan didn’t say anything more. Initially, she planned to have Jiang Hang (her dad) accompany her if she went out.

But now she decided—it was better to have him stay home.

They agreed to leave at 1:00 AM.

After returning home, Jiang Yuan told her parents the plan.

After dinner, she said she needed to rest for a bit first.

Jiang Hang was unwilling to let her go. His daughter heading out with two men—how could he be okay with that?

“Dad, listen. Song Yi’s the one leading this. If anything happens to me, you and Mom would never let him off the hook—he knows that.

He’s not stupid. He’ll make sure I’m safe.

As for the other two, we’re all going out together, so naturally we’ll look after each other.

Besides, if I’m not home, it’ll just be Mom and Little Nuan here.

If something happens and you’re not around, what then?”

“But… I still don’t feel at ease.”

Hearing this, Jiang Yuan’s nose stung—she nearly burst into tears.

“Dad, I’m an adult now. I can take care of myself.
But while I’m gone, you need to be extra careful too.

No matter what others say—don’t trust anyone, and don’t open the door for anyone.”

This was the heaviest atmosphere the household had experienced yet.
Jiang Yuan didn’t want to say more and went off to sleep.

In the future, things like this would only happen more frequently—and become even more dangerous.

Everyone needed to get used to it.
This was the apocalypse. No one could escape it.

---

At night, she left 10 minutes early, only to find Song Yi sitting right outside her door.

“What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you. Let’s go.”

Whoa—gave her a bit of a scare.

Still, it was good to go together.
They had agreed to meet at the 9th-floor stairwell.

Until now, everything had been arranged via the group chat—this would be their first real meeting in person.