There was no good wood to be found in the malls or office buildings, and the museum had already been flooded.

But there was still one place—maybe it was worth trying their luck.

Fengcheng was known worldwide as the largest furniture manufacturing base. The International Furniture Expo Center built in Congle Town was a 4A-rated landmark building, hosting a global furniture exposition every year.

This year marked the 30th anniversary, and the exhibition was more grand than ever. Massive advertising campaigns had started six months ago through various channels.

Jiang Ning recalled carefully—the scheduled date of the expo was three days before the typhoon hit.

The exhibition would last for half a month, so it hadn’t ended yet.

A global showcase of top-tier furniture—what kind of spectacle would that be?

Jiang Ning didn’t really care about that. After all, foreign furniture rarely used real wood, but domestic antique-style furniture might be a different story.

She had seen an ad: some major furniture company had used thousand-year-old rosewood to craft an intricately carved canopy bed and an entire furniture set for a room. The starting price? Nine figures.

In recent years, as Chinese people became increasingly confident in their own culture, a wave of retro furniture trends followed.

To attract attention, the expo organizers even used their connections to borrow a log of ebony wood as the centerpiece of the exhibition.

And not just ebony—there were also many other valuable woods like huanghuali, old sandalwood, and red sandalwood on display, used as a means to promote traditional furniture culture to the world.

Jiang Ning had to make a trip—and had to act immediately.

The Expo Center was located in Congle Town, about 40 kilometers from the city center. The water along the way was complicated and treacherous, but the gamble was worth it.

Zheng Weili and the others had gone out to gather building materials. Jiang Ning knocked on the door of unit 1801. “I’m heading out for a bit.”

No one in 1801 objected. “Be careful.”

She carried the backpack with the inflatable assault boat down the stairs—and just happened to run into Su Mengyao on the 17th floor. Su Mengyao was coming up with Yu Qingqing from 1202.

Su Mengyao’s eyes were red at the corners, and tears came instantly. “A-Ning, A-Jian is hurt. Only you can save him. I’m begging you, please save him!”

Jiang Ning treated her like air, face cold as she continued down the stairs.

Unexpectedly, Su Mengyao grabbed her, refusing to let go. “A-Ning, we’re schoolmates! You can’t just watch him die!”

She was crying loudly, attracting neighbors on the 17th floor to open their doors.

Jiang Ning drew her knife and slashed.

Su Mengyao screamed and dodged. Her waist-length black hair was sliced in half, falling to the floor like scattered threads.

Before she could react, Jiang Ning kicked her to the ground.

Tearful and delicate just moments ago, Su Mengyao now stared at Jiang Ning in stunned disbelief, too shocked to even cry.

Jiang Ning stepped on her chest and didn’t move. “If you’re tired of living and keep throwing yourself at my gunpoint, I don’t mind sending you to the underworld.”

She pressed down hard, expression utterly cold.

Su Mengyao felt like her ribs were about to break. Her face turned deathly pale from suffocation.

Yu Qingqing took two steps back. “Jiang Ning, Mengyao only wanted you to save A-Jian. If you won’t help, fine—but why hurt someone?”

“Is her brain broken? Yours too?” Jiang Ning shot her a cold glare. “This isn’t a hospital, and I’m not a doctor. If you’ve got an assault boat, why aren’t you taking the injured to the hospital? Why come to me—someone who’s only studied Chinese medicine for a year and hasn’t even grasped the basics? Do you think everyone else is stupid?”

Yu Qingqing was stunned and tried to explain, “But our boat’s out of fuel, and it’s raining so hard…”

“Then just watch him die. Why dump the blame on me?”

Jiang Ning sneered. “You people are something else. You don’t want to take risks or feel guilty, so you try to shift the responsibility onto me?”

Her words left Yu Qingqing dumbfounded.

Jiang Ning had only studied medicine for a year, and mostly just theoretical knowledge. But Su Mengyao had spoken with such certainty—and they had all believed it, so Yu Qingqing had naturally assumed it too.

Now that she thought about it, it really was unfair to push it on Jiang Ning.

“…Then how about lending us your assault boat so we can take A-Jian to the hospital?”

“You want to be a saint? Go be one by yourself.” Jiang Ning walked up to her, mocking, “You got screwed and now you want to drag me down with you?”

Yu Qingqing turned pale, like she had been struck by lightning. Her eyes grew extremely complicated.

Ignoring her, Jiang Ning continued down the stairs.

When she reached the 6th floor, Yu Qingqing suddenly chased after her. “Stop right there.”

Jiang Ning kept going.

Yu Qingqing said angrily, “If you already knew they were up to no good, why didn’t you warn me?”

“Who are you to me?” Jiang Ning shot back. “Why should I warn you?”

“If you’re really that kind, why is it that with so many people starving in the group, you only gave food to Yang Weicong? When he brought a group to your place, you could’ve said no—why didn’t you?

One meal after another—did you really not notice what was going on? Or were you hoping to win his favor?

Now that you’ve seen through them, why are you still hanging around with them?”

Looking at Yu Qingqing, Jiang Ning was reminded just how foolish her past self had been.

Why hadn’t she said anything? Because it was pointless. Everyone has their own calculations.

In her past life, Yu Qingqing had figured it out too—she wanted to earn Yang Weicong’s favor but also didn’t want to lose face.

She served him with good food and drinks. He said a few sweet words, and she was floating, ready to offer up her heart and soul.

If someone had suddenly jumped out back then to say he was no good, that he was just using her, and that the apocalypse meant they should conserve food, Yu Qingqing probably would’ve been the first to call that person crazy.

That’s how love-struck fools are.

So why bother warning her?

And even now, despite seeing through them, Yu Qingqing was still playing dumb and sticking with them. What kind of person does that make her?

“I didn’t! If you’d warned me earlier, I wouldn’t have given them my food!” Yu Qingqing refused to face her own mistakes, her voice choked with tears. “Why are you so heartless? Why didn’t you tell me earlier that Yang Weicong was a monster?”

Tears streamed down her face. She sobbed uncontrollably.

Jiang Ning reminded her, “You’d better cry louder—he might be upstairs listening right now.”

Yu Qingqing flinched and instinctively covered her mouth.

See? Still wants to keep cozy with them.

You can’t wake someone who’s pretending to sleep. Jiang Ning had no responsibility, much less any obligation.

She got in the assault boat and headed for the Expo Center through the pouring rain.

Considering the unknown dangers, Jiang Ning put on a life vest, and her diving gear was ready in her spatial storage.

She was bold and steady. The boat maneuvered skillfully, avoiding several whirlpools along the way.

Calm and focused, she traveled over 40 kilometers in a little over an hour. In the distance, she finally saw the enormous, artistically designed Expo Center standing tall in the floodwaters.

Fengcheng had an extensive river network, and the Expo Center was located at the junction of several rivers. Nearby were provincial roads, ring roads, and interchanges, forming a major transportation hub.

The more interconnected the area, the more complex the water flow.

Jiang Ning focused intensely. Ahead were several whirlpools in a row.

Without hesitation, she sped up and charged forward…