Chapter 66: The Great Battle on the Eighth Floor

Jiang Yuan hadn’t meant to sound so dramatic, but in an apocalypse, the one thing you couldn’t afford was sentimentality or acting on impulse.

Clearly, survival education still needed to continue.

That night, she went into her space and pulled out a few post-apocalyptic movies, planning to show them to her parents during the day.

With all this going on, time passed quickly — she needed to rest soon.

There were things to do during the day, and time couldn’t be wasted.

Jiang Yuan quietly made some plans: the space was more or less organized now. All that remained was to plant some vegetables later.

Also, the heavy rain would probably stop soon.

The strong winds over the past few days had kept everyone indoors, so they had stocked up quite a bit at home.

Once the rain weakened or just stopped, she’d go out again to look for more supplies.

They weren’t lacking much anymore. They had enough food for decades, and the water space was stocked.

The only things that were still in short supply were items like gasoline and liquefied gas — those were hard to come by.

Once the extreme cold arrived and chaos broke out, there was no guarantee they’d be able to hold onto this apartment.

Later, when the survivor base was fully established, they would probably move there.

Humans were social creatures. A single family couldn’t live in isolation forever.

Adults were one thing, but kids needed peers, friends their own age.

Still, unless the conditions improved drastically, she wouldn’t consider relocating just yet.

She didn’t even know how long the apocalypse would last. After the extreme cold, who knew what other disasters would follow?

Thinking too much gave her a headache, so she chose to stop for now.

Even so, this wasn’t something that could be put off — everything needed to be planned in advance.

—

The next day, she still got up at 8 AM and helped her mom make breakfast.

Nowadays, they made whatever was simplest — the goal was to avoid wasting any resources.

The rice was soaked the day before, already washed and prepped in water.

That way, it cooked faster, softened easily, and saved electricity…

They used the steam from the rice to reheat some buns and flower rolls.

They had pickled a lot of small side dishes. Lately, they were eating a lot of sweet-and-sour radish and salted eggplant.

These had all been bought before. Her mom said if you didn’t eat the salted eggplant in time, it would spoil — though it lasted better in the cold.

Once reheated, you could tell if it had gone bad or not.

“Mom, have Dad bring down two more gas canisters later. Let’s cook more meat dishes while we can.

From what I remember of the weather report, this heavy rain might last for about a month.

Today seems even worse than usual, so maybe it’ll start letting up afterward.”

Qin Yue brightened at her words.

“That’s great news! Once the rain stops, life can return to normal. So why are we making so much food?”

Ah. Her mom was still being too optimistic.

“Mom, don’t forget what month we’re in.

Once the rain ends, it’ll be winter.

With this much rainwater that can’t drain fast enough — and cold air moving in — everything’s going to freeze.

Think about it: while the rain’s falling, our cooking smells don’t spread.

But when there’s no more rain and someone catches a whiff of our food, that’ll be a real problem.”

Qin Yue thought it over and realized her daughter had a point.

“Alright, I’ll have your dad go get them later. You start moving things first.”

“Okay.”

Jiang Yuan wasn’t sure if scents would actually spread in this weather, but at least last time they cooked, there wasn’t the slightest smell.

Plus, with the rain and howling wind, the noise level outside was high. Even if they made a racket, no one would notice.

So it felt safe.

Besides, she could take advantage of this rare opportunity to cook more meat and stash it in her space.

Who knew what would happen later? It was always better to be overprepared.

—

After a simple breakfast, the whole family got moving.

Qin Yue and Little Nuan started clearing out the fridge and freezer.

Jiang Xingzhi went to get the gas tanks, ready to cook up a storm.

“Oh right, sweetie, maybe you shouldn’t be in the kitchen.”

“Why not?”

“If someone comes by to buy stuff during the day, and you smell like meat, won’t that expose us?”

Ugh.

She had considered everything — except that.

Ridiculous.

Still, cash was tempting right now.

Jiang Yuan had no choice but to reluctantly agree, though she insisted on tasting everything once it was done to check for saltiness. Only then did she let it go.

Jiang Xingzhi had been right — several groups came by during the day. Two of them were large groups.

One was from Building 12 next door, the other from Building 10 across the way.

Both buildings were close to theirs. Clothes had already been mostly sold off. Cigarettes and liquor were also selling well.

Everything else was just daily necessities.

Jiang Yuan had a good amount of cash on hand now — in just a few days, she had made at least ¥500,000.

The time in her space had also increased — now up to 726 hours, 53 minutes, and 28 seconds.

That was over a month’s worth. Amazing.

—

By around 6 PM, the sky was already dark — earlier than usual due to the weather.

She planned to pack things up and bring them inside. Tomorrow, she wouldn’t be opening shop.

“Mingyuan-jie, what are you doing?”

She turned around at the sudden voice — it was Zhang Kaiyang, flashing his big toothy grin, clearly in a good mood.

“Packing up. What are you doing here?”

“Nothing really. Just came down to watch the drama. Haven’t seen you or Brother Song in days. Come on, hang out at my place for a bit!”

Jiang Yuan looked at his carefree face with a bit of confusion.

“There was some noise from downstairs just now. What happened?”

Being on the top floor, she hadn’t heard clearly. If she’d been indoors, she wouldn’t have heard anything at all.

“The eighth floor erupted. Come on — go call Brother Song. I’m heading down first. Ye Mianmian’s already waiting at home.”

“Alright!”

Jiang Yuan agreed. It was a good chance to discuss her plans with these people.

After bringing her things home and telling her parents, she went and knocked on Song Yi’s door.

He wasn’t planning to go at first, but since Jiang Yuan came to invite him personally, he didn’t say no.

When they reached the 20th floor, Zhang Kaiyang and Ye Mianmian had already prepared a bunch of snacks.

Clearly, most of it had been scavenged beforehand.

“Come on in, Brother Song, Mingyuan-jie…”

Zhang Kaiyang welcomed them in as Ye Mianmian handed over cups of hot water.

“You guys missed it — the drama on the eighth floor was amazing.”

“What happened? Tell us already!”

Ye Mianmian was curious too, but Zhang had insisted on waiting until they arrived to tell the full story.

“So, the water level in our building has already reached the 5th floor. Now everyone’s moving upstairs.

The stairwell’s full of people, and sometimes they knock on doors to use the bathroom.

It was okay before, but now there’s no water. Even using your own bathroom is hard — let alone letting someone else in.

Remember that guy who used to live on the fifth floor?”

“You don’t mean the one we ran into during our first trip out, do you?”