The TV was showing the weather forecast.

It was predicted that a typhoon would pass through in five days, accompanied by continuous heavy rain.

Yu Xifeng took out twenty portable hard drives from her space storage, all of the largest capacity.

She opened her computer and started downloading videos from the internet—variety shows, movies, TV dramas, short videos, and all kinds of various tutorials.

She downloaded everything onto local storage, saving them onto the USB drives.

Yu Xifeng didn’t pick and choose; she downloaded as much as she could.

The computer stayed on continuously, and Yu Xifeng would check the download progress from time to time.

When Yu Xifeng was a student, she liked reading novels, so she had collected many bundles of novels online.

Many of those bundles contained adult (18+) content, but she didn’t pick through carefully—she just clicked to download all of it.

Together with the tablet and phone she had bought, these would all be her spiritual sustenance in the future.

From ancient to modern times, famous works and academic papers were now easily accessible thanks to the internet.

Many papers could be browsed and found at will; many problems could be solved through search engines.

But the era of information explosion was about to end soon.

Books in libraries were buried, dug out from the extreme cold, and burned. Many things would be lost and lost to history.

Civilization would regress, returning to the days of slash-and-burn farming.

Yu Xifeng thought for a moment and borrowed a CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) account from a graduate school friend. The papers there covered everything.

Chances were she would never understand or need most of them in her lifetime.

Out of a subtle feeling, Yu Xifeng created a new folder on the USB drive and downloaded as many as possible.

The rain was getting heavier, the clouds thick and continuous; even in the daytime, outside there was only a faint dim light.

Near her residential complex was a five-star buffet restaurant. Yu Xifeng had lived frugally all these years, rarely spending extravagantly.

As for now, why not spend the money if not wasted?

The five-star buffet really looked impressive.

The food was dazzling—steaks, seafood, pizza, stir-fried dishes, sushi, sweets on rotating racks, all kinds of desserts.

Yu Xifeng ate to her heart’s content.

She had three bowls of boiled shrimp, one plate of clam meat, one plate of baby squid, one plate of scallops, and five servings of abalone with garlic vermicelli.

Two large pieces of steak, one portion of lamb chops, one salted duck leg, and two small stacks of salmon.

After eating enough meat, Yu Xifeng asked for a cup of lemon fruit tea—tart and sweet, refreshing her appetite.

She also took a slice of Napoleon cake and a few small pieces of Western-style pastries, all tasting quite good.

The satisfaction from the food lifted Yu Xifeng’s mood.

She took an umbrella and walked in the rain to help digestion.

There were many supermarkets around Keke Yajun.

There was one right at the entrance of her complex. Yu Xifeng browsed and casually grabbed some frozen dumplings and potato chips.

Before going home, Yu Xifeng went to the property management office and paid 500 yuan each for water, electricity, and gas bills.

She also scanned a code to join the owners’ WeChat group.

In Building 1 where Yu Xifeng lived, the ground floor was a chess and card room, where the sounds of cursing and the crisp clacking of mahjong tiles could be heard.

Aunt Liu was sitting at the entrance holding her grandson. She didn’t play cards but cracked the free sunflower seeds provided inside.

Aunt Liu also lived in the same building, on the 12th floor.

When she saw Yu Xifeng come in, she raised her eyelids critically and sized her up.

Her grandson stared fixedly at Yu Xifeng’s potato chips.

“Little girl, is the upstairs your place being renovated?” Aunt Liu asked.

“Yeah, hasn’t been lived in for a long time.” Yu Xifeng shook off the raindrops from her umbrella and waited for the elevator.

“There’s quite some noise. Is that your house? Why are you the only one living there?” Aunt Liu pressed.

“Potato chips! I want potato chips!” The grandson threw a tantrum, shouting recklessly.

Aunt Liu gently patted the boy’s hand, “Those are sister’s chips. If sister gives them to you, then you get to eat them, got it?”

After saying this, she glanced at Yu Xifeng with an embarrassed smile. “The child is still young and naive.”

Children can tell if adults are truly angry or just pretending.

After Aunt Liu spoke, the boy’s tantrum got worse.

From inside the chess room, someone said, “It’s just a little potato chips. If the kid wants to eat, just give him some. It’s not something precious.”

“Exactly, we’re all neighbors.”

Aunt Liu’s face showed a proud and determined smile, as if she was ready with a fake excuse.

Yu Xifeng leaned slightly forward, staring at the child.

“These are sister’s chips. If you want some, ask grandma to buy them for you. Only if grandma buys them, then you get to eat, understand?”

Aunt Liu sat on a chair, her complexion slightly pale.

She slapped the boy hard this time, and the child cried loudly.

“Eat, eat, eat. You want to eat everything. If you want the moon in the sky, should I pick it for you?” Aunt Liu scolded.

She glared fiercely at Yu Xifeng.

Yu Xifeng smiled lightly, as if she hadn’t heard, and stepped into the elevator.

“Look at how stingy she is. Would it kill her to give my grandson a chip? With that seductive look, she must be some kept woman living here.”

Aunt Liu muttered as she waited for the elevator to go up.

Back at home, Yu Xifeng placed her keys by the entrance.

She knew Aunt Liu was the kind of person who never stopped taking advantage of others.

The kid was also spoiled by her, thinking that everyone owed him something.

Yu Xifeng first checked the computer’s download progress in the bedroom, then started cooking.

She learned to cook a little in college, and after working for three years, she had been learning recipes online on her days off.

She often brought her lunchbox to work and shared with colleagues, who praised her cooking skills, saying she could easily be a chef.

Yu Xifeng had a good collection of kitchenware: a wok for the stove and a large pot that could be used for steaming and boiling.

The kitchen had two burners.

The rice cooker, pressure cooker, and air fryer were all electric.

She liked drinking pork rib soup, so she prepared the ribs, corn washed clean, and set the pressure cooker.

Soon, the sweet aroma of corn filled the room.

Although she had eaten a lot at the buffet, Yu Xifeng still served herself a bowl to savor slowly.

She packed the leftovers into containers in her space storage and then started cooking another pot.

Compared to soup, rice cooked faster in the rice cooker—it took less than fifteen minutes to make a pot of rice.

The air fryer was the easiest: Yu Xifeng stocked several boxes of semi-prepared chicken nuggets, fries, and sausages.

All she needed to do was heat them up.

The stove was busy as well—Yu Xifeng prepared marinade according to online recipes, ready to make braised dishes.

Braised potatoes, fish balls, shrimp balls, chicken legs, and ham sausages—all steaming hot, one pot after another.

The marinade had a small amount of slightly bitter herbs, fragrant but not greasy.

Even the steam was put to use—Yu Xifeng placed lumps of glutinous rice cakes on the steam.

By the time a pot of braised dishes was ready, the glutinous rice cakes were almost done too.

Between stewing soup, cooking rice, and braising dishes, Yu Xifeng squeezed in time to stir-fry some dishes now and then.

Washing rice, cleaning ingredients, chopping, preparing marinade, marinating.

Packing cooked food repeatedly.

Occasionally, she would sample a slice or two—everything tasted pretty good.