The sky remained overcast, the clouds showing no sign of dispersing, and a light rain fell.

No one knew whether the rain would continue or how long it would last.

So, during this brief pause in the downpour, some residents quickly organized through the community group chat, planning to go out shopping.

Many responded enthusiastically.

After all, no one had stocked much food. Aside from staples like rice, flour, and cooking oil, most preferred to buy fresh fruits and vegetables daily, which would only last two or three days.

Young renters were even worse off. They usually relied on takeout and only had a small pot and instant noodles, so they were even more eager to go out.

Fortunately, there were a few residents who enjoyed fishing. They often brought inflatable boats to fish in the wild, and the community happened to have a few of these boats. They had already coordinated with a supermarket owner to transport some food back.

However, food prices were high in this situation. Some people refused to pay, calling the supermarket owner a profiteer exploiting the disaster.

The supermarket owner defended himself in the group chat: with such heavy rain outside, his business wasn’t easy either. They were busy with flood prevention work, barely managing to salvage some supplies. He couldn’t afford to absorb the losses, so he had to charge for the goods.

Some residents caused a commotion but managed to get very little, leaving them angrier than before.

Auntie Wang, used to being domineering, declared that she wouldn’t buy any overpriced food, letting no one profit from her.

Thus, when generous neighbors delivered supplies via inflatable boats, the goods were quickly bought at high prices by others.

Shen Xiaoxiao didn’t buy anything. Her household had plenty of supplies and even an online-ordered inflatable boat. As long as the power and water didn’t fail, she could sustain her parents for a while.

Father Shen had intended to help at the hospital, but the hospital leadership had blocked him. None of the rescue teams had a spot reserved for him.

He realized that, due to tense relations with the leaders, they were deliberately keeping him out this time.

Shen Xiaoxiao noticed her father’s unease and immediately comforted him. “It’s okay, Dad. You have skills; they’ll be useful someday. Maybe this is a sign for another option.”

She pulled out a tablet and showed her parents a new post from the site administrator, issued the previous night.

The post predicted that the global heavy rain and typhoons would continue intermittently for nearly fifteen days.

Especially, online commenters noted that a typhoon eye was forming in the distant waters near Shen City. Even if it didn’t make landfall, it would affect surrounding cities, causing more flooding and waterlogging.

The rainfall would last about half a month. At the current intensity, utilities like water, electricity, and gas would inevitably fail. Even residents in high-rise buildings would be significantly affected.

Shen Xiaoxiao looked up and addressed her parents seriously: “I just got news that the first batch of people who received the rescue Black Cards are qualified to enter the bases. Our meeting point in Shen City is the Huan Shan Valley, so we need to plan ahead.”

Father Shen and her mother were stunned. “Black Card? Meeting point? Base?”

Shen Xiaoxiao repeated everything, explaining the group chat’s concerns about the future—things often mentioned in many post-apocalyptic novels.

Prolonged rainfall and disasters weaken urban emergency response capabilities, sometimes making it impossible to maintain basic infrastructure.

Water and electricity outages become likely, and communications are affected.

Combined with food shortages and disrupted information exchange, in the face of a nationwide disaster, the authorities won’t be able to help everyone and may lose control over societal order.

In such a scenario, social civilization gradually collapses. People, desperate to survive, abandon all moral limits, fighting for food and resources.

Only the strong—those with fists—would dictate reality.

Hearing Shen Xiaoxiao, her parents were silent. If things really unfolded that way, leaving early would indeed be wise.

But the idea of a base still seemed unbelievable to Father Shen. “You say someone prepared a base for the apocalypse, and they’d kindly let us stay there for free? Xiaoxiao, it’s not that I don’t believe you, but this predicted rain could just be a coincidence. It’s only been a day, and the news hasn’t reported it lasting fifteen days.”

Shen Xiaoxiao knew her father wouldn’t easily believe her. Any normal adult wouldn’t believe such a strange thing.

She pulled a Black Card from her pocket. “This appeared beside my bed in the early hours of the first day of the torrential rain.”

Father Shen took it. The card looked like black crystal. It had Shen Xiaoxiao’s name, her photo, gender, and a base number.

“This…”

He and his wife exchanged a look of confusion. Their daughter wouldn’t lie, so it was probably genuine.

But it was strange. What kind of bizarre organization would brainwash their daughter?

Shen Xiaoxiao understood that her parents still didn’t fully believe. A mysterious Black Card appearing beside the bed would seem unreal to anyone—it felt like a dream.

She even questioned whether she had hallucinated or joined some cult.

Then, yesterday, the apocalypse website administrator updated the rescue section again.

He announced 1,000 new spots for entering the base and explained the Black Card’s purpose.

The gist: the Black Card is exclusive ID, non-transferable, destroyed upon death.

Holders of the first batch of Black Cards can take their families to specific transfer points to enter the base.

The limit is ten people per card, which monitors the true information of everyone it tracks.

However, the condition is that they must lead the team themselves or cooperate with others to overcome disasters and reach the transfer point.

More importantly, the Black Card comes with eight cubic meters of storage space for supplies.

At that moment, netizens who received the Black Card tested it. Their mouse was immediately drawn into an invisible space by the card.

It couldn’t be seen or touched.

The phenomenon caused an uproar online.

This meant that with the card, they could bring their supplies and not worry about lacking food or necessities on the way.

It was unbelievable!

Those with cards were ecstatic; those without clutched their chests, eager to secure one of the 1,000 spots.

The administrator had preemptively set up information locks and card destruction to prevent disputes.

This meant that if a cardholder was in danger, others couldn’t snatch the card.

To prove it to her parents, Shen Xiaoxiao held the Black Card close to the coffee table.

The coffee table vanished right before them.

Father Shen almost jumped, eyes wide with shock. “Xiaoxiao, what did you do? Where’s the coffee table?”