The helicopter landed at the base on the small hill, and Mayor Li arrived with Wang Rui to greet them.

“Mayor Li, I think we need to talk.”

Xia Zhengyang was always one to conduct business promptly. As soon as he got off the helicopter, he went straight to Mayor Li.

The mayor nodded, and the two of them walked off to the office together.

Meanwhile, Wang Rui stepped forward to check on the three returnees.

After some brief small talk, Lin Chu couldn’t wait any longer—she was eager to get back to the residential area.

They had been delayed outside for four days. She had no idea what had become of her tomato seedlings or her eggs.

Seeing her hurrying toward the dock, Wang Rui quickly called out to her.

“Dr. Lin, the three days of heavy rain have caused the water level in the residential area to rise again. It’s possible that the next round of rain will flood the sixth floor all over again.”

“The survivors living there have already started packing up. When you get back, you should do the same. While the weather’s good, it’s best to move into the hilltop base now.”

Wang Rui didn’t know about Lin Chu’s private shelter. From his perspective, it only made sense that she would want to pack up and relocate to the small hill where it was safer.

After all, the rainstorms were erratic and unpredictable now—no one knew if the next downpour would completely submerge the sixth floor of the residential buildings.

Waiting until it was underwater would only result in damaged property.

Moving early was the safest choice.

Lin Chu understood this reasoning, of course.

She neither agreed nor disagreed. She simply asked Wang Rui, “Are there still boats going to the residential area from the dock?”

He nodded. “Yes. Now that the weather’s cleared up, quite a few survivors are demanding to move back. Mayor Li assigned extra staff to take shifts transporting everyone’s belongings back and forth.”

“Then I’ll go first,” Lin Chu said, turning to bid farewell to the others. Just as she was about to leave, Bai Wei called out to stop her.

“Wait a second—I have something for you.”

Lin Chu knew exactly what she meant, and followed her without question.

Bai Wei had arrived in this world just three days earlier than Lin Chu.

Since she came late, she was only able to live in the tent area.

She had already placed her shelter on the small hill and hadn’t moved into the residential buildings with the others.

Bai Wei led Lin Chu through a winding path to the mayor’s office building… specifically, the restroom.

Lin Chu stared at the cubicle door in silence.

“That day when we swam ashore, everyone was curious about where we came from. I pretended I had a stomachache and borrowed this bathroom…”

There was no need for her to finish the sentence—Lin Chu had already guessed the rest.

She had used the excuse of going to the bathroom to set up her shelter inside one of the women’s restroom stalls.

To be honest, bathroom stall doors really were like a nostalgic home base for those who took part in missions.

Lin Chu didn’t go inside. She simply waited outside.

Bai Wei didn’t keep her waiting long. Soon, she returned carrying a small box.

She opened it in front of Lin Chu, revealing a neatly arranged row of syringes—ten in total.

Five were transparent, five were green.

“My skill produces one syringe each time the cooldown ends. You spared my life—consider these my way of saying thanks.”

These were useful items, and since they would be helpful, Lin Chu didn’t hold back. She thanked her and accepted them.

“Tan is too big. If I give him to you now, it’ll draw too much attention. I’ll bring him over when I get the chance.”

Bai Wei assumed Lin Chu must’ve set up her shelter inside the residential building and wouldn’t move back to the small hill like everyone else.

Lin Chu knew it too—right now, everyone was moving their things to the hill. If she were to move her things to the residential building, it would look too conspicuous.

She didn’t want to expose her spatial ability, so Tan would have to wait.

Bai Wei walked her to the dock and watched her board the speedboat before turning away.

The water level at the residential buildings had already risen back to where it was when they had first moved in.

If it rained for even one more day, floodwaters would once again reach the sixth floor.

On the same boat, other survivors in the process of moving were sighing and lamenting.

“If this rain keeps going like this, how are we supposed to survive…”

Lin Chu looked up at the sky.

Heavy clouds blanketed the heavens, threatening to burst into torrential rain at any moment.

She looked around at the people near her. After half a year of displacement and fear, their faces were all etched with hardship.

Even the young had a weary, aged look in their eyes.

The elderly were even more hunched and frail.

It wasn’t easy, having this kind of disaster strike the world you lived in.

Lin Chu couldn’t help but think of her original world.

Would it… also face the apocalypse in the near future?

Her thoughts heavy, Lin Chu finally returned to her long-lost shelter.

This was probably the longest time she had been away since being dropped into the infinite apocalypse.

When she opened the door to her shelter, the fresh air inside hit her immediately, giving her a powerful sense of having returned home.

She closed the door behind her and finally let go of her fatigue. The first thing she did was release Xiao Er, then she rushed to check on her potted tomatoes.

Just as she feared, the tomato seedlings, which had just started to climb the trellis, had withered due to a lack of water over the past few days.

From her previous gardening experience, she knew they would be very difficult to revive.

However, the tomatoes and lettuce in the ground were still hanging in there.

Their leaves were a little droopy, but it was clearly just a sign of dehydration—after watering, they should bounce back.

Lin Chu grabbed a watering can and, with Xiao Er’s help, watered the thirsty tomato and lettuce plants.

With a little water left in the can, she figured she might as well try her luck and poured it onto the potted tomato plant that seemed completely dead.

The water in the can was the murky yellow kind that came out of the faucet, but it had been shown to promote plant growth.

Maybe, just maybe, it could bring even a dead plant back to life.

Once she was done watering, she left the plants alone and turned to check on her eggs.

There was no visible change to their surface.

Lin Chu had some basic knowledge of egg incubation and knew it took about 20 days. It had only been five or six days so far, so it was normal to see no changes.

Still, she hadn’t turned the eggs in four days, and she wasn’t sure how they were doing inside.

She flipped all five eggs, then summoned Xiao Er and told it to remember to turn them from time to time. Only then did she go inside and change out of her clothes.

After a thorough wash in the bathroom, Lin Chu changed into the hospital gown she had grown used to wearing. She hugged a pillow she had salvaged from the residential building, pulled out a chilled can of “Happy Fat Otaku Soda” from her storage space, and curled up on her bed.

One big gulp of the sugary soda went down her throat, and the exhaustion of the past several days finally began to melt away.

For the past few days, she had been on someone else’s turf and never truly relaxed.

Now, curled up in the absolute safety of her shelter, she felt an indescribable sense of comfort.

It was as if every nerve ending in her body was finally able to unwind.