After her nerves relaxed, it didn’t take long for Lin Chu to fall into a deep sleep, leaning against the bed.

She slept soundly until she naturally woke up, feeling all her energy restored.

A glance at the clock: 7 PM.

She had returned before noon, which meant she had slept for nearly eight hours.

She hadn’t eaten lunch or dinner, and now she was so hungry she could devour an entire cow.

Lin Chu rummaged through her space and took out a serving of dumplings, a bowl of crossing-the-bridge rice noodles, and a cup of milk tea, placing them on the small table in the middle of the activity room.

Just as she was enjoying her meal, she heard faint water sounds from the bathroom.

She swallowed the half-chewed dumpling in her mouth and walked over to take a look—only to find Xiao Er squatting in the dissection room, staring at the large tub in front of it.

Only then did Lin Chu remember—she still had a black fish to take care of.

But the fish wasn’t looking too well.

Lin Chu had been away for too many days and had taken Xiao Er with her, so no one had fed it. The fish had become visibly thinner.

What was once as thick as a thigh had now shrunk down, barely thicker than a calf.

Xiao Er was holding the aquatic plants Lin Chu had given it, trying to feed the fish. But the black fish only took small bites, seemingly lacking the strength.

Surviving all those days without food was already a miracle.

When Lin Chu examined it closely, she saw that the tail fin was covered with bite marks.

Now she understood how it had managed to survive.

It was a vicious fish.

No wonder it had torn her fishing net to shreds back then.

Now that she knew where the noise had come from, Lin Chu didn’t bother with it further and let Xiao Er continue doing its thing.

As far as she was concerned, this fish could now be considered Xiao Er’s pet.

Back inside the room, Lin Chu had just finished her meal when someone knocked on the door.

She went to check—it was Bai Wei.

She had rowed over alone.

There were four boxes of charcoal on her boat.

“An elderly resident in the community fell and got injured. He’s not in a condition to be moved. Dr. Liu is performing surgery on another patient, so I came over to handle the wound for now,” Bai Wei explained.

“I figured since I was coming anyway, I might as well bring these over for you.”

Together, they moved the four boxes of charcoal into the house.

It was smokeless charcoal—25 pounds per box, totaling 100 pounds.

“Thank you,” Lin Chu said sincerely, looking at the four boxes of smokeless charcoal.

She had been worrying about how to stay warm.

She knew that if the extreme cold doomsday came, relying only on blankets and down jackets wouldn’t be enough.

She would need a heat source to survive temperatures dropping dozens of degrees below zero.

These four boxes of smokeless charcoal alleviated that urgent concern.

If she rationed it carefully, 100 pounds could last for half a month of continuous burning.

And if she had no other heat source by then, she could burn it for a while, then put it out and use the residual heat, lighting it up again only when it faded.

That way, she could probably hold out for thirty days.

Apart from delivering charcoal, Bai Wei had mainly come to relay a message from Wang Rui.

“Captain Wang is too busy to leave right now. He knew I was coming to the residential area, so he asked me to pass on a few words.”

Hearing this, Lin Chu already had a pretty good idea.

“Mayor Li has decided to evacuate to Base No. 1, hasn’t he?”

Bai Wei nodded. “Yes. Xia Zhengyang has convinced Mayor Li, and the evacuation will likely happen within the next couple of days.”

That was why Wang Rui had specifically asked Bai Wei to deliver this message—to ask Lin Chu whether she wanted to evacuate with them.

The question was asked, but Bai Wei already knew what Lin Chu’s answer would be.

They were both mission-takers who had already established shelters.

And with the hidden missions completed, only routine tasks remained.

As long as they weren’t lacking food and water, staying in their shelters was actually the safest option.

“Please tell Captain Wang for me: I’m not planning to go to Base No. 1. I’ll be leaving here in the next few days to look for my next spot.”

Bai Wei nodded.

She had used the same reason herself.

With the message delivered, she didn’t linger and rowed away.

Lin Chu closed the door and stowed the four boxes of smokeless charcoal into her storage space.

She didn’t know what kind of natural disaster the next world would bring, but being thoroughly prepared was never a bad thing.

News of Mayor Li’s decision to evacuate quickly spread throughout the base.

Many survivors who had just begun to feel a sense of belonging to the small hillside community looked at the home they had built over the past three months and felt a sense of melancholy.

When would this endless wandering life finally end?

Base No. 1 acted quickly.

Once the decision to evacuate was made, they began dispatching helicopters to the area.

But helicopters had limited capacity—only a few people could be taken at a time, so they started with the elderly and children who had mobility issues.

The rest of the group would have to wait for large ships to come and pick them up.

Wang Rui came personally to say goodbye to Lin Chu once he had some time.

This time, he didn’t bring her any more silt, but Lin Chu still handed him a pack of bread before he left.

“Captain Wang, safe travels.”

It was a farewell gift, but since he hadn’t brought anything for her in return, Wang Rui felt a little awkward.

In the end, he pulled out a sealed pack of compressed biscuits from his pocket and stuffed it into Lin Chu’s hand.

“Dr. Lin, thank you. My daughter really loves the bread you gave us.”

Lin Chu smiled. “I’m glad she likes it.”

Wang Rui looked back toward the hillside, a smile tugging at his lips.

“Yeah. If her mom were here, she would’ve loved it too.”

Seeing that he wanted to talk, and with a bit of time to spare, Lin Chu followed up, “Her mom…?”

“She disappeared.”

When Wang Rui said those three words, his eyes looked hollow.

“Three months before the floods started, she just vanished.”

“There were no signs, no warnings. All the important documents and clothes were still at home—but she was gone.”

Lin Chu didn’t have friends, nor was she good at comforting others, so she just listened quietly.

But her mind turned over what he said.

Vanished suddenly…

To her colleagues back in her original world, she must have seemed to disappear without a trace too.

“Dr. Lin, thank you for listening to all this.”

Wang Rui came back to himself and realized he’d just shared the story of his wife with Lin Chu. He felt a bit apologetic.

But the burden had weighed on his heart for so long—it was overwhelming.

“She’s probably somewhere thinking of you too.”

“One day in the future, you’ll be reunited with your family.”

For the first time, Lin Chu said something meant to comfort someone.

Wang Rui was deeply grateful.

At last, the two said their goodbyes and parted ways.

However, before Base No. 1’s large ship could arrive, the rain came again.

This time, it poured for three days and three nights.