Chapter 3: Zero-Cost Supermarket

After a full day and night of rescue efforts, most of the people trapped outside had already been brought home by the rescue teams.

Those who lived on the lower floors were relocated by local community committees to stay temporarily with neighbors on higher floors or moved in with relatives.

The rescue teams began a new round of missions: distributing supplies.

Some households were in the habit of stockpiling food, but others never even cooked at home.
Now trapped by the flood with nothing to eat or drink, they had no choice but to wait for the rescue teams to bring food.

Someone posted in the building’s community group chat this morning, claiming to have inside info — instant noodles would be delivered at noon.
The chat instantly lit up with cheers and praise for the rescue teams, who were thoughtful enough to anticipate their food shortages.

But Xia Xiaoman had always known one thing since childhood: never put your hope in others.

Natural disasters were striking all over the country. Even though the Xia Nation had abundant reserves, it couldn’t withstand so many simultaneous calls for help.

Especially since Floating City had suffered extensive damage — almost the entire city was submerged in floodwater. The number of rescue personnel was limited; they had to both search for survivors and evacuate people from flooded buildings.
Who knew how long it would take for supplies to arrive?

Instead of waiting helplessly at home, Xia Xiaoman would rather venture out and look for resources herself.

There was a medium-sized supermarket diagonally across from her apartment complex. The store was located on the second floor, so its inventory might still be intact, not yet washed away.

The rain was relentless, pouring down in large, painful droplets.

Wearing thin clothes, Xia Xiaoman took a deep breath and jumped into the water. The icy current wrapped around her, making her shiver uncontrollably.

Heavy rain reduced visibility, and floating debris carried by the current repeatedly slammed into her body.

Gritting her teeth, she cautiously dodged obstacles, using streetlights and exposed building walls to guide herself toward the supermarket with all her strength.

After nearly half an hour of struggle, she finally reached the supermarket — wet, cold, and exhausted.

The water inside had risen to her knees. At this rate, if it didn’t stop raining by nightfall, the entire supermarket would likely be underwater.

Better to empty it now and store everything in her dimensional space than let the flood ruin it all.

The rolling shutter at the entrance was locked. Xia Xiaoman looked around — no electricity, and the security camera’s red light was off.
She grabbed a fire axe and hacked at the lock dozens of times before finally breaking it.

Upon entry, she was met with a mountain of milk cartons, beverages, and gift boxes.
With a wave of her hand, she swept everything into her storage space, even the flood-soaked items — she’d inspect them later to see what could still be salvaged.

She walked and collected as she went:

• From the freezers: hotpot ingredients, shrimp paste, squid, chicken wings, beef, sea fish, frozen rice balls, bread, buns…
• From the shelves: egg noodles, wheat noodles, spinach noodles, sweet potato noodles, buckwheat noodles, jumbo instant noodles, bamboo-pressed noodles, alkaline noodles…
• Bags of vacuum-packed rice, glutinous rice, flour, glutinous rice flour, rice flour, cornstarch, wheat starch…
• Spices, snacks, small bites — she cleared entire shelves at once.

Daily necessities were placed deeper in the store. She collected all the sanitary pads and tissue paper.
Toothbrushes, toothpaste, laundry detergent, body wash, shampoo — she stored them all too.

This supermarket also sold underwear, clothing, comforters, and blankets.
Xia Xiaoman kept everything. She’d hold onto what she could use and sell the rest later.

She felt zero guilt about looting the place.

In just over an hour, the water had risen to her waist. If she didn’t clear the supermarket out now, everything would be soaked and ruined anyway.

Once she had completely emptied the place, she dove down to the first floor to search for the pharmacy.

She remembered there was one right at the entrance. No idea if its inventory had survived the flooding.

The supermarket had swimming caps and goggles. She put them on and dove in.
The pharmacy door — made of glass — had already been broken open by the flood.

Inside was a mess, but she spotted a tightly shut inner room — probably the stockroom.

She surfaced to catch her breath, then dove again, using the fire axe to smash the door open.

After surfacing to breathe seven or eight times, she finally managed to break it down.

As expected, it was a storage room, full of boxes of medicine.

She had no time to check what each item was — she swept everything into her dimensional space, planning to sort it all out once she got home.

With medicine and supplies secured, her next problem was cooking without gas.

Two years ago, her residential complex had switched to piped gas, and the gas canister vendor had gone out of business due to low demand.

There wasn’t a single store selling gas canisters within ten miles.

She hadn’t yet figured out how to solve that issue.

…

By the time she returned home, it was past 11 a.m.

To avoid suspicion, she picked up two large tree branches on her way back, pretending she’d gone out to find firewood.

Her apartment was Unit 701. She used to complain it was too high up — no elevator, and daily stair climbs.
Now, she was thankful for it.

Hauling the heavy branches upstairs, she passed the sixth floor, and the door of Unit 603 opened. A girl in overalls stepped out.

“Xia Xiaoman? Why are you dragging tree branches upstairs?”

Xia Xiaoman looked up. It was Qin Yali, her classmate.

The apartment complex wasn’t far from their school, and the rent was cheap. Many students lived there.
Qin Yali and her boyfriend lived in Unit 603.

“We ran out of gas. I picked up some wood to cook with.”

“Huh?” Qin Yali scratched her head. “Aren’t you afraid the landlord will come after you if you light a fire in the room?”

“It’s a special situation. As long as they don’t find out, it’s fine.”

Suddenly, loud laughter came from inside 603. Xia Xiaoman instinctively looked past Qin Yali.

Qin Yali smiled awkwardly. “My boyfriend’s friend’s place got flooded. He’s staying with us for now.”

Xia Xiaoman said nothing. She nodded and continued upstairs.

At her door, just as she took out her key, the guy next door — from Unit 702 — peeked out.

“Oh, thought the rescue team finally showed up.”

He muttered, then leered at her from head to toe, his eyes lingering on her slim waist.

“Hey beauty, you live alone?”

Xia Xiaoman ignored him, opened the door, and started dragging the branches in.

“I’ll help you out! It’ll be easier with two people,” he said, rushing forward and grabbing one end of the branch, trying to follow her in.

She didn’t stop him. Once they were inside, she turned and roundhouse kicked him square in the chest.

Caught off guard, the man was knocked to the floor, gasping and clutching his chest.

“Are you f***ing crazy? I was just trying to help, and you kicked me?!” he shouted.

Xia Xiaoman sneered. “Get lost, or I’ll kill you next time!”

“You think you can tell me what to do, you bit—”

Before he could finish, she punched him in the face and grabbed his hair, smashing his head against the floor four or five times.

“Scum. Thinking with your d***! You think I didn’t know what you were planning?! Trash!”

Leaving the man bloodied and groaning, she kicked him out and slammed the door.

Then she mopped the floor clean of blood, only to discover the water had been cut off.

With a sigh, she used some of the water she had saved the day before to wash up, changed into dry clothes, curled up on the couch, and began to go through her loot from the supermarket.