Chapter 9: Breaking In and Stealing Supplies

“You dare try to break into my house? Steal my supplies? I swear I’ll kill you!”

“Go on, steal! Weren’t you just being so brave? Weren’t you saying you’d kill us? What’s the matter now—no guts to follow through?”

Sun Qing’s furious shouting carried clearly through the door to Xia Xiaoman’s ears, mixed with unfamiliar screams of pain.

Xia Xiaoman quickly stored the heavy objects blocking her front door into her storage space, narrowed her eyes, and looked through the peephole.

Five people, tightly tied with rope, were kneeling in the hallway corner. Sun Qing held a flashlight in one hand and a stick in the other, pacing back and forth. Every so often, she’d strike one of them with the stick.

Xia Xiaoman opened the door. “Sun Qing, what’s going on?”

Sun Qing turned her head. “Oh, did I wake you?”

“These guys snuck into my place to steal stuff. Xiaojie took them down in one move. I’m just giving them a little ‘education’ on why stealing is bad.”

Xia Xiaoman shut the door and walked over. The five thieves, all residents from the sixth floor, were bruised and bloodied, heads lowered in silence.

“Where’s Xiaojie?” she asked.

“In the room helping Zhou Qiuyang with his wounds,” Sun Qing replied, pointing behind her.

Originally, these five had planned to rob Xia Xiaoman’s home—since she lived alone, they thought she’d be an easier target. What they didn’t expect was that her door lock was nearly impossible to pick.

Even after managing to pry it open, the door wouldn’t budge, seemingly blocked from the inside.

They settled for breaking into Sun Qing’s place instead. Her lock had been previously damaged and was easy to open. But what they didn’t expect was the glass cup propped behind the door—when the door opened, it fell and shattered, instantly alerting Sun Qing and Ye Xiaojie.

The two acted quickly and efficiently, subduing all five intruders in just a few minutes.

Zhou Qiuyang, who lived across the hall, had heard the commotion and came to help—but was mistakenly attacked by Ye Xiaojie, who grabbed him by the hair and slammed his head into the table corner. His forehead split open and bled profusely.

When Xia Xiaoman entered the room, she found Ye Xiaojie wrapping Zhou Qiuyang’s wound, looking incredibly guilty.

“You sure you didn’t get a concussion?” Xia Xiaoman asked.

Zhou Qiuyang shot her a look. “Just a cut, nothing serious.”

She couldn’t help laughing. “You’re kinda useless, huh? Not only didn’t help, but got taken down by Xiaojie too.”

Ye Xiaojie lowered her head in guilt. “I didn’t see clearly. I thought he was one of the thieves.”

“It was pitch black—no one would’ve seen clearly.” Xia Xiaoman consoled her. Then she asked, “Xiaojie, is sanda (Chinese kickboxing) hard to learn?”

Ye Xiaojie blinked. “It’s okay, just needs practice.”

“Can you teach me? I want to learn how to defend myself.” Xia Xiaoman had brute strength, but no technique to use it effectively. Judging from the tension in the building, it was clear things were getting dangerous. She wanted to be ready—for self-defense, or at the very least, to escape.

Ye Xiaojie nodded. “Sure. I’ve been teaching Sun Qing a bit. You can join us if you want.”

“I’ll learn too,” Zhou Qiuyang chimed in.

Sun Qing, who’d just entered, raised an eyebrow. “Learn what?”

“We’re all going to train with Xiaojie starting tomorrow,” Xia Xiaoman replied with a grin.

“Nice. Finally I won’t be the only one suffering through it.”

She took a sip of water and added, “Oh, by the way, those thieves said the rescue team didn’t show up today. They didn’t have anything to eat, so they came to steal.”

“Why do you think the rescue team didn’t come?” she asked.

“Probably got delayed by something,” Zhou Qiuyang said. “I read online that there was a massive tsunami on the coast. A lot of people were swept away by the sea.”

“Our city’s not too far from the coast. Maybe the rescue teams were sent there instead and couldn’t make it here.”

“Wait—you read that online?” Sun Qing stopped him, looking shocked. “You still have internet?!”

“I have batteries at home,” Zhou Qiuyang replied.

“You have batteries?!” Sun Qing nearly shrieked in disbelief.

Zhou Qiuyang nodded, smiling. As a food delivery driver, he often had to recharge his electric bike without community charging facilities. So he bought a few spare batteries. After the power outage, he modified them to charge his phone or power a small kettle for boiling water or cooking instant noodles.

Sun Qing looked at him with eyes full of envy. “Bro! Qiuyang! Can I borrow some electricity to charge my phone?”

“No problem. I’ll bring you a battery later,” he said, turning to Xia Xiaoman. “Do you want one too?”

She nodded. “I won’t take it for free. I’ve got some dried toast crusts I can trade you.”

Bakeries always had leftover crusts from making sandwiches, and Xia Xiaoman had collected and dried a bunch to store. When sealed properly, they could last at least three months.

Zhou Qiuyang didn’t refuse—he hadn’t stocked up on food before the disaster, and the instant noodles from the rescue team were long gone. What he needed most now was food.

They traded five bags of toast crusts for a battery.

The next morning, Xia Xiaoman woke up and turned on her now fully charged phone. Notification sounds immediately flooded in.

The signal was terribly weak—barely functional. It took forever to load a single news article, and images or videos couldn’t load at all.

The south was flooded, while the north suffered its own disasters.

A nearby island nation had experienced a magnitude 9 earthquake. The island was torn apart as if ripped by an invisible hand. Simultaneously, a volcano erupted in a blazing inferno.

Fire spewed into the sky. Smoke billowed. Lava surged out like a fiery dragon, illuminating the heavens. Volcanic ash blanketed the sky, casting the already shattered island into complete ruin.

Then came the tsunami.

A monstrous wall of water surged forward, swallowing the island in moments.

After five full minutes of loading, a satellite image finally appeared. The island was gone—replaced by endless ocean.

Coastal regions of Xia Nation, close to the island, had all suffered aftershocks and tsunami impacts…