8: I want to slap him to death

"Fei Fei, where are you? Are you safe?"

Jiang Zhengkang's worried voice came from the other end of the phone, quickly overshadowed by Li Yanping's sharp tone—

"Jiang Fei, you jinx! I don't care what method you use! Get to the old house and pick us up, right now!"

Jiang Fei asked, feigning ignorance, "What's wrong?"

"You have the nerve to ask?!" Li Yanping's voice rose in anger.

"Yesterday's typhoon blew off the roof of the old house! The rainwater is almost knee-deep! We had to huddle on a small bed all night!"

"If you hadn't made us come here! Would we be trapped?!"

"You must take responsibility!"

"Oh, that's truly unfortunate," Jiang Fei said lightly, then hung up the phone and blocked Li Yanping's number.

Knowing that her aunt's family was not doing well, she felt relieved.

The apocalypse had only just begun; they shouldn't die too soon.

Jiang Fei glanced at the owner's group chat; people were already trading items.

Most were exchanging food and daily necessities.

Outside, the rain poured and the wind howled; no one dared to venture out to buy anything.

Jiang Fei had no intention of trading, nor did she consider taking out supplies from the Supermarket to sell to the residents of Building A.

Firstly, the source of the items would be hard to explain.

In these early days of the apocalypse, people still retained some human conscience.

After some time, with resources scarce and humanity suffering from hunger and cold, she, the one with supplies, would become a target.

It's best not to flaunt one's wealth; she didn't want to be the first 'saint' to die.

Jiang Fei turned off her phone, carried the drowsy Little Orange Cat to the bed, and went to the kitchen.

Since she couldn't go out, she could cook more meals and store them in the Supermarket's warehouse.

Then, when she wanted to eat, she wouldn't need to cook to satisfy her taste buds.

Jiang Fei took out ingredients and got busy.

Soon, a tempting aroma wafted from the kitchen.

Apartment 2202 was warm and bright, a luxury the old house in the suburbs didn't have.

It was cold and damp, with doors and windows missing.

More than half of the roof had been blown away by the typhoon, and the indoor water level was already knee-deep.

Li Yanping's family could only huddle on a small bed in the corner to shelter from the rain.

But Li Yanping was too heavy, weighing a full two hundred catties, squeezing Jiang Ziming and Jiang Zixuan into a ball.

Jiang Zhengkang sat alone at a nearby table, half his body drenched from the rain.

Jiang Ziming shivered with cold, "Mom, when can we leave this godforsaken place?"

"I haven't eaten anything since last night; I'm so hungry."

Jiang Zixuan rubbed her hands continuously from the cold, "Mom, my head hurts a bit. Am I catching a cold?"

"Bear with it a little longer," Li Yanping comforted her two children, then turned to impatiently urge Jiang Zhengkang,

"Has that brat's phone still not gone through?!"

Jiang Zhengkang: "She blocked our numbers, and my phone is out of battery..."

"You can't even do this little thing right, what are you even living for?! Your Jiang family has no good people! Jiang Fei is an ingrate! You're a good-for-nothing!"

Li Yanping berated Jiang Zhengkang mercilessly.

Jiang Zhengkang's expression was numb; he habitually remained silent.

Jiang Ziming grew anxious, "Mom, stop scolding Dad for now. We can't get a taxi, and our phones are dead. How are we going to get home?"

"You ask me, who should I ask?!" Li Yanping retorted testily.

Listening to the commotion around her, Jiang Zixuan grew increasingly irritable.

If she had known there would be a typhoon and heavy rain, she wouldn't have come!

How unlucky!

—

Three days later, dawn broke.

The typhoon weakened, and the heavy rain turned into a drizzle. People who had been trapped at home began to go out for supplies.

To avoid exposing her abundant supplies, Jiang Fei decided to follow the crowd and go out to buy some things to keep up appearances.

If the two thousand in her card weren't spent soon, they would truly become just cold numbers.

Jiang Fei changed into a pure black casual outfit, put on her hat and mask, then placed a short knife in her backpack to deter ill-intentioned individuals.

Afterward, Jiang Fei took out a ready-made beef puree from the Supermarket's warehouse and poured it into Little Orange Cat's food bowl.

These three days, she had not only made pastries and braised meat at home but also prepared 20 portions each of unsalted beef puree, chicken puree, and fish puree for Mimi.

She aimed to fatten her up into a little piggy cat as soon as possible!

Jiang Fei rubbed Little Orange Cat's head, then slung her bag over her shoulder and left.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a missing cat poster on the door of apartment 2203 next door, and Jiang Fei took a closer look.

"My pet cat went missing five days ago and has not returned. If anyone sees her, please contact me. A generous reward will be given."

When she saw the cat photo posted below, which was identical to the Little Orange Cat currently eating diligently at home, Jiang Fei was stunned.

Mimi had an owner.

She couldn't be a cat parent anymore.

She wanted to cry.

Though disappointed, Jiang Fei still dialed the contact number left on the poster, but no one answered. Knocking on the door also yielded no response.

Jiang Fei sent the other party a text message—

"Hello, I am the resident of 2202, your neighbor. I found your cat a few days ago. She is currently at my home. If you see this message, please contact me. If I don't answer, you can come to my home in two hours."

To prevent the neighbor's phone from being dead and missing the text, Jiang Fei went home, grabbed a pen, left a note on the missing cat poster, and then went downstairs.

The lock chain on the main door of the stairwell was broken, likely done by a neighbor to get out.

The community was currently experiencing a power outage, and even if the elevator had a separate generator, it was unsafe to use.

The lights in the stairwell and hallway used the elevator's generator and were not out, so Jiang Fei didn't need to use her phone for light.

As soon as she reached the 20th floor, she was stopped by a short-haired girl.

Perhaps due to nervousness, the girl's chubby, round face was a little flushed: "Um, are you going out? Can we go together?"

"I want to go to the Supermarket to buy something to eat. It's not safe alone. As payment, I can give you money."

"If your phone is dead, I also have jewelry."

The girl took out a handful of necklaces and rings from her backpack.

Diamonds and pearls were the most common, with only one necklace pendant being gold, looking to be about 10 grams.

"Okay." Jiang Fei took the gold pendant necklace, pretending to put it into her jacket pocket, but actually stored it in the Supermarket.

System: "Ding—Detected gold: 13 grams."

"Current unlock progress: 1.1%."

Jiang Fei: "..."

It's fine!

0.1 is still something!

Jiang Fei comforted herself and led the girl downstairs.

The girl was no longer nervous and enthusiastically introduced herself: "I'm a resident of 2103, my name is Xiao Chuxia, a recently graduated medical student. Miss, what's your name?"

"Jiang Fei."

Xiao Chuxia seemed completely oblivious to Jiang Fei's coldness, her little mouth chattering incessantly: "I waited here for a long time. The water outside is too deep, and it's not safe to go alone, but my family isn't here, so I have to find someone to go with."

"I climbed from upstairs to downstairs, then back up again, but everyone I met was a man. I didn't dare to talk to them. Luckily, I met you, otherwise I would have starved to death."

"After this, I definitely need to develop a habit of hoarding snacks."

"Oh, right, there are no taxis in this weather. Do you have a car?"

"If not, we'll walk. I brought two sets of raincoats and two pairs of rain boots, specifically for my companion. What size feet do you have?"

Jiang Fei: "...Can you be quiet for a moment?"

Too noisy!

It was like countless flies buzzing in her ears!

She wanted to swat them dead!

Xiao Chuxia obediently closed her mouth, not because she was suppressing the urge to chat, but because climbing down the stairs was too tiring.

Especially since Jiang Fei's speed was very fast, without any breaks.

Xiao Chuxia followed, panting.

By the time she reached the first floor, her legs felt like they weren't her own.

Jiang Fei, however, acted as if nothing had happened, taking out rain boots and a raincoat from her bag and putting them on.

Xiao Chuxia looked curious: "Miss, are you an athlete or a sports student, with such good stamina?"

Jiang Fei: "Aren't you going to buy things?"

Forgetting her gossip, Xiao Chuxia quickly changed into her rain boots and raincoat and followed.

The accumulated water outside was almost waist-deep, completely submerging the Yulan Garden's underground parking lot.

As a result, there was a chorus of curses at the parking lot entrance, all from people lamenting their submerged cars.

Jiang Fei detoured to the back of the parking lot and found the truck she had hidden before the typhoon and heavy rain.

The car window was shattered, and the car body was significantly dented, likely hit by some heavy object.

Jiang Fei took out the car keys, opened the door, confirmed it could start, and had Xiao Chuxia sit in the passenger seat:

"Driving in this weather is unsafe; it's easy to stall. We can't go too far, so we'll just go to the nearest Four Seasons Fresh Supermarket."

Xiao Chuxia nodded: "I'll listen to Miss!"

Jiang Fei was about to start the car when, bang, bang, bang—

Someone was frantically banging on the car door.