23: Zero Yuan Purchase

At this time, doomsday theories were escalating online. Based on the experiences of the past few months, most people believed the real Apocalypse had arrived, plunging them into extreme panic.

Religious believers were online, righteously claiming this was divine punishment for humanity's severe destruction of the Earth, calling for people to commit suicide to atone.

However, this video was quickly taken down.

In just a few days, some people, firmly believing the end of the world was nigh and unwilling to live desperately in the Apocalypse, jumped from rooftops, disappearing into the surging floodwaters without causing a ripple.

Even more people tagged and left comments for @OfficialStateAccount.

【How long will this heavy rain last? Has the country detected it?】

【Everyone online is saying it's the end of the world, is it true?】

【Is the national grain reserve enough for everyone in the country? When can we eat vegetables and fruit?】

【How much longer until we can return to normal life?】

【Many people in our complex have already died, and the police won't come when we call. Is the government abandoning us? Everything now makes me feel despair and shock.】

【If the world really is ending, please don't hide it. Tell me directly so I can shatter my illusions and go with the flood...】

【Please don't jinx it, upstairs. I still want to live a couple more years.】

...The official media account issued a helpless announcement, urging everyone to protect themselves as much as possible and await rescue.

As for when the rescue would arrive, that was an unknown.

In many low-lying areas, the floodwaters had reached the rooftops. Because the affected area was so vast, rescue was impossible to cover everywhere. All rescue personnel were spinning like tops, too busy to even eat, staying awake for days and nights without rest.

Who knows how many rescue workers were swept away by the floods, yet they still did not give up on saving this city and this country.

Li Shilan sighed while looking at the various comments online: “Alas, the unknown is the most terrifying thing!”

Fortunately, the villa they rented was near the mountaintop, so the floodwaters couldn't reach them. Otherwise, they would have had a lot to worry about.

...Ten more days passed. People who were bored staying home to avoid the rain woke up to find the internet was down, and their phones had no signal. They couldn't contact the outside world, and the digital world fell completely silent.

The heavy rain was still falling, but fortunately, the strong winds had stopped. Ai Yue understood it was time for her to act.

She took out the hummer from her spatial storage, covered herself completely, and wore a black raincoat. From a distance, it was impossible to tell if she was male or female.

"Yueyue, Dad will go with you. We can look out for each other," Ai Guosheng said, holding Ai Yue's hand.

"No need, Dad. While the wind has just stopped, no one dares to venture out. I can manage alone. If anything dangerous happens, I'll immediately hide in the spatial storage. Don't worry."

Ai Guosheng thought about it and agreed that Ai Yue was right; taking him would mean she'd have to worry about him if danger struck, and he couldn't enter the spatial storage, only becoming a burden to Ai Yue.

Ai Yue nimbly jumped into the vehicle, started it, and shot out like an arrow. Someone in the villa heard the sound of the car and quickly peered out the window, but could only see continuous heavy rain, gloomy and dark, where nothing could be seen besides the sound.

Ai Yue drove the hummer to the foot of the mountain. The floodwaters below were about three meters deep. She put away the hummer, launched the assault boat into the water, and headed straight for the city's largest mall.

This area was low-lying, and the water had already flooded up to the second floor.

Ai Yue moored the boat in a hidden spot at a corner of the mall, smashed the second-floor window, jumped in, put away the assault boat, and cautiously scanned the second floor with a military knife in hand. The second floor mainly sold clothing, most of which was submerged and not worth collecting.

The water on this floor reached Ai Yue's thighs, and she cautiously headed toward the third floor.

Perhaps people hadn't realized the need to quickly search for supplies yet, so the entire mall was empty.

But that might change in a day or two. The wind had stopped, and with their supplies running out at home, many people would definitely come out to search for provisions. So Ai Yue seized this time window for some zero-cost shopping!

Her main purpose for coming out this time was to collect gold and jade. She was extremely interested in the miniature house in her spatial storage, wondering if enough gold and jade could upgrade it into a normal-sized house. If the space could devour large amounts of gold and jade, perhaps it could allow outsiders in. If so, the Ai Yues family of three would have no life-threatening worries whatsoever.

Collecting other supplies was secondary—after all, who ever complained about having too much stuff?

The third floor sold daily necessities. During the extreme heat, everyone bought water and food; no one bought these items, so they were preserved. Ai Yue shamelessly took everything.

The fourth floor housed appliances and bedding. Ai Yue was equally unrestrained, collecting everything: TVs, washing machines, refrigerators, rice cookers, bedsheets, quilts, etc. She collected it regardless of whether it was immediately useful, just in case it might be needed someday.

She didn't even spare the beds; she took them all. Instantly, the entire fourth floor was bare.

The sixth floor was the children's playground; she collected some toys.

The seventh floor housed dining establishments. When Ai Yue walked in, she saw that most food shops had been pried open, a chaotic mess inside, clearly searched through. All the food and water were gone, apparently looted by people during the extreme heat.

Only restaurants protected by bulletproof glass had survived. Ai Yue, operating with a 'locust swarm' mentality, pulled out a small hairpin from her hair, straightened it, inserted it into the keyhole, and gave it a twist—the door opened.

Upon entering, a suffocating stench of decay hit her face.

All the vegetables and meat inside had spoiled and reeked horribly, leaving only flour, oil, various seasonings, and dried vegetables intact.

Ai Yue didn't mind that they were tainted by the rotten smell; she put them all into a separate corner of her spatial storage. She wouldn't eat these herself, but she could use them later to trade for needed supplies.

After checking the seventh floor, only the first floor remained. Ai Yue remembered that the first floor primarily sold gold, jade, and jewelry.

She went back to the second floor, put on her diving suit, and carefully entered the water, following the stairs down to the first floor.

It was murky underwater, making it impossible to see the path clearly. Ai Yue could only grope her way forward carefully.

She reached the counter and took out a Baseball Bat from her spatial storage to smash it down hard—it didn't break!

The Baseball Bat felt light in the water, and she couldn't exert much force.

Ai Yue was momentarily stunned. What should she use?

She flashed into her spatial storage to look for something heavy and solid. Her eyes immediately landed on a fire extinguisher tucked away in a corner of the space.

That's it!

Ai Yue swung the fire extinguisher down heavily. With a 'crack,' the glass finally shattered. The fire extinguisher was surprisingly effective!

Whether it was gold, silver, or jade, anything inside the counter was collected into the spatial storage without question.

Ai Yue spent a full three hours just collecting all the gold.

Ai Yue returned the way she came, feeling like something had flashed across her mind—what was it?

Ai Yue stopped swimming, thinking hard for a long time, before realizing she had just done something stupid.

Why did I smash the display case glass? Wouldn't it have been better to just take the entire display case?

Ai Yue instantly felt life was meaningless, annoyed at how she was becoming increasingly dense.