Chapter 68: The True Arrival of the Apocalypse

3201.

After soaking in a luxurious red wine bath and resting on the sofa for a while, Jiang Yan was just thinking about what to do next when she heard a “beep-beep—beep-beep-beep!” alarm from the surveillance system—two short and three long beeps.

If she remembered correctly, that was the warning for low power in the safehouse’s mobile energy storage cabinet.

She simply took off her bathrobe and changed into some comfortable sportswear before exiting her space.

As soon as she returned to the living room, she immediately noticed that the temperature outside was much colder than when she’d entered her space.

This chill wasn’t just the difference between the temperature in her space and the safehouse.

Most likely, it had gotten colder outside again.

She walked over to the wall and glanced at the thermometer.

Sure enough, the outdoor temperature had dropped to 12°C, and even indoors, it was only 20°C.

Normally, the temperature difference between inside and outside would be about 5 degrees.

But since her room was insulated, the difference was a bit greater.

At this rate, once the torrential rain ended, everyone would likely be facing a severe extreme cold problem.

According to her not-so-precise memories from her previous life, before the extreme cold, there would be a massive earthquake and a large-scale mutant insect disaster.

Jiang Yan suddenly felt that the natural disasters in this life were even more severe than in her last one.

First, there was the sudden, unexpected heatwave, followed immediately by torrential rain.

Before anyone could react, the rain had already flooded up to their doorsteps.

Actually, when the disasters first started, most people still harbored some hope that things wouldn’t get worse.

It was exactly this kind of thinking that made people, while waiting and hoping, miss the best window for self-rescue without even realizing it.

Of course, there were a few with a strong sense of crisis who prepared, but they were the minority.

Logically, after the heatwave, many reservoirs, rivers, and underground streams should have dried up.

At first, the rainwater should have been absorbed by these channels.

But that didn’t happen.

It could only mean the rainfall was so massive that it far exceeded what these natural channels could handle.

Most households’ food supplies must have run out long ago.

If the rain had been lighter and the water level had risen more slowly, people could have gone out to scavenge for supplies.

Even if those supplies had spoiled or gone bad in the previous heatwave, at least they could have filled their stomachs for a while.

But now, the endless rain and lightning had trapped everyone inside their homes.

All hope and routes for finding supplies had been completely cut off.

Even if some people had inflatable boats and dared to go out in the rain, most supplies were now deep underwater.

With no navigation or positioning, all they could see was a vast expanse of water.

Whether they could find anything was another matter.

Without professional equipment and enough manpower, salvaging anything would be nearly impossible.

Of course, some people would try to go up into office buildings.

But how much could they really find?

Even the most powerful official forces had suddenly vanished without a trace.

All signs pointed to this being a very bad omen.

Jiang Yan frowned slightly and walked straight to the master bedroom.

From here, she could see the central garden of Qianshuiwan Community, the other buildings, and the rising water level.

But today’s rain was so heavy it almost completely blocked her view, so she had to take out her high-powered binoculars.

She hadn’t checked for a while, and now the water level had already reached the 12th floor.

The building across from her was shrouded in darkness, eerily silent.

She could just make out a few scattered figures moving upward.

And from time to time, she saw people “diving” out of the windows—some alive, some dead.

The law of the jungle wasn’t just playing out in Building A; the other buildings and communities weren’t spared either.

Jiang Yan watched for a while, then put down the binoculars and calculated the time.

If things matched her previous life, the rain would start to ease up when it reached the 15th floor.

That would be in about two or three days.

It would still be raining then, but much lighter, and there might even be short breaks of three or four hours.

As for the exact day it would stop, she had no idea.

That window would only last about three or four days.

Those three or four days would be the only chance for anyone to search for supplies and survive.

After that, the odds of surviving outside would be almost zero.

Four days later, an even heavier rain would come.

The water level would surge again, flooding most of the city.

Anming’s geography was unique: mountains all around, a basin in the middle.

It was likely that floodwaters from all directions would pour into the city at once.

Most people would starve, drown, be swept away by the flood, or die in brutal struggles for survival.

That would be the true beginning of the apocalypse.

Anyone who still held onto a sliver of hope would, from that moment on, fall into utter despair.

Then would come the earthquakes and mutant insect plagues, claiming even more lives.

And after that, the extreme cold—everything frozen, and humanity’s darkest sides unleashed.

In her previous life, it was during the extreme cold that she became a meal for Song Deming and his mistress’s family.

Remembering all this, Jiang Yan couldn’t help but feel heavy-hearted.

She returned to the living room and glanced out the floor-to-ceiling windows.

The shopping mall she’d visited before had already become an ocean a few days ago.

The high-rise apartments next to it, though not as tall as Qianshuiwan Building A, still had half their height above water.

The old neighborhood she’d flown over in her flight suit was now completely submerged.

The whole city was shrouded in darkness.

Only when lightning flashed could she make out a few scattered high-rises standing alone in the rain.

“Beep-beep—beep-beep-beep!”

The second alarm from the energy storage cabinet pulled Jiang Yan out of her heavy memories.

In her safehouse, aside from the master bedroom, pillars, and load-bearing walls, she’d had the rest of the area opened up, so the storage cabinet was placed in the corner of the living room, right next to a pillar.

Jiang Yan walked over, switched off the main power, placed her hand on the cabinet, and with a thought, stored it away in her space.

The apple-shaped pod in her space had solar panels on top, so she could recharge it there.

With another thought, she took out a fully charged storage cabinet.

She flipped the switch, and the safehouse’s power came back on.

But she didn’t go back into her space right away.

The surveillance and anti-intrusion systems needed time to reboot after the power was restored.

She planned to wait until everything was up and running and the feeds were normal before returning to her space.

“Beep!”

Soon, all the systems and monitors were back to normal."