Day Three of the Crisis.Ray woke up on his own. He brushed his teeth, washed his face, pulled a serving of breakfast from his storage, and gave Leo two large meat-filled buns.He couldn't feed the dog steak every day. Nutrition had to be balanced.Leo had been a stray for a long time and had developed the good habit of not being picky. In fact, just being full was a luxury to him. So whether it was steak or meat buns, he ate with pure relish.Watching him devour his food made Ray hungry too. He quickly finished a bowl of oatmeal with berries and nuts.Then he drank some milk. Leo got some as well. The dog wasn't fully grown yet—more milk would help him get stronger.Finally, Ray polished off breakfast with a plate of fresh fruit.Only then did he open the group chat.It was overflowing with negativity.It was already the third day, yet the hail hadn't stopped, the thick fog hadn't lifted, and there was still no sign of government aid. Everyone was convinced they were just sit

Ray felt light all over.Sure enough, a person couldn't keep bottling things up forever—the dam would break sooner or later.He went back upstairs, and Leo immediately circled around him, sniffing him a few times before tilting its head as if asking, 'Why do you smell like someone else?'Ray laughed. "Forgot you've got a sharp nose."Leo, from now on, guarding the house is your job. If you hear any strange sounds or smell someone else's scent, you'd better let me know!" He said it with a smile, not caring whether the dog actually understood."Woof! Woof!" To his surprise, Leo barked twice, as if agreeing."Good dog." Ray picked up his phone and started scrolling.Both Lucy and Keisha had messaged him. The extreme weather had already lasted two days, and the situation showed no signs of improving. They were both worried, but one was living inside a doomsday bunker, and the other had received large amounts of supplies he had mailed earlier. At the very least, they could hold out f

The night passed, and the apocalypse entered its fourth day—the most despair‑filled day of all.Today, the power would go out.Outside, the temperature had plunged to well below freezing. Without air‑conditioning or heating, how were people supposed to survive?If someone had prepared in advance, they might have built a heated brick bed or improvised a stove. But this disaster had arrived without warning. For city dwellers, it was a sentence of pure despair.Starting today, civilization, order, and morality would completely collapse.Calling this day the true prelude to doomsday wouldn't be an exaggeration.He remembered that in his previous life, the blackout had started around noon. He didn't know whether this time would be any different.It probably wouldn't.He stopped thinking about it.Even if the power didn't go out today, it would tomorrow, or the day after. With no one maintaining the power stations, how could electricity possibly continue?It was only a matter of be

With Mr. Marshall shut down so hard, the other elders weren't having it."Listen here, young man! A little money doesn't make you better than anyone. Show some respect to your elders!""You think you know everything? We've been around the block a few more times than you have! Do yourself a favor—apologize to Mr. Marshall and cooperate. Don't make things harder on yourself."The circle of seniors tightened around Ray, their voices rising in a chorus of disapproval.Ray locked eyes with one particularly vocal woman. "Let's get this straight," he said, his tone flat. "You talk about 'being around the block'? I'm twenty-seven. You're what, seventy? If life experience were measured in miles, sure, you've got more. But that doesn't make you right. It just means you're older and wrong."The woman sputtered, caught off guard. This young man was impossible!"And the rest of you—"Ray dismantled their arguments one by one with cold, simple logic, leaving the group flustered and fuming, to

"Besides, the guy we're targeting is a total scumbag!"Greg's eyes burned with rage."Our kid just accidentally took one of his food deliveries! Did he really have to set us up like that—first getting my dad hospitalized, then extorting eight grand from us? When Helena just splashed a little mess on his door, he had the nerve to stomp around in the middle of the night so nobody could sleep!"Now that we've got the chance, does he think we won't finish him off?"Felicia slammed her hand on the table. "That bastard really is human garbage. Flaunting all his supplies in the group chat. When Mr. Marshall and the others tried to buy food from him, he completely ignored them. Made it clear he couldn't care less if people lived or died."Greg nodded fiercely. "Taking from him is like taking from the rich to give to the poor. We'd be doing the whole neighborhood a favor!"With that perfectly self-righteous excuse, all four adults in the family were fired up. Even the kid was gripping a p