Ethan stepped onto the balcony in his pajamas.The typhoon still looked fierce from above, but he could feel a subtle difference in the wind. It had weakened.The rain, however, had become even heavier.The second floor of the building was completely submerged now, and the floodwater had reached the third floor. The stairwell had once again become chaotic as residents from the lower levels scrambled upward, dragging whatever belongings they had managed to save.Ethan returned inside and prepared breakfast.He had made a large batch of breakfast wraps earlier and stored more than a hundred of them in his storage space. Each one contained a fried egg, sliced ham, leafy greens, and ketchup. They remained warm and crisp inside the strange space, making them convenient whenever he didn’t feel like cooking.The only problem was that they were slightly greasy.Ethan poured himself a cup of honey-citrus tea and settled down with his pharmacology textbook.He had been studying for hours every

Maya asked Ethan to go downstairs with her and take a look at the situation.Their supplies were getting dangerously low.The flour was completely gone. They still had one bag of rice, but the gas had run out several days earlier, leaving them with only a few alcohol fuel blocks.To conserve what little fuel remained, Maya had started preparing rice differently. She would soak the rice beforehand, transfer it into a thermal flask, pour boiling water over it, seal the lid tightly, and let the trapped heat finish cooking it.It wasn’t just food they were struggling with.The constant dampness had become almost unbearable.Nothing dried properly anymore. Clothes remained cold and wet for days, and the moisture seemed to seep into everything. Maya had started feeling sick from the humidity, and Lucas wasn’t doing much better.“If there’s a shelter,” Maya said, “maybe Lucas and I should go.”Ethan looked at her.“The conditions probably won’t be good,” she continued, “but at least there sh

If Ethan’s storage space had been a hundred times larger, he would have spent the entire night moving through the city and stripping every store he could reach.Unfortunately, it wasn’t.All he could do was watch countless supplies that could have saved lives disappear beneath the floodwater. He knew what came next. Once the remaining food became scarce, people would turn on each other over anything edible, even a moldy piece of bread.Reality was brutal.Ethan could only protect himself.He forced those thoughts aside and continued racing against the rising water.Shampoo.Body wash.Soap.Sanitary pads.Disinfectant.He swept them into storage as quickly as his hands could move.Then came the food.Milk.Yogurt.Powdered milk.Oat milk powder.Protein shakes.Instant oatmeal.Pudding mixes.Sugar in every form he could find.The water had already climbed to Ethan’s thighs.He no longer had time to inspect brands or choose his favorites. His hands moved across the shelves, taking wha

The man’s assault boat was loaded with supplies.Ethan’s eyes lingered on it for a moment.These days, the more food and supplies someone possessed, the more dangerous it was to let other people know about them.While visibility was still poor, Ethan quietly reached behind his back and pulled two waterproof backpacks from his storage space. Then he paddled directly toward the other boat.Judging by the man’s height and build, Ethan already knew who it was.Caleb.Even with the raincoat and mask hiding most of his face, Ethan recognized him immediately.So that explained why Poppy had always looked so healthy despite the disaster.While everyone else had been trapped inside, Caleb had apparently been making supply runs whenever he could.The two of them were doing almost exactly the same thing.And Caleb recognized Ethan as well.Even with the mask covering his face, there was something distinctive about the way Ethan moved and carried himself.In the pouring rain, Caleb simply gave hi

The crowd kept rushing in.Some went for the supplies. Others went straight for the inflatable raft.No matter how good Maya was in a fight, two fists couldn’t hold off four hands. Part of the supplies got snatched, and her hand was slashed. Someone even tried stabbing the inflatable raft directly.“If that inflatable raft hadn’t been puncture-resistant, we probably wouldn’t have made it back,” Maya said.The world suddenly felt too unfamiliar.Maya leaned against Lucas, exhausted, her breathing heavy as she stared at the people around them. For the first time since the Orion disaster began, she found herself questioning human nature itself.Ethan didn’t know how to comfort her.There was nothing he could say.The apocalypse had only just begun, yet people were already turning against one another.Before they could even catch their breath, there was knocking downstairs.Not just one or two people, but a whole mass of them.At a glance, there had to be dozens, packed so tightly that th