2026-10-13 20:12:44The morning sun filtered through the high windows of the city's premier commercial district, casting long shadows across the concrete jungle. For Lucas, every tick of the clock was a countdown to global catastrophe. Ninety days sounded like a substantial buffer, but when task lists included buying thousands of tons of supplies and retrofitting a modern living space into a military-grade bunker, time was an agonizingly scarce commodity.
By 8:00 AM, the first installment of his loan funds and real estate buyout advances hit his banking application. The number on the glowing screen was mesmerizing: $4.9 million USD. To an average citizen, it was a lifetime of wealth. To Lucas, it was merely fuel for his survival engine. His first destination was the Aegis Tower, a newly constructed 45-story ultra-luxury residential skyscraper located on the highest elevation point of the city. In his past life, the lower districts of the city were completely submerged in freezing water and packed ice within the first week of the disaster as river dams burst and drainage pipes froze solid. The upper floors of Aegis Tower, however, remained untouched by flooding. More importantly, the building had its own structural backup generators, a private water filtration system, and heavy reinforced concrete architecture. Lucas walked into the glittering sales center. A slick sales representative in a sharp tailored suit greeted him, offering a lukewarm corporate smile. "Welcome to Aegis Tower, sir. Are you looking for a rental investment or a primary residence?" "I want the top-floor penthouse," Lucas said without wasting breath on small talk. "Floor 45. The entire floor." The agent blinked, caught off guard by the abrupt demand. "Sir, Penthouse A on the 45th floor is 6,500 square feet with a panoramic view of the skyline. It features private elevator access, reinforced load-bearing walls, and independent HVAC routing. The listing price is $2.1 million." "I’ll pay $2.3 million in full today if I get keycard access within two hours and full clearance to perform internal renovations," Lucas replied, pulling out his black high-tier debit card. The agent’s professional composure dissolved into pure excitement. "Right away, sir! Let me fetch the general manager!" Within ninety minutes, the transaction was finalized. Lucas was officially the owner of the highest sanctuary in the city. Standing in the vast, empty living room of his new penthouse, looking out over the sprawling metropolis through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, Lucas felt a cold sense of detachment. Below him, millions of people were hurrying to work, buying coffee, arguing over trivial matters, totally unaware that their comfortable civilization had less than three months to live. He didn't waste time admiring the view. He pulled out his phone and dialed the number of IronClad Security Solutions, the most reputable private defense contractor and vault engineering firm in the state. An hour later, the chief contractor, a broad-shouldered veteran named Marcus, arrived at the penthouse with a tape measure and a tablet. "What kind of security setup are we talking about, Mr. Vance?" Marcus asked, scanning the open layout. "Standard smart locks and motion sensors?" "No," Lucas said, his tone dead serious. "I want this place turned into a fortress that can survive a siege." Marcus raised an eyebrow. "A siege?" "I want the exterior walls lined with thick thermal-insulating ceramic layers and half-inch high-carbon steel plates behind the drywall," Lucas instructed, walking along the perimeter. "Replace all windows with triple-pane bulletproof polycarbonate glass rated for high-caliber rifle rounds and extreme sub-zero temperatures. Install heavy blast doors made of solid titanium alloy at both elevator exits and the stairwell entrance. The lock system must be triple-redundant: biometric scanning, encrypted passcode, and mechanical deadbolts." Marcus stared at him as if he were insane. "Mr. Vance, what you're asking for is practically a military bunker. The thermal insulation alone is overkill unless you're expecting an arctic war zone." "Can you do it or not?" Lucas countered, pulling out a checkbook. "I'll pay double your standard rate if the entire renovation is completed within twenty days. Quietly." Marcus looked at the checkbook, swallowed hard, and nodded. "Double rate? We’ll work three shifts around the clock. Consider it done." With the sanctuary fortification underway, Lucas moved on to the most critical component of his strategy: Food and Essential Supplies. He rented a massive, abandoned cold-storage warehouse in the industrial outskirts of the city under the name of a dummy import-export company. This location would serve as his drop-off zone before he transferred everything into his Dimensional Sanctuary. His first stop was the city's central agricultural wholesale market—a bustling hub covering dozens of acres, packed with hundreds of vendors selling meat, grains, vegetables, and canned goods in bulk. Lucas walked directly into the office of the largest grain supplier in the district, Grand Harvest Trading. The owner, a plump man named Mr. Zhou, was sipping tea behind a heavy wooden desk. "Welcome! How can Grand Harvest help you today?" Mr. Zhou asked cheerfully. "I need fifty tons of premium white rice, fifty tons of wheat flour, twenty tons of dried beans, and ten tons of cooking oil," Lucas said, pulling up a chair. Mr. Zhou almost choked on his tea. "F-Fifty tons? Young man, are you opening a supermarket chain?" "I represent a international humanitarian aid charity preparing shipments for overseas relief," Lucas lied smoothly without batting an eye. "I need the inventory delivered to my warehouse in the industrial zone over the next five days. I will pay 100% upfront in cash." When Mr. Zhou saw the wire transfer confirmation hit his business account ten minutes later, his face flushed with delight. "Mr. Vance, you are our most valued client! I’ll personally oversee the loading trucks!" From grain suppliers, Lucas moved on to meat processing plants. He contracted three major meatpacking facilities to supply: 30 tons of fresh beef cuts (ribeye, sirloin, brisket). 30 tons of pork and poultry. 10 tons of processed sausages, bacon, and cured meats. Next came prepared foods and fast-food chains. Lucas understood that during the miserable cold of the apocalypse, hot, comforting, ready-to-eat meals were a massive boost to morale. He visited the regional headquarters of several major restaurant chains, catering services, and central kitchens. He placed bulk pre-orders for thousands of hot meals to be delivered in daily batches to his warehouse: 5,000 portions of hot beef stew and curries. 4,000 wood-fired pizzas (packed in heat-insulated boxes). 10,000 portions of fried chicken, burgers, and steamed dumplings. 20,000 canned soups, ready-to-eat military MREs (Meals Ready-to-Eat), and instant ramen boxes. Because his Dimensional Sanctuary possessed an Absolute Time Freeze, any hot food placed inside would remain piping hot, fresh, and steaming indefinitely! He could pull out a freshly baked pizza three years from now, and it would taste as if it had just left the oven. By late afternoon, Lucas arrived at his rented warehouse in the industrial zone. The first fleet of heavy delivery trucks from Grand Harvest Trading had already arrived. Dozens of workers were busy unloading tall pallets of rice sacks and oil drums into the spacious bay. "Everything is accounted for, Mr. Vance!" the delivery foreman shouted, handing him a clipboard to sign. "Fifty tons of rice and flour, right where you wanted them!" "Great job. You guys can take the rest of the day off," Lucas said, handing the foreman a generous cash tip. "I'll handle the internal organizing myself." As soon as the delivery crew drove away and the heavy iron gates of the warehouse rolled shut, the immense space fell dead quiet. Lucas stood alone in front of the towering mountain of food—hundreds of sacks of grain stacked ten feet high, stretching across the concrete floor. He took a deep breath and walked over to the nearest pallet. He extended his hand, lightly touching a sack of rice. His eyes gleamed with cold anticipation as he activated his power. SWOOSH! A silent wave of dark spatial energy rippled outward from his palm like an invisible tide. In the blink of an eye, entire rows of heavy rice sacks vanished into thin air! SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH! He walked down the aisles, sweeping his hand across the air. Pallets of cooking oil, mountains of wheat flour, and crates of canned goods vanished instantly, floating silently into the infinite, weightless void of his Dimensional Sanctuary. Within less than three minutes, the vast, crowded warehouse was completely empty. Not a single grain of rice was left on the floor. Lucas checked his mental inventory. Inside the dark dimension, the massive piles of supplies hovered neatly organized in separate spatial sectors, completely insulated from rot, moisture, and time. Lucas wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, a dark, satisfying smile spreading across his face. "Phase One of hoarding is complete," he murmured into the quiet night. "Next up: fuel, generators, medical supplies... and weapons."
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Organizing the Infinite Void
The heavy titanium blast doors of Penthouse A sealed shut with a low, pneumatic hiss, locking out the howling gale and the lingering, desperate echoes of the Miller family’s cries. Inside, the world transformed. The brutal, howling cold of the dying metropolis was replaced by an ambient, climate-controlled warmth, an oasis of absolute silence and peace. Lucas stood motionless in the exact center of the expansive, minimalist living room, a crystal glass of chilled mineral water clutched loosely in his fingers. He looked down at his right palm. There, embedded in his skin, the faint, intricate golden mark—the absolute anchor and threshold of his Dimensional Sanctuary—pulsed with a steady, calming warmth, a silent heartbeat of supernatural power. With exactly eighty days remaining until the catastrophic descent of the first major mutant wave, his physical and structural preparations were largely complete. The penthouse was a fortress, and his exterior defenses were unyielding. But
The Desperate Beggars and the First Face-Slap
The frost on the exterior window pane of Penthouse A had thickened into an intricate, crystalline armor. Outside, the blizzard howled like a pack of starved beasts, driving ice needles against the glass at eighty miles per hour. The ambient temperature in the city had plummeted further to a horrifying -50°C. Down in the streets, abandoned cars sat buried under snowdrifts, their engines cracked open by the sheer force of the cold.Inside, the penthouse was a warm, pristine paradise. The ambient indoor temperature sat comfortably at 22°C (72°F).Lucas leaned back on his plush velvet sofa, wrapped in a lightweight fleece blanket, watching a pre-downloaded action movie on his 85-inch OLED television. On the marble coffee table before him rested a steaming bowl of hot beef noodle soup, freshly pulled from his Dimensional Sanctuary. The rich broth emitted a fragrant aroma of star anise, Sichuan pepper, and tender braised beef—a stark contrast to the desolate, frozen hellscape just beyond
The Day the World Froze
The digital countdown widget on Lucas’s phone had finally hit zero.December 15th. 4:00 AM.For the past eighty days, the autumn weather had been unusually crisp, lulling the city’s millions of residents into a false sense of security. People had gone about their daily routines, grumbling about seasonal chill while shopping for winter coats, completely unaware that a planetary cataclysm was lurking just around the corner.Lucas stood inside his reinforced 45th-floor penthouse, wearing a comfortable cotton hoodie and wool socks. The indoor digital thermometer on the wall glowed with a steady, comforting green light: 22°C (72°F).Outside the triple-pane bulletproof polycarbonate windows, however, the atmosphere was undergoing a terrifying, violent transformation.Without warning, the sky turned an unnatural, bruised shade of violet-black. A ferocious gale-force wind swept down from the upper stratosphere, carrying with it a wall of blinding, Arctic white fog.CRACK!The temperat
Fortress Aegis and the Final Seal
The air on the 45th floor of Aegis Tower had completely transformed. Overhead, beneath the towering ceilings, Marcus and his elite defense crew had stripped away the old, decorative light fixtures to install heavy-duty structural reinforcements. Airtight steel doors, triple-pane bulletproof polycarbonate glass, and dense layers of ceramic thermal insulation sheets had been meticulously fitted, turning the luxury penthouse into an impenetrable military-grade bunker.Lucas stood alone in the center of the expansive living room, his eyes sweeping over every meticulous detail:Reinforced Entrance: Solid titanium alloy blast doors now guarded the private elevators and emergency stairwell. Without biometric fingerprint verification, encrypted multi-layer passcodes, and heavy mechanical deadbolts, breaching the entrance was utterly impossible.Thermal & Environmental Defense: Beneath the clean interior drywall sat thick layers of high-grade insulation backed by half-inch high-carbon stee
The Legal Trap and the Auction Frenzy
The slick glass facade of the Vanguard Legal Group building reflected the morning sun, shining brightly over the city’s financial district. Inside the 18th-floor conference room, the atmosphere was thick with tension.Chloe sat at the head of the polished oak table, wearing a dark navy blazer and oversized sunglasses to hide her swollen eyes. Beside her was Ryan, his nose heavily bandaged with white medical tape, breathing through his mouth with a painful wheeze. On Chloe’s right sat Ethan Cross, lounging casually in a leather armchair, tapping his expensive fountain pen against a tablet. Across from them stood Mr. Sterling, a ruthless corporate attorney known for destroying small-time defendants.When the heavy wooden door opened at exactly 10:00 AM, Lucas walked in alone. He was wearing a plain dark hoodie and simple jeans, carrying nothing except his hands in his pockets.Seeing Lucas’s casual demeanor, Ryan’s eyes flared with pure hatred. "You arrogant bastard... You think you
Medical Reserves, High-Tech Power, and Tactical Gear
The night descended quietly over the industrial district, but Lucas showed no signs of slowing down. Having cleared out the first batch of grain and food supplies, his next focus shifted to three crucial pillars of post-apocalyptic survival: high-grade medical supplies, independent energy systems, and defense equipment.In the brutal environment of the Great Frost, a simple fever, an infected cut, or lack of clean heat source killed far more people than armed conflicts. Medicines would become currency more precious than diamonds, and power meant the difference between freezing to death at -60°C or surviving in comfort.At 8:30 AM the following morning, Lucas drove a rented SUV to the city's pharmaceutical wholesale market. Rather than approaching retail pharmacies, which faced strict sales limits, he targeted major pharmaceutical logistics distributors.Posing as an procurement representative for an international maritime security firm preparing multi-year vessel supplies, Lucas m
You may also like
Rising from the Ashes
Only For You3.0M viewsFrom Trash Bag to Cash Bag
Zuxian126.9K viewsFrom Prison To Power
Rex Magnus81.2K viewsTRILLIONAIRE ON TOP
Sweet savage228.1K viewsThe Trillionaire's Revenge: 100x Cashback System.
FJ Writes307 viewsHe buried the wrong man
Bunny128 viewsThe Disgraced Heir: A Trillion-Dollar Revenge
M.A98 viewsMy Cheating Wife Never Saw My Rise Coming
ayoniboy25 views