Chapter 12: Blade

Immediately after, the lights flickered twice more, as if short-circuiting, and then went out completely. The elevator doors had only opened halfway; Qin Wei was caught in a dilemma, neither able to enter nor exit, so she hid behind Ji Dong.

This time, the power outage was real. It had come two days earlier than it had in her previous life. Why was it different this time? The typhoon had arrived earlier too. Lin Buwan felt a growing unease.

The corridor was lit only by a single small window, and given the weather, the light was exceedingly dim. Seeing there was nothing more to watch, everyone shut their doors, except for apartment 2004, whose door remained ajar as the occupants peered out toward the elevator.

“Let’s go back, nothing to see here,” Lin Buwan said to Hua Xiao.

Hua Xiao responded with a casual “Okay,” giving her best friend a quick once-over. Seeing no injuries and a calm expression, she snorted, “If he dares call for me again, I’ll curse him out. Rotten bastard.”

Lin Buwan smiled, “A dog’s still better than him.”

Now only Ji Dong and Qin Wei remained in the corridor. Ji Dong was seething with anger but had nowhere to vent it. He glanced at the delicate Qin Wei standing behind him and forced himself to swallow his rage. He couldn’t shake the suspicion that this woman was still hiding something from him.

Neither of them had forgotten the reason they’d come to the twentieth floor: they were here to buy instant noodles from apartment 2004.

Ji Dong straightened his clothes and headed to apartment 2004, while Qin Wei waited by the elevator.

The girl living in 2004, Wu Xiaofei, actually worked in the same office building as Ji Dong. She’d rented the apartment here for the convenience of being close to work. She’d seen Ji Dong a few times and thought he was quite attractive, but he and Lin Buwan had still been entangled at the time, so she hadn’t tried to get close.

The reason Wu Xiaofei was willing to part with some instant noodles was really to add Ji Dong on social media. How could she have known the apocalypse was coming, that food would soon be a matter of life and death? When Lin Buwan had warned her, she’d thought it was jealousy.

Lin Buwan, meanwhile, had no idea what was happening over there. Having given Ji Dong a good beating, she couldn’t be more pleased.

What she didn’t expect was that in less than two days, Ji Dong would move into 2004 with Qin Wei and two other men.

The rainstorm continued, and the water level had already reached the stairwell on the second floor. All the residents from the second floor had moved upstairs—those with friends stayed with them, and those without could only settle in the hallway.

The twentieth floor was quiet; with no electricity, climbing that high was simply too exhausting.

The whole building complex had fallen silent. Three days passed, and everyone’s phones ran out of power. Those whose phones still had some charge used them sparingly. After the power outage, the water was cut off as well, but that wasn’t much of a problem, since it was pouring rain outside.

With buckets, basins, and similar containers, people simply went out to collect rainwater. After filtering and boiling, it was safe to drink.

Lin Buwan had stockpiled some water purification tablets, though she hardly needed them herself—her portable space had water and electricity, so she was unaffected. Still, she shared some tablets with Hua Xiao, instructing her to add them to rainwater and let it sit for a while before using it.

Taking advantage of the time, Lin Buwan reorganized the supplies in her space. Two hundred thousand units of supplies sounded like a lot, but divided among all the different types, it was hardly enough. After sorting, there was still plenty of room in her space, and she needed to fill it with more supplies.

Once everything was in order, Lin Buwan took out the inflatable kayaks—three of them, fully inflated and packed into the space.

She was waiting, waiting for the rain to ease. Judging by her calculations, it shouldn’t be long now. She’d already marked out the places for her “zero-cost shopping” trips.

With nothing else to do, Lin Buwan entered her space and set about turning her ingredients into ready-made dishes. Thanks to the preservation function, she could take them out whenever she wanted, making things much more convenient.

Today, she planned to cook beef. Funds were limited, so she’d only bought about a hundred pounds of it.

She separated the cuts for braising, prepared the marinade according to her recipe, and after blanching the shank, tossed it directly into the pot to simmer. She’d forgotten to stock up on liquefied gas cylinders, but thankfully her portable apartment still had natural gas, so there was no need to worry.

Otherwise, she’d have to cook with fuel blocks, which would have been a torment.

She planned to use the steaks for radish soup, the brisket for curry beef, and the tenderloin for stir-fry. Just cutting up the meat was a hefty task.

She’d barely finished a third when she suddenly felt a wave of dizziness, nearly losing her balance. Knife still in hand, she now found herself standing in the living room of her apartment outside her space, a sense of confusion washing over her.

What happened? Why had she suddenly been ejected from her space?

A whimpering sound came from the little puppy—whenever it couldn’t see anyone, it would start to howl, and not quietly at that.

Before Lin Buwan could think further, there was a knock at the door.

Peering through the peephole, she saw—hmm?—the man from 2010, standing properly at the door, about to knock again when she opened it from the inside.

She was still holding the kitchen knife she’d used to cut beef, though she didn’t realize it. She only opened the door a crack, her foot braced behind it. “What is it?”

“Hello, it’s like this,” Wei Qu said, choosing his words carefully. “Your puppy’s been making quite a racket...”

“Oh, sorry,” Lin Buwan replied. She’d had no idea inside her space; she knew the pup could be noisy, but hadn’t thought it would disturb the neighbors. “I’ll keep an eye on it.”

Wei Qu nodded. “If you don’t have time to watch it, you can let it stay at my place—my dog can keep it company.”

Lin Buwan was a bit surprised by this offer. Indeed, 2010 had a dog—she’d seen it at the elevator before. “Is your dog female? Would she look after a puppy?”

“Male,” Wei Qu said, rubbing his nose, a little embarrassed. With the rain, he hadn’t been able to walk his dog, and the puppy’s constant whining next door was making Black Bean anxious. “But don’t worry, Black Bean’s very gentle.”

Lin Buwan wasn’t much of a dog owner herself—aside from feeding it, she had no idea how to care for one. “Well... that would be a big help.” She had a mountain of things to do anyway; letting the puppy stay next door wouldn’t be a problem.

Wei Qu breathed a sigh of relief. He was rather shy, and after witnessing this girl from next door beat someone with a baseball bat last time—and now, seeing her with a kitchen knife—he’d been a bit nervous, but found her quite easy to talk to.

“Wait a moment, I’ll go get him.” Lin Buwan shut the door, scooped up the pup, and opened the door again.

Wei Qu, a dog lover, smiled when he saw the little one and reached out to take it. “What’s his name? What breed is he?”

He didn’t have a name yet, and Lin Buwan didn’t know the breed either. Glancing at the kitchen knife she’d just set down, she blurted, “His name’s Dao Dao—I don’t know the breed, I found him on the street.”

“Dao Dao, that’s a nice name,” Wei Qu said. “Alright, I’ll bring him back this evening.”

Lin Buwan nodded, thanked him, and closed the door. With the puppy gone, the apartment was finally quiet. If the man from 2010 grew attached, Lin Buwan wouldn’t mind giving Dao Dao to him—so long as he didn’t treat the pup as emergency rations.

She focused her mind, intending to slip back into her space, only to find herself blocked by an invisible barrier.