Chapter 29

【System Prompt: Current is the last 1 day before the apocalypse, remaining countdown: 23 hours, 58 minutes, safe house safety rating 99%, waiting to replenish emergency lighting materials】

At 7:00 AM, Lin Chen's phone rang.

It was the renovation factory boss: "Mr. Lin, the pickup is fully renovated, solar panels, sunroof locks are all finished, you can come over to get the car."

Lin Chen woke Xia Nuan: "Go get the pickup first, then go buy things for emergency lighting, the remaining time... do something you want to do."

The two simply ate compressed biscuits with milk, carrying shopping bags and went out.

Outside was snowing lightly, accumulating a thin layer on the ground.

Arriving at the renovation factory, the pickup was parked at the entrance.

12mm bulletproof glass gleamed cold, manganese steel protective plates on the outside of the car doors welded neatly, snow plow on the front of the car flashing metallic.

Lin Chen circled the car to check, knocked on the fuel tank protective shell: "Tested the engine insulation cover?"

The boss nodded: "Tested with power, can start at -40℃, solar panels connected to car battery, can also store power on cloudy days."

Lin Chen sat in the driver's seat, engine sound stable, dashboard showing full battery.

Xia Nuan sat in the passenger seat, touching the manual snow plow inside the car: "This car looks safe."

The two didn't stay long, driving the pickup toward the hardware store.

In the hardware store, Lin Chen bought 20 candles, 5 lighters, 2 hand-crank flashlights, and 10 batteries, stuffing them into the cargo bed.

Xia Nuan took 2 packs of matches: "Backup."

After settling the bill, Lin Chen looked at his phone: "Go to the mall, relax today."

【System Prompt: Emergency lighting materials replenishment completed, safe house safety rating 100%, pre-apocalypse preparation work all finished】

There weren't many people in the mall, the two went to the clothing store first.

Xia Nuan picked a black down jacket, Lin Chen tried on a thickened windbreaker, bargained and paid.

Then went to the stationery store, Xia Nuan bought a notebook and several rolls of tape, Lin Chen took a fountain pen.

Passing the milk tea shop, Xia Nuan wanted a cup of pearl milk tea, Lin Chen chose iced Americano.

The two walked while drinking.

Arriving at the fourth-floor rest area, Lin Chen turned on his phone to connect to the mall's WiFi, pulling Xia Nuan to play ranked matches of Honor of Kings.

Xia Nuan chose Sun Bin as support, Lin Chen played Hou Yi in the shooter position.

The first game cooperated to take 60% of the team's output, won the game; the second game encountered a teammate hanging up, the two stubbornly defended the base and made a comeback.

Xia Nuan laughed and patted his arm: "Haven't won so heartily for a long time!"

After playing ranked, opened another round of Infinite Brawl.

Xia Nuan chose Cai Wenji to heal people throughout, Lin Chen played Li Bai to show off operations, until noon before reluctantly exiting the game.

At noon, went to the hot pot restaurant on the top floor of the mall, ordered tripe, duck intestines, beef rolls.

The pot base chose a mandarin duck pot—Xia Nuan couldn't eat spicy, Lin Chen stared at the peppercorns in the red soup.

Xia Nuan swished tripe, chewing crisply: "Afraid I'll never eat such fresh tripe after the apocalypse."

Lin Chen didn't speak, clipping a piece of beef into her clear soup pot.

He himself put the duck intestines into the red soup, swished seven up and eight down, and stuffed them into his mouth.

After eating hot pot, the snow outside got bigger.

Snowflakes drifted on the car window, quickly accumulating a layer.

The two drove to Laoliu Supermarket, pushed a shopping cart toward the snack area.

Potato chips took tomato and barbecue flavors, dark chocolate chose 85% cocoa, also took several bags of nuts and beef jerky, all stuffed into the pickup's cargo bed.

Xia Nuan suddenly remembered something, also took two boxes of strawberry-flavored cookies: "Hamsters can also eat a little occasionally."

At 2:00 PM, drove the pickup to the pedestrian street.

Xia Nuan pulled Lin Chen into a jewelry store, tried silver earrings in front of the mirror, chose a small pearl style.

Lin Chen waited on the side, smelled the scent of roasted squid on the street, walked over to buy two skewers, brushed a layer of sweet and spicy sauce, handed Xia Nuan one.

The two walked while eating, passing the bookstore, Lin Chen went in to flip through "The Three-Body Problem."

Xia Nuan picked up a collection of essays, leaning against the bookshelf to read, didn't buy, just wanted to feel this peaceful reading time more.

After 4:00 PM, went to the vegetable market.

Fresh strawberries just arrived, red and plump, Lin Chen bought two boxes; oranges chose sweet oranges, weighed five catties.

Walking to the meat stall, the boss recommended fresh ribs, Lin Chen picked a piece with cartilage, planning to make sweet and sour ribs at night.

Passing the street stall, Xia Nuan wanted a bowl of Chongqing small noodles, added a fried egg.

Lin Chen ordered a bowl of Lanzhou ramen, specifically asked the boss to add more meat, added a braised egg, making it "meat and egg double fly."

The two sat at the small table, the steaming noodles dispelling the cold.

Snow fell on the stall's sunshade, rustling.

After eating noodles, the snow hadn't stopped, the two drove back to Tianyu Building.

Lin Chen moved the emergency lighting materials into the storage room, classified them into boxes—candles and lighters on the top layer, hand-crank flashlights and batteries on the bottom layer, convenient to take.

Xia Nuan put strawberries and oranges into the refrigerator, soaked the ribs in water to thaw.

Also went to the storage room to check the hamster, added some strawberry cookies to the food bowl, the hamster leaned over to smell, holding the cookies and gnawing.

Lin Chen looked at his phone, apocalypse countdown showing: 12 hours, 15 minutes.

"I'll make sweet and sour ribs tonight, you water the seeds on the balcony again."

Xia Nuan nodded, went to the balcony to water the sprouting seeds.

Lin Chen went to the kitchen, fished out the ribs, chopped them into small pieces with a knife.

Also mixed the sweet and sour sauce—light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, vinegar, sugar mixed in proportion, also added a little tomato sauce to enhance the flavor.

By evening, the scent of sweet and sour ribs drifted out of the kitchen.

The red and bright ribs simmered in the pot, the sauce gradually thickening.

Xia Nuan walked in, swallowed her saliva: "So fragrant, even more fragrant than what my mom makes."

Lin Chen smiled, served the ribs into a plate, also heated a can of fish.

The two sat at the living room dining table, eating with rice.

After dinner, Lin Chen turned on his phone Bluetooth, connected to the speaker to play Jay Chou's album.

The prelude to "Common Jasmine Orange" sounded, Xia Nuan hummed along lightly: "The sparrows outside the window, chattering on the telephone pole..."

Lin Chen leaned on the sofa, closed his eyes and listened, the days before the apocalypse in the previous life flashing through his mind.

Suddenly felt that now is really good.

After listening to the songs for a while, Lin Chen pulled Xia Nuan to play Honor of Kings matches.

Xia Nuan chose Da Qiao, Lin Chen played Han Xin, the two cooperated to push towers, take dragons, played three games and won two.

The one they lost was because teammates argued and hung up.

Xia Nuan was a bit depressed, Lin Chen smiled and comforted: "It's okay, just for entertainment, next time we play against AI to practice new heroes."

At 9:30 PM, Lin Chen opened Douyin, scrolling through pet videos—little kittens kneading milk, corgis wagging tails, parrots learning to speak.

Xia Nuan leaned over to watch, seeing a video of an orange cat gnawing a can, couldn't help laughing out loud.

At 10:00 PM, Lin Chen remembered the solar panels on the terrace, took the snow plow up.

The snow had accumulated two centimeters thick, he shoveled down along the board, clearing the snow to ensure normal sunlight absorption tomorrow.

Returning to the living room, Lin Chen looked at his phone, countdown: 5 hours, 30 minutes.

Xia Nuan opened NetEase Cloud Music, playing light music, the soothing melody flowing in the living room.

The two leaned on the sofa, didn't speak, just listened quietly.

Occasionally looked at the snow scene outside the window—snowflakes still drifting, streetlight light illuminating the snowflakes like crushed diamonds.

At 11:00 PM, Lin Chen went to the underground garage to check.

The three locks on the garage door were all locked tightly, rubber sealing gaskets didn't loosen; the shelves in the material area were neat, fuel drums and water storage drums didn't leak; the moisture-proof mats in the core safety zone were laid flat, emergency sealing kits placed in conspicuous positions.

After confirming no problems, he locked the garage door and returned to the 45th floor.

At 12:00 AM, the two washed up, Lin Chen lay on the folding bed.

Xia Nuan sat on the side organizing the emergency kit—putting compressed biscuits, water purification tablets, first-aid kits into the bag, also stuffed a pack of chocolate.

"Blizzard tomorrow, can the 45th floor's bulletproof glass and steel bars hold up?" Xia Nuan asked softly.

Lin Chen nodded: "Don't worry, tested before, even if snow accumulates on it, it's fine, the pickup's snow plow can also be used tomorrow."

At 2:00 AM, Lin Chen woke up, looked at his phone, countdown: 2 hours, 10 minutes.

He walked to the terrace lightly, snow still falling, the city in the distance was silent, only scattered streetlights lit, like stars in the dark night.

He took out his phone, opened Honor of Kings, played a round of AI battle, chose the newly bought new hero Goya, practiced positioning and skill release.

After playing a round, countdown only 1 hour left.

Returning to the living room, Xia Nuan also woke up, the two opened the TV together, tuned to a channel playing old movies.

Didn't watch the plot seriously, just listened to the sound on the TV, dispelling the silence of the night.

At 3:00 AM, countdown: 30 minutes.

The snow outside got bigger, wind blowing the metal railings on the balcony humming, like singing.

Lin Chen gripped his phone, the screen was the game record just played; Xia Nuan leaned on his shoulder, holding the newly bought notebook in her hand, flipping to the blank page.

【System Prompt: Apocalypse countdown: 10 minutes, current environment: blizzard, outdoor temperature -15℃, safe house defense normal, materials sufficient, no abnormal biological signals detected】

Lin Chen got up and walked to the terrace, opened the phone recording, lens facing the sky full of flying snow and the night view of the city in the distance.

Snowflakes fell on the lens, leaving small white dots.

Xia Nuan stood beside him, took out her phone and took a picture of the two's shadows, background was falling snowflakes.

When countdown 1 minute left, Lin Chen turned off the recording, Xia Nuan also put away her phone, the two returned to the living room together, locked the terrace door.

Countdown: 10 seconds, 9 seconds, 8 seconds... 3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1 second.

【System Prompt: Apocalypse officially descended, current outdoor temperature -20℃, blizzard continues, no abnormal biological signals detected, safe house danger coefficient maintained at 10%】

Lin Chen walked to the window, looked out—snowflakes still densely drifting, streetlights in the distance still lit, street empty, no black shadows, no strange sounds.

Xia Nuan leaned over, a bit confused: "Why no... abnormality?"

Lin Chen breathed a sigh of relief, patted her hand: "Maybe blizzard delayed the appearance of abnormality, just right, we take this time to check materials and equipment again, especially the pickup's snow plow, try if it can be used after snow stops tomorrow."

Suddenly, the TV screen flickered, didn't go black, just signal became blurry, then returned to normal, playing the old movie just now.

Lin Chen turned on the emergency light switch, light lit up, warm yellow light illuminating the living room: "Emergency light no problem, we go to the garage to check fuel drums again, ensure generator can start normally."

The two took flashlights, walking toward the garage.

Elevator operation normal, after arriving at the second basement level, garage door electromagnetic lock induction sensitive, input password to open.

Lin Chen checked fuel drums—gasoline and diesel didn't leak, generator wiring also connected normally.

Xia Nuan checked water storage drums, water inside was full, rainwater diversion channel wasn't blocked by accumulated snow.

Returning to the 45th floor, it was already 4:00 AM.

Xia Nuan yawned, Lin Chen looked at his phone, the apocalypse countdown numbers disappeared, replaced by "Apocalypse Day 1, blizzard continues" prompt.

"Sleep for a while, clean up balcony snow after waking up tomorrow morning, then try the pickup's snow plow," Lin Chen said.

Xia Nuan nodded, lay on the folding bed, soon fell asleep.

Lin Chen didn't sleep, sitting on the sofa, opened his phone to play Taylor Swift's new songs, melody soothing.

He looked at the snow scene outside the window, heart very calm—45th floor safe, materials sufficient, pickup usable, no zombies appeared, such an apocalypse first day, much more stable than he expected.

Only he knew, peace might only be temporary.

After snow stops tomorrow, must drive to turn around nearby, see the situation outside, then replenish materials that might be missed, ensure the following days can stay stable.