It was raining

After the "group dinner," Bai Yaoyao took a thorough look around the Villa. This would probably be their home for nearly a year. Without the strength of a level-five ability user, roaming all over the country would be nothing but serving themselves up to zombies and mutant beasts.

Leveling up was relatively easy at first, but after level four, it required a massive number of crystal stones. Relying on herself and a few friends alone would be far too difficult. Part of the reason she had prepared so many supplies was to trade them with Huaguo's government for crystal stones.

The Villa had one basement level and four floors aboveground.

A large circle of sofas filled the spacious living room on the first floor, with enough seating for everyone. Peiqi had converted the reception room to the left of the living room into a meeting room. The dining room and kitchen were on the right.

There were also two bedrooms at the back. Fat Brother and Stone chose to stay on the first floor, serving as their two imposing gatekeepers.

The center of the second floor had been turned into a workout area, surrounded by four bedrooms. Beyond it was a large balcony with a perfect view of Phoenix Cry Mountain, ideal for eating meat and drinking. Xiao Shiliu, Dada Juan, and Chenxuan stayed on the second floor.

The third floor had a similar layout to the second, except without the balcony. Monkey, Xiaomi, and Keke each took a bedroom.

Bai Yaoyao, Lulu, and Peiqi stayed on the top floor.

Bai Yaoyao left some ingredients in the kitchen for everyone to practice cooking. In the end, she discovered that aside from wasting ingredients, it accomplished nothing! Not one of them could even cook the food through!

For a while after that, no one went anywhere. The injured recovered, while the uninjured sparred with one another.

Bai Yaoyao realized that her combat instincts were far stronger than they had been at this point in her previous life. Combined with all the supplies she had prepared and her knowledge of how the apocalypse would unfold, she practically had the perfect starting hand.

Once the shelving arrived, Bai Yaoyao's compulsive need for order kicked in. She spent a full day sorting all her supplies into categories and putting them away.

She had thought she would never fill so many shelves, but they turned out not to be enough. She put the weapons and ammunition in a separate corner, leaving only food, drinks, and everyday necessities on the shelves.

The shelves were seven meters long and five tiers high, with ten units lined up neatly in each row.

Rows one through five held all kinds of ready-to-eat food. She could take it out and eat it straightaway, without any preparation.

Rows six through ten held semi-prepared food that only needed a quick turn in the microwave or a little boiling.

Since they had all been staying at the Villa lately with little to do, the injured were tasked with steaming rice and boiling water to stockpile. They also prepared these semi-finished foods, making sure they were fully ready for the apocalypse.

Rows eleven through thirteen held everything drink-related. Since there were not enough shelves, the cases were stacked right against one another. The water she had bought from Wang Fugui was stored separately, not here. These shelves held bottled water and assorted drinks she had stockpiled.

Row fourteen was entirely hot pot bases and ingredients. Yes, they took up a whole row on their own.

Rows fifteen through thirty held rice, flour, oil, seasonings, and similar goods.

Rows thirty-one through thirty-eight held all the clothing, shoes, and bedding.

Rows thirty-nine and forty were packed with snacks.

Rows forty-one through sixty held fruit and vegetables.

Beyond row sixty were all sorts of miscellaneous goods. For someone with Bai Yaoyao's compulsive need for order, knowing exactly what was inside was essential. If she could not remember now, she certainly would not remember later.

Stockpiling supplies was pointless if she never used them. Even with her storage space, she needed to know what she had before she could use it, so she sorted everything out, opening the boxes one by one to check their contents.

She wrote a list for each row and posted it at the front so she would not forget.

All the seeds were put away properly, too.

She had planted the first batch, and they had sprouted in just a few days. The only problem was that the planting area was too small.

By the time everything was organized, it was already dark. Bai Yaoyao was long past the point of feeling sleepy, so she decided not to bother going to bed. She opened a can of dark beer, left her space, and headed onto the balcony. With her feet propped on the railing, she leaned back against the sofa, sipping her beer and enjoying the breeze. Bliss.

Except...

Was it raining?

It really was raining!

Bai Yaoyao took out her phone and checked. There was still a full month until the apocalypse! In her previous life, aside from artificially induced rainfall, it had never rained before the apocalypse!

Bai Yaoyao hurriedly called everyone out.

"Sis Yaoyao? Is it time? Is the apocalypse here?" Xiaomi shouted while racing downstairs.

Hearing the commotion, the others quickly ran out as well, their expressions grave.

"Ah-ha! Come, wind! Come, fire! Transform, transform, transform! Thunder! Teleportation! Summoned beast, come forth!" Monkey hollered in the living room like a shaman performing a ritual. At the end, he still remembered to ask, "Sis Yaoyao, where's my ability?"

Bai Yaoyao's tense expression abruptly cracked. Rolling her eyes, she said, "Do you think you're cultivating immortality? What's gotten into you, calling up wind and rain? If you want to control the weather, you'd need a level-nine ability at least."

Seeing that he had made everyone laugh, Monkey stopped playing the fool. Master had told him that he was in charge of keeping spirits up. He hated seeing anyone frown.

Everyone went out to the balcony together. Watching bolts of lightning flash across the pitch-black sky, accompanied by thunder that shook the heavens, they all felt their hearts tighten.

The rain grew heavier and heavier, as though the sky had sprung a leak.

"Come on. Let's go back inside." Bai Yaoyao returned to the living room with everyone.

They sat on the sofas chatting and discovered that the water and power had already started going out.

As they chatted, some of them began falling asleep. Fat Brother was first, his snores immediately thundering through the room.

Xiaomi laughed. "I can hear Fat Brother snoring even when I sleep on the second floor. Stone, how do you manage to sleep right next door to him..."

Before finishing, Xiaomi fell asleep too. Then came...

Doggie.

In their previous life, everyone had gone to visit Master, leaving Doggie in the city. By the time they returned and found Doggie, the dog had nearly starved to death.

This time, Doggie had been fed big bones and milk every day. She wondered whether things would turn out differently.

Watching everyone fall asleep one after another, Bai Yaoyao grew nervous again. Suddenly, she noticed that Lulu's brows were tightly furrowed, and Lulu kept pinching her own arm.

"Lulu..."

"Yaoyao, I'm scared to sleep."

Bai Yaoyao suddenly felt choked up. Not knowing what to say, she held Lulu's hand tightly.

"I turned into a zombie in your previous life, didn't I?" Lulu asked calmly.

"Fat Brother knows too, doesn't he? These last couple of days, he's actually started letting me take his meat. And you keep avoiding my eyes.

"Hmm, Little Brother Xuan probably knows too."

Bai Yaoyao smiled helplessly and replied, "I knew I couldn't hide it from you."

"Yeah. You asked Fat Brother, Xiaomi, Stone, and Monkey to help you collect things, but you never contacted me. That was when I knew.

"You probably didn't know how to face me." Lulu pinched Bai Yaoyao's cheeks.

She had not pinched them since they grew up. They felt so nice. But perhaps she would never get to pinch them again.

"You did turn into a zombie in my previous life, but your gunshot wound hadn't healed then, and your immune system was weak. Now you're healthy and well-fed. You'll be fine." Ignoring the hands pinching her face, Bai Yaoyao pulled Lulu into her arms and spoke earnestly.

"Yaoyao... if I turn into one of those hideous monsters, kill me quickly. I won't let everyone see me looking that ugly...

"There's something else I want to tell you. That time Master got angry and beat you, I was the one who put the lollipop under your pillow. I put the cockroach in Master's shoe, too..."