Snowstorm: I'm Super Rich in the Apocalypse

Gu Pan was very cautious as she looked at the other person and asked, "How do you know we have this at our house?"

The girl had not expected Gu Pan to ask this and was a little nervous, "I live on the 9th floor. I've been knocking door to door from the 9th floor down, asking each household. The first few didn't have any."

Hearing this answer, Gu Pan was satisfied, "I don't have much, but I'll give you two pieces. Wait a moment."

After saying this, Gu Pan went inside and closed the door, heading to the bedroom to get some sanitary pads.

We're all women, after all; there's no need to be heartless about something you can easily help with, especially since it wouldn't trouble her.

She took two sanitary pads, walked to the door, opened it, and handed them to the girl.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the door opened, the girl tried to push her way in, "Sister, do you have any food? Could you give me some? I wasn't able to buy anything to eat, and I'm going to run out of food today."

Gu Pan pushed the girl out and stepped out herself, "Don't push your luck. I'm not easygoing; it's just that I can understand your awkwardness as a fellow woman, but if you're trying to take advantage of me, then you've got the wrong person."

After speaking, she placed the two sanitary pads in the girl's hand – she had promised, after all, and didn't want to go back on her word. However, she thought it best to keep her distance from this person in the future.

After Gu Pan came back inside and closed the door, Lu Ruisheng said, "Let's put up the iron gate as soon as the power goes out, so we don't have people constantly knocking on our door, bothering us."

"Sure, we'll install it as soon as the power's out," said Gu Pan.

After finishing speaking, they heard the girl knocking on the door opposite, but Duan Shumei likely overheard the conversation between Gu Pan and the girl and immediately said she didn't have any.

Then there was the sound of the girl going downstairs.

As for this girl, neither Gu Pan nor Lu Ruisheng remembered her; they only knew about the one in 901, the rich one who drinks bottled water. This girl must be from 902, quite mysterious, never spoke in the group chat. One has to be more vigilant about these kinds; today's visit was a good thing, at least now they knew someone was living in that apartment, to be aware in case of chaos.

As the afternoon wore on, requests to borrow supplies in the group chat increased, not only for food but also for toilet paper, hot water, and so forth, since power was only supplied at night. Some people didn't have a thermos – a kettle that heats and keeps water warm – so once the power was out, they wouldn't keep the heat, resulting in no hot water during the day. They had to ask around in the group chat to borrow some.

Most people had run out of stored water and had started boiling snow for drinking water.

Duan Shumei, a chemistry teacher from 702, posted a scientific tip in the chat: if you have a water filter at home, you can take it apart and use it to filter the snow water before boiling it for a safer drink.

Their community was in relatively good condition, so most people had water filters installed in their homes. Those who didn't had to trade or buy one from others. Anyway, neither Gu Pan and her family were involved in any of this.

Because the supermarkets were still selling goods, though it required queueing, and while some hadn't managed to buy anything these past few days, everyone believed sales would continue, and they would eventually get their turn. Some even thought it would soon warm up and return to normal, where one could buy whatever they wanted.

But everything changed the next morning.

Around 10 a.m., the group chat exploded with the news that the supermarkets would stop selling goods from tomorrow.

The owner from 901: How can this happen? I haven't managed to buy anything yet. If they stop selling, are they trying to starve us?

The owner from 802: I queued all night yesterday, and I still didn't get anything. Now they won't let us queue, indicating they won't sell tomorrow. I almost froze to death last night. Thank goodness a few of us who were together lit a campfire and took turns to warm up. Otherwise, we would have died there.

The owner from 402: When will they sell again? Isn't there any announcement? Do they expect us to just wait around?

A lot of people started @ mentioning the building manager.

The building manager from 401: I don't have any information at the moment; the news from above only says when the supermarket has goods, they will notify everyone in advance.

The owner from 1001: Could it really be the apocalypse? Look at the temperature not rising at all, and I heard through the grapevine that electricity supply may also fail.

The owner from 102: What? If there's a blackout, then how do we keep warm? How do we boil water?

The owner from 201: Are they expecting us to make a fire inside for warmth?

The owner from 801: Even if we use fire for heat, we have nothing to burn. Should we burn furniture? Without insurance, who will we claim from afterward?

Gu Pan sighed as she read these remarks, thinking optimistically about insurance, as if it were uncertain whether they would survive to see that day.

Now it wasn't just in the homeowners' group chat; other groups were also exploding with panic, people not being able to buy things, not knowing what would happen tomorrow. More rumors spread about power and network outages.

Many complained about losing everything but insisted that losing the internet would render life meaningless.

Lu Ruisheng sighed as well, pondering the meaning of life; indeed, one had to be alive to find meaning.

He and Gu Pan sighed continuously as they read through the group chat, knowing things others didn't, yet they could not reveal what they knew.

There was no notice tonight, but the power supply time was reduced to three hours, from midnight to three in the morning.

Early in the morning, before it was light, the group chat exploded again with people saying they woke up frozen, nearly died of cold. With such cold weather and no guarantee of power supply, life was at risk.

Yesterday, someone mentioned it might blackout, but most thought it was a rumor. However, today's unannounced shortening of power supply made many people anxious and panic – could there really be a blackout, which would mean no internet?

After getting up in the morning, Gu Pan put on her down jacket before leaving the bedroom. Only the bedroom was warm as they were cautious not to put any heating equipment in the living room, worrying that a sudden knock at the door might reveal that their apartment was still warm despite a power outage.

They would await chaos, put up the iron door, and then no one would be allowed in. Only then would they set up heating equipment in the living room.

Gu Pan sat on the sofa, scrolling through hundreds of chat messages; people were beginning to have a premonition of the apocalypse.

For breakfast, both had egg pancakes and each drank a cup of hot rice porridge, warm and comforting.

Today, the young man from apartment 901 came to knock on their door to buy food, a guy in his early twenties dressed in a foreign-brand down jacket, obviously from a well-off family.

He was quite polite, addressing Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng, "Brother and sister, do you have any extra food to sell me? As for the price, that's negotiable. You name it."

Gu Pan responded, "We only have enough for ourselves. We don't have any to spare, sorry."

The owner from 901 looked a bit disappointed, "Got it. If you have any way of getting food, you must tell me, money is no object."

Gu Pan agreed, "Okay, I'll tell you if there is any."

The owner from 901 thanked them and then went to knock on the next door.

Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng then closed the door and went back inside. At this time, it was impossible to reveal that they had supplies; that would be inviting trouble for themselves.