Chapter 5: The Situation

She explained the rules of this survival game to her two children, telling them that monsters prey on humans, that people must use weapons to defeat these beasts to obtain treasures, and that materials harvested from monsters can be crafted into gear and weapons, while some monster meat is even edible. To survive, everyone must become strong. She then told Xuanxuan to take her younger brother to the playroom.

Stuck at home with two small children, she could not go out to hunt monsters and had to focus on practicing her cultivation techniques. After finishing her meditation, she listened to the chorus of screams and the roars of unknown beasts echoing outside the window, then calmly began to organize the household supplies.

Knowing that power would be cut in three days and water in five, Rong Xianxian took immediate action. While the utilities were still running, she began washing all the clothes, bedsheets, quilt covers, and pillowcases in the house. In her previous life, although she had stored some water in time, she had forgotten to wash her laundry, and the water she saved was barely enough for drinking; she could never bring herself to waste it on cleaning clothes. Although she had encountered water sources during her flight later on, those waters held many unknown dangers, and she dared not go near them except to collect the bare minimum for survival.

She took inventory of the drinking water: three cases of soda, two cases of mineral water, a case of Diet Coke, a case of Sprite, a case of Fanta, and two large barrels of mineral water. There were also two cases of whole milk, several bottles of yogurt, various spirits and red wines in the liquor cabinet, and a case of beer in the basement. Reflecting on this, Rong Xianxian was deeply grateful for her past habit of impulse buying. Because she was a stay-at-home mother, she loved to shop whenever she was bored. Whenever the house became too full, she would pack things up and send them to her parents' home—a way for her to relieve stress.

Even though the water supply seemed sufficient, she still needed to store more; the three of them would be here for at least three months, and there was no guarantee they would have time to find water on their journey north.

She searched the top of the wardrobe and unearthed a paddling pool she had bought for Xuanxuan when she was little. Measuring 2.2 meters long, 1.8 meters wide, and 1.1 meters high, it had only been used a few times before being packed away. Now, it was perfect for storing water. Rong Xianxian attached a hose to the water purifier. Because the purifier produced one barrel of clean water for every two and a half barrels of waste, and the process was slow, she usually used tap water for laundry and only used purified water for cooking. This time, however, she decided to fill every container with purified water—after all, she wouldn't have to pay the water bill anymore.

The pool held a significant amount of water, and she filled the bathtub in the master bedroom, the children’s tubs, and every washbasin and vegetable basin in the house. She even cleaned out an extra-large aquarium, discarding the water plants her husband had painstakingly cultivated, and filled it to the brim.

While the water was running, she didn't idle. She rummaged through cabinets to organize their supplies. The cotton, silk, and down quilts her mother had made for her wedding were already vacuum-sealed to save space, making them easy to stow away into her storage pouch. She packed the children's down jackets, winter coats, outdoor clothing, shoes, and boots into the pouch as well, followed by a case of spicy noodles, a case of milk tea, two cases of instant noodles, two jugs of green tea, two bags of ham sausages, a bag of purple sweet potatoes, a case of dried shiitake mushrooms, and two bags of rice.

There was a freezer full of frozen food in the basement, along with two more bags of rice, a case of eight-treasure porridge, and many snacks. Since the frozen food wouldn't spoil immediately after the power cut, she decided to leave it for now; there was no room to store it upstairs anyway.

She found the luxury camping tent she had bought earlier—a yurt-style tent. When Ning Qingyun was on leave, the family had visited an outdoor gear store, and Xuanxuan had fallen in love with it. It had come with small tables, chairs, folding beds, and even toy knives and plastic produce—the kind of "playing house" items little girls adore. Her father had bought it all, along with sleeping bags, trekking poles, inflatable mattresses, and hand-cranked tent lanterns, dreaming of family trips and camping in the wild.

Rong Xianxian stared at the tent, lost in thought. In her previous life, she had taken this tent with her, keeping it in the trunk of the car as a shelter for her children, but she hadn't been able to protect it—it had been stolen. This time, she didn't intend to change her route or timing heading north; perhaps she would cross paths with the people who had stolen it. If so, she would settle the score. She packed the tent, trekking poles, lanterns, mattresses, and sleeping bags into her storage pouch.

Even though she couldn't go out to hunt monsters while caring for the children, there were still opportunities to farm for loot. Their apartment was on the top floor, the seventeenth, and there was an attic above it with a flat roof where Ning Qingyun used to grow plants, relax in the summer, and grill. There was a large, heavy-duty oven up there that could be used for roasting; they had grilled skewers, chicken, sweet potatoes, and potatoes there before.

If she wanted to farm loot, she could grill meat on the roof, which would certainly attract flying monsters. But now was not the time. Although her strength had vastly improved compared to her previous life, the power of the monsters she encountered was a matter of luck. If she ran into something difficult and got injured or became prey, the children would have no path to survival. The monster that had used mental attacks earlier had nearly brought her down even while it couldn't move, so she absolutely could not take risks. Even if she wanted to farm, she had to be fully prepared.

She couldn't draw too much attention to herself. While many people had died in the early days of the apocalypse because they went out to work or were unaware of the situation, many others had simply stayed home and watched, waiting for news after their phones and TVs lost signal. Most households still had food reserves, and since the government’s influence remained, survivors were generally keeping calm, waiting for rescue.

In about a month, when no rescue came and the monsters grew more numerous—some even capable of breaking through doors and windows—and when most families' food and water ran out, that was when the true chaos would begin.

Until she had the strength to ensure the safety of her children, it was better to keep a low profile. This was the reason she had hidden her tracks when hunting previously. Though she possessed cultivation techniques—giving her sharper senses, greater agility, and increased strength—killing humans was different from killing monsters. If she were targeted, she would be outnumbered. As a mother protecting two children, she needed to be free of worries, or perhaps she needed to find allies.

Humans are, after all, social creatures. With the changing world, unstable climate, and the loss of safe environments for farming and animal husbandry, future food sources would rely on scavenging, hunting, and gathering. In her previous life, Rong Xianxian had been suspicious of everyone who approached her, until one person died trying to protect Xuanxuan, leaving her with endless regret.

Calculating the time, he should be appearing soon.