Sweeping Natural Disasters (席卷天灾)

Chapter 3

All beginnings start with rain. No one expected that the rain would not stop, that it would keep pouring harder and harder. A month later, when the city's drainage system couldn't handle it anymore, and the water kept rising and it couldn't be drained anymore, it was already too late.

Qiao Qingqing's neighborhood, where she lived, was situated in the highest area of the city. When it was developed, they advertised it as enjoying the scenic beauty of the city, taking in everything at a glance.

In this neighborhood, when the flood peaked, it submerged up to the sixth floor. In other lower areas, it had already reached above ten floors.

The flooding persisted for nearly a year, followed by a sudden drop in temperature. From the autumn's 22 degrees, it plummeted directly to below zero, with the temperature continuing to drop, even reaching more than negative eighty degrees Celsius.

After that, disasters arrived without warning. People recalled the initial stages of the apocalypse and realized that the disaster had been relatively 'gentle' at the beginning. The flooding didn't happen suddenly; at least, there was a month of rainfall that gave people a chance to react. The country's machinery coped initially, but as the water levels rose, everywhere was submerged... According to news reports, apart from the provinces and cities in the west with higher terrain, all other provinces and cities were submerged in floods.

By the time of the severe cold, the southern Flower City had dropped to more than negative eighty degrees Celsius. It was unimaginable what the temperatures would be like in the northern parts of the country.

While shopping online, Qiao Qingqing first purchased essential disaster relief supplies, ordering a large amount of bottled mineral water. Due to the large order, she negotiated discounts with the store. After placing the order, she rented a warehouse located in the outskirts and provided the address to the store.

Subsequently, she ordered rice, noodles, flour, down jackets, quilts, and other warm clothing and necessities. Logically, it would have been more cost-effective to buy these from the food-producing areas and wholesale markets. However, there was only light rain this week, and it would take another week for the rain to intensify.

With half a month before the floods formed, there was time to manage these things. But Qiao Qingqing didn't dare to take the risk. What if she got stuck on the road and couldn't return? Buying so many things and receiving deliveries in an out-of-town warehouse was also inconvenient. It was better to be in her own territory, familiar everywhere.

She specifically rented the warehouse of a closed-down clothing factory on the outskirts, paying a monthly rent of ten thousand and a prepaid deposit of four thousand. The nearest residential area from this factory was eight hundred meters away, so she wasn't worried about being spied on.

In her past life, she had witnessed too many incidents of people coveting wealth. Even this home was targeted and taken away. With so many supplies collected, she absolutely couldn't afford to draw attention.

There was no need to save money at this point; after all, money would soon become worthless. For the sake of buying a house, her family had already saved up 1.2 million, so she decided to use it all to purchase supplies!

An hour later, the technician to install the floor heating and solar power generator arrived, and Qiao Qingqing welcomed him in. Work started in the house; movable items in the master bedroom, like the bed and cabinets, were all stored away in space. The floor hadn't been tiled, so she saved the effort of removing tiles.

This house was over twenty years old, but good materials were used when the neighborhood was built. After more than twenty years, the quality was still good. At least, in the previous life, after being submerged in floods for a year and frozen in ice and snow for nearly two years before being driven away when the scorching summer arrived, this house remained intact for Qiao Qingqing.