Chapter 72

On a morning four days before the apocalypse, Su Jing stood in the electrical room on the first floor of the villa, her fingertips resting on the cold, red main switch—

A dozen or so indicator lights are neatly arranged on the metal distribution cabinet. The green "Powered by Grid" light is on, indicating that the villa is currently powered by solar panels and the external power grid.

She took a deep breath and forcefully flipped the main switch downwards. With a crisp "click," the green indicator light went out instantly, and only the yellow "standby" light of the backup battery flashed twice before steadily lighting up.

“Extreme cold weather can cause outdoor power lines to freeze and short-circuit. Leaving the power grid is not only useless, but may also attract electrical sparks and draw attention.”

Su Jing murmured to herself as she spoke to the control panel, her fingertips moving across the screen to completely switch the villa's power supply mode to "backup battery + space energy"—

The backup battery only supplies basic equipment such as refrigerators and monitoring systems, while the energy resources in the space (diesel and energy crystals from 25,000 tons of energy) are reserved for emergencies to avoid any connection with the external power grid.

After completing the operation, she walked around the power distribution room to check and make sure that all the lines were disconnected and there was no electrical noise from the metal cabinet before turning around and heading to the basement.

On the moisture-proof rack in the basement, there were rows of black sealed bags, containing smokeless coal that Su Jing had stockpiled at the wholesale market in the early days—each bag weighing 20 kilograms, a total of 500 bags, enough to support the heating for the entire winter.

She bent down and picked up two bags of coal. When her fingertips touched the sealed bags, she could feel the hardness of the coal inside, with no signs of dampness or clumping.

"Move two bags to the living room first and test the heating stove." She put the coal bags into her space, walked up the stairs to the living room on the first floor. The black cast iron heating stove in the corner of the living room had already been wiped clean, the stove door was open, and there were still a few ashes left from the last test.

Su Jing first took out dried pine needles and small pieces of firewood from the storage room—the pine needles were collected in the deep mountains before, and they were perfect for starting a fire after being dried.

The firewood is solid wood fuel stored in the space, each piece cut into 10-centimeter-long cubes.

She laid pine needles at the bottom of the stove, lit a lighter, and a pale blue flame quickly shot up, crackling as the pine needles popped. She took the opportunity to add a few pieces of firewood, and when the flames were burning brighter, she took out a few pieces of shiny black smokeless coal from the sealed bag and gently placed them into the stove.

After the coal comes into contact with the flames, its surface gradually turns red, and soon a warm breath emanates from the furnace opening, spreading along the connected radiators.

She closed the stove door and adjusted the chimney damper—the chimney had been specially modified to extend from the exterior wall of the living room, with a windproof cap at the outlet to prevent cold wind from blowing back and to allow smoke to escape smoothly without accumulating indoors.

In less than half an hour, the temperature in the living room rose from 15°C to 22°C. The radiators were scalding hot to the touch, and a thin layer of water vapor gradually condensed on the glass, keeping out the cold wind from outside.

Su Jing walked to the window and drew a circle on the condensation with her finger. She could see that the branches outside were already covered with frost, and the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves was chilling, while the room was warm as spring.

"Buzz—" A slight mechanical hum came from the kitchen as two white housekeeping robots prepared breakfast according to a preset program.

Su Jing walked into the kitchen and saw a robot labeled "Chef 1" standing in front of a stainless steel workbench processing mutton: the frozen mutton taken from the space had been thawed, and the robot's mechanical arm nimbly held the knife, cutting the mutton into 3-centimeter square pieces with precise movements and no waste.

The chopped mutton was placed in a stainless steel pot. The robot added water and turned on the heat. After the water boiled, the robotic arm held a strainer and gently skimmed off the foam. Then, ginger, scallions, peppercorns and other seasonings were added. The heat was turned down to simmer. The milky white soup gradually boiled, and the rich aroma of mutton quickly filled the entire kitchen.

The robot next to it, labeled "Chef 2", is making bread: it takes out flour from its space, adds warm water, yeast and a small amount of sugar in proportion, and the mechanical arm quickly kneads the dough, making a smooth dough in less than 5 minutes.

The dough was placed in a constant-temperature fermentation box and fermented for 20 minutes. After that, the robot took it out, rolled it into a round cake of even thickness, brushed it with egg wash, and placed it in a preheated oven, set to 180℃ for 20 minutes. When the oven "dinged," the golden and crispy bread was taken out by the robot with oven mitts and placed on a white porcelain plate. Steaming hot, the aroma of wheat mixed with the fragrance of eggs and the aroma of mutton soup were incredibly tempting.

Su Jing picked up a piece of bread and took a bite—the crust was crispy, the inside was soft, and it had a light sweetness, making it just as good as the bread from the bakery outside.

She ladled out another bowl of mutton soup, took a sip, and felt the warm broth slide down her throat into her stomach, dispelling the slight chill of the early morning. The mutton was stewed until tender, falling off the bone with a gentle bite.

"Being able to eat a hot meal in peace before the end of the world is already a blessing." She sat at the dining table, slowly enjoying her breakfast. The soft sounds of robots cleaning the kitchen filled her ears, and the cold wind howled outside the window, while the room was filled with the warmth of home cooking. This tranquility contrasted sharply with the chaos outside.

After breakfast, Su Jing leaned back on the sofa in the living room and habitually opened the global channel on the system panel—the screen was instantly flooded with panicked messages, with the light blue logo of China taking up most of the space, interspersed with the red logo of the United States and the gold logo of the European Union:

"User 458 from China": "Help! My home is in the south of the city. I haven't stocked up on enough rice and flour. All three nearby shelters are full, and the staff said there are no more places available! There are still four days of extreme cold, and my water pipes have frozen. I have no water and no food. What should I do?"

"User 672 from China": "I didn't believe in the apocalypse before, so I didn't stockpile supplies. Now the supermarkets are all empty, I can't get into the shelter, and I can only stay at home shivering under the covers! 'I am the God of Wealth' must know how to deal with this, please come out and say something! I'm begging you!"

"US User 789": "'I am the God of Wealth'! You sold us elixirs before, can you share some methods to cope with extreme cold now? The shelters in the US are not yet built, we are about to freeze to death!"

New messages kept popping up on the screen. Some people tagged "I am the God of Wealth", some sent "crying" emojis, and others argued about "why the shelter prioritizes others". But Su Jing just quickly scrolled through them without leaving any comments.

She knew that responding now would only bring endless trouble—some people would ask her to share supplies, some would ask for her location, and some might even try to steal them, none of which she wanted.

Her goal was to survive the apocalypse peacefully, not to get involved in other people's chaos.

Turning off the channel, Su Jing got up and walked to the heating stove, adding a few pieces of smokeless coal—the fire was burning brightly, the radiators were still scorching hot, and the indoor temperature remained stable at 22℃. She looked up at the meditation room on the second floor, deciding to continue consolidating her Qi Refining Level 2 cultivation for the rest of the time, while also checking the supplies in her space to ensure nothing was forgotten.

The wind was still blowing outside the window, but the warmth and comfort inside the villa made her feel more at ease about the impending extreme cold.