"I can follow behind you, like a shadow chasing the light in a dream; I can wait at this crossroads, regardless of whether you will pass by..."

A ringtone sounded, and Xu Lin, who was suffering from hunger in her dream, opened her eyes groggily. She stared at the ceiling, recalling that it was "Chasing the Light," which seemed to be her favorite song before the apocalypse.

Suddenly, Xu Lin jumped out of bed, her eyes scanning her surroundings. This was... the house she bought with a loan from her compensation money before the apocalypse!

I picked up my phone, turned off the alarm, and looked at the date displayed on the screen: May 1, 2019, 7:30 AM. 2019? Shouldn't it have been several years since the apocalypse? I had experienced torrential rain, floods, extreme cold, extreme heat, polar day, and polar night, and finally died in the darkness before dawn.

If it weren't for hunger, I probably could have survived that earthquake disaster a little longer.

I've forgotten the exact year I died; after all, living is hard enough, who would remember the exact date every day? But it certainly wasn't a date as distant as 2019. Could everything I experienced before have just been a dream? Or, to be even bolder, did I catch a ride on the train to rebirth?

Having immersed herself in novels for over a decade, Xu Lin was suddenly conflicted. Was this a blessing or a curse? The blessing was that she had become the protagonist of a reborn life, able to use her past experiences to live a better life; the curse was that all the suffering would have to be endured again…

After agonizing for five minutes, Xu Lin calmed herself down. Since she was already here, she might as well make the best of it. Since she had a second chance, she should try to live as long as possible, so as not to waste the opportunity that God had given her.

In my previous life, the torrential rain started on the night of August 31, 2019, and lasted for about a month. Around October, the temperature dropped to -20°C overnight, entering extreme cold. Then it dropped a little every day until it reached -50 or -60°C, which lasted for several months. Then it suddenly got hot again. In short, I experienced all kinds of disasters from apocalyptic novels. Now, there are only three months left until the apocalypse, so I have to take action quickly.

Xu Lin jumped out of bed, walked barefoot to her desk, sat cross-legged in a chair, opened her computer, and created a new Word document. She first set a "small" goal: to live a longer life. This required addressing the four main aspects of clothing, food, housing, and transportation, so she started by making a shopping list.

"Gurgle, gurgle," okay, the "small" goal now is to fill our stomachs. This is not just because we didn't eat for one night, but because we have experienced the apocalypse and the hunger signal is coming from the depths of our souls.

Opening the refrigerator, it was filled with all kinds of food. This was Xu Lin's obsession, which stemmed from growing up in an orphanage. She felt safe only when the refrigerator was full, which was one of the reasons why she was able to survive longer than others in the apocalypse (the other reason will be discussed next time).

To save time, Xu Lin took out a bag of toast, two eggs, a piece of ham, and a carton of milk to make a simple sandwich.

While eating her sandwich, Xu Lin ordered a delicious rice bowl from a nearby restaurant using her phone. The sandwich was just a dessert before the main meal; to exaggerate, having survived the apocalypse, Xu Lin could eat a whole cow right now.

After wolfing down her sandwich, the deluxe crayfish rice bowl was ready. Xu Lin didn't waste a single grain of rice; she even picked up and ate the rice that had fallen on the table. Wasting food is shameful!

While eating, he calculated his assets. He had saved 300,000 yuan over three years of part-time work and working day and night. He used 100,000 yuan and the 100,000 yuan severance pay from his boss to make a down payment on this 50-square-meter one-bedroom, one-living room, one-kitchen, and one-bathroom second-hand apartment on the eighth floor with an attic. Now he only has 200,000 yuan in savings and this apartment with a 33-year mortgage to pay off.

I had planned to use my savings to renovate the house, but before I could even start, the apocalypse struck. Luckily, I have a habit of hoarding things, and I managed to fill an attic with food and drink before the torrential rain, which allowed me to survive until the extreme cold to go out and find supplies.