The entire farmers' market was cleared out by 3 p.m., and the space was almost completely filled, with not much room left.

After going down to the second floor, Xu Lin took out a kayak and an umbrella from her storage space and prepared to head home.

She only wore a raincoat when she came, thinking that as long as the kayak was waterproof and she didn't get wet, it would be fine. But the torrential rain outside quickly filled the kayak. On the way here, Xu Lin paddled and drained the water at the same time, and she was exhausted. She couldn't just take an umbrella from her spatial storage; if some busybody saw her conjure an umbrella out of thin air, that would be digging her own grave.

Learning from her experience, Xu Lin took out an umbrella from her spatial storage beforehand, so she wouldn't have to paddle while draining water.

The water level has risen again, and only the treetops are visible in the green belts on both sides of the road. Many cars parked on the roadside are floating and drifting with the current.

The floodwaters had reached the second floor of the shops along the street. Xu Lin observed the signs on the ground floor that were visible above the water: milk tea shops, cafes, small restaurants, clothing stores...

Suddenly, a bookstore came into view. Xu Lin paddled hard twice to reach the second-floor window of the bookstore and shattered the glass with a window breaker. It wasn't appropriate to put the kayak directly into her spatial storage in broad daylight, so she had to tie it to the bookstore's sign.

The first floor is a bookstore, but it's flooded and there's no way to access it. The second floor, where we are now, is a book bar where we can read and have afternoon tea.

Xu Lin went directly to the small kitchen in the tea bar. There were two coffee machines, four kettles, and four hot water tanks in front of her. Next to them was a large commercial oven and a large commercial three-door freezer, which were stored away.

The cabinet under the countertop holds various coffee beans, black tea, green tea, and oolong tea. On the other side of the countertop, there's a large dishwasher and a sterilizer. I'll take them all away; you never know when we might need them.

The cabinet near the door contained ingredients for making desserts, such as low-gluten flour, so it seems this bookstore makes its own desserts.

Sure enough, the shelves in the 50-square-meter warehouse next door were full of low-gluten flour, high-gluten flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, matcha powder, cocoa powder, red yeast rice powder, pumpkin powder, white sugar... and a refrigerator full of butter and heavy cream, etc. There were three baskets of eggs by the door, about 500 in total.

The third floor of the bookstore served as a warehouse and office area, where various books were categorized and stacked, all of which Xu Lin stored away in her spatial storage. In this post-apocalyptic world where civilization had been destroyed, books were the carriers of civilization, so she collected as many as she could.

The power and internet outages were extremely inconvenient for people who were used to being glued to their phones. With nothing to do, they could only peer out the window to see if there was any rescue going on, and just then they saw Xu Lin paddling back in a kayak.

Xu Lin decided to go out at night from now on, as she would attract too much attention during the day.

After getting home, I took a shower, changed clothes, and devoured a plate of fried rice. I felt completely revitalized. Even free shopping can be exhausting.

After washing up, Xu Lin took a map of the port city and lay on the bed to study it. As a workaholic, Xu Lin had walked through almost every street and alley of the port city in the past few years and knew every landmark building in every area by heart.

Gangcheng is a new first-tier city with a relatively developed economy. The city is divided into the eastern coastal port trade zone and bonded zone, the western agricultural, forestry and animal husbandry development zone, the northern tourism and leisure zone, and the central and southern urban economic zones. Xu Lin is located in the central part of Gangcheng.

Xu Lin first marked the office building where she worked to the east of Jinxiu Residential Area with "①", the office building to the east of Zhenhai Building with "②", the port with "③", and Fengshan to the west with "④"...

When it got dark and the writing on the map became illegible, Xu Lin folded the map and put it in her storage space. She then lay down on the bed to prepare for sleep. Although the solar panels could still last for a while, she still needed to conserve electricity. Besides, everyone else was without power except for Xu Lin's family—it was like dancing on a grave and asking for trouble.