In late October, City C was already a bit chilly, and the heavy rain made it even colder than usual.

Gu Yanzhi was the last to get off the boat, and as soon as she boarded, Song Zhao quickly draped his coat over her shoulders. Then, the group huddled together under the umbrella, keeping the boat completely inside to prevent water from entering.

The group rowed directly to a nearby shopping mall. The water was already as high as a floor, and the shops on the road were probably already submerged. The only place that could be open now was the shopping mall.

As you row out of the residential area, you can see a few boats paddling on the water. Passing by a few buildings, you see people standing at their windows, watching with envy as they see others with boats to go out.

Someone shouted from upstairs, asking if they could take him along, but the group refused. They explained that their boat couldn't accommodate any more people, and they could lend it to them once they bought a new one.

When we left the residential area and walked onto the main road, there were noticeably more boats. Not only were there people like them out shopping, but there were also many rescue team boats, working hard to search for victims in the rain.

To avoid getting bored on the way, the group briefly introduced themselves.

Let's not talk about Uncle Zhang. The family of three on the 11th floor has a son named Zhuang Nanyang, who is 17 years old and a senior in high school. The young couple on the 16th floor are husband and wife; the husband is named Gao Zhi, 25 years old, and the wife is named Liu Sisi, the same age as Gao Zhi. Their son just turned one year old this year.

The group chatted and laughed as they quickly arrived at the mall, which was indeed open, albeit through a second-floor window. Following the instructions of the security guard upstairs, they tied the boat outside the mall and climbed in through the window.

Only a few stores in the mall were open, including a sporting goods store and a supermarket. The security guard said that these two stores were also ordered to open by the government, especially the supermarket, which was required to open all large shopping malls in the city as long as they were not flooded. The supermarket in the mall happened to be on the top floor and was not flooded.

As soon as they entered, the group rushed into the sporting goods store. Because they had arrived early, the store wasn't crowded and had plenty of stock.

Gu Yanzhi looked around from the entrance; there were all kinds of prices.

However, the people who can afford to stay at Jinxiu Leiting are all quite wealthy. Without even checking the price, they told the owner to get the most expensive and best model. Each family got two inflatable boats, each accommodating 6-7 people, and it even came with manual and automatic air pumps and batteries. Then each family also bought a speedboat, which runs on gasoline, so the owner also gave them a can of gas. After everything was assembled, the group hurriedly ran to the supermarket.

Once inside the supermarket, the group separated. Now that everyone had their own boat, they could buy their things and go home on their own without wasting time waiting for each other.

After they parted ways, Gu Yanzhi pushed a small cart slowly into the supermarket, browsing casually and taking down anything she wanted and putting it in the cart.

The supermarket was quite crowded. Gu Yanzhi originally thought that not many people would come out due to the heavy rain and flooding, but she didn't expect that everyone was still very aware of the potential dangers.

Although there were many people, the supermarket was still very quiet, with only the continuous sound of shopping cart wheels turning. Everyone was focused on buying things and hardly spoke to each other.

As Gu Yanzhi walked and picked up items, she noticed that the snack section was not crowded. Most people were concentrated in the rice, flour, cooking oil, fruit, and vegetable section, and everyone's carts were full of these items. Only those who had time after finishing their shopping spree would stroll into the snack section.

The checkout line was very long, probably because of the inconvenience of travel and the lack of people going to work. Usually, only 5 of the dozen or so checkout windows were open. Gu Yanzhi also noticed that two of the checkout window staff were wearing security guard uniforms, which meant they had probably been temporarily conscripted.

The two waited in line for about half an hour before it was their turn. Seeing that the young couple in front of them had a bunch of snacks and a 10-pound bag of rice, the cashier kindly advised them that the rain might last for a long time and that they should buy more. Gu Yanzhi smiled and refused.

The cashier offered a friendly reminder, but seeing that the cashier didn't take it to heart, they didn't say anything more.

After paying the bill, the two returned to the second-floor window, where a considerable number of people had already gathered, all inflating their boats. They were also very considerate, only occupying the sides of the road, leaving a narrow path leading to the window.

Song Zhao went into the water first, and it took him a while to find his own boat. When they arrived, there were only a few dozen boats scattered around, but now one side of the boat was completely moored.

After throwing all the things he bought down the boat for Song Zhao to load onto the boat, Gu Yanzhi jumped down and boarded the boat.