Night fell.
Xia Ning was enjoying hot pot at home with the air conditioning on.
The hot pot seasonings are all readily available, and the steaming broth releases a fragrant and spicy aroma that stimulates the appetite.
Xia Ning loosened her belt to show respect for the hot pot.
She started by adding the various types of meatballs that took longer to cook. The table was piled high with small dishes: beef and mutton, fish balls, pork meatballs, shrimp paste, gluten, enoki mushrooms, lettuce, tofu, chrysanthemum greens…
Xia Ning pulled the tab on the chilled cola, and the steam seeping from the bottom of the can left a small, dark circle on the tablecloth.
"Ah, that feels good." Xia Ning let out a satisfied sigh after taking a sip of carbonated water.
With the air conditioning on, drinks sipped, and hot pot cooking, I'm as happy as an immortal, all my worries gone.
Xia Ning restrained herself from drinking only one cold drink, alternating between hot and cold to avoid getting diarrhea.
She picked up a slice of freshly cooked, blanched beef, dipped it in sauce, and remarked, "Eating hot pot in summer and ice cream in winter—that's life!"
The only one who was unhappy was my younger sister. Dogs have a sensitive nose, and after sneezing several times, she hid in the bathroom.
Xia Ning ate and drank well, waiting for the next wave of calamity.
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day4
"There are currently 992 out of 1000 players on this map."
When Xia Ning woke up in the morning, she found that her survival points had finally escaped the "zero" category and become 30, and two more lines of text had appeared below her personal profile.
[You escaped the aftershocks of the earthquake thanks to your keen sense of danger.]
Xia Ning immediately realized that the survival points in "Disaster City" were not calculated by the number of days, but rather by surviving a round of disasters and receiving a reward.
The aftershocks of the first round of earthquakes won't have much of an impact even if you stay at home; those eight eliminated players are probably just unlucky chosen ones.
It's easy, but the rewards are minimal.
Xia Ning thought that the beginner phase was over, and the game was about to reveal its true, monstrous nature.
The day after the earthquake, the area went dark without warning.
The entire neighborhood was in chaos again, but having learned from the previous stampede, no one dared to rush downstairs in a panic. Instead, they opened their doors and exchanged information with their neighbors.
Xia Ning had been sitting in the living room for a short while when she heard a knock on the door. She pressed her face against the door and looked out through the peephole, but unfortunately it was pitch black and she couldn't see anything clearly.
Then, another young female voice said, "Hello, we are the residents next door."
Xia Ning touched her increasingly muscular biceps, opened the door and went out by the dim light of her phone.
In reality, despite Xia Ning's seemingly minor appearance changes, as a player with item bonuses, even the native inhabitants are no match for her.
Xia Ning couldn't help but feel grateful once again that the environment of "Disaster City" was a copy of her homeland, China, where she never had to worry about bullets falling from the sky.
Standing outside were the young couple from next door. Neighborly relations are not what they used to be; people are at most nodding acquaintances. They obviously didn't know that "Xia Ning" was only 19 years old. Judging from her appearance, Xia Ning was in her early twenties and was already at an age where she could stand on her own.
The person on the other end didn't say anything about asking her parents to come out; they treated Xia Ning as the head of the household. The man asked Xia Ning, "Excuse me, is your power outage too?"
The woman said anxiously, "I was halfway through my work. The power outage is a minor issue, but the internet is also down, which is causing a lot of delays."
Hearing her neighbor's words, Xia Ning couldn't help but sigh inwardly: Look what a corporate slave is, this is what a corporate slave is like. Her mother used to force her to go to work, practically pushing her beautiful daughter into a fire pit.
At that moment, another household on the same floor opened their door, and the male homeowner greeted them.
This family consists of three generations, with the grandmother typically coming to help take care of her grandchildren.
The man walked to the stairwell, opened the window, looked out, and said in surprise, "It seems the whole area is without power."
The young man asked, "Is it due to the earthquake?"
The man wasn't sure either, and vaguely said, "Maybe, maybe the shock damaged some wiring."
Xia Ning listened quietly to their discussion, and after a while said, "It's so late at night, I don't know when the power will come back on. You should deal with any perishable food in your refrigerator as soon as possible. Cook what needs to be cooked, eat what needs to be eaten, and throw away what needs to be thrown away."
After hearing this, the young wife muttered, "We have an induction cooker at home."
Her husband tugged at her sleeve from the side.
Xia Ning pretended not to hear and complained loudly, "Ugh, how can I sleep if I can't turn on the air conditioner at night?"
The man chimed in, saying that his elderly relatives and children suffered even more.
After chatting for a while, the group concluded that the power wouldn't be back on for the time being, and then went home dejectedly.
As Xia Ning closed the door, she could still hear the young couple discussing how to explain things to their boss.
It's tragic, the working class really suffers.
Actually, it's fortunate that people are still traumatized by the earthquake and are afraid to take elevators, otherwise, a sudden power outage could have caused the elevator to get stuck halfway, which would have been fatal.
Back home, Xia Ning hung up all the blackout film and curtains, and sealed the door gaps tightly to make sure no light source was leaking out. Only then did she take out the "Phantom Princess's Car" from her space and place it in the master bedroom, opening the car door to let the air conditioning out.
Xia Ning placed a large hamster wheel in the corner of the room for her younger sister to run around on and expend her energy. Even though the Pomeranian was small, it still managed to tear the house apart.
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