Chapter 3: The Beginning of the Apocalypse
Fortunately, she had believed that text message.
"Ding dong!"
Her phone vibrated again, showing a new message. Was it from the person who warned her?
Xu Duoduo's hands were almost shaking as she sent a message, asking who they were.
The other party directly ignored these inquiries and instead sent a download link.
If it weren't for Sister Liu's incident matching up, Xu Duoduo wouldn't have dared to click on it. But she had three backup phones, so she wasn't afraid of her phone getting infected. Her savings bank cards weren't linked to online banking, so she wasn't worried about unauthorized transactions.
Therefore, she quickly clicked on the website and downloaded it to her phone.
Soon, an apocalypse survival guide popped up. Xu Duoduo read it carefully, word by word. This survival guide of less than 3,000 words mentioned climate changes, various disasters, and even the later stages of global chaos.
Plus the two words "Mutation".
These two words were in large, bold red font, suggesting that everyone would evolve.
It made sense.
Without evolution, no one could survive in such a chaotic world.
Xu Duoduo was worried that electronic devices might not work later, so she immediately ran to the desk in her room, downloaded and printed out multiple copies of this survival guide, and stored them in her space.
By the time she finished all this, her meal had long gone cold. She ate it without tasting it, not wasting a single grain of rice. Then, thinking about the initial period when there might be no electricity, she hurried to cook rice.
Each compartment of the Rubik's cube space, or multi-faceted space, had its own preservation function.
Xu Duoduo planned to prepare as much ready-to-eat food as possible. Looking at the survival guide, it stated that the initial stage would see biting incidents occurring in various places, also known as the early appearance of the zombie virus. Starting tonight, there would be no more peace.
Afterwards, a massive electromagnetic storm would break out, signals would completely disappear, and outside power lines would explode, making the electricity supply increasingly unstable.
Water would start to be gradually contaminated after three days, which was terrifying.
What Xu Duoduo needed to do was to stock up on food and water while there was still electricity and clean water.
She had many types of pots at home.
So she set all three rice cookers to cook rice, two pressure cookers to cook various meats and meatballs, and she had to cook all the meat stored in the refrigerator and freezer.
Instant foods that could be microwaved went into the microwave, or directly into the air fryer.
There were four gas stove burners.
One for cooking porridge, one for ginger soup, one for herbal tea, and one for soup. Because it was said that there would be very hot and very cold times later, and soups and drinks would be most healing. They could be stored in large thermos flasks for drinking later.
Xu Duoduo didn't dare to sleep at all.
From finishing dinner, she had been busy non-stop. She set online news to auto-read mode, listening through Bluetooth earphones as it read from top to bottom.
As for food, she prepared as much as she could. Every extra portion of food was an extra guarantee.
Although humans would eventually mutate, mutation was risky. Not everyone could successfully mutate, and failing to evolve meant death.
Xu Duoduo still hoped she wouldn't get infected too quickly, and could hold out as long as possible. After all, the later it got, the more likely bases would develop good drugs that could greatly enhance human mutation and reduce the risk of death.
She didn't dare sleep all night, busy making food and storing water.
For many people, tonight was indeed an unusual night.
The power went out in the middle of the night.
Many screams could be heard from the residential complex, along with hoarse shouts.
Mixed with cries for help and dog barks.
Xu Duoduo didn't dare open the curtains at all, keeping doors and windows tightly shut, preparing for the initial period of seclusion. When there was a chance later, she would continue to stock up on supplies.
Now, the priority was to stay safe. Sometimes, being too greedy could be a sin.
When the power went out, she didn't panic. Instead, she stored the half-finished products in her space, to be taken out when the power returned. It was very convenient.
She herself was completely exhausted and fell asleep on the sofa as soon as she closed her eyes. She slept until her phone rang the next day. It was the property management calling her.
"Is this Ms. Xu? It's like this, a new type of rabies virus suddenly appeared in K City last night. It spreads fast and develops quickly. We've received notice from above that starting today, no one is allowed to go out without authorization."
The entire city was shut down.
Students were on holiday.
It was more or less the same as what the apocalypse survival guide said. The first step was lockdown.
Xu Duoduo was already numb with exhaustion, and after a night's time, whether she accepted it or not, she had to. Her mindset had improved a lot, so she first pretended to be surprised, then said she would follow the property management's arrangements.
The other party also expressed gratitude for her cooperation, and then busied themselves with calling other residents.
It was also announced in the community group chat, but for some stubborn individuals, they had to call each household to explain the situation clearly, so the workload was huge.
However, this wasn't the first time they had been locked down, so everyone had some experience.
Food would be distributed on time, and everyone just needed to stay at home.
Many people in the group chat were panicking.
Because of the screams from last night.
As a result, the group chat was muted for all members, silencing everyone's voices.
The signal was still unstable.
The TV kept freezing, and the news broadcast was stuttering.
The key words that could be caught were: typhoon, geomagnetic storm, earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption.
As the season was approaching winter, several typhoon embryos had formed unexpectedly, and they were uncontrollable.
Coastal areas in various countries had already sounded alarms, preparing to face super strong typhoons.
Starting today, large geomagnetic storms would occur frequently. Many scientific researchers were busy preparing countermeasures, while constantly broadcasting ways for residents to cope, urging everyone to pay attention to their personal safety.
At the same time, volcanoes both underwater and on land around the world were detected to be stirring, entering an active period, and could erupt at any time.
Finally, all broadcasts were announcing that humans on Earth would face the greatest disaster in history. This could potentially be a mass extinction event for humans, like the dinosaurs before. Therefore, the United Nations called on all of humanity to unite and overcome this catastrophe together.
When Xu Duoduo heard this, her eyes were already turning red. Looking at the sun outside, it seemed that days like before might never return.
Suddenly, bursts of desperate cries and wails came from the residential complex.
More people were breaking down.
Xu Duoduo could only compose herself and continue to prepare food.
She had to make full preparations.
In the following days, bad news kept coming. The signal was still unstable, so many disaster reports couldn't be transmitted in time.
Imagination was scarier than reality. The people cooped up in K City's residential complexes were under extreme mental stress. The number of people who couldn't handle the pressure and committed suicide increased dramatically.
The climate had already started to become abnormal. Within just three days, it had gone through several changes, with temperature differences reaching 30 degrees, dropping sharply.
Many people fell ill as well.