Chapter 48 Locked Out of Home

In less than a minute, Jiang Yan had already flown to the 32nd floor of Building A.

The jetpack flight suits she purchased had a speed of over 200 kilometers per hour. It was just that she wasn't very familiar with the controls yet, so she flew relatively slowly.

She glanced around—thankfully, no Blood Mosquitoes had followed her.

Hovering outside the living room window with the flight suit, Jiang Yan carefully pulled out her phone from her bag.

Seeing the glaring exclamation mark on the signal indicator, she couldn't help but frown.

Well, damn.

She had accounted for everything—except her phone suddenly losing signal.

Without a signal, the smart home system was unusable, shattering her plan of entering through the window.

Fortunately, her flight suit still had some power left.

At this point, there were three ways to get back inside:

First, descend from the rooftop.

She remembered there was only a single iron door between the rooftop and the 32nd floor, and the lock would be easy to break.

The only issue was that the staircase below the door had a gap between it and the hallway floor.

But that wasn't a problem for her.

The second method was to enter through the hallway window on the 32nd floor, though that would also require breaking the glass.

Her dimension was stocked with hammers—shattering glass would be a breeze.

However, she recalled that the hallway window was quite small, and right now, she was bundled up in layers, looking like the Michelin Man.

To squeeze through, she'd have to dismantle the window frame as well.

Plus, once the glass was broken, both Blood Mosquitoes and the coming rainstorms would flood into the hallway.

The third option was to enter normally from the first floor, which would also involve breaking glass or forcing the lock.

This was the hardest, most exhausting, and most likely to draw attention—especially since she'd have to use a chainsaw to break the lock.

After some thought, the first method seemed the simplest.

With that in mind, Jiang Yan adjusted the flight suit's controls, adding a bit more thrust as she ascended to the rooftop.

Even with her insulated shoes, the moment her feet touched the rooftop, she felt an overwhelming wave of heat.

This was her first time on the rooftop.

There wasn't much up here—a small structure resembling a water tank, two side-by-side electrical boxes, and three circular flower beds.

The flowers and grass in those beds had long since withered.

The rest was just a web of wires suspended in the air, likely installed for residents to hang laundry.

Though there was zero chance of anyone being on the rooftop at this hour, Jiang Yan still scanned her surroundings cautiously.

Not wanting to take any risks, she didn't immediately remove the bulky flight suit. Instead, with a thought, she retrieved a dagger and a flashlight from her dimension.

The iron door was easy to find, and its lock was nothing special. Jiang Yan pried it open in no time.

With a creak, the door swung open. After confirming everything was safe inside, she stepped through.

She pulled out a rope from her dimension, securing the door tightly before reactivating the flight suit and descending into the hallway.

The corridor was pitch-black and eerily silent.

Without lingering, Jiang Yan quickly made her way to her unit—3201.

Perhaps because the floor was so high up, no Blood Mosquitoes had made it to the 32nd level.

No bloodstains were visible in the hallway—just scattered bits of trash.

It was probably dropped by He Chunmei and the others when they were moving.

Jiang Yan arrived at her doorstep only to realize another serious issue:

The Anti-intrusion System was currently set to 500V high voltage.

With no cell signal now, she naturally couldn't temporarily adjust the defense level.

There was a manual control panel, but unfortunately, it was installed in the bedroom...

Luckily, she had always been cautious by habit. Otherwise, if she had instinctively reached out just now, she would have been instantly vaporized.

Thinking of this, Jiang Yan couldn't help but smile wryly.

Wasn't this a case of being hoist by her own petard?

But who could have predicted the internet would be cut off in less than half a day?

Fortunately, she still had a home she could carry with her: the dimension.

Without further delay, Jiang Yan focused her thoughts and entered the dimension directly.

Compared to the stifling heat and darkness of the outside world, the dimension was bathed in bright sunshine.

She took off her flight suit and heat-resistant suit and went straight to take a shower.

After changing into loose loungewear, she went straight to bed, exhausted from her night of "wandering" outside.

Taking out her pad, she pulled up a popular variety show she had downloaded earlier and started watching.

As she watched, she suddenly felt hungry.

No surprise there—the show was featuring guests traveling to a tropical country to eat seafood instant noodles.

Even through the screen, she could practically smell the aroma.

Jiang Yan swallowed like a greedy little cat and got up to head to the kitchen.

She took out a pot, boiled water, and then added a pack of tom yum hot pot soup base.

The water quickly came to a boil, filling the kitchen with the tangy, spicy aroma, rich with coconut fragrance.

Jiang Yan took out a pack of pickled vegetable instant noodles, tore it open, and added just the noodle block.

With another thought, she retrieved almost perfectly fresh shrimp, crab sticks, and clams from the Inventory Zone, washed them, and tossed them in.

Finally, when the noodles were perfectly chewy, she added thinly sliced mushrooms.

A sprinkle of cilantro later, a steaming bowl of seafood instant noodles was ready.

Jiang Yan slurped up even the broth.

As a food blogger all these years, she had never really controlled her diet.

Mainly because she had a naturally lean physique—no matter how much she ate, she never gained weight.

If not for her medical reports showing all normal indicators, she might have suspected she had hyperthyroidism.

Now, in the apocalypse, this slender appearance actually gave her an added sense of security.

After finishing her meal, she noticed her phone had signal again.

Excited, Jiang Yan grabbed her phone and left the dimension.

Without any protective gear, the moment she returned to the hallway, she felt like she had been thrown into a sauna.

Hot.

Unbearably hot.

She took out her phone, opened the smart home system, quickly turned off the anti-intrusion program, then entered the password and scanned her fingerprint.

"Beep!" The door unlocked.

The air inside was stifling, almost suffocating.

But the feeling of being home was always good.

It was an indescribable, bone-deep sense of security.

This feeling was something even her perfect dimension couldn't compare to.

Glancing at the thermometer in the living room, the temperature had already reached 68 degrees.

Jiang Yan closed the door behind her but didn't turn on the lights.

Returning to the bedroom, she entered the dimension again.

Opening her phone, she saw the Repulse Bay homeowners group was buzzing.

Despite the bloodshed that afternoon, everyone now seemed to be survivors.

Complaints were still flying.

And the curses directed at Jiang Yan and the others hadn't stopped either.

But most had returned to amusing themselves.

Some even posted photos and videos of the underground shelters in the group chat.

Thanks to the backup power supply, there was still lighting inside.

Though it wasn't particularly bright.

After all, with no knowing how long the extreme heat would last, electricity had to be conserved as much as possible.

(End of chapter)