Lin Dong's gaze lingered on the other person for a moment before shifting to their eyes. He smiled slightly and said, "Sister Mei, what time do you think it is now? The Great Rainstorm has been pouring for half a year, and the Flood has already submerged ten floors. Who still has food left at home?"
"We don't have any, and neither does my family."
Yang Mei's face instantly paled. She pleaded, "Little brother, I know your family must have food. I can smell meat. I have no choice... Just give me a small bowl of rice, that's all. I won't even ask for any dishes..."
Lin Dong shook his head. "Sister Mei, hurry back home. At least you still have a place to stay. Look at the people in the corridors—some don't even have shelter, let alone food. If the people upstairs see you dressed like this..."
He didn't finish, but Yang Mei's face turned deathly white.
After half a year of isolation, order had long since collapsed.
Evil ruled the day, and some of those upstairs had already abandoned their humanity.
Through her peephole, she had once witnessed a female neighbor from the seventh floor being pinned down in the hallway by three men.
The woman's desperate screams still haunted Yang Mei's mind, resurfacing at random moments at night.
Trembling at the memory, Yang Mei hurried back to her door. After a frantic knock, a man opened it.
"Well? Did you get any?" the man asked urgently.
Yang Mei shivered. "H-he refused."
The man grew agitated. "How useless can you be? If he refused, why didn't you beg harder?"
"I... I..."
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Suddenly, hammering sounds echoed from upstairs, startling them both.
Yang Mei squeezed inside, and the man quickly locked the door behind her.
Just then, a burly figure charged up the stairs. Hearing the door slam shut, he roared, "Damn it, Li Zhiqiang! Keep hiding if you dare! Let's see how long you can last!"
The man stormed down and kicked Yang Mei's door several times.
Li Zhiqiang was Yang Mei's husband—this man clearly knew the family.
Lin Dong had long since shut his inner door. From start to finish, he hadn't even opened the outer security gate.
After listening to the stream of curses outside, the intruder seemed to linger near his own door for a while before finally leaving.
Lin Dong silently set down the Nail Gun and returned to the table to finish his meal.
But he knew—these people were reaching their limit.
Hunger would drive everyone mad.
After eating, he washed the dishes and began his daily training.
First, strength exercises: five hundred push-ups every day.
The more he trained, the faster his food dwindled. Next came cardio—since he didn't have a treadmill, he opted for jump rope to strengthen his heart and lungs.
Then came target practice. Without a bow and arrows, he only had a slingshot—originally bought as a Children's Day gift for his nephew.
After slingshot practice, he moved on to Spear Art.
Though it was called Spear Art, it was just a steel pipe with a fruit knife welded to the end—a Homemade Spear, at best.
His training methods were rudimentary, limited to basic techniques:
Thrust, stab, sweep, deflect, block, seize, twist, lift, press, chop, snap, and flourish—all learned from online videos.
Logically speaking, during such times of scarce resources, it wasn't really suitable to engage in such physically demanding activities.
But on one hand, he was utterly bored at home, reluctant to use electricity, and could only pass the time by practicing these exercises.
On the other hand, given how the world was now, it clearly wasn't going to get better. Those desperate and vicious neighbors outside could break in at any moment.
He had to maintain his physical condition and ensure he had some means of self-defense.
The slingshot trained his long-range attack skills, while the spear honed his close-quarters combat abilities.
Push-ups and jump rope were for strength training and cardio, respectively—one to enhance explosive muscle power, the other to improve lung capacity.
With the Flood everywhere outside, if he ever had no choice but to swim, strong cardiovascular endurance would be essential.
Beyond these exercises, he also focused heavily on pull-ups.
With the Flood spreading relentlessly, there was no solid ground left outside.
The only possible path to survival was climbing upward, scaling tall buildings.
So upper-body strength was something he had to train diligently.
After nearly half a year of practice, he had made noticeable progress in all these skills.
With the slingshot, his accuracy was over 90% within ten meters, around 60% within twenty meters, but beyond thirty meters, it dropped to just 50%.
As for spear techniques, he could now execute a full set of movements fluidly, especially the fundamental offensive strikes—thrusting, stabbing, sweeping, and deflecting—which he had practiced most rigorously. Now, he could pierce through a two-centimeter-thick wooden cabinet door with a single thrust, demonstrating considerable force.
In upper-body strength training, he discovered he seemed to have a natural talent for fitness. In just half a year, he could easily do fifty or sixty pull-ups, and with some effort, push past a hundred.
He had long mastered the muscle-up technique and could now perform thirty or forty effortlessly.
His cardio training had also been effective. Every day before washing his face, he practiced holding his breath.
His best record so far was three minutes and thirty seconds.
Don't underestimate this number—without training, most people can only hold their breath for about a minute.
With practice and decent lung capacity, two minutes or more is achievable.
But surpassing three minutes falls into the realm of professional training.
Lin Dong had read online that professional free divers could supposedly hold their breath for up to ten minutes, though he wasn't sure if that was true.
For him, three minutes and thirty seconds was already his limit.
By the time he finished all his training, it was nearly noon. He took a quick shower.
The water he used was rainwater collected from outside, heated and sterilized—perfectly safe for bathing.
He'd seen neighbors showering in the hallway, using unheated water, and nothing had happened to them.
After washing up, it was already one or two in the afternoon. He ate a pack of instant noodles and began thinking about what to do next.
Originally, his plan for the afternoon was to monitor the radio for outside news.
He'd also intended to spend some time reading books on basic electrical circuits.
Even though the power grid had collapsed, generators were still functional. If there was ever a chance to leave this place, Lin Dong really wanted to take a generator with him.
Without electricity, human civilization would regress significantly.
Learning about electrical systems would also help him repair simple appliances in the future.
Of course, all that was still a matter for later.
However, he wasn't planning to continue reading now.
Lin Dong looked at the newly appeared Lottery System, his eyes gleaming with thoughtful light.
"The system will be the guarantee of my future life. I must find a way to earn enough points."
"The points required by the system can only be obtained by killing Mutated Creatures. Perhaps it's time to go out and take a look."