Before Li Dong could browse through the apocalypse chat group for long, visitors arrived at his doorstep.
Outside the villa, several professional vehicles for transporting fresh ingredients were parked. One could choose whatever they wanted to eat—abalone, lobsters, and other seafood were all available.
Of course, the prerequisite was being able to afford it.
After selecting the ingredients, professional chefs would prepare the meal.
There was no other choice.
Li Dong had just checked the fridge and found it completely empty except for some drinks. Otherwise, he wouldn't have called for this service.
Normally, this villa was only used as a temporary resting place, so the fridge wasn't stocked with food, nor was there a hired cook.
Most of the time, the villa remained unoccupied.
When it got dirty, professional cleaning services were called in—hardly an expensive affair.
Don't assume living in such a high-end villa district was ideal. For people like Li Dong, it wasn't particularly appealing. It couldn't compare to the comfort of his countryside villa.
To Li Dong, the villa in Dongjiang City's suburbs was his real home. This one was merely for rest and investment purposes—their purposes were entirely different.
When the time came, Li Dong planned to sell this villa.
After the apocalypse arrived, standalone villas like this would still be highly sought after. Wealthy individuals would purchase them to convert into shelters, as they were inherently suitable for such modifications.
Especially those who owned villas in the Dragon Whale Mountain Villa District—these affluent buyers would undoubtedly collaborate to build underground shelters.
After all, the resources controlled by the wealthy far surpassed those available to ordinary people.
And one shouldn't underestimate the security of such high-end communities. These places might even become one of the safest locations post-apocalypse—provided, of course, they weren't struck by meteorites.
The resources held by the wealthy would naturally draw people together in solidarity.
In the apocalypse, a lack of unity and resources meant certain death.
The official Shelters of Great Xia couldn't possibly protect all citizens—they could only do their best, given the nation's population of 1.7 billion and the staggering daily resource consumption.
Some wealthy individuals also refused to be subordinate or governed by others.
The service staff who arrived were highly professional. After Li Dong selected his ingredients and paid tens of thousands, they got to work.
Most of that money was spent on the ingredients themselves.
For the next several days or even weeks, Li Dong would be working from this villa.
After all, with the typhoon raging outside, there was no going out for leisure.
The chef and his assistants busied themselves in the kitchen for nearly an hour before finally completing the meal.
Twelve dishes in total, plus a soup.
It wasn't cheap—hiring a chef for a single meal cost several thousand yuan, not including additional service fees.
An absolute goldmine.
This led the other service staff to sigh, "[The rich's money is so easy to earn!]"
But the prerequisite for earning the wealthy's money was making them feel it was worth it. If not, even the rich could be stingy, unwilling to spend a single cent.
"Great skills. Just the aroma alone tells me it'll be delicious."
Li Dong gazed at the dozen freshly prepared dishes on the table, the fragrant scents immediately stimulating his taste buds.
The chef who had earned Li Dong's praise was also delighted upon hearing this.
Just as the chef was about to explain how he prepared these dishes, Li Dong immediately stopped him.
This was exactly what Li Dong found most annoying—turning a meal into a noisy marketplace.
[I know you're skilled at cooking, and some dishes might have a high-class flair, the kind only nobles in the imperial palace could enjoy in the past. But please, no explanations. Thank you!]
In any case, Li Dong roughly conveyed the sentiment above and politely asked those people to leave Villa A103.
Only middle-class folks with petty bourgeois tastes enjoyed this kind of thing.
Having a chef explain the dishes during a meal might make some feel their dining experience had suddenly become more sophisticated, but to Li Dong, it was all useless fluff—just flashy nonsense.
After dinner, Li Dong watched TV while scrolling through his phone, browsing news reports on various media platforms.
That evening's news covered underwater volcanic eruptions near the islands off the eastern coast of the Black Africa continent, as well as eruptions from some active volcanoes inland in Black Africa.
The scale of the eruptions wasn't particularly large, so the impact on Blue Star's temperature was minimal for now.
Even so, it still resulted in the deaths of some tourists who had been visiting the volcanoes when they suddenly erupted.
No one had expected the volcanoes to erupt so abruptly.
At the same time, many volcanic and seismic belts surrounding the continents in the Northern Hemisphere seemed to have been activated, becoming increasingly active.
Earthquakes had occurred in numerous island nations in the eastern and southern waters of the Great Xia Republic.
However, the magnitudes were low—only around 4 or 5—and no fatalities were reported.
The tremors persisted for a long time, and though the quakes weren't strong, they appeared to have reactivated some dead volcanoes, possibly brewing something much larger.
Next came reports on wildfires—the forest fires in the southwestern region still hadn't been extinguished and seemed to be growing fiercer.
The news also covered the typhoon that had made landfall in Pengcheng, Guangnan Province, earlier that day.
Additionally, it reported an extremely rare event: heavy rainfall in the southern part of Xijiang Province, the largest desert in the Great Xia Republic. This unusual phenomenon had drawn crowds of tourists flocking to the desert to take photos and share their experiences online.
Seeing footage of tourists rushing to the desert for social media clout, Li Dong could only sigh in exasperation.
Sure enough, people in this country loved chasing spectacle—and would rush to the scene at the first opportunity.
Just as Li Dong continued scrolling, his phone's apocalypse group chat suddenly exploded with notifications.
He tapped in to check.
Most of the messages were zombie-related videos, all posted by that hunter guy.
Some of the footage was clearly shot by bystanders in urban areas—not the earlier clips filmed in war-torn ruins.
In the videos, infected civilians from the Europa Federation were being apprehended, while others suspected of carrying the zombie virus were seen attacking and biting fellow citizens, creating utter chaos.
Yet, the official explanation given by Western governments to their citizens was that these were cases of rabies outbreaks. They urged people to get vaccinated against rabies immediately, claiming it would significantly reduce the chances of infection.
These videos were completely absent from media platforms within the Great Xia Republic.
Clearly, they had been suppressed.
After posting the video, Hunter Zhang Ge sent a message in the group chat:
["Attention, everyone. Some cities in the Western Continent have reported patients exhibiting zombie-like symptoms. If any of your family or friends are traveling in Western countries, urge them to return home immediately to avoid infection."]
Someone asked:
["Hunter, what's the situation over there? I thought the infection rate of this virus was supposed to be really low?"]
At that moment, a moderator chimed in to explain:
["Even with a low infection rate, if the population is large enough, the number of zombies could still rise significantly."]
Hunter Zhang Ge spoke up again:
["Everyone, do not forward or download the video!"]
The group owner also issued a warning:
["This group has moderators skilled in hacking. Anyone who forwards or even screen-records the video will be immediately flagged and identified. If caught, you'll be kicked out on the spot!"]
The group owner then restricted the video's permissions, preventing downloads or shares—though unlike last time, it wasn't deleted outright.
Mainly because such zombie footage was too likely to incite panic, easily evoking doomsday scenarios.
After all, that's exactly how movies portrayed it.
["Everyone should stock up on supplies and reinforce their Shelters. Don't hesitate to spend the money,"] Li Dong couldn't help but chime in.
His username in the group was "Unremarkable Rich Kid."
["Rich Kid, did you get some insider info?"]
["No. Don't ask. I don't know."]
["Oh, I get it."]
The group members all had unusual backgrounds, with diverse sources of information—but one thing was certain: they were incredibly well-connected. Some even had ties to official channels.