The sudden sound of a notification startled Lin Dong.
He quickly stood up, scanning his surroundings, but found nothing unusual.
After a moment, he calmed down, a look of astonishment flashing in his eyes.
"System?"
The next second, a system interface appeared before his eyes.
Host: Lin Dong | Physique: 0.8
Strength: 0.9
Agility: 0.8
Spirit: 0.71
Mutation Progress: 0%
Points: 1 | Lottery Attempts: 0
Lottery Items: None
The interface hovered like a translucent glow in front of his vision. He reached out to touch it but grasped nothing.
Lin Dong was baffled. "Am I hallucinating from stress?"
He hurriedly checked his body but found nothing wrong. Yet, the system interface remained visible.
Steadying himself, Lin Dong focused on the system.
After some exploration, he roughly understood its function.
This was a Lottery System. Besides the lottery feature, it also displayed his physical attributes.
However, the lottery required something called "points."
"These points… the system mentioned I earned them by killing a Mutated Sardine."
But Lin Dong was puzzled—when had he ever killed a Mutated Sardine?
"Let's try a draw."
With nervous anticipation, Lin Dong quickly tapped the lottery button.
Instantly, his 1 point vanished, and a spinning wheel appeared before him.
The wheel was densely divided into numerous sections. He barely caught glimpses of items like bread and soy sauce before the wheel spun rapidly and stopped.
"Congratulations! You've won a bottle of Lao Gan Ma."
Lin Dong froze, then widened his eyes in disbelief. Sure enough, a bottle of Lao Gan Ma appeared in his inventory!
Overjoyed, he exclaimed, "It's real!"
With a thought, the bottle materialized in his hand.
He eagerly opened it, and the rich, spicy aroma made his mouth water.
Without hesitation, he dipped his finger in and tasted it.
The savory, fiery flavor nearly moved him to tears.
Half a year of torrential rain—who knew how long it had been since he last tasted chili?
Food had been a constant worry. Trapped in the floods for six months, every household had long run out of supplies.
He had survived this long only because he'd stockpiled some beforehand, but even his reserves were dwindling.
Now, this sudden Lottery System could provide food. It was a miracle.
In this flood-ravaged apocalypse, the system was like a ray of hope, a lifeline.
"With enough points, I can get more food!"
"But… these points…"
Lin Dong frowned, staring at the system's prompt about earning points. "A Mutated Sardine? Where did that come from?"
Puzzled, he checked the kill log through the system.
"The nail you fired was accidentally swallowed by a Mutated Sardine. Successfully killed Mutated Sardine*1!"
Lin Dong was stunned. Recently, he'd only used his nail gun to fend off intruders trying to break into his home—never to shoot fish.
Suddenly, a thought struck him. He hurried to the window and peered outside.
The pitch-black sky made it difficult to see anything clearly.
Torrential rain pounded against the water's surface, creating a relentless pattering sound.
Lin Dong grabbed a flashlight and shone it toward the water.
From the tenth-floor vantage point, he could see numerous floating household items—mattresses, bed boards, foam boxes...
There even seemed to be makeshift rafts tied to the building's windows with ropes.
Beyond this debris floated bloated corpses!
Lin Dong stared at the bodies, his eyes revealing deep contemplation.
"Could it be that someone I shot recently fell into the water outside and was mistakenly eaten by sardines?"
That's ridiculous. Would it still count as your kill if a sardine was eaten by a smaller fish, then by a bigger fish, and finally by a shark?
His expression turned peculiar. Had he accidentally killed a Mutated Sardine under such circumstances?
But then again, a Mutated Sardine is still a sardine, right?
Aren't sardines marine creatures? What are they doing here?
"Has seawater already backed up into the Yangtze River, reaching Linjiang City?"
The possibility sent a chill down his spine.
The situation was dire. If the heavy rain continued like this, even his 32nd-floor apartment might not hold.
Frowning, he pondered the system's earlier mention of a 'Mutated' sardine.
Are sardines mutating now?
What the hell is happening to this world?
A trace of unease surfaced in his heart as he gazed at the waterline.
"Within all of Linjiang City, my location is relatively high. There probably aren't many buildings taller than mine—just those landmark structures downtown."
"No, going downtown would be suicide. If the rain doesn't stop and the water keeps rising, even those landmarks will be submerged."
"Where else nearby has higher elevation?"
"Sun Mountain? Plum Mountain?"
His mind raced. About a month before the floods arrived, sensing trouble, he had downloaded offline maps of the entire country onto his computer. He'd even hand-drawn a map of Linjiang City and had developed a rough understanding of its topography.
Thus, he knew exactly which nearby buildings and hills had higher elevations.
Linjiang City belonged to Jiangnan Province, which lacked towering mountains. The highest point in the city was Cangqiong Mountain at 341.7 meters, the tallest peak among the hills along Taihu Lake's eastern shore.
But it was too far from Lin Dong's current location—he'd have to cross an entire development zone.
With such violent storms outside, travel was ill-advised.
Most crucially, during flashes of lightning, he'd glimpsed massive shadows moving beneath the water's surface.
"If even sardines are mutating, could there be other mutated sea creatures?"
Unless absolutely necessary, Lin Dong had no intention of leaving Mido Garden just yet.
Pushing aside his tangled thoughts, he turned back to the kitchen and retrieved the thawed meat and green peppers from the sink.
His home not only had an upright fridge but also a large freezer.
He hadn't bought this freezer—it was rented.
During renovations, he'd thought about stocking up on ice pops and chilled water for himself and the workers.
He had originally planned to return it after the renovation was done, but unexpectedly, a heavy rainstorm hit.
After that, he simply didn't return it and took advantage of the first month to stock up on supplies at the supermarket near the neighborhood entrance.
Among them were common items like pork, sausages, vegetables, and dried tofu.
The upright refrigerator was also filled with eggs and similar items.
However, within half a year, as the water levels kept rising, the power system had long since collapsed.
The reason the refrigerator was still functioning now was entirely due to the portable gasoline generator.
Back then, because of the intense dispute with the developer, they refused to supply electricity to his house.
So he borrowed this generator from a friend.
But now, the gasoline at home was nearly exhausted. Even though he only ran it for a few hours each day to power the refrigerator, the gasoline still couldn't last much longer.
Before the flood submerged the first floor, he had risked going out several times to siphon gasoline from abandoned vehicles, gradually stockpiling quite a bit, which allowed him to hold out for half a year.
"Once this batch of gasoline runs out, there's really no chance of getting more."
Gazing at the vast expanse of water outside, Lin Dong sighed. The generator was certainly useful, but given the current situation, there was no way to obtain more gasoline.
"Never mind, it doesn't matter if I can't get more. The food in the fridge is almost gone anyway."
He felt a bit regretful but quickly came to terms with it.
Without supplies, the refrigerator was just a decoration.
Back then, he had tried to go out and get another batch.
But by that time, the second floor had already been submerged, and the underground garage had formed a funnel-like whirlpool.
Some people, caught off guard, were swept straight into the garage and never returned.
Witnessing this, Lin Dong decisively retreated and had been relying on these supplies, living frugally, to survive for half a year.
Even so, the dwindling stockpile made the situation increasingly dire.
As he sliced the meat into shreds, Lin Dong took stock of the remaining items.
"The oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar are fine. I don't use much since I'm alone. I stocked a whole box of each back then, and there's still plenty left."
"But the meat and vegetables are almost gone. If I don't figure something out soon, I'll have nothing to eat."
"There are still four bags of rice, quite a bit of mixed grains, and five bags of flour."
Glancing at the corner where the rice was stacked, only four bags remained. Back then, he had carried home ten bags in total, all small 10-pound bags.
The truth was, there had been too many people rushing to buy supplies at the time. He only managed to get ten bags because he was on good terms with the store owner.
Back then, many people wanted to buy but couldn't get any.