Chapter 33: Census, Rainstorm?

Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Census, Rainstorm?

Seraphina Sullivan took a comfortable hot bath, then threw herself onto her big, soft bed, stretching like a lazy cat.

After experiencing the brutality of the game, she cherished the ordinary peace of the real world all the more.

’My own bed really is the most comfortable...’ she mumbled, casually tearing open a bag of potato chips and twisting the cap off a bottle of ice-cold soda.

This was her unique therapeutic ritual.

She used food to wash away the lingering trauma from the game.

Just as she was indulging in the dual bliss of snacks and a variety show, the phone on her coffee table suddenly began vibrating wildly, a barrage of notification chimes shattering the room’s tranquility.

"Hm?" Seraphina frowned, setting down the chip bag and reaching for her phone.

Her screen was flooded with messages from her residential community’s management group chat:

[@All Important Notice: The recent doomsday rumors spreading online have caused widespread concern. Everyone please remain vigilant and report any suspicious individuals immediately...]

[As per a notice from a higher authority, a comprehensive population census will be conducted in the near future. We ask all residents to please cooperate...]

[Special Reminder: If you observe any unusual activity, please immediately call our 24-hour hotline...]

The group chat instantly exploded:

"What’s going on? Is it really the end of the world? I don’t feel like the world has changed that much? This can’t be another fake-out, can it!"

"Have you been living under a rock?"

"I heard someone robbed a bank in the next city. They were incredibly brazen, and nobody could stop them. Just think about that."

"Don’t tell me they’re making these plans now to investigate those ’Players’?"

Seeing that last message, Seraphina’s fingers tightened abruptly.

She stared intently at the screen, her heart quickening in spite of herself.

Seraphina stared at her phone screen, her brow furrowing deeper and deeper.

’This so-called "population census" is definitely not that simple. The authorities are probably making preparations behind the scenes.’

Although Seraphina had great faith in her country, believing that even if they found the so-called Players, they wouldn’t be harmed.

’They would probably use Players to explore the Disaster Game, or even to save Azure Star now that it was entering a doomsday era.’

But Seraphina still didn’t want to expose her identity as a Player so soon.

As she thought about this, Seraphina glanced around her apartment, a cold sweat breaking out on her skin.

The massive amount of supplies hoarded in the room practically screamed, "I am a Player."

The emergency food piled in the corner, the hydroponic vegetable rack on the balcony she planned to use for planting, the solar panels in the living room waiting to be assembled... Even an ordinary person who believed the doomsday rumors wouldn’t have prepared this thoroughly and professionally.

’It’s too obvious...’ Seraphina mumbled, biting her lip. ’If the census workers come in and see all this, they’ll definitely get suspicious.’

Seraphina made a swift decision and immediately began tidying the room.

Thanks to her Space Ability, she only had to wave her hand for the suspicious supplies to vanish one by one:

’The hydroponic vegetable rack on the balcony? I can leave that. After all, I made it after talking it over with my neighbors. Getting rid of it now would look too deliberate.’

’Still, I’ll put some of it away, leaving just a small portion out.’

’The supplies in the living room? Store them!’

In less than ten minutes, the entire apartment looked like it belonged to an ordinary young woman living alone.

It was tidy and simple, with a homey feel that didn’t suggest excessive preparation.

’Thank goodness for my Space...’ Seraphina thought, wiping the sweat from her forehead as she surveyed the transformed room.

’Now the only thing to worry about is whether I have too few daily necessities out.’

’It would be just as suspicious for someone living alone to not even have a spare box of tissues.’

An idea struck her. She retrieved a moderate amount of daily supplies from her Space and placed them in plain sight.

A couple of tissue boxes on the coffee table, a few ordinary bottles of shampoo and soap in the bathroom, and a couple of packs of instant noodles and snacks in the kitchen.

Of course, she also left out some of the food and snacks she had bought after hearing the rumors. It would be suspicious not to have any at all.

Now, it wouldn’t look like she was deliberately hoarding, but it also wouldn’t seem unnaturally bare.

’As long as they don’t go into my bedroom and search through my stored things, they won’t find out about my huge stockpile.’ Seraphina let out a long sigh of relief.

After all that, she collapsed onto the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Night had fallen outside, and the occasional bark of a dog drifted through the window.

This feeling of suspense was somehow even more agonizing than facing parasitic monsters inside the game instance.

The phone suddenly vibrated. It was the latest notice from property management: [The census will begin tomorrow morning at 9 AM. All residents are requested to have someone at home...]

Seraphina locked her phone and walked to the window. ℴℴ𝘮

In the moonlight, there were several unfamiliar vehicles in the residential complex.

She drew the curtains shut, a Silver Needle materializing in her hand.

’I’ll just have to play it by ear tomorrow.’

Seraphina was about to turn off the light and get some rest before tomorrow’s inspection when she suddenly remembered something. She picked up her phone again and opened the weather forecast.

The System had said that Azure Star’s "doomsday era" was imminent; she had to be prepared.

She’d read more than her fair share of apocalypse novels, and the most common disaster to kick things off was—torrential rain.

’Let’s see...’ She scrolled through the screen, then her finger froze. Her pupils constricted sharply.

As someone born and raised in the north, her city was located deep inland, right next to a vast desert.

The annual rainfall here was pitifully low; sometimes they wouldn’t see a single drop of rain for months on end.

Yet right now, her phone screen displayed a shocking forecast:

[Next 30-Day Weather Forecast]

Monday: Torrential Rain ️

Tuesday: Extreme Downpour ️

Wednesday: Cataclysmic Downpour ️

...

An entire page of consecutive downpour warnings made her eyes ache.

"Are you kidding me?!" Seraphina shot upright, her fingers trembling uncontrollably. "A solid month of torrential rain? How is that possible?"

She hurriedly switched to other weather apps, only to find that all platforms showed the same forecast.

Seraphina then checked other cities, only to find they were all forecasted for continuous torrential rain.

’Something’s wrong...’ A cold sweat trickled down Seraphina’s back.

’Could this "torrential rain" be the beginning of the "doomsday era" the System mentioned?’

She immediately scrambled out of bed and ran barefoot to the window.

Pushing open the window, a dry, hot wind rushed in. The night sky was full of stars, with no sign of rain at all.

But a weather forecast wouldn’t be wrong for no reason, especially not at a critical time like this.

’If it really is a disaster-level downpour...’ Seraphina quickly ran through the preparations she would need to make.

Returning to her bed, she opened her laptop and began frantically searching for flood prevention information, simultaneously creating an emergency checklist:

1. Life jacket/Life ring

2. Waterproof bags

3. Water purification device

4. Boat...

’I need to waterproof everything. The windows need to be reinforced. If a typhoon hits, I’m screwed. Not that I believe that could happen!’

’A typhoon hitting an inland desert region... But what if?’

Seraphina’s sleepiness vanished. The supplies she had hoarded before were all food and medicine; now she also needed to make a plan.

A plan for dealing with all kinds of natural disasters.

Of course, there were also the doomsday instances in the Disaster Game; she had to be prepared.

Seraphina had only made it through the first two instances safely thanks to a bit of luck, but these doomsday instances were completely different from a peaceful society. They were lawless. Seraphina still had so much to learn and prepare for.