# Chapter 7: Prices Skyrocket
There would definitely be blackouts.
Not just blackouts—water rationing too.
Sophia remembered that in her past life, by mid-September, they began implementing electricity and water restrictions.
Only four hours of power per day, during the hottest midday hours.
Water was available twice daily, early morning and evening, two hours each.
That was still because their high-end neighborhood had newer electrical infrastructure.
Older neighborhoods? Transformers catching fire and exploding—countless incidents.
Some places, due to extreme heat and aging wiring, caught fire, causing significant casualties.
Sophia didn't share this information.
Whether she spoke or not wouldn't change anything. The power grid's problems couldn't be solved by her speaking up.
She could only hope those in charge would notice the situation soon and take proactive measures.
After schools closed, the ones happiest were the students.
Every day they could eat, drink, and play at home with zero pressure.
The only thing that displeased them was that it was too hot during the day to go out.
Since going out during the day was impossible, once darkness fell, the community would come alive.
Children's laughter, shrieks—even on the 18th floor, Sophia heard them clearly.
Sophia didn't find it annoying. She actually wished such sounds could go on forever.
Because this meant the apocalypse hadn't arrived yet. Though life had been impacted, at least order still existed.
But Sophia knew this probably wouldn't last much longer.
Sighing deeply, Sophia drove to a shopping mall.
The mall was packed. After all, the air conditioning was free—why not take advantage?
Sophia pushed a shopping cart slowly along. She didn't go to the grocery section. Instead, she went to the snack aisle and swept all her favorite chips, nuts, and dried fruits into her cart.
These things weren't filling, and buying more wasn't really taking survival resources from others.
When her cart was full, Sophia pushed to the checkout.
The refrigerated cases near the registers held rows of ice cream. She picked two of her favorite flavors and paid.
Pushing her cart out, Sophia heard an older woman gossiping about her.
"These young girls nowadays, all so thin like matchsticks. Instead of eating proper meals, they just snack all day! How can their bodies take it?"
Hearing this, Sophia just smiled.
She absolutely would not go back and tell the woman that despite her thin arms, she could snap a thick wooden club in half without effort.
Days passed. The weather grew hotter by the day.
Every household had large windows that didn't insulate at all.
During the day, it was unbearable. People couldn't sleep even if they wanted to.
Soon, people started installing reflective window film on their outside windows.
Sophia had already prepared window film long ago. But she didn't want to be the first one to install it.
Only after seeing several neighbors already had it did Sophia install hers on all her windows.
At the same time, she installed solar panels.
If her memory served correctly, in a few days, scheduled blackouts would begin.
Having the solar panels installed ahead of time meant she wouldn't be caught off guard.
Though Sophia exercised daily to acclimate to outside temperatures, she didn't plan to actually make herself suffer in the heat all day.
That would be seeking misery.
She'd bought all these supplies so she could live better in the apocalypse—not to have supplies and still suffer.
Just days after Sophia installed the solar panels, her neighborhood lost power.
Before that, nearby communities had already experienced blackouts.
Sophia had even seen people in the neighborhood chat expressing relief.
It was only two days later that their turn came.
The blackout happened right at noon when the temperature had already hit 140°F.
Even with thick reflective film, within ten minutes of the power loss, the apartment felt like a steamer.
Sophia connected the solar panels, ran an extension cord to the bedroom, and took out an evaporative air cooler from her space.
The bottom of the air cooler had an ice compartment. Put in ice blocks, turn it on, and the breeze that blew out carried a trace of cold.
One air cooler couldn't drop the temperature enough. Sophia took out two more, positioning them in three different directions pointing at her bed.
This way, sitting on the bed with its ice mat, she felt much cooler.
On the movable side table beside the bed sat an iPad playing a TV show.
Sophia took out half an iced watermelon and scooped it with a spoon, bite by bite.
The watermelon had been from the farm she'd visited—picked fresh, juicy and sweet.
There were over ten thousand like it in her space.
Taking another spoonful of watermelon, Sophia's eyes curved with satisfaction.
In her past life, her apartment at this time had been a furnace.
Even wearing the least amount of clothing, lying on a cool mat, and fanning herself constantly, she'd still felt dizzy from the heat.
Compared to back then, this was practically paradise.
Sophia had bought many iPads, each pre-downloaded with variety shows, TV dramas, audiobooks, music, and movies.
Additionally, some iPads were loaded entirely with offline games for when she was bored.
She'd also bought plenty of physical books—classics, novels, graphic novels, and professional knowledge on various subjects.
Sophia didn't care whether she'd actually read them. She bought them and stored them in her space first.
After eating for a while, Sophia opened the community homeowners group chat again.
The chat had exploded. Nearly every message contained the word "hot."
Reading these messages, Sophia remained silent.
Her ability was limited. She couldn't help others. She could only do her best to survive.
The blackout didn't end until 8 PM.
At the same time, the scheduled blackout notice was distributed.
Many people complained and protested, but it did nothing.
The enterprising ones were already contacting people to buy generators or solar panels.
After scheduled blackouts began, even those who could work from home couldn't work anymore.
No work meant no income.
Those with savings could eat into reserves. But what about those living paycheck to paycheck? They were in a bind.
Income stopped, but expenses skyrocketed.
Because the weather grew ever hotter, with no rain, apocalypse rumors spread wildly, and the prices of supplies soared rapidly.
Before, Sophia could buy a cart full of snacks for about a thousand dollars.
Now it cost two thousand.
And that was just snacks. Rice, flour, cooking oil, fruits, vegetables, ice cream, cold drinks—all had increased two to three times in price.