# Chapter 8: Nocturnal Life
Every night, Sophia went to the supermarket.
To avoid standing out too much, besides snacks, she also bought some other items.
When she'd stockpiled supplies before, Sophia had bought plenty of rice and flour, but she hadn't bought dried pasta.
Now, she bought a reasonable amount.
While dried pasta wasn't ideal in texture, it kept well, and she could use it in front of others.
The city Sophia lived in was close to New York, also a first-tier metropolis.
Countless large and small malls and supermarkets dotted the city. Sophia went to a different one each night, buying different types of goods each time.
Once in the car, she'd store most of it in her space, keeping only a little to carry home. She hadn't aroused any suspicion.
After all, in the current situation, plenty of people were buying supplies daily, just like her.
Time had already moved into mid-September.
In previous years, autumn clothing would already be on shelves by now, with winter collections ready to launch.
But this year, even in T-shirts and shorts people felt stifled by the heat.
Going out at night, Sophia saw many stores holding autumn and winter clearance sales.
Sophia had already stockpiled plenty of autumn and winter clothing, but those were for her own wearing.
Looking at the various styles in the stores, Sophia hesitated before walking in anyway.
In her past life, surviving alone in the apocalypse, there had been men who approached her. But they all had ulterior motives.
Sophia wasn't foolish. She naturally wouldn't associate with people like that, so until the apocalypse's tenth year, Sophia remained single.
This time, Sophia wasn't sure if she would still live alone for a lifetime. But as before: better safe than sorry.
Since she'd come across it, she'd buy some clothes to keep ready.
If she ended up needing them, she wouldn't be caught without.
If she didn't need them... how could she not need them!
She could keep them for herself!
With this mindset, Sophia bought quite a lot of men's clothing.
All in sizes XL and above.
Sophia believed her standards for a partner were exacting.
A man who couldn't fit into clothes this size could never be her boyfriend!
Sophia's car was parked outside. After checkout, she made several trips with two store clerks to load all the clothes and shoes into her vehicle.
Fortunately, the car's cargo space was large enough. Otherwise, it wouldn't have fit.
Sophia drove back to the community parking garage, parked, and took a bag of food into the elevator.
The men's clothing had long since been stored in her space.
The elevator stopped at the first floor. Two middle-aged women got in.
Both were carrying large bags, flushed and drenched in sweat. Even so, they didn't stop chatting.
"As soon as we get back, let's fill every container we have with water. Tomorrow they're starting water rationing. We have to store enough water beforehand. With this heat, if we run out of water, how are we supposed to survive?!"
"You're right! My grandson wants to be in the water all day long. No water? Impossible."
"First it was scheduled power outages, now water rationing too. How is life getting worse instead of better?
My son was saying online there are a lot of people saying the apocalypse is coming!"
"Apocalypse or not, I don't understand all that. But storing more food and water is never wrong!"
Sophia stood behind them, listening silently.
Soon, their floors arrived. One by one they left, leaving Sophia alone in the elevator.
She'd been so busy shopping, she hadn't checked the community chat. She hadn't known about the water rationing notice yet.
Back home, Sophia closed the door, stored the bags in her space, and opened her phone to the community group chat.
The moment she opened it, an announcement popped out—notifying everyone about scheduled electricity and water restrictions.
Reading the message, Sophia slowly exhaled and put down her phone.
While water was still running, she took a shower. Back in her bedroom, she turned on one evaporative air cooler.
At night, with temperatures only in the low 90s, one air cooler was usually enough.
Earlier, she'd ordered 1,000 water barrels and 1,000 water containers. After filling them, Sophia had ordered another 200 of each.
By now, those were all filled with water too.
Now that she knew about water rationing, Sophia wasn't worried.
She had plenty of water, but she wasn't planning to waste it either.
Water from laundry, water from washing rice and vegetables—she used it all to flush the toilet. It was killing two birds with one stone.
Sophia believed that after water rationing started, many people would naturally do the same thing.
Without frugality, life would eventually force you to be frugal.
But Sophia also knew this method could only work temporarily.
Later, when people's water resources grew scarcer and even drinking water became a problem, there wouldn't be water for laundry, let alone the luxury of flushing toilets.
Back then, many people stopped using home toilets and went to public restrooms instead. Eventually, people simply found hidden corners to relieve themselves.
There were also shameless people who didn't bother finding hidden spots, relieving themselves anywhere.
Night vision was poor to begin with. Stepping in something unpleasant by accident—Sophia really didn't want to remember such experiences.
To never have to experience that Discomfited again, Sophia did some research.
The results made her overjoyed.
Apocalypse enthusiasts had solutions for all kinds of natural disasters.
After reading several posts, Sophia learned about a miracle product—cat litter.
Sophia had never kept cats, so she didn't know about cat litter.
But after learning about it, she couldn't stop praising the invention!
Sophia contacted two cat litter manufacturers and ordered a full fifty tons.
Box after box of cat litter now stood in one corner of her space, stacked from floor to ceiling, giving Sophia immense peace of mind.
This was another wonder of her space.
Sophia could stack items as high as she wanted, up to the space's ceiling.
Items wouldn't topple. Items underneath wouldn't be crushed.
This guaranteed that every inch of space could be fully utilized.
Sophia lay in bed, cooled by the air cooler, lost in thought—and gradually fell asleep.
When Sophia woke again, it was already 6 PM.
The 6 PM sun still scorched the earth.
Sophia lifted the curtain by just a sliver. One look outside and she instinctively closed her eyes against the glare.
By now, everyone had gotten used to a nocturnal lifestyle.
Every day, people slept just before dawn and woke as the sun was about to set.