WHOOSH! Jiang Si opened the security door and, through the iron gate, stomped on Lin Zu’s hand.

"AH—!"

The instant Lin Zu released the iron gate in pain, a ferocious gust from the sandstorm toppled several people at once.

They were blown away like kites with their strings cut.

Lin Chenghua could only brace himself with one hand. Sand blinded his eyes, and tears streamed endlessly down his face, making him look rather pitiful.

"Jiang Si! We’re all from the same village, why are you so vicious?! All we asked was for you to open the door and help us, but not only do you refuse to save us, you kick us while we’re down! You’re a murderer! I’ll report you! I’ll see you in jail and have your entire family thrown out of the refugee camp!"

He roared madly, his eyes growing redder and redder, as if he had a bad case of pink eye.

The wind howled louder in her ears. Jiang Si’s lips curled into a cold sneer. "I don’t think you’ll get the chance."

BANG—! A tree trunk as thick as a thigh came flying at high speed. Lin Chenghua’s pupils contracted in terror. An instant later, he and the others were violently swept away.

Jiang Si lowered the metal shutter, but the roaring of the wind outside was still deafening.

She turned around, only then noticing the gritty, uncomfortable feeling in her eyes.

’I must have gotten some sand in them just now.’

Rubbing them directly could easily lead to a bacterial infection.

Jiang Si gently wiped the area with a clean, wet towel. After the burning sensation subsided, she applied some eye drops.

Even with the doors and windows shut, the air remained incredibly dry.

The howling wind sounded as if it had sworn an oath to bring the entire world to its knees.

Jiang Si pulled out goggles, dust masks, and sanitized protective suits for everyone. "Just in case," she said, "if the house takes any damage, put on the goggles and masks immediately. The turbid air is full of fine dust that can make it hard to breathe and cause respiratory illnesses. It can affect your eyes and ears too—you could get conjunctivitis."

As everyone took the gear, Jiang Si produced a high-potency moisturizing cream. "Put some of this on. The dry air will make your skin crack."

Jiang Linhai was reluctant to use it. "Your grandpa and I can be a little rough around the edges. You all use more!"

Jiang Si shook her head. "With this dry weather and heavy dust, your skin loses moisture from its surface. That doesn’t just make it rough; when dust gets into your pores, they can easily get clogged. If you don’t take care of it, you could get acne. And for someone with sensitive skin like Mom, it’s easy to develop allergic dermatitis and rashes. So everyone, use plenty. I bought more than enough cream, and it doesn’t matter if we run out. I’m growing aloe vera in my dimensional space, and I can use it to make more."

Terrified at the thought of a face full of acne, Jiang Linhai dug into the two-thousand-yuan luxury face cream, scooping out nearly half the small jar.

He slathered it all over his face. The cream absorbed easily, and he suddenly felt his skin become smooth and supple. His pores seemed to open up, a refreshing and revitalizing sensation. His eyes widened in amazement. "Holy cow! This stuff works instantly! No wonder your mom was always putting things on her face and wouldn’t let me touch them."

Shen Baoying shot him a glare. "If you wanted to use some, I would have let you. Stop talking nonsense!"

Jiang Linhai chuckled. "If I used it and started looking younger, your mom would be on pins and needles all day! How could I dare!"

Shen Baoying’s eyes held a bashful look as she playfully chided him for talking such nonsense in front of everyone. Jiang Si smiled, pursing her lips. ’With Dad alive and well in this life, Mom won’t fall into depression, will she?’

After three hours, the constant, grinding noise of the sandstorm became extremely unsettling. The low frequency of the gale, in particular, gave the older Shen Baoying and Jiang Chengwu headaches, nausea, and a sense of irritability.

To calm their nerves, Jiang Si brewed some mint and lemon tea for everyone. She explained that staying hydrated and speeding up the expulsion of metabolic waste would help alleviate these symptoms.

Jiang Chenghai took a sip of the tea. The vitamins perked him up a bit. "The temperature has already dropped to thirty-five degrees. Does this mean the solar radiation will be gone by morning?"

Jiang Si nodded. "Barring any surprises, yes."

CRASH—BANG—

Something had slammed into their home’s insulation panels. It could have been a dead tree from the forest, or perhaps even a person. The impact was so powerful that everyone felt the tremor even while sitting on their stools.

CLANG—

It sounded like the insulation panels on their house had been torn away by the gale.

Jiang Si felt a faint sense of unease. Shen Baoying said worriedly, "I wonder if Qin Shen is home. With a wind this strong, I hope he’s not outside."

Jiang Si frowned. "It’s not like he runs off to the forest every single day. He should be home."

The more they spent time with Qin Shen, the more they felt his personal charm. They were all starting to see him through rose-tinted glasses. Shen Baoying turned to Jiang Si. "Your room has a view of Qin Shen’s house, doesn’t it? Why don’t you check if he’s there?"

Everyone agreed. "That’s right. We’ve bothered him so much lately. It wouldn’t be right if we weren’t there for him when he might actually need help."

Under their expectant gazes, Jiang Si took out a pair of night-vision binoculars and peered through the window toward Qin Shen’s house.

The sky was pitch black, obscured by yellow sand. All Jiang Si could see was a house, battered but still standing firm in the wind.

’If Qin Shen is home, he must be holed up in one of the rooms.’

Jiang Si shook her head. "I can’t see anyone. We’ll have to wait until morning."

The temperature dropped, and the nights grew longer.

They took turns sleeping by the window for five hours before the sky gradually began to lighten. The thick layer of dust acted like a parasol, casting the room into a dim, cold shadow.

Everyone put on an extra layer of clothing. Grandma even put little vests on Little Black and Big Black.

Jiang Si picked up the binoculars, but the windows were completely plastered with sand, making it even harder to see what was happening with Qin Shen.

WHOOSH—

The storm grew stronger. The windows shuddered violently, looking as if they might explode at any second. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

With lightning-fast reflexes, Jiang Si pulled down the metal shutter. BANG! All the windows in the house shattered at once, the sound as terrifying as several bombs detonating simultaneously.

Everyone cowered and huddled together as the floor suddenly began to shake. The ceiling light swayed back and forth.

Jiang Linhai cried out, "Sisi, I think it’s an earthquake!"

The words had barely left his mouth when dust rained down from the ceiling and the steel frame of the door began to emit a piercing, tearing sound.

Jiang Si instantly materialized an earthquake-proof shelter from her dimensional space and hurried her family inside.

The shelter resembled a small shipping container, but it was a piece of high-tech, earthquake-resistant engineering from the Sun Country.

It wouldn’t be crushed even if a twenty-story building collapsed on top of it.

Of course, it was also heavy enough that it wouldn’t be blown away.

This was something Jiang Si had specifically procured in preparation for potential tectonic fracturing.

’I didn’t expect to use it so soon.’

Buckled into their seatbelts on the bench-like sofa, they were jolted every so often, a clear reminder of the sandstorm’s immense power.

In the middle of it all, Jiang Si slipped into her dimensional space. She used an induction cooker to make a pot of lotus root soup, baked some bread and sausages, and even picked a dozen freshly ripened cherry tomatoes.

By the time everyone had eaten their fill, the commotion outside the shelter had died down.

Jiang Si had everyone get their protective gear on—including Big Black and Little Black, whose eyes and ears were protected with bandanas—before she tentatively opened the shelter door.

WHOOSH...

A thick cascade of sand fell down. Jiang Si waved a hand in front of her face and cautiously stepped out.

Suddenly, a stranger’s roar echoed from the attic. "Idiot! Grab the gun!"