Dad was just about to explain when I grabbed him. "Uncle Adam, don't say that. I'm doing a good deed by helping Aunt Leanne see her partner for who he really is! Big blessings await me at the end."

Uncle Adam gritted his teeth at Dad. "How sharp-tongued. Thomas, we're done for good! Even if your family starves or begs me, I won't give you a helping hand! Erin, let's go!"

My cousin, Erin Stewart, glanced disdainfully at me, wiping the stains off her body. "Tsk, I didn't want to come to this crappy place in the first place. It reeks of poverty. Dad, let's go. We'll enjoy life with my stable job. Let them regret holding onto this crappy supermarket!"

Watching their retreating backs, I smiled and waved. "Take care! By the way, Uncle Adam, even if we're severing ties, remember to transfer the 5,000 dollars to my dad. Otherwise, I'll post this matter in the family group chat and pin it at the top!"

Uncle Adam staggered a little and almost fell. He ran away without turning around.

[Ding. Uncle Adam's blood pressure surged. Rage points +100! Reward: 20 pounds of fresh beef!]

Twenty pounds? Although not much, it was enough to last for a while in an apocalyptic world without fresh fruits and vegetables.

I was deep in thought when my parents looked at the mess on the ground and sighed. "Alissa, he's... your uncle, after all.. We won't be able to be on good terms with him anymore."

After tonight, there would only be the living and the dead in this world. What did relatives matter?

I wiped the smile from my face, my expression turning serious. "Mom, relatives like them are better off gone. I have inside information that a cold wave will break out tonight. It's very dangerous. We need to seal off the supermarket now. No one is allowed to open the door."

My parents were skeptical, but seeing my confident demeanor and considering my assertiveness over the years, they eventually nodded.

While my parents were putting things away, I walked to the supermarket entrance and silently recited, "Use the safe house conversion card."

The ordinary roller shutter instantly transformed into a titanium alloy explosion-proof door. All the window glass silently became bulletproof glass, and the walls were fitted with top-of-the-line thermal and sound insulation layers.

After doing all this, I glanced at the clock on the wall.

Midnight.

The joyful festive music suddenly stopped, replaced by a bone-chilling howling wind. The temperature plummeted in just ten minutes, from 41 degrees Fahrenheit to -58, and it continued to drop. Heavy snow, mixed with a strange virus, fell relentlessly.

In my past life, having stayed at my house to play poker after dinner, Uncle Adam's family conveniently escaped the cold on the way home and even took over my parents' warmest bedroom, forcing them to squeeze in with me.

In this life, they were currently on their way home after a falling out over Christmas Eve dinner.

I sat in the 79-degree Fahrenheit supermarket, chomping down on a roasted chicken drumstick from the system storage.

Wrapped in blankets, my parents stared out at the terrifying blizzard, still shaken. "Thank goodness we listened to Alissa and didn't go out. How did the weather suddenly change?"

Just then, the family group chat notifications went off like crazy.

Uncle Adam sent a voice message, saying, "Thomas, my car broke down on the road. I'm freezing to death! Where's your delivery van? Come pick us up!"

Erin typed: [Uncle Thomas, my hands are freezing! Hurry up! We're calling the police if you don't come soon!]

Hearing Uncle Adam's trembling voice and the howling wind, I scoffed. Did they not sever ties with us? Now that they were in trouble, they were looking for help from our family. Did my family have no pride? It was one thing that we tolerated their bullying all the time, but it was so dangerous right now. Did they want us to swallow our pride and rescue them?

Holding down the voice message button, I replied lazily, "Oh, Uncle Adam, what a pity. I wasn't capable enough to pass the driving test, and my dad is drunk, so he can't drive now."

"Uncle Adam and Erin, maybe that job security you're so proud of can keep out the wind and shield you from the cold? Or do a few more squats, Uncle Adam. You didn't squat properly in prison back then."

There was an eerie silence in the group chat.

After a few seconds, Uncle Adam sent a voice message full of foul language, but his voice became increasingly weak.

[Ding! Uncle Adam's family is in a helpless rage in the cold wind. They're physically and mentally traumatized. Rage points +200!]

[Congratulations to the host for receiving the rewards: 50 infinite rechargeable heating pad and max combat proficiency.]

A warm current spread throughout my body, and I felt my muscles filled with strength.

Great, the first night of the apocalypse was peaceful. However, I could not be careless because after the extreme cold came a more terrifying zombie outbreak. People who froze to death on the roadside would stand back up with twisted limbs, biting at anyone they saw.

Uncle Adam's family was indeed lucky. They abandoned the car and fled back to their upscale neighborhood.

Unfortunately, their upscale neighborhood had no water, electricity, or gas. The exquisite furnishing was worthless in the face of -112 degrees. There was no food stored at home, so they could only gnaw on their expensive leather couch.

Erin kept arguing with him because of the lack of food.

Finally, hunger overcame fear and pride. Uncle Adam came to my family's supermarket entrance, along with a few of his neighbors.

Heavy knocks rang out.

Uncle Adam's voice was hoarse and urgent. "Thomas, open the door! It's me, Adam! The power's out, the heating's off, and the windows are cracked from the cold! Let us inside to warm up! We're all starving. We're family. Thomas, you can't just leave us to die!"

My parents instinctively reached for the door, but I stopped them. "Dad, check the security camera."

The footage showed Uncle Adam holding a crowbar, and several people behind him carried steel pipes. They were not here to seek refuge. They were here to rob us.

Someone started hacking at the door with an axe.

Dad sweated profusely from anxiety. "Alissa, what do we do? There are so many people. What if they really break in..."

Mom also cried from fear. "How about we give them some food?"

I looked at Uncle Adam's sinister face on the monitor and sneered.

In my past life, he used the same tactic to force my parents to open the door, and my parents ended up inviting trouble. This time, I was not going to fall victim to it.

I turned on the loudspeaker by the door. "Oh, isn't this my Uncle Adam, the one with a guaranteed income no matter what? What? Ran out of money? You came all this way to my run-down supermarket to beg?"

Uncle Adam, who was outside the door, froze before flying into a rage. "Alissa, enough with the sarcasm! Open the door! I'm your elder!"

"That's right, young lady. Don't be too ruthless! Hurry and give everyone some food!"

More and more people chimed in.

"Calm down, everyone." I chuckled and paused for a moment. "You can have some food. But Uncle Adam, we're in an apocalypse. You have to follow the rules."

"What rules?" Uncle Adam asked anxiously.

"Give me five million dollars or call me 'Master.'"

Some of the people who came with him could not help but burst out laughing.

Uncle Adam's face turned crimson as he trembled with rage, but he could hear the faint roars of zombies behind him. The commotion they made had attracted the zombies.

Fighting zombies in this environment was too troublesome, so he gritted his teeth and stammered to the security camera. "M-Master!"

[Ding! Adam is completely humiliated. His humiliation level is at its peak! Rage points increased by 300! Reward: 1 automatic multi-functional fishing rod with a load capacity of 250 kilograms!]

"Good boy. But I don't lack slaves. You'd better chill outside. After all, my house is small and can't accommodate a diva like you."

"Alissa, I'm gonna kill you!" Uncle Adam went insane. He waved the crowbar as he smashed it against the rolling shutter door. "Zombies are coming. Smash it! There are all kinds of food behind this door. You can keep whatever you get!"

When those who came with him heard this, their eyes lit up, and they raised their steel pipes to charge forward. However, the titanium alloy door, which had been systemically modified, did not budge at all. Not even a single layer of paint was peeled off.

Instead, Uncle Adam exerted too much force and injured his palm, groaning in pain.

The zombies behind him had already appeared at the street corner and were less than 100 yards away from them.

Uncle Adam sweated profusely from anxiety. Suddenly, he looked up at the window on the second floor of the supermarket. It was not closed.

Uncle Adam's eyes lit up as he fiercely commanded, "Quick! Find a ladder and climb up there. Go inside and hide! As long as we get in, those two old farts and that brat will have to do whatever we want. Then, we'll throw the father down to feed the zombies and keep the women to serve us!"

In the surveillance room, Dad trembled with rage upon hearing this. His teacup was shattered in his grip. "Monster... What an absolute monster! We've never mistreated him, yet he's willing to kill us and treat his own niece like this just to steal our food!"

I patted Dad's shoulder with an icy gaze. "Dad, Uncle Adam has just been pretending to be nice. That's just who he is. If I don't act, we'll be the ones who die."

Dad closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Alissa, we'll do as you say. Don't worry about me."

"Okay." I smiled cruelly.

I had deliberately left the window open.

"Come on, Uncle Adam."

Clutching the newly rewarded fully automatic multi-functional fishing rod, I walked to the second-floor window.

Outside, they had already set up the ladder. Uncle Adam scrambled up the ladder with a greedy grin on his face, as if he could practically see the room full of food and me kneeling and begging for mercy.

He got closer and closer…

Uncle Adam gripped onto the windowsill, leaned half his body in, and shouted with delight, "Haha! I'm in! Alissa, you brat..."

Before he could finish, a fluffy slipper stepped on his face.

I looked down at him, waving the gleaming fishing line in my hand. "Uncle Adam, Merry Christmas! You used to love fishing, and this time, I'm planning to catch something big. Would you be interested in helping me out?"