Gu Cheng did not dare to speak too specifically. After all, she was claiming it was a dream, so she only mentioned general information, just enough to give everyone time to prepare.
After hearing everything, the two people in front of her fell into silence again, lost in thought. Wang Che was the first to break the silence.
“How long will the entire [apocalypse process] last? Can things recover in the end?”
Gu Cheng shook her head.
“I don’t know the exact timeline, but it will last at least ten years. Everyone will be living in extreme hardship, and about two-thirds of the world’s population will be reduced.”
Her words made the atmosphere inside the car even heavier.
Wang Che asked the two of them to return to school first. He himself might leave for a few days to prepare for the apocalypse. He also needed to find a place that could first withstand extreme heat and extreme cold conditions. The school was still relatively safe for now.
Gu Cheng and Wang Xin got out of the car and drove back to the dorm in their small vehicle. Fortunately, the school had good conditions, and they lived in a double dorm room.
After the two returned and finished washing up, they lay on their beds and began placing orders. All the items they bought were sent to the small warehouse Gu Cheng had rented.
The two of them discussed their orders together. Normally, they were completely clueless about basic life necessities, and now they were truly struggling. They searched on Xiaohongshu and found that Wuchang rice and Daohuaxiang rice were the best options, costing about 8–10 yuan per jin.
They had no idea how much rice a person ate in a month, so they could only assume each person consumed 10 jin per month. That meant 10 people would need 100 jin per month. Over 50 years, that was 600 months, totaling 60,000 jin of rice—equivalent to 30 tons.
Good heavens. After all that calculation, they split the orders and bought 30 tons of rice, spending 600,000 yuan.
Soy sauce, dark soy sauce, vinegar, cooking wine, chili paste, doubanjiang, sugar, salt, and various seasoning packets and sauces were estimated at two bottles per month each. Over 50 years, that was 1,200 bottles each. They placed orders across multiple platforms, totaling about 200,000 yuan.
The two of them disliked and relied on each other at the same time. Being academically useless and completely inexperienced in daily life made apocalypse survival incredibly difficult.
Just buying rice and seasonings kept them busy until midnight. They were exhausted, so they decided to leave the rest for tomorrow. It was the first time shopping had felt so mentally draining.
Before sleeping, Wang Xin reported their stockpiling situation to her older brother, then fell asleep out of exhaustion.
Meanwhile, Wang Che and Fu Zhe returned to Wang Che’s home. The entire journey was silent as both of them’s minds worked at high speed, the atmosphere heavy.
The two of them had been university roommates and were extremely close. Fu Zhe had grown up in a powerful compound family; his older brother had inherited the family’s ideals and responsibilities. Since childhood, he had been rebellious, carefree, and unwilling to be controlled. In university, he had even given up military school and instead enrolled in a prestigious university in Hai City to escape family constraints.
Among their dorm mates were four other brothers, none of whom were from Hai City. After discussion, in order to protect Gu Cheng, they only said they had received a warning from their father in the scientific research field, advising them to stockpile food. Two of their brothers returned to their hometowns to stay with their parents, while two others—who had no family obligations and usually ran a startup with them—came to gather at Wang Che’s place.
Fu Zhe booked a flight for the next day back home, intending to personally discuss the matter with the elders and, during such an extraordinary time, see if he could obtain some firearms for self-defense.
The next day, Wang Che called Gu Cheng again and asked whether there had been any unusual events that could verify the authenticity of the prophecy.
Gu Cheng thought for a moment. Three days later, the temperature would begin to rise. On May 20th, while everyone was out celebrating the holiday, strange hail would fall first. Then the next day, the temperature would rise to 35°C and remain so for three days. Starting May 24th, it would increase to 38–40°C and stay for four days. After that, it would rise sharply to 50°C and then 60°C. After that point, there were no detailed news reports because the extreme heat caused the power grid to become severely overloaded, and within a week, electricity would be completely cut off.
After saying all this, Gu Cheng suddenly realized she had revealed too much detail and felt a little scared afterward. However, Wang Che did not press further and simply hung up the phone.
After thinking it over, Wang Che only told Fu Zhe that there would be hail on May 20th, followed by extreme heat, though the exact timing was unknown, and daytime temperatures could exceed 50°C.
After returning home, Fu Zhe also reported this to the elder in his family. He only said that someone had made a prophetic dream and that part of it had already been verified. If there were still doubts, they could wait and see whether May 20th would confirm it.
The elder knew his grandson’s character—he would not bring something uncertain home. Moreover, he had even flown back from Hai City specifically to deliver this information in person, which showed the seriousness of the matter.
The elder held a high position, was rational and clear-minded, and understood the severity of the situation. He did not ask who had the prophetic dream. He only gave Fu Zhe a satellite phone. If anything happened, he could contact him at any time. However, firearms could not be approved from his side; they could not set such a precedent and cause disorder.
There were national laws and family rules—everything had to start from the nation’s standpoint. No one was allowed to break the rules.
After Fu Zhe left, the elder immediately called a meeting with his trusted aides to discuss the information. They waited for May 20th to see whether the hail would indeed occur, and also discussed multiple contingency plans, ready to report upward at any time.
During the day, Gu Cheng and Wang Xin attended classes as usual, pretending nothing was wrong. At noon, they ordered food from various platforms and had it delivered to the warehouse. In the afternoon, they went to the warehouse to receive the deliveries, while also buying a large number of daily necessities. In the end, their shopping became completely unrestrained.
Tissues and toilet paper were bought at a rate of four bundles per month. Over 600 months, that totaled 2,400 bundles, costing 80,000 yuan.
Shampoo, body wash, laundry detergent, and underwear detergent were all bought in quantities of 500 bottles each, costing over 200,000 yuan.
Fruits included apples, watermelons, durians, oranges, dragon fruit, pineapples, grapes, peaches, mangoes, mangosteens, guavas, lychees, passion fruit, lemons, melons… Except for watermelons and durians, which were bought in quantities of 1,000 each, the rest were purchased at 500 jin each. Fruits were extremely expensive, costing over one million yuan. Unfortunately, there were no strawberries or persimmons, which Gu Cheng loved most.
Vegetables, mushrooms, and soy products were also bought in many unfamiliar varieties, costing over 200,000 yuan.
The two of them then checked online stockpiling guides again and slapped their heads in realization—the most important things were still meat, seafood, underwear, and disposable underwear.
Lying on their dorm beds, they felt utterly exhausted and lifeless, truly understanding the saying: living is hard, but living is the greatest meaning of all.
They took out some takeout from the Storage Space and ate casually, then continued buying.
They purchased 100 sheep, even paying extra for slaughtering and cutting services. They also bought 100 pigs, also slaughtered and pre-cut. The heads of these animals were not included—they were afraid of them and no one would eat them.
They also bought freshly sliced beef, beef brisket, and lamb slices, 200 jin each, spending over one million yuan again.
They bought 500 chickens, 10,000 eggs, and 50 ducks—though neither of them liked duck—but they directly cleared out 20 chain stores of a duck food brand.
They bought 1,000 sets of underwear, and also purchased 1,000 sets for the group including Wang Che. They also bought 500 packs of disposable underwear, with 5 pieces per pack.
They bought 500 bath towels, 200 sets of bed sheets and four-piece bedding sets, 200 thick winter quilts, 200 sets of summer and winter pajamas, and 200 sets of short-sleeved shirts and shorts for outdoor wear.
All of the above completely exhausted all the money they had on hand.
At the moment it was all spent, the two of them were moved to tears.
They had finally finished spending everything in three days—could they finally lie flat now?
It felt like something was still missing, but it didn’t matter. They would think of it later.