Hai City had the largest eight-school university town in the country. In the past, the dormitory areas of these schools were all merged together, but after numerous multi-school brawls broke out, the universities eventually redrew their territories, separating each school's dormitories individually and even pooling money together to build high walls.
This was why Xu Kewang and the others had no way to climb over the wall and escape.
Each dormitory area had a small supermarket opened by someone with connections to the principal. By the time Xu Kewang and Wen Cai arrived, it was already packed with a dense crowd of people, yet the shopkeeper was nowhere to be found.
It seemed that besides them, others had also heard those peculiar mechanical voices and discovered that the school was sealed off, arriving at the small supermarket even faster.
The food section had the most people, arguing fiercely over grabbing what they wanted.
Xu Kewang was thin, and she silently squeezed through the gaps between people. While they were still arguing, she frantically grabbed things.
If the school didn't open up anytime soon, it meant the supermarket wouldn't restock either, so the food they stockpiled should have a longer shelf life.
Her eyes scanned the shelves while her hands never stopped—she grabbed six multi-packs of instant noodles, not caring about the flavor, taking anything edible.
Then came the ham sausages, luncheon meat, and canned goods on the upper shelves.
Wen Cai stood behind that wall of people, only extending a hand to receive what Xu Kewang passed over.
Several spots on the shelves suddenly became empty, and only then did the arguing people react. But before they could vent their anger, Xu Kewang slipped away through the gaps like a loach.
"Holy crap, who was that, so desperate for food they even took the chicken and mushroom flavor!"
"You still have the mood to be picky? If you don't grab now, there won't even be scraps left. Who cares if it's chicken or duck—when you're starving, everything tastes like dragon meat!"
"Hey hey hey, you guys in front, don't take everything, leave some for others, will you!"
The arguing was loud enough to deafen ears. Wen Cai was terrified, afraid that if a fight broke out, she'd get caught in the crossfire.
Meanwhile, Xu Kewang was like a ruthless shopping machine, slipping nimbly through the crowd and never coming out empty-handed.
Chocolate, potato chips, energy bars—high-calorie items were essential in cold weather.
Pork jerky, vacuum-sealed braised meat, various nuts, freeze-dried vegetables, freeze-dried fruits—ensuring balanced nutrition even without going out.
She also grabbed oatmeal, pasta, dried noodles, and other staples from the bottom shelves.
Unfortunately, the supermarket didn't have rice.
The small supermarket also didn't have cooking oil, soy sauce, or other common seasonings, so Xu Kewang took ten packs of salt and ten packs of white sugar, along with the rock sugar on the shelves. If the food ran out, drinking salt water or sugar water could sustain life.
More and more people came, and the shelves grew emptier and emptier.
There were still many things Xu Kewang wanted to grab, and she and Wen Cai clearly couldn't carry much more. Just as she was feeling anxious, a pair of hands—wider and longer than hers—suddenly appeared: "I'll take it, you keep grabbing."
She turned around and found that Xie Yue and Ning Yiwei had also arrived—not only had they come, but they'd brought a camping cart and a large suitcase.
A lifesaver, literally.
She didn't have time to praise them, only leaving one sentence: "Go get water, as much as you can."
Then she ran to the daily necessities section.
The situation erupted suddenly. Many people were grabbing things on pure instinct—food is the first necessity of the people. Even with the campus locked down due to the outbreak, everyone's primary concern was still food, so they were fighting tooth and nail over there, while the daily necessities section had few people.
But Xu Kewang had already gained a rough understanding of what she needed while still in her sleep.
She grabbed a large quantity of sanitary pads, panty liners, daytime ones, nighttime ones, extra-long ones, as well as sleep shorts and tampons—these were extremely important for women.
The small convenience store had no medicine, only some band-aids, of which she took several boxes.
The most pleasant surprise was that in the corner, there were actually over a dozen dusty power banks that hadn't sold. When she saw the price tag on them, she couldn't help but click her tongue—no wonder they were unsellable.
Two hundred yuan each—might as well be robbery.
She'd originally wanted to take them all in one go, but in the end, she hesitated a bit and only took six.
Then she circled around to another shelf and grabbed over a dozen packs of wet wipes, two large bundles of toilet paper, heat packs, hot water bottles, glue, tape, and super glue.
"How's it going, done grabbing?" Ning Yiwei ran over to ask her, pulling a suitcase behind her. "Yue and the others went back first to deliver water—they'll be right back."
Xu Kewang frowned. "More and more people are showing up, and there's not enough stuff to go around. I'm worried someone might come try to take ours."
The large suitcase was handy, but it drew too much attention.
Xu Kewang swept a few solar-powered flashlights and two small desk lamps into her hands. "That's enough, let's go. Staying too long is definitely dangerous."
Just as they were leaving the small convenience store, Xu Kewang felt several unfriendly gazes on her.
She turned to look back, but all she saw was a sea of bobbing heads—there was no way to tell where the malice came from.
A few girls hoarding this much stuff was indeed likely to attract those who bullied the weak and feared the strong. Xu Kewang turned around and found a fruit knife in the small convenience store.
However, while searching for the knife, she discovered that at the very bottom of this shelf there were small iron shovels and several packs of seeds.
She thought for a moment. Originally, University A had an agriculture major, but a few years ago it was merged into another department, and later it was elevated back into a standalone college of agriculture and relocated to the eastern suburbs of the city.
The seed packaging was covered in dust—looked like they'd been sitting there for years.
She didn't know if they'd be useful, but thinking of how the cacti she'd planted on the dorm balcony had mostly died, leaving those pots empty, she grabbed them all anyway.
"Let's go," Xu Kewang said, pulling Wen Cai along as they ran outside, the suitcase rumbling over the ground. "Xie Yue and the others are here."
Seeing their companions arrive, both of them breathed a sigh of relief.
Xu Kewang spotted the three-story low building two blocks away—that was the student activity center, and the third floor was the infirmary. She had a change of heart: "You all head back first. I'm going to grab some medicine."
"I'll go with you," Ning Yiwei said. "My family runs a clinic—I know a lot about medications."
The four of them split up again. Xu Kewang and the other deliberately took the less crowded paths and quickly reached the activity center. There was no one around—it was desolate.
But when they went up to the third floor, they drew in a sharp breath.
The empty infirmary looked like it had been ransacked by thieves—a complete mess. Medicine boxes were scattered on the floor, some of them trampled and crushed. It was clear that a massive scene of chaos had unfolded here just moments ago.
"Let's see if there's anything still usable," she said, pulling out a fruit knife and walking straight in without hesitation.
Ning Yiwei bent down to pick up the medicine boxes. "Antipyretics and detoxifiers, useful. Cold and fever meds, useful. Tsk, looks like these people only recognize the common over-the-counter stuff—they didn't take any of the traditional Chinese patent medicines."
That was good news. Xu Kewang rummaged through drawers and cabinets, finding a few packs of bandages and some face masks.
"There's only a few half-empty bottles of alcohol left," Ning Yiwei said, giving them a shake. "Better than nothing—take them. I found plenty of anti-inflammatory and painkillers, plus some hemostatic spray. Useful? Should we take it?"
"Take it, take all of it," Xu Kewang said as she stuffed things into the new suitcase Xie Yue had just given her. "This place's been pretty much picked clean. No point leaving anything for anyone else."
Ning Yiwei watched her practiced movements, the corner of her mouth twitching.
"So… that's your reason for grabbing all those hazmat suits?"