Several paper maps covered the table inside Qian Wei’s warehouse.
She had expected physical maps to disappear after three hundred years of technological advancement, but a small shop near the bank still sold them. The elderly vendor had praised their accuracy so enthusiastically that she left with maps of the city, surrounding provinces and the entire country.
The purchase no longer seemed excessive.
If the communication network failed during the apocalypse, digital navigation might become useless. People who depended entirely on automated transportation would struggle to travel through their own cities, but Qian Wei would still have a reliable guide.
She marked supermarkets, hospitals, distribution centers, fuel stations, water-treatment facilities and construction suppliers on the city map. She used different colors so she could identify each category quickly.
Finally, she circled the agricultural district and nearby granaries.
The system had revealed that humanity became extinct more than two centuries after the apocalypse began. Qian Wei did not know whether her future counterpart had sent her from the final year or an earlier point, but the message was clear.
The disaster would not end after a few months.
She was preparing for generations.
Stored food could help people survive the beginning, but no warehouse could sustain humanity for centuries. Even if her inventory expanded, relying on packaged supplies would only delay starvation.
Seeds, farming equipment, livestock, fertilizer and knowledge about food production would eventually matter more than instant meals. Clean water, renewable energy and medical manufacturing would also become essential.
Qian Wei studied the agricultural district.
"Stockpiling alone will never be enough. Even if I filled every warehouse in the city, those supplies would eventually disappear."
[Conclusion is correct.]
"How many people survived the first year in the original future?"
[Host authority is insufficient.]
"What about the first month?"
[Host authority is insufficient.]
She tapped her pen against the map. "I cannot calculate how much food humanity will need if you refuse to tell me how many people remain."
[Current survival plan should prioritize adaptable systems rather than fixed population estimates.]
Qian Wei paused. "That is surprisingly helpful."
[System provides assistance within available authority.]
"I will enjoy the moment before you return to avoiding every important question."
She focused on the map again.
In the apocalypse novels she remembered, the first wave of infection usually killed or transformed most of the population. The survivors then faced hunger, contaminated water and shortages of medicine.
However, novels were not evidence.
Qian Wei did not know whether the coming apocalypse would involve the same type of creatures or whether the infection inside Apartment 3-17 had followed different rules. She could only prepare for the most likely dangers without assuming fiction had predicted everything accurately.
Her police training had taught her to create contingency plans. If one route failed, there had to be another. If communication disappeared, people needed meeting points. If hospitals collapsed, medical supplies had to be distributed elsewhere.
She divided the warehouse into sections and drew a floor plan in her notebook. Food and medicine would require separate storage, while tools and protective equipment should remain near the loading area.
The maintenance room could become a secure shelter with reinforced walls, independent ventilation and emergency power.
She also needed permission to renovate.
A long-term lease would make the changes appear less suspicious, although purchasing the warehouse would give her greater freedom. Before deciding, she would have to understand local property laws and calculate how much money could remain for supplies.
Hours passed while Qian Wei worked.
By the time she completed the plan, darkness had already settled outside.
She stretched and examined the pages spread across the table. The strategy was not perfect, but it covered the most important stages.
Before the apocalypse, she would gather information, secure property, increase her finances and purchase supplies gradually.
During the initial outbreak, she would confirm the threat, establish communication and protect as many people as she could without exposing herself recklessly.
For long-term survival, she would prioritize food production, clean water, renewable power, medical care and defensible settlements.
Qian Wei looked at the final page.
She had begun the day thinking about her own survival.
Somewhere between marking hospitals and agricultural centers, that goal had expanded.
She did not want to save herself only to watch humanity disappear around her.
The future version of Qian Wei could not have created the temporal transfer alone. Scientists, engineers and other survivors must have worked together to send her back.
Those people had placed their final hope in someone who had once been a rookie officer responding to a noise complaint.
Qian Wei did not know why they had chosen her, but she would not waste their sacrifice by protecting only one life.
Elsewhere, government and military leaders had already spent generations preparing for an unnamed catastrophe after the incident at Apartment 3-17.
Qian Wei knew nothing about those preparations.
For now, she believed she was alone.
She packed the maps and notebook into her shoulder bag, then left the warehouse and walked toward the main road.
The surrounding industrial district had become quiet, but her enhanced hearing picked up distant machinery, passing vehicles and heartbeats inside nearby buildings.
The mutation hunger stirred.
Qian Wei had eaten a large meal before leaving home, yet the craving for blood had returned. Ordinary food could satisfy her human cells, but it did not provide whatever energy the mutation required.
Rather than going directly home, she asked a cab to take her to a street filled with small restaurants.
Street food had survived three centuries of technological advancement.
The narrow road glowed beneath colorful signs, and rich aromas drifted from restaurants on both sides. Families sat at outdoor tables, workers gathered after their shifts and vendors called to potential customers.
The heartbeats were almost as noticeable as the food.
Qian Wei stopped at the entrance and clenched the strap of her bag.
"If I avoid crowded places forever, I will never learn to control this," she told the system. "You may help me suppress the hunger, but I need to know that I can resist it without waiting for a mission reward."
[Exposure may increase Hunger level.]
"I know, but I cannot spend the next three months hiding inside my house. I intend to prepare for the apocalypse, and that means interacting with people."
[System recommends maintaining distance from injured humans.]
"That is reasonable advice."
She entered the first restaurant that smelled too appealing to ignore and selected a quiet table.
A digital menu appeared on its surface. Qian Wei scrolled through several pages before ordering beef, vegetables, rice and two side dishes.
The food arrived quickly.
She ate with an appetite that would have surprised anyone who knew how much she had consumed earlier. The warmth helped calm her body, but the deeper hunger remained.
A server approached after noticing the empty plates. "Would you like to order another meal, or should I prepare something for you to take home?"
"I would like another serving of the beef and rice, and please prepare several different dishes for takeaway. I recently returned from the hospital, so I would rather keep enough food at home while I recover."
"That makes sense. Would you prefer the meals adjusted according to your medical profile?"
Qian Wei remembered the health scanners used in future restaurants. "Please prepare them normally. My doctor did not give me any dietary restrictions."
The server nodded. "I will have everything packed for you."
Basic Control allowed Qian Wei to endure the heartbeats around her, although maintaining it required constant attention. Whenever someone walked too close, she focused on the food rather than the blood beneath their skin.
It was exhausting, but she needed that exhaustion.
Strength granted by the system could disappear if the system failed or became damaged. Qian Wei would accept every useful reward, but she refused to rely on them completely.
After finishing her meal, she placed the takeaway packages inside her shoulder bag. Once no one was watching, she silently transferred them into one inventory slot.
All the dishes stacked together within the same slot because the system classified them as prepared food.
Qian Wei smiled. "At least the inventory does not require a separate slot for every meal."
[Similar items may share one slot.]
"How much prepared food can this slot hold?"
[Current slot capacity: One cubic meter.]
That was enough to store hundreds of meals.
Qian Wei spent another two hours exploring the food street. She purchased snacks, cooked dishes and several types of bread, transferring everything into the prepared-food slot whenever she found a quiet place.
Her shoulder bag never became heavier.
By the time she emerged from the other end of the street, she had familiarized herself with dozens of shops and stored enough meals to last several weeks.
She called another cab and returned home.
After showering, Qian Wei sat on the bed with her notebook and reviewed the survival plan. She corrected several sections, added alternative water sources and included a schedule for warehouse renovations.
When she was satisfied, she opened the mission panel.
"How do I submit the plan?"
[Host may confirm completion after reviewing all required sections.]
Qian Wei scanned the plan once more. "I have identified immediate preparation, outbreak response and long-term survival strategies. The plan includes food, water, shelter, medicine, transportation, communication, power and renewable resources. I am ready to submit it."
Ding!
[Mission completed.]
[Reward issued: System Analysis Module, Level One.]
A new icon appeared beside the Inventory Function.
Qian Wei selected it.
[Available Functions:]
[Object Analysis.]
[Food Analysis.]
[Material Analysis.]
[Additional functions remain locked.]
She reached toward the bedside table and picked up a bottle of mineral water.
"Analyze this bottle of water and tell me whether it would be suitable for long-term storage."
A blue light passed over the bottle.
[Purity: 99.97 percent.]
[Mineral balance: Excellent.]
[Remaining shelf life: Three years.]
[Recommendation: Suitable for long-term storage.]
Qian Wei’s eyes brightened.
The module could prevent expensive mistakes while she gathered supplies. It might help her identify poor-quality food, expired medicine or defective equipment before purchasing large quantities.
"If you can analyze objects, could you also examine living organisms?"
[Biological Analysis remains locked.]
"Then it exists."
[Host authority is insufficient.]
Qian Wei smiled faintly. "I will take that as confirmation."
Before she could test another item, a warning appeared.
[Analysis Module consumes System Energy.]
[Current System Energy: Low.]
Her smile faded. "How much energy did analyzing one bottle consume?"
[One unit.]
"How many units remain?"
[Current System Energy: Nine units.]
Qian Wei placed the water back on the table.
"So every useful function has a cost."
That was not necessarily unreasonable. If the system provided unlimited abilities without requiring energy or effort, she would have questioned what hidden price she might eventually pay.
The real problem was that she still did not know how to restore its energy.
Qian Wei looked at the warning and asked, "What do you need me to consume so that you can recover?"
For several seconds, the system remained silent.
Then a new message appeared.
[Compatible energy sources have not yet been identified.]
Qian Wei frowned.
The system did not merely lack energy.
It did not know how to obtain more.