Xia Sisi continued wandering around the market. This place was H City’s hub for antiques, jade, collectibles—and even old books.
Thinking about the future when there would be no electricity or running water, she went on a shopping spree in bookstores, buying all kinds of books she liked: comics, novels, cooking guides, practical manuals, maps, and even technical books she would normally never touch—repair guides, animal care books, farming manuals…
Anything she thought might be useful, she bought.
By the time she loaded everything into her car, it was completely packed—there wasn’t even room for one more book.
Checking the time, the five hours were about up, so she drove back to the jewelry shop.
The craftsman had just finished setting the chains according to her request.
After paying, Xia Sisi returned to her car and quietly stored all the books and cold weapons into her space. Then she went back to the market to continue shopping.
Since she was already here, she might as well buy as many books as possible!
Unexpectedly, just as she was about to leave, something strange happened.
As she passed by a stall, the gemstone on her chest suddenly trembled.
Her instincts—honed by the apocalypse—made her react instantly.
She stopped and stepped back about a meter. The gemstone trembled again.
In front of her was a stall selling “antiques.” But with just a glance, it was obvious most of the items were fake, meant to scam inexperienced buyers.
With a curious feeling, Xia Sisi crouched down.
“Miss, what are you looking for?” the stall owner asked eagerly, clearly desperate for business.
Xia Sisi scanned the items. Most were artificially aged ornaments or agate bracelets. Only a rough stone placed in the corner caught her attention—it was hard to read.
She reached out. The moment she touched the gold ore, the gemstone on her chest vibrated even more intensely.
She knew she had found the right thing.
“How much for this?”
The vendor’s eyes darted around, clearly planning to overcharge her because she looked young.
Before he could speak, Xia Sisi calmly said:
“This is gold ore, but from the outside, the gold content isn’t high. The shape is average, and it’s too small. As a display piece, it lacks presence—at best, it’s slightly better than an ordinary decorative stone. I’ll give you 1,000. I just happen to like it. Deal?”
Two minutes later, Xia Sisi walked away with the stone.
When no one was around, she placed it into her space.
Entering the space with her consciousness, she saw the ore suddenly explode. From within the golden rock, several blue particles shot out and disappeared into the space in the blink of an eye.
Then, the space began to change dramatically.
White mist spread everywhere, and violent winds surged.
Xia Sisi watched nervously, worried those blue particles might be harmful.
But when the mist cleared and the winds stopped, a new area had appeared—
A patch of black soil, about 100 square meters in size.
Just by looking at it, she could tell it was extremely fertile.
Excited, Xia Sisi clenched her fists.
She wandered around the market a bit more, but didn’t encounter anything else that made the gemstone react.
She figured this must be a way to upgrade the space, though the exact cause and materials were still unclear. Since she hadn’t finished stockpiling supplies yet, she decided to set this aside for now.
Once she had enough resources, she would study the space further.
By the time she got home that evening, her legs were so tired they were cramping.
This body really wasn’t very resilient.
Still, Xia Sisi didn’t slack off. She took out a notebook and started listing everything she needed to do next—drawing a big circle around one item:
Improve physical fitness.
At the same time, she thought of something extremely important…
She needed to buy a dog.
And not just any dog.
In the early days of the apocalypse, there would first be slightly corrosive acid rain. People would stop going outside. Experts would say it was caused by environmental pollution and unknown atmospheric changes. Since the acidity wasn’t strong at first, people didn’t take it seriously.
But later, the rain intensified—flooding even second floors of buildings. People couldn’t go out to shop or live normally, and panic began to spread.
But that was only the beginning.
After the acid rain came a blizzard. Temperatures dropped instantly to below -60°C. With no electricity or water, survival became extremely difficult. The snow lasted for three months, burying even ten-story buildings.
Then, something unexpected happened—
Some animals began to mutate.
They grew larger, stronger, and more intelligent—becoming powerful allies for survival in the apocalypse.
And now, Xia Sisi intended to get a retired military dog.
According to her memory, it should be around this time that the local military would publicly auction off a batch of military dogs.
In her previous life, she had hesitated for a long time and never made a decision.
But this time, she was determined to choose a strong and obedient retired military dog.
With that in mind, she took out her phone and started searching for information.
By the next morning, Xia Sisi had arrived at the military base.
A tall officer in uniform, standing straight with a friendly smile, walked up to her.
“Miss Xia, hello.”
The day before, Xia Sisi had used her past-life memories to locate information about the military dog auction and contacted the person in charge.
Unexpectedly, the officer told her that there happened to be two retired military dogs that weren’t suitable for auction—and asked if she was interested.
Without hesitation, Xia Sisi agreed.
She still remembered it clearly—before her rebirth, retired military dogs at auction had once been sold for as much as one million each. She simply couldn’t afford that.
Through introductions, she learned that the officer’s surname was Ren. He was a second lieutenant responsible for training military dogs in the unit, and he was also the person who had contacted Xia Sisi online.
Along the way, Second Lieutenant Ren kept asking whether Xia Sisi had any knowledge about military dogs or dog-raising. When Xia Sisi’s parents were still alive, their family had kept dogs, and she had even played with military dogs from the army before, so she was able to answer smoothly.
When they arrived at the training base, amid a burst of barking, Xia Sisi saw twelve dogs being photographed and prepared for uploading online.
Eight German Shepherds, three Labrador Retrievers, and one Doberman Pinscher!
Almost instantly, Xia Sisi took a liking to that Doberman. Its jet-black coat and powerful muscles made it so large that even while sitting, it was nearly as tall as her. Even without any mutation, keeping such a dog at home would be enough to scare off anyone with ill intentions.
Coincidentally, this Doberman was one of the retired military dogs not suitable for auction.
“This Doberman… why was it retired?”
Xia Sisi suppressed her excitement and asked Second Lieutenant Ren beside her.
Second Lieutenant Ren led her forward two steps. When they were about three meters away, the Doberman turned its head. Its massive head was slightly lowered, its almond-shaped eyes slanted upward with a fierce glint. Just being stared at by it once was enough to make one feel intimidated.