“Five-kilogram thick quilts, wool blankets, and four-piece bedding sets with pillowcases—fifteen sets each,” Cheng Lin bit her lip as her fingers tapped faster and faster across the screen. “For hiking boots, I want high-top anti-slip ones. For Martin boots, choose durable cowhide. The assault jackets, down jackets, and down pants must all be the thickest styles. Work pants should have multiple pockets, and the fleece-lined thermal wear must be pure cotton… yes, ten sets each for men and women.”
Underwear, being consumables, was even more essential. She directly ordered fifty sets of breathable cotton ones and added another five hundred sets of disposable underwear, convenient for times in the apocalypse when washing would not be possible.
Scrolling to the personal care section, Cheng Lin showed no restraint. Shampoo, body wash, and conditioner—from oil control to nourishing types—she ordered one hundred of each. For facial cleansers, she chose gentle amino acid formulas. Goat milk cream and snake oil balm, effective for moisturizing and preventing skin cracking, were also stocked at one hundred each. Eye cream, lip balm, hand cream, toner, lotion, skincare cream, and sunscreen with SPF 50+—she ordered one hundred of every kind.
Her fingers paused briefly as she considered how long the apocalypse might last. She typed “hair dye” into the search bar and added one hundred boxes each of natural black and dark brown.
After finishing with daily necessities, Cheng Lin moved on to snacks.
She opened five of her usual shopping platforms and placed dozens of orders on each for assorted snack gift packs, ranging from nuts and preserved fruits to biscuits and candies. She then visited flagship stores for spicy gluten strips and potato chips, stocking up hundreds of boxes of each. She also ordered hundreds of boxes of eight-treasure porridge, sandwich biscuits, and soda crackers—foods that could fill the stomach and double as snacks.
Instant coffee, milk powder, goat milk powder, camel milk powder, beverages in various flavors, beer, red wine, sparkling wine, fresh milk, yogurt, and boxed mineral water—Cheng Lin purchased everything in quantities “enough to last five years,” adding items to her cart in a frenzy. The total on the screen soared, and she fully experienced the thrill of excessive shopping.
Opening the flagship store of a well-known hygiene brand, Cheng Lin filled her cart without hesitation: one thousand packs of toilet paper, five hundred packs each of day-use and night-use sanitary pads with extended lengths, and five hundred packs each of disinfectant wipes and pure water wipes. These items might seem ordinary, but in the apocalypse, they would be more valuable than gold.
After placing all the orders, Cheng Lin directly called the platform’s customer service. Her tone was crisp and decisive: “For all the orders I placed today, I’ll pay extra. Deliver them in batches to the automatic receiving warehouse in the west of the city before five o’clock tomorrow afternoon. I’ve already noted the address. Make sure the deliveries are staggered and don’t attract attention.”
Hearing that she was willing to pay extra, the customer service representative immediately agreed. Only then did Cheng Lin relax, set down her phone, and look at Mo Yang in her arms. The little one had fallen asleep at some point, its tiny paws still clutching the edge of her clothes, sleeping soundly.
Before she realized it, it was already noon. Cheng Lin rubbed her stomach and suddenly craved hot pot. Carrying Mo Yang, she drove straight to a highly reputed Hai Li Piao Hot Pot restaurant in the city center. She specifically requested a quiet private room and ordered a dual-flavor pot with mild spicy and tomato broth, filling the table with various dishes.
The steaming hot pot was served, and its savory, tangy aroma quickly filled the room. Cheng Lin picked up a slice of fatty beef, swished it until tender, and put it into her mouth, letting out a satisfied sigh. Mo Yang crouched on a mat by her feet, tilting its little head and watching her eat with eager eyes, occasionally lowering its head to lick the goat milk in a small bowl beside it, looking both pitiful and adorable.
After thoroughly enjoying the meal, Cheng Lin called over a waiter and said boldly, “Pack fifty portions of every soup base your restaurant has. I’ll come back to pick them up in two hours.” The waiter was stunned, but the manager quickly agreed, afraid that such a major customer might change her mind.
After eating and drinking her fill, Cheng Lin carried Mo Yang to the automatic receiving warehouse. The pet supplies she had ordered the previous day had all been delivered—dog food, canned food, toys, and clothes piled high. With a thought, everything disappeared silently into her space.
After leaving the warehouse, Cheng Lin’s urge to stockpile flared up again. She opened a food delivery app and began tapping rapidly: “Iced Americano, hot cocoa, cappuccino, latte—one hundred cups each. Luosifen, spicy hot pot, crossing-the-bridge rice noodles, Korean bibimbap, fish roe rice—one hundred portions each. Also, boxed meals with three vegetables and one meat—one hundred portions. Deliver all of them to the temperature-controlled warehouse by five-thirty this evening.”
After thinking for a moment, she added fifty family buckets of fried chicken, along with one hundred each of spicy chicken burgers, chicken wraps, bamboo shoot wraps, large fries, and large cola, requesting delivery to the warehouse at seven in the evening—enough to last her quite a while.
Putting down her phone, Cheng Lin drove into an old street and headed straight for a hardware store. Using the excuse of renovating a restaurant, she said to the owner, “Boss, give me twenty wrenches and twenty screwdrivers—good quality ones. I also want a large box of screws in various sizes. Scissors, kitchen knives, and bone cleavers—twenty of each, the sharper the better. And ten thick cast iron woks.”
The owner happily prepared the goods, chatting as he worked: “Miss, your restaurant must be quite large to need so many tools.” Cheng Lin only smiled without replying. After paying, she watched as the items were loaded onto her truck. Though they appeared to be kitchenware and tools, in the apocalypse, each of them could serve as a weapon for self-defense.
Next, she went to a hot pot ingredient store, loading fatty beef rolls, lamb rolls, meatballs, shrimp paste, and various vegetables into the truck until both the trunk and back seat were completely filled. Finally, she returned to the Hai Li Piao Hot Pot restaurant to collect the one hundred packed soup bases.
Checking the time, it was about when the deliveries would arrive. Cheng Lin stepped on the accelerator and rushed toward the temperature-controlled warehouse.
Wave after wave of delivery riders arrived, filling the warehouse with hot pot, milk tea, boxed meals, and fried chicken. Cheng Lin was so busy her feet barely touched the ground, checking quantities while storing everything into her space. By the time the last delivery was put away, the sky outside had completely darkened, and the clock on the wall pointed steadily at eight in the evening.
Cheng Lin rubbed her sore waist, carried Mo Yang out of the warehouse, and felt the cool evening breeze refresh her mind. Suddenly remembering a century-old barbecue shop on the old street, she turned and headed straight there.
“Boss, bring me one serving of all your signature dishes, and pack twenty portions of barbecue to go!” Cheng Lin sat by the window while Mo Yang crouched on her lap, staring eagerly at the sizzling skewers on the grill. She selected a few skewers of tenderloin without seasoning, tore them into small pieces, and fed them to it. The little one devoured them eagerly, its tail wagging rapidly.
By the time the barbecue was packed, the night was already deep. Carrying the heavy bags and holding Mo Yang, Cheng Lin drove back to the villa.
As she pushed the door open, the clock on the wall struck eleven. She replaced Mo Yang’s goat milk and cleaned its sleeping area before dragging her exhausted body to wash up.
Lying on the bed, Mo Yang nestled obediently beside her pillow, its warm little body pressed against her arm. Cheng Lin closed her eyes, listening to its steady breathing, and for the first time felt an unparalleled sense of security.
Three days left, she murmured silently to herself as her consciousness gradually sank into sleep.