Egg Tart circled at her feet, “Human, where are you going? Take me with you, take me with you…”
“Woof woof.”
Wen Ruchu squatted and poured some Lingquan water into Egg Tart’s bowl. “Egg Tart, be good. It’s too hot outside. You’re still young, so stay at home. Otherwise, someone might want to eat dog meat.” She even made a fierce expression as she said it.
As soon as Egg Tart heard someone might eat dog meat, he immediately stopped pestering her to go out and instead lowered his head obediently to drink water. His attitude was very clear.
“Human, you go by yourself. I’ll stay at home and guard the house. Hurry up and come back soon.”
After Wen Ruchu settled Egg Tart, she took a deep breath and opened the door. The instant she stepped out, a wave of heat rushed toward her. By the time she had closed three doors behind her, sweat had already soaked her forehead. “Heavens, what kind of world is this?”
At that moment, the door across from her opened as well. The man who came out was also wearing long sleeves and long pants.
!!!!!!!
Oh my god, could she be any more unlucky? After staying in for so many days, she chose to go out today, and just by chance… she ran into him?
Fortunately, he merely nodded and walked toward the elevator. Wen Ruchu followed slowly behind, thinking she could let him take the elevator first and wait for the next one. She did not want to ride the elevator down with him.
By the time she crawled to the elevator doors, she realized they were open. The man inside was pressing the elevator buttons repeatedly. So… this was? Waiting for her?
“Aren’t you coming in?”
Uh… what could she do? He had spoken; if she didn’t go in, it would look deliberate.
Wen Ruchu stepped into the elevator and said, “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
She remained silent after that, turning her back to the man and staring at the elevator doors. But when the elevator reached the 28th floor, it stopped again. The doors opened, revealing the same four men from last time.
The man known as “Gu Qirui” saw her and exclaimed, “Miss, you’re here too!”
“Just a coincidence,” Wen Ruchu replied calmly, though inwardly she screamed, I don’t want to be here either, but it’s just such a coincidence. What can I do? And your boss has no sense; why didn’t he go ahead first?
“Oh.”
After the four men got in, the elevator became crowded again.
This time, everyone only got out at the underground parking garage.
Wen Ruchu walked straight to her car, opened the door, got in, closed it in one smooth motion, and drove off.
Gu Qirui scratched his head. “This Miss is definitely a little rich lady. She’s driving a Cullinan. But were we really scary? Why did she act like we were some kind of monsters? Bro, did you scare her?”
Another man pulled a hidden surgical knife from his sleeve and toyed with it in his hand. “Who knows? Maybe it’s because your face is ugly.”
“Ze, what are you saying? I’m so charming and handsome; she must have been struck by my looks.”
“If you keep being disgusting, I won’t hesitate to stab that charming face of yours.”
Gu Qirui pouted in grievance. “I was just joking, isn’t that allowed? Besides, I am handsome. Back in the day…”
“Enough, be serious. The mission this time is to retrieve our weapons hidden in Hua City. Focus, and don’t make any mistakes.”
With their boss speaking, the two stopped bickering.
“Yes!”
The five men got into five separate vans. Though they looked like ordinary vans, they were anything but. The glass was bulletproof, and the tires had been modified. As for why they used vans—of course, because of the space.
Wen Ruchu had not gone out for several days. Nighttime was slightly cooler than daytime, but only slightly—still around fifty-five degrees. Today was the 23rd, and daytime temperatures had reached sixty degrees. Truly a living hell.
Driving along the road, she occasionally saw people lying by the roadside, likely already dead but not yet collected.
After parking, she entered the supermarket. It was packed. Fortunately, the air conditioning made it a bit more bearable, though still around thirty-five degrees. With so many people inside, it felt stuffy, but compared to the outside, it was much better.
The supermarket even had armed police officers enforcing order. Understandable—food was precious, and multiple robberies had occurred outside. The supermarket naturally wanted official forces to deter crime.
Wen Ruchu pushed a shopping cart down the aisles. The grain section was, unsurprisingly, crowded. Rice had risen to one hundred yuan per jin, but people still fought to buy it. Even the usually ignored instant noodles had been completely snatched up.
Technically, according to Hua City’s grain reserves, such panic buying was unnecessary. Data had shown the city’s reserves could feed its people for ten years. Perhaps it was fear driving people, which worked to her advantage: the more they stockpiled, the later they would come for her.
The fresh produce section had almost nothing. In this heat, meat would spoil in under two hours, and vegetables were impossible to grow. Only a few shriveled potatoes and sweet potatoes remained on the shelves.
She skipped that section entirely and moved to the snack aisles. She already had enough food; there was no need to compete for survival resources. A week ago, her warnings might have seemed alarmist, but now the country would surely take notice. Wen Ruchu hoped the government would act—heavy rains would come in a month and last three months. Human evil would only just begin.
She filled a shopping cart with snacks. Though these wouldn’t fill her like grains, prices had risen sharply. Everything edible had become more expensive. Only water remained stable, likely because no one would buy it with idle money yet. When the water supply eventually stopped, a bottle could be worth more than food.
Wen Ruchu wandered the supermarket at her own pace, buying anything that caught her eye. After all, she still had over a hundred million yuan left in her account. She had planned to buy more gold, but after checking store by store, she realized she couldn’t purchase much without drawing attention. Waiting until the storms hit for zero-cost acquisitions would be faster.
Few could shop leisurely like her. Most rushed through and returned home quickly. Where was the outside as comfortable as home? With air conditioning and the small dimensional space at home, the AC worked even better.