Catastrophe Countdown: 291 Days
Haida University’s winter break had begun, and Shen Hanyin returned to her hometown of Nancheng.
Back at her family’s villa, she continued filling the partially filled water storage tanks and inflatable pools.
There were still plenty of belongings left in the house.
Furniture.
Appliances.
Clothing.
And inside the garage sat a Range Rover, a Maybach, and her own Mercedes G-Class.
For now, she had no intention of touching any of them.
There would still be time to deal with those things during the next summer vacation.
After some thought, Shen Hanyin came up with a new idea.
She wanted to rent a property and hire two chefs whose sole job would be cooking for her.
She had never been particularly fond of takeout food. The seasoning was usually too heavy, and pre-packaged meals weren’t even worth considering.
It would be far better to hire chefs to cook according to her preferences, package the meals, and store them inside her space. Then, whenever she wanted to eat in the future, she could simply take the food out.
Once the idea occurred to her, she immediately put it into action.
First, she purchased a large quantity of food containers.
Then she began recruiting chefs.
Winter break lasted only thirty-seven days.
Since she could only hire people for about a month rather than long-term employment, and cooking every day was exhausting work, she eventually had to raise the salary to sixty thousand yuan per month before two chefs finally agreed to take the job.
To avoid suspicion, Shen Hanyin offered a half-truth.
She claimed that she had undertaken a confidential project and that they only needed to focus on cooking.
In addition, she hired four kitchen assistants responsible for washing and preparing ingredients.
She arranged for wholesale suppliers to deliver fresh produce daily.
Because the chefs didn’t need to handle ingredient preparation themselves, Shen Hanyin required each chef to prepare seventy portions per day.
There were no restrictions on working hours.
Based on her own appetite, one dish could fill four food containers.
At that rate, she would accumulate sixteen thousand eight hundred portions in a month.
She could continue the operation for another month during summer vacation.
Combined with all the snacks she planned to stockpile, the quantity should be sufficient for one person.
Shen Hanyin had no intention of remaining in Nancheng after the catastrophe began.
Too many relatives lived here.
Too many people knew her.
With the massive amount of supplies she was gathering, staying would only invite trouble.
Since she had no emotional attachments anyway, she would rather find a place to settle down in Haicheng.
There was another reason she had returned home.
She wanted to buy a yacht.
She wasn’t familiar with Haicheng’s local connections, but she still had access to some of her late father’s network in Nancheng.
Through one of her father’s former friends, it took only a few days for two yachts to be added to her space.
Fortunately, the villa’s yard was large enough to accommodate them.
If they had remained at the marina, not only would she have had to pay docking fees, but she also wouldn’t have been able to transfer them into her space.
Afterward, Shen Hanyin immediately expressed interest in purchasing fuel.
Yachts consumed enormous amounts of it.
The yacht dealer had access to specialized fuel suppliers.
Although he seemed somewhat puzzled, stockpiling fuel wasn’t unheard of among yacht owners.
People wealthy enough to buy yachts often had unusual hobbies.
By paying 1.2 times the market rate, Shen Hanyin successfully acquired twenty tons of diesel and twenty tons of gasoline.
She was genuinely thrilled.
The spending, however, was genuinely painful.
Besides the yachts, she also purchased several all-terrain off-road vehicles.
She didn’t expect to travel to dangerous places, but having them was better than not.
At some point, her uncle somehow learned about her recent spending spree.
He called her and tactfully asked why she was wasting so much money on what seemed like useless items.
Without missing a beat, Shen Hanyin burst into tears over the phone.
She complained about how lonely she felt after returning to Nancheng.
She claimed she could only numb her pain through excessive spending.
Then she suddenly asked:
“Uncle, could you lend me some money?”
Her uncle immediately launched into a lengthy speech comforting her before hurriedly ending the call.
After hanging up, Shen Hanyin let out a long sigh.
“How boring.”
The next day, she visited a car dealership and bought an ordinary Volkswagen sedan.
Luxury cars attracted too much attention.
She also worried about drawing the notice of her uncle’s family.
To avoid unnecessary trouble, driving a common vehicle was the safer option.
At the same time, she purchased two electric vehicles as backup transportation for the future.
Shen Hanyin also rented a large warehouse.
Then she ordered another one hundred rows of shelving units for the space.
The previous batch had already been almost completely filled.
Her next major stockpiling project was staple food.
Rice.
Flour.
Mixed grains.
Various beans.
Corn oil.
Soybean oil.
Canola oil.
Peanut oil.
Olive oil.
Along with every seasoning she could think of:
Soy sauce.
Vinegar.
Salt.
Sugar.
Everything was delivered directly to the warehouse.
Next she headed to the seafood market.
Black tiger shrimp.
Mantis shrimp.
Crayfish.
Crabs.
Numerous species of shrimp and shellfish she couldn’t even identify.
Oysters.
Sea snails.
Razor clams.
Various shellfish.
Abalone.
Sea cucumbers.
And countless kinds of fish.
She bought them all.
The truth was that she couldn’t even cook most seafood dishes.
She was purchasing them purely for peace of mind.
The seafood arrived alive, but once stored in the space, it died almost instantly.
Fortunately, time inside the storage area remained frozen.
Food preserved immediately after death should still be perfectly edible.
At the very least, it seemed preferable to consuming seafood that had been frozen for years.
After leaving the seafood market, Shen Hanyin discovered a child drawing on the hood of her car.
When she approached to inspect the damage, she found black ballpoint pen marks covering the surface.
Some could be wiped away.
Others had already scratched the paint.
She didn’t want to waste time dealing with the matter.
But the car was brand new.
Although it wasn’t particularly expensive, it still cost over a hundred thousand yuan.
Right now, she hated wasting even a single cent.
She couldn’t help feeling a little distressed.
At that moment, the boy’s mother came running over.
She stood slightly hunched, nervously gripping her pants with one hand as though she might burst into tears at any moment.
“Miss, I’m so sorry. The child didn’t know any better.”
Notably, she never mentioned compensation.
Shen Hanyin had little experience handling situations like this.
Judging from the woman’s appearance and clothing, she didn’t seem capable of resolving the matter quickly.
After a moment’s consideration, Shen Hanyin decided not to waste any more time.
Besides, she was currently engaged in activities that attracted enough attention already.
“Just leave it. We’ll let it go this time.”
“Really?”
The woman looked unconvinced.
The car was obviously new.
Was she really willing to let it go?
“Yes. Just clean it off for me.”
“Of course, of course! Thank you, miss!”
The woman repeatedly apologized and thanked her while frantically wiping away the pen marks with her sleeve.
Shen Hanyin watched her humble behavior.
It was as though she had become accustomed to situations like this.
The woman continuously praised Shen Hanyin’s kindness and generosity, saying she would surely be blessed with good fortune.
If the pen marks hadn’t already been cleaned off, Shen Hanyin suspected the woman would have planned out her entire future all the way into old age.
To be honest, Shen Hanyin wasn’t particularly moved by such compliments.
No one understood hypocrisy better than she did.
Although she disliked hearing it, she didn’t show it.
Instead, she got into her car and prepared to leave.
Just as she started the engine, she glanced into the rearview mirror.
The boy was making faces at her.
Clearly, he knew what he had done was wrong.
Yet after being forgiven, he showed not the slightest trace of gratitude.
Nor did he seem concerned about the embarrassment his mother had suffered.
Instead, he looked even more provocative than before.
Was this what people meant when they said that human nature was inherently selfish?
Suppressing the urge to turn around and give him a lesson he wouldn’t forget, Shen Hanyin gripped the steering wheel and drove toward her next destination.
A vegetable seed supplier.
Since items inside the space could only be managed through her consciousness, she initially purchased only small quantities of spinach, lettuce, and cilantro seeds.
She scattered them across the soil inside the space.
If vegetables actually grew there, she could always buy more later.
She also stockpiled additional bottled and barrelled water in Nancheng.
Better safe than sorry.
During the two months she had spent in Haicheng, her fruit reserves remained relatively limited.
Now that she had returned to the city she knew so well, purchasing fruit and other supplies became much more efficient.
On her way back, she passed a bakery.
The sight immediately prompted another round of shopping.
Cakes.
Desserts.
Napoleon pastries.
Snowy Mochi cakes.
Mille-feuille cakes in every flavor imaginable.
She placed orders at several of the city’s most famous bakeries and had everything delivered directly to the villa.
She didn’t bother tasting any of it.
With so many desserts, she couldn’t possibly finish them all anytime soon.
She simply ordered until she felt satisfied with the quantity.