Mi Beibei worked hard to clear an empty area, preparing it to store the pork that would arrive tomorrow. She then carefully reorganized the refrigerator, successfully freeing up nearly half of its space. After all the busy work, the uncomfortable fullness in her stomach eased considerably.
She walked into the storage room, opened the window, and waited expectantly for the next customer.
Sitting by the window, Mi Beibei absentmindedly played a game on her phone. Before long, however, sleepiness washed over her like a tide. Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and she couldn’t help letting out a huge yawn.
She stood up and looked outside.
The street was completely deserted. Only the horrifying zombies wandered aimlessly, occasionally letting out shrill, bloodcurdling roars.
She yawned again and decided to close the window and return to her bedroom for a nap.
Just as she reached for the window, she heard a faint noise outside.
Her movements froze, and most of her drowsiness vanished instantly.
She pricked up her ears and listened carefully. The sound seemed to be coming from just outside the window.
Instinctively, she wanted to lean out and investigate, but the moment she started to move, she quickly pulled back. Instead, she stood quietly where she was and waited.
Just as Mi Beibei convinced herself she had imagined it and reached to close the window again, a figure suddenly appeared outside.
Before she could get a good look, the person charged toward the room, only to slam into something invisible.
Bang!
The person was thrown backward and crashed onto the ground.
Mi Beibei’s face turned deathly pale, and she instinctively stepped back.
Only after hearing the man cursing angrily did she regain her senses.
Her face remained pale, and her heart pounded violently as though it were about to leap out of her throat.
“You bitch! Just wait until I catch you! I’ll make you pay! Damn it, that fall almost killed me! You filthy woman! I’ll feed you to the zombies!”
The more Mi Beibei listened, the more familiar the voice sounded.
Gathering her courage, she cautiously approached the window.
Sure enough, she saw Liu Laosi awkwardly climbing to his feet.
A surge of anger instantly rose within her.
Hearing the distant roars of zombies, a bold—and rather malicious—idea suddenly formed in her mind.
She rummaged through a small storage box nearby until she found a door and window alarm.
She had bought it several years ago from a door-to-door salesman. At the time, she had mistakenly thought it was required by the neighborhood management, so she foolishly paid for it.
Only a few days later did she realize she had been tricked.
Still, she couldn’t bear to throw it away. After all, it had cost twenty yuan.
So it had been tossed aside and forgotten.
A few days ago, while cleaning the storage room, she had found it again.
She never expected it would actually come in handy now.
She immediately switched on the alarm and forcefully threw the speaker unit out the window.
A piercing alarm instantly echoed throughout the street.
The previously silent neighborhood erupted into chaos.
Liu Laosi’s angry curses immediately turned into terrified screams.
Without hesitation, Mi Beibei slammed the window shut, completely blocking out the sounds from outside.
She collapsed into a chair, gasping for breath while her heart continued racing uncontrollably.
Only after a long while did she slowly stand up, trembling as she supported herself on the back of the chair.
Dragging her heavy, powerless legs, she slowly made her way into the living room and collapsed onto the sofa.
…
Early the next morning, Mi Beibei left the house with two enormous dark circles under her eyes.
Yesterday, it had been almost dark before she finally managed to drag herself from the sofa to her bed.
Throughout the night, nightmares repeatedly jolted her awake.
In every dream, she was chased endlessly by hordes of zombies, with Liu Laosi’s hateful face appearing among them.
Only when the alarm clock rang did she finally wake up completely.
The alarm had been set to remind her to pick up the pork.
After realizing earlier that having deliveries sent to her home attracted too much attention, she had contacted the butcher and canceled the delivery service, deciding to pick up the meat herself instead.
Mi Beibei sat on the bed in a daze for quite a while before finally coming back to her senses.
She got out of bed, washed up, grabbed the key to her electric scooter, and headed out.
Since she hadn’t eaten dinner the previous night, her stomach was growling loudly.
She casually bought two steamed buns, swallowed them in just a few bites, and rode toward the wholesale market.
Along the way, she watched the trees lining both sides of the road pass by, along with the orderly pedestrians and vehicles.
Gradually, her mood calmed.
This was the peaceful world she was familiar with.
After arriving at the wholesale market, she searched for quite a while before finding the butcher shop.
Together with the owner, she loaded the bags of pork into the cargo compartment of her electric scooter.
However, the scooter’s storage space was limited and could only hold about one-third of the meat.
She had no choice but to transport that portion home first.
As soon as she arrived, the first thing she did was recharge the scooter’s battery before carrying the bags inside one by one.
After moving all the meat, her arms were already aching terribly.
She gulped down a large glass of water before taking the battery and heading out for a second trip.
She made four trips in total before finally transporting all the meat home.
By then, Mi Beibei was so exhausted that she couldn’t even lift her arms.
Her stomach growled for quite some time before she finally dragged her sore body into the kitchen.
She poured yesterday’s leftover iron-pot braised goose into a pot to reheat it.
Soon, the delicious aroma filled the kitchen.
Holding the steaming bowl, Mi Beibei couldn’t help swallowing.
Even as leftovers, it still smelled incredibly delicious.
She wolfed down her lunch.
Afterward, she was so tired that she didn’t even want to move a finger.
Time slowly passed.
Seeing that it was almost time for her appointment, Mi Beibei reluctantly dragged herself into the storage room.
She placed her hand on the window handle and hesitated for quite a while.
Finally, as if making a difficult decision, she opened the window.
Outside, Liu Jingming, Gu An’an, and the others were already waiting.
To Mi Beibei’s surprise, Zhang Minglang, Yang Xiaoyi, and Li Yan were also there.
Judging from their interactions, they seemed to know each other quite well.
As soon as the window opened, everyone’s eyes turned toward Mi Beibei.
Liu Jingming spoke first.
“Boss Mi, this is what we’ve brought in exchange for the supplies. Please take a look.”
As he spoke, he opened a small suitcase and handed it toward her.
Mi Beibei looked inside.
The entire suitcase was filled with gold bars.
She was so shocked that she couldn’t say a word.
The uneasiness she had been feeling instantly disappeared.
After calming herself, she said,
“I’ve prepared all the supplies. One thousand jin each of rice and flour, five hundred jin of cooking oil, ten boxes each of soy sauce and vinegar, and a total of five hundred jin of various seasonings.
“There are also several hundred jin of dried foods and dried fruits, one hundred cases of instant noodles, one hundred eighty cases of self-heating rice meals, eighty cases of sausages, fifty cases of compressed biscuits, twenty cases of vacuum-packed meat products, and about four thousand six hundred jin of butchered fresh pork.
“There are also some medicines, including cold medicine, fever reducers, calcium tablets, vitamins, and other basic medications.”
Liu Jingming and Zhang Minglang exchanged glances, unable to hide the excitement in their eyes.
Liu Jingming gently pushed the suitcase toward Mi Beibei.
“Boss Mi, let’s begin.”
After accepting the suitcase, Mi Beibei started passing the supplies out through the window one item at a time.
The work continued for nearly three hours.
By the time everything had been moved out, both of her arms were so sore she could barely lift them.
Meanwhile, every item she handed over was immediately stored inside Li Yan’s spatial ability by him and another companion.
Having a spatial ability really was convenient.
Here she was, nearly working herself to death carrying things back and forth, while they only had to stand there and move a finger to store everything away.
She felt genuinely envious once again.
As usual, Gu An’an came over at the very end and quietly asked,
“Boss… um… do you still have them?”
“Yes.”
Although exhausted, Mi Beibei was also somewhat excited.
She slowly walked into the living room, dragged the last two boxes into the storage room, and handed them over.
“Everything is in here.”
Just then, Yang Xiaoyi leaned over.
“Huh? Boss Mi, what good stuff are you hiding? Why are you keeping secrets from us?”
Leaning against the window, Mi Beibei replied,
“Nothing else. I’ve already given everything to you.”
Gu An’an rolled her eyes at Yang Xiaoyi.
“This is girl stuff. Why are you butting in?”
Yang Xiaoyi laughed.
“I’m just curious. Boss Mi, if you get any good stuff, remember to save some for us too. You can’t play favorites.”
“Mhm.”
Mi Beibei nodded absentmindedly.
From behind them, Liu Jingming explained,
“What do you mean by playing favorites? Those are things An’an privately asked Boss Mi to find. They’re not part of the base’s supply exchange.”
As he spoke, he handed a small gold lock to Mi Beibei.
“Boss Mi, this is An’an’s.”
After a brief pause, he continued,
“Thank you for helping us gather so many supplies. This batch should last us for quite some time. When should we come back next?”
Mi Beibei accepted the gold lock and mentally calculated how much her electric scooter could transport.
“Ten days. Come back in ten days. I should be able to prepare about the same amount as this time.”
“Great! Boss Mi, then we’ll see you again in ten days.”
Liu Jingming smiled broadly before turning to leave.
From a distance, Gu An’an waved enthusiastically at Mi Beibei.
Zhang Minglang also nodded to her before leaving.
Yang Xiaoyi grinned and waved.
“Goodbye, Boss Mi!”
Mi Beibei raised her aching arm with difficulty and waved back twice.
“Goodbye.”
After watching them leave, she slowly closed the window with great effort, shuffled back to the living room, and collapsed onto the sofa.