By the time Meng Shiwan drove to the largest nearby shopping mall, it was already 9:28 a.m.
There were 2 hours and 32 minutes left until the zombie outbreak.
During the drive, Taxue crawled through the opening into the front passenger seat, its round little head swiveling as it looked around curiously.
Meng Shiwan unfastened her seat belt. “Taxue, I’m going to buy some supplies. Be good and wait here for me.”
“Meow~”
Taxue tucked its head back in and obediently lay down on the passenger seat, as if to say it understood.
Meng Shiwan parked the RV by the roadside, got out, and headed straight for the supermarket.
Time was short, and the RV’s storage was limited. Her goal was to buy only the essentials.
Since it was a weekday, the mall wasn’t crowded.
She pushed her cart through the supermarket at full speed, drawing curious glances from several employees.
Meng Shiwan went first to the fresh-food section, moving from one meat counter to the next.
“I’d like ten jin of lamb, ten jin of beef brisket, ten jin of pork, ten jin of chicken, and ten jin of whiteleg shrimp. Cut it all into small pieces, pack them separately in freezer bags, and deliver them to the checkout.”
It wasn’t that she didn’t want more.
The freezer compartment of the RV’s fridge held only seventy-six liters.
It could take about fifty jin of meat, no more.
Hearing her order, the employee at the pork counter grinned. “No problem. It’s quiet this morning, so we’ll have everything ready just the way you want.”
She pushed her cart to the rice and grain section.
A salesperson stepped up to push a brand, but Meng Shiwan cut them off.
“I’ll take ten fifty-jin bags of rice, ten fifty-jin bags of flour, ten ten-liter jugs of cooking oil, and fifty bags of table salt. Give me the best and most expensive. Deliver it all to the checkout.”
Overjoyed, the salesperson readily agreed. “Certainly, certainly.”
Meng Shiwan wasn’t short on money. Once the outbreak began, money would be worthless.
But the rice and flour she bought would feed her for years, giving her an immense sense of security.
She headed to the seasonings. Soy sauce, vinegar, hot-pot base, various spices, baking powder, all essentials. She grabbed a variety of others too.
She didn’t dare take too much, worried about space. Even so, she filled a whole cart.
She pushed it to the checkout and found only a few customers paying.
“Scan these first, please. I’m going to grab a few more things and come back to pay.”
With that, she took another empty cart and rushed back into the supermarket.
The employees were dumbfounded. It was the first time they’d seen someone treat the store like a wholesale depot.
This time she bought fruits and vegetables that kept well, apples, oranges, Chinese cabbage, white radishes, and green cabbages.
The fridge’s fresh-food compartment held only 112 liters, so it couldn’t take much. Once she’d filled one cart, she moved on.
She grabbed towels, toothbrushes, toothpaste, toilet paper, body wash, shampoo, laundry detergent, and the like. Two or three sets of each would do.
She bought plenty of sanitary pads, filling half a cart.
As she was about to leave, she passed the beverage section and suddenly remembered she still needed water.
The RV had four water tanks.
The drinking-water tank, for purified water, held 100 liters.
The fresh-water tank held 600 liters, for everyday needs like washing up and dishes.
The gray-water tank held 100 liters, storing wastewater from washing, to be emptied when full.
The black-water tank also held 100 liters, for toilet sewage, emptied and cleaned once full.
To make drinking convenient, she planned to fill both the purified- and fresh-water tanks with bottled mineral water.
The apocalypse wouldn’t bring only zombies, it would bring natural disasters too. First would come extreme heat, making water an incredibly precious resource.
“I’d like thirty-five 20-liter bottles of water, please.”
The attendant replied, “I’ll bring them straight from the warehouse. Where would you like them delivered?”
Meng Shiwan said, “There’s a pink RV parked at the roadside outside the mall. Deliver them there.”
She pushed the cart of daily necessities to the checkout and found everything she’d ordered earlier already delivered and scanned.
A neatly suited staff member smiled at her. “Where would you like it all delivered? I’ll have our people take it over.”
Meng Shiwan said, “There’s a pink RV at the roadside. Deliver everything there. Oh, and do you have a ladder I could borrow?”
“Yes, we do. I’ll have someone bring it over.”
Several employees got busy at once, wheeling her purchases outside.
Once her household supplies were scanned, she checked the time as she paid.
10:35 a.m.
There was 1 hour and 25 minutes left until the outbreak.
When she pushed her cart outside, the employees helping with the delivery were already waiting beside the RV.
The moment they saw her approach, one young woman smiled and asked, “Miss, what are you loading all this into your RV for? Planning to head somewhere uninhabited?”
Meng Shiwan wasn’t in the mood for small talk. She took out her wallet and handed each of them several red banknotes.
“I’ll have to trouble you to help me load it all into the RV.”
The moment the money was in their hands, they brightened up.
“Sure! Just tell us how you want it loaded and we’ll take care of it.”
Meng Shiwan first opened the ports for the two side water tanks, then took a small water pump from a storage compartment beneath the chassis.
“Pump all the bottled water into the tanks, please.”
“Got it,” one of the young men said, taking over at once.
Meng Shiwan then fetched a small remote from the driver’s seat. At a light press of a button, the roof began to rise slowly.
One young woman exclaimed, “Whoa, the roof actually lifts up? This RV is amazing!”
“It looks like a steel beast. An RV converted from a light-duty truck really is something else.”
The young employees looked on with envy.
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The RV had two levels, with a small internal staircase to the upper floor.
With the roof down, the second floor was a sealed space only one meter high.
Once the roof was raised on the telescoping supports at the four corners, the second floor became an open-air deck, ventilated on all sides.
Meng Shiwan realized this upper space was perfect for storing supplies.
“Put the rice, flour, cooking oil, and salt on the second floor. Just don’t stack it higher than the one-meter walls around the edge, or the roof won’t close.”
“Got it, Miss.”
They got to work at once, setting up the ladder, some passing supplies up, others arranging them above.
Fifty-jin bags of rice were no challenge for the young men in their prime.
Meng Shiwan then called over one of the young women.
“Help me move the things from the carts into the RV. I’ll arrange them inside.”
“Okay.”
The young woman pushed the cart to the RV’s side door and unloaded the items one by one.
Meng Shiwan put the meat into the freezer first, then the fruits and vegetables into the fridge.
There wasn’t room for a few heads of Chinese cabbage, so she set them on the counter for now.
The seasonings went into the cabinet beneath the counter.
The toiletries went straight onto the bathroom shelves.
The sanitary pads, toilet paper, and such went into the drawers beneath the staircase, making excellent use of the space.
After about twenty minutes’ work, the group had loaded everything into the RV.
Meng Shiwan lowered the roof and closed the door. The young employees waved goodbye.
“Bye, Sis! If you ever need help again, be sure to call us!”
They brimmed with youthful energy, looking freshly graduated. Their smiles were bright and contagious.
Meng Shiwan’s eyes dimmed.
Very soon, such smiles would become a rare sight.
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