Meng Shiwan glanced at the time on her phone.
One hour left.
She hurried toward a nearby pharmacy, but as she passed the food street, her steps came to an abrupt halt. However hard she tried, she couldn’t make herself keep walking.
After three years without a proper meal, she simply couldn’t resist the temptation of good food.
Her mind held only one thought:
I want to eat. I want to eat. I want to eat…
She changed direction at once and ordered braised crayfish, a double passion-fruit drink, a strawberry shaken ice, plus some grilled skewers, fried chicken, and a few bottles of beer.
Order placed, she took the receipt and headed straight for the pharmacy. By the time she finished there, her food would be ready.
Inside the pharmacy, she went on another shopping spree, fever and heat reducers, anti-inflammatories, painkillers, cold and flu medicine, first-aid supplies for treating and bandaging wounds, and all kinds of other medications, nearly emptying the shelves.
The clerk watched her with a look that said they wanted to speak but hesitated. Finally they couldn’t hold back.
“There are regulations. We can’t sell this much medicine to one customer at once.”
Without even looking up, Meng Shiwan kept filling her basket.
“I’ll pay ten times the price. I want to take it all with me right now. Will you sell it or not? If not, I’ll go to another pharmacy.”
The clerk was stunned.
“Yes! We’ll sell it!”
Meng Shiwan set several baskets of medicine on the glass counter. The clerk was about to scan each item, but she had no time to wait.
“I’ll transfer you 500,000 yuan. Hurry and bag it all.”
The clerk looked at the baskets, not even 100,000 yuan’s worth.
Without another word, they hurriedly packed everything into bags.
When the notification confirming the 500,000-yuan transfer sounded, the clerk’s face all but blossomed with a smile.
“Thank you, ma’am. Have a nice day, and we hope to serve you again.”
After leaving, Meng Shiwan found a shared electric bike, hung the bags from its hooks, dropped the medicine at the RV, then rode back.
She went to a clothing store and bought five sets of athletic wear, then a lingerie shop for more than a dozen sets of underwear.
Finally, at a pet store, she bought fifty jin of cat food, plus cans, deworming medicine, and other pet supplies.
Only ten minutes left until noon.
Meng Shiwan picked up her takeout and rode the shared bike back, speeding toward the RV.
At 11:58 a.m., she loaded everything in, leaped inside, and slammed the door.
She was fully prepared to face the apocalypse.
Taxue ran over and rubbed affectionately against her legs, obedient as ever.
Meng Shiwan picked it up and rubbed its fluffy little head a couple of times.
“Taxue, the world is about to change.”
The outbreak, coupled with a series of natural disasters, seemed determined to wipe humanity out.
But along with the crisis, humanity would begin to evolve too.
Appearing alongside the zombies were people with supernatural abilities.
In her previous life, Meng Shiwan had failed to awaken any ability even after three years. She doubted her odds were any better this time.
Taxue couldn’t understand her. It simply rubbed its fluffy head against her face again and again.
She set it down on the sofa and began sorting the supplies piled in the aisle.
She put the takeout on the counter first, then put away her clothes.
Inside the RV, beside the U-shaped lounge, stood a wardrobe about a meter wide.
Meng Shiwan stuffed her clothes and underwear in, filling it to capacity.
To the wardrobe’s left was a narrow staircase to the second floor. The storage beneath the stairs held the sanitary pads and toilet paper.
To the staircase’s left stood a fridge with upper and lower doors. Above it was a small storage cabinet, still empty.
To the fridge’s left was the bathroom, with a sink, toilet, and shower.
Opposite it, just left of the side entrance, ran a two-meter countertop stretching to the rear of the RV.
At the back was a narrow spice cabinet. Below it, a front-loading washing machine, and beside that, a combination steam oven.
Above the oven was a drawer of bowls and plates.
The cabinet beside it was packed with seasonings.
The whole RV was done in soft macaron pastels, giving it a warm, soothing feel.
Just as Meng Shiwan closed the door, screams erupted outside.
She looked up to see someone in the plaza suddenly mutate and lunge at the people nearby.
The man, now a zombie, clamped his jaws onto the neck of the woman beside him. With a violent tug he tore open her belly. Her intestines and organs spilled to the ground as he devoured them in great bites.
The woman quickly stopped breathing. After convulsing twice, she lurched toward nearby pedestrians, dragging her exposed intestines behind her.
The horrifying sight sent the crowd into a frenzy of terrified screams.
The mall descended into chaos. People came pouring out of the building, zombies with lifeless gray eyes chasing close behind.
Those who couldn’t run fast enough were caught and torn apart.
The dead soon turned into zombies themselves, joining the predators and hunting the living.
Through the RV window, Meng Shiwan watched with an icy expression.
In her previous life she had witnessed this countless times. More than once she herself had been among those fleeing in terror.
She lowered her head and looked at her hands, disappointment flashing across her face.
There was no change in her body.
Just as she’d expected, she hadn’t awakened any ability.
At that moment, a young man rushed out of the supermarket and sprinted straight for her RV.
Meng Shiwan recognized him.
He was the same young man who had helped pump water into her tanks earlier.
He ran up and pounded frantically on the door, hope filling his eyes.
He thought that if she opened the door, he’d be saved.
Unfortunately, he was wrong.
Inside the RV, Meng Shiwan looked at him expressionlessly through the small window in the door.
She watched the terror on his face.
She watched the zombie behind him catch up.
She watched it tear a gaping hole through his back.
Before he died, the young man’s face was full of disbelief.
He couldn’t understand why this woman would just stand there and watch him die without lifting a finger.
Meng Shiwan gave a cold snort.
In the apocalypse, morality and kindness only got a person killed faster.
All she wanted was to survive.
Only when she looked at Taxue, meowing softly beside her, did her heart soften a little.
The one she cared about was already at her side.
As for everyone else, whether they lived or died had nothing to do with her.
The young man’s eyes soon turned gray as he became a zombie. On instinct, he kept pounding on the RV door.
Zombies felt no pain and possessed tremendous strength. Each blow landed with a heavy bang, making the door shudder.
The constant pounding began to irritate Meng Shiwan.
She picked up the multifunctional outdoor trowel leaning against the staircase and opened the small window in the door.
Extending the trowel outside, she swung it twice.
Thud. Thud.
The two zombies’ heads were cleanly severed.
The heads rolled several meters away.
Just as Meng Shiwan was about to pull the trowel back in and rinse off the blood in the bathroom, a mechanical voice, neither male nor female, sounded in her mind.
Ding. RV System successfully bound.
First zombie killed. Beginner’s reward: the RV is now permanently immune to all forms of damage.
Mission: submit one crystal core to expand storage space by one cubic meter.
Meng Shiwan’s eyes widened.
She was so shocked she forgot to pull her hand back inside.
What was going on?
An RV System?
The RV was permanently immune to all damage?
Submitting crystal cores could expand its storage?
Was it really that overpowered?
No wonder, in her previous life, Meng Qingyue’s family of four had lived so comfortably driving her RV.
So this was the advantage they’d been enjoying.
She’d even wondered before whether the RV she designed was really that durable.
After three years of use, it had still looked practically brand new.
So this was the reason.