As night fell, Wu Xiaolan drove to the goods-pickup location.
The security guard uncle in charge of watching the garage had come over early to wait.
Having spent the whole day helping receive goods and busy running around, he was soaked in sweat.
Wu Xiaolan handed the security uncle some extra watchman fees before finally taking the keys and unlocking the rolling shutter door.
Looking at the various supplies piled densely before her, she let out a long sigh of relief.
Checking off the receiving manifest: food, water, medicine, tools, energy, protection… not a single item was missing.
Once the security uncle happily left with his money, she closed the door from the inside and triggered a single thought, transferring all the supplies straight into her spatial dimension.
Heading outside, she locked the warehouse door securely and drove toward the nearby unfinished building parking lot.
Shu Daoshan was true to his word; that apocalyptic RV resembling a steel fortress was already parked inside the garage.
Wu Xiaolan pulled open the car door and slid into the driver’s seat.
The silver panel to the right of the steering wheel lit up, a camera scanned her face, and a gentle anime-style female voice rang out:
This car, mama-loving happy family %^#^#…
What on earth? Wu Xiaolan only heard a garbled string of nonsense and didn’t understand a single word.
Was that Japanese?
She looked closely at the functional panel on the RV, which was displaying the in-vehicle assistant AI voice chat interface.
“Can you speak Chinese?” she asked.
The gentle anime voice and electronic tone sounded once more: [May I ask if you are becoming the distinguished car owner of “I Love My Mom, Happy Family”?]
Wu Xiaolan was taken aback.
Why did this car have such a strange name?
“Can I change the name?” she asked.
[Yes, please confirm the car owner’s identity first.]
“Confirm.”
[Car owner Wu Xiaolan’s identity confirmation successful. Please confirm the new name, Master.]
Wu Xiaolan couldn’t be bothered to name the car herself; she just thought the name Shu Daoshan gave it was weird, so she asked casually, “Can it not have a name?”
[No name registration successful.]
“…”
Wu Xiaolan was left speechless for a moment. How did this car manage to be both smart and a little bit silly?
She walked a circle inside the car, carefully inspecting all the facilities within.
Especially checking whether there were any hidden cameras inside.
Although Shu Daoshan didn’t look like a bad person, you can’t judge a book by its cover, and some things had to be guarded against.
Following the feedback from the spatial system’s detection function, confirming there were no hidden cameras or external connection equipment, Wu Xiaolan finally felt at ease.
Currently, everything in the RV was running normally, the battery was fully charged, and the beds were ready-made—they could be used just by laying down bedding.
Wu Xiaolan decided to stay right inside the RV tonight, which would even save a bit of accommodation cost.
The early spring night was still a bit chilly. Standing a bit far from the control panel, Wu Xiaolan asked “No Name” to turn on the air conditioner.
Who would have known the in-vehicle voice assistant would reply: “Please provide exact instructions, Master.”
How was Wu Xiaolan supposed to know that turning on the air conditioner required a secret code?
She asked: “I’m the car owner now, can those previous commands be changed?”
Voice assistant: “Sorry, Master, the commands are factory-set to a fixed mode, and you temporarily lack the authority.”
“What?” Wu Xiaolan was speechless inside. “I’m the car owner, I spent 800,000, and I don’t even have authority?”
She had no choice but to message Shu Daoshan.
“Hello Boss, what is the command to turn on the air conditioner?”
Shu Daoshan replied very quickly, even attaching a document package filled with all sorts of bizarre commands.
“Little sister, I was just about to send it to you.”
Then, he sent an audio clip filled with dramatic flair.
“The command for the air conditioner is: Resurrect, my love!“
Is this guy sick? Wu Xiaolan thought to herself.
However, for the sake of interior comfort, she still said it out loud: “Resurrect, my love!”
Voice assistant: “Sorry, incorrect command.”
Speechless, Wu Xiaolan asked Shu Daoshan again: “Is your air conditioner broken? I said it, and it prompts me that the command is incorrect.”
Shu Daoshan replied in seconds: “You have to say it with emotion, like me…”
“Resurrect! My! Love!!!”
The voice was hoarse and grating.
Covering her ears, Wu Xiaolan genuinely wanted to drop some profanities.
“Isn’t there a more dignified way?”
Shu Daoshan: “Little sister, try putting on formal wear and giving it another shot?”
Wu Xiaolan was utterly speechless. Giving up her obsession with turning on the air conditioner, she took another close look at the document package Shu Daoshan sent.
Opening navigation required saying: “Ancient Greek god presiding over roads, please guide my direction.”
Wanting to listen to music required saying: “‘Come Wealth, Come Wealth’…”
Even automatic window closing required shouting: “Chinese cabbage, smile at me.”
What on earth is this?
Wu Xiaolan messaged Shu Daoshan again: “I want to change the commands!”
“Don’t do that,” Shu Daoshan dissuaded. “Isn’t it super fun? Think about it, in the apocalypse, won’t you be lonely? Won’t you be bored? Isn’t playing around with abstract humor fun?”
“Not fun,” Wu Xiaolan answered decisively.
“Can’t be changed,” Shu Daoshan replied flatly.
“Then I don’t want the Bobo car anymore, refund my money.” Wu Xiaolan was certain Shu Daoshan could change it, but simply didn’t want to for her.
Because the system detected that the RV materials were attached with Light Domain energy, an energy sharing the same origin as the system.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been so firm on buying this RV.
This Shu Daoshan was definitely no ordinary person.
Sure enough, after a few seconds of silence on Shu Daoshan’s end, a message came through: “You’re ruthless, what a boring woman.”
“Go find the settings on the control panel, restore to factory defaults, and it’ll work.”
Operating it according to Shu Daoshan’s instructions, Wu Xiaolan saw everything indeed return to normal.
Enjoying the air conditioning, she replied to Shu Daoshan: “Remember to deliver on time.”
Shu Daoshan only replied with a proud bear sticker giving an OK sign.
Settled in, Wu Xiaolan pulled out the seafood feast she had packed away today from her space.
Half a day had passed, yet stored inside the space, the seafood feast remained as fresh as when it was first cooked.
The cheese baked on top of the king crab legs was still stringy, instantly whetting Wu Xiaolan’s appetite.
Munching on a king crab leg, Wu Xiaolan opened the system to check the mission completion progress. At this moment, the evaluation of Wu Xiaolan on the system panel seemed to have changed.
Looking closely, what was originally “Novice crispy-skin period, apocalyptic small newbie” had now turned into: “An apocalyptic crispy small newbie who is resource-barren and possesses a home stripped bare (wandering version).”
“Wait, what?” Wu Xiaolan was completely uncomprehending. “System, is something wrong with you? I have millions worth of supplies in my space, and you call me resource-barren?”
[“Host, there is nothing wrong with the system’s evaluation. As an omnipotent spatial system, there is infinite potential waiting for you to develop after upgrading. Currently, your primary space utilization rate is less than 80%, so please keep working hard, Host.”]
Looking entirely unbothered, Wu Xiaolan muttered: “Isn’t it just filling the space to 80%? I have my own ways.”
[Ding! System evaluation updated: An apocalyptic crispy small newbie who is resource-barren, broke, and loves to brag (wandering version).]
Sighing, Wu Xiaolan said: “System, you never hold back on your sarcasm, do you?”
[Ding! This system only looks at data.]
“Fine.” Wu Xiaolan didn’t bother arguing with it.
After all, she still had thousands of living livestock left that she hadn’t taken into her space yet.
Living entities took up the most spatial area—would she still have to worry about not filling it up then?
She continued asking: “Then what’s with the ‘home stripped bare’ part? I haven’t bought a house yet, this car is just a temporary residence.”
[“Host, it is detected that you already own a broken house under your name. Please quickly decorate it according to the renovation blueprints issued by the system into a safe house that allows you to survive in the apocalypse.”]
Mentioning the safe house brought a wave of tension rushing straight to Wu Xiaolan’s heart.
The apocalypse hadn’t arrived yet; as long as there was enough money, hoarding supplies wasn’t a problem. The problem was how to find an absolutely safe doomsday safe house.
Because in the apocalypse, not only were zombies terrifying, but homeless, unconstrained people driven mad by hunger were just as terrifying.
What gave Wu Xiaolan a headache, however, was that the renovation plan issued by the system was clearly that self-built villa in Songshan District.
That house was big enough to house fifty people; for Wu Xiaolan alone, such a massive space was completely unnecessary.
Now that the state had intentions of developing the area and property values were appreciating, Wu Xiaolan’s idea had been to mortgage the house for cash to buy even more supplies.
Staring at the 3D model of the suburban villa on the system screen, only a single thought remained in Wu Xiaolan’s mind: the system must have gone crazy.
“You want me to use most of my savings to build that broken house? Six floors, for me to live in alone? I’d be worked to death just cleaning!”
Before the system could reply, Wu Xiaolan had already made up her mind: “I’ll go pick an inconspicuous basement in the near outskirts tomorrow. Can you regenerate a new plan then?”
[“Host, through deep analysis, the system does not recommend changing the location.”]
[“Warm reminder: Basements carry a risk of flooding, and top floors are easily surrounded and sealed off by zombie hordes. Please consider carefully, Host.”]
Gazing intently at the analysis on the screen:
[Songshan Villa is located at the highest terrain position in all of City A, 30 kilometers away from the urban center. The occupancy rate of the surrounding residential area is less than ten percent, meaning it won’t be hit by the first wave of zombie tides when the apocalypse breaks out, while maintaining the spatial system’s potential acquisition capability regarding urban resources.]
[The six-story main body of the self-built villa has a massive space, allowing the living area, storage area, planting area, breeding area, energy area, and defense area to be laid out across separate floors.]
Yet even so, this still failed to dispel the misgivings in Wu Xiaolan’s heart.
She just wanted to find a corner to hide quietly, not build a survival base with a grand fanfare—especially since she was all by herself, with no helper if things went wrong.
“System, have you ever thought about it? If I make this big of a fuss—farming and raising livestock and everything—what happens if I get targeted by bad guys? You don’t think a crispy-skinned like me can beat a starving, ferocious heavyweight thug in the apocalypse, do you?”
[“Host, as long as the safe-house construction mission is completed, the system will additionally provide a safe-house simulation replication function.”]
[“The replicated area will be upgraded based on the host’s check-in duration and occupant headcount. Upon reaching a certain level, the safe house can be replicated infinitely and transferred, while simultaneously activating a damage-repair function.”]
[“As the system upgrades, the safe house will become a part of the spatial system’s functional modules, usable anytime and anywhere.”]
Wu Xiaolan opened her eyes wide in shock.
Replicating a survival space? Damage and repair? Usable anytime?
Wouldn’t that make it a mobile safe house?
Once it reached a certain level, she would never have to worry about being homeless again, able to live inside her meticulously decorated home anytime, anywhere.
Her heart pounded violently, rendering her momentarily speechless with excitement. This kind of magical function was something she hadn’t even dared to imagine in her dreams.
A safe house that could be relocated meant she wouldn’t even fear intruders trying to break in—at worst, if she couldn’t beat them, she could just run.
If what the system said was true, then this rundown villa with its independent courtyard and massive space was indeed the optimal choice.
Looking at the analytical results and renovation suggestions provided by the system, Wu Xiaolan grew increasingly satisfied.
Even the budget numbers listed above for renovating the house looked a lot more pleasing to the eye.
“Alright, that’s settled then. I’ll go look for a reliable decoration team tomorrow.”
At that moment, she spotted a pair of amber eyes outside staring intently at her.
Peering carefully through the car window, Wu Xiaolan saw a tabby cat sitting outside locking gazes with her.
Thinking the stray cat wanted to beg for food, Wu Xiaolan stepped out of the car and tossed a large shrimp toward it.
The shrimp landed in the weeds, picking up some dust.
Glancing at it casually, the tabby cat turned its head away, putting on an attitude of refusing to accept charity.
Is this even a stray cat? Wu Xiaolan thought to herself. So arrogant, turning down food?
Helpless, Wu Xiaolan had no choice but to grab a takeout box, place clean food inside, and set it right in front of the kitten.
This time, the kitten sniffed it and took a few reluctant bites.
Just as Wu Xiaolan reached out to stroke it, the cat suddenly went wild, let out a fierce hiss at Wu Xiaolan, and bolted away on the spot.
Left frozen in place, Wu Xiaolan felt her desire to keep a cat in the apocalypse dwindle just a little bit more.