Countdown Day 10, 6:00 AM
Outside the VIP terminal of the city’s international airport, a black Porsche Cayenne sat casually in an open-air parking space. Lin Qi didn’t even lock the doors. She tossed the key into a nearby trash bin.
In the apocalypse, luxury cars that depend heavily on electronic chips would be nothing more than scrap metal under extreme cold and geomagnetic storms—even giving it away would be a waste of space.
Wearing a low-profile gray windbreaker and a black tactical backpack, Lin Qi lowered her cap and walked straight into the VIP passage.
“Ms. Lin, your first-class ticket has been processed, and your luggage—”
“No luggage. Take me to the boarding gate,” she interrupted coldly.
All her possessions—worth resources comparable to half a nation’s strategic reserves—were quietly stored in the absolute-stasis infinite space near her chest.
Ten minutes later, she settled into the private suite of the first-class cabin on a Boeing 777 bound for JFK Airport in New York.
“Madam, this is your pre-flight champagne and premium caviar.”
“Leave it. Don’t disturb me.”
As the cabin door closed, the plane roared down the runway and ascended into the sky.
Lin Qi leaned back in the soft leather seat and drank the champagne in one gulp. Watching the shrinking city below, the tension she had carried for over ten days finally eased slightly.
The fifteen-hour transoceanic flight would be torture for most people—but for her, it was valuable time for review.
She closed her eyes and sank her consciousness into the vast white storage space.
This was the ultimate foundation she had built with over 150 billion in cash.
On the left: mountains of staple foods—50,000 tons of premium rice, 30,000 tons of top-grade flour, 10,000 tons of salt, and countless seasonings stacked like towers.
In the center: a “hot food zone” filled with tens of thousands of gourmet dishes from top restaurants—braised pork, Buddha’s delight, roast duck, spicy lobster—all frozen in the moment of cooking, still steaming.
On the right: a massive cold-chain meat section with pork, lamb, A5 Wagyu worth billions, and king crab.
Deeper inside: piles of cold-weather gear, millions of heat packs, sanitary supplies, and daily necessities.
Further still: 100,000 tons of extreme-grade diesel stored in massive tanks, and fifty giant water towers holding 5,000 tons of pure water.
“Domestic preparations are finally complete.”
She opened her eyes, satisfaction flashing in her gaze.
Her current reserves were enough for her to live luxuriously for a century in the apocalypse without running out.
But this was only defense and survival.
In a world where morality collapses and humans prey on each other, without heavy firepower, even the strongest bunker was just a gilded cage. And her “firepower deficiency anxiety” had never been cured.
Strict domestic gun control meant she could only obtain crude weapons—useless in her eyes.
What she needed were Barrett sniper rifles, miniguns, rocket launchers, grenades—real military-grade firepower.
And those… only existed in the lawless chaos of M Country, where “black eats black” was the norm.
She stood up and went into the lavatory, locking the door.
Using disguise tools she had purchased from the black market, she began altering her appearance with practiced precision.
Within twenty minutes, the breathtaking wealthy heiress in the mirror was gone.
In her place stood a rough-featured, sharp-eyed woman who looked like a hardened mercenary from the Southeast Asian borderlands.
She took out a forged passport.
Name: Jane
“Good. The hunt begins.”
Countdown Day 10, 2:00 PM
The plane landed smoothly at JFK International Airport.
As she stepped out of the air-conditioned terminal, a wave of hot, humid air mixed with faint smoke and garbage stench hit her face.
The temperature was abnormally high—nearly 38°C—and the sky was covered in a gray-yellow haze.
Unlike the calm appearance back home, M Country was already on the edge of full-scale chaos.
Extreme heat had caused repeated power grid failures across multiple states. Inflation had driven prices up threefold in days. The poor and gangs were losing control.
A giant screen outside the airport broadcast emergency news:
“Breaking news: due to uncontrolled prices and widespread blackouts, protests in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Brooklyn have escalated into large-scale riots…”
“Citizens are strongly advised to remain indoors…”
Footage showed masked mobs looting supermarkets.
Travelers around her looked terrified and hurried away.
But Lin Qi’s lips curled into an excited, cruel smile.
Chaos had finally begun.
This was M Country’s famous tradition—the “zero-dollar shopping” frenzy.
Once nationwide riots erupted, law enforcement would collapse. Everything would be looted by mobs like locusts.
And in that chaos, even if entire global warehouses were emptied, no one would trace it back to her.
“It’s time to get a vehicle.”
She avoided rental agencies and instead went to a chaotic underground used-car market in Queens.
Inside a so-called “repair shop,” a tattooed Black man pointed a gun at her.
“Yellow monkey, you want to die?”
“I want a car. Fastest, strongest, preferably armored,” Lin Qi said calmly, throwing $30,000 cash onto the table.
“Car for me. Money for you. Shut your mouth.”
The man’s eyes lit up instantly.
Soon, she was led to a black Ford F-150 Raptor—armored, reinforced, and fitted with a V8 twin-turbo engine.
A beast.
“Perfect,” she said, getting in.
ROAR—!!
The engine exploded like a monster awakening. She smashed through the garage doors and entered the chaotic streets.
Sirens echoed. Smoke rose in the distance.
Lin Qi entered a coordinate into the navigation system:
Walmart Global Distribution Mega Center
A 500,000-square-meter supply fortress.
Food. Equipment. Industrial goods. Everything she needed.
Her eyes burned with greed.
“Countdown Day 10… the zero-dollar shopping frenzy begins.”
The black Raptor turned into a lightning bolt, speeding toward the massive warehouse of resources.