4 – Collecting Supplies
Ye Jin rented a house near the school where Yu Zichen was currently boarding and settled in temporarily.
The East Suburb Warehouse was an address provided by the previous agent. When the property manager learned she needed to rent a warehouse, he immediately recommended this location. It suited her needs perfectly—spacious, discreet, sparsely populated, and most importantly, free of surveillance cameras.
In today’s advanced society, surveillance was everywhere. If anyone discovered she could make objects vanish with a mere touch, she’d likely be labeled a monster and hauled off to a Research Institute.
With only a few million in liquid cash on hand, Ye Jin could only prioritize essential supplies. She initially considered hiring a professional buyer, but involving another person meant increasing the risk. Instead, she had to personally scour the markets item by item.
Her first stop was the grain market, where she directly ordered thousands of bags of rice from a vendor and collected contact information for other product distributors.
“Miss, are you handling procurement for a company? That’s quite a large order,” the rice merchant remarked, having never encountered such a young purchaser before.
“Yes, our supermarket is in its preparatory phase and urgently needs stock.”
Large-scale purchases always raised suspicions, so having a plausible excuse made things easier.
The vendor offered, “I can also refer you to several reliable movers.”
“Thank you so much, that’s exactly what I need.”
Access to resources simplified tasks, though the vendor naturally earned a commission for referrals. Since Ye Jin had no prior experience in this area—a complete blind spot—open purchasing, while easiest, would attract too much attention.
For now, she had to proceed slowly with this rudimentary approach. Fortunately, by coordinating with distributors, she could have her orders delivered to the warehouse for later collection. Given her bulk purchases, she secured everything at bottom-tier prices.
Following her pre-made checklist, she stockpiled essentials: rice, flour, water, oil, salt, cotton batting, instant foods, sanitary pads, plantable seeds… She even bought ten generators. When the apocalypse arrived, global power outages would plunge temperatures into extremes—either scorching heat or bitter cold.
Ye Jin made a special trip to a military surplus store, acquiring large quantities of tents, outdoor gear, camouflage uniforms, and combat boots. She purchased batches in various sizes, regardless of gender—surviving the apocalypse in comfort required building her own team.
Gasoline and medication were also critical. Gasoline was particularly challenging to amass. Ye Jin obtained detailed maps of multiple provinces, marking several gas stations on the S Province map with a red pen for future collection post-apocalypse.
Medications, however, posed a greater hurdle due to strict national controls—many prescription drugs were simply inaccessible.
In an era where injuries were constant and medicines scarce, even a single cold tablet would become invaluable. For now, she could only plan to gather them gradually after the collapse.
One urgent task remained: a trip to the countryside to purchase livestock. The goldfish she had previously placed in her Dimension were still thriving.
After the apocalypse, all flora and fauna would mutate, turning meat tough, bland, and devoid of nutrition. She aimed to raise poultry directly within her Dimension.
Ye Jin drove to Heyang Village, the nearest rural area to the city. The mountain roads were rough. Most households here raised chickens, ducks, and maintained fish ponds. Spotting a home with chickens outside, she knocked.
An Auntie answered, holding a spatula in her right hand—likely in the middle of cooking.
“Who is it?” The Auntie eyed the masked stranger at her door, her guard immediately rising.”Sis, hello, I’m here from the city to buy poultry. I just wanted to ask if your village sells chickens, ducks, pigs, and livestock?” Ye Jin smiled, her eyes gentle as she greeted the auntie.
Though her face wasn’t visible, the girl standing before the auntie had an ethereal demeanor and a modest attitude, hardly looking like a bad person. Being called “sis” made it impossible not to feel pleased.
“Girl, why are you wearing a mask? Our village is small, and we rarely get outsiders.”
The auntie spoke with a thick rural accent as she chatted with Ye Jin, clearly willing to engage.
“Sis, sorry about that. I’m wearing a mask because my face is having an allergic reaction.”
Having lived a second life, Ye Jin was extremely cautious in everything she did. She never let anyone see her face when handling matters.
“So what brings you here?”
“Sis, I’m here to purchase livestock from your village, and I’m offering high prices.”
Purchase? The auntie roughly understood—city folks these days preferred this, thinking rural products were natural and free of feed.
“How much do you want? Some folks came before wanting to buy, but we didn’t sell. Our livestock are raised for our own consumption.”
Ye Jin smiled and agreed, “Yes, rural chickens and ducks are much better than those from outside farms, which are raised on feed. A chicken can lay eggs in just a few months—who knows what they’re fed? I’ll buy as much as your village is willing to sell.”
Hearing this, the auntie felt quite pleased. Who doesn’t like hearing compliments? The chickens and ducks in their village were indeed better than those outside.
“Well, about this, it depends on what breeds you want. I’ll go ask around the village to see if anyone’s willing to sell. We don’t have much livestock here—Old Zhang has a few pigs, and Old Li at the village entrance has some cows.”
As she spoke, the auntie invited Ye Jin inside, pulling out a small stool for her to sit on. “Girl, you sit here for a bit. I’ll go ask around and be right back.”
The interior was simple, with no decorations—just plain cement floors and white-painted walls.
After sitting for a short while, she saw the auntie returning with several elderly uncles.
“Girl, I’ve brought everyone over for you.”
Ye Jin stood up and greeted the group, then explained her requirements. These households didn’t raise much livestock to begin with and had only come to sell because they heard she was offering high prices.
She didn’t want too much—outside farms usually required large orders and had their own suppliers, plus they needed proper documentation.
In the end, Ye Jin bought five roosters and five hens, four ducks, three pigs, two cows, and some fish fry from the pond. The uncle was reluctant to sell the breeding pig but agreed after she raised the price.
With the poultry, she could let them grow and reproduce naturally in her Dimension. After the apocalypse, most animals would mutate, and the meat of mutated beasts would be tough and stringy. Nowadays, well-raised, feed-free poultry was rare, so even at a higher price, it was worth it.
After settling the deal, they agreed that she’d bring a truck to pick everything up the day after tomorrow.
The auntie tried to persuade Ye Jin to stay for a meal. “Girl, why not stay for lunch?”
“Sorry, I need to hurry back and contact a truck driver to come collect the goods tomorrow. If I’m late, I might not find anyone.”
With that, she walked out and got into the Land Rover she’d driven there, waving to the auntie. “See you tomorrow.”After leaving the village, Ye Jin went directly to the warehouse in the city. The batch of rice and flour she ordered yesterday should have arrived. She had left the keys with the movers she hired earlier, allowing them to enter and unload the goods while she collected everything herself afterward. The next day, they would simply assume another group had moved the supplies.
Looking at the fully stocked warehouse, Ye Jin waved her hand, and everything vanished.
After collecting the supplies, she headed straight downtown—she was hungry!
These past few days had been torture. Rushing to gather resources meant she hadn’t enjoyed proper meals, surviving mostly on instant food. She went directly to her favorite small restaurant and ordered all the dishes she loved: shredded pork with garlic sauce, spicy chicken, fish with pickled vegetables… nearly ten dishes in total.
“Miss, how many people are in your party?” the owner’s wife asked, eyeing Ye Jin’s slender figure and kindly reminding her, “Our portions are quite generous.”
“Just one! Please hurry.”
Hearing the customer’s urgency, the owner still handed the order to the kitchen first. Soon, the food arrived, and the owner’s wife asked again, “Miss, which of these dishes would you like to pack up?”
How much could one young woman eat? She probably intended to take most of it home.
Pack up? Ye Jin’s eyes lit up.
Her Dimension could preserve food freshness—she could prepare all the dishes she wanted and store them directly in there!
Why hadn’t she thought of this earlier? After the apocalypse, resources would be scarce. Even the best food in the Base couldn’t compare to what was available now!
Ye Jin looked at the owner’s wife with shining eyes. “Ma’am, do you offer takeout?”
The owner’s wife felt a bit shy under her gaze—this girl was truly beautiful, like a celebrity.
“We do,” the owner’s wife replied.
“How much can you make in a day?”
The owner’s wife thought carefully. “Our daily business isn’t fixed, so it’s hard to say.”
“Then I’d like to reserve all your daily dishes for takeout.”
The owner’s wife was taken aback. Was that even possible?
Ye Jin directly took out her card. “I’ll pay 200,000 upfront. You don’t have to prioritize my orders exclusively, but I’ll come to collect them every day at 4 p.m.”
She added, “Our company has many people. We’re not just ordering from your shop—we’ve placed orders with other restaurants too.”
“Well…” The owner’s wife lowered her head in thought. It wasn’t peak season, and business hadn’t been as good as usual. As long as it didn’t affect dine-in customers, it shouldn’t be a problem. Although this was a large order, they were in it for the long run and couldn’t rely on just one customer.
“Miss, as you can see, it’s just me and my husband running this shop. He does most of the cooking. Let me ask him.”
“Alright.”
Ye Jin ate while she waited. Soon, a middle-aged man with a large belly, wearing a chef’s uniform, came out—likely the owner’s wife’s husband.
The plump man smiled warmly. “Miss, we can meet your request, but we can’t guarantee exactly how much we can prepare each day.”
“That’s fine. I just need you to set aside two hours every afternoon. I’ll pick up the food at 4 p.m.—it must be hot. Make extra portions of the spicy chicken and boiled pork slices.”
She remembered that boiled pork slices were Yu Zichen’s favorite.
“Sure, sure, no problem!” the chubby owner assured her with a smile.
Ye Jin immediately paid 200,000, packed up the remaining uneaten food, put it in her car, and stored it in her Dimension.
She trusted this shop—it had been running for almost ten years.Not only this shop, but Ye Jin also bought a considerable amount of all the snacks from the food street near Yu Zichen’s school, as well as various cakes and desserts that Yu Zichen liked.
In just a few days, those millions were squandered! The remaining fifty thousand was the fee Ye Jin intended to use to enroll Yu Zichen in a martial arts class.
Money really doesn’t last long. It seemed it was time to plan a meeting with some old acquaintances and make them pay dearly.