Chen Qingqing froze.
Lin Bai continued, “Don’t worry about concealment. This villa complex has been abandoned for many years, and no one has lived here.”
“The basement door is well hidden too, and it can only be opened through a concealed compartment. Unless the house itself is gone, no one will discover it.”
“I’ve looked over the basement as well. It’s cool and shaded, and it can store a great deal. We can use it to store our backup supplies.”
Chen Qingqing nodded. “You really have thought of everything.”
Now that they had a larger place, Chen Qingqing bought two hundred sacks each of flour and rice without hesitation. When the supermarket manager saw her purchasing so much at once, he hurriedly asked whether she needed free delivery.
Chen Qingqing said that someone would come to pick up the goods.
Seeing how anxious she was, the manager asked whether she needed him to lead the way. Chen Qingqing did not want to waste any time, so she immediately nodded.
The manager then brought several employees along. Whenever Chen Qingqing crooked a finger, everyone would run to retrieve the goods.
Chen Qingqing also bought a great deal of vacuum-packed food. The braised beef, roast chicken, and eggs all came in vacuum packaging to extend their shelf life.
Canned food was indispensable as well. She bought dozens of cases each of canned luncheon meat, canned fish, and canned fruit.
After all, once the Apocalypse arrived, there would be no way to light a fire and cook, steam rice, or knead dough every day.
Snacks took up quite a bit of space, but before Chen Qingqing died in her previous life, snack production still had not resumed. If she did not stock up in advance, her two children probably would not be able to eat snacks again for four or five years.
Once the food was prepared, there were also water supplies. Chen Qingqing bought many cases of large bottles of drinking water, as well as simple distillation apparatus and some activated charcoal.
Lin Bai was responsible for buying the bottled water they used daily, so she did not need to worry about that.
There were also sanitary supplies: toilet paper, sanitary pads, sanitary napkins, mother-and-baby wet wipes, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and more. She bought dozens of boxes of each in one go.
As for the toilet paper, Chen Susu bought only boxed tissues. Square tissue boxes took up less space than rolls and could be packed tightly together.
Each case contained thirty packs of tissues, and each pack had three hundred sheets. The four members of Chen Qingqing’s family could use up roughly one pack every three days.
By a rough estimate, they would need at least three hundred and fifty or sixty cases over three years.
Chen Qingqing remembered that a base would be able to resume toilet paper production in two years, so she bought only four hundred cases. Some would be stored in the cellar, and some would be stacked in the spatial realm.
Then there was the most important item—insecticide. She bought only two brands, ten cases of each.
These things might have been cheaper at a wholesale market, but Chen Qingqing and Lin Bai had never been to one before.
…In any case, in a few hours, the money in their hands would only turn into stacks of wastepaper. Chen Qingqing did not feel too bad about spending it.
Once they had bought nearly everything, Lin Bai called to say that he had finished purchasing his supplies and was preparing to come pick them up and transport the goods.
Chen Qingqing suddenly thought of something. “Husband, what about vegetables?”
Lin Bai lowered his voice on the other end. “I bought plenty of vitamins. Even without fresh vegetables, they’ll ensure we don’t lack essential nutrients. You can also prepare some freeze-dried vegetables.”
Chen Qingqing said, “We should still prepare some vegetable seeds and seedlings. Maybe we’ll find a safe little courtyard in the future where we can grow vegetables.”
Lin Bai immediately agreed. “I’ll go buy some vegetable seeds and seedlings right now.”
Not long afterward, Lin Bai arrived in a medium-sized cargo truck. Once the employees had loaded the goods, the family climbed into the truck and soon reached the villa.
The villa was located on the outskirts of the city. Lin Bai had considered everything thoroughly: if they ever returned from another city, they would be able to find their backup supplies without having to venture deep into H City.
“What’s this?”
Lin Bai led Chen Qingqing and the children into the villa. A bunk bed stood in the middle of the room.
Lin Bai said, “You and the children will be resting in the spatial realm. You need somewhere to sleep, and this bed is just the right size.”
“…”
Chen Qingqing gazed at Lin Bai, deeply moved.
He was always so thoughtful.
She had been focused only on filling the spatial realm as much as possible, yet she had forgotten this.
She could sleep on the floor, but the children could not sleep on the floor with her, could they?
This bunk bed both saved space and fulfilled their need for a place to sleep. There was also plenty of room beneath the lower bunk to store supplies.
“It’s 0.8 meters by 1.8 meters.”
The spatial realm was two meters wide. Once the bunk bed was placed along the edge, there would still be room for a bedside storage rack.
Lin Bai’s efficiency was impeccable. When he ordered the bed, he had already had someone make a bedside storage rack to fit its dimensions.
“The bedside storage rack will be perfect for storing medicine.”
Lin Bai led Chen Qingqing to the back of the truck and opened the rear compartment. It was packed full of medicine.
“As you requested, I bought hemostatic medicine and powder, bandages, and disinfectant. For the disinfectant, I bought povidone-iodine and alcohol. I also bought plenty of anti-inflammatory medicine and antibiotics.”
“They’re all the most effective ones available on the market.”
Chen Qingqing nodded repeatedly. Picking up a box of medicine, she said softly, “In the Apocalypse, people would fight to the death over a single antibiotic pill… This one box of medicine could trade for countless people’s lives.”
Zombie infection was not guaranteed. If the wound could be disinfected in time and antibiotics were taken to fight the infection, there was a thirty-to-forty-percent chance of survival.
That was why antibiotics were unquestionably hard currency.
“There’s also this.”
Lin Bai picked up another box. “These are water purification tablets. You said that the water purification system would collapse in two weeks and the water sources would become contaminated. I imagine these will be in short supply too. I also bought simple distillation apparatus, some activated charcoal, water purification equipment…”
There was too little time for Chen Qingqing to explain every detail to Lin Bai, but he had extracted a great deal of information from her brief descriptions and extrapolated even more.
Lin Bai went out several more times, hauling back all the goods they had ordered.
He had ordered several layers of large racks two meters high. Their dimensions were just right for placing against the walls, allowing them to save as much storage space as possible.
He had also bought household batteries, a generator, automotive fuel, and liquefied-gas cylinders for cooking.
Although the spatial realm had no windows, its air circulation was good. Lin Bai therefore thought they could try cooking inside.
For that purpose, he had specially bought a two-meter-long kitchen base cabinet with a gray-and-white marble countertop.
After everyone had left and the surroundings had fallen quiet, the couple began moving the supplies into the spatial realm.
To divide the area and make it easier to organize the supplies, Chen Qingqing and Lin Bai drew up a detailed floor plan of the spatial realm.
They first moved the bunk bed inside and placed it against the north wall. Then they stuffed the perfectly fitted bedside storage rack into the gap between the bed and the wall.
Lin Bai was responsible for going in and out of the spatial realm to move things, while Chen Qingqing organized the supplies inside. Xiaohuan sat on the bed and, following Chen Qingqing’s instructions, placed various medicines in the bedside rack.
The work was clearly divided among them, and they had everything neatly arranged within an hour.
The infant formula was stacked in orderly rows against the south wall directly opposite the bed.
In front of the infant formula were more than three hundred cases of tissue boxes, packed tightly together. Beside the tissues were the daily necessities, including Shuoshuo’s diapers, Chen Qingqing’s sanitary pads, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, and other items.
They left a narrow gap between the daily necessities and the tissue boxes, allowing them to pass through and retrieve the infant formula.
Farther ahead, cabinets stood against the west wall. A liquefied-gas cylinder and the newly purchased pots, bowls, and utensils were stuffed underneath, turning the area into a kitchen.
Against the east wall, opposite the kitchen, stood the storage racks. The upper shelves held the lighter canned goods and vacuum-packed food, while the tightly stacked rice and flour were placed below for convenient access.
The space beneath the lower bunk was filled with toolboxes containing all kinds of tools.
“It would be great if we had a refrigerator,” Chen Qingqing murmured.
“Then Xiaohuan could eat fresh meat.”
Although they had placed a household power supply beside the kitchen area, it certainly would not provide enough electricity to run a refrigerator.
As soon as she finished speaking, a line of white text suddenly appeared on the west wall of the spatial realm—
【Freezing space activation progress: 0/100】
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