Qiao Yu searched online for information about the Paramoun Marauder. The Marauder was an extremely sturdy and durable vehicle, measuring 5.14 meters in length, 2.48 meters in width, and 2.55 meters in height, with a ground clearance of 420 millimeters. It possessed exceptional bulletproof mobility and could withstand threats posed by landmines, improvised explosive devices, and ballistic attacks. Qiao Yu didn’t have much knowledge about vehicles, but she had been fortunate enough to see a Marauder in her previous life, and it truly lived up to its name as the “Marauder.” After the Apocalypse, a sturdy off-road vehicle like this would be nothing short of a “mobile fortress” that one could only hope to encounter by chance.
Unfortunately, the Marauder was a military vehicle that ordinary civilians simply couldn’t purchase. Qiao Yu had no connections in that regard, so she had to settle for the next best option and ordered two Knight XVs instead. Although the Knight XV’s performance wasn’t as excellent as the Marauder’s, it was still highly resistant to impacts. Its body was constructed with bulletproof steel plates, and the windows and windshield were made of 54-millimeter-thick bulletproof transparent material. It also possessed excellent properties in terms of bulletproofing and explosion resistance.
Qiao Yu paid the full amount and contacted customer service to add an expedited order with additional shipping fees. Sure enough, money makes the world go round—the customer service representative immediately stated that the vehicles could be delivered in about a week.
With the vehicles taken care of, it was time to consider the fuel problem. Consumables like gasoline and diesel were typically subject to purchase restrictions.
Qiao Yu searched for information online and discovered that purchasing spare bulk gasoline indeed required one to personally bring identification documents to a gas station. She felt somewhat troubled by this. If that were the case, then hoarding large quantities of fuel would be completely impossible for her.
But if she couldn’t buy it… then she would have to seize it after the Apocalypse arrived.
After the Apocalypse, the rules of the human world would be completely reshuffled, and plundering was simply a commonplace occurrence. The systems and moral concepts from before the Apocalypse would crumble in the face of survival.
Qiao Yu printed several high-definition maps of the various districts in S City, then picked up a notebook and listed out a must-purchase checklist, writing gasoline and diesel at the top. She then began searching for all the gas stations of various sizes in S City, marking their locations in detail on the maps.
By the time Qiao Yu finished marking all the gas station locations, the sky had already grown somewhat dim.
Qiao Yu had spent the entire day caught between the shock of her rebirth and the anxiety of preparations. Only now did she realize that her stomach was aching faintly from hunger, so she got up and went to the kitchen.
There were still some eggs, tomatoes, and a bag of dried noodles in the refrigerator, so Qiao Yu simply made herself a bowl of tomato and egg noodles.
Qiao Yu’s cooking skills were hardly anything to boast about, yet the noodles before her tasted so delicious that they brought her to tears—she could no longer remember how long it had been since she’d eaten such fresh food.
After the Apocalypse, the most common food was only the Bran-wheat patties sold at the various Survivor Bases. They were small pieces, somewhat coarse, and not particularly pleasant in texture, but they provided much more satiety than tree bark. Back then, Qiao Yu had actually been quite content with them, because most people couldn’t even afford to eat Bran-wheat patties.
Qiao Yu ate the noodles in small bites, savoring the long-lost flavor with great attentiveness. It was only at this moment that she truly began to feel a genuine sense of having been reborn.
After the meal, Qiao Yu felt a bit thirsty, so she took out the thermos stored in her Spatial Dimension and poured herself a cup of water. It was hot water she had boiled that morning, and she had assumed it would have gone completely cold by now. But the moment she brought it to her lips, a wave of steam hit her face.
Qiao Yu froze, staring wide-eyed at the cup of water. It was indeed still steaming, and the temperature was just as scalding as freshly boiled water!
How could this be? Could it be that time was frozen within the Yushu Space?
Forgetting her thirst for the moment, Qiao Yu grabbed her phone and started ordering takeout—meat, vegetables, rice, and soup. She had to confirm whether everything placed into the Yushu Space would remain exactly as it was when it went in.
The delivery was fast; everything arrived in less than an hour. Qiao Yu took a small portion and put it into the jade ring space, then stuffed the rest all at once into the Yushu Space.
She glanced at the time—it was already past nine in the evening.
Qiao Yu’s head still ached a little, but she didn’t feel like sleeping. The impact of her rebirth and the Spatial Dimension was too overwhelming. She was afraid this was all just a dream—that once she woke up, everything would return to square one.
Since her mind was too tense to sleep anyway, she curled up on the sofa and began studying the “Yushu Space” that had given her such an incredible surprise.
Qiao Yu stared intently at the Jade Tree in the space from top to bottom for a long while before carefully plucking a fruit the size of a lotus leaf and bringing it out of the space. Since she only needed to move her consciousness within the space, she had no real sense of the fruit’s weight. The moment she brought it out—whoa! This single fruit must weigh forty or fifty pounds!
The fruit was a translucent jade-green color, with a shell neither too soft nor too hard, feeling somewhat like a mango to the touch. There was a faint sound of liquid sloshing inside. Qiao Yu fetched a large 25-liter PC water bucket, placed the fruit on the sofa, carefully cut a small opening at the pointed top, and then slowly tilted it to let the liquid inside flow into the bucket.
The liquid from the fruit was transparent, looking no different from water, but it carried a faint, refreshing fragrance. As the liquid drained out, the fruit gradually began to shrink. It wasn’t until the bucket was nearly full that all the liquid had been poured out. The fruit, now drained of its moisture, had shrunk to the size of an adult’s fist.
Perhaps because the Jade Tree was connected to Qiao Yu’s consciousness, she instinctively sensed that the liquid was non-toxic and drinkable. Taking a small sip, she found it far more crisp and sweet than ordinary water—somewhat like mountain spring water, but with an extra hint of an unfamiliar fragrance.
Qiao Yu was overjoyed. In the Apocalypse, everything was scarce, and water resources were so rare that they were priceless even if available. With this “Jade Tree,” it was equivalent to having a large, unpolluted reservoir—she wouldn’t have to worry about drinking water for now.
She thought the water tasted excellent, and since she was thirsty anyway, she drank a few more sips, stopping only after downing most of a cup. Then she sealed the bucket lid and turned her attention back to the “Jade Fruit” that had been drained of its liquid.
After the moisture was removed, the Jade Fruit’s color deepened, and it was no longer translucent—its internal structure was completely hidden from view. But when she squeezed it firmly with her hand, she could vaguely feel a grainy texture.
Qiao Yu picked up a small knife, intending to cut the fruit open directly, but the blade seemed unable to find any point of purchase on the fruit’s surface. After several failed attempts to slice it open, she gave up and resorted to squeezing and pressing it with her hands.
It was a desperate measure, a last-ditch attempt, but surprisingly, Qiao Yu managed to “squeeze” out what was inside—a verdant green “Jade Seed.”
The Jade Seed was about the size of a pea. Qiao Yu picked it up and turned it over in her palm, wondering what use this seed could possibly have. Could it grow into another giant tree?
Just as she was pondering this, she felt a clarity wash over her mind, as if strands of emerald energy were flowing from her palm, slowly channeled through the Yushu Space into the seed. In no time at all, the seed seemed to sprout, suddenly cracking open with a small slit, from which emerged a tiny segment of verdant vine. It looked exactly like the vines entwined around the giant tree’s branches in the Spatial Dimension, only much more miniature and devoid of leaves. However, at the tip of the vine sat a small, emerald-green flower bud.
Qiao Yu froze for a moment. Was it about to bloom?