With plenty of food in hand, Shen Xingdu felt calm, but she knew human desire was limitless.
Eating rice and fried chicken every day would eventually become tiresome.
In the late apocalypse, the most torturous thing wasn’t starving—it was the exhaustion of one’s taste buds.
When you crave a bite of hot and sour rice noodles or a sip of ice-cold cola and can’t have it, the frustration could drive anyone mad.
So on the third day, Shen Xingdu set out to sweep the city for all kinds of gourmet food.
Her first stop was the city’s largest frozen food wholesale market.
“Boss, hotpot ingredients—all varieties: beef balls, fish tofu, shrimp paste, sausage, crab sticks… five hundred boxes of each.”
“And the premium snowflake beef rolls and lamb rolls—don’t give me any processed meat. I want the best, ten thousand pounds.”
“Also tripe, yellow throat, duck intestines—top quality, cleaned, two thousand pounds total.”
The frozen section manager looked at this young girl in sportswear as if she were the God of Wealth himself.
“Miss, are you opening a hotpot chain?”
“Yes, one that spans the whole country,” Shen Xingdu casually lied.
After finishing the hotpot ingredients, she moved on to the seafood section.
Although she couldn’t raise live fish in her Time-Stopped Space (not high enough level yet), she could store dead seafood perfectly!
“King crabs, Boston lobsters, Dongxing grouper, salmon—if it’s alive, catch it! Freeze and pack it immediately!”
She hired a dozen workers to help gut the fish and process the seafood.
While processed seafood wasn’t as fresh as just-caught fish, in the apocalypse, getting a real taste of ocean fish was already a luxury.
With the fresh produce taken care of, Shen Xingdu turned to snacks and beverages.
She contacted a large trading company’s warehouse directly.
“Soft drinks (Coke, Sprite, Fanta)—20,000 cases. Glass bottles only, fully carbonated.”
“Bottled water, 500ml, 100,000 cases. 5L water barrels, 50,000 barrels.”
“Chocolate and candy bars—high-calorie, clear out your stock.”
“Potato chips, spicy strips, self-heating hotpots, snail noodles… especially snail noodles—10,000 boxes! Include the stinky and spicy version too!”
Although snail noodles had a pungent smell in a confined space, on a freezing night, cooking a hot, stinky, spicy pot with two fried eggs was heavenly—just thinking about it made Shen Xingdu salivate.
Fruits were also a must.
Vitamin deficiency could lead to sepsis.
She swept the fruit wholesale market: durians, cherries, strawberries, watermelon, grapes… in season or not, she bought everything she could.
By the end of the day, Shen Xingdu’s temporary warehouses were stuffed full.
Late at night, she once again became a Space Mover, leaving nothing behind.
Looking at the colorful shelves inside her Time-Stopped Space, some areas were stacked with red soda boxes, others piled with white rice bags, and one corner dedicated entirely to snacks of every color.
This was the most beautiful sight in the world.
On her way home, she passed a private bookstore on the verge of closing.
An idea struck her.
The apocalypse was long and dull; without internet or electricity, mental entertainment was essential.
She entered the store. “Boss, how much for these books?”
The owner frowned while packing: “Everything’s half off for clearance. Which ones do you want?”
“All of them.”
“Ah?”
“I said, every book in the store—novels, magazines, comics, even educational materials and encyclopedias—plus your bookshelves. I want everything.”
Knowledge was power. Any future need for agricultural techniques or machinery repair, these books would be priceless.
The owner was so moved he nearly knelt.
After emptying the bookstore, Shen Xingdu headed to the electronics market.
She bought ten high-end laptops, dozens of high-capacity tablets, and hundreds of terabytes of portable hard drives.
Then she spent a fortune hiring people to download every movie, TV show, variety show, anime, and single-player game available on the market.
“Even if I live to 100 in the apocalypse, I still won’t run out of content to watch,” Shen Xingdu said, satisfied, patting the boxes of hard drives.
Back in her car, she glanced at the calendar.
Twenty-seven days remained until the apocalypse.
Basic sustenance and entertainment were secured.
Next came the main event.
Her gaze turned sharp.
It was time to pay a visit to her scumbag father’s private winery.
In her previous life, Shen Hongwei had leveraged the stored wine and supplies there to curry favor with influential people during the early apocalypse, even trading for entry into official bases.
This time, that leverage was hers.
Shen Xingdu started the car, a cold, determined smile curling at her lips.