Pei Ye opened his mouth, but in the end, he couldn’t say the last sentence.
The apocalypse was brutal. If he met misfortune, she—a soft, fragile woman—would likely have to endure countless hardships.
Thinking this, the coffee in her mouth tasted painfully bitter.
Pei Ye couldn’t drink another sip and silently switched to eating fruit instead.
Wen Yu, on the other hand, felt a brief wave of melancholy but quickly cheered up again.
She was a little bitter gourd mistakenly born by the underworld; just being able to protect herself and not trouble others was already a blessing. She didn’t have the energy to save all of humanity.
Time quickly reached six o’clock.
Someone knocked on the office door, and Pei Ye got up to open it.
As soon as he cracked it open, a person squeezed inside.
It was Gu Feng, who didn’t bother with pleasantries and went straight to the sofa, pouring himself a cup of coffee.
“You two really know how to enjoy yourselves.”
Wen Yu didn’t respond, washed her hands, rinsed her mouth, and pulled out a few more cups from her space.
After coffee and a bit of breakfast, the rain outside still showed no sign of stopping. The group had no choice but to continue sweeping through the floors.
The gains weren’t huge—mostly snacks and tea packets—but it was better than nothing.
On the thirtieth floor, they discovered a pharmaceutical company.
It wasn’t a warehouse; the office was here merely for business dealings with competitors, so it didn’t store large quantities of medicine. But there were many types and many employees.
Each sales employee had a small box of samples, which would last them quite a while.
More importantly, the refrigerated cabinets contained injections.
Once the power went out, these injections would lose their potency. Kept in a preservable space, they would be extremely valuable for either personal use or bartering in the future.
Lin Yitang, thinking of Wen Yu’s space, couldn’t help but wish she could take it for herself.
She was a reborn chosen one; why didn’t she have such a golden finger?
If she also had awakened a spatial ability, the whole team’s supplies would pass through her hands. Would Pei Ye dare to be indifferent toward her then?
It was infuriating.
She wondered if, after Wen Yu’s death, absorbing her crystal core would grant her the same kind of space.
Indeed, ability users also had crystal cores, which contained energy comparable to a high-level zombie’s core.
Moreover, ability crystal cores had attributes. Absorbing one with the same attribute could provide a huge boost.
This was her fallback plan; unless absolutely necessary, she wouldn’t tell anyone else.
Lin Yitang’s calculating gaze flickered briefly.
She stood at the back of the group, unnoticed. Wen Yu, however, shivered slightly and rubbed her arms as she continued sweeping the floors.
The thirty-first floor was a seed company.
Wen Yu didn’t know why seed companies were in the tech building—but a pharmaceutical company was there too. Since they were already there, she took everything.
The thirty-second floor was too corroded by acid rain to enter, so they retraced their steps back to the floor they had stayed on the night before.
After two full days of acid rain, worried about water-filled potholes corroding their tires, the group rested in the building for another day.
So it wasn’t until the fourth day that they set out again.
The destination remained the same: the building materials market for solar panels.
Of course, after this acid rain ordeal, the villa would not only need electricity installed but also reinforced, which meant more materials were required.
Ye Xin had no transport and couldn’t move alone, so he decided to go with Wen Yu and the others to the market, returning later to make a detour home.
He didn’t mention his family’s situation. By now, whether they were alive or dead was probably decided, so a day or half a day made no difference.
On the way, there were zombies pierced by the acid rain, but more were simply hungry and coming out to forage after days without food.
Stockpiling supplies was as important as leveling up abilities.
So they didn’t avoid them; they fought along the way, collecting a number of crystal cores.
By the time they reached the building materials market, it was already afternoon.
Wen Yu pulled out compressed biscuits for everyone to eat, quickly filling their stomachs and starting the collection phase.
Primarily, Wen Yu collected.
Monocrystalline silicon solar panels, working from -40°C to 85°C, corrosion- and water-resistant, compatible with 12V batteries.
Amorphous silicon panels, suitable for indoor low-light conditions, for charging small devices.
Flexible photovoltaic panels, brackets, and accessories.
All brands, types, and sizes—anything they saw, they took.
Additionally, there were various storage devices, steel pipes, electrical network components, and more, emptying nearly half the market.
Pei Ye saw enough was enough and quickly told Wen Yu to stop.
Fifty square meters of space filled up fast; if it weren’t for Gu Feng and others too excited to notice, the problem would have been discovered sooner.
Wen Yu nodded on the surface.
But as they left, she waved subtly and, unobserved, collected a lot of tempered glass.
It seemed useless now, but when it was truly needed, not having it would be regrettable.
After collecting building materials, they still needed food.
Supermarkets were the obvious first choice.
But ordinary people also went to supermarkets first. Wen Yu, with a billion supplies in her space, didn’t want to compete.
The first big haul from the supermarket’s storage left her somewhat regretful.
But the play had to go on. She pretended to be troubled: “There’s too little in the supermarket. If we could find a food factory, it’d be better.”
Pei Ye said nothing.
Ye Xin, however, lit up and enthusiastically clapped in agreement: “Wen Jie really has ideas. Finding a food factory is like finding a treasure chest—any food needs raw materials!”
For example, a biscuit factory would have lots of flour, rice, sugar, salt, oil, etc., and perhaps many flavors of biscuits yet to leave the warehouse.
Or a canned food factory—raw materials like meat, salt, and oil aside, the finished meat and fruit cans were survival supplies that could be stored long-term.
Key point: the assembly lines in these factories, if dismantled, could be useful in the future.
Pei Ye decided to go find a food factory.
Then he asked the crucial question: “Do you know where any food factories are nearby?”
Nobody knew; the group shook their heads.
Ye Xin said: “We can use navigation.”
Pei Ye: “No internet.”
Ye Xin: …
Lin Yitang sneered. Idiots.
She glanced at Wen Yu, clearly showing disdain, probably gloating.
Wen Yu, seeing Lin Yitang’s scornful expression, grabbed an empty bottled water and hurled it at her head.
Lin Yitang cried out in pain, clutching her forehead and shrill-voiced: “Wen Yu, what right do you have to hit me!”
“Because I don’t like you, is that a problem?” Wen Yu rolled her eyes and continued, “From now on, the more you pay attention to me, the more I’ll hit you.”
“Wen Yu, you—”
Before Lin Yitang could finish, Song Yu—the devoted sycophant—rushed over: “Wen Yu, we’ve already accommodated you enough! Why do you keep bullying Xiao Tang!”
“Accommodated me how?”
Wen Yu sneered: “Not living in my villa is accommodating me? Eating my supplies is accommodating me? Everyone is brainstorming together to gather supplies, and you two just sit there waiting to take advantage, looking like you have cataracts, seeing everyone as a blank spot. If you’re really so aggrieved, go gather supplies on your own outside the team.”