Tang Xiaoman stocked up on another hundred freshly roasted ducks.
As she wandered around shopping, she continued her frenzied buying spree.
Fried chicken shops, milk tea stores, dessert cafés—she visited every shop along the street, stockpiling every flavor of delicious food she could find.
Every time she walked out of a store, her hands were full of freshly made food and drinks. She stuffed them all into her car, shut the windows, and stored everything into her space.
Tang Xiaoman’s only regret was that her storage space was limited.
All food, medicine, beverages—anything with an expiration date—had to be stored inside the space, where it would stay fresh and warm.
As for the huge and bulky items, she had already unloaded them into the club’s storage room, planning to move them into the villa after renovations were complete.
To free up as much room as possible, she transformed into a master organizer, cramming everything tightly together.
But no matter how much she compressed the space, there were less than five cubic meters remaining when Lu Jingming called.
“The medical equipment, medicines, vaccines, and family planning supplies you wanted have all been ordered. Once you pay the remaining balance, they can be shipped.”
Although it was good news, Tang Xiaoman’s face immediately fell.
Wuwu… she had no idea whether the remaining five cubic meters would even fit all the medicines and vaccines.
Fortunately, the numerous medical devices didn’t need refrigerated storage and could simply be placed inside the ordinary rooms without preservation functions.
Even though there wasn’t much room left there either, she could temporarily unload some things into the club’s storage room if necessary.
In addition, sealed alcohol, canned food, and cigarettes could also be temporarily moved out of the space.
In short, the space had to prioritize medicines, fresh food, and hot drinks—survival supplies that absolutely required freshness and temperature preservation.
While thinking through all these issues, she answered quickly, “Okay, send me the amount for the remaining balance, and I’ll transfer it immediately.”
After thanking him, she hung up.
Following the amount Lu Jingming sent over, she transferred the payment and let out a soft sigh of relief.
Now that the medical equipment was settled, the most important part of her stockpiling plan was finally complete.
She had just been about to celebrate this stage victory with a good meal when another unfamiliar number called.
Tang Xiaoman felt annoyed just looking at it. She didn’t even need to guess—it had to be someone from the Gu family or the Su family.
This time, Gu Heng was in trouble.
Big trouble.
No matter what methods the Gu and Su families used, they couldn’t bail him out again, so they desperately harassed Tang Xiaoman, hoping she would sign a letter of forgiveness.
Tang Xiaoman couldn’t be bothered wasting time or words with them. She simply hung up and blocked the numbers.
But the endless harassment calls became unbearably annoying.
So Tang Xiaoman went to a service center and got a new SIM card, removing the old one entirely.
She sent a group message to the people she absolutely needed to stay in contact with, informing them of her new number. Only they would be able to reach her now.
At last, Tang Xiaoman’s world became peaceful again.
She wandered through the food street, dazzled by the signature dish advertisements outside every restaurant.
Too much food.
She couldn’t possibly eat it all.
And aside from the five cubic meters reserved for medicines and vaccines, her space couldn’t fit even one more plate of food.
Tears streamed down her face in deep regret.
Tang Xiaoman let herself eat to her heart’s content and finally let out a satisfied burp.
Sigh… once the apocalypse began, she would never again be able to enjoy such rich and abundant cuisine.
Checking the time, she saw it was only seven-thirty in the evening. She wasn’t in a hurry to return to the club and continued shopping instead.
She pushed open a glass door and entered a jewelry store, only to stop in realization a moment later.
Uh… what was she even doing here?
After the apocalypse began, not only would cash rapidly lose value, but the markets for antiques and paintings would also collapse. Jewelry and accessories would become worthless too.
When merely surviving was difficult, who would still care about wearing such things?
But Tang Xiaoman had been drawn in by the dazzling beauty of the sparkling jewels.
Women were naturally attracted to shiny things, and she was no exception.
The apocalypse might be cruel, but who said there couldn’t still be a little romance and beauty?
Besides, she wasn’t lacking money right now. If she liked something, she’d buy it.
Tang Xiaoman charged through jewelry stores, gold shops, and silver shops like a whirlwind, spending five to six million yuan in one go.
Afraid of attracting thieves, she entered her car after every shop visit and stored the jewelry into her space.
In the middle of all this busy shopping, she failed to notice that the jade bracelet on her wrist had become even more translucent and lustrous.
After buying nearly ten million yuan worth of gold, silver, jade, and jewelry, she finally felt satisfied.
Tang Xiaoman checked the remaining balance in her account—there were still over sixty million yuan left.
The remaining renovation payment for Tianlai Villa was about five million yuan. In addition, the four premium safety pods and twenty oxygen packs she ordered would cost over two million.
As for the bodyguards’ salaries, she only needed to pay off those who would later be eliminated and dismissed, then cover the first month’s wages.
Once the apocalypse began, what they would need wouldn’t be money anymore, but survival supplies.
Most of what she stockpiled was for herself. As for her future teammates’ supplies, she planned to let Zhou Yichen handle the purchasing.
As long as the money arrived, Zhou Yichen would surely do an excellent job.
Looking at the large remaining balance, Tang Xiaoman felt oddly helpless—as though she had money but nowhere useful left to spend it.
When Tang Xiaoman returned to the club, Zhou Yichen had already led the team in repelling yet another attack.
“Miss Tang, people from the Gu and Su families came several times today to cause trouble. We already drove them out,” Zhou Yichen reported on the day’s battle results.
“Woof!” Fubao lifted his head proudly.
Zhou Yichen added helplessly, “Fubao performed very well too. We already rewarded him with chicken legs.”
Tang Xiaoman was very satisfied. “You all did well.”
She glanced at the neatly lined-up bodyguards and noticed there were even more people now.
After counting them, there were sixteen bodyguards in total including Zhou Yichen. The team was now full.
However…
Of the five newly arrived bodyguards, why were four of them women?
Looks like Manager Zhang had first tested the waters by sending three female bodyguards. Seeing that Tang Xiaoman didn’t object, he had sent four more.
Employers generally preferred male bodyguards, and female bodyguards usually earned less.
The reason was simple: women generally had lower physical strength and offensive capability than men.
But Tang Xiaoman paid everyone equally, so Manager Zhang had clearly gotten a huge bargain by filling the slots with seven female bodyguards.
After all, the contract only specified “people without family burdens”; it never specified gender.
The main issue was that unmarried male bodyguards without dependents were hard to find, so Manager Zhang simply recruited overlooked female bodyguards to make up the numbers.
Tang Xiaoman showed no dissatisfaction and immediately assigned numbers to the bodyguards.
Aside from Zhou Yichen, the fifteen bodyguards were numbered from 01 to 15 according to body weight.
Naturally, the lower numbers belonged to the muscular men, while the higher numbers belonged to the female bodyguards.
“For now, the numbering is based on weight. But in five days, there’ll be an assessment. Then you’ll be renumbered according to your actual abilities, and the bottom five will be eliminated.” Tang Xiaoman examined each of the fifteen bodyguards one by one before her gaze stopped on Number 01.
Number 01 shifted uncomfortably under her stare and nervously asked, “Miss Tang, is there a problem?”
Tang Xiaoman said in surprise, “Huh? Your chest is bigger than all the female bodyguards’.”