Over the past few days, Lin Mei had already formed a rough plan for the space in her mind. The space was simply too small. If she wanted to store as many supplies as possible, she would need shelves to organize everything efficiently.
Back at the small hotel, Lin Mei took out a pen and paper and began listing the items she needed to purchase.
Human survival basically came down to four things: clothing, food, shelter, and transportation. Shelter and transportation could be ignored for now. Her priority when stockpiling supplies would be clothing and food.
The “clothing” category included everyday underwear, summer clothes, winter clothes, specialized clothing for extreme cold or extreme heat, blankets, cotton, fabric materials—because she had no idea what kind of future she might face, raw fabric seemed more practical—various kinds of shoes, as well as protective suits, diving suits, one-piece raincoats, rain boots, and other gear needed for special environments.
As for “food,” that was even simpler: anything edible.
Considering that whether it was an apocalyptic disaster or fleeing famine in ancient times, it would be unrealistic to cook raw ingredients openly in such environments. It was difficult enough for one person to survive alone. Once disaster struck, food would become extremely scarce. How would she explain where raw ingredients came from?
Because of that, Lin Mei didn’t intend to stockpile too many raw foods. Instead, she wanted to fill her space as much as possible with ready-to-eat cooked food.
She also created a separate category specifically for medicine, because in her eyes, it was one of the most crucial survival supplies. She even searched online for common illnesses and carefully recorded both prescription and over-the-counter medicines used to treat them.
By the time she finished jotting down everything, several sheets of paper were covered in notes, and two to three hours had already passed. Feeling it was enough for now, she went downstairs to the hotel front desk and arranged to stay for the next month. Then she grabbed a quick meal outside before immediately returning to her room.
After deducting the money spent taking over the shop and her recent expenses, Lin Mei only had 130,000 yuan left in her bank account. Worried it wouldn’t be enough, she downloaded a loan app recommended by Zhang Chengcheng and applied for credit.
To her surprise, the process went smoothly, and she was quickly approved for a 200,000 yuan credit limit. She didn’t rush to withdraw the money yet. For now, she planned to spend her own savings first.
Because the space was so tiny, shelves were essential if she wanted to maximize storage capacity.
Lin Mei immediately began shopping online like crazy. After comparing multiple stores, she finally chose the one with the best value for money and ordered eight industrial storage racks measuring 150 cm long, 60 cm wide, and 200 cm high, each layer capable of holding 590 kilograms.
Some were three-tier racks, some four-tier, and some five-tier. She bought two each of the three-tier and four-tier versions, while the remaining racks were five-tier models. Including shipping, the total cost came to 8,000 yuan.
The amount made Lin Mei’s heart ache, but flimsy shelves wouldn’t work if they collapsed under heavy supplies. Naturally, all deliveries were addressed to the storefront. Even if someone noticed she was buying large amounts of goods, they would simply assume the supplies were for the shop.
As for clothes and bedding, Lin Mei also planned to buy everything online. She was socially awkward and terrible at bargaining. If she bought too many things in physical stores, people would definitely find it strange and ask endless questions. Shopping online was far easier and more convenient. Everything could be delivered straight to the shop, and once the shelves arrived, she could organize it all together before transferring it into the space.
To prepare for the possibility that she might transmigrate into ancient times—perhaps even reincarnate as a child—she also bought children’s underwear, shoes, and clothes for ages up to ten years old. She intentionally chose simple, old-fashioned styles leaning toward historical aesthetics. Since she didn’t understand fabrics well, she picked pure cotton materials and plain-looking designs.
If she ended up being born into a wealthy family, those items might not matter. But if she were born into a farming household, flashy clothing would clearly be inappropriate.
The “clothing” category alone took Lin Mei nearly three hours to finish purchasing. If she wanted to survive comfortably in the future, she had to think carefully now.
For bedding, she bought one ten-jin cotton quilt and one eight-jin silk quilt. Quilts took up too much space, so two would be enough. She specifically asked the seller to vacuum-pack them as tightly as possible before shipping so they would occupy less room in the space.
She also purchased fifty jin of compressed long-staple cotton as an emergency reserve, along with two sleeping bags designed for different weather conditions.
Lin Mei bought especially large quantities of underwear, socks, and undergarments—two hundred sets each. She also bought twenty sets of thermal underwear in both thin and thick varieties.
For modern clothing, she mainly chose practical sportswear: quick-dry clothing, waterproof outfits, sun-protective clothing, summer wear, and winter wear. She bought three to five sets of each type, mostly in dirt-resistant, inconspicuous colors.
As for ancient-era or historical settings, she simply bought bolts of fabric directly. In total, she purchased thirty full rolls of cloth.
The “clothing” category was basically complete for now. Anything she forgot could always be bought later. Altogether, this round of purchases cost nearly 60,000 yuan. The most expensive items were the specialized suits for extreme cold and heat, along with deep-sea diving equipment.
As for food, Lin Mei first contacted a former university classmate in Xinjiang through her phone and asked for help purchasing one hundred jin of beef jerky and two hundred jin of assorted dried fruits and nuts, including figs, pistachios, various raisins, red dates, dried apricots, dried apples, dried prunes, and more. She told her friend to freely choose a wide variety.
Those three hundred jin of goods cost 24,000 yuan.
Then she found a friend on her social media whose family sold dried seafood products and placed another order: fifty jin of dried shrimp, thirty jin of kelp, five jin of seaweed, and twenty jin of cooked dried fish, totaling 5,000 yuan.
She decided not to buy any additional seafood products. Seafood had a strong smell, and if the future truly turned out the way she feared, cooking raw seafood openly would be impossible. These dried goods would be stored untouched for emergencies. If she needed seafood flavors for prepared foods later, she could always buy small amounts fresh from markets instead.