Yu Xi, wearing a hat and mask, walked into a large chain jewelry store across the street. No matter the era, gold is a rare metal, always priced and recyclable.
In her backpack, she carried two gold bars, each weighing 500 grams.
In the zombie apocalypse, she initially collected rings, bracelets, necklaces, and pendants from the counters. Later, she thought of gold bars and then remembered that every jewelry store had a safe.
So, she specialized in prying open those safe doors. Vault doors that required various tools to unlock needed only a bottle of [High-Temperature Perfume] for her, which took about ten seconds to get the job done.
As a result, most of her later collections were gold bars. They came in various weights, ranging from 10 grams to 1000 grams, stacked in neat rows in that storage box.
Most of the gold bars had engravings and markings, indicating their origins, serial numbers, and sometimes blessings. Yu Xi smoothed out the important information like serial numbers and origins with her fingers, planning to test the waters first.
The process was smoother than she imagined. Jewelry stores never cared about the shape of the gold they bought back, and invoices were unnecessary. All that was required was a photocopy of an ID card as proof. If there were no issues after a while, the photocopy would be disposed of, ensuring the customer’s information remained confidential.
The price depended on purity.
Normal gold bars are pure gold, containing 99.9% gold, the type most commonly bought by jewelry stores.
The two gold bars she had were of this type.
She didn’t bring out all her gold bars in one store, taking out only one, a 500-gram bar. The gold price was 420 RMB per gram, earning her 210,000 RMB, which was directly deposited into her bank account.
She then took a taxi to another large chain jewelry store of a different brand and again earned 210,000 RMB.
The sales clerks at both stores were delighted. They had made a big sale shortly after opening, ensuring their monthly bonuses.
Yu Xi was also pleased; she could finally shop freely.
【…】
Yu Xi: If you don’t want to talk, you don’t have to.
She instinctively retorted but stopped after remembering the system’s rare responsiveness earlier.
A day earlier, the system had told her that the apocalypse mission could indeed be started early, but there would be some issues.
Yu Xi: What kind of issues?
【The 24-hour preparation time will be reduced to 1 hour, and the difficulty of the apocalypse may increase.】
Yu Xi: How difficult? A certain death scenario?
【The difficulty of the apocalyptic worlds you can traverse has a set range.】
Yu Xi: So it means between the easiest and the hardest levels I can handle, right?
【Correct.】
Yu Xi understood. It was a protection mechanism for the missioner. Even at the highest difficulty, it would still be within the range she could handle. It could be very challenging and dangerous but never an unsolvable certain death scenario.
Of course, there was also a chance she might encounter an extremely low-difficulty apocalypse if she got lucky.
Yu Xi thought about it all night, lying in her bed in her parents’ apartment, listening to the sirens of ambulances and fire trucks outside. She finally made a decision.
Yu Xi: Give me a few days to prepare, then I will start the mission world.
After leaving the jewelry store, Yu Xi visited two pawnshops she had previously researched.
In one, she sold two 300-gram gold bars, and in the other, she sold a 1000-gram bar.
The pawnshops offered slightly lower prices for gold, and the procedures were similar. She spread out her transactions for safety.
One shop gave her 240,000 RMB, and the other 390,000 RMB.
Thus, she had a total of 1,050,000 RMB on two newly opened bank cards.
In the afternoon, she took all necessary documents and went directly to an insurance company, purchasing a policy for herself. She listed Yu Feng and Fan Qi as the beneficiaries of accidental death, opting for the maximum coverage.
Being young, with a health showing she was in good shape, and having a stable, ample income, her insurance policy was quickly processed.
She left 1,000,000 RMB on the two cards and put the insurance policy in an opaque file bag, then placed the file bag in the linen cabinet at her parents’ apartment, at the very bottom, where Fan Qi never moved the linens.
Due to the recent tornado, she had been staying at her parents’ place these past few days.
Her small apartment, on the third floor, although small with only south-facing windows, had almost the entire southern wall made of glass, so it didn’t escape the wrath of the recent strong winds.
The glass wasn’t entirely shattered, but a lot of branches, leaves, wooden boards, and plastic debris had blown in, leaving the small living room downstairs in a mess. She had someone come to clean it up yesterday, but it would take three or four days to replace the broken glass, get new furniture, re-lay the flooring, and clean up. Due to this and Fan Qi’s concerns, she spent the days supervising the cleanup at her place and the nights at her parents’ apartment.
The day after completing the insurance, she drove her father’s car to a hardware store across from her apartment. She asked the owner to make six aluminum alloy storage racks, each two meters high, one meter wide, and thirty centimeters deep. These six, plus the previous twelve of the same size, would fully occupy one side of her Star House storage. Being a regular customer, the owner promised to have them ready by the end of the day and would deliver them to her apartment.
Next, she went to a nearby rental company and rented a small truck. With her C1 driver’s license, she could drive this type of truck. Her father’s car’s trunk was too small to carry a large amount of supplies in one go.
She then drove the truck to a goods market.
The goods market was on the other side of the city, away from the tornado’s path. Within a few days, the traces of the strong winds had almost been erased, especially in these business-focused stores. The vendors had immediately packed up their stalls and pulled down thick iron shutters when they saw the bad weather approaching. Being farther from the tornado, they hadn’t suffered as much damage as her parents’ apartment. Most stalls were intact.
Her Star House storage hadn’t been upgraded yet, and with the addition of the RV, the remaining space was limited.
She actually had enough supplies to last for her next mission, especially with the RV, which was practically a cheat device.
Due to the modified solar panels on the roof, the RV’s power could support all daily electrical needs, including high-consumption appliances like air conditioners, microwaves, and water heaters.
In the apocalypse, as long as there was enough gasoline, such a RV could solve most living problems.
Right now, she wasn’t stocking up just for her mission.
First, she considered the water supply.
Her Star House storage originally had ten 500-liter barrels, all filled with water, totaling five tons.
Five tons of water would suffice for the initial phase of a mission world, but not for the long term. She bought ten more barrels of the same size at the goods market, intending to increase her water storage to ten tons.
After paying, she had the owner deliver the barrels to her truck, placing them directly in the truck bed.
Next was the power supply issue.
She bought twenty large-capacity power banks at an electronics store and then went to a generator shop.
There were gasoline and diesel generators. She considered briefly before choosing the former. Although gasoline generators had lower power output, they were smaller and saved space, and they were sufficient for normal household electricity needs.
Since her space was stocked with gasoline, she naturally didn’t buy diesel generators.
Initially, she only stored gasoline because her camper van was a relatively rare gasoline version. Gasoline engines had lower noise and better cold resistance, making them more practical for her.
She bought two gasoline generators and, as usual, had them delivered to the truck and placed in the bed.
She also planned to buy some paper products: ten boxes of facial tissues, and ten packs each of toilet paper and kitchen paper.
Adjacent to the goods market was a food market building, which was more upscale and formal than a typical wholesale food market. It was mostly company direct sales rather than individual vendors.
The market had all the products sold in other supermarkets, many trendy products, and numerous dine-in or takeout cafes, bakeries, fried food shops, dessert shops, and coffee shops. These shops also sold their company’s various derivative products, such as coffee beans, coffee powder, packs of tapioca pearls, instant milk tea packs, and vacuum-sealed food packages.
The vast mall had clean, bright storefronts stretching as far as the eye could see, with numerous brands and brightly packaged products making Yu Xi feel like she had fallen into a joyful ocean, with an impulse to scream with delight.
She pushed the trolley she had bought from the goods market and began her shopping spree.
Condiments: two boxes each of oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, pepper, chicken essence, cumin, Sichuan pepper, star anise, cinnamon, basil, sea salt, etc.; two boxes of coffee beans, coffee powder, drip coffee packs, instant coffee, creamer, and instant milk tea packs; one box of various tea bags (green tea, black tea, flower tea, fruit tea).
Two boxes of popular cheese crackers, chocolate biscuits, onion-flavored biscuits, coated biscuits, and sandwich biscuits; one box of various packaged candies, including milk candies, hard candies, filled soft candies, and peanut candies.
Several large boxes contained popular brands of egg yolk pastries, snow skin mochi, matcha oat rings, cocoa butter cookies, mung bean cakes, cranberry cookies, half-baked cheese, egg crisps, glutinous rice rolls, and almond tofu.
At noon, she bought an avocado strawberry shake from a milk tea shop she hadn’t tried before and paired it with fried rice cakes and crispy fried meat for a simple lunch. The rice cakes were soft and chewy, and the fried meat was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, surprisingly delicious.
After eating, she ordered twenty servings each of fried rice cakes, crispy fried meat, and fried chicken feet, requesting to pick them up in two hours and reminding them not to prepare them too early.
She also placed orders at several nearby milk tea shops for about twenty cups each of different popular flavors, including flavored milk tea, strawberry shakes, hand-mixed taro with Oreo, mango sago, thick milk lava pearl milk tea, strawberry daifuku, mango coconut balls, strawberry cherry sago tea, Oreo cheese milk tea, and a bucket of fruit tea—ten varieties in total, making up 100 cups, to be picked up in two hours as well.
Then, she continued her shopping spree.
Drinks: five boxes each of 300ml bottles of Coke, Sprite, and Fanta, five boxes each of 250ml packs of iced tea, plain soy milk, chocolate soy milk, coconut milk, and ten boxes of room temperature milk.
She chose small packaging for the drinks for easy backpack storage and to avoid waste since they could be consumed in one go.
Convenience foods: one box each of twelve packs of instant noodles with flavors like pickled mustard beef, green onion pork ribs, spicy beef, braised beef, pork bone broth, three-flavored noodles, seafood, curry beef, spicy seafood, shrimp flavor, and army hotpot. She also bought two boxes of each flavor in twenty-four packs.
She bought the bucket-packaged ones for convenience, as they could be eaten just by adding hot water.
Two boxes each of twelve packs of sour and spicy vermicelli in original flavor, golden soup beef, and pepper pot crispy rice. Two boxes each of ten packs of self-heating rice in flavors like braised beef, preserved meat double, and curry beef. Two boxes each of six packs of self-heating hotpot with flavors like spicy tender beef, tomato crispy meat, crispy beef tripe, and tomato beef brisket.
When she bought too much to fit on the trolley, she had the store deliver the goods to her truck.
The small truck quickly filled up halfway.
Frozen foods: beef, pork, lamb, whole chickens, and whole ducks.
Each portion of frozen meat came in complete packaging with labels, making them easy to stack and access. They were all high-quality grain-fed meats, with the only downside being the price.
Other miscellaneous items included ice cream, frozen treats, various dried goods, and various grains and beans.
Anything Yu Xi thought Fan Qi and Yu Feng might want to eat or use, she bought in reasonable quantities.
Finally, she filled the truck to the brim and drove away, feeling content.
【…】
After buying a truckload of supplies, she felt great and sensed the Star House system’s reluctance to speak. She smiled but said nothing.
Yu Xi drove across most of the city, parking the small truck in an underground garage. She parked, then placed her hand on the truck bed to see if she could directly transfer the boxes into the Star House storage.
If that didn’t work, she’d get out and manually transfer the items.
Since the truck bed was considered a single unit, she could transfer its contents directly.
Yu Xi first placed the 100 cups of various milk teas and fried foods onto the warehouse shelves, followed by the ice cream and frozen meat. She continued filling every available space in the storage until it was completely full.
She then locked the truck and took the elevator up a level to a large branded water station across the street. She ordered 60 barrels of 19-liter purified water, indicating she would pick them up later.
Next, she went to the shopping mall above the parking garage. The first floor was a clothing mall with brand-name and popular brands as well as general brands.
Based on her and her parents’ sizes, she bought two sets each of various clothing for spring, autumn, winter, and summer, including underwear, thermal sets, sweaters, various jackets, down coats, sportswear, T-shirts, hoodies, thermal pants, and outdoor jackets.
She planned to replenish these supplies later, for now, she just wanted to stock up on a bit of everything.
She also bought slippers, sports shoes, waterproof boots, and thermal boots, two pairs per person for each type.
Since she bought a lot, she had the store staff help deliver the bags to the underground garage, quickly loading them into the truck bed.
Then, she drove to the water station to pick up the ordered water.
She had calculated the space beforehand, and the 60 barrels of water fit perfectly in the truck bed.
With that, her shopping spree for the day concluded.
She drove the small truck back to the residential area, parking it under the apartment building, and then locked the truck.
Inside the apartment, the south-facing floor-to-ceiling windows had been replaced, and the damaged furniture had been removed. The damaged flooring had been torn up and was being replaced that day.
The renovation worker was an experienced master hired by Yu Feng. He had also led the team that renovated Yu Feng and Fan Qi’s apartment previously, doing thorough work without overcharging. He was also responsible for buying the glass and flooring.
Inside the apartment, two workers were busy. Yu Xi greeted them and handed over the cigarettes and drinks she had bought at the small supermarket at the residential area entrance, explaining that she had some things to attend to and that they should stop for today and continue tomorrow. Although they were puzzled, they quickly packed up and left as requested by the homeowner.
She then called Fan Qi, informing her that she would be staying at her own apartment that night to work on some artwork and would return the next day.
“Is it safe to stay there?” Fan Qi asked, worried.
“It’s fine. The windows have all been replaced, and the flooring will be finished soon. Once the new furniture arrives tomorrow, everything will be done.”
“Alright, call me or your dad if you need anything. Make sure to lock the doors and windows at night,” Fan Qi reminded her. Although she still felt uneasy, she knew her daughter had been living independently for over a year and that her worries were just her overthinking.
After hanging up the phone, Yu Xi entered the Star House storage. She touched the smooth, matte-finished gray walls and floor, feeling the cool, textured surface under her fingers.
With a thought, all the supplies she had bought today appeared in the storage. She had noticed before that although the Star House storage was only about 20 square meters, its height exceeded eight meters, making it a great temporary storage space despite its limitations of not preserving items or allowing instant access.
Next, she gradually took out other items from the storage boxes until she had freed up most of the space in the Star House storage. She then went back downstairs to move the remaining items from the small truck into the Star House storage.
The subsequent task of organizing was lengthy. She placed only ten of the 60 barrels of water in her apartment’s storage, leaving the rest in the Star House storage. Combined with her existing stock of about 15 barrels of 5-liter water and three to four boxes of 550ml bottles, she had plenty.
The clothes, shoes, generators, power banks, and ten water barrels bought today were left in the Star House storage. The original vegetables, fruits, fish, meat, eggs, dairy, river seafood, and takeout in the warehouse remained untouched. The newly acquired milk tea, fried foods, frozen meat, and ice cream were sorted and stored in the apartment.
She also placed an appropriate amount of the new convenience foods, drinks, and pastries inside Star House storage. The box containing firearms was stored, while the box of gold, diamonds, and jade was taken out. She placed four 300-gram gold bars and two diamond rings on the shelves—enough to be useful.
Looking at the stacked barrels, she decided to be even more prepared. She set up hoses in the downstairs kitchen and bathroom to simultaneously fill more barrels with water, planning to store them directly in the Star House storage. After all, her first task in the apocalypse was always to secure water, so it made sense to prepare in advance in the real world.
While waiting for the water to fill, she entered the Star House again and opened the Star House Mall.
The selection was still limited. The fantasy items remained at three, while the mystery category had added four or five items with peculiar names and seemingly impractical uses.
Finally, Yu Xi’s eyes lit up as she focused on two items:
Repair Foundation:
Concentrated flagship model, heals various external wounds. Price: 10 Star Coins. Only effective in the apocalypse world.
Instant Clean Cleansing Oil:
Ten uses, cleanses the entire body instantly when applied to the face. Negative effect: leaves the face oily. Price: 3 Star Coins.
Clearly, the
Repair Foundation
was akin to a medical supply, capable of healing wounds. The price suggested it would be highly effective. The
Instant Clean Cleansing Oil
offered a bathing alternative but seemed slightly risky given its price and negative effect.
In the end, she purchased a bottle of
Repair Foundation
. It was about 9-10 centimeters long, cylindrical, with a twist-off cap and a squeeze nozzle, resembling an ordinary foundation bottle.
She also replenished her supply of
High-Temperature Perfume
, leaving her with 260 Star Coins.
Her gaze then fell on the
Powerful Anti-Glycation Pill
and
Ice Control Skill
.
The
Powerful Anti-Glycation
Pill
has a usage limit, so it’s more cost-effective to enhance your physical fitness first before using another one. As for the
Ice Control Skill
, it’s very expensive, and while the effect is likely impressive, buying it would deplete most of her star coins, making her poor again.
Yu Xi spent so much time hesitating between the two items that the Star House system unexpectedly spoke up.
“The Ice Control Skill requires 24 hours for biological implantation, and a recovery and adaptation period of three to seven days.”
Yu Xi was taken aback. “A recovery period that long is equivalent to recovering from minor surgery! So, it’s still tech-based? I really thought it would be instant like in fantasy settings.”
In the end, Yu Xi decided not to buy anything and to wait until she confirmed the type and difficulty of the next apocalypse before making a decision.
However—
“Third Apocalypse World:
Difficulty: Medium.
World Type: ??? Apocalypse, Category: ?? Fusion ??.
World Identity: Dismissed company assistant.
World Time: ??? 4 hours before.
World Tasks: 1. ??? (Completion rewards 30 star coins), 2. Survive for one month (Completion rewards 100 star coins).
World Task Failure: Death.”
What the heck is ????
She didn’t know the world type or the first task. How was she supposed to handle this?
Yu Xi slapped her hand on the black door, “Is your connection bad or something?”
“Host, please control your emotions.”
“I am controlling them! Can I change the proactive world mission?”
“No.”
The quick response extinguished Yu Xi’s hopes entirely.
“So, the reason for the increased difficulty is the incomplete information?”
“Yes.”
Yu Xi was speechless except for a sarcastic laugh.
However, what’s done is done. She had no choice but to proceed.
The only consolation was that the world’s difficulty level was medium, only slightly higher than the previous zombie world. Given her current physical condition, as long as she remained calm, it shouldn’t be too hard to manage.
Also, this time she had the world time, meaning she would have 4 hours of safe time upon entry, which might be enough to figure out the cause of the apocalypse.
Yu Xi set her email to automatically send a message to her father’s work email the next morning. If she returned safely, she would cancel it. But in case of an accident, they would receive the money and insurance policy she left for them.
At midnight, with all necessary items packed in the Star House storage, Yu Xi began her world traversal.
When she regained consciousness, Yu Xi felt a weight in her hands. She instinctively let go, releasing the items in her grasp.
Thud!
A heavy cardboard box fell to the ground in front of her feet. Yu Xi looked around and found herself inside an elevator. The numbers in front of her were counting down from 19 to 18, then 17.
The elevator was empty except for her, and the shiny elevator doors reflected her face. She appeared to be around thirty, with a weary expression and heavy dark circles, indicating long-term fatigue.
She wore a common dark-colored office lady suit, her long hair tied up, glasses framing her face, and high heels on her feet. A file bag hung from her shoulder.
The box in front of her was filled with personal items such as a water cup, potted plants, pens, papers, and a laptop, all piled messily.
Her identity in this world was a dismissed assistant, so was she just fired?
Now wasn’t the best time to analyze the extra information in her head. Yu Xi waited until the elevator reached the first floor, then quickly picked up the box and walked out.
The commercial building was large, with clean glass walls and marble floors, full of various offices. Typically, such a building would be surrounded by cafes and tea houses.
She exited the building into the bright, pleasant weather with a hint of sea air. Across the street was a row of cafes and tea houses. She chose one with fewer people, sat in a corner by the window, and began to process the world’s settings in her mind.
xxx
Thingyan
: End of mass release. Thank you for reading ☺️☺️☺️
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