Chapter 3

The next morning at eight o'clock, not long after the Nancheng Agricultural and Sideline Products Wholesale Market opened, the roar of tricycles, the shouts of stall owners, and the bargaining of customers, along with the smells of grains, oils, and fresh produce, filled the narrow passageways.

Carrying her clean black hiking backpack from yesterday and clutching a slip of paper filled with a list of supplies, Su Jing strode through the crowd and headed straight for the innermost grain and oil section—her first stop for shopping today.

"Boss Wang, how much of your Changlixiang rice still has in stock?" Su Jing stopped in front of "Old Wang Grain and Oil Shop," looking at the rice bags piled up to the ceiling. Her voice was a few decibels louder than usual, drowning out the surrounding noise.

The shop owner, Mr. Wang, was squatting on the ground sorting through sacks of flour when he looked up and saw a young woman. He paused, then asked, "Long-grained glutinous rice? There are still more than ten tons left. How much do you want?"

“Five thousand catties.” As Su Jing announced the number, she crossed out the word “rice” on the list with her fingertip, glancing around at her surroundings—no one was paying attention to this side; most customers were buying a few bags for emergencies.

The flour sack in Boss Wang's hand slammed to the ground with a thud. He straightened up and stared at Su Jing: "Young lady, you're not mistaken, are you? Five thousand jin? That's two and a half tons! Does your family run a canteen?"

“No,” Su Jing had already prepared her explanation. She took out her phone from her bag and pretended to look at her chat history. “The company is giving out benefits, and I also need to help a few relatives with their purchases. It adds up to a lot. Can you deliver here? I’ve rented a warehouse. I’ll send you the address. It has to be delivered today.”

Mr. Wang was still a bit skeptical. He reached out and patted the bag of rice next to him: "My long-grain fragrant rice is new rice. It's easy to store and tastes great when cooked into porridge or rice. But there's no discount—it's 3.2 yuan per jin. Five thousand jin would be 16,000 yuan. Are you sure you want it?"

“Okay,” Su Jing said decisively. “I’ll pay a deposit of 1,000 yuan first, and the rest will be paid upon delivery via WeChat. Also, give me 200 boxes of instant noodles, both bucket and bagged, 100 bucket boxes and 100 bagged boxes, with the longest shelf life.”

"Hey, are you stocking up for the New Year?" Boss Wang no longer doubted him and smiled as he pulled out a QR code. "Okay, I'll have the warehouse provide you with instant noodles. They're all produced in the last three months and have a shelf life of six months, enough for you to store."

The cost of instant noodles is calculated separately; a bucket of noodles costs 4 yuan, so 100 boxes would cost 4000 yuan.

"One hundred boxes, two bags per pack, plus rice, totaling 20,000. A 1,000 deposit is required, the remaining 19,000 to be paid upon delivery."

Su Jing scanned the code to pay the deposit and sent the warehouse address to Boss Wang—it was a place she had found online that morning. It was three kilometers away from the wholesale market, in an old logistics park on the outskirts of the city, remote and sparsely populated, making it suitable for transshipment.

"It must be delivered before noon. I need to watch it being unloaded," she added before turning to walk towards the next stall.

Leaving the grain and oil section, Su Jing headed straight for the food section, her target being instant noodles and vacuum-packed cooked food. Various kinds of instant noodles were piled up in front of the "Li Ji Instant Noodle Wholesale" stall, and the owner, Sister Li, was loading goods for a restaurant owner.

"Sister Li, please reserve two hundred boxes of instant noodles for me, one hundred in buckets and one hundred in bags, and they should be the ones with the longest shelf life."

Su Jing walked over and repeated the request she had just made to Boss Wang—to order from another store, just in case, since instant noodles are a valuable commodity in the apocalypse.

Sister Li looked up at her: "It's you again? Old Wang just called me and said a young girl ordered a lot of goods. It turns out it was you."

"Okay, I just got a batch of braised beef noodles that arrived, both in buckets and bags, with a shelf life of six months. If you want them, I'll give you a discount: 4 yuan for the buckets and 2 yuan for the bags. Two hundred boxes will cost 10,000 yuan in total."

"Thank you, Sister Li," Su Jing breathed a sigh of relief. "Let's deliver it to that warehouse and unload it together with Lao Wang's goods. I'll pay a 500 yuan deposit first, and the rest will be paid upon delivery."

After paying the deposit, Su Jing continued walking forward, when she suddenly smelled a rich aroma of meat—it was the "Zhang Ji Cooked Food" stall.

In the glass cabinet behind the stall, vacuum-packed braised pork, braised eggs, and self-heating rice were neatly arranged, their glossy color making one's mouth water.

Su Jing walked over and knocked on the glass: "Boss Zhang, do you have 500 servings each of vacuum-packed braised pork, braised eggs, and self-heating rice?"

Mr. Zhang, a man in his forties, was doing calculations with a calculator when he heard this. He looked up and said, "Five hundred portions of each? Young lady, are you having a promotion? My braised pork is made fresh daily and vacuum-packed, with a shelf life of fifteen days."

The braised eggs are braised and then soaked in the braising liquid. After being vacuum-sealed, they can be stored for up to a month.

The self-heating rice is sourced from the manufacturer and has a shelf life of nine months. Five hundred portions of each are needed, which is quite a lot. I need to get the kitchen to work quickly; we can get it all ready by 5 PM today. Can you wait?

“I can wait,” Su Jing thought with delight—self-heating rice has a long shelf life, perfect for stocking up. “I need braised pork with a good mix of lean and fat, big braised eggs, and a mix of meat and vegetables in the self-heating rice, the more the better. How much does it cost?”

"Braised pork is 20 yuan a box, 500 boxes would cost 10,000 yuan; braised eggs are 2 yuan a box, 500 eggs would cost 1,000 yuan; self-heating rice is 15 yuan a box, 500 boxes would cost 7,500 yuan. The total is 18,500 yuan."

As Mr. Zhang calculated, he said, "Since you want a lot, I'll round it down to 18,000 yuan. Should we still send it to that warehouse?"

“Yes, deliver it to the warehouse,” Su Jing nodded. “I’ll pay a 2,000 deposit first, and the remaining 16,000 will be paid upon delivery. Also, could you please pack it in cardboard boxes, 50 boxes per box, for easy unloading?”

“No problem,” Mr. Zhang said, taking the deposit. “I’ll have a truck deliver it at 5 p.m. You can just go to the warehouse then.”

After ordering the cooked food, Su Jing went to the beverage section, where the "Brother Zhao's Beverage Wholesale" stall was piled high with bottled water.

"Brother Zhao, give me a thousand bottles of mineral water, 550 ml each, with the longest shelf life," Su Jing said.

Brother Zhao, who was carrying water, straightened up upon hearing this: "A thousand bottles? Okay, I have Nongfu Spring water here, with a two-year shelf life, it's 1.5 yuan a bottle, so a thousand bottles would be 1500 yuan. You want to deliver it to that warehouse, right? I'll have my buddy deliver it now, it's on the way."

"Thank you, Brother Zhao," Su Jing paid the full amount, "Could you please unload it in the corner of the warehouse for me, so it's not mixed with the other goods?"

After finishing with the water and beverages, Su Jing checked the time. It was only 10:30 a.m. The rice, instant noodles, cooked food, and bottled water on the list had all been ordered. In total, there were 5,000 kilograms of rice, 400 boxes of instant noodles (200 for each of the two families), 500 servings of cooked food for each family, and 1,000 bottles of water.

She walked to a secluded corner of the market, made sure no one was watching, and focused her mind—"to put the hundred bottles of mineral water that Brother Zhao just gave me into my spatial storage."

The next second, the bottled water in her hand disappeared. Su Jing used her mind to sense the space—a hundred bottles of water were neatly piled in the corner, next to Chen Feng's corpse and other belongings that she had collected earlier, taking up only a very small part of the space.

She tried to collect a bag of rice she had just bought (50 jin). The bag of rice landed steadily in the space, and the surroundings were still empty—the 7140 square meter space was indeed spacious enough, and this amount of goods did not even fill one-tenth of the space.

Su Jing breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and left the wholesale market, taking a taxi to the temporary warehouse in the suburbs.

The logistics park was quiet; most of the warehouses were closed, with only a few truck drivers smoking and chatting. She found the warehouse she had rented, where her landlord, Mr. Liu, was waiting for her with the keys.

"Young lady, this warehouse is 20 square meters, the monthly rent is 500, one month's deposit and one month's rent in advance, water and electricity are not included."

There are no security cameras inside. If you leave valuables there, remember to lock the door.

Grandpa Liu opened the warehouse door, and it was empty inside, with only a few dilapidated shelves.

"Thank you, Uncle Liu," Su Jing checked the warehouse. It was dry, the windows had security bars, and the door lock was sturdy. "I'll pay one month's rent and deposit first, a total of one thousand yuan, I'll transfer it to you via WeChat. Also, several truckloads of goods will be delivered today, could you please keep an eye on them and make sure no one touches them?"

"Don't worry," Grandpa Liu said, taking the money and handing her the keys. "There are no outsiders in this logistics park, only acquaintances. Your goods won't get lost."

Su Jing took the keys and, after Grandpa Liu left, moved the old shelves in the warehouse to a corner, leaving the middle space for storing goods.

At noon, Mr. Wang's truck arrived first, unloading 5,000 kilograms of rice and 200 boxes of instant noodles, filling a corner of the truck.

At 1 p.m., Sister Li's two hundred boxes of instant noodles arrived and were piled up next to Boss Wang's goods; at 3 p.m., Brother Zhao's one thousand bottles of water were delivered.

At 5 p.m., Mr. Zhang's cooked food arrived on time: 500 servings of braised pork, 500 hard-boiled eggs, and 500 boxes of self-heating rice, packed into 30 cardboard boxes and piled at the very back.

Looking at the warehouse piled high with goods, Su Jing nodded in satisfaction. She locked the warehouse door and took a taxi home.

Su Jing leaned back in the taxi, looking at the night view outside the window.

Today, she stocked up on enough food and water, and still had plenty of storage space. Next, she planned to buy some outdoor gear online. Once everything arrived, she would store it all in her storage space, return the warehouse, and focus on preparing for the apocalypse.

She took out her phone and glanced at the message from the real estate agent—a buyer was willing to pay the full amount for the house, priced at 380,000 yuan, and would be viewing the house tomorrow morning.

Su Jing replied, "Okay, see you at 10 a.m. tomorrow."