Chapter 5

At 10 a.m. on Tuesday, sunlight streamed in through the blinds into the small conference room of the Nancheng real estate agency, falling on the conference table covered with a blue tablecloth.

Su Jing sat on one side of the table, clutching the property certificate left by her parents. Opposite her was the buyer, Mr. Wang—a middle-aged man in a black suit with a slightly protruding belly. Next to him sat the real estate agent, Ms. Zhang, holding a pre-prepared house sale contract.

"Ms. Su, this is the house purchase and sale contract. Please check the terms again: The house address is Unit 2, Building 3, XX Community, Room 501, with an area of ​​80.2 square meters. The transaction price is 380,000 yuan, payable in full. After paying the full amount today, the transfer of ownership will be completed within three days. Is there any problem?" Sister Zhang pushed the contract in front of Su Jing and pointed to the key terms.

Su Jing quickly scanned the contract, her gaze lingering on the "Payment Method" section—"Party B (General Manager Wang) will pay Party A (Su Jing) 380,000 yuan in a lump sum on June 20, 202X for the purchase of the house. After the payment is received, both parties will complete the handover of the house."

As previously discussed, she looked up at Mr. Wang and asked, "Mr. Wang, will the payment arrive today? I urgently need this money."

Mr. Wang leaned back in his chair, smiled, and took out his phone: "Ms. Su, don't worry, I transferred the money to my mobile banking yesterday, and I can transfer it now. Just give me your bank card number, and I'll transfer it to you immediately. It will arrive in real time. You can check the receipt before we sign."

Su Jing gave him her bank card number, and Mr. Wang operated his phone for a few seconds. The only sound in the meeting room was the clicking of the phone buttons.

Less than a minute later, Su Jing's phone beeped with a text message notification. She quickly opened it, and the screen clearly displayed: "Your bank card ending in 8765 received a transfer of 380,000.00 yuan at 10:05, with a balance of 385,800.00 yuan (including the original 5,800 yuan). The recipient's name is Wang Jianguo."

"Received, 380,000 yuan exactly." Su Jing put away her phone, a relaxed smile appearing on her face—with this money, the prefabricated house, generator, and medicine could all be arranged.

"I'm glad to receive it!" Mr. Wang picked up the pen and quickly signed his name on the contract. "I bought this house to use as dormitory for my employees. I want the transfer to be completed as soon as possible so that my employees can move in sooner."

Su Jing also signed the contract and pressed her fingerprint on it.

Ms. Zhang carefully put away the two contracts and said with a smile, "Congratulations to you both! I'll go to the housing authority tomorrow to schedule the transfer of ownership. I'll let you know the time once it's scheduled."

After leaving the agency, Su Jing didn't linger and went straight to the bank by taxi—she needed to transfer the deposit for the prefab house first, lest something unexpected happen.

Upon arriving at the bank, she found her previous account manager and said she wanted to transfer 60,500 yuan to the company account of Chengxin Prefabricated House Factory.

"Ms. Su, what should we write for the purpose of the transfer?" the account manager asked while processing the transaction.

"Prefabricated house deposit," Su Jing replied, while dialing the prefabricated house factory's customer service number. "Hello, this is Su Jing who contacted us yesterday to order a prefabricated house. We are currently transferring a deposit of 60,500 yuan to your company account. Please check your account and call me back after confirming receipt. Also, could you please confirm that the prefabricated house parts can be delivered to the temporary warehouse in the suburban logistics park on time in 15 days?"

The customer service representative on the other end of the phone quickly replied: "Okay, Ms. Su, we're monitoring the account right now and will call you back as soon as the money arrives."

Delivery within 15 days is no problem. We've already arranged production. The prefabricated parts will be packed in separate boxes, each clearly labeled for easy assembly. The delivery address is still Warehouse No. 12, Area A, Suburban Logistics Park, as you mentioned yesterday, is that correct?

“Yes, that’s the warehouse,” Su Jing nodded. “Make sure all the parts are complete, especially the insulation layer and soundproofing cotton. Don’t forget anything.”

"Don't worry, we'll make a list. You can check it against the list after the goods arrive. If anything is missing, we'll send a replacement immediately." The customer service representative's tone was very confident.

After transferring the deposit, Su Jing withdrew another 2,000 yuan in cash from the bank—cash was convenient for renting a warehouse or staying in a hotel. Then she took a taxi back to the old house, the last time she would return to the house where she had lived for more than ten years, to pack up her parents' belongings.

As I opened the door, a familiar atmosphere greeted me—the sweater my mother had knitted was still draped over the sofa, my father's reading glasses were on the desk, and her childhood award certificates were still on the bookshelf.

Su Jing went to the bedroom, opened the top drawer of the wardrobe, and inside was a red jewelry box—containing her mother's silver bracelet (the one she used to wear), her father's brass pocket watch (a heirloom from her grandfather), and the pearl earrings her mother wore at her wedding. Although they weren't valuable, they were mementos of her parents' love.

She carefully took out the jewelry box, wiped the dust off the surface with a soft cloth, and then focused her mind: "Put the jewelry box into my space." The next second, the jewelry box disappeared—she had specially set up a "memento area" in her space, right next to her parents' photos, so it would be as if her parents were still by her side.

Then, she went to the wall of picture frames in the living room and took down the family photo hanging in the center. In the photo, she was about ten years old, with pigtails, sitting between her parents, smiling brightly.

There were also photos of her father when he was young and when he was in the army, and photos of her mother when she was young and when she was working. She took all these photos down, put them in a moisture-proof bag that she had prepared in advance, and put them together in the "relics area" of the space.

After packing up her belongings, it was already past 2 PM. Su Jing locked the door and handed the key to her downstairs neighbor, Aunt Li: "Aunt Li, this is my house key. The new owner will come to pick it up in a few days after the property transfer. Please pass it on to me, thank you."

"Xiaojing, you're moving out already? Won't you stay a few more days?" Aunt Li took the keys, somewhat reluctant to let her go—Aunt Li had been taking good care of Su Jing since her parents left.

"No, I'm going to work in another city, and it'll be more convenient to sell the house," Su Jing said with a smile, not mentioning the apocalypse—others wouldn't believe her anyway, and would think she was crazy.

After leaving the residential area, Su Jing took a taxi to the suburban logistics park—she needed to talk to Grandpa Liu about renewing the warehouse lease. The prefabricated house parts would be delivered in 15 days, and she would also need to stock up on generators and gasoline, so the warehouse lease had to last until the end of the world.

When Su Jing found Grandpa Liu, he was feeding stray cats at the warehouse entrance. "Grandpa Liu, I want to talk to you about something—I'd like to renew the lease on this warehouse for another three months. Is that alright?" Su Jing said as she walked over.

Grandpa Liu was stunned: "Renew the lease for three months? Didn't you say you were helping your relatives stock up on goods? It's going to take this long?"

“Yes, my relatives need a lot of goods, so they’ll be delivered in batches and we need to stock up slowly,” Su Jing had already come up with a reason. “I’ll pay the rent monthly, and I’ll transfer it to you before the 5th of each month. Is that alright with you?”

“No problem,” Grandpa Liu put down the cat food. “This warehouse is just sitting empty anyway. You can rent it if you want. The rent is still 500 a month, one month’s rent as deposit and one month’s rent in advance. You’ve already paid one month’s rent, so you can pay the rest on the 5th of next month.”

"Thank you, Uncle Liu!" Su Jing breathed a sigh of relief—the warehouse lease was renewed, and there would be a place to transfer the remaining supplies.

After dealing with the warehouse matter, Su Jing took a taxi to a budget hotel in the city—she had nowhere else to stay, so she had to stay in a hotel first, and then go to the mountains to assemble the prefabricated houses once they were delivered to the warehouse.

She chose a budget hotel that was not far from the logistics park and had a good price-performance ratio. The receptionist was a young woman in her twenties who smiled and asked, "Hello, how many days are you staying? Would you like a double room or a twin room?"

"I'll be staying until the 5th of next month. I need a double room, on the second floor towards the back, somewhere quiet," Su Jing said. She didn't want to stay too high up, in case of an emergency, the second floor would be convenient for evacuation, and a room towards the back would be less likely to be disturbed.

"Okay, room 208 on the second floor. Deposit is 200 yuan, room rate is 120 yuan per day, stay until July 5th, a total of 15 days, room rate is 1800 yuan, deposit is 200 yuan, total is 2000 yuan, cash or WeChat payment?" The receptionist quickly calculated the cost.

Su Jing handed over 2,000 yuan in cash: "Cash, and please give me two room cards, thank you."

After getting her room key, Su Jing carried her simple luggage (change of clothes, toiletries, and an entrenching tool) upstairs to the second floor. She opened the door to room 208. The room wasn't large, but it was very clean. There was a large bed by the window, a small table next to it, and the bathroom was near the door.

She put her luggage on the table and first checked the window—it could be opened, and outside was the hotel's backyard, which was fenced and safe; then she checked the door lock, which was an electronic lock and could not be opened from the outside after being locked from the inside.

After tidying up the room, Su Jing leaned against the headboard and turned on her phone—she needed to make a new shopping list: generators (2 units, gasoline-powered), gasoline (500 liters), commonly used medicines (cold medicine, antibiotics, tourniquets, iodine), and compressed biscuits (200 boxes). She needed to buy these as soon as possible, especially the generators, because without electricity, it would be impossible to move an inch in the apocalypse.

Before she knew it, it was ten o'clock at night. Su Jing finished washing up and was about to go to sleep when she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her head. Immediately afterwards, a cold, mechanical voice rang in her mind:

"Host's spatial ability has been activated. The Doomsday Self-Rescue System has been officially activated. Host Su Jing, ID 739, is among the first 10,000 participants in the global dungeon."

24 hours later, you will be teleported to the 'Giant World' instance. This instance requires your real body to enter; death within the instance is equivalent to death in the real world. Completing the instance quest will reward you with points and resources. Points can be exchanged for items in the system shop.

Su Jing sat bolt upright, her heart pounding wildly—the system! It was the Doomsday Self-Rescue System! In her previous life, she was chosen only a month after the apocalypse, but in this life, she was chosen three months earlier and became one of the first participants in the world!

The mechanical voice continued: "Dungeon teleportation countdown: 23 hours and 59 minutes. Please prepare yourself, bring necessary supplies, and avoid bringing irrelevant items that may affect the teleportation."

Su Jing took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down—the first batch of dungeons meant that she could get points and resources earlier and adapt to the dungeon rhythm in advance, which was a good thing! She immediately opened her phone and modified her shopping list—she needed to buy more compressed biscuits and medicine, as well as high-energy chocolate and energy bars, all of which she needed to bring into the dungeon.

She glanced out the window. The hotel streetlights were on, and the streets in the distance were calm. No one knew that 24 hours later, a life-or-death scenario was about to begin, and no one knew that three months later, the apocalypse would sweep the globe.