Chapter 3: Meeting at the End of the World

Zhong Jialing poked her head out of the car in panic, "Are you okay?"

Feng Qi adjusted his breathing, and slid down the hood of the car like liquid glue, calming his heart, "Luckily I have some skills, otherwise if I were hit by you, I would have broken my legs if not died."

"I'm relieved that you can still joke around," Zhong Jialing breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly urged the three of them, "Hurry up and get in the car!"

The four of them got together and immediately started talking.

Luo Jiu: "Where did this car come from?"

Cheng Yaoyao: "You are also reborn, right?"

Feng Qi: "Do you have a driver's license?"

Zhong Jialing was so nervous that she was holding the steering wheel and looking around while driving. "This is my family's car. Of course I am reborn, otherwise how could I come to see you at this time? Fortunately you came out, otherwise I would have been so anxious that I would have banged my head against the door.

I took the driving test right after my 18th birthday, but unfortunately I haven’t driven a car in the past six months, so I’m not very good at it. I’ve hit everything except people along the way.”

Feng Qi rubbed his shoulders with a painful expression, "I just saw a dent in the front of the car, and I thought I hit it. By the way, where are we going?"

"McDonald's, aren't you hungry?"

"Hungry!" The three of them shouted in hunger.

Everyone was extremely hungry in their previous life. That kind of extremely frantic hunger that made people scratch their heads and ears was deeply imprinted in everyone's mind. After being reborn, everyone wanted to eat a big pot of white rice.

Sixteen hamburgers, eight large fries, twenty chicken wings, four cokes, four orange juices, and eight McFlurries. The four of them looked like starving ghosts. They were too embarrassed to eat in the store, so they just packed up their food and took it to the car.

For at least ten minutes, no one said a word. They just kept chewing and swallowing, enjoying their food.

After Cheng Yaoyao devoured two spicy chicken burgers and nibbled on four chicken wings, her skinny body was already full. She was the first to speak, "What should we do next?"

Luo Jiu took a sip of orange juice and swallowed the food in his mouth. "Normally, after rebirth in the end times, one will get a large sum of money and space, and then the protagonist can immediately stock up on supplies. But the problem is that rebirth does not give us a large sum of money for no reason. Without money, there is no way to stock up. Who will give food to poor students like us?"

Cheng Yaoyao and Zhong Jialing raised their hands at the same time.

Cheng Yaoyao: "We can stock up on cheap supplies and get a few truckloads of potatoes. I know 18 ways to cook potatoes," she shook the French fries in her hand, "at least everyone won't starve to death."

Feng Qi took a big gulp of Coke and said hastily, "It's almost the end of the world. Can we use some extraordinary means? Give me a hoe and I'll go steal a cart of potatoes."

Zhong Jialing was so anxious that she slapped the roof of the car. "Is it my turn to speak? First of all, we are not poor students. At least I have money.

Secondly, if I have to eat potatoes every day in the end times, I'd rather die. I'd rather be a zombie than suffer from hunger again."

Luo Jiu was surprised, "Where did you get the money?"

"I have a few hundred million in pocket money."

Cheng Yaoyao didn't believe it. "How much is a little? We need to buy rice and noodles to prepare for a long-term battle. A little is not enough."

Zhong Jialing opened a bank's app and pushed the balance on the card in front of everyone, "Here."

"One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, one hundred thousand, one million, ten million...ah!"

Cheng Yaoyao screamed and grabbed Zhong Jialing's neck excitedly, "You have 20 million, why are you pretending to be poor? You even snatched the sticky bean buns from me! You liar!"

Feng Qi also pressed over and locked her arms, then accused her: "You damn rich second generation! Every time I eat instant noodles, you rush to drink the soup. Are you addicted to pretending to be poor?"

Zhong Jialing stuck out her tongue and pretended to die. Luo Jiu crossed his arms and watched the show. He smiled and waved his hand, "Let her go first, and listen to how the young lady argues."

Zhong Jialing curled her lips and said, "I'm not pretending to be poor, but you all live such a simple life, how can I have the nerve to talk about how rich my family is every day?

Besides, that money was earned by my parents, not me. Your families are all so... incomplete. If I show off in front of you that I have both parents and I'm rich, wouldn't that be annoying?

I grab your sticky bean curd because your bean curd is delicious. I grab your instant noodle soup because you always make hot and sour beef noodles. Who wouldn’t want to have a sip of that soup?

Who gave you the illusion that rich second-generations can’t drink instant noodle soup?”

Luo Jiu sighed, "I thought you were better off financially than us, but I didn't expect you to have more than 20 million."

Zhong Jialing didn't take it seriously. "This is the New Year's money and pocket money I saved up since I was a child. I didn't have much chance to spend it at school. If I have to hide something from you, it's that I only scored more than 200 points in the high school entrance examination..."

"What?" The three of them widened their eyes, and their shock was no less than learning that she had more than 20 million in pocket money.

Zhong Jialing bit her lip and looked at Luo Jiu awkwardly, "I scored over 200 points. I was able to go to the same school and class as you who scored full marks, and even sit next to you. What else do you think it was other than money?"

Luo Jiu: "No...it's not because your father has a relationship with the principal..."

Zhong Jialing shook her head. "It's not because they have connections that I can go to this school. It's because I want to go to this school that they established a relationship with me."

Luo Jiu suddenly realized what was going on, and there was a moment of silence in the car. Just a few words really shocked the three children from ordinary families.

Zhong Jialing coughed lightly, "You won't despise me for being stupid just because I have poor academic performance, right?"

Feng Qi said hurriedly, "How could that be? I'm the last in the school, and you guys don't look down on me. Can you be as stupid as me?"

Jiangcheng No. 1 Middle School adopted a semi-public system for test scores, with the top 100 in the grade and the top 10 in the class being made public. Only the students who ranked last knew about it. No one knew that Feng Qi ranked last, but she was the one who spread the news.

She slammed the table when she got the report card and said, "Fuck! I'm ranked last!"

Yeah, the whole school knows about it.

Zhong Jialing tidied up her hair and said, "Actually... you and I are both equally stupid. I am the second to last one."

Luo Jiu almost dropped her jaw in shock. Dormitory 301 was truly filled with hidden dragons and crouching tigers. There were many talented people, all around her.

"Come on, these are not important. We'll talk about them later. Let's hurry up and do the real work. We have the money and the space..."

Luo Jiu stretched out her hand, and in her palm was a blood-red ruby ​​earring. It was originally transparent, but after her blood dripped into it, it became like this.

Luo Jiu opened the space settings in his mind and added users as an administrator. A holographic interface soon appeared in front of the four people.

Feng Qi looked at the image in front of him in amazement, "What the hell! Is this space?"

Cheng Yaoyao: "Is this the legendary space that keeps food warm and fresh and never spoils?"

Luo Jiu: "Of course, whose space doesn't keep fresh?"

Zhong Jialing: "How big is it? Can I go in and take a look?"

"I'll try."

After getting the space, he was busy leaving the school and didn't have a chance to take a closer look. Luo Jiu concentrated his mind and disappeared in front of the three people in the blink of an eye.

When she entered, she was instantly shocked by the vastness of the space.

This place is like a brand new huge natural food preservation box, quiet, empty, without any objects, so empty that even your breathing seems to echo.

There was a clear blue sky above his head, and a faint smell of soil in the air. As the boundary was in sight, Luo Jiu's pace of exploration became faster and faster, and he ran excitedly.

Three minutes later, Luo Jiu happily came out to summarize the situation, "The space is a cube with a length, width and height of 100 meters, with a total usable area of ​​10,000 square meters. Have you ever watched the international football matches broadcast on TV? It's about the size of one and a half football fields.

This 10,000 square meters includes one acre of black soil, which we will temporarily keep empty for planting crops in the future.”

Zhong Jialing rummaged through her pockets. "Did you bring a ruler? What did you use to measure it?"

Luo Jiu opened the holographic interface and said, "Look at the attribute information. I just checked it. If you don't believe me, go in and take a look for yourself."

"We can't get in!" The three of them were frustrated. They had tried more than a dozen times during the three minutes of waiting.

Luo Jiu frowned and scrolled through the pages a few more times, "Oh, I see. Currently, the space is limited to one person, and we can only go in by turns. Perhaps after the upgrade, the space area and the number of people allowed will increase. The first upgrade date is ten days later, so we can only make do with it for now.

The first step is to find a base and build a safe house. Any recommendations?"

Cheng Yaoyao: "My grandma and I have four bungalows in the village."

Zhong Jialing: "I object. How old is grandma? That house is not young either, right? Should we build a safe house or renovate a dangerous house?"

Luo Jiu: "That's right. Once the bungalow is breached, there won't even be a place to retreat. It's not suitable."

Cheng Yaoyao opened her mouth, wanted to say something but swallowed it back.

Feng Qi: "What should we do? We can't just rent a house as a safe house, right?"

Zhong Jialing raised her hand again. "My family owns a five-story villa in a suburban villa area. We bought it two years ago and it's been basically idle after the renovation. During the Chinese New Year, my family of three stayed there for a few days. The area is vast, sparsely populated, with a high greening rate and first-class security facilities."

Luo Jiu took a deep breath and blinked his eyes pretending to be calm, "Then why are you hesitating? Drive."

Half an hour later, the car crookedly drove to No. 88 Fengshan Road, a suburban villa area.

Zhong Jialing stuck her head out of the car, passed the facial recognition access control, and the two 2.6-meter-tall black and gold stainless steel villa doors slowly opened.

The SUV stopped casually in the spacious front yard. The three people got out of the car and looked up at the five-story luxurious villa with its own front and back yards. They couldn't help but exclaimed "Wow".

Luo Jiu patted Zhong Jialing on the shoulder. "You just mentioned a small villa. Where does the word 'small' come from?"

Zhong Jialing shrugged. "The villa where my family lives is a castle-style manor with an area of ​​more than 30,000 square meters. You can ride horses in the garden. How small is this yard? It's less than 500 square meters."

She took out the key, opened the custom-made Class A anti-theft door, and made a gesture of invitation, "Everyone, welcome home!"

Feng Qi and Cheng Yaoyao rushed in, and Luo Jiu stood there and observed the door carefully. In the end times, every door is a protective shield for them to survive.

This door is more than ten centimeters thick, and the door panel is made of the strongest armor-grade cast aluminum.

Zhong Jialing muttered beside him: "Don't worry, I can't say anything about other houses, but this one is definitely the strongest. Because before this house was renovated, my parents found out that someone secretly broke into one of their unoccupied houses and moved in, so this house is designed to prevent intrusion, and the primary consideration in selecting materials is durability."

"By the way, have you informed your parents about the end of the world?"

"They should be safer in Antarctica than us. I'll give them a call after we settle down."

As the two were talking, Cheng Yaoyao came up with pursed lips, "I'm sorry, I can't be with you all. As you know, my parents died early, and it was my grandma who raised me. I can't abandon her, and now you don't need me here, and I don't want to drag you down, so I'm leaving first."

"Why are you leaving?" Zhong Jialing pulled her back. "We were reborn, not non-human. Who told you to abandon grandma? Besides, when we were quarantined in school, we ate a lot of sticky rice dumplings and bones that grandma sent us. Do you think we are all ungrateful people?"

Luo Jiu also said: "How long can you and grandma hold on to those small bungalows? Among the four of us, you have the most life experience. Without you, you can't even cook. Do you think we can lose weight in the end times?"

Zhong Jialing: "That's right, bring grandma over. There are dozens of rooms here, it's not like there's not enough room for her."

Luo Jiu: "Your home is in the village near the Nandu Market, right? Let's go over there to place an order and pick up grandma."

The apocalyptic quartet welcomed their first wave of large-scale purchases, and as soon as they set out, various proposals emerged one after another.

Feng Qi: "Let's order 2,000 cups of milk tea first? We won't be able to buy it after the end of the world. What if we want to drink this?"

Zhong Jialing: "How can two thousand cups be enough? At least eight thousand cups. If everyone drinks one cup a day, it will only be enough for five or six years at most."

Cheng Yaoyao: "Then let's stock up on the ingredients, including milk and tea. I can research how to make them."

The more Luo Jiu listened, the more confused she became. "My dear sisters, the end of the world is not a spring outing. Can we stock up on some serious things first?"

Zhong Jialing: "So what do you think we should stock up on first?"

Luo Jiu took out a piece of draft paper from her pocket, on which was what she had temporarily thought of during math class.

"My current plan is this: we have a total of ten days to prepare. The first three days will focus on stockpiling food and water, rice, flour, grain, oil, vegetables, etc. From the fourth to the seventh day, the focus will be on weapons, medicine, daily necessities, etc. The last three days will be to reinforce the safe house and try not to go out.

We use both online and offline purchasing methods. It is now 10 a.m. We spend a maximum of two hours in the market and pick up grandma at noon. We take a short break for two hours in the afternoon to charge our phones. I will create a group so that everyone can post anything they think of in the group at any time.

In the afternoon, we split into two groups. Jialing, Qijie, and I went out to buy goods. There must be someone at home to receive the goods. Yaoyao, you and grandma wait at home.

Put all the things in the front yard first, and put them in the space when no one is paying attention. The space is not infinite, so the placement should be orderly. Yaoyao, you can organize them at home according to your own ideas, and then we can classify them in detail after we purchase suitable shelves. "

Cheng Yaoyao nodded. "No problem. I just thought that after the end of the world begins, I may not have time to make fresh food. Can I make some high-energy semi-finished products first? They can satisfy hunger and are convenient to eat. For example, beef jerky, bacon and sausage?"

Luo Jiu: "Good idea! This can also save energy. When there is a water and power outage, we have to save the fuel we have stored. The more we can prepare in advance, the better."

Feng Qi's eyes lit up when he heard about beef jerky, "Then let's buy a few more kitchen knives and I'll help you cut the meat."

"OK!" Zhong Jialing said happily, "Let those of you who know how to do these things. I'll just pay the bills and buy the food."

Practice makes perfect. Zhong Jialing's driving skills became more and more proficient, and she drove all the way to the largest Nandu Market in the region.

Nandu Market is comparable to Xinfadi in Beijing. Xinfadi Wholesale Market covers an area of ​​210,000 square meters, while Nandu Market is slightly smaller, covering an area of ​​160,000 square meters. All kinds of agricultural products are available.

Not only local people come here, but most of the vendors from the three provinces and eighteen cities nearby come here to purchase goods.

With low prices and large stock, it is definitely a great choice for stockpiling in the end times.

The four of them entered the largest rice, flour, grain and oil store and looked at each other, feeling a little nervous.

Luo Jiu coughed lightly, "Hello, we want to buy rice."

The boss and his wife were busy sorting out the accounts. When they heard the childish voice, they looked up at the same time and said, "Little girl, we are a wholesaler here, not individual customers."

"Yes, we need a large quantity, not individual customers."

The boss smiled and shook his head. "One hundred or eighty kilograms is not considered a large amount for us."

Luo Jiu raised his eyes and asked with a smile, "Is 50,000 jin considered a large amount?"

The boss' smile froze on his face. "Kid, are you kidding me?"

The atmosphere was a little tense, and the proprietress quickly stepped out to smooth things over. "He didn't mean anything else. Generally, grain stores only buy 2,000 to 3,000 kilograms of goods from us. We've been running this store for 20 years, and we've never received a large order of 50,000 kilograms."

Luo Jiu glanced at her and said, "We need it urgently. If you are in trouble, we can go to other places."

As soon as the words fell, the four of them turned around tacitly and pretended to walk out.

"No problem, no problem!" The proprietress quickly stopped these little gods of wealth and said, "Yes, yes, yes. With such a large quantity, you've made the right choice by coming to my place. As long as the money is in place, I'll definitely have the goods."

Zhong Jialing showed her the more than 400,000 yuan WeChat balance and said, "There's plenty of money. I'll pay you in cash. Don't worry."

"Sure, sure!" The lady boss was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling. "Which one do you want? I'll give you the lowest price."

Cheng Yaoyao and Luo Jiuyi discussed and chose Northeast long-grain fragrant rice and Wuchang rice.

Wuchang rice is expensive and has a low yield. The lady boss told the truth: "The annual output of real Wuchang rice is limited. I will bring you all the Wuchang rice from the nearby warehouse. It is at most 4,000 kilograms.

Anyone who tells you that they can get 10,000 kilograms of Wuchang rice is definitely lying to you. No one can get so much in a short time. And I can guarantee that what I give you is pure Wuchang rice that complies with the GBT standard. "

"Okay, then we need 4,000 kilograms of Wuchang rice, and the rest should be long-grain fragrant rice. We need new rice, not old rice. We will pay half of the deposit first, and you will deliver the goods to the place we specify as soon as possible. The final payment will be made upon delivery. Jialing, come here to sign the receipt and pay."

As the only adult over 18 years old among the foursome, Zhong Jialing took on the responsibility of signing and paying.

Feng Qi quietly asked Luo Jiu: "Why is it 50,000 kilograms? How many people did you calculate it based on? I eat at least three bowls of rice for a meal."

Luo Jiu smiled and snorted, then whispered, "Don't worry, I'll calculate it as a family of six. Even if we only eat rice for three meals a day, we can still eat until we are eighty years old."

The proprietress of this store was quite honest. In order to keep their big order, she was willing to make small profits but quick turnover. She only added fifty cents to the purchase price, which was cheaper than the price she got from ordinary grain stores.

Luo Jiu and her friends also wanted to save trouble, so they ordered rice, flour, grain and oil from this store.

Rice, 50,000 catties. Millet, 6,000 catties. In order to avoid getting tired of it and maintain a diverse diet, I also ordered 1,000 catties each of black rice, glutinous rice, yellow rice, brown rice, and coix seed.

Flour, 10,000 kilograms each of high, medium and low gluten flour. The high gluten flour is used to make noodles, the medium gluten flour is used to make steamed buns, dumplings and the low gluten flour is used to bake cakes.

In short, if eaten together, these rice and flour will be enough to last for at least fifty years.

As for fifty years later, Luo Jiu thought, since he was already that old, he might not even have any teeth, so he could just save the trouble. No matter how much Feng Qi could eat, he wouldn't be able to finish three bowls of rice and forty dumplings at the age of seventy, right?

Cooking oil is a big item. For health reasons, all non-GMO oils are used. GBT2716 blended oils are not purchased. Only 3248, 1534, and other oils are purchased.

Soybean oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, peanut oil, and rapeseed oil, 300 barrels each.

One side reported the quantity, the other side pressed the calculator frantically, and the boss had already hung a sign at the door saying "Closed for Business". This order today was enough to make the couple and their six employees work themselves to death.

Cheng Yaoyao picked up the vermicelli in the store and asked, "What is this sweet potato vermicelli or potato vermicelli? Is it delicious?"

The lady boss said directly, "I'll give it to you. Take it home and make it. If it tastes good, call me and place an order. I'll give it to you. In addition, I have half a bag of red beans and a bag of pinto beans. If you like anything in the store, I can give you a bag or half a bag of it. All of them are samples. If you like them, come back and place an order."

Luo Jiu folded the receipt and said, "Okay, then take us to No. 88 Fengshan Road. If it's delicious, we'll come again."

The grain store came to an end for the time being, and we quickly moved on to the butcher shop.

The four of them had no dietary restrictions and ate beef, mutton, pork, chicken, duck and fish.

Cheng Yaoyao muttered to herself, "Beef can be made into beef jerky, beef brisket stewed with tomatoes, and braised beef is also delicious. Mutton and carrot soup is good for replenishing qi, and there are even more ways to cook pork. The braised spareribs I make are a must-try. I guarantee you'll want to eat it every day after you eat it."

Feng Qi felt hungry after hearing this and swallowed his saliva. "Then let's have a thousand kilograms of spareribs first."

"Not enough," Zhong Jialing said, "I also like to eat pork ribs, let's add another thousand pounds."

"Three thousand kilograms of ribs are ready. I like them too." Luo Jiu finalized the total.

3,000 jin of spare ribs, 1,000 pork elbows, 2,000 pig trotters, 2,000 large pig heads, 8,000 jin of pork. Ten whole pigs, including the head, tail, heart, liver and internal organs.

While they were still counting the money, Cheng Yaoyao was already considering what to do and what tableware to buy.

"I need to buy ten pressure cookers, and at least twenty kitchen knives, machetes, and whetstones, right? If you really count them, there are a lot of things to buy. Do you have enough money?"