It was already early morning by the time she finished organizing everything.
The apocalypse was one day closer. Jiang Si lay on her bed and closed her eyes. Bloody memories flooded in like a tidal wave, and a gut-wrenching palpitation seized her body.
She snapped her eyes open, her expression cold and fierce. She gripped the bedding, her hands tightening again and again until she broke out in a cold sweat and a bone-deep, painful pressure emanated from her hands.
Jiang Si gasped, comforting herself, "It's okay... It's okay... This isn't a dream..."
After her emotions gradually stabilized, Jiang Si went to the kitchen for a glass of milk. She lay back down and forced herself to sleep for three hours. Before the sun was up, she was on her way to S City's largest wholesale market.
Jiang Si walked into a grocery store and asked the owner, "Boss, what kind of grain lasts the longest?"
'The space isn't static, so I have to prioritize food with a long shelf life.'
The owner smiled. "Paddy rice and sorghum last the longest—up to ten years. Soybeans can be stored for three to seven years, wheat usually for two to four. If corn is dried and kept in a pest-free environment, it can also last for two to three years. Once these grains are processed, their shelf life drops to only about a year."
Jiang Si nodded. "Then give me a ton of paddy rice and a ton of sorghum. I'll also take two and a half tons each of soybeans, wheat, and corn."
The owner was in the wholesale business, so Jiang Si's "small" order didn't faze her. "Miss, would you like anything else?"
Jiang Si nodded and added 2,200 pounds of white rice, 1,100 pounds of flour, 550 pounds of millet, 110 pounds each of soybeans, mung beans, and red beans, one hundred bags of dried vermicelli, and one hundred barrels each of soybean oil, sunflower oil, and peanut oil.
Even if she never farmed, this would be enough to feed her family for ten years.
With her basic food supply secured, Jiang Si moved on to the seasoning section.
'Salt is extremely important. If I run out of soy sauce, I can press more from soybeans. Sugar can be made by boiling malt. But I can't make salt.'
The main component of salt is sodium chloride, so it doesn't have an expiration date.
Jiang Si ordered five tons in one go.
Due to their shelf lives, Jiang Si only bought a two-year supply of everything else: white sugar, rock sugar, brown sugar, pickled mustard greens, tea leaves, dried radish, century eggs, fermented bean curd, bean paste, hot pot base, tofu skin, pickled cabbage, salted duck eggs, preserved vegetables, jujubes, goji berries, dried chili peppers, honey, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, chicken bouillon, baking powder, edible alkali, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, white vinegar, aged vinegar, cooking wine, five-spice powder, cured meat, instant noodles, and luncheon meat.
She only bought a small amount of her favorite snacks: milk tea, chocolate, soda, and coffee.
As for compressed biscuits—which were convenient, had a long shelf life, and were very filling—she bought one hundred boxes at once.
High-proof white liquor was very useful and could even be used as rubbing alcohol in a pinch. Jiang Si ordered two large vats. She also bought ten bottles of Wuliangye for her father and grandfather.
'Not long after the global blackout, the continuous high temperatures will cause water shortages.'
She ordered a thousand cases of bottled mineral water.
'I still need to farm in the space. This much water is far from enough.'
Two hundred large water storage barrels with built-in purifiers, filled with tap water, would be cheaper and more practical.
Seeing what a huge customer she was, the owner handed her the invoice with a beaming smile. "If you need anything in the future, just give us a call, and we'll deliver it to your door."
Jiang Si took the invoice. "Great. I'll go back and take inventory. If I'm missing anything, I'll call you."
After leaving the food wholesale store, she saw a traditional Chinese medicine shop next door.
Jiang Si bought some Chinese medicinal herbs for treating colds, fevers, and plagues.
Passing by an agricultural supply store, she bought a large amount of realgar powder to deal with the insect swarm, along with rat poison and powerful insect repellent. She also bought a pile of assorted fruit and vegetable seeds.
She bought one of each: a hulling machine, an oil press, a water pump, a well-drilling machine, a seed drill, and a harvester.
Daily necessities would be used up quickly. Jiang Si didn't care about the brand, simply telling the owner to give her whichever had the longest shelf life.
She bought plenty of shampoo, body wash, bar soap, baby cream, cleaning agents, sanitary napkins, tissues, wet wipes, toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash, disinfectant, hand soap, candles, lighters, fire extinguishers, needles and thread, matches, solid alcohol fuel blocks, disposable gloves, bowls and tableware, protective masks, air purifiers, hot water bottles, and body warmers.
'The high temperature and radiation from the Scorching Sun will burn the skin. I need to fully stock up on sunscreen, sun-protective clothing, cooling sleeves, and head coverings.'
The variety and quantity of Jiang Si's purchases delighted the owner of the general store, who even gave her a 20% discount.
By the time she left the wholesale general store, the sky had brightened. Jiang Si headed straight for the department store next door.
Down comforters, silk quilts, blankets, mattress pads, mattresses, pillows, self-heating blankets, and cooling mats—Jiang Si bought five sets of each, one for every member of her family.
Just in case, Jiang Si also stocked up on some linen, cotton cloth, yarn, leather, raw cotton, and silk.
'The weather in the apocalypse is extreme—scorching heat and bitter cold, with no discernible pattern.'
She had to stock up on thermal underwear, down jackets, military greatcoats, sweaters, underwear, hats, socks, gloves, boots, hiking shoes, ice skates, sneakers, sandals, slippers, and swimsuits.
Recalling how the intense glare of the Scorching Sun had nearly blinded her, Jiang Si went to an optical shop and bought ten pairs of high-end protective goggles, five pairs of reading glasses, and several sets of contact lenses in various prescriptions.
Her family's refrigerator was a bit old and didn't have much space.
Jiang Si ran to the appliance section and picked out two side-by-side refrigerators and two chest freezers to store fresh produce and meat.
Washer-dryer combos, induction cooktops, rice cookers, hair clippers, ovens, ice makers, walkie-talkies, water purifiers, heated tables, air conditioners, electric blankets, hair dryers, computers, and televisions—even if her family already had them, she bought new ones. 'After all, I have a generator. I can use them in the space.'
Once they settled down, these would all be valuable household possessions.
Worried that one generator wouldn't be enough, Jiang Si called to purchase two more, along with five thousand barrels of gasoline. It was only when she transferred the payment that she realized she was already five hundred thousand yuan in debt on her credit line.
'I still haven't rented the helicopter, and there's so much more to buy.'
Jiang Si quickly hailed a taxi and headed to the Extreme Club to process her resignation.
President Zhang tried to convince her to stay. "If you ever want to come back, the doors to the Extreme Club will always be open for you."
After experiencing ten years of the apocalypse, Jiang Si had grown numb to, even sick of, extreme sports.
If she had a choice, she would rather spend her life farming peacefully with her family.
Jiang Si shook her head, her tone firm. "My family is waiting for me. President Zhang, take care!"
President Zhang chuckled. "You're making it sound like a life-or-death parting. You live in South City, right? I'll bring everyone to visit you some other day."
"Okay."
President Zhang was a wealthy man. In her past life, when the global blackout marked the beginning of the apocalypse, he had keenly sensed the danger and hoarded a massive amount of supplies.
The Extreme Club was full of elite adventurers. He used supplies and gold bars to win them over. In the sixth year of the apocalypse, Jiang Si saw him at the Northern Base; by then, he had already become a very powerful figure there.
He just didn't recognize her.
'Or perhaps he did recognize me, but just felt that in my wretched state, I had no value for him to exploit.'
Overall, President Zhang was someone worth befriending, but Jiang Si had no intention of revealing the news of the impending apocalypse.
First, during the initial blackout phase of the apocalypse, everyone still had a chance to survive if they reacted quickly enough.
Second, if she warned him, President Zhang would inevitably wonder how she could predict the future. He would dig into it until he exposed her possession of the space.
In this life, her only wish was to help her family survive safely. She couldn't afford to take any risks.