"Ningning, should we take this pork? Will it spoil if we put it in your Space?" her mother asked, following close behind as she helped gather the items. She treated every piece of meat with the utmost seriousness.
"Let's take it for now." Xie Ning nodded without a second thought.
After all, the Space was as large as a living room now, so there was no fear of taking too much.
Besides, the ceiling in her Space—modeled after their villa—was much higher than that of a small apartment, offering plenty of vertical storage.
She could stack the bags on top of each other without wasting any room.
"Be careful when you're putting things away. We don't want someone to pop out of nowhere and see you."
"I know, Mom." As she spoke, Xie Ning took two large plastic bags brimming with fresh meat from her mother and sent them into her Space.
They rounded a corner into the freezer section and saw it was still packed with frozen food.
The previous waves of survivors who had ransacked the place hadn't touched any of it.
After all, it was useless. Without a freezer, the food would quickly spoil and start to stink. They were better off grabbing a few boxes of instant noodles to stave off hunger.
Song You'ai stared at the freezers, which were brimming with supplies, and had a sudden stroke of inspiration. "Honey, why don't we just take the freezers themselves into your Space? Can your 'little Space' fit them?"
Xie Ning slapped her forehead. She nodded, confirming they would fit, and following Song You'ai's suggestion, she promptly stored all six freezers away.
As she brought the freezers into her Space, Xie Ning consciously arranged them in a neat row against the wall with the floor-to-ceiling windows.
'The only question is, how long will the food stay fresh in a freezer with no electricity?'
Seeing this, Song You'ai's eyes widened in amazement. "Honey, this 'little Space' of yours... it doesn't look so little to me."
Xie Ning was caught off guard by her mother's comment and could only mumble a vague reply to brush it off.
After all, she had no idea how to explain it to her mom either.
'Why had the two-square-meter Space from her past life suddenly mutated into the living room of their family villa?'
The young woman was completely baffled; she couldn't figure it out herself...
The two of them then rushed over to the household goods section, grabbing a bit of this and a bit of that.
Luckily, Song You'ai was extremely familiar with the layout of Ai Jia Supermarket. She led her daughter straight to their targets, never taking a single detour.
After clearing the shelves of any useful cleavers and tools, Xie Ning pulled out her phone to check the time. "Let's go. Song Kexin must be getting anxious."
It wasn't safe leaving her cousin in the car for so long; they needed to get back to her as soon as possible.
"Alright." Song You'ai gripped a large cleaver and gave it a couple of practice swings in the air. "How did you get here?"
Xie Ning suddenly turned to look at Song You'ai. "Mom, what about the delivery truck the supermarket uses for stock? Should we just take it with us?"
...
Song Kexin was getting seriously depressed from all the waiting.
'Turns out my cousin hasn't changed a bit. She's still so unreliable, with absolutely no concept of time.'
'She said they'd be out in twenty minutes, but it's been almost an hour!'
'Every time they planned to go shopping before, I was always the one left waiting!'
'One time was absolutely absurd. I waited in the freezing wind for nearly an hour, and when I finally called her, that flake was still in bed, having completely forgotten we had plans...'
Song Kexin was getting restless and antsy sitting in the car, but she was too chicken to open the door.
'What if I just get out and run into a zombie?'
She nervously tugged at the hem of her shirt and rubbed her hands together from time to time, silently praying for her cousin to come back soon.
Just then, a small box truck rounded the corner from the back of the supermarket and pulled up steadily beside her minivan.
The truck doors flew open, and Xie Ning and Song You'ai hopped out.
Song Kexin scrambled to open the minivan door and ran out excitedly. "Cousin! Auntie!"