(Country A- Heurn Province)
(Unnamed Skyscraper- 20th Floor)
"Okay… I need to calm down and think," Qin Lan whispered softly to herself as she opened the online shopping app on her phone.
There were several items that one needed to secure during an emergency, so Qin Lan searched the web for any information.
The biggest one was water.
Humans could only survive for around three days without a source of clean drinking water.
Next, she needed to buy non perishable food stock such as instant noodles, military ready meals or canned goods.
In addition, it would be useful to get a tent, some hiking boots and additional active wear clothes.
Then one had to consider some other camping items such as flashlights, bottles, pocket knifes etc.
Speaking of knives…
Weapons.
She needed to find weapons. Qin Lan knew that there was a reason why the original Qin Lan had wanted her to kill as many people as possible.
She did not plan to fulfil her request, but it was important to have something to protect herself especially considering that she did not know what her future gift was.
The zombies were not the only threat once the social order disappeared…
Unfortunately, Country A had pretty strict gun control laws, so it was impossible to secure a handgun at least before society crumbled.
Qin Lan continued to browse the online marketplace and placed a few pepper sprays, knives and electric tasers in her cart.
Just in case, she decided to look up the location of the nearest police station near her little brother's high school.
Why wasn't there a sword?
A strange thought suddenly entered her mind that caused Qin Lan's brows to furrow. Why would she want a sword?
This was modern times and she had never trained with a blade before.
Vague memories briefly flashed across her mind that disappeared as Qin Lan tried to focus on them.
Fuck! What was happening to her?
It was irritating to enter this world with most of her memories locked up behind a fuzzy white wall but now there was apparently strange thoughts entering her mind.
Qin Lan let out a heavy sigh and took a break from shopping to stare out of the window at the beautiful night sky.
Thousands of stars flickered and blinked out of existence billions of light years away and it really made her feel small.
It was hard to believe that this peaceful city would eventually become nothing more than ruins.
Qin Lan checked her phone and decided to buy all the items now.
She paid extra for the fast-shipping option so they should arrive in her apartment by either tomorrow or the day after at the latest.
All these goods were quite expensive but Qin Lan knew that money would basically become useless so there was no need to hoard it.
In fact, if she didn't have enough money, she planned to visit the bank and take out the maximum loan on her account.
Qin Lan got up from the beanbag and left the break room. She headed for the supervisor and stood quietly behind his station.
"Sir… I'm not feeling too well… I think I might have to go to the hospital," Qin Lan weakly spoke as she placed a hand on her forehead.
"Are you sure that it's serious? The company cannot afford for anyone to leave during this busy time," Supervisor Chen questioned harshly.
"We have that big contract with the Exroen Group coming up and it is very important that we become their exclusive supplier."
"I'm sorry sir… but I don't think I can…" Qin Lan replied with a sad smile.
The image of Qin Lan collapsing on her desk was still fresh in the supervisor's mind, so he took a moment to carefully weigh the pros and cons.
"Alright I'll give you four days off from your vacation days, but I expect you to be back immediately," Supervisor Chen reluctantly spoke.
Qin Lan nodded gratefully and then headed to her desk to pack up her things. She placed everything carefully in her briefcase then walked towards the elevator.
There was still a lot of preparation to be done and more importantly Qin Lan wanted to keep herself healthy before the apocalypse arrived.
Working late into the night would be suicidal since she would be exhausted and have a poor sleep schedule during the day.
She pressed the ground floor button on the elevator and waited patiently as it slowly descended to the first floor.
Qin Lan knew that her brother was probably asleep by now, but she still opened up her contact list and fired off a few messages.
Qin Lan: [I will be coming to visit you in about three days. I took some vacation days so that we can spend some time together.]
Qin Lan: [Make sure that you are eating healthy. Take care.]
There was part of her that wanted to tell her brother about the upcoming apocalypse, but he would most likely disregard it as the ramblings of a madwoman.
Qin Lan and her brother were not particularly close since she had to work long hours in the office, and he lived in the neighbouring province for school.
Still, he was family, and this was a request that Sui Li did not mind taking care of.
Her apartment was about three subway stops away from downtown so Qin Lan put some earbuds on and listened to music.
The subway was oddly quiet since at this time the carriages were mostly empty.
There was only a handful of people dressed in similar working attire sleeping on the chairs.
A sweet melodic voice came out from the speaker overhead as the subway train finally arrived at her stop.
[Now Arriving At Donclaire Station!]
[Doors Will Open On The Right!]
Qin Lan got up from her seat and headed for the doors that had automatically swung open. She walked towards her apartment building that was only five minutes away.
The original Qin Lan in order to save money had decided to rent a cramped one-person apartment in a relatively safe part of the city.
There was not much space inside but at least it had a bed, kitchen and bathroom.
Qin Lan opened the door to her apartment and locked it behind her.
She double checked her orders on her phone to make sure that she hadn't missed anything before a wave of exhaustion struck her body.
The original Qin Lan had spent several long nights at the office and now her body was on the verge of falling unconscious.
She slowly closed her eyes and allowed her vision to fade away to darkness.
.
.
.
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(St. Augstine's High School)
(Boys Dorm- Room #102)
"Ay Qin Wei! Why do you look so surprised?" a cheerful voice called out. It came from the corner of the room where a young student was relaxing on a bed.
He was talking to the relatively handsome boy staring intensely at his phone with a strange expression on his face.
"No… it's just that my big sister wants to pay me a visit," Qin Wei hesitantly spoke as his fingers hovered over the reply button.
"That's no good, is it? Don't you plan to ask out Liu Yifei tomorrow? How does your sister feel about you dating?" his roommate asked curiously.
"She would kill me…" Qin Wei groaned as he pictured his sister finding out and having a huge argument.
"It's not fair… just because she's paying for my education doesn't mean that she gets to control my life…"
The handsome boy slammed his fist against the mattress in irritation as he ran his fingers through his short hair.
Qin Wei thought for a moment and then hurriedly sent a message to his sister telling her that he had an important test coming up.
His sister always prioritised his education so once she read that message, she would probably cancel her plans to visit.
Qin Wei waited for a reply but did not receive any, so he assumed that his sister was most likely still working.
Turning back his attention to the more important matter at hand he pulled up a profile on his messenger app and stared at the girl on the screen.
Liu Yifei was the goddess of the school who he had chased for over three months now.
He had bought her numerous small gifts and the relationship between the pair was gradually beginning to warm up.
Her delicate physique, her fair skin, plump red lips and beautiful shoulder length hair made her the dream crush of almost all the boys in his class.
The only flaw in her perfect appearance was the old, tattered pendant that hung from her neck which she always wore.