Lin Bing was afraid of oversleeping, so she set an alarm before going to bed last night.
At eight o'clock sharp, the alarm went off.
When Lin Bing woke up, she felt sore all over. After freshening up, without having breakfast, Lin Bing persisted with her routine of running and walking for twenty laps. It was slightly better than yesterday, a small improvement indeed.
After Lin Bing returned to her room and finished cleaning up, breakfast had already been delivered to her. There were delicious meat buns, slightly wrinkled tofu skins, youtiao with soy milk, and some noodles—Zhou Sao had prepared a variety that pleased her immensely!
Lin Bing happily savored the meal. With so much food and no one to compete with, she took her time eating slowly to avoid getting full too quickly.
After breakfast, Lin Bing opened her computer. She reviewed the two posts she had made yesterday, both of which surprisingly had many comments. Lin Bing scrolled down and noticed many people were interested in the apocalypse and zombies. There were agreements, insults, and even some warnings. One person commented that they had seen strange fog while returning to their hometown, and a few villagers had fallen ill with high fevers, though no zombies appeared. After reading Lin Bing's posts, this person hurriedly returned to the city, unwilling to stay in the village.
The posts also contained minor news snippets from police officers, doctors, and nurses, mentioning sealed hospital floors and quarantined areas. A young nurse mentioned that some doctors had taken leave after being grabbed by patients, showing symptoms similar to those reported, but real zombies had never been seen.
It had all started so early.
Lin Bing regretfully slapped her head. She had never liked watching the news. If it weren't for experiencing the apocalypse, she wouldn't have even clicked on these posts, perhaps not even reading past the headlines. In the past, she had always disliked supernatural talk and those who stirred up baseless rumors.
Finding nothing important later in the posts, Lin Bing closed her computer.
She decided to go out. Today, she needed to start gathering supplies and inquire with friends to see if anyone wanted her houses. She owned several near the school, likely easy to sell, though rushing might lower the prices. If the houses didn't sell, she would have to mortgage them at the bank first.
Oh right, supplies! And the space!
Yesterday, she had put a bowl of vegetarian food and hot water into the space. It was now morning; perhaps she could check how it was doing inside. With that thought, Lin Bing entered the space and arrived at the underground warehouse. Lin Bing was astonished to find that the cup of water was still steaming. She cautiously approached the bowl of vegetables on the other side and touched it with her hand—it was still as hot as when she had put it in!
Lin Bing was ecstatic.
She could pack food and put it in here! How wonderful.
Lin Bing couldn't contain her smile as she left the space. In the face of the apocalypse, such a space was considered top-notch. Oh right, she suddenly thought of the black soil in the space and realized she needed to buy some seeds and seedlings.
Lin Bing checked her savings again, still with several hundred thousand in balance. She also had two credit cards, one of which had the highest overdraft limit, provided by her mother.
Lin's father had gone to work, and her mother wasn't at home either. Lin Bing called her mother and learned that she was at the hospital for tests, apparently something urgent, as her mother quickly hung up after a brief exchange.
Lin Bing didn't dwell on her mother being in the hospital, but the mention of it reminded her of medical supplies and medicines, which were hard to find in the apocalypse. Hospitals were always crowded, and the first wave of infected patients were often brought there, with many doctors and nurses being among the first bitten. In the later stages of the apocalypse, there were very few medical personnel left. Without proper bandages and treatment, even a minor wound could be fatal. The blood of zombies, humans, and even some animals had stained the city. If one wandered with a wound and accidentally came into contact with this blood, infection was almost guaranteed—even mutants with special abilities could turn into zombies, especially the special kind.
Thinking about this, Lin Bing made a mental note to prioritize medical supplies. She realized she needed to prepare plenty of bandages, gauze, hemostatic agents, as well as cold and fever medicine, painkillers, and much more.
Food, seeds, medicine, daily necessities.
When she left, Lin Bing drove her own Audi. A sports car would attract too much attention. During her school days, elders prohibited younger generations from buying sports cars or causing trouble, especially since her uncle was in politics. Any misstep could reflect poorly.
While driving, Lin Bing also realized she needed to stock up on gasoline. In the apocalypse, gasoline was scarce whether for escaping or hunting zombies in the years following.
Thinking of gasoline made Lin Bing feel like her money wasn't enough.
Gas stations were never located in bustling city centers. Lin Bing usually went to the one near the Third Ring Road, where she was somewhat familiar with the staff. Despite restrictions, Lin Bing managed to buy several large barrels of gasoline. There were many more fuel tanks to see but not to buy—what a pity. If only her father could listen to her mother and help her, things would be much easier.
Lin Bing paid the money, but left the gasoline temporarily at the gas station, agreeing with the staff that she would come to tow it away in the afternoon.
She needed to rent a large warehouse first; otherwise, storing the purchased items directly in her space would attract too much attention and cause trouble.
As for food and medicine, she would wholesale them, using opening a supermarket as an excuse. For grains, she could directly purchase them at the farmer's market, but unfortunately, she didn't have anyone trustworthy to rely on. She had acquaintances, but in the end times, people's hearts were unpredictable, and she had to be cautious.
Passing by a bookstore, Lin Bing stopped her car and bought several books on agriculture, medicine, wilderness survival, and even asked the store clerk to recommend some well-regarded books. She also bought plenty of cookbooks; although she could cook in the apocalypse, food variety would be scarce, and she could always benefit from more knowledge. Carrying a stack of books back to her car, Lin Bing thanked the clerk several times.
When Lin Bing returned to her car, she realized she needed to prepare several notebooks, hard drives, and yes, a generator too. She could download useful information online; books were particularly important. However, some crucial information wouldn't be available online. Not being a computer expert, she couldn't hack into others' computers, so she needed to think carefully about what else she should prepare.
Perhaps downloading movies, TV shows, animations online, stocking up on food, and living with these things in her space for a lifetime?
Lin Bing's mind started to wander.
She shook her head, taking it step by step.
Lin Bing drove her car to the largest shopping mall in the city center. The mall was quite large, with six floors; the underground floor was a snack street, the first floor had jewelry and cosmetics stores, the second floor was women's clothing, the third floor had men's and children's clothing, the fourth floor was electronics, and the fifth floor was a supermarket, which actually occupied two floors with a wide variety of goods, including groceries, daily necessities, and even a pharmacy at the entrance.
Lin Bing took the elevator directly to the fifth floor, found the supermarket manager, and purchased dozens of bags of rice, a pile of snacks from both domestic and international brands, including high-energy chocolates. Lin Bing practically bought everything in the supermarket, including instant noodles, ham, canned meat, sanitary pads, tissues, toothbrushes, toothpaste, blankets, and other daily necessities. Though these items weren't expensive, Lin Bing bought so much that she almost depleted her savings, but fortunately, she still had a credit card.
Naturally, she made arrangements with the supermarket manager, and since Lin Bing was a big customer, the supermarket agreed to deliver the goods directly.
Lin Bing exchanged phone numbers with the supermarket manager to arrange for delivery later.
In Lin Bing's view, these things were far from enough. She went to a real estate agency first to find a larger warehouse. Then she would sell her properties to have liquid assets, as most places that sold agricultural products preferred cash payments and rarely accepted credit cards.
The fourth floor was electronics; Lin Bing also bought some items there. With the supplementary card her mother had given her, the limit was always high, so she wasn't worried about maxing it out. Laptops, rice cookers, cameras, kitchen utensils (gas stoves, pots, pans, etc.), and even solar water heaters... Lin Bing bought whatever she thought would be useful, and she prepared more than one set because modern items were prone to breaking down.
Unknowingly, she bought another pile of things, all to be delivered to her door, leaving her phone number for afternoon delivery.
The second floor was women's clothing; she could buy more underwear and would go to specialty stores to buy mountaineering gear and hiking boots, focusing on the sturdiest ones as these would be the best equipment for her journey.
Lin Bing felt like no amount of shopping would be enough.
As she was buying underwear and looking for a specialty store, she bumped into Shu Xue, who was shopping with handsome and handsome Chu Fei, and the two were hand in hand, looking sweet.
Lin Bing secretly rolled her eyes. She was busy preparing supplies and didn't have time to settle scores with Shu Xue. She didn't expect this pair of dog boyfriends to come to the door like this. Such open and bold hooking up, how did she not find out before?
Shu Xue hurriedly let go of Chu Fei's hand and came over to grab Lin Bing's hand, tears in her eyes, and pitifully said, "Ice, you haven't thought wrong, it's not what you saw." As she spoke, she lowered her head, and tears flowed down.
Lin Bing was impatient. "Let go. I don't have time to listen to your acting. How many times have I told you, call me Lin Bing, got it!"
Being thrown off by Shu Xue, it seemed that she hadn't been standing steady, and her delicate body fell to the ground and curled up, tears in her eyes, even more piteous.
Lin Bing stared at Shu Xue for a while, and Shu Xue's tears kept spinning in her eyes, but not a single drop fell. How did she do it, so amazing?
At this time, heard footsteps approaching