The excruciating pain engulfed Lin Xiao like a surging tide. Every inch of his skin and every nerve trembled in this bone-piercing agony. This was no illusory delusion, but a cruel and tangible reality.
Those neighbors whom he had regarded as close friends and those acquaintances who had received his help now turned into vicious wolves, mercilessly trampling him to the ground. Fists, kicks, and clubs rained down like dense raindrops, shattering the last trace of his faith in human nature bit by bit. In this apocalyptic world where supplies were scarce and morality had crumbled, his kindness and trust had been repaid with such heartless betrayal.
As he lay dying, Lin Xiao's vision gradually blurred, yet he could still clearly make out that familiar figure — Su Mengli. Standing pitifully at the back of the crowd, her delicate voice now sounded like the whispers of a demon: "I'm the one who told him to open the door. You have to give me a bigger share of the supplies!" It turned out that everything had been her scheme. This goddess whom he had once cherished in the palm of his hand had personally pushed him into the abyss of eternal damnation.
Lin Xiao stared at her, his eyes ablaze with flames of anger and regret. He could only blame himself for being too naive and too kind. In this dog-eat-dog apocalyptic world, kindness had become a fatal weakness, making him a stepping stone for others. At that moment, he shouted in his heart: If he could be reborn, he would show no mercy to anyone and live only for himself!
The darkness quickly swallowed Lin Xiao up, and the moment his consciousness dissipated, the world fell into silence. However, the gears of fate turned quietly. The next second, he suddenly opened his eyes wide, jolting up from the sofa, gasping for breath. Cold sweat instantly soaked through his clothes. The hellish scene and the excruciating pain just now were still vivid in his mind, as if they still lingered on every inch of his skin.
"What's going on? Didn't those beastly neighbors already kill me?" Lin Xiao murmured to himself, his eyes scanning the surroundings eagerly. The familiar room and the familiar layout — this was his home. But the warm and comfortable temperature in the air was completely different from the icy and snowy world in his memory, filling him with bewilderment.
He clearly remembered that in December 2050 AD, the Blue Planet was affected by the explosion of a supernova 500,000 light-years away and ushered in a terrifying global Cambrian storm. The global temperature plummeted. In Tianhai City, where he lived, the daily temperature dropped to minus 60 or 70 degrees Celsius. Blizzards raged for a whole month, completely burying the entire city. It was said that in northern China, the temperature dropped to a terrifying minus 100 degrees Celsius or more, and the land was permanently sealed by ice and snow, causing destruction to all living things. In this disaster, over 95% of humanity and countless species disappeared forever.
Lin Xiao got up, his steps still a bit unsteady. He took a bottle of water from the refrigerator and gulped down more than half of it in one go. The cold liquid flowed down his throat, and at this moment, it was as precious as ambrosia. In the apocalyptic world, obtaining water had become the most difficult and life-threatening task. People could only brave the severe cold to go out and dig for snow to melt it into water. A slight carelessness could result in them being frozen to death in the icy and snowy wilderness.
After drinking the water, Lin Xiao picked up his phone. The date "November 12th" displayed on the screen made his heart skip a beat. There was still a whole month until the end of the world! "It seems that I've been reborn," he took a deep breath, feeling a sense of relief for surviving the catastrophe. At the same time, a cold and bone-chilling gleam flashed in his eyes. He would never let go of those who had killed him! In this life, he was determined to live well and get even with those who had betrayed him.
The most urgent thing now was to make thorough preparations for the upcoming apocalypse. Lin Xiao's living conditions were decent. After his parents passed away, they left him a 120-square-meter house and a deposit of over two million yuan. But he knew very well that in the apocalyptic world, this wealth was just a drop in the bucket. To survive in such a desperate situation and live a quality life, he needed to take into account both food, drinks, and entertainment. Otherwise, the long days of the apocalypse would completely break his spirit. More importantly, he must be equipped with powerful weapons and equipment to protect his own safety and fulfill his revenge plan.
Just as he was lost in thought, a strange white light flashed before his eyes. Lin Xiao instinctively rubbed his eyes. In an instant, a strange thought flashed through his mind — this white light seemed to be a part of his body! Immediately after, information about the white light flooded into his consciousness. With a thought, Lin Xiao's consciousness was instantly drawn into the white light.
The sight before him stunned him. It was a vast, boundless, and white space with no visible edges and nothing in it. "Is this... a different space?" Lin Xiao murmured to himself, a surge of ecstasy welling up in his heart. "It seems that after being reborn, I've obtained a special ability." Presumably, the gamma rays brought about by the supernova explosion had mutated his body and bestowed upon him this miraculous power. With this huge space, there was no longer any need to worry about storing supplies.
In order to explore the secrets of this space, Lin Xiao's consciousness returned to the room, and he began to try to put items into it. First, he picked up a teacup and a washbasin. With a thought, they easily disappeared from his hands and entered the different space. Then, he turned his attention to large household appliances, such as color TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, computers, air conditioners, vacuum cleaners... The different space accepted them all without hesitation. Moreover, as long as he thought about it, the items could instantly appear before his eyes. However, when he tried to pry up a piece of the floor, he found that it didn't work at all. Apparently, there were certain rules governing this different space, and he needed to explore them slowly. But just this powerful storage function alone already gave him the possibility to hoard a massive amount of resources.
Lin Xiao licked his lips, and a bold and crazy plan took shape in his mind. He was the supervisor of the South China warehouse of Walmart Supermarket and knew everything about the warehouse like the back of his hand. As the world's largest supermarket, Walmart had three giant warehouses in Central China, South China, and North China, and their scales were terrifying. Especially the South China warehouse, which was built in 2040, was 1,500 meters long and 720 meters wide, covering an area of over one million square meters. It was truly the world's largest giant warehouse and had been praised by the president of Walmart Greater China as the Eighth Wonder of the World. Although there were only seven wonders recognized by the world, in terms of scale and storage capacity, the South China warehouse indeed dominated the global warehousing field, and the supplies regularly stored inside were enough to meet the consumption of several cities and tens of millions of people for a week.
Lin Xiao calculated in his mind that as long as he emptied the supplies in this warehouse and stored them in the different space, not to mention his whole life, even ten lifetimes would be enough for him to live comfortably without worrying about food and clothing. What was more alluring was that with Walmart's strict quality control, the items in the warehouse were all well-reputed brand products, ranging from food and general merchandise to luxury goods. Once he succeeded, he not only wouldn't have to worry about supplies in the apocalyptic world but also could live a comfortable and pleasant life. With his familiarity with every shelf, every surveillance device, and the staff schedule in the warehouse, it wasn't an impossible dream to empty the warehouse.
Just as he was immersed in his plan, his stomach suddenly rumbled. Lin Xiao looked at the braised chicken rice on the table. After a moment of hesitation, he shook his head with a smile. "The end of the world is coming in a month, and I won't be able to eat a lot of delicious food. Why should I treat myself badly?" Having endured a month of hunger and cold in the apocalyptic world, at this moment, he desperately craved a hot and delicious meal. Money would be nothing but waste paper after the end of the world, so it was better to splurge now than to waste it.
Lin Xiao turned around dashingly and walked towards the high-end restaurant that he had previously shied away from because of the high prices. This time, he was going to treat himself well and gather strength for the upcoming battle in the apocalyptic world.