5: hoard hoard hoard

Early in the morning, no one had come to the scenic area yet, so Ai Yue seized the time to start searching.

Ai Yue moved quickly, screening rapidly. In one morning, she actually finished searching five pits, gaining quite a lot. She didn't rest and continued working.

At some point, the old man came to the edge of the pit and shouted to Ai Yue, "Little Girl, do you want to eat? I have instant noodles here, fifteen yuan a cup. Eat first before looking again?"

Ai Yue looked back at the old man waving at her. Fifteen for a cup of instant noodles? The price was tripled; what a rip-off! The extra ten yuan could buy five bottles of water. She definitely wouldn't buy it!

Ai Yue took a bottle of water and a bag of bread from her backpack, signaling to the old man that she had her own food and didn't need the noodles.

The old man looked at the food in Ai Yue's hand, smacked his lips, thought she was a prepared Little Girl, shook his head, and turned to leave.

Watching the old man leave, Ai Yue breathed a sigh of relief. She was really afraid he would keep staring at her and discover her secret.

Ai Yue hurriedly stuffed a few bites of bread into her mouth and quickened her pace. She couldn't let anyone discover her secret.

Before the sun set, Ai Yue finally finished screening all the stones. Looking at the high sun, she stretched and happily picked up a stone to carry out of the scenic area.

She didn't run into the gatekeeper old man at the entrance. She hurried out, jogged back to the car, and finally relaxed completely.

With the mission in Cai City completed, Ai Yue didn't return to the hotel but drove straight home. She only wanted to seize all available time to hoard supplies.

After driving through the night, Ai Yue arrived home safely.

Seeing Ai Yue return travel-worn, her parents distressedly urged her to rest. Whatever it was could wait until she had rested; one day wouldn't make a difference.

Since Ai Yue had finished her task ahead of schedule, she thought wasting a day was fine. She followed her parents' strong advice and went to wash up and sleep.

However, once in her room, before washing up, she flickered into her space. At a glance, the entire space was extremely vast, about the size of a football field and five stories high.

Ai Yue did some mental calculations and found that even if she put in everything she planned to buy, there would still be plenty of room. This gave her more confidence about life in the Apocalypse; she had enough ability to protect her parents.

Until she turned around and saw that mini house. She was a bit depressed; it was still the size of a doghouse, without the slightest change. Was it just a decoration for the space? Or was the energy insufficient?

Leaving the space, Ai Yue was exhausted. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she fell into a deep sleep.

When she woke up, it was already evening.

Her parents weren't home either. She called to ask and was told that a batch of her online purchases had arrived and they were unloading them at the warehouse. Food was in the pot; she should heat it up herself.

Ai Yue sat at the table happily eating the big meat buns her mother made. They were delicious; she ate three in one go.

Her mother usually loved tinkering with food and would send her delicious things whenever she had time. But that was in her past life. Since her parents died, she hadn't eaten them again. Strictly speaking, it had been eight or nine years.

Taking advantage of the night, Ai Yue rushed to the warehouse. The workers had just finished unloading and settled the accounts. Watching the workers disappear into the night, Ai Yue and the two others entered the warehouse and closed the door.

Without a word, Ai Yue first put her hoarded water and drinks into the space.

"Dad, Mom, let's go to the other one and put away the goods you've hoarded."

"Yeah, your dad and I were thinking the same thing. Clearing out the warehouse makes room for other things. There are so many things needed; just those staples cost 6.98 million."

Ai Yue was a bit tongue-tied; she hadn't expected it to cost so much. But her mother said that even in the Apocalypse, nutrition must be balanced, so she bought some coarse grains, beans, and the like, which were inevitably more expensive.

With that, she followed her parents to another warehouse.

Looking at the packed supplies, a sense of happiness welled up in Ai Yue's heart. This grain would determine how long their family of three could survive in the Apocalypse.

Her parents had really hoarded a lot of food: 3,000 bags of rice, 3,000 bags of flour, 1,000 fifty-jin bags of millet; and 1,000 bags each of red beans, Job's tears, mung beans, peanuts, soybeans, broad beans, green beans, black beans, sunflower seeds, corn, sorghum, buckwheat flour, oats, cassava, sweet potatoes, white sweet potatoes, and potatoes.

If the three of them ate freely, they wouldn't finish it even in three lifetimes.

Ai Yue didn't feel any heartache over the money. Turning money into necessities was the right move. After all, the Apocalypse would arrive in over a month, and money would become worthless. Eventually, paper currency would be useless, and everything would be bartered.

Hoarding just staples wasn't enough; they also needed vegetables, meat, eggs, milk, and so on.

The three agreed that her mother would stay home to receive Ai Yue's online orders, while tomorrow Ai Yue and Ai Guosheng would rent a large truck to go to the countryside to collect vegetables, meat from the slaughterhouse, eggs from the chicken farm, and milk from a small cattle farm.

With a wave of Ai Yue's small hand, the things in the warehouse vanished instantly. Li Shilan and the other were amazed.

After returning that night, because she had slept too much during the day, Ai Yue couldn't sleep at all. So she got up and sat at the computer to continue shopping.

She was smart and didn't buy on platforms, instead contacting manufacturers directly. This way, shipping was fast, and bulk orders were cheaper.

She bought thirty air-cooling fans, fifty small ice makers, five refrigerators and five freezers, ten floor fans, and forty portable small fans.

Straw mats were essential for a good night's sleep; she got ten. She also got fifty sets of sweat-wicking and breathable quick-dry clothes for each person.

That wasn't all. While browsing, Ai Yue actually found heat-resistant and insulating protective suits, as well as protective suits against dust, droplets, and viruses. They covered from head to toe and looked very safe. She got five hundred sets of each, plus a hundred dust and gas masks, as there would be rampant viruses later.

On the twelfth day of Extreme Heat, water and electricity would be cut off. To live well, they had to have a generator.

She bargained with the manufacturer and bought fifteen of the latest silent generators at the lowest price, perfectly solving the problem of noise attracting attention.

The generators were the latest water-cooled diesel models and were even more expensive. A good ordinary generator was around 100,000, but these were 300,000 each. After bargaining, they cost a total of four million.

Looking at the bill, Ai Yue felt a slight pang in her heart.

Just then, her phone suddenly "beeped" and a text message came in. She picked it up and saw it was from a Pharmaceutical Representative.

He said she had purchased a large amount of Huo Xiang Zheng Qi Liquid and other items from their factory and thought she must need other medicines. He had all kinds of medicines and medical equipment and asked if there was an opportunity for cooperation.

Ai Yue was overjoyed; it was like someone giving her a pillow just as she was nodding off. She quickly called him, saying she would go to his factory in ten days to pick up the goods, and vaguely indicated that she didn't have the proper qualifications.

Hearing this, the other party was silent for a long time. Just as Ai Yue thought the deal was off, he cleared his throat twice and vaguely indicated he had a way, but it would cost extra. Also, Ai Yue wouldn't need to come to the factory; he would set the location. He required a ten percent deposit, with the remainder paid upon receipt.

Ai Yue hesitated, fearing he might be a scammer, but she had no other way to get a large amount of medicine. In the Apocalypse, these were life-saving items.

After hesitating for a long while, she steeled her heart and agreed. She would go to H City in ten days to pick up the goods.

She quickly sent her list of needed medicines to the Pharmaceutical Representative. A moment later, he replied saying it was no problem and asked for a 100,000 deposit. Ai Yue was surprised; after all, there were some state-controlled vaccines included. He could actually get those?

Ai Yue never wavered once she made a decision. She transferred the money without another word, only praying he wasn't a scammer.

Ai Yue clutched her chest, took a deep breath, put the matter out of her mind, and continued online shopping.

She found an outdoor gear store and bought some windbreakers, trekking pants, quick-dry pants, quick-dry T-shirts, quick-dry towels, life jackets, fleece jackets, hiking shoes, leather boots, outdoor bags, outdoor tables and chairs, lamps, coolers, small car refrigerators, moisture-proof mats, sleeping bags suitable for summer and winter, and camping tents.

Plus attachment straps, climbing ropes, safety belts, helmets, gloves, hats, and so on. After all, professional gear was sturdy; though a bit expensive, it was durable.