8: Chapter 8: Make a quick buck before breaking up

Wen Shuyang leaned over, "Ningning, who are you chatting with? You're smiling so suggestively."

Xu Wanning quickly put her phone down, "No one. Let's go in."

Her three best friends followed, looking confused; they all felt that Ningning was hiding something.

As soon as the four of them entered, a saleswoman walked over with a smile, "Are you four beautiful ladies looking to buy a car?"

Xu Wanning scanned the showroom and pointed at an off-road vehicle, "Is this one in stock? Can I take it today?"

The saleswoman was stunned for a moment, "Yes, you can take it."

Xu Wanning nodded, "I'll take it. I also want that minivan next to it. Swipe the card, I'll pay in installments."

She didn't choose very expensive cars; she bought standard models. In The Apocalypse, once a car breaks down, it's hard to find parts, and standard models have parts that are easier to scavenge.

The saleswoman hurriedly took them to process the order. The down payment for both cars was 157,000, with monthly installments of 8,000 thereafter.

Lu Zhiyu and the others followed silently the whole time. Once all the paperwork was settled, they stared at the two cars in front of them, dumbfounded.

"Ningning, why didn't you buy the same car? This off-road vehicle is so cool." Wen Shuyang touched the body of the off-road vehicle.

Xu Wanning pulled open the minivan's door and sat inside, "Off-road vehicles seat fewer people, while minivans seat more. Between us and our families, that's 13 people already. If we add teammates later, we won't fit."

If it weren't for the fact that off-road vehicles are better suited for The Apocalypse, she would have wanted to buy two minivans.

Wen Shuyang sat in the passenger seat, "Then why pay in installments? We have to pay 8,000 every month, which is much more expensive than paying in full."

Xu Wanning fastened her seatbelt, "When The Apocalypse arrives, do you think they'll still come after me for payments?"

Wen Shuyang was choked for words. How had she not thought of that? The money saved this way could buy quite a lot of supplies.

"Let's head to the pharmacy." Xu Wanning started the car, and Lu Zhiyu and Song Yunqing drove the off-road vehicle behind her.

They split up; they mainly bought common medications.

Cold and fever medicine, antibiotics, gastrointestinal medicine, wound disinfectants, anti-allergy medicine, anti-inflammatory and pain relief medicine, chronic disease medicine, emergency kits, as well as vitamins, oral rehydration salts, eye drops, and so on—calculated for 100 people for half a year—cost a total of 120,000.

They couldn't buy too much of other medications. When The Apocalypse arrived, they could just scavenge from nearby pharmacies. They would keep what they could use and hand over what they couldn't to the base in exchange for points.

It was already 4:30 PM when they left the pharmacy. There was still time, so Xu Wanning decided to store the off-road vehicle in her space and drove the minivan to the nearest electromechanical market; she needed to buy some generators and photovoltaic power generation equipment.

She navigated directly from the car.

While the navigation was setting up, she placed an order online for city maps. Not just maps of Jing City, but maps of other cities as well, regardless of size. This way, if they ever needed to go somewhere, having maps would be convenient.

She had downloaded offline maps on her phone and in the car, so they would work even without internet when driving. The paper maps were just in case.

By the time they left the electromechanical market, 480,000 was gone. They had bought two 6KW silent diesel household generators, two 40KW silent diesel medium-sized commercial generators, two sets of 12KW grid-tied villa photovoltaic systems, and two sets of 15KWH photovoltaic energy storage lithium battery systems.

These were very, very important power supply devices in her past life. People accustomed to using electricity found life extremely miserable without it.

On the way back, Xu Wanning glanced at Wen Shuyang beside her, "Yangyang, order solar flashlights, hand-crank flashlights, and solar charging lights online. Buy all professional tactical models, 100 of each."

"Okay." Wen Shuyang quickly opened JD.com to purchase them, selecting the most suitable ones based on sales and reviews, spending a total of 30,000.

They had a total of 2.36 million, and now only 220,000 remained.

Song Yunqing's fingers were numb from keeping the accounts, "It's my first time spending money like this, but I still feel like it's not enough."

Lu Zhiyu pushed up her glasses, "Do we still need to buy a villa and convert it into a shelter?"

Buying a villa in Jing City was no small expense; even for a down payment, they didn't have enough money.

Xu Wanning shook her head, "No need. The best shelter is actually our university. After The Apocalypse, most cities build their bases in university towns."

"One reason is that they can accommodate more survivors, and the other is that school buildings have very high construction standards, so the risk of collapse during earthquakes or similar events is low."

"After The Apocalypse descends, we just need to clear the zombies out of our dormitory building as soon as possible, and the dormitory building will be the safest place."

The three best friends were instantly relieved. They were already in the university town, which gave them an advantage over others. Who knew how much danger there would be on the roads for those traveling from all over to reach the base?

"Let's go back to school first, sell our bags and such, recoup some funds, and then continue hoarding supplies."

At 6 o'clock sharp, the four returned to school.

Parking spaces in the school were limited and reserved for faculty and staff. Students had to apply, and the number was small, so the car had to be parked in the shopping mall in front of the school, which charged 3 yuan per hour.

If not for the worry that frequently taking the car out of the space would be easily discovered, they wouldn't want to spend this wasted money at all.

They went to the cafeteria to eat first, then hurried back to the dormitory after eating to organize those luxury goods.

The bags, jewelry, and clothes they had on hand were very easy to sell. Except for the ones that had already been ordered by people today, they had to sell the rest directly to shops specializing in second-hand luxury goods if they wanted to get rid of them quickly.

The price was much cheaper than selling them one by one, but it was efficient.

They drove around for a trip, and when they returned, the four of them had obtained a total of 2.4 million. It had cost more than double that to buy them, which was heartbreaking.

The four of them weren't from mega-wealthy families; their families were somewhere between upper-middle class and wealthy, far from being top-tier billionaires. Having this much was already quite good.

They were used to a life where they bought whatever they wanted and had no habit of saving money, which resulted in them not having many savings. Sigh.

Wen Shuyang looked at her empty wrist and fake-cried, "Wuwu, wuwuwu."

Xu Wanning patted her head, "Alright, after The Apocalypse, we'll find time to sweep through luxury stores again and get whatever we want."

Wen Shuyang nodded heavily, "Mm-hmm."

Song Yunqing hesitated for a moment and spoke in a low voice, "Are we really not going to tell our families? If they believe us, maybe they could give us more money to hoard more supplies."

"When The Apocalypse arrives, maybe we could help more people survive together. As long as more people survive, the zombies won't be so scary."

Xu Wanning sighed. After The Apocalypse, human hearts are even scarier than zombies.

Wen Shuyang pinched her cheek, "Did you forget that Ningning said you were stabbed to death by Wu Na?"

"She didn't look like that kind of person usually, but in the end, she still stabbed you, the one who saved her, to death. And you're still thinking about saving people?"

"And that scumbag Jiang Lei, he actually dared to push me to block a zombie so he could survive. Just thinking about it makes me angry."

"Speaking of him, I forgot I haven't broken up with him yet. But I have to fleece him before breaking up, otherwise, it'll be a disservice to my youth." After saying this, she angrily sent a voice message.