Chapter 8
Ji Yang paid, watched as the page quickly changed—merchant accepted, rider accepted—and breathed a small sigh of relief. She then took out her phone again and sent a message to some of her good friends from memory: [I heard this snow might last for over half a month. Do you guys have enough to eat at home?]
The message was sent as a group text. Soon, Zhao Xing was the first to reply: [Yo, the busy bee finally remembered me.]
Ji Yang: [I’ve been really busy lately. Do you have enough food at home to last a month?]
Zhao Xing first sent a pouting emoji, then replied: [Enough for a few days, I guess. Is it really going to snow that long?]
Ji Yang: [Yes, I’m sure. You should buy some now, just order delivery. The power and water might even go out, so be careful.]
People in the south had rarely experienced a snow disaster. Zhao Xing was half-convinced, but thinking that Ji Yang had specifically sent a message to remind her, she still ordered some things.
A few other people replied to Ji Yang, but not many were willing to hoard supplies.
After five years, Ji Yang really didn’t have much affection for them anymore. She had given her warning. She didn’t answer where she was living and just turned off her phone, getting up to get busy.
The apocalypse had already arrived. The next thing to do, of course, was to improve herself.
In her previous life, she had initially relied on a reckless ferocity. Later, as times became harder and everyone was risking their lives for a bite to eat, she managed to survive mainly by shamelessly auditing classes and being willing to trade food to learn from the experts. She learned a little here and a little there, carving out her own path.
But now that she was reborn, everything was back to zero. Her skills, her muscles—all gone!
Just thinking about it was heartbreaking.
She had to start training again.
But before that, she had to take care of the little darlings in her space.
Cleaning, clearing out manure, feeding, and watering were all daily tasks of animal husbandry.
But as she was cleaning, Ji Yang noticed that she didn’t see any manure. Instead, many of the pasture grass seeds that had fallen through the cracks had successfully taken root and sprouted. Of course, compared to the pasture on the other side, which wasn’t being ravaged by livestock, their development could be described as stunted, but the speed was already quite good.
Ji Yang was a laid-back person. Having already had so many miraculous encounters, she didn’t dwell on things she couldn’t figure out. She put down the water and food, watching as the chickens, ducks, and geese flapped their wings to eat. The quails and button quails lagged behind, timidly. She raised an eyebrow.
She hoped the pasture would grow quickly. Once it was fully grown, she would also separate the poultry by size to prevent them from being bullied to death.
Fortunately, for now, the quails and button quails only seemed a bit timid; their spirits were still high. As soon as the three big bosses—the goslings, ducklings, and chicks—finished eating, they immediately ran over to eat happily.
After tidying up the space, Ji Yang had also brushed her teeth, washed her face, and cooked today’s portion of meat for Xixi. She prepared its goat’s milk, and while watching it eat, she also took out her own breakfast.
Yesterday’s diligence was exchanged for today’s enjoyment. The cooked food she had worked so hard to hoard was now being savored. Eating three meals a day, she could eat for many years!
Pure bliss.
Ji Yang took a sip of soy milk, her mind already starting to plan how to most quickly train her body and restore everything to its state in her previous life.
—
People are prone to inertia. After her rebirth, Ji Yang had been busy hoarding, wishing she could fly everywhere, her feet never touching the ground. But overall, her body was relaxed.
All she needed to do was spend money; the rest was handled by specialized workers.
As a result, during her first workout, after only half an hour, her chest and lungs burned uncomfortably. She endured the pain for another ten minutes before collapsing, drenched in sweat.
The air conditioning was on, and the fireplace was burning. The temperature in the entire house was a very comfortable seventeen or eighteen degrees. Ji Yang wasn’t afraid of catching a cold. She closed her eyes, but her mind didn’t rest, immersing itself in the space.
She didn’t know what was up with this space. The animals lived quite well in it, but she herself didn’t adapt. If she stayed for a long time, she would feel flustered, with no sense of security anywhere—the kind that even being sealed under a blanket couldn’t fix.
In the end, Ji Yang concluded it was probably due to the space’s environment. It wasn’t a real world, but more like an alternate dimension opened up outside the world. There was no sky; apart from the land under her feet, everything else was a void, giving her the disorienting feeling of being in space, unable to feel grounded like on Earth.
If she stayed inside for too long, her mental state, which was already not quite normal after five years in the apocalypse, would probably collapse. Therefore, after figuring out the situation with the space, Ji Yang decided to stay out of it as much as possible.
Fortunately, the space could be used with her consciousness. For example, at this moment, she was organizing the space, using her consciousness as conveniently as her own hands and feet. Picking up and placing things was even easier.
Ji Yang had bought a lot of things, and they were a bit messy when she collected them from the warehouse. Organizing them now was quite mentally taxing, especially since she had a slight case of OCD and always liked to arrange things neatly.
So, she simply divided the ten-thousand-square-meter space into zones.
Vegetarian Zone, Meat Zone, Snack Zone, Canned Goods Zone, Industrial Zone, Extreme Cold Zone, Extreme Heat Zone, Large Items Zone…
With this division, everything was almost clear at a glance.
Especially since it was all arranged according to Ji Yang’s preferences. Whatever she wanted, she could immediately find the zone and then find the desired item within it. For example, right now, she wanted a bottle of Lao Gan Ma. Naturally, she would go to the Canned Goods Zone. With a scan of her consciousness, a can would appear in her hand in almost one or two seconds.
This organization made finding things much more efficient. After stacking the items one by one, Ji Yang finally discovered the ceiling of the space—twenty meters.
It was almost the height of a six or seven-story building.
As a result, even after spending nearly two hundred million to hoard enough supplies to last her several lifetimes, after organizing the space, there was still a third of it empty.
Leaving it empty was a waste. Ji Yang’s “zero-yuan shopping” heart began to stir. She wasn’t thinking of robbing survival resources, but rather things that no one wanted during the extreme cold, like various metals, glass, cement, lime, floor tiles, computers, phones…
Anything she could see, she would stuff into her space.
It would be useful someday!
Of course, this was a plan for later. If she did it now, she would end up behind bars.
The heavy snow on the first day of the Lunar New Year never stopped. By midnight, the snow became even heavier, deserving of the name “blizzard.” Dense snowflakes, like goose feathers, fell from the sky, quickly accumulating on the ground. When people woke up on the second day of the Lunar New Year, they were shocked to find that the snow was already up to their calves!
Snow of this magnitude was a rare sight, happening only once in over a decade.
So, everyone became even more excited. While Ji Yang was exercising, she took a moment to check her phone. Her social media accounts and various apps were all filled with the spectacle of this blizzard.
Almost everyone had gone out for a snowball fight.
Some were fully equipped and found a large slope to ski on, attracting a host of envious comments.
But soon, some people noticed that something was wrong.
Why is it snowing so heavily all over the country?
And the snow isn’t stopping. How are we supposed to get out? The Spring Festival holiday is about to end. If we don’t head back soon, we won’t be able to!
For workers, not being able to go back meant no money!
Mortgages, car loans, and the cost of raising children couldn’t be put on hold.
The bad news piled up just that quickly. Just as someone voiced their fear of not being able to drive back to work, that same afternoon, news came from major airports and high-speed rail stations that all scheduled trips, which were previously only announced as delayed, might be canceled.
This single stone stirred up a thousand waves, and all hell broke loose.
The workers were in a panic and started trying to find their own solutions. But what solutions could there be? With such heavy snow, even cars wouldn’t dare to venture out.
Even with snow tires, they wouldn’t last long.
Some people refused to believe it and insisted on hitting the road. Before long, their cars were stuck, or they collided with other vehicles. Even unluckier were those who had been in a multi-car pile-up on the first day due to the heavy snow and were still stuck now, for over twenty-four hours.
Looking again, the delivery fees for takeout had already reached fifty or sixty yuan. Many people posted online to complain, only to be immediately refuted with photos. The photos showed that the delivery riders’ electric scooters were completely unusable; many were running on foot to deliver meals.
The complainers sheepishly went silent, left with no choice but to buy some groceries and cook for themselves.
On the third day, the heavy snow was still falling.
Apart from occasionally getting a little lighter, just as people began to hope it would stop, it would become heavier again, mercilessly telling everyone that it would not stop!
The weather forecast, which had originally predicted only three days of heavy snow, now showed a continuous stream of blizzards. Scrolling down the page, there was no sign of any other weather.
Warnings for severe weather came one after another, the wording becoming more serious each time. The temperature also quietly dropped bit by bit, leading to a constant stream of people asking for help because their water pipes had frozen and their water was cut off.
But who could help at a time like this?
Everyone was too busy fending for themselves. They either had to go out and buy water themselves or spend a lot of money to have it delivered.
The increasingly difficult situation caused widespread panic online.
The voices on the internet gradually became more irritable, shifting from complaining about the weather to blaming the government. Why aren’t you clearing the snow? Why aren’t you doing everything you can to handle it?!
Are you just taking the taxpayers’ money and doing nothing?!
Then, various photos and videos appeared of government workers shoveling snow in the blizzard, to appease the public.
After that, some rational people came forward to mediate.
This snow was so heavy that even salting the roads was useless. There weren’t enough snowplows.
The government was already doing its best.
The public outcry flared up and then subsided within a couple of days. The scolding mostly stopped because some people had keenly sensed that something was wrong.
Over the years, there had been countless disasters, big and small—droughts, floods, blizzards, wildfires, and so on, taking turns. Rumors of the end of the world had never ceased, but most people no longer believed them, mainly because the salt they had bought ten years ago was still not finished.
But this time, with the nationwide and even global blizzard, a small portion of people began to prepare. If nothing else, they had to buy enough food to last their families for a few months.
Anyway, the weather was cold now, so it wouldn’t spoil for a while.
Ji Yang also received some messages. Most were thanking her for the warning. Some people wanted to inquire for more information, wanting to know if the snow disaster would really be over in half a month.
Ji Yang changed her tune: [They said at least half a month, but looking at the situation, it’s probably going to be longer.]
She didn’t say anything else.
Seeing this, the person on the other end of the line’s expression also soured. Then, with a sigh, they continued to hoard supplies.
Zhao Xing, on the other hand, was extremely grateful: [Holy crap, sis, your information is so accurate. This snow has me completely dumbfounded. Good thing I hoarded some food.]
[You have no idea how much prices have skyrocketed, especially the delivery fees. Two hundred yuan for one kilometer, it’s terrifying!]
Ji Yang wasn’t surprised at all, only reminding her: [Don’t worry about that. Buy as much as you can, but don’t be too conspicuous. I’ve been seeing a lot of doomsday theories lately. If it really is the apocalypse and people find out your family has supplies, you’ll be screwed.]
[Hahaha, are you going through your chuunibyou phase again?] Zhao Xing didn’t believe her and responded with ridicule.
Ji Yang didn’t say much more, leaving it at that.
What happened to Zhao Xing and the others was up to them.
Reborn, she only wanted to live comfortably. As for others, after her warning, the rest was not within her consideration.