Chapter 3

Irene woke up early the next morning. After washing up, she went into the space to take a look. The eight portions of food were idly sitting in a corner and were still warm to the touch. Irene was not going to eat the food now, so she exited the space and had some sandwiches outside her house. Then, she asked the shop owner to wrap up 30 more sandwiches, buns, pretzels, yogurt, muffins, and other breakfast foods. The shop owner quickly did so, and when no one was looking, Irene kept all of the food inside the space. After breakfast, Irene once again kick-started today’s stockpiling plan. First, she drove to a 24-hour auto repair shop that she had frequented in the past. She was already familiar with the boss there. When he saw Irene, he came over with a smile while also biting into a piece of bread. “Ms. Fulmer, are you going on a trip with your boyfriend again?” Irene was taken aback as she forgot that she had a boyfriend at this time. She had always loved the outdoors since she was a child, and because she was a landlady with deep pockets, she would often travel around the world with her boyfriend, Daryl Shelby, after she graduated from university. Irene was distracted for a moment at the mention of Daryl. When the apocalypse in her previous life hit, Daryl insisted that they stuck together because he admired her strength. However, she decided to protect the feeble Edric and Lina out of the kindness of her heart. After a huge fight, he broke up with her. The next time they met, she was held captive by Lina in a cave. Daryl kicked the bloody, rotten meat on her lower body and ridiculed her for a long time before leaving. She had not seen the man since. When she came back to her senses, Irene nodded with a smile. “I’m going to travel around the world, so replace all the car parts with better ones and replace the glass with thicker, bulletproof ones.” “Hm, I would have to replace them with the best ones, then. Give me two weeks and I’ll make sure to get it done for you.” The boss stuffed the bread in his face and brushed off the crumbs on his pant. After a brief chat, Irene left. Irene used her spare time in between hoarding supplies to send Daryl a message with just five words: [I’m tired of this. Let’s break up.] She deleted his contact number before he could even reply. Then, she rented a pickup truck and drove to the countryside to buy the freshest vegetables. Cabbage, carrots, potatoes, spinach, tomatoes, pumpkins, broccoli, onion, garlic, green onion, lettuce, and squash… She placed sacks of vegetables into the truck, and when she drove to a place with no one around, she stored all the vegetables in the space with her mind. Then, she went to the next town to buy more things. Not only did she need vegetables, but she needed fruits too. Apples, bananas, watermelons, pineapples, pears, peaches, mangos, tangerines, and oranges… Irene wanted every fruit, regardless of whether they were in or out of season. She stopped by dozens of butchers and bought a bunch of pork, beef, chicken, mutton, rabbit, fish, shrimp, seafood, and so on. If anyone asked, she would say that her family was holding a feast, and she said it with such sincerity that no one found it suspicious. After that, she went to a place that sold seeds for vegetables and fruits. She bought all kinds of seeds and books about planting. Besides the wooden house, there was also a hundred-acre piece of land in her space. She had plenty of water resources, and the space was well-lit, so Irene thought that she might be able to grow a lot of vegetables in that space. It seemed like she had stocked up on enough daily necessities, so she felt like it was time to buy some medicine. The disasters in the apocalypse were frequent and ever-changing. During that time, even a mild cold could be fatal, so one could imagine falling ill with a serious disease. The problem was that she could not just purchase medicine as she wished as she did with vegetables, so after some thinking, she thought that the best solution was to buy a whole pharmacy. However, she needed a medical practitioner’s qualification certificate to own a pharmacy, and a commoner like her obviously did not have one. As of right now, the one person that Irene knew was capable of accomplishing this in a short amount of time would be Mr. Zane, the person who bought three of her buildings. Irene then called him to explain. Mr. Zane was riding high after buying Irene’s buildings for a knockdown price, so when he heard her request, he put a hand over his chest and promised to get it done by tomorrow. He was a reliable person, so after he gave his word, Irene knew that she could take her mind off the medicine. Her original plan was to get some books after she settled the pharmacy situation, but at that moment, her phone rang. It was the owner of the door and window shop, and he said that he had arrived at Celestial Gardens. After she returned to Celestial Gardens, Irene saw the owner and two workers squatting at the gate eating ice cream. All of them were drenched and dripping in sweat. Signs of the apocalypse were actually starting to show as it was almost 40 degrees in mid-May, yet no one cared. Irene greeted them and scanned her fingerprint before entering the house. This was a high-end apartment, so even in the event of an apocalypse, it would not be that easy to break in. Irene bought the highest floor, the tenth floor. In her previous life, she and Edric had lived in this apartment for two whole years. The workers sensed that Irene was cold and hard to get along with, so they did not talk to her much. Once they reached her home, they started speedily got to work. Irene felt an indescribable sense of familiarity when she returned to the place where she had lived for two years. When she heard the echoes in the house, it hit her. She had almost forgotten that there was no furniture in this house. In her previous life, she got her furniture from uninhabited homes nearby for free. Now that she had been reincarnated, she did not want to be a Scrooge anymore. It looked like she had to buy some furniture. Reinforcing the door, windows, and walls would take several days, and Irene did not want to be there watching them the entire time. Thus, she told the workers that if they did not do a good job, they would not get paid. However, if they did do a good job, they would be given bonuses. After that, the workers were much more careful and meticulous. After stepping out of the house, Irene saw a middle-aged man with a belly probe into her home. She knit her brows and walked over. “What are you doing?” The man chuckled. “You’re a new resident, right? I’m Dan Hart, and I live across the hall. Do you live alone? Are there no adults with you?” Irene knew who Dan was. In her previous life, Dan and his gang snatched the supplies of other residents in the apartment and went after every pretty girl in the building. They had crossed paths before too. One time, Lina got so bored of sitting around at home and went outside. The moment she did, Dan captured her. Irene was the one who risked her life by rescuing her from the wolf’s den, but in the end, Lina and Dan still hooked up. Those two *ssholes even plotted to impair her leg! It was because of that leg that Irene became her father and sister’s meal. After recalling the past, Dan’s repulsive face made Irene glower even harder. Bang! She closed the door and said to him with a poker face, “It’s none of your business.” “Hey, you b*tch! Is that how you’re going to talk to me?” Dan frowned in annoyance. He was going to grab Irene’s arm, but she countered by grabbing his arm instead and pushing him away. Crack! She dislocated Dan’s arm. Irene glared at his face as he was trembling in pain and said in a low voice, “Don’t mess with me.” Another name was added to her hitlist, and once the apocalypse was here, she would kill this man! Irene felt different after having tasted the freedom of killing anybody of her own free will. She began to look forward to the apocalypse. Only after Irene disappeared into the elevator did Dan spit on the ground. “Little girl, I’ll kill you sooner or later!” Irene could not hear his impotent rage. When she left her apartment, she drove to the warehouse and moved everything there into the space. The appearance of Dan made Irene realize that she should start preparing weapons. She did not want to turn into her neighbor’s food. After finishing the matter at hand, she took out her phone and sent a text to the Merican soldier she met while traveling, asking him if he had time for a chat. After waiting for a long time, he still had not replied. Irene assumed that he was busy at the moment, so she took her mind off of it for the time being. All she had for lunch was a bowl of simple fried rice, so after a long day, she thought of treating herself well for dinner. Besides, her days of eating good food were numbered. She went to a steakhouse and ordered over ten dishes. Unlike how carried away she was last night, she kept herself in control when stuffing her face this time, so she got to actually taste the food. After she was done eating, her phone flashed. The soldier enthusiastically asked her: [What’s the matter?] Irene did not dare talk about it through text for fear of being monitored and targeted. She just said that she was going to Merica next week and that they should get together if he was free. The soldier readily agreed. After the chat, Irene went to a car dealer and bought ten high-performance SUVs before sending them all to the same auto repair shop owner for remodeling. When the shop owner asked, she said that she was remodeling them for a friend. The boss chuckled. “Ms. Fulmer, thank you for giving me so much business. I’ll give you a 20% discount for your order!” “Deal.” Irene nodded. She went to Electronic City at noon to buy dozens of mobile phones, computers, tablets, gaming consoles, and USBs with large capacities at various electronic shops. Just as before, she carried everything into the pickup truck in big bags. At night, she stayed home to download all the classic movies, TV shows, variety shows, novels, comics, and documentaries on her computers and mobile phones. Especially the show she had watched over ten times, Game of Thrones. While downloading it, she could not help but curse at the sh*tty plot of season eight. She also downloaded dozens of high-resolution wilderness survival documentaries as it was better to be safe than sorry. Living in an apocalypse was incredibly boring. Although she was determined to survive, she still wanted to live a more fulfilling life. While downloading, Irene made sure to order all types of takeout on food delivery platforms. Fried chicken, roasted chicken, roasted duck, tea, cake, burgers, pizza, lasagna, skewers, barbecued meat, and duck liver… She made up her mind to bulk-buy food on delivery platforms every single day until the arrival of the apocalypse!