Hand in Hand to Build a Home Amid Great Chaos

chapter5

Qian Ling suddenly realized that the apocalypse seemed real. According to her dreams, she would eventually return to Country H, but there was no clear information on how she would get back. It seemed many things still needed her to figure out on her own; the dreams were merely hints or indirect predictions.

After staying in the space for half an hour, Qian Ling came out just as the M-country network was restored. She wanted to contact Grandpa or Qian Ye again, but for some reason, the network was only available in a local area of M-country. Even when she tried to hack through firewalls to connect to other satellites, she failed. The satellites in the sky seemed unresponsive.

The weather outside was getting hotter. Many people hurried back to their campus dorms. The air conditioning had been turned up all the way, but the rooms were still stifling.

Sweat dripped from Qian Ling. All these abnormal signs told her she had to accept reality: the apocalypse was not a dream—it was coming soon!

Since childhood, Qian Ling had been independent. In college, she had undergone special training to challenge herself, so she had learned many skills.

Always calm and composed, Qian Ling reacted decisively after accepting the apocalypse. She quickly contacted an underground arms dealer through the internet and ordered a large batch of advanced weapons. Through different channels and accounts, she also purchased large quantities of gasoline, generators, solar-powered equipment, and farm tools. She chose suppliers that offered immediate delivery.

Then, without pausing, she contacted a customized vehicle enthusiast she had been following for a long time. That guy was a freak who specialized in collecting and customizing various off-road vehicles with top bulletproof performance for field operations. Large amounts of funds were transferred from the Qian Group's M-country account, and Qian Ling continuously encrypted and erased traces to avoid detection by M-country security agencies.

The Qian Group's largest liquid reserve was not in Country H. This was known only to Grandpa, the financial supervisor Ma Ying, and herself and Qian Ye.

Grandpa had always believed that distributing funds across different baskets would better ensure their safety. Compared to Country H, the financial systems of M-country and R-country were more flexible and free.

Her CEO father had mistreated her since childhood, so her doting grandfather had always been strict with him. As a result, his authority was limited in many matters. Because of his father's questionable character, Grandpa never dared to entrust him with important responsibilities, which only widened the rift between father and son.

But her CEO father would never have imagined that the Qian Group would eventually be passed down to her, just turned 20, instead of himself, the only legitimate son, or his son Qian Lu, the only legitimate grandson!

M-country was a country with independent property rights and no restrictions on gun ownership. It also placed great importance on creditworthiness. As long as one had a legitimate identity, they could possess a certain number of weapons. Thus, the underground arms trade was widespread in M-country.

Qian Ling quickly rented a huge warehouse near the port, paid a high rent for three months, and urgently ordered some military and camping supplies. Then she collected her personal belongings from school into the space and quickly went to the library.

The library of H University housed a vast collection of books covering various fields, with rich content. Taking advantage of blind spots in the surveillance cameras, Qian Ling secretly moved many precious books and encyclopedias into her space. Then, empty-handed, she left under the suspicious gaze of the librarian.

Sitting in the taxi, looking at her own hands, she still felt a daze. The wounds had healed as if by magic when she accidentally touched the spiritual spring in her space. The spring water had healing properties, but other aspects remained to be studied.

The weather was sultry. Glancing at her long hair, she decisively went to a hair salon and had it cut into a dashing, super-short style. Qian Ling shook her head with a wry smile at her now sharp and capable appearance—the beautiful hair that had accompanied her since childhood had been sacrificed with such reluctance.

But thinking that if the apocalypse really came, long hair would undoubtedly be a burden, she closed her eyes in dejection and let the taxi take her to the rented storage warehouse.

Gasoline, power generation equipment, solar panels, and other ordered supplies didn't require much time. She placed high-priced orders directly with manufacturers in the same state, and the goods would arrive the next day. On this point, M country's merchants were most credible, so there was no need to worry.

She moved out the desks and chairs from her dormitory that she had stored in her space, ate a little something, and then frantically continued shopping. She only selected items that could be delivered within two days, buying as much as possible. She connected to the websites of major restaurants, fast-food outlets, supermarkets, and other food-related businesses, and electronic orders flew out like snowflakes.

The space had a preservation function, so the food would never spoil. Although people in M country mainly ate Western cuisine, there was a wide variety of convenience foods; many could be turned into delicious meals with minimal processing. There were also seafood products and numerous cuisines from various countries.

She ordered various needed items from different websites, with each order not too conspicuous. The supplies mainly consisted of food, clothing, daily necessities, electrical appliances, medical supplies for sale, outdoor survival gear, and seeds. Qian Ling was grateful that her greatest expertise was in the field of electronic devices; otherwise, she would have been utterly overwhelmed.

While creating backdoors for herself and defending against M country's network defenses, she also had to erase traces and transfer between different accounts and numbers to make large payments for supplies. Without her expertise in this field, she would never have been able to handle it.

Stockpiling massive amounts of supplies in such a short time—just the cumbersome ordering procedures would have made her dizzy. If it weren't for dealing directly with major bulk suppliers for orders, even logistics alone would have been impossible.

With time running out, she could only order from manufacturers with abundant stock. At this point, she didn't care about brand or quality; having goods in stock was the greatest fortune. Moreover, everything had to be within H University's state because she only had two days—too tight for goods from distant places to arrive.

If she hadn't added a 10% rush delivery surcharge to each order, she definitely could not have ordered so many supplies. She really spent a high price to buy a bunch of mismatched things, but Qian Ling didn't feel the least bit sorry.

Even if the apocalypse didn't come, with the Qian Group's formidable strength, these goods would not be hard to resell. Even if she couldn't sell them, she could store them in her space as a rich asset, and the lost property would hardly shake the foundations of the Qian Group—just a drop in the bucket.

M country's surveillance was very tight, so Qian Ling had to switch between several accounts to purchase supplies and continuously erase traces, keeping herself so busy she was drenched in sweat.

M country had abundant military supplies, many of which had long shelf lives, and various outdoor survival equipment was world-class. So Qian Ling bought as much as she could; accumulating bit by bit would still result in a considerable amount.

She contacted several farmers to order live poultry—chickens, ducks, geese, cattle, sheep, horses, and dairy cows. Although the quantities were small, they could reproduce in her space. She also selected some fruit tree seedlings, waiting for them to be delivered together.

Qian Ling mapped out the best route from the warehouse to the private airport, marking useful places like stores, convenience shops, hardware stores, and weapon shops. Among them, a large comprehensive supermarket happened to be on the way. She carefully noted the route on a map she had "borrowed" from the library, hacked into several surveillance cameras to access the interiors of stores, and memorized the door and exit positions, waiting for the second power outage.