Global Mutations:I Built a Safe House

Chapter 3 Stockpiling Begins，Fortifying the Safe House

The penthouse spanned two levels: three bedrooms on the upper floor, two below—each room tastefully finished and surprisingly roomy. Luo Qingtian took one look and knew this was the one. At the real-estate office, she didn’t hesitate: she paid the full thirty million on the spot.

Manager Zhang was ecstatic. “Miss Luo, congratulations on becoming an owner in Huaan Complex! As a token of our appreciation, please accept this gift box.” He handed over an ornate case. “Inside is a 24-karat gold commemorative coin, plus several jade carvings—top-quality Hetian jade.”

Qingtian’s pulse skipped. Her hidden space—a magical pocket tethered to her jade talisman—thrummed with excitement. She barely kept her composure as she accepted the box, nodded to Zhang, and left.

A few blocks away, she slipped the gift box into her secret space. Heart pounding, she watched as the gold coin and jade figurines vanished one by one from sight.

So this space “eats” gold and jade? she thought in amazement—just in time to see the entire hidden field transform. What had been bare dirt sprouted a lush meadow. The little wooden cabin expanded into a sprawling ranch house. The small garden multiplied into over ten acres of fertile farmland—every inch of the hidden realm growing dozens of times larger.

Her earlier worry—that she might fill the space too soon—melted away. This vault was limitless.

Without pausing to celebrate, she raced to the dealership. Checking her grandmother’s old bank card (in truth, her parents’ legacy), she saw over two billion credits had cleared—enough to buy nearly anything.

She ordered three high-capacity SUVs with raised chassis, plus a motorhome for long hauls. Then she dashed to the used-vehicle market and picked up a cargo van before speeding to the city’s grain and oil wholesale district.

By noon, she arrived at the sprawling market. Remembering last night’s dinner still sat hot in her hidden space, she pulled it out and took a grateful bite. So it really preserves—and reheats—that’s perfect.

Turning to business, she circled the district’s two main avenues of rice-and-oil shops before entering the largest warehouse, where a bald, middle-aged manager greeted her.

“Welcome—what can I do for you?” he asked.

“I’m launching a massive storage-style supermarket,” she said, pointing at the shelves. “I need one hundred tons of each oil variety you carry. For rice: ten thousand fifty-kilogram bags and ten thousand twenty-kilogram bags. Flour: ten thousand bags of each type. And three thousand jin [≈1,500 kg] each of red beans, coix seeds, millet, black beans, soybeans… you name it.”

The manager blinked. “You’re joking, right? Even if you really opened a supermarket, you wouldn’t need that much.”

Qingtian tapped her phone. “Give me your account. I’ll wire a down payment now. If you can’t supply it, I’ll find another vendor.”

Her resolve silenced him. “All right, all right—you’ll need to wait for restocks. Let’s start with a two-hundred-thousand credit deposit. I’ll notify you once everything’s ready.”

He was almost giddy at the size of her order. Qingtian transferred the funds, exchanged contacts, and prepared to leave—when he called after her:

“By the way, do you need salt, spices, condiments, tea? We can arrange all of that, too.”

Her eyes lit up. “Put me in touch with your best suppliers. Also—I need a large distribution warehouse on a short lease. Three months to start.”

His grin widened. “Perfect! There’s a dedicated warehouse in this complex—let me show you.” Within minutes, they were unlocking three cavernous storage units. As she collected the keys, dozens of neighboring vendors—from seafood and produce to livestock farms and bottled-water companies—crowded around.

One by one, she placed sizeable orders: tens of tons of shrimp, crates of fresh vegetables, thousands of chicks, piglets, lambs, and dairy cows. Each supplier left with her deposit secured and her warehouse address.

With that done, Qingtian drove to the city’s largest Walmart. In the back office, she handed her giant purchase list to the warehouse manager and left him her warehouse details.

Dusk approached as she stepped into the sleek lobby of Apex Security Services, searching for their general manager. On cue, a familiar voice rang out: “Qingtian? Is that really you?”

“Uncle Qi? What are you doing here?”

Qi Ming, her parents’ former colleague, had resigned alongside them years ago and once helped her family search for her missing mother and father. Now, seeing Qingtian again, his eyes brimmed with concern—and hope.

As night fell, Luo Qingtian surveyed her orders and plans. In just one day, she’d secured a fortress of food, shelter, transport, and protection. The countdown to the apocalypse had begun—and she would be ready. Qi Jian wasn’t in any hurry to clock out. He opened his office door and ushered Luo Qingtian inside.“Qingtian, what brings you here?”

Luo Qingtian liked Qi Jian and spoke frankly.“Uncle Qi, I need to upgrade my new place into a top-tier safe house—maximum security.”

Qi Jian started to protest. “Qingtian, is something wrong? Be honest—did you offend someone?”

She shook her head. “Nothing like that. Lately I’ve felt followed. I just found out my boyfriend’s cheating, and both my uncles have been pestering me for loans. I feel so uneasy, so I want a bullet-proof safe house.”

Relief washed over him. He handed her a tablet. “Great—pick your materials and specs, and I’ll send a team to retrofit your building. By the way, are you still living at your old address?”

“No, I’ve moved. I’ll send you the new address in a bit.”

She scrolled through the options: aerospace-grade alloy panels for walls, ceiling, and floors—lightweight yet dozens of times stronger than concrete. Explosion-proof glass identical to that used on the Tiangong-1 space station. Temper- and cold-resistant, crystal-clear, and nearly indestructible.

For the front doors on both levels, she chose bank-vault-style steel doors set inside the original frames, plus an additional alloy security door on the exterior. On the flat roof, she wanted solar panels and a water-collection tank—but also a full-height extension, enclosed in an alloy-mesh cage topped with an electrified grid to prevent any rooftop intrusions.

Finally, she ticked ten backup generators: hydro, residential wind turbine, diesel, gasoline—every type guaranteed. Qi Jian’s face turned ashen as he took it all in.“You really want all that?”

She met his gaze coolly. “Is there a problem?”

He hesitated, then nodded. “No problem—our company can do this. But it’ll cost over 100 million credits. I’ll need a 20-million credit deposit to mobilize the crew.”

“Understood.” She tapped her tablet. “How long will it take?”

“About two months. We’ll draft the contract now. Once we’ve got your deposit, work begins. You inspect upon completion, then pay the balance.”

She allowed herself a small smile. “Perfect. But let’s install the solar panels, roof cage, and electrified mesh last—so they’re brand new when the end comes.”

He grinned. “Consider it done!” They signed the contract, and Luo Qingtian left.

By the time she returned home, it was after midnight. She was exhausted. Pulling yesterday’s takeout from her hidden vault, she ate a light snack and collapsed into bed—sleeping deeply until dawn.

The next morning, a knock on the door woke her. She barely had time to clear her bed before the retrofit crew arrived. After giving them a quick briefing, she headed out to the warehouse district.

At Walmart’s storage yard, four seventeen-meter freight trucks waited under the loading docks. Luo Qingtian greeted the drivers and swung open the warehouse doors. The unloading took until noon, but the space was ample for every pallet and crate.

With inspection complete, she called the store manager to schedule her final payment—and, under the guise of wanting to browse inventory, roamed the aisles. Activating her Psychic Sense, she mapped the layout within a hundred meters—aisles, exits, utility shafts—walking every corridor for three hours. Before leaving, she added 3,000 bags each of toilet paper and feminine hygiene products to her order.

That afternoon, with delivery dates set, she drove to her bank. Ignoring offers of armored escort, she purchased two crates of gold bars, loaded them into her cargo van, and found a deserted alley. There, she tossed the bars into her talisman’s hidden realm and watched in amazement as they vanished. A silvery mist rose inside her private vault, and within thirty minutes the landscape had transformed: rolling meadows, a hundred additional acres of fertile fields, distant mountains echoing with the sound of flowing water, and a simple cabin grown into a two-story country house.

Her heart raced and her body trembled with excitement. With every order placed and every retrofit underway, she had turned her fortress into an impregnable stronghold—ready for whatever the apocalypse might bring.