In a frigid apocalypse, I went on a shopping spree with the reborn.

I wiped the pot with a piece of paper.

After being extremely tired and having eaten and drunk her fill, Jiang Qingyue comfortably closed her eyes, feeling sleepy.

But she only dozed off for ten minutes before getting up and opening the door.

Just as she expected, as soon as the door opened, a bunch of large hailstones rolled in.

Put on gloves, grab a bucket, pick them up one by one and put them in the bucket, then carry them out.

"It's so cold."

Even though she was wrapped in thick clothes, Jiang Qingyue still shivered.

Although Quanshui City is not spring-like all year round, it rarely gets below zero, with the coldest temperature never exceeding minus eight degrees Celsius.

With temperatures now below -20 degrees Celsius, it's truly an extreme challenge for Jiang Qingyue, a local.

"We have to keep going, no matter how cold it is."

While encouraging herself, Jiang Qingyue moved the hailstones at the door a little further away.

At the current temperature, these hailstones probably won't melt. If we don't move them now, they'll freeze together and seal the shelter door shut.

With her lips frozen purple and her ears numb, Jiang Qingyue made countless trips back and forth before finally clearing the area around the shelter.

To avoid drawing attention, she left a thin layer of hail, which from a distance looked no different from the surroundings, yet did not hinder her movements.

The pile of freshly dug soil was now covered by hail, just like a small hill covered by hail, which saved her the trouble of redecorating it.

Back in the shelter, closing the door shut out the cold air and made it a little warmer.

I took off my clothes, which were soaked with sweat, and changed into dry thermal underwear, long underwear, and then put on a faux fur mink coat.

I poured a cup of hot water from an old-fashioned thermos, grabbed a packet of instant coffee, tore it open, poured it in, and started scrolling through my phone while drinking.

Netizen 1: "Help! Why are all the supermarkets closed? I only have a few packets of instant noodles, nothing else."

Netizen 2: "It's the same for everyone. My family is also out of food. These unscrupulous merchants are profiting from the disaster. Prices for everything have increased tenfold, and they don't want bank transfers, they want cash."

Netizen 3: "Are you stupid upstairs? It's only ten times the return, hurry up and buy. I don't even want my cash anymore, I just want gold."

Netizen 4: "I wouldn't sell it even if you paid me; the supermarket doors are welded shut."

Netizen 5: "Isn't anyone going to do something about this? My family never cooks, and we have nothing but a bag of snacks. We can't buy any supplies. Isn't this forcing us to do bad things?"

"..."

As Jiang Qingyue continued brushing, her expression grew increasingly serious.

Compared to previous discussions about the weather and the apocalypse, now the internet is almost entirely focused on supplies.

Especially food, water, and warm clothing.

Especially the first two items: warm clothes are fine, just wear two layers if they're thin, or wrap yourself in a blanket if necessary. It's even more convenient if you're at home, just take out your winter clothes.

But food and water were truly unsolvable problems.

These days, even families who buy groceries and cook their own meals will buy and cook on the same day in order to eat fresh food, and will not store food for more than a week.

The same applies to water; apart from bottled water, beverages, and water dispensers, no one stores water.

The temperature has plummeted to below minus twenty degrees Celsius, the faucets are frozen, there is no running water, and the bottled water stored at home will not last more than two days.

Unfortunately, most areas were without power. Those with gas at home were better off; they could collect some hailstones to melt and use up the remaining gas, but a single gas cylinder wouldn't burn for very long.

Not to mention young people who don't cook at home, they're going crazy with anxiety.

Just then, an unfamiliar number called.

Jiang Qingyue instinctively reached for the phone, but then stopped. She thought about it carefully and realized that she didn't have any calls she absolutely had to answer, so this call was either a debt collector's call or that bastard Ye Hongyu.

Jiang Qingyue swiped left and hung up immediately, then blocked the number.

I had just blocked them for a short while when another text message popped up from an unknown number.

[Honey, Qingqing, I'm freezing to death! It's below -20 degrees Celsius, and I'm only wearing short sleeves and shorts. Even putting aside our years-long relationship, even if we'd never been in a relationship, can you really bear to watch a grown man freeze to death in front of your shop?]

I just finished reading it, and a second one popped up.

[Jiang Qingyue, I have old photos of you, the kind where you're completely naked. Open the door right now and get me something. I'm freezing and starving to death. Before I die, I have to send out these photos.]

To prove that he really had the photos, he even sent two more to Jiang Qingyue.

Suddenly, a blinding white expanse came into view.

Jiang Qingyue recalled that it was the place where she used to rent a house with Ye Hongyu, and judging from the angle, it was taken secretly.

"Something's wrong." Jiang Qingyue angrily blocked the SMS number as well.

Now she regrets it a little. If she had known that she would be disgusted by this guy again in a few years, she should have changed her number.

A cup of instant coffee down my throat.

Looking at the cup, Jiang Qingyue poured some more water into it, shook it, and drank it all in one gulp.

"Perfect, no need to wash anymore."

The shelter was damp and cold, so Jiang Qingyue simply dragged out the tin stove.

Because we needed to sleep and the shelter was poorly ventilated, and we were afraid of carbon monoxide poisoning, we didn't dare burn coal, but instead lit smokeless charcoal.

Smokeless charcoal is more expensive than coal. She didn't have enough money to buy more at first, and now she can only afford to burn it at night.

The shelter wasn't big, and it was crammed with all sorts of supplies, so a small stove should be enough to keep it warm.

After burning for a while, Jiang Qingyue took a thermometer and measured the temperature: minus nine degrees Celsius.

"good."

Although it's still quite cold, I can fall asleep normally while wearing thick clothes and under thick blankets.

Jiang Qingyue shrank back into the blankets, and when she woke up again, it was the next day.

The first thing I did after getting out of bed wasn't to wash up or eat, but to check my phone for messages from Wang Dawei.

This guy released another video today.

The video shows him and his wife wearing thin clothes, sitting around a stove with a pot of red soup cooking on it.

Next to it were fresh romaine lettuce and spinach, as well as thinly sliced ​​beef and fish, and some meatballs.

The couple ate with gusto, their mouths greasy and their foreheads sweating.

He didn't say a word, yet he attracted a huge crowd.

The comments section was filled with people asking for help, inquiring about his home location, and offering to help with cleaning in exchange for food.

There were also questions about what would happen next, so many that it was dizzying.

"I really don't mind." Jiang Qingyue looked at the big pot of hot pot and pondered for a moment.

Although she didn't keep an eye on Wang Dawei for the next two weeks, the supplies Wang Dawei's family had bought were enough to keep the two of them going for long if they ate like that every day.

"These supplies will be used up in six months at most."

But Wang Dawei did not save any money at all.

"Could things be turning around in six months? All we have to do is weather this period?"

Unable to figure it out, Jiang Qingyue looked at some other news, which were similar to yesterday's, all expressing concern about the lack of supplies.

Some people teamed up to "buy" things together.

Amidst a flood of requests for supplies, Jiang Qingyue noticed many messages saying their phones were out of battery, their homes were without power and they couldn't charge them, and that they would contact her later via the world chat.

Jiang Qingyue opened the world channel and the regional channel of Quanshui City and browsed for a while, and found that everyone's messages today could be roughly divided into three types.

One type is those who worry about supplies and water.

Another type is that various survival experts, wilderness survival enthusiasts, and explorers are teaching people how to survive, and even some apocalyptic novel enthusiasts are teaching people how to stockpile supplies.

The third option is to form a team. Jiang Qingyue didn't expect that on the second day after the apocalypse was confirmed, some big shots were already trying to build up their forces.

There were quite a few people, including several IDs she had seen yesterday.

Haicheng Wang Defa: "I have a safe house and supplies, and I urgently need teammates. I require a tall, fair-skinned, beautiful, and long-legged lady~"

Old Donkey Loves Climbing: "I have been stockpiling supplies for ten years, with no shortage of firewood or water. I am now establishing the Flying Eagle Alliance. Initially, I only need ten members. Requirements: height over 175 cm, age under 35, and skills in wilderness survival, exploration, or other special areas."

Sugar-roasted chestnuts who doesn't eat sugar: "I'm forming a post-apocalyptic pioneer team and need five teammates. One doctor with a large supply of medicine and medical equipment, preferably an associate chief physician or higher (please send your address, I'll personally bring people to pick you up), and one person with experience as a bodyguard or mercenary..."

This person who doesn't eat sugar has very specific requirements. Upon closer inspection, Jiang Qingyue remembered that this person had mentioned yesterday that their family owns a supermarket.

The supermarket has been welded shut. If it were a large supermarket, it would indeed have a full range of supplies and the resources to form a team.

Besides these, many other people are forming various forces.

Skipping over those groups that claimed to be forming teams but whose requirements all demanded beautiful women, Jiang Qingyue discovered that those who truly wanted to build a power in the apocalypse were looking for specialized talents.

They possess various special skills, or are proficient in various weapons and are capable of fighting.

Doctors with the rank of associate chief physician or above are talents that almost every organization wants to recruit.

"Should I also learn something about medicine?" Jiang Qingyue thought about it and felt that something was wrong.

She has no way to recruit talent, nor does she plan to build up her own power base, but she can get sick too.

In the past, if I got sick, I would buy some medicine for a minor illness and go to the hospital for a serious illness. Now, medicine is available, but unfortunately, it's not complete.

As for going to the hospital, forget about it.

Thinking of this, Jiang Qingyue quickly downloaded a lot of medical-related materials while she still had internet access.

In particular, first aid techniques are essential so that when you feel unwell in the future, you can find relevant treatment methods based on your symptoms.

Half an hour later, seeing that there was really no new information worth considering, Jiang Qingyue put down her phone.

Washing your face is such a luxury that it's definitely not something you can do.

She used a tiny cup, the kind her dad used to drink from, poured in some hot water, and used that little bit of water to wash her eyes.

After confirming there was no eye discharge, I started preparing breakfast.

She only eats two meals a day now, and there are no fresh vegetables left.

Electricity is inconvenient for her, unlike Wang Dawei's family who can put vegetables in the refrigerator, so it doesn't matter whether it's hot or cold outside.

She didn't have a refrigerator, and she had only bought a small amount of fresh vegetables, which she finished eating last night.

Fortunately, it's not a big problem.

Add water to a small pot, then add some fish balls, glass noodles, frozen shiitake mushrooms, a few mantis shrimps, and beef.

After the meal, she found vitamin pills. She had bought two whole boxes of these, enough for her to take one a day for a hundred years, so she didn't need to be stingy.

Even though she ate vegetables yesterday and wouldn't be deficient in vitamins if she didn't eat them today, she still took one tablet because a lack of vitamins can lower immunity.

A chronic vitamin deficiency can lead to a host of illnesses. In her current condition, even something as simple as anemia or impaired blood clotting could be fatal.

After the meal, they continued to expand the shelter.

They dug up bag after bag of soil, packed it into bags, and then dragged it out.

Because people were constantly coming and going, the shelter door was always half-open. Jiang Qingyue burned coal during the day to keep it ventilated, and she was always awake, going out every now and then, so she wasn't afraid of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Jiang Qingyue was busy until evening, during which she only drank a few glasses of water and ate two pieces of candy.

The candy that my parents used to put on the table during Chinese New Year, which even the dog wouldn't eat, is now quite suitable for me to suck on to replenish my energy while working.

Today we dug out about two cubic meters of space, and I feel very accomplished.

She plans to cut down trees tomorrow to fill the two cubic meters of space before continuing to dig.

After all, you can dig up soil anytime, but trees are alive; you can't just cut them down and burn them.

The sooner you cut the branches, the sooner they become firewood, and the less smoke you'll produce when you burn them.

Take off your sweat-soaked, dirty clothes and hang them next to the stove to dry slowly.

I changed into some dry clothes and took an iron pot and put it on the tin stove.

The stove inside the house was burning continuously, and the temperature kept rising. The water wasn't completely frozen; it was in a slushy state.

Jiang Qingyue scooped two spoonfuls into the pot and melted them, planning to simply cook some noodles today.

This way, we don't need that small saucepan, and we can save some electricity.

While waiting for the water to boil, Jiang Qingyue took out her phone and noticed that there were fewer people online.

Many people, whose phones are out of battery and in many places where there is no internet, have switched to chatting on that suddenly appearing screen.

Jiang Qingyue couldn't see the regional channels for other regions; she could only see two: the World Channel and the regional channel for Quanshui City.

The chat on the world channel was much the same as in the morning.

Upon opening the regional channel, Jiang Qingyue's face turned ashen with anger before she could even refresh it twice.

Ye Hongyu posted a short essay.

"Family members, my name is Ye Hongyu, and I'm Jiang Qingyue's boyfriend..."

This short essay begins with their dating experiences during their school days. It seems ordinary, but there are quite a few revisions.

In Ye Hongyu's short essay, Jiang Qingyue's parents fell ill, and Jiang Qingyue had to return to the small city of Quanshui to take over the seafood shop.

Business was bad, and he also had to take care of his parents. During this time, Ye Hongyu worked hard to earn money and sent money to Jiang Qingyue every month.

But Jiang Qingyue still felt it wasn't enough, and life was very hard, so she used her outstanding looks to find an older man.

Then she lived a life of comfort and wealth, and eventually dumped her boyfriend who sent her money every month.

Finally, Jiang Qingyue's phone number, her address in Xingfu Community, and the address of the seafood store were also included.

And at the end, it was specifically mentioned that the seafood store had a lot of supplies.

Their malicious intentions are completely undisguised.