2: Bind to the Gold Supermarket

Jiang Fei took out a palm-sized box and opened it.

Inside was a two-inch photo and a wooden bracelet with a chip.

When she saw the gentle woman smiling in the photo, Jiang Fei's eyes instantly reddened.

Mom... After her mother passed away from a serious illness, her so-called father immediately sold the high-rise apartment, abandoned her, and took the money to find his mistress.

She had thought about living independently in the old house, but she needed a guardian to attend school.

At that time, Li Yanping was afraid she would secretly run away and lose her mother's inheritance, so after bringing her to her uncle's house, she changed the locks there.

Jiang Fei gave a sarcastic smile, carefully placed the photo inside her clothes, and began to examine the wooden bracelet in her hand.

Besides the chip, the wooden bracelet was covered in spiderweb-like cracks; if it were sold outside, it probably wouldn't even fetch five yuan. No wonder Li Yanping hadn't taken it.

But how was she supposed to use it?

Jiang Fei unconsciously rubbed the wooden bracelet in her hand. Accidentally, a splinter from the chip pricked her fingertip, and a drop of blood welled up.

The wooden bracelet erupted in a dazzling golden light, and Jiang Fei felt a sudden, splitting headache.

"Ah!!!"

She collapsed to the ground in pain, and a cold electronic voice abruptly sounded in her mind.

"Ding--The Gold Swallowing Supermarket system has successfully bound the host."

"Does the host wish to open the Supermarket?"

Noticing the severe headache had vanished and the wooden bracelet had turned into an adornment on her wrist, Jiang Fei tentatively said "Yes."

The next moment, the scene before her underwent a drastic change.

She stood on an endless expanse of land.

And not far away was a building resembling a large Supermarket.

Only the glass door on the first floor was visible; the upper floors were obscured by a white mist.

Jiang Fei didn't know how tall it was or how many floors it had, so she curiously walked over and pushed open the glass door.

As far as her eyes could see, there was only an impenetrable white mist.

Where was the Supermarket she was promised?

That's it??

There's nothing???

Jiang Fei tried to pass through the white mist to explore, but she was blocked by some transparent barrier, unable to move forward. She had no choice but to ask the system:

"What's with the white mist here?"

The system's voice was cold and realistic: "Because the host is too poor, the areas sealed by white mist in the Supermarket are temporarily locked."

"Unlocking the first area requires 1000 grams of gold. Please purchase it as soon as possible, host."

"Hint: The host can use their mind to enter and exit the Supermarket, including taking items."

Jiang Fei calculated the current gold price. One gram of gold was 467 yuan, so a thousand grams would be over 400,000 yuan.

Good heavens.

It truly lived up to its name, Gold Swallowing Supermarket, demanding half her assets right away!

Fortunately, after the apocalypse, she could get things for free.

Jiang Fei couldn't help but ask, "Can't I just swipe a card?"

"I'm sorry, the Supermarket only accepts gold."

Hearing this, Jiang Fei dismissed the idea of being lazy. Before leaving, she also walked around the outside of the Supermarket.

Only then did she discover a huge, endless empty warehouse behind the Supermarket, which could be used to store supplies.

Jiang Fei exited the warehouse, feeling the ground beneath her feet outside, her eyes filled with eagerness.

If she could also grow things here... then she truly wouldn't have to worry in the apocalypse!

However, why did her mother have a system?

Jiang Fei wanted to ask the system, but it remained silent, so she had to use her mind to leave the Supermarket.

Calling a ride-hailing car on her phone, Jiang Fei arrived at the nearest gold store. She boldly swiped her card to buy a gold ornament, making the sales associate smile broadly. Then she found a secluded alley and stored the ornament in the Supermarket.

The system's voice quickly came into her mind: "Ding--Gold detected: 1112 grams."

"Ding--Congratulations, host, you have unlocked the first area [Food Category - Snack Area]. The second area requires 2000 grams of gold to unlock."

"Current unlock progress: 10%"

"Bonus reward: One Lucky Turntable spin. Does the host wish to use it?"

Jiang Fei eagerly chose "Yes." After a strange piece of music, she heard--

"Ding--Congratulations, host, your luck is amazing! You received 'Thank you for your patronage!'"

Jiang Fei: "..."

Go to hell!

Jiang Fei entered the Supermarket expressionlessly. The frustration in her heart instantly vanished when she saw the first floor.

The white mist had partially dissipated.

Potato chips, cookies, chocolates, preserved fruits, spicy strips, and all sorts of other snacks were neatly arranged on the shelves marked 'East Area.'

Jiang Fei's eyes gradually turned red.

She hadn't eaten normal food in over two years.

Instead, she had mostly eaten rotten leftovers, garbage soaked in dirty rainwater, tree bark, insects, and kaolin clay.

Jiang Fei carefully picked up a bag of tomato-flavored potato chips and tasted them.

The long-lost sweet, sour, and crispy taste made her want to swallow her tongue.

After finishing a bag of potato chips, Jiang Fei counted the unlocked East Area, which surprisingly had ten large shelves, and all the items had very fresh dates.

Not bad! Much more reliable than the Lucky Turntable!

"System, what happens if these things run out?"

System: "The host needs to restock or upgrade the Supermarket."

"The Supermarket is currently Lv1. The default quantity for each unlocked item: 10."

"If an item on the shelf is empty, the Supermarket will automatically replenish it with the default quantity."

"When the Supermarket reaches Lv2, the default quantity for each item: 100."

"Upgrade condition: All four areas (East, South, West, North) on the first floor are unlocked."

Jiang Fei gasped.

It was as if she saw a small mountain of gold beckoning to her.

She currently had 490,000 yuan in her card, plus the 20,000 yuan she had saved from working, totaling 510,000 yuan.

It definitely wouldn't be enough to unlock the Supermarket first, especially since the apocalypse was coming, with typhoons, heavy rains... insect plagues... extreme cold... high temperatures, and other unknown disasters.

Jiang Fei didn't dare to gamble that the second area would have the supplies she needed.

After much thought, Jiang Fei decided to exit the Supermarket and find a hotel to stay.

Having been reborn, she was going to enjoy life properly!

Most importantly, she needed to make money!

So, Jiang Fei lay on the bed in the presidential suite, which cost 11,000 yuan a night, and used her phone to apply for loans on various platforms, not even sparing high-interest apps.

When the apocalypse arrived two months later, who would care if she paid back the money?

Jiang Fei frantically took out loans, not forgetting to add Li Yanping as her contact person, ensuring that the debt collectors would annoy her to death.

After borrowing a full million yuan, Jiang Fei stopped and contacted a real estate agent to sell her old house.

Because it was small, in a remote location, and had no room for appreciation, it was still bought by someone to use as a warehouse, and Jiang Fei only received 50,000 yuan from the sale.

A fly's leg is still meat!

Jiang Fei comforted herself and finally felt hungry, so she ordered dinner from the hotel.

The waiter quickly arrived with a dining cart, arranged all the food, and then exited the room.

Looking at the steak, pasta, soup, and cake on the table... Jiang Fei's nose tingled again.

In this life, she had the Supermarket, and she would never go hungry again!

Jiang Fei thoroughly enjoyed her delicious dinner, then stored a deliberately left-behind cup of iced coffee in the Supermarket's warehouse.

She wanted to test the warehouse's temperature to see if it could preserve freshness.

Full and satisfied, Jiang Fei comfortably lay down on the soft, large bed and went to sleep. The next day, as soon as she woke up, she took out the iced coffee from the Supermarket's warehouse.

Not a single ice cube in the cup had melted.

Then couldn't she buy takeout or cook her own meals and store them in the Supermarket's warehouse?!

Jiang Fei suppressed her excitement and called Xiao Wu, the agent who had bought her old house last night:

"Are you free now? I want to rent an apartment, preferably on the top floor of a high-end community, with one apartment per floor."

"The higher, the better."

The heavy rain after the typhoon caused floods, and houses below the 10th floor were basically submerged. She had to find a high place to live as soon as possible.

A high-end community could also filter out people like Li Yanping.

Xiao Wu didn't expect to close a deal so early in the morning and quickly agreed, "I have time, I can take you to see apartments right now!"

Half an hour later.

After checking out, Jiang Fei took a taxi to the "Yulan Garden" community that Xiao Wu had mentioned.

Xiao Wu had been waiting at the main entrance for a while. Seeing Jiang Fei get out of the car, he immediately greeted her with a smile and handed her a floor plan:

"Miss Jiang, this is a two-bedroom, one-living room apartment, on the 22nd floor, a total of 120 square meters, enough for a family of three. However, it's not one apartment per floor, but three."

"The three apartments on the 22nd floor all belong to the same landlord. I've already inquired, and currently there's only one tenant on that floor, who rented last month. He's a reclusive man, socially anxious, quiet, and rarely leaves his apartment once a month, so he won't bother you."

Jiang Fei frowned slightly.

After the apocalypse, having neighbors was very dangerous.

No one wanted to become their neighbor's "food supply."

Seeing Jiang Fei hesitate, Xiao Wu said helplessly, "Miss Jiang, to be honest with you, the housing supply in Lincheng is very tight right now. I have the most listings among agents. Besides the 22nd floor of Yulan Garden, there's only an apartment on the 12th floor of another community for rent."

"If Miss Jiang is worried about safety, you can install an anti-theft door in the hallway. I've asked the landlord, and you can make any modifications you want."

Jiang Fei was immediately tempted.

She did want to modify the apartment, after all, people were sometimes scarier than ghosts, let alone people struggling to survive in dire circumstances.

Jiang Fei: "Can I see the apartment first?"

Xiao Wu readily agreed and led Jiang Fei to unit 2202 in Building A: "The adjacent 2201 is the same layout, with some basic furniture, and all utilities are available, so you can move in immediately."

"That tenant rented 2203."

"The landlord said if you rent both apartments, the rent will be 20% off."

Jiang Fei looked around unit 2202. It was north-south facing with excellent natural light.

2202 was between 2201 and 2203.

She could rent both 02 and 01 and connect the two apartments.

If an unsolvable danger arose, she could hide next door.

Thinking this, Jiang Fei withdrew her gaze with satisfaction: "I'll rent both of these apartments."

"Great! Miss Jiang, please come with me to the company to sign the contract."

Having successfully closed a deal, Xiao Wu enthusiastically helped Jiang Fei press the elevator button.

Just as Jiang Fei stepped into the elevator and stood still, a blurry orange shadow flashed outside the door.

It looked like a cat?

The next second, a large, clearly articulated hand appeared in Jiang Fei's vision, blocking the closing elevator doors.