Stirring Things Up in the Wasteland 7

Chapter 7

Jingbei City.

It was the nation’s number one base.

It was also the first base the country had established.

Furthermore, it was the national resource center and research hub of the apocalypse, home to numerous powerful ability users, and at the same time, an extremely cruel and realistic place.

The others had no objections to Song Xun’s explanation. Chang Fei pondered for a moment and said, “If we’re going to Jingbei City, we’ll need to send someone ahead to set things up.”

“Right. So, Xiao Fei, you’ll go.”

Chang Wan was soft-hearted, and Shi Tou was too straightforward. For this kind of task, only the quick-witted Chang Fei was suitable. Chang Fei clearly knew this as well and nodded directly. “I understand.”

“Don’t choose a place with low elevation. Just in case, it’s best to be on the fifteenth floor or higher to avoid flooding. The building should be newly constructed; otherwise, the foundation could have problems if it’s submerged for too long.”

“The location of the complex can be a bit remote. The fewer people living around, the better. There are a lot of us, so we need enough space. Make sure to choose a place in either Chengshi District or Mingze District; those two are the closest to Dongshan.”

“For safety, it’s best to choose the top floor.”

Although going up and down would be inconvenient, at least it would be quiet, and being on top would be safer. They could just treat it as exercise.

“…Also, Xiao Fei, remember to arrange for blast-proof glass, blast-proof doors, and all that. We won’t be stingy with money here. Safety first.”

In the apocalypse, it wasn’t just natural disasters that were terrifying, but man-made ones as well.

Song Xun gave her instructions one by one, and Chang Fei listened attentively, adding his own thoughts from time to time. As soon as Song Xun finished, he didn’t waste any time and immediately got up.

“I’ll head over now.”

Song Xun handed him three bank cards. “You know the passwords. One more thing, Xiao Fei, while you’re in Jingbei City, be sure to stockpile plenty of gasoline and diesel.”

Energy resources were also very important.

Although cars would be unusable during the flood period, once they could be used again during the extreme cold, they would still be the main mode of transportation.

Moreover, even during the flood period, after the water and power were out, generators, inflatable boats, and the like would all rely on fuel.

After the apocalypse began, gasoline and diesel became scarcer with each use. So, they needed to store a large amount in the early stages, as much as they possibly could.

However, they had no channels to obtain large quantities of gasoline and diesel. Going abroad now would require finding channels, which would waste too much time, and there was no guarantee they would find any.

So, they had to resort to the old-fashioned method: rent a car, go around to gas stations to fill up, and then siphon it out for storage.

Chang Fei understood Song Xun’s meaning. “I know, Big Sis.”

Without lingering, Chang Fei took the bank cards from Song Xun, grabbed his phone, and hurried off.

“Xiao Wan, your task is to go to a real estate agency and list all these properties for sale. It’s okay if they’re a bit cheap; the only requirement is full payment and a quick transfer.”

“Then, rent a warehouse. You just stay there and keep an eye on things. Shi Tou and I will go buy supplies later, and we’ll have them delivered directly to the warehouse. You’ll be in charge of checking the supplies.”

Song Xun thought for a moment. “It’s best to find a large place, preferably with a cold storage unit, so we can store some frozen products. It should be in a remote location, and make sure there are no surveillance cameras.”

“Okay.”

Chang Wan nodded, but then asked, “Big Sis, am I just watching the warehouse? Is there nothing else?”

Although watching the warehouse was important, it was also incredibly boring.

Song Xun thought for a moment. “Then, after you rent the warehouse, send me the address. Then go buy more notebooks, tablets, large-capacity storage devices, and things like that. Go online and download all sorts of skill videos.”

No one was omniscient. When the apocalypse came and the signals were down, they could still learn. These were skills, and also spiritual sustenance.

Chang Wan nodded repeatedly. “Alright.”

Song Xun thought again, then turned to the expectant Shi Tou. “I’m going to a detective agency in a bit. You go sell those cars. The requirements are the same: low price, full payment upfront.”

“Then, rent a box truck and call me. We’ll go to the wholesale market together.”

“Okay,” Shi Tou nodded.

Song Xun picked up her phone. When she turned it on, there were over a dozen missed calls from unknown numbers on silent. She didn’t need to think to know it was Su Qingyu.

If her number was blocked, she would just use someone else’s.

Song Xun’s eyes were cold. Su Qingyu couldn’t get through to anyone. She guessed the woman would be coming over soon.

To be honest, she didn’t want to see this woman at all. She was afraid she wouldn’t be able to resist the urge to strangle her.

There was no time to lose. The group hurried out of the house. It was almost noon, but eating… well, that wasn’t important.

Su Qingyu didn’t have a key to the house. Although she had asked for one, Song Xun hadn’t given it to her, using the excuse that since Shi Tou and the others also lived there, it wouldn’t be appropriate.

Alright, it was an excuse. The truth was, Song Xun just didn’t want to give it to her.

That’s why Su Qingyu disliked the three of them.

After telling Shangtian and Ru Hai to be good and stay home, the three of them went their separate ways as soon as they left the house, each to their own tasks.

Song Xun went to a detective agency first.

It was a private detective agency in Xifeng City with a good reputation.

The person who received her was a tall, thin female Alpha wearing a baseball cap. She had a short ponytail and was quite good-looking, but she seemed a bit lethargic, giving off a lazy vibe. When Song Xun entered, she was rubbing her eyes and getting up from her desk.

Song Xun could clearly feel the woman’s eyes sizing her up with a hint of scrutiny, but it was quickly followed by a lazy yawn.

So this was the supposedly most capable private detective in this agency?

She was good-looking, but what about her skills?

“Please have a seat, guest. Would you like some tea? I have flower tea, green tea, red tea, and Pu-erh. Longjing is also available. What would you like?”

The female Alpha looked at Song Xun with interest, the words flowing easily. But although she said so, she didn’t show any intention of getting up.

But Song Xun didn’t mind. She closed the door, walked a few steps to the woman’s desk, took out a photo she had printed from her phone beforehand, and pushed it across the table.

It was a photo of her and Ji Tang from a few years ago, the only one she had now.

“I can provide you with basic information. You need to help me find this person.”

Her finger rested on Ji Tang in the photo. The woman was dressed in a simple t-shirt and shorts, but it didn’t diminish her gentle and quiet demeanor in the slightest. The gold-rimmed glasses on her nose added a touch of exceptional scholarly elegance.

Song Xun’s usually cold eyes softened with a smile as she looked down at the woman in the photo, diluting some of that iciness.

The female Alpha, Wang Li, gave Song Xun a deep look. “I can help you find her, but, Miss…”

“My surname is Song.”

“Alright, Miss Song. As I was saying, I can help you find her, but could you please explain your relationship with this lady? You know, we private detectives have our bottom line. We don’t do anything illegal…”

Song Xun had no time to listen to her pretense. She pulled her backpack to the front, took out a stack of large red bills, and placed it on the table. “This is half. You’ll get the rest when it’s done. Just tell me, are you taking the job or not?”

Wang Li looked at her, then squinted and smiled. “Indeed, not bad.”

Song Xun knew she was talking about the money.

“Alright, I’ll take it. What are your requirements?”

“I’ll be leaving Xifeng City in half a month. I hope to have results by then. Good results.”

“That urgent?”

“Yes.”

Wang Li didn’t waste any more words. “Today is June 1st. Come back on June 16th. I can only say I’ll do my best to find her, but I can’t make any guarantees. You know, the time is very tight.”

Song Xun knew the time was tight, but she had no choice. The disasters wouldn’t wait. Her basic requirement was to at least find the city the person was in, preferably down to the district.

Wang Li quickly agreed to this. “Fine. Tell me everything you know…”

Song Xun nodded and gave a rough account of Ji Tang’s information, mainly stating that Ji Tang had graduated from Yunbai City Medical University, but had studied traditional Chinese medicine, which was a relatively uncommon field in modern times.

She had once interned at Xifeng City’s First Central Hospital and had said she was going to Yunhai City after leaving three years ago, but it wasn’t certain if she was still there.

After Wang Li had noted everything down, Song Xun quickly left. As soon as she was out the door, she immediately called Shi Tou to meet up. Next was to hurry up and stockpile supplies.

Shi Tou had already rented a small box truck, and the two of them headed straight for the wholesale market.

It was noon, the busiest time. As the largest wholesale market in Xifeng City, describing it as a sea of people was no exaggeration.

Due to their limited budget, they couldn’t just throw money around. After parking the car, Song Xun and Shi Tou squeezed through the crowd and saw a row of shops nearby.

They compared three different stores, looking at the goods and prices. Although there wasn’t much difference overall, she still chose the most suitable one to go into.

It was the last one.

This shop sold rice, flour, grains, and oil. They were all in bags, with 10-jin, 20-jin, 50-jin, and 100-jin options.

As Chang Wan had said, Song Xun didn’t buy the most expensive kind. But she bought various types of rice, such as japonica, indica, and glutinous. For common varieties like Wuchang rice, Panjin rice, Yuanyang rice, pearl rice, and Yanzhi rice, she ordered 400 bags of each size.

That was a total of 1600 bags. She then rounded it up with 100-jin bags to a total of 10,000 jin, which was 5 tons.

It sounded like a lot, but Song Xun felt it wasn’t enough. After all, there were many of them, and they ate a lot. When they found Ji Tang and the children, and Song Ye returned, the consumption would definitely be higher.

In her past life, she didn’t have the means, so she had to make do. But in this life, even if she were to die, she wanted to live each day well. So, after thinking about it, she added another two tons.

She would buy this much for now. There were still many other things to buy. If there was money left over, she would see.

She also ordered 500 bags of 20-jin and 300 bags of 50-jin of high-gluten flour, all-purpose flour, low-gluten flour, as well as wheat flour, corn flour, and whole wheat flour.

For soybean oil, sesame oil, peanut oil, and rapeseed oil, she ordered a total of 1000 barrels, a mix of 5-liter and 1.8-liter sizes.

The shop also sold dried noodles by the jin. She bought 500 jin.

And 200 boxes of knife-cut noodles.

And 200 boxes of instant noodle cakes.

For miscellaneous coarse grains like millet, corn grits, green beans, red beans, black rice, soybeans, barley, and adzuki beans, she bought 200 jin of each.

At noon, the shop owner hadn’t expected such a large order. He happily calculated the bill for Song Xun, tapping away at the calculator for a long time. He even rounded down the total by 1,300 yuan. In the end, the payment was 450,000.

“…I’ll have to order some of what you want. It’ll probably be delivered tomorrow or the day after. Leave an address, and we’ll deliver it to your door.”

Song Xun nodded without changing her expression. Chang Wan had just sent the address. When paying the deposit, she added a few words and got the owner to agree to throw in two extra 100-jin bags of rice.

Actually, if she had haggled, the owner probably would have given her more. But, well, with Song Xun’s cold personality, she would rather fight someone during a disaster than do something like that.

Never mind. Time to continue stockpiling.

Next target: the non-staple food store.

Salt, 24 bags per box. 1000 boxes of iodized refined salt, 200 boxes of coarse salt.

Sugar, also 24 bags per box, 1000 boxes in total.

She had to buy a lot of salt and sugar. These were non-renewable resources, so the more, the better.

Although sugar was a strategic resource, it wasn’t wartime, so it could be bought freely.

She bought not just white sugar, but also 200 bags of rock sugar and 200 bags of brown sugar.

The sugar shop also had wholesale candy. While Shi Tou and the clerk were busy loading the goods into the truck, Song Xun picked out and bought a lot of various flavored fruit drops, shortbread candies, peanut candies, and White Rabbit milk candies.

The total came to 38,000.

After they had moved all the goods, Song Xun gave the helpful clerk 100 yuan. After all, with the amount they were buying from each shop, the smaller quantities couldn’t be delivered like the rice and flour.

Having an extra person really saved a lot of time.

Then, on to the next one.

Canned goods. Canned fruit: yellow peaches, hawthorn, oranges, pears, pineapples, strawberries, bayberries, lychees, apples, coconut jelly, mixed fruit, grapes, white peaches, etc. She bought 100 jars of each.

Canned yellow peaches were a favorite, so she added an extra 50 jars.

Canned meat: beef, pork, seafood, luncheon meat, beef tendon, braised pork belly, spiced diced pork, donkey meat, red-braised pork, etc. 100 jars of each as well.

Canned fish: tuna, yellow croaker, hairtail, sardines, anchovies, mackerel, etc. Also 100 jars of each.

This was a large order. She paid a deposit of 50,000, left the warehouse address, and just had to wait for delivery the next day.

When passing a seed shop, Song Xun stopped. After thinking for a moment, she went in with Shi Tou and bought 100 packs of various vegetable seeds, as well as 50 saplings of various trees, all of the kind with a high survival rate that could be used for seed saving.

They went to several shops and basically bought everything they could. If something wasn’t available, there was nothing they could do.

It was better to be prepared. Although she didn’t know if she could plant things in the space in the end, it was a patch of black earth. If it could be used for planting in the future, being self-sufficient would be for the best.

But as she thought of this, Song Xun remembered something else. She hadn’t tested if the White Light Stone space could store living things.

Leaving Shi Tou in the shop to wait for the owner to pack the saplings, Song Xun went out and looked around. She found a shady spot and, making sure no one was watching, caught a lively little black ant, held it in her palm, and sent it into the space.

Now, she just had to wait for the results.