Volume One, Chapter Two: Sudden Wealth! Not a Dream!
Page 1
[Ding! First task completed.]
[Reward: 100 square meters of space, one row of medicine shelves.]
[Now issuing the second task: Within five days, sell 10 boxes of digestive medicine, 10 boxes of antimalarial medicine, and 10 boxes of any other medicine.]
The system’s notification sounded abruptly.
Qiao Yuan was startled to discover that her grocery store, which originally had only three rows of shelves, suddenly had a fourth row, now filled with all kinds of medicines. Her store seemed two meters wider!
She rushed outside, but the building’s actual width remained unchanged—what a mystery.
As for the extra space?
She closed her eyes and sensed a void about 100 square meters wide, completely empty.
Qiao Yuan tried putting a lollipop from the counter into the space. With a mere thought, the lollipop vanished and instantly appeared inside the void.
But what was the use of this space?
She took out the lollipop, unwrapped it, and gave it a lick.
In novels, those with such spaces are usually people reborn into the apocalypse, right?
She owned a grocery store where she’d never need to spend money to restock. Why would she need this?
Her phone suddenly buzzed. Qiao Yuan answered the call.
“Qiao Yuan! Where have you been? Why aren’t you coming home?”
“I raised you all these years, and this is how you repay me?”
“You’d better come back today, you hear me?”
Qiao Yuan took a deep breath and hung up without a word.
Why go back? To cook and wash dishes for them like a maid every day?
A few seconds later, her phone buzzed again. She simply blocked the number.
People with no money or house have no say—wasn’t that why they bullied her?
At this thought, Qiao Yuan pulled out the jade token from her pocket.
She might as well pawn it. Even a few hundred was better than nothing.
After cycling for over an hour, Qiao Yuan arrived at Qingshan Pawnshop downtown.
She approached the counter, a bit ill at ease. “Hello, I’d like to pawn this jade token.”
Wang Xin, on his first day at work, stood behind the counter in a blue uniform, flashing his signature eight-tooth smile. The girl before him, however, hardly looked wealthy—her entire outfit looked like it came from a street market.
Still, adhering to professionalism, Wang Xin put on white gloves and slid a velvet tray forward, gesturing for Qiao Yuan to place the token on it.
The moment she put the jade token down, Wang Xin’s expression changed—a subtle shift Qiao Yuan noticed.
Could it be… the jade token was a fake?
She panicked. How embarrassing!
Just as Qiao Yuan was about to flee, Wang Xin cautiously picked up the token, scrutinizing it intently.
“Miss, are you sure you want to pawn this? Temporary or permanent?”
Page 2
Qiao Yuan was stunned.
Did that mean… the jade token was genuine?
“Permanent,” she nodded. “How much?”
Half an hour later, Qiao Yuan walked out of the pawnshop.
It all still felt like a dream.
She pinched her thigh hard.
Ouch!
She glanced again at the bank message.
Five, four, and four zeros behind it!
The young man inside couldn’t decide and called in his boss. In the end, they offered 540,000 for a permanent pawn.
Not only was the jade authentic, but it was also of exceptional quality, with top-notch texture and appearance.
On her way back by bicycle, Qiao Yuan’s mind kept replaying images of that beggar from the morning.
If he had something this valuable, why beg at all?
Ten kilograms of compressed biscuits exchanged for 540,000 yuan.
She’d never even dared to dream of something like this!
Could it be that the beggar really meant it when he asked if he could use gold bars to buy food?
Gold bars!
At this thought, Qiao Yuan pedaled so furiously that sparks almost flew from her bike.
She had to keep watch in her grocery store. Who knew—maybe one day a “foolish” beggar would show up with a gold bar!
...
...
The deserted museum.
Ning Jue turned around.
The third exhibition hall: Ancient Treasures.
He glanced again at the box of compressed biscuits in his hand.
He wasn’t dreaming—he’d really bought ten kilograms of compressed biscuits with a worthless piece of jade!
Ning Jue quickly divided the biscuits among his backpack, the inner pockets of his clothes, his jacket, and his pants pockets.
The survivors were already half-crazed with hunger. The government had set up aid stations, but the line took ten days—enough time for many to starve.
He had to be cautious to prevent anyone from robbing him of his biscuits.
Paddling his board, Ning Jue avoided others searching for food, taking over an hour to circle back to the tenth floor of Zhenghui International.
Although the rain had stopped, the heat was now extreme. The thermometer at home had burst from the temperature.
The floodwaters had receded from the fifteenth floor down to the tenth. Standing at the corridor entrance, Ning Jue stowed his paddleboard.
He looked at the floating animal and human corpses in the water, anxiety growing in his heart.
After a great disaster, plague was sure to follow.
It took him five breaks to climb up to the thirty-third floor, where he now lived.
Page 3
After the flood broke out, he’d come down from the roof and found a relatively safe floor, closer to the water.
“Xiaolin! I’m back.”
Ning Lin, seeing her exhausted brother, looked guilty as she hurried to help him with the board and take the backpack from his shoulders.
Since the world’s end began, girls were in even more danger, especially pretty girls like Ning Lin.
“Xiaolin, today your brother bought food!”
As he spoke, he took out ten packets of compressed biscuits from his bag, his pockets, and his waistband.
“Brother, bought? You can still buy compressed biscuits now?”
“Yes, I traded my jade token for them.”
Ning Lin tore open a packet of scallion-flavored compressed biscuits and sniffed.
“They’re really compressed biscuits!” she said tearfully, taking a huge bite.
Crying as she ate, Ning Lin hadn’t eaten a proper meal in a month.
Ning Jue stroked her head gently. “Don’t worry—the shopkeeper said you can trade gold bars for food.”
Just then, the security door sounded: two short knocks, then three long ones.
“Xie An and Qi Zheng are back too.”
Ning Jue opened the door; two gaunt men entered, dragging their deflated inflatable raft aside, then collapsed on the floor, looking defeated.
“We checked the supermarket on higher ground. The food was long gone, snatched by others. What’s left has been soaked by the water—can’t eat any of it,” Xie An said, pounding the floor in frustration. “If it comes to it, I’ll storm the military district on the mountain. With so many starving, they can’t just stand by!”
Ning Lin stepped forward, handing him an opened packet of compressed biscuits.
The aroma startled Xie An and Qi Zheng.
“Biscuits!”
They split the packet, each taking half.
“One piece each is enough—these are compressed biscuits. Eat too much and you’ll be uncomfortably full,” Ning Jue said, quickly handing them two cups of filtered water.
Xie An washed down the biscuit with difficulty. “Compressed biscuits? Where did you get them?”
“They really are compressed biscuits. With these, we can last two more days,” he muttered, then hung his head again. “But what’s the point? After two days, we’ll die anyway.”
As the living room fell into a strange silence, Ning Jue suddenly smiled.
“After we’ve eaten our fill today, tomorrow the two of you will come with me to the rooftop to fetch the gold bars. We’ll go buy food.”
“Buy?”
Xie An and Qi Zheng spoke in unison, disbelief written all over their faces.
At a time like this, food was worth more than gold. Who would be foolish enough to trade food for gold bars?
“Ning Jue, have you lost your mind?”
Faced with his friends’ concern, Ning Jue picked up a biscuit.
“Really, I bought it from the Ancient Treasures Exhibition Hall at the museum.”