The bus door steps.
Lin Xiaoling, who was taking photos, caught sight of Xu Wanli in her peripheral vision. He was holding a lamb horn hammer and charging at her with a fierce expression. Startled, she plopped onto the ground, her face pale, and her words stammered.
"What are you... what are you doing?"
"What time did the door open?"
Xu Wanli's gaze was alert, watching outside. His left hand rested on the open/close door button, ready to press it at any moment.
Last night, he had been staring out the glass window.
Around 3 AM, he was so tired, more exhausting than working a night shift on an assembly line.
He accidentally dozed off.
When he opened his eyes again, the leaves of several ornamental trees on the edge of the parking lot were covered in a layer of white frost, and the wild grass on the ground also had some thin ice. Several fashionably dressed college students ran to the trees, picking suitable spots and angles, continuously taking photos.
There seemed to be no danger.
"We... we got up at six o'clock."
Lin Xiaoling answered obediently.
She had no choice but to be obedient.
The gleaming stainless steel lamb horn hammer was less than half a meter from her forehead, held tightly as if it would smash down the next second.
"Six o'clock?"
Xu Wanli frowned.
He looked up at the LCD screen on the bus: 8:18 AM.
They hadn't been attacked for over two hours?
"Haven't you been attacked by strange people?"
"No."
"Have you been outside the whole time?"
"Yes, we got up at six, went to the Service Area restroom to wash up, then came back to put away our towels, then ate breakfast at the Service Area. Feeling bored, we came back to take pictures."
Lin Xiaoling rattled off everything she had done that morning.
She ate soy milk and fried dough sticks for sixteen yuan, her boyfriend ate meat buns and savory porridge for twenty-one yuan, and her best friend ate brown sugar steamed buns and pumpkin porridge for fifteen yuan...
She spoke in great detail.
She was using a clumsy method to stall for time.
"That shouldn't be right."
Xu Wanli's brows furrowed tightly.
Last night, the drunkard was attacked by the monster after staying outside for less than a minute.
These people stayed for at least an hour, yet no one was injured, and no one even saw that monster. No one paid attention to the bloodstains on the ground either.
The bloodstains were easy to understand.
Everyone knew that the Woman's forehead was bleeding profusely and she was sent to the Service Area, so it was normal to have blood on the ground.
But... what about that monster?
"Crowded? Daytime?"
Xu Wanli thought of two possibilities.
But he couldn't be sure.
However, this information was not important for now.
With the end of winter just beginning, paper money still had transactional value.
And since everyone hadn't yet realized the importance of things and food, Xu Wanli could get a head start, go to the Service Area to buy a batch of daily necessities, and then rely on the Tuntun Mouse Space's return function to survive until a way to deal with the monster appeared online.
"Sorry, last night I dreamt that there were zombies everywhere outside, and I was a bit groggy from sleep."
"You weren't scared, were you?"
"How about this, I'll treat you to soy milk to calm your nerves."
After speaking, he tucked the lamb horn hammer into his waist, bent down to pull up Lin Xiaoling who was still on the ground, and as he passed a bewildered Yu Sihan, he casually took her along too.
Xu Wanli ignored their reactions and quickly walked towards the Service Area Convenience Store, dragging them by their clothes.
He was worried about encountering that monster and dared not go alone.
"Ding-dong, welcome."
As soon as he stepped into the Convenience Store, the automatic sensor bell rang.
The prices of goods in this Convenience Store were higher than those in the Gas Station Convenience Store.
But in special times, he would rather spend more money for peace of mind.
"Let me treat you to coffee."
Xu Wanli went to the refrigerator, took out a dozen bottles of Starbucks, and after paying, he stuffed them into Yu Sihan's hands.
He was about to start shopping when he suddenly thought that he would need someone to accompany him for the next few days, and he opened his mouth to speak.
"Hmph!"
Lin Xiaoling reacted.
She left angrily to complain to her boyfriend.
Yu Sihan nodded at Xu Wanli, then quickly followed her best friend to prevent the situation from escalating.
"Let's get started."
Xu Wanli was happy with this; he wasn't good at dealing with people.
He grabbed a shopping basket at the cashier and walked directly to the shelves to pick out high-energy, high-calorie items.
Like chocolate bars, Maltesers in barrels, canned eight-treasure porridge, vacuum-packed chicken wings and drumsticks, he took two of each as a source of food to sustain life; for drinks, he bought functional beverages like coffee, Red Bull, Scream, and milk.
For mineral water, he chose the expensive ones.
"There are even toothpastes and toothbrushes?"
On the display cabinet selling charging cables and phone stands, there were a few toothbrushes and toothpastes.
Without a word, he put them into his shopping basket.
According to the normal travel time, they should have arrived in Qinglai City around 5 AM, then had breakfast and gone home.
So they hadn't brought toothpaste or toothbrushes.
Now, it just so happened to solve the washing problem.
"Why not buy one of each item?"
Xu Wanli paused.
The return duration of Tuntun Mouse Space depended on different items.
Paper money returned double in one minute, cucumbers in three hours, and the return duration for other items was still uncertain.
And he didn't know exactly what supplies to buy, so why not buy a little of each and test the Tuntun Mouse Space's return duration at the same time?
"Buy one of everything!"
No sooner said than done.
Xu Wanli walked to the front desk, put down the main food items he had taken earlier, then picked up an empty shopping basket, and went along the shelves taking items one by one. When the basket was full, he returned to the front desk, asked the front desk big sister to scan the items first, and then continued to sweep up goods.
It took him over ten minutes for one round.
"Holy crap!"
"Awesome, brother!"
Two hunchbacked, shrugging young men walked into the Convenience Store, exclaiming in wonder.
"Buying so much stuff."
"This receipt is longer than my life."
A young man with unsteady steps, wearing a denim jacket, picked up the receipt that extended to the ground, examined it for a while, then put it down casually.
He looked at Xu Wanli and said lazily, "Brother, treat us to a cigarette, you bought so much, you wouldn't mind one or two packs, would you?"
As he spoke, he pointed to the goods crowding the counter, guessing triumphantly.
"You must be a self-media person, right?"
"Which platform are you on? I'll tell my fans to follow you."
"Oh, by the way, my ID is Qinglai Fire Snake Brother, with sixty thousand fans. How about it, enough to cover your two packs of cigarettes, right?"
With that, he reached out and took two packs of cigarettes worth over fifty yuan.
This guy held up the two packs of cigarettes in his hand and nudged the cashier big sister towards Xu Wanli.
The meaning was clear.
"......"
The cashier big sister looked at Xu Wanli.
Xu Wanli said flatly, "I don't know him."
"What, not giving face?"
Fire Snake Brother's smile instantly vanished, turning grim.
He and his companion took a few steps forward, one on each side, surrounding Xu Wanli, their eyes fixed on him, looking as if they would start a fight if there was any disagreement.
For someone with less experience, it would be easy to be intimidated.
Unfortunately, Xu Wanli was already immune to this kind of thing.
The factory workshop had extremely high personnel turnover, leading everyone to vent their tempers, with no one tolerating anyone else.
These two energetic young men... were not up to par.
"Scram!"
Xu Wanli reprimanded them unceremoniously.
"Holy mother of God!"
"Alright, you wait."
The younger brother rolled up his sleeves, ready to fight.
Fire Snake Brother noticed the lamb horn hammer at Xu Wanli's waist, yanked his younger brother back, dropped the two packs of cigarettes he hadn't even warmed up, and decisively left.
"Wait a moment."
Xu Wanli called out to stop them.
"Damn, what do you want?!"
Fire Snake Brother's voice rose a few pitches.
He was a little scared.
This guy was not normal.
Who carries a lamb horn hammer everywhere if they're normal?
If he had a baseball bat or a watermelon knife, he really wouldn't be scared.
People who are often beaten should know that being cut a few times by a watermelon knife or hit a few times by a baseball bat is not easily fatal.
But a lamb horn hammer was different; one hit could potentially make a watermelon burst with juice.
Who wouldn't be scared by that?
"Don't be nervous."
Xu Wanli reached out and patted the other person's shoulder, smiling with narrowed eyes.
"I want to ask you for a favor."
Not looking for trouble, huh?
Fire Snake Brother sighed in relief.
"What favor?"
"Help me move some things. Afterwards, I'll give each of you a pack of cigarettes, how about it?"
"Alright."
The two young men agreed without hesitation.
The items on the cashier counter looked like a lot, but they weren't actually heavy.
The parking lot wasn't big either; a few round trips would be at most a few hundred meters.
Walking a few hundred meters to earn two packs of cigarettes was like picking up a freebie.
"How much?"
"Hello, that's a total of one thousand one hundred sixty-six yuan and five jiao."
"Over a thousand?"
Xu Wanli was quite surprised.
He had thought it would be several thousand, but it turned out to be just over a thousand.
This meant he still had plenty of money left.
He pointed to the cigarettes and alcohol behind the cashier counter.
"Get one of each of those cigarettes and alcoholic beverages, one carton of each type of cigarette, one case of each type of alcoholic beverage, one case of each type of various drinks, and more mineral water, let's get five cases."
"Are... are you sure?" The cashier big sister's mouth was slightly agape.
"Sure."
"Okay, please wait a moment."
Confirming the customer's purchase intention.
The cashier big sister turned and opened the cabinet below, taking out cartons of cigarettes one by one, and then went into the storage room inside to move out cases of alcohol one by one.
Besides cigarettes, alcohol, and water, Xu Wanli also bought one of each item on the front desk, like chewing gum, small umbrellas, etc., buying one of everything to take away.
Anyway, he had strong laborers, so he might as well buy everything at once.
"Hello, that's a total of fifty-two thousand one hundred eleven yuan and one jiao."
Cigarettes accounted for the largest portion, costing about twenty-five thousand.
Two cases of five grains liquid (wuliangye) and two cases of moutai cost over twenty thousand, plus other miscellaneous items, totaling over fifty-two thousand.
"Card payment, please."
Xu Wanli's expression was complex.
It wasn't that he felt heartache, but rather that he wasn't used to this way of spending money.
Well, he did feel a little heartache.
A year's salary was just spent like that.
But it didn't matter; in a few days, it would just be a string of worthless numbers, so it might as well serve its final purpose.