Milk was found by Shi Man outside the old house the year her grandmother passed away; it was a long-haired, odd-eyed lion cat, only two months old when she found it.
At that time, her eldest uncle, second uncle, and Sanjiu, along with their families, all lived in the urban village.
Shi Man said she was raised by the Shi family, but in reality, each family would give her a bite to eat, and she would go to school during the day and act as their servant after school.
At night, she would roll back to the old house and stay by herself, crying under the covers on countless late nights, with only Milk by her side.
Even after the apocalypse, it was the same; when those three families moved her back to the old house and found that Milk was still alive, they immediately wanted to butcher Milk for meat.
Milk was clever and ran away without a trace.
Later, several times when Shi Man went out to find food, Milk would quietly appear and accompany her, leading her to find food.
By the fourth year of the apocalypse, plants and animals had mutated; if it weren't for Milk's warnings and help, Shi Man would probably have died long ago.
Later, Shi Man was injured, and Milk was caught by that family, skinned and eaten in front of her.
Thinking of all the past life events.
Shi Man picked up Milk and kissed its head several times, eliciting a series of high-pitched meows.
The fluffy creature in her arms purred, and Shi Man's heart instantly filled and softened.
"Milk, this life, I will definitely protect you."
"Meow~" Milk opened its round eyes, rubbed against Shi Man's face, and then bit her collar.
Shi Man thought Milk wanted her to play with it, but it wasn't the right time.
She resisted the urge to pet Milk wildly and was about to put it down when Milk suddenly turned its head and bit her hand hard.
Shi Man winced in pain; Milk had always been well-behaved since it was little, never biting or scratching people randomly.
Seeing her, it immediately lay flat, exposing its belly and purring.
This was the first time Milk had bitten her, and it bit very hard, drawing blood.
Blood dripped onto the concrete floor.
Ding--
A strange mechanical sound echoed in Shi Man's mind.
"Human Civilization Homestead activated successfully. Homestead Owner: Shi Man. Current Homestead Level: Scrap (↑)."
"Homestead Attributes: Warehouse: 10000m³ (↑), Water Reservoir (To Be Unlocked)."
"Novice Mode activated. Reward Points: 1000. Duration: Three days. Points doubled during Novice Period."
"Every 1000m³ of storage capacity can add 1000 points. Points can be used for homestead upgrades."
"Currently, one thousand points can be consumed for the initial upgrade."
Shi Man was stunned, but it didn't stop her from making a judgment immediately.
With a thought, she unhesitatingly chose to upgrade.
Light and shadows flashed quickly before her eyes, and the old house's attributes on the interface box changed.
"Homestead Level: Bronze (↑)"
"Access Control Defense System activated, Main Building structure strength upgraded to Copper Wall Iron Wall, Main Building interior re-equipped (style optional)."
"Storage Space Upgrade: Capacity 15000m³ (↑), Permanent Freshness Lock function unlocked, Water Reservoir capacity unlocked: 10 tons (↑), Portable Backpack function unlocked."
"Added Waterproof and Shockproof functions (unlockable after storing one hundred types of materials)."
Shi Man excitedly covered her mouth, unable to completely muffle the shriek from her throat!
Milk immediately got airplane ears and hid in a corner, stealthily observing the crazy biped.
"Calm down, calm down!"
Shi Man slapped herself to calm down.
If reincarnation had happened, what big scene was worth her losing her composure over!
Shi Man took three deep breaths and immediately searched the house for the warehouse and water reservoir mentioned by the system.
Soon, she found an extra door in her grandmother's small room for worshipping Buddha.
Shi Man pushed the door open and saw a huge, empty, pure white space.
On the other side of the space was a transparent, cube-like area, which should be the water reservoir.
"Spatial folding?"
Shi Man thought of this term, then became troubled.
With a water reservoir, the water supply problem was solved, but how would so much water be brought in?
With a thought, the system interface appeared before her eyes again:
"Safe water source detected within the main building, can be connected to the water reservoir. Connect?"
Shi Man immediately selected 'Yes'.
The next moment, Shi Man saw splashing water appear in the reservoir.
At this rate, it would probably fill up in a few hours.
As for attracting attention due to large water consumption?
The apocalypse was coming soon; was she afraid someone would check her water meter?
After the apocalypse began, clean water sources were as scarce and precious as food!
After confirming the locations of the warehouse and water reservoir, Shi Man exited the folded space.
The remaining function to be confirmed was the portable backpack.
Shi Man had read some novels and comics and generally knew what it was about.
She tried to put her phone into the portable backpack.
The next moment, the phone disappeared, and Shi Man entered the folded space again.
Sure enough, the phone appeared inside!
Shi Man couldn't help but laugh.
With this function, the safety of her collecting supplies would greatly increase!
Before, she had been worried about how she would transport a large amount of supplies home without anyone knowing.
She was now full of drive!
Stockpile! Upgrade!
Only this way could she ensure her and Milk's long-term survival in the apocalypse!
After finding the homestead certificate, Shi Man hurried out.
Before leaving, she glanced at the exterior of the old house; the marks of time were still there, and the cracks in the cement wall had not changed at all.
She confirmed that the old house looked no different from the outside.
When she opened the iron gate, she heard the noise outside.
Several police cars were parked outside, many people were gathered around, and a few people were squatting on the roadside with their heads in their hands.
Zhou Dama's cries could be heard clearly through the human wall.
Shi Man glanced at her wailing figure and hooked her lips with pleasure.
Half an hour later.
Shi Man arrived at the land acquisition department.
The staff warmly received her.
Shi Man had one request: the demolition compensation could be reduced by 500,000, but it must be transferred within an hour, and she needed a week to move out of the old house.
Perhaps because she was the first household in the urban village to agree to demolition and even voluntarily reduce the compensation by 500,000, the process went very smoothly.
After only half an hour, the demolition payment arrived…
After the money was in hand, Shi Man felt no joy.
While waiting for the transfer, she registered for all available small loans online, accumulating over a Million more for herself.
At the same time, she rented a van online, and it was delivered to her door.
Shi Man emerged from the acquisition department, happily received her 'new car,' and immediately drove to the nearest large supermarket to purchase supplies.
It wasn't that she didn't want to go to the wholesale market; she checked online, and the nearest wholesale market was over twenty kilometers away by car.
Crucially, that wholesale market was currently undergoing rectification and relocation, and the other two wholesale markets were even further away.
S City was the provincial capital, and the traffic situation was… better left unsaid.
Daily traffic jams for 2 hours, and these two days happened to be the weekend, so the traffic situation was even worse.
She really didn't have that much time to waste on the road now.
Shi Man got her driver's license as soon as she came of age, but the reason she got it was to conveniently help her aunts pick up and drop off their children.
Anyway, in the Shi family, she was just a free helper.
Shi Man suppressed her hatred; stockpiling supplies was the most important thing right now.
To avoid attracting attention, she chose the principle of small quantities multiple times.
It wasn't that Shi Man didn't want to stockpile crazy amounts at once, but the use of the portable backpack had to be discreet, and having goods delivered to the old house was impossible!
In the urban village, each household lived close to each other; if a large truck drove in, it would be strange if it wasn't noticed!
That afternoon, Shi Man drove her van to dozens of supermarkets, big and small.
She was extremely fast, filling one car with supplies and then moving to the next supermarket.
As soon as the car started, she would transfer the supplies inside to her portable backpack.
Empty the car, move to the next!
After five whole hours, Shi Man's achievements were as follows:
"Five thousand catties of rice, five thousand catties of high and low gluten flour, five thousand barrels of 4L cooking oil, 1000 boxes of instant noodles, 1000 boxes of instant rice, one thousand catties of various seasonings like sweet and sour sauce, soy sauce, salt, hotpot base, and Pixian bean paste."
"One hundred boxes each of pickled chicken feet, potato chips, biscuits, spicy strips, chocolate, fatty happy water, nut snacks, Milk yogurt, dried vegetables and fruits, and various canned goods."
"One hundred boxes each of sanitary napkins, safety shorts, panty liners, body wash, shampoo and conditioner, laundry powder, laundry detergent, toothpaste, and facial cleanser."
Shi Man thought about it later and decided she needed to stockpile more sanitary napkins, so she bought another hundred boxes.
In the apocalypse, due to food shortages and malnutrition, many women stopped menstruating, but in the early stages, no matter how chaotic things got, Aunt Flo, though late, would arrive!
While face and dignity were irrelevant in the face of life and death, Shi Man really didn't want to experience that kind of 'bloodbath' again.
While sweeping up food, Shi Man didn't miss the pharmacy either.
Alcohol, fever reducers, anti-inflammatories, painkillers, quick-acting heart pills, stomach medicine, traditional Chinese medicine for injuries, various external skin medications—all conventional medicines available on the market were bought.
And birth control pills, these were really important!
Although Shi Man was a single woman who had never been in a relationship, birth control pills, besides contraception, could also delay the onset of menstruation.
In certain critical moments of the apocalypse, if menstruation arrived, the feeling was better left unmentioned.
When Shi Man bought a box of birth control pills, the pharmacy owner's gaze at her was full of 'stories.'
Shi Man didn't care about other people's gazes.
After buying these, she rushed to the nearby wet market.
Because she had cooked for those families since she was young and often bought groceries, the uncles and aunties at the market recognized her, though Shi Man came less often after college.
She arrived before the butcher closed his stall and ordered ten pigs and ten cows, hoping they could be delivered tomorrow.
The owner was startled to suddenly receive such a large order.
"Girl, what are you buying so much pork for? It's not Chinese New Year yet."
Shi Man casually replied that she was buying for relatives, then asked the owner if he could handle the order.
The owner beamed:
"Of course, I can! My cousin runs a slaughterhouse! We also have lamb; goat meat isn't as gamey as mutton, do you want some?"
When she was little, every beginning of winter, her grandmother would stew a pot of lamb soup for Shi Man.
Shi Man missed that taste and hadn't eaten lamb in several years.
She nodded: "I'll take ten too!"
Besides pigs, cows, and sheep, the owner also had chickens, ducks, and rabbits, all freshly slaughtered.
Shi Man ordered a hundred of each.
In addition, Shi Man also ordered some beef offal, lamb offal, and chicken offal.
She was from Shu Province, where the cuisine was heavy on oil and spice.
Whether for hotpot or cooking, various 'offal' were indispensable.
Things like boiled tripe, boiled duck intestines, stir-fried crunchy bits, stir-fried chicken offal… absolutely delicious!
Besides that, she also found the fruit and vegetable vendors next door and ordered various fresh vegetables and fruits, soybeans, mung beans, red beans, red dates, goji berries, all starting from two hundred catties.
After discussing with the owners that Shi Man would pick up the goods herself tomorrow, she immediately rushed to a nearby pet store and ordered a thousand catties of cat food for Milk, along with various cans, catnip tablets, hairball paste, nutritional paste, cat litter, and various small toys.
To be honest, pet food, clothing, housing, and transportation were more expensive than for humans!
But Shi Man didn't feel bad at all; she thought it was worth it!
If she had enough money, she would even want to buy Milk a pet food factory!
Shi Man barely rested.
When she left the pet store, it was already nine in the evening.
Suddenly, Shi Man felt a chill on her head, and heavy rain abruptly poured down.
Pedestrians on the roadside cried out, "It's raining!"
"The rain is so heavy!! Hurry, run, go home!"
Shi Man quickly returned to the van, drove a short distance, then stopped to put the pet supplies into her space.
The heavy rain lashed against the car windows, but the downpour only lasted ten minutes before stopping.
However, Shi Man's heart did not improve with the cessation of the rain.
She knew this sudden shower was just the beginning.
During the ten minutes the rain stopped, Shi Man quickly ate a bread and drank a bottle of Milk for dinner, and also checked her phone, which had been on silent.
There were over a dozen missed calls.
WeChat also had dozens of unread messages.
The missed calls were from Zhang Chunxia, and besides her, there were two others: Shi Dahai and Shi Chengcai.
Her second uncle and Sanjiu.
Shi Man was about to put her phone down when it lit up again, showing a call from: Second Uncle.
Shi Man thought about it, still didn't answer, and drove home.
After parking the van on a roadside parking spot on another street outside the urban village, Shi Man quickly walked home.
It was almost ten o'clock now, and many shops in the urban village had closed, including the mahjong parlor next door.
It should have been very quiet.
All the way, Shi Man's phone kept ringing.
She ignored it but noticed a Mercedes parked at the crossroads.
She frowned, walked around the corner, and saw the iron gate wide open with a person standing in the courtyard.
Shi Man's heart sank, then she breathed a sigh of relief, confirming the main gate was closed.
Her gaze, however, darkened, and her voice was very cold: "Second Uncle."
Shi Dahai was dressed in a suit and tie, looking like a successful man.
He pushed up his glasses and stared at Shi Man with his usual scrutinizing gaze, pointing at the gate: "You changed the lock?"
Shi Man hummed in affirmation, but inwardly, she felt relieved.
After the access control system upgrade, only she could open the main gate; this was something she had confirmed before leaving.
Shi Dahai's expression was displeased:
"I won't settle accounts with you for changing the lock for now, but why didn't you answer my calls earlier?"
"Not coming home late at night, where did you go fooling around? Do you know how much time you wasted of mine!"
"Shi Man, it's not that I want to lecture you, but you're already unpromising, graduated from a third-rate university, and can't even find a job after entering society.
If you mess around with relationships again, you won't be able to get married later."
Shi Man felt disgusted hearing his voice and interrupted his nonsense: "Whether I find a job or get married, is it any of your business?"
"You're eager to find me just because you want the old house, right? If you want the house, it's a fixed price of six Million."
Shi Dahai's face flushed red, "I think you're lawless! Is this how you talk to your elders?!"