Chapter 65: The Good Guy Who Tipped Off the News
Just wait a little longer, Song Yuqing thought to herself, reaching out to give Little Meat Bun’s head an affectionate squeeze. I’ll make sure every single employee at the God’s Supermarket gets their own personal feature video. Talk about bringing honor to the family!
The little creature leaned into her hand, narrowing his eyes happily.
Soon enough, Nanjiao pinged her back, his messages practically vibrating with frantic energy.
[Nanjiao]: Song Yuqing!!! Get ready! A massive wave of people from Base Zero and Base One are already packing up to head your way just to check the place out!
[Nanjiao]: Thank you!
[Nanjiao]: Song Yuqing!!!
His incoherent, caps-locked spam left Song Yuqing blinking in confusion. Had Nanjiao really managed to circulate that promotional video so quickly?
Before she could even type a reply, a cascade of order notification windows began popping up across the shopping platform’s terminal like rapid-fire fireworks.
Two wood-attribute cappuccinos, two water-attribute Americanos, two earth-attribute lattes…
Ten portions of braised delicacies, forty bars of handmade soap, three tactical survival backpacks, fifty sets of protective combat gear…
The residents of Base No. 35 had been thoroughly whipped into a frenzy by the alluring promotional footage. To them, fighting zombies was just a routine part of daily life, but buying this stuff? They simply couldn’t click fast enough! The more supplies they could hoard, the better. What if the God’s Supermarket ran out of stock?!
Those who didn’t own personal mobile phones scrambled to find friends willing to share an order, while others rushed to the service center at Base 35 to line up at the public terminal. A few even scrambled to find black-market channels to buy their own devices.
At a standard price of fifty zombie crystal cores per phone, the piles of harvested undead corpses finally had a phenomenal use. Trading them to the God’s Supermarket ensured that every single life-or-death struggle out in the wasteland wasn’t wasted.
Granted, there had been a handful of skeptics who initially distrusted the post-apocalyptic e-commerce network Nanjiao had rigged up. However, after witnessing the supermarket’s tallow soap successfully reverse the horrific water-type mutation—coupled with the sheer cinematic masterpiece of the promo video—they threw their doubts out the window and eagerly dived into the world of online shopping.
The sheer volume of incoming orders from Base No. 35 was overwhelming. Song Yuqing clutched her chest, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs.
I’m finally getting filthy rich!
Judging by the flight speed of the delivery pigeons, the flock would be touching down at the supermarket to collect the cargo any minute now. Song Yuqing sprinted into the kitchen, cutting short Liu Xiaona and Gaha’s soap-making session to establish a strict assembly line.
Song Yuqing took charge of the initial sorting and categorization of the items. Liu Xiaona handled the actual packing according to the order slips, while Gaha and Little Meat Bun were deployed as the heavy-lifting transport crew.
Lacking a digital label printer, Liu Xiaona made do with a thick marker, scrawling the customers’ names directly onto the bulk packaging—including custom bundles labeled for Nanjiao, Chen She, and the Xie brothers.
Song Yuqing glanced through the live manifest. The screen displayed a staggering 380 orders in total, bringing the combined invoice to a whopping 1,880 zombie souls. With this single massive haul, Song Yuqing’s monthly sales target was instantly halfway complete.
She leaned back against the counter, a manic, unstoppable grin stretching across her face.
Dozens of kilometers outside Chen Town, a lone figure staggered forward through the oppressive gloom of the polar night.
A large, dense cluster of pale shapes suddenly streaked across the sky directly over Zhang Hua’s head, moving with such blinding speed that he barely even registered them. It was the flock of high-speed pigeon couriers executing their run.
“What if Base No. 35 refuses to take me in?” Zhang Hua muttered to himself, his voice thick with exhaustion. He had been walking for hours, and his legs felt like lead.
Suddenly, the low, deep rumble of heavy engines vibrated through the frozen ground behind him.
Zhang Hua froze, his instincts flaring as he whipped his head back. Far in the distance, a massive vehicular convoy was cutting through the terrain, its brilliant, modified high-beams slicing through the darkness like twin searchlights.
An intense wave of dread washed over him at the sight of the mysterious fleet. Moving purely on survival instinct, he scrambled off the main path, throwing himself down behind a large, dead tree on a nearby hillside to observe the column in absolute silence.
As the convoy rolled closer, he noticed a line of more than ten heavy-duty tractors bringing up the rear, their beds loaded down with massive iron barrels. The containers sloshed violently with every bump in the road, emitting a distinct, sickening gurgle of rushing liquid.
Zhang Hua pressed himself flat against the dirt, holding his breath, terrified that a single stray exhale might give away his position.
Just as the lead vehicles passed beneath his vantage point, the massive shadow of a gigantic bird swept directly over the hillside. Zhang Hua’s heart leaped into his throat, a cold sweat breaking out across his neck.
Fortunately, the avian beast didn’t swoop down to peck him apart. Instead, it glided smoothly past the ridge, descending toward a heavily reinforced, modified armored car riding in the center of the convoy.
As the creature broke through the glare of the headlights, Zhang Hua’s eyes widened. Straddled firmly across the giant bird’s back were Ruan Fanfan and his former leader—now his sworn enemy—Zhang Lei.
The bird touched down gracefully onto the reinforced roof of the armored vehicle. The driver’s side window rolled down, and a man with his long hair tied up into a traditional Taoist topknot leaned out, shouting something up to Zhang Lei.
Zhang Hua’s mind raced, flashing back to the tense dinner he had shared with Zhang Lei at the God’s Supermarket just yesterday. He remembered Zhang Lei casually mentioning that his group was preparing to launch a coordinated strike on a neighboring base.
Could it really be this much of a coincidence?!
Zhang Hua slumped back against the dead tree, his face turning pale. He hadn’t even managed to set foot inside Base 35 yet, and Zhang Lei was already on his way to burn it to the ground?
He forced himself to wait in the shadows for a long time, moving only after the distant rumble of the tailpipes had completely faded into the night. He rolled down the hillside, his brain in a frantic scramble.
Should he still push forward to Base No. 35?
Zhang Hua gritted his teeth, spun on his heel, and began sprinting back the way he came. He needed to get back to the safety of the God’s Supermarket.
Back at the shop, the staff was working like clockwork, carefully securing custom-molded cargo harnesses onto the waiting delivery pigeons. Little Meat Bun, entirely overwhelmed by the tantalizing scent of so many plump, juicy birds, had long since fled into the back room with his paws clamped tightly over his nose to avoid temptation.
“Gaha! Gaha!” Gaha, on the other hand, absolutely adored the birds. She eagerly snatched a dense tea cake that Song Yuqing had manifested from her storage, breaking it into fine crumbs to feed the flock.
Suddenly, the front doors burst open, and a breathless Zhang Hua stumbled into the lobby.
“Oh no! Something terrible is about to happen!” he shrieked, his voice cracking from sheer panic.
The entire supermarket crew froze mid-motion, blinking in unison as they stared at the trembling youth.
“What are you talking about?” Liu Xiaona asked, wiping her hands on her apron. “And why are you back so soon, brother?”
Zhang Hua gasped for air, his lungs burning. “I saw Zhang Lei… Zhang Lei is…”
“Oh, come on! Are you really that terrified of him?” Liu Xiaona rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. “The guy is a jerk, sure, but he’s not a monster.”
“No, you don’t understand! I saw him with my own eyes!” Zhang Hua yelled, his hands shaking. “He’s commanding a massive column of dozens of combat vehicles, and they’re marching straight toward Base No. 35!”
Song Yuqing looked at the raw, unfeigned terror etched across Zhang Hua’s face. Her mind immediately flashed back to the cryptic admissions she had forced out of Zhang Lei and Ruan Fanfan via the Truth Fruit, and her stomach dropped.
Base No. 35 was currently the God’s Supermarket’s absolute prime corporate client. There was no way in hell she was going to let some warlord ruin her business!
Dropping the cargo she was holding, Song Yuqing sprinted over to the checkout counter and fired off an urgent message to Nanjiao.
[Song Yuqing]: URGENT!!!
[Song Yuqing]: Nanjiao!!! Get your defenses up right now! A heavy hostile force is currently marching on Base 35. They are heading your way fast!
The response from the other side came back almost instantly.
[Nanjiao]: I already see them. We picked them up on the pigeon feed.
The advanced delivery system designed by the system included a miniature, high-definition pinhole camera seamlessly integrated into the front of each pigeon’s specialized helmet.
“I’m telling you, I watched them roll past from the ridge!” Zhang Hua urged, frantic when he saw Song Yuqing silently staring at the monitor. “Yesterday at dinner, that man literally admitted he was going to conquer the surrounding bases!”
“Base No. 35 will be ready for them,” Song Yuqing said grimly, her gaze drifting toward her inventory menus.
Lethal firearms, tactical gear, attribute-boosting coffees…
Without a second thought, Song Yuqing decided to authorize an immediate line of emergency store credit for Base No. 35, pre-loading 500 cups of various high-tier coffees and every functional firearm remaining in her warehouse.
“A quick policy reminder regarding the supernatural café,” Master Fu’s voice suddenly echoed in her ears, layered with a warning hum. “Daily consumption is strictly capped at two cups per person. Furthermore, isn’t flooding their account with unrequested goods technically considered forced predatory lending?”
“Absolutely not!” Song Yuqing and Liu Xiaona barked in unison.
How could anyone possibly spin this as predatory?! Song Yuqing knew without even asking that the leadership at Base No. 35 would be weeping with gratitude for the supply drop.
Sure enough, a fresh ping from Nanjiao confirmed her theory. He requested to put bulk orders on credit for all 1,000 active psychics stationed at Base 35, begging for an immediate shipment of ability-boosting beverages.
“Gaha!” Gaha cheered, throwing her hands up. It seemed Nanjiao and the God’s Supermarket shared a perfect, instinctual corporate synergy.
In the back of her mind, Master Fu went dead silent, clearly feeling like an annoying, out-of-touch bureaucrat crashing a productive meeting.
As a barrage of high-priority invoice windows flooded the screen, the entire supermarket staff spun around and threw themselves back into a frenzied packing rhythm.
Left entirely behind by the sudden burst of corporate momentum, Zhang Hua stood frozen in the middle of the lobby, utterly unable to process the madness unfolding around him.
