Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Mental Nourishment for the Apocalypse

Early the next morning, when Qin Xi woke up, her physical exhaustion still hadn’t fully worn off.

From her arms down to her thighs, a clear sensation of soreness lingered.

Breakfast consisted of steamed siumai and porridge that Qin Song had gone down the mountain to buy.

After eating, Qin Xi felt her energy recover a bit. Without a single moment’s delay, she drove down the mountain back to the wholesale market she had visited yesterday.

Now that she understood the rules for this system upgrade, the difficulty of completing her tasks had dropped significantly.

Qin Xi quickly finished buying the necessary potted flowers and ornamental fish at the wholesale market.

Instead of returning right away, however, she took a turn into the market’s hardware section, purchasing a batch of farm tools, seeds, and fertilizer.

The system space currently featured farmland and a coal mine—and there was no telling what else might appear later. Qin Xi felt these tools and seeds would definitely come in handy.

Noticing saplings for sale—fruit trees, ornamental trees, along with grape and watermelon vines—she bought a few of each and absorbed them into her space. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

On her way out, passing by a roadside flowerbed, she squatted down and scooped up a handful of dirt:

[Ding—1 handful of ordinary soil acquired. 1 element point obtained. Current task progress: 86/100.]

Just fourteen to go!

The difficulty of the system task was much easier than she had imagined.

Qin Xi felt her mood lighten. The rest just depended on those mineral ores she had asked her big brother to find!

Returning to her car, she slowly started the engine.

She had bought almost everything she needed from the wholesale market.

Just earlier, she had also pre-ordered one hundred 5,000-liter plastic water storage tanks, intending to go on a zero-yuan shopping spree at gas stations for gasoline once the zombie outbreak started. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

As for gasoline, private individuals could only buy a few dozen liters at most, so Qin Xi and Qin Song hadn’t wasted time trying to hoard much of it now.

Qin Xi drove back in the direction of the warehouse.

Halfway there, she made a brief stop at a shopping mall.

An apocalypse had no expiration date. For years—or even within a span of several years—most people wouldn’t have the luxury of enjoying any form of mental nourishment.

So she bought thirty tablets and ten portable Wi-Fi routers, planning to spend this afternoon and tomorrow downloading as many videos, movies, and TV series as possible.

Once all these items were purchased, Qin Xi drove back to the warehouse.

When she arrived, it was only a little past 10:00 AM.

A delivery truck was currently unloading goods inside the warehouse. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Qin Xi took a quick glance and didn’t head inside right away. Remaining in her car, she connected the tablets to the Wi-Fi and began downloading movies and TV dramas.

She placed the ten portable Wi-Fi routers apart from one another; having too many Wi-Fi units grouped together would throttle the network speed.

After setting that up, she went into the warehouse just as the delivery truck was leaving.

Noticing Qin Xi, Qin Song swept his gaze over her. Seeing her face still somewhat pale but her spirits high, he breathed a slight sigh of relief.

He handed Qin Xi a cup of green milk tea—her past favorite—and instructed:

“Rest for a while first. Remember to store these packed meals into your space, or they’ll go bad.”

Hearing this, Qin Xi looked over at the massive spread of food containers on the ground and nodded:

“Got it, Big Brother.” Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

As her words fell, however, she grabbed Qin Song’s arm:

“Big Brother, buy some large heavy-duty storage shelves to bring back. Leaving everything flat on the ground wastes too much space.”

Qin Song looked at Qin Xi with a gentle smile:

“Alright.”

After Qin Song left, Qin Xi sat on a folding chair by the entrance and began mining coal inside the system.

One ton of coal wasn’t a huge amount, but it wasn’t small either.

Mainly, inside the coal mine, Qin Xi still needed to manually pick away at it bit by bit.

Fortunately, she had just bought a chisel and a iron hammer at the hardware store. She first smashed, then pried, and finally hammered it apart. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Qin Xi had to take a break every twenty minutes.

This was far more exhausting than sowing wheat yesterday!

On the bright side, the coal she hammered out didn’t require manual collection; the system could absorb it directly.

Otherwise, she truly felt she wouldn’t be able to finish within two days!

While Qin Xi worked continuously mining coal in the system, delivery trucks arrived one after another.

Bags of rice, flour, oil, fresh fruits and vegetables, clothing, snacks, as well as the cold drinks and street snacks she had newly ordered via phone today.

Along with the storage shelves Qin Song had ordered, and the technicians who came to assemble them.

Food and drinks were tucked away into her spatial dimension by Qin Xi in secluded spots. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

She held off on storing the bulk bags of rice, flour, and oil, and among the fresh produce, only picked out items prone to spoiling quickly.

With her current spatial area being small, she had to prioritize perishables.

She also had to stay out of sight of the assembly technicians!

The long-abandoned factory ground bustled with noise all day long.

By the time Qin Song returned in the evening, Qin Xi was so exhausted she sat slumped in her chair, completely unwilling to move even a finger.

Qin Song had purchased two reinforced assault boats, plus a speedboat, while picking up full underwater gear like diving suits and life jackets along the way.

He had also rented a luxury RV and two off-road SUVs, driving them back one after another during the afternoon.

Seeing off the assembly technicians who had worked overtime past 9:00 PM, Qin Song lifted a heavy-looking bag off the box truck and handed it to Qin Xi: Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

“There are about twenty types of raw mineral ores in here. Should be enough.”

Taking it, Qin Xi immediately felt the weight of the bag.

Reaching in, she pulled out a slightly translucent stone and noticed a label stuck to it:

[Clear Quartz]

Her brows twitched, and she went on to check the others.

She found Amethyst, Hetian Jade, iron ore, copper ore, silver ore, and more.

She blinked—right, jade and gemstones are also naturally formed! How could she have forgotten about that?

She immediately absorbed all these items into her spatial dimension. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

Sure enough, she heard the system notification prompt:

[Ding—1 piece each of Amethyst, Clear Quartz, Copper Ore, Gold Ore… acquired. 1 element point obtained per type. Current task progress: 100/100. Excess duplicate element points will not be included in statistics. Task rewards: 50 Points, Energy Potion ×1 (Restores mental strength, boosts supernatural ability energy).]

An Energy Potion!

Qin Xi beamed at the sight of the small blue glass vial!

Restoring mental strength and boosting supernatural ability energy—wasn’t this exactly what she needed right now?

Today, she had only mined a little over 900 jin [1] of coal, still short by over 1,000 jin, but she was genuinely too exhausted to dig further.

Yet she really wanted to upgrade the system today and see the results.

Without hesitation, Qin Xi drank the Energy Potion right away. Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

The potion container held only a single mouthful. After swallowing it, Qin Xi felt the changes in her body.

A warm current flowed from her throat into her abdomen before slowly spreading outward. Within just a few breaths, the exhaustion from continuously using her mental strength and the soreness from manual labor vanished completely.

Qin Xi felt her brain become considerably clearer!

She didn’t even feel very hungry anymore!

Still, Qin Song forced her to eat a bit of food before letting her go back to mining coal.

This time, Qin Xi felt completely light and nimble. Digging coal hardly required any effort at all!

Black chunks of coal were pried open and shattered as the night deepened.

A little past 11:00 PM, Qin Xi finally let out a long, deep sigh of relief! Original translation by Lhaozi, read at lhaozitranslation.com

She thudded her fist against her slightly aching arms.

The final jin of coal had finally been smashed out!

At the exact same moment, she heard the system prompt ring out in her mind:

[Ding—System task: Mine 1 ton of coal completed. Reward: 20 Points. Upgrade tasks completed: 3/3. System upgraded! Upgrade rewards: 100 Points, Standard Machete ×1 (Attacking-type attribute), Healing Potion ×1. Current System Level: 3.]

Footnotes

1. Jin (斤 – jīn): A traditional unit of mass in China equal to 0.5 kilograms (or approximately 1.1 lbs). 1 metric ton equals 2,000 jin (1,000 kg), which is why 900 jin meant she was still short by over 1,000 jin to reach 1 ton.