Chapter 5: Crazy Shopping Spree

July 24, 2026. 120 days until the apocalypse on November 21.

Li Yu ran five kilometers through the mountain forest before returning home to take a shower. Having returned from the end of the world, he simply couldn't stand his current weakling physique.

In truth, Li Yu’s physical condition wasn't actually bad.

At 183cm tall and weighing 150 jin (75kg), he had a faint six-pack.

But to Li Yu, who had returned from a rebirth, he was still too weak, which prevented him from performing many high-difficulty maneuvers.

That was why he had been focusing on improving his physical fitness ever since he returned.

After showering and eating breakfast, Li Yu went to the base to inspect the progress.

Looking at the basement and the house that had already been built, Li Yu felt a bit cheerful.

The house was now in the renovation stage, and the plumbing and electrical wiring had already been installed.

Additionally, Li Yu had spent 3 million to purchase photovoltaic solar panels from Zhongke Photovoltaic. Fearing that repairs would be troublesome later, he bought several extra sets.

He also arranged for his younger brother, Li Hang, to learn the entire installation process.

Although learning on the fly certainly wouldn't be enough, photovoltaic solar panels naturally had a lifespan of up to 30 years. If these sets were stored properly, they would be enough to last for a long time.

Once the photovoltaic power generation system was laid out, based on the power output of this equipment, it would generate nearly 100,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.

With the basic construction nearing completion, there were some things that needed to be accelerated.

Stockpiling supplies!

Although Li Yu had purchased some supplies online over the past two months, following the records in the manual he had written previously, he had only bought them bit by bit.

He hadn't bought them in bulk because there was nowhere to put them.

The underground warehouse hadn't been finished, and there was no electricity, so he could only make small-scale purchases.

He could have kept the supplies in the three-story house he was currently living in, but he would have to move them to the base eventually, which would be too much of a hassle.

So, Li Yu had been waiting for the underground warehouse to be completed so he could transport everything at once.

It is worth mentioning that the cement-paved country road near National Highway 319 was less than two kilometers away from the site currently under construction.

To connect the base to the country road, Li Yu had built a cement path less than five meters wide. He specifically chose to build it in an area with dense trees, so that under the cover of the layers of forest, it was basically impossible to see what was inside from the country road.

Furthermore, this small path had several turns, making it even more concealed.

100 meters in from the country road along this path, one would be met with a gate welded from double-layered refined steel plates.

It was a double-door gate about 5 meters high, 8 meters wide, and nearly 30 centimeters thick.

The top of the gate hadn't been grouted or capped yet, so even very tall items could be transported inside for now.

This size was also the result of Li Yu’s comprehensive consideration, calculated based on the size of the vehicles plus some extra clearance.

This gate alone cost Li Yu several hundred thousand yuan.

Next to the main gate, Li Yu had opened a smaller door, only 2.5 meters high and 1.5 meters wide. This small door was also made of refined steel.

Li Yu stood in the spacious underground warehouse, looking at the more than 2,000 square meters of empty space before him.

His heart was filled with grand ambitions.

Within two months, he had to fill this place up.

Meticulous as he was, Li Yu divided the 2,000-square-meter space into zones based on categories: food, medicine, clothing, hygiene products, fuel, trade goods, tools, and so on.

He marked out each area clearly and logically, making it easy to navigate at a glance.

It would also be extremely convenient to find things later.

According to Li Yu’s budget, with the 30 million from the lottery win and the 20 million in loans, he had a total of 50 million RMB.

He planned to spend 25 million on the base construction and 25 million on purchasing supplies.

He opened the shopping list he had prepared earlier.

(o(￣ヘ￣o＃))

With a wave of his hand, he tapped away on his phone, contacting major wholesalers! (Don't ask why wholesalers; the answer is to save money!)

He entered "crazy shopping mode"!!!

Buy, buy, buy!

All survival supplies were calculated based on the needs of 50 people for 20 years.

He even specifically called his little sister to ask for the top 10 things she wanted most.

Then, he added them one by one.

It is worth mentioning that Li Yu, along with his uncle Li Hongcheng and his brother Li Hang, went to a 4S dealership and bought three Ford pickup trucks and two 6-seater SUVs.

However, he didn't buy any trucks, because their family business involved culvert pipes, and they already had two trucks for delivery.

Of course, these five cars were all bought on loan, with the longest possible repayment terms.

The apocalypse was coming; wouldn't it be a waste not to fleece the system?

In Li Yu’s heart, there was only one voice: "Hand it over!"

For all the supplies he bought, he opted for installments or loans whenever possible.

On the drive back, he happened to run into his father on the country road.

Li Hongyuan saw the convoy and heard Li Hang say that these were all cars Li Yu had bought. He was momentarily stunned: "Yu-zai, when people buy cars, they buy them one by one. Are you stocking up on inventory?"

Li Yu didn't offer much of an explanation. This was just the beginning; there would be tons of supplies transported in later, and he figured Li Hongyuan would find that even harder to accept.

Li Hang, on the other hand, was quite excited. He squinted his clever little eyes, smiled, and asked his big brother: "Big brother, did you buy one for me?"

Seeing Li Hang like this, Li Yu laughed.

He said: "Yes, there's one for you. That SUV is yours."

Li Hang shouted in excitement: "Oh yeah! Big brother is the best! I haven't really touched a car since I got my license."

Watching his younger brother's happy expression, Li Yu recalled the times he used to beat him up when they were kids.

He thought to himself: *Still just a kid.*

His uncle, Li Hongcheng, who had come along, was also surprised to see so many cars, but he didn't say anything.

Li Yu then handed each of the 4S dealership staff a bottle of water and gave them each a 100-yuan red envelope. Although helping with the delivery was part of their job, giving a little tip for their hard work was just common courtesy.

The staff happily accepted the money and praised Li Yu for being a stand-up guy.

One of the staff members asked: "Boss Li, what are you doing with so many cars?"

Hearing this, Li Yu replied vaguely: "There are a lot of people in the family, and we need to transport goods on a daily basis, so we bought them all at once." Then, he prepared to get in the car and drive away.

The staff seemed to realize Li Yu was busy, so they said a few words and left.

That’s right, Li Yu didn't let these staff members into the base, nor did he let them see the base itself.

The fewer people who knew about the base, the better, to avoid anyone having designs on it later.

Li Yu took his younger brother and uncle Li Hongcheng and drove the cars into the base in several trips.

The next day, he took Li Hang to the city. Some of the "weapons" he had ordered had been confirmed as ready, and they were told to come pick them up.

Li Yu had spent a long time looking for a shop that specialized in swords, bows, and crossbows, and he even had to spend some money to find someone willing to help him acquire these items.

It was someone who dealt in the black market and wasn't afraid of the law—only of being paid too little.

First were the kings of anti-terrorism cold weapons—20 modern compound crossbows, priced at 19,888 each, paired with 30 arrows per bow.

To meet Li Yu’s requirements, they added another 270 arrows for each crossbow.

In total, 20 crossbows and 6,000 arrows.

He also purchased 40 swords, including katanas, yanling sabers, and some protective armor.

Despite his constant requests, the shopkeeper was unwilling to sharpen the blades for him.

In the end, Li Yu said that if they weren't sharpened, he wouldn't buy any of them, putting a little pressure on the seller.

Then, he immediately offered the shopkeeper an additional 100,000 yuan as a sharpening fee—a big carrot to dangle.

The shopkeeper finally agreed to sharpen them.

But when Li Yu was paying, the shopkeeper looked at him as if he were a lunatic.

Just like how normal people don't write diaries, what kind of normal person buys so many swords, and even has them sharpened!

He and his brother went to the city and made several trips to move everything onto the pickup trucks.

On the way back, they avoided the highway and drove back to the base with their hearts in their throats.

Luckily, no police stopped them; otherwise, it would have been too difficult to explain the situation under questioning.

After moving all these things, the two of them were drenched in sweat.

His younger brother didn't ask anything, but instead looked excited.

Li Yu warned him not to tell their parents or anyone else.

His brother gave him a "I understand" look, then wandered off to take a shower, muttering to himself.

Seeing his brother like that, Li Yu realized the explanation he had prepared wasn't even needed.

What a goof.

Looking at the purchased weapons, Li Yu placed them in a hidden, remote corner of the warehouse and locked them with a heavy-duty padlock. He kept the key with him at all times.

That evening, Li Yu contacted various food suppliers he had researched, including those for rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea.

He contacted them one by one and scheduled delivery times.

Then, he opened his computer and began downloading every TV show, movie, drama, documentary, variety show, and so on that was available on the market.

To download these, Li Yu bought 100 solid-state drives and 100 mechanical hard drives, each with a capacity of 10T. The total capacity was nearly 2,000T.

In addition, he bought several storage server cases with massive capacity.

If you calculate one video as 1GB, he could download a full 2 million videos.

Of course, there were also those "essential" adult films for men, of which he downloaded several thousand.

Relying on his years of experience as a bachelor, he had no shortage of websites. He downloaded these mainly to "cultivate his character"; occasionally watching action films featuring famous Japanese stars was good for both body and mind.

At the same time, he downloaded books covering everything from nine-year compulsory education to agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishing.

From history and humanities to geography, from chemistry and physics to politics and ethics. He also bought Kindle e-readers to go with them.

He also bought some old VCDs from a music store that was about to go bankrupt. Li Yu spent 150,000 yuan to buy out their entire stock.

Looking at the 5 computers currently downloading in sync, and looking down at the neatly stacked hundreds of computers, and hundreds of unopened, newly released Huawei phones, tablets, and other electronic products...

He slapped his forehead. This was getting a bit overwhelming.

Li Yu went to a used bookstore again. He hauled away three full truckloads of books in batches.

By the way, regarding the classmate who worked in interior design in M City, after receiving her design drawings, Li Yu made a few simple changes, mainly to greatly improve the safety and structural integrity.

In the largest 300-square-meter villa in the center, he built a small 30-square-meter home theater in the basement of the first floor.

There was also an accompanying gym, a game room, and other leisure spaces.

This house was the one Li Yu put the most effort into, costing nearly 2 million yuan.

The remaining four villas were only simply renovated.

Time passed like a white horse galloping past a crack in a wall.

And the construction of the base changed day by day.

When nearly 40 heavy-duty trucks entered the underground warehouse, it truly gave Li Hongyuan a shock.

He scolded Li Yu for spending money recklessly.

"Can you even eat all of this?"

Li Yu was very firm and told his father not to interfere. Li Hongyuan was so angry he gritted his teeth.

Most of these supplies were transported from other provinces.

Li Yu convinced these suppliers to transport them by paying a premium, and they brought their own laborers.

This did cost Li Yu a significant amount of money.

But this was to prevent people in the surrounding area from knowing what they were transporting. Once the apocalypse broke out, the mountains would be high and the emperor far away, and it would be very difficult for these drivers to find this place again.

Even if they wanted to find it, they would have to cross provinces.

And in the era of the apocalypse where zombies roamed, whether these people could even make it here was a big question.