Chapter 2

When she woke the next morning, the dog had already been walked.

Lin Tu felt as if she hadn't slept properly in ages. She stretched as she got out of bed, and even the butler seemed less annoying today.

By rights, she should have been busy stocking up for the next three months, but Lin Tu wasn't in a hurry. She took her time washing up, then pulled out a world map and spread it flat, asking the butler as she did so.

"Is the geography and natural environment of the disaster worlds much different from ours?"

"The natural conditions are basically identical, but the countries, cities, and cultures may differ," the butler answered carefully.

Lin Tu gave a cold "mm," with no intention of explaining herself to the butler.

She took out her phone, sent a message to the one close friend she hadn't lost touch with, and after getting an affirmative reply, turned to the butler and said, "For the free newcomer selection of the Anju feature, I choose [Travel Once]."

[Travel Once (Newcomers may select this once for free)

During the mission, relocate your house to any location.

Price: 150 points]

"I originally wanted to go to Gels Island; it'd be a pretty nice vacation spot." The butler heard Lin Tu mutter to herself. "But Schengen visas aren't guaranteed to come through in seven days, which would be inconvenient for scouting. Slower, though, has an e-visa on the northern continent, and if I have spare time, I could even head to the edge of the Arctic to see the auroras."

The butler: "Ah?!" It had been speaking dog language all morning and nearly let out a bark!

Who's seeing the auroras? Say that again, who's seeing the auroras?!

"Have a great trip and enjoy the scenery~ Don't worry, I'll cover for you completely!" Her friend's message arrived just in time.

Lin Tu quickly signed up for the nearest tour group heading to Kezikuya in Slower, then grabbed her bag and walked out the door, completely ignoring the stunned butler.

The tour was set to depart on the third day. Lin Tu planned to order supplies that needed time to prepare before she left, then pick them up directly on her return.

What Lin Tu currently owned couldn't be described as "not much" so much as "basically nothing."

Aside from some basic clothing, toiletries, and small furniture, all she had was a bag of dog food and a loaf of bread.

Fortunately, before moving, Lin Tu had saved daily necessities and furniture from various websites—besides the big bed she'd been dreaming of, there were cabinets, an induction cooktop, a kettle, pots, pans, and more.

These were the pieces she'd spent years browsing platforms to find, perfectly suited to her taste. She'd originally planned to have them shipped after the house was repaired, but now that didn't seem necessary—

After all, if she didn't ship them within seven days, she'd be six feet under. Lin Tu was remarkably optimistic about it.

The house her grandfather left behind was secluded but not remote. She walked along a small path for about ten minutes and reached the main road.

She took a taxi straight to the city center. The driver, delighted to have a big spender, chatted happily the whole way, and Lin Tu took the opportunity to ask him about the locations of some major markets in the city. Combined with her map, she'd now mapped out where she needed to go.

As soon as she hit the city center, Lin Tu immediately grabbed an e-scooter and headed to the largest furniture factory.

Food, clothing, shelter, transportation—first, she needed to solve the "eating" problem.

Long-term reliance on convenience food clearly didn't fit Lin Tu's retirement plan. She'd originally intended to cook with an induction cooktop, but in the disaster world, [Prolonged Power Supply] would cost a full 150 points—half of her three million in savings. No matter how she looked at it, it just wasn't worth it.

Without electricity, Lin Tu turned her attention to burning charcoal. Since she was heading to a high-altitude cold zone for three months, a fireplace was a solid choice.

Fireplaces were rarely used in the south, so Lin Tu asked around several shops before finally finding a rural handcraft workshop willing to customize one for her. After finalizing the dimensions, shape, and materials, she stressed repeatedly that two grooves needed to be carved on top for cooking pots.

After putting down a deposit and rush fee, and confirming she could pick it up within five days, most of the food problem was solved. As for rice, flour, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, tea, and the like, Lin Tu planned to buy them in the town near the rundown house—it was an area where farmers gathered, offering locally produced, affordable agricultural goods.

Next came "shelter." The rundown house's walls couldn't even keep out the wind, let alone zombies. How could it possibly contain Lin Tu for three months in a frigid zone? Lin Tu drove her e-scooter to a renovation shop and asked the master if he could patch and thicken the walls, with the key requirement being within seven days. The request was likely too demanding—every master shook his head and sighed.

Having been turned away, Lin Tu wasn't discouraged. She leaned against her e-scooter, pulled out a pen, and jotted down the word "walls" in her pocket notebook before heading to her next destination to solve the "clothing" problem.

Lin Tu, who had never been to a frigid zone, asked her friend for advice and went to an outdoor gear specialty store that was well-known in her circle.

It was a shop opened by a boss who loved the outdoors. Upon hearing Lin Tu was planning a trek in Kezikuya—rumored to be one of the three coldest places in the world—he immediately gave her a thumbs up.

With his recommendations, Lin Tu bought six sets of windproof, waterproof fleece jackets and pants; three pairs each of waterproof hiking boots and snow boots; six each of inner-layer down jackets, cashmere sweaters, hats, and the like; and a huge bundle of fleece underwear and socks combined. As for gear, it was a motley assortment: outdoor backpacks, insulated water bottles, flashlights, windproof masks, compasses, sleeping bag lights, windproof tents, windproof alcohol, and more.

Facing a big spender of nearly a hundred thousand, the boss waived the local shipping fee. After giving him the address, Lin Tu was about to ride off on her e-scooter when the boss's voice trailed after her, "Remember to buy something for self-defense! Safe travels, miss!"

Lin Tu turned her head and gave him a slight smile. "Thanks, I'll definitely remember to buy some."

To be precise, she didn't just need to buy self-defense items—she needed to buy a lot of them. Lin Tu was a fan of horror movies, and inspired by them, she'd originally wanted to buy two chainsaws for protection. But on second thought, chainsaws were too bulky; they weren't convenient as a primary weapon.

As for easily carried blades like tangdao swords, a search on Taoduoduo would trigger the green net warning. For the time being, Lin Tu couldn't find any offline store selling sharpened blades either.

In the end, using the business card she'd gotten from the renovation worker, Lin Tu pretended to be a purchaser and bought a bundle of crowbars, five heavy hammers, and five axes from a hardware store—another same-city delivery straight to her door.

It was already dark after buying all that, and there was still one thing left to purchase. Lin Tu decided to just get a hotel room for the night. As for Xiao Huang, she could send a text to the butler through the Settlement app, and it would take care of the dog.

Early the next morning, while the butler was dutifully walking Xiao Huang, a thunderous roar came from outside the door.

The door creaked open, and Lin Tu rode in on a motorcycle a size larger than herself. The bike was glossy black, sleek and handsome in design. Notably, five or six matching helmets were strapped to the back.

Lin Tu swung her long legs off the bike, took off her helmet, shook out her slightly disheveled hair, and looked around at the home she'd ridden all the way back to from the city center, a relaxed smile spreading across her face.

Her gold-rimmed glasses had long been tossed into her bag—in truth, Lin Tu wasn't nearsighted at all. But after hanging her helmet on the handlebar, she put the glasses on anyway.

"I looked at the [Anju] game instructions before bed last night. Is it just the one small room I live in that enters the disaster world?" To be precise, it was an eight-square-meter room. Lin Tu confirmed with the butler. "And the supplies I can bring into the disaster world are only the things in that room?"

As she walked, she pulled a boiled egg from her bag, bought from a breakfast shop. Xiao Huang caught the scent and followed along, huffing and puffing.

"Yes," the butler replied, feeling like it was the one being walked. After answering, it was about to resume the topic from yesterday morning, urging Lin Tu not to choose [Travel Once], when it heard Lin Tu say—

"Convert my 1.5 million into points."

"Oh... Huh? What?" The butler cheered up again. "Are you choosing [Iron Bulwark]?"

"No."

Last night, Lin Tu had reviewed all the Anju features related to [Walls]. Within her purchasing range, compared to [Iron Bulwark] (which added a layer of iron casing), [Toxic Fortress] (adding a layer of filter mesh), [Rain Shelter] (adding a layer of waterproof cloth), and so on, only the simplest and plainest [Sturdy Walls]—slightly harder, thicker, and better insulated than ordinary walls—suited her best.

In a world of ice and snow, what use were iron sheets, filter mesh, or waterproof cloth?!

"I'm choosing [Sturdy Walls]. How soon can it arrive? Do I need to move my things out of the room?"

"Well... that one's not great... but... it can arrive immediately." The butler's mechanical face looked ready to cry, but it dutifully asked Lin Tu about the specific building materials and design, then submitted the application for her.

In the blink of an eye, the gloomy, broken, drafty walls of the eight-square-meter room transformed into tall walls of standing red brick, with gray tiles on the roof. It clashed starkly with the crumbling courtyard, a dramatic contrast.

Lin Tu stepped inside to take a look and found that the red brick and gray tiles were only a decorative layer for thickening; the real wall was the [System-Made] product she'd spent 1.5 million on.

The wall surface was of an unidentifiable material, but it was eerily white, making the unswept floor and the mess of her belongings look even more chaotic.

With a sigh, Lin Tu immediately started cleaning up.

An eight-square-meter room was hardly enough to hold three months of supplies plus her motorcycle. Lin Tu ultimately decided to give up the big bed for now and called the furniture factory to swap it for a bunk bed with a desk and cabinet below.

In the rectangular room, the door was in the corner of the shorter wall, and the window was in the middle of the longer wall.

Lin Tu decided to place the fireplace against the wall opposite the door, with a cabinet and table nearby as the dining and leisure area. The bunk bed went against the wall near the door, opposite the window, with the lower cabinet serving as a wardrobe and extra storage for bedding. Against the wall near the window, she set up four shelves for storing food, water, daily necessities, and weapons. In the center, the remaining space was for her motorcycle and fitness equipment. By the time she was done, the entire room was packed.

While Lin Tu was busy, the butler kept looking like it wanted to say something.

Finally, it asked, "If you don't pick [Iron Bulwark], what will you do if zombies surround you?" Lin Tu hadn't chosen [Travel Once] yet, so there was still a chance to change her mind.

Lin Tu was still harboring resentment about being dragged into the disaster and nearly blurted out "None of your damn business." But on second thought, Xiao Huang had been well looked after these past two days. She took off her glasses and slowly wiped the sweat from her brow. "As you said, only killing zombies earns points. So what use is a shelter that keeps me away from them?"

"Of course it's no... Huh? It's not?" The butler was baffled.

"No," Lin Tu said, putting her glasses back on and giving it a cold glance. "I need to create the greatest advantage to kill zombies and earn enough points, because retiring in a disaster world is a completely different concept from retiring in peacetime. So I'm going to a frigid zone. Zombies are human bodies too; they're affected by temperature. If they suffer even a little from the freezing, that's a huge advantage for me. [Travel Once] and [Sturdy Walls] don't just create a temperature difference between indoors and out—they create my combat advantage. Understand?"

The butler's mechanical eyes widened, feeling as if its entire worldview and face had been shaken.

"Good, as long as you understand," Lin Tu said, patting Xiao Huang on the head. "Alright, take Xiao Huang somewhere else to play. Don't bother me."

"Oh? Okay..." The butler had just agreed when it realized—how had it ended up taking care of the dog again?!

"Hey! Don't eat random things off the ground, that's bird droppings, hey!"

The third day was the scheduled departure for Kezikuya. Lin Tu had already booked her return flight before she even left.

She arrived at her destination with the tour group, and after feeling the bone-piercing cold of the place, she grew even more confident in her plan. She bought a topographical map and used a red marker to circle the areas with higher population density, finding that most towns were located on plains along rivers.

She rented a car and drove west on rougher mountain roads. After passing the most remote little village, she drove another twenty or so kilometers, giving a wide berth to KuiKe Airport and the better-located residential areas—even if the cities in the disaster world differed from those in her own, people there still had brains and would never settle in such an awful location. In the early stage of the disaster, she needed to stay absolutely away from crowds.

After finalizing the location for [Travel Once], Lin Tu scouted the area around it and left the tour group the next day. Before flying back, she made a special trip to a local shooting club to learn some basic firearm knowledge and usage.

After returning home, there was only more to do—just as the butler thought, seven days was way too tight.

Supplies had begun arriving and being signed for one after another. Lin Tu rented a short-term van. In the mornings, she went to the farmers' market; in the afternoons, she went to a boxing gym in the city to train; in the evenings, she organized and packed her supplies.

Over these days, she filled almost all the gaps. On the morning of the last day, Lin Tu stood in front of several shelves, now neatly stacked with supplies, crammed to the brim.

The bottom of the left first cabinet held two fifty-jin bags of local rice, six packs of noodles, a big sack of potatoes and sweet potatoes, a box of luosifen, and a box of mixed instant food (instant noodles, instant rice, instant hotpot, etc.). The middle held a box each of apples, oranges, bananas, and pears, and a box each of mandarin orange and yellow peach canned fruit, with a bunch of sugarcane leaning beside. The top held a box each of salted duck eggs and preserved eggs, plus four large boxes of canned dishes—braised pork, braised pig trotters, fried sauce pork dices, canned chicken soup, and more.

The left second cabinet was stocked entirely with mineral water. Not only were the middle and lower shelves filled with 18.9L bottles, but several more bottles were stacked under the window, totaling twenty bottles in all, along with six cases of 550ml*24 Nongfu Spring.

The right second cabinet held three boxes of vitamin sports drinks, two boxes of milk, and a box of yogurt at the bottom; four boxes of Jie Rou tissue (72 packs per box) and two boxes of sanitary pads (daily and night) in the middle; and at the top, three boxes of toothpaste, three bottles of facial cleanser, several jars of face cream and lotion, three bottles each of shampoo and conditioner, three bottles of hand soap, a box of fully charged power banks, a box of flashlights, and a big bag of towels.

The right first cabinet held six boxes of long-lasting snacks—chips, chocolate, cola, pork jerky, crispy noodles, and so on—at the bottom; in the middle were the crowbars, heavy hammers, and other tools she'd bought, plus a self-defense helmet specially purchased from the motorcycle shop, two drones, and two bottles of engine oil and motorcycle rain gear hanging beside; at the top were a box of medical gauze, a box of medical alcohol, and several boxes of common medications like antiviral granules and ibuprofen.

The stuff by the cabinet was even more miscellaneous. On the floor sat two twenty-jin jugs of cooking oil. The cabinet held salt, MSG, soy sauce, vinegar, chili, and all kinds of seasonings; a box of spicy hotpot base and a box of clear-soup tomato brisket and mushroom chicken bases; three boxes of solid alcohol blocks; and the custom fireplace roasting pan, frying pan, and several fire tongs she'd specially ordered.

Draped over the cabinet were a dozen or so strips of local cured meat and a dozen sausages. Beneath the cured meat were thirty boxes of charcoal stacked almost to the ceiling, plus firewood piled so high it nearly reached the bed, and five big bags of dog food on the very top.

Speaking of which, the fireplace was quite interesting. A damper lever on top could be adjusted left or right to change the airflow into the firebox, allowing it to burn charcoal and firewood simultaneously—said to use the latest European technology.

"At 11 PM tonight, you'll be teleported to the disaster world. Make sure you're prepared," the butler warned. "If things go well... at 11:00:01 PM tonight, we'll be right back here."

If they didn't go well, a hiker would one day find her corpse in this house a few years from now.

Lin Tu hummed in acknowledgment, grabbed her keys, and headed out again.

On the final day, she planned to stock up on some more perishables—meat, eggs, shrimp, fish, and the like. She was heading to the frigid Kezikuya soon, and from her firsthand experience just a few days ago, that temperature would serve as a short-term refrigerator for storing food quite nicely.

At 10 PM, Lin Tu pushed a cart and hauled the last big box of fatty beef rolls into the house. There was almost no room left to step.

The fireplace had already been lit, radiating warmth into the chilly spring night. Lin Tu sat comfortably in a lounge chair, glasses set aside, scribbling in a notebook.

Xiao Huang yawned beside her, long since sleepy. Lin Tu had thought about sending Xiao Huang to a friend's house for a few days, but her only friend was always on the move. Better to leave the dog with the butler, who could handle its eating, drinking, and bathroom needs perfectly.

Finally, 11 PM arrived.

Lin Tu felt her whole body grow heavy, and she lost consciousness in an instant. When she came to, the familiar ringtone of her phone was just playing—the 11 PM alarm she'd set in advance.

After the cheerful chime came roars from every direction, like beasts or raving humans, as if the entire world were being pierced, torn, and crushed. Desperate, fragile screams mingled in, dying out in moments.

It was hard to imagine what kind of madness could saturate the whole world with such a horrific stench. Within moments, that stench invaded this little house lit by a warm yellow glow.

Lin Tu's eyes snapped open. She shut off the alarm, feeling her heart begin to race uncontrollably.

She had arrived in the end-times world.