Stocking Up

She walked in, but there were no salesclerks or vendors inside—only customers pushing carts back and forth.

Given the empty fridge at home, Tu Ran grabbed a shopping cart as well.

She headed straight for the food section. The food here actually looked halfway decent.

Though if you picked it up and examined it closely, you'd see that most of it was synthetic.

Especially the meat, eggs, and dairy.

As for fruit, there was none at all. The closest thing was fruit-flavored nutrient solution.

Several shelves were lined with it, in all sorts of flavors.

Tu Ran glanced at the price—cheaper than the supermarket at the entrance of her neighborhood—and immediately grabbed seven or eight bottles.

If she ever didn't have time to eat, she could use these to stave off hunger.

Moving on to the staple food section, Tu Ran was surprised to find pure natural noodles and rice here.

But after one look at the price tag, she gave up.

The cost of a single pound was enough to buy her twenty bottles of nutrient solution.

She'd just stick to drinking nutrient solution—it filled her up just the same.

Next to it, the synthetic staples had much friendlier prices. Tu Ran didn't hesitate to weigh out a few pounds of rice.

The vegetable section was more of the same—naturally grown produce cost an arm and a leg, while synthetic stuff was dirt cheap. Tu Ran picked through and grabbed some leafy greens.

Then came the snack section, the part Tu Ran was most looking forward to.

After all, most snack ingredients were synthetic, so the taste between the two worlds shouldn't differ much.

She grabbed a pile of her favorites, headed to the self-checkout machine with a grin, and paid. Then she carried two big bags of food back home.

It was already noon by then.

She took the elevator up, pushed open the door, and found herself starving. She downed a few sips of nutrient solution to curb the hunger before starting on lunch.

She steamed a bowl of rice and quickly stir-fried a plate of greens and a plate of shredded potatoes.

The potatoes were naturally grown—she'd bought them with a pang of guilt.

Compared to other natural foods' exorbitant prices, a single potato was still somewhat acceptable, and with a discount today, it was even cheaper.

The meal was set on the table, and it actually looked decent.

Tu Ran also brewed a cup of protein powder.

This was distributed free by the Federal Government to every household to ensure people's nutritional intake.

The white rice was synthetic, yet today, Tu Ran oddly didn't get that synthetic taste from it.

Tu Ran was puzzled.

It wasn't her first time eating white rice in this world. Back in Regaken State, she'd often had it for lunch.

That rice had an unmistakable artificial flavor—naturally grown rice, when chewed thoroughly, would release a sweet fragrance at the end.

But this bowl of rice in front of her—Tu Ran could actually taste that same sweet fragrance.

Could the supermarket have made a mistake?

Tu Ran ran to the fridge to check the bag she'd bought the rice in.

Red lettering on it read "Synthetic Rice."

That's right—it really was synthetic.

Could it be that the synthetic rice from the Federal Headquarters came from a different manufacturer than the one in Regaken State?

But that would be too big a difference.

It was like night and day.

Tu Ran sat back down and began wolfing down the rice.

It was delicious.

She'd been in this world for so long, and this was the first time she'd had such good rice.

Tu Ran also remembered she had two dishes.

The shredded potatoes tasted exactly like what she remembered.

And the greens... why did the greens taste the same as in her memory too?

Not entirely sure, Tu Ran took a few more bites, savoring them carefully. They truly tasted identical to what she'd had in her previous world—no synthetic cheapness at all.

Tu Ran couldn't figure it out.