Chapter 2: Stockpiling List

Chapter 2: Stockpiling List

"As of the end of last December, multiple countries have discovered cases of animals infected with prions—misfolded proteins that can cause fatal neurodegenerative diseases—suffering from transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, which has raised concerns among international experts and scholars..."

"Could this prion, which can turn animals into 'zombies,' pose a threat to humans in the future?"

Zhou Yun opened the most popular forum in the country and saw this news, clicking on it without thinking.

Below, someone had already posted a reply: "Actually, there have been human cases. My cousin abroad told us to be careful and avoid eating meat of unknown origin recently..."

Following that, there were a bunch of joking replies: "You shouldn't eat it; let us eat it."

"Haha, I've already eaten plenty of infected frozen meat..."

"Yes, yes, yes, it's spreading to humans, and when the zombie apocalypse comes, the whole world will be united."

Further down, someone else said: "It's true. These pathogens are highly likely to cross races and species, causing global outbreaks."

"Also, the weather has been changing drastically recently. Many active volcanoes have shown new signs of activity, and there have been multiple undersea earthquakes. Everyone should be cautious and make some preparations."

There were still some flippant posts: "Is the end of the world really coming?"

"If it happens, it happens. Can we do anything about it? Like some rich person building a bunker? Haha, just enjoy life while we can."

"The world might not end, but humans might destroy themselves in war first..."

"I've stockpiled a lot of survival kits, food, and water for many years. When is the end of the world coming?"

Zhou Yun paused for a moment and replied: "If the end of the world is really coming, everyone should stockpile food and water, and it's best not to travel far or live in densely populated areas for now."

The zombie virus would spread in densely populated large cities, and once the water and electricity systems collapsed, food and drink would become a problem—but in smaller towns or rural areas like theirs, relying on the mountains and the sea, you'd have a better chance of avoiding the crowds and surviving.

Zhou Yun looked out the window again. There were several succulents on the windowsill, delicate and beautiful.

As long as there was enough food and water, it would be fine to lock yourself in a tall building. Zombies lacked intelligence, so few would climb up high buildings. Only if the people living upstairs turned into zombies would there be a problem, but as long as they were isolated, you could hold out for a long time.

He came back to his senses, refreshed the page, and saw that, as expected, no one took it seriously. Everyone thought it was a joke, replying with laughter: "I came back from the future, and I'm telling you to stockpile food and water..."

"Should we run to the plateau? Maybe the country has built a Noah's Ark there."

"If there's an ark, it's to go to Mars. What's the use of running to the plateau?"

"If it's a real end-of-the-world scenario, with storms, floods, earthquakes, and droughts, is there anywhere to escape?"

"I think it's more likely that a world war will break out and humans will destroy themselves. After all, the weapons that can destroy humanity are in the hands of a few madmen."

...

Zhou Yun closed the forum, opened a spreadsheet, and began to draft a purchase list, checking his savings on his phone at the same time. Both of his parents' deaths had resulted in insurance payouts and pension benefits, and he had saved a lot of money over the years by living extremely frugally.

He opened a shopping platform and started typing quickly on the keyboard.

Items that seemed ordinary and inexpensive in the abundant modern industrial system would become extremely precious in the apocalypse.

He didn’t categorize them deliberately but typed out whatever came to mind, listing the names of goods and marking prices and quantities.

Solar panels, wind turbines, openable glass greenhouse roofs, rainwater collection systems, water purifiers, generators, and solar-powered outdoor lights for house modifications. Bricks, cement, various soils, and fertilizers for planting.

Food and bottled water, because even if he eventually awakened water and plant-based elemental abilities, they would be too weak at first, so he needed to stock up on enough food and water.

A large quantity of food cans, including fish, shrimp, pork, chicken, beef, spam, canned vegetables and fruits, preserved eggs, salted eggs, compressed biscuits, rice, flour, dried noodles, and more.

Additionally, I need waterproof and insect-proof storage containers, refrigerators, and freezers, focusing on durable options.

Once I can grow veggies and raise some chickens, my food problem will be mostly solved.

Next are various seeds for planting, vegetable pots, long vegetable beds, quicklime (calcium oxide), bone meal, rice husk charcoal, potassium fertilizer, and other types of fertilizers, deep pots for composting leaf mold, easy-to-root plant cuttings, and large seedlings with soil.

Post-apocalypse, the weather will be unpredictable, with long stretches of heavy rain, drought, and dense fog.

Therefore, I need to buy a wide variety of seeds.

Poultry that can be raised on the balcony, including chickens, ducks, geese, fish fry, piglets, and rabbits. Whether these animals survive depends on luck, but there is a risk of mutation, so I cautiously chose relatively safe and gentle small livestock. In the apocalypse, other rooms in the building will be empty, and I can raise them in those unoccupied rooms. Once winter is over, I can raise them in the community ground.

For home security, I’ll need animal traps, capture cages, electric fences, drones, and surveillance systems.

After the apocalypse, there will be mutated animals and zombie animals everywhere. Although they have special abilities, they lack intelligence, and as long as something blocks them, they will stay away.

Then there are medicines, oxygen machines, everyday common medications, antibiotics, antibacterial drugs, trauma treatment supplies, bandages, and various flu and detoxification medicines that will be worth their weight in gold.

As a doctor, I am very familiar with creating a separate list of medicines and equipment, and I added some inexpensive daily vitamin supplements.

When society collapses, these industrial-era products will become invaluable.

Also, books. After the apocalypse, large data centers, cloud servers, signal towers, and power equipment will fail due to lack of maintenance, so I need to buy tool books, technical books, and more in advance. But because books take up space and are heavy, I should stick to e-books for now. As long as the generator keeps working, I can open the computer, even without the internet, as long as the files are stored locally.

Additionally, during the long apocalypse, I will need entertainment, so I need to download movies, TV shows, anime, e-books, and more for leisure. So I promptly added several large-capacity portable hard drives to the purchase list.

For food and medicine, there are also clothes and bedding. The weather in the apocalypse will be harsh, sometimes cold, sometimes hot, so I need various basic clothing items, waterproof and windproof jackets, and motorcycle-specific armor. I listed ten sets, as this armor is very useful in fighting zombies.

Also, down jackets, down quilts, silk quilts, and other lightweight yet warm bedding, as well as engineering boots and electrician boots, were all added to the list.

Although I mainly plan to stay indoors, I still need to consider the possibility of having to go out, like in my previous life, wandering and seeking powerful base support. Therefore, I listed travel bags, travel items, essential outdoor survival tools, first aid kits, solar-powered hand-crank flashlights, emergency disaster candles, power banks, e-books, and more.

If wandering during the apocalypse, I will also need items for bartering, such as cigarettes, coffee, tea, milk powder, chocolate, white sugar, and I casually added some cost-effective bulk items.

All in all, after reviewing the list, the total was shockingly high.

Frowning, I realized I needed to prioritize the list, marking the essentials in red, and figure out how to get more funds.

After a moment, my phone rang. It was Song Zhenhua, likely looking for me because I missed my shift.

I casually added him to the blacklist, then thoroughly checked the house again, getting a better idea of the modifications needed. I returned to add bricks, iron doors, cement, door and window glass, ceiling photovoltaic panels, roof reinforcements, and more to the list.

Once everything was listed, I carefully calculated and immediately redeemed all my funds, then placed online orders for the most challenging items to buy and install, such as photovoltaic generators, openable glass greenhouse roofs, and rainwater collection systems, scheduling installation times.

Looking at the time, it was noon. After my shift, I should have taken a good nap, but my mind was occupied with preparations, so I grabbed my keys and headed out to the market to see what else I could buy.

As I left, I subconsciously glanced at the door across the hallway. The dark red wooden door from the builder was still brand new, showing no signs of occupancy.

I pursed my lips, took my bicycle into the elevator, and rode quickly. First, I went to the potted plant and bird market to buy a potted perfume lemon tree, a large fig seedling with fruit, a pot of blueberries, and some local thin-skinned mild chili seedlings. I also bought two large ceramic garden fish tanks and some large, deep flower pots, scheduling delivery.

Then I went to the market, buying some common vegetable seeds, root tubers for the next few days' meals, and some chickens and ducks.

I also picked up some basic farming tools—like vegetable knives, sickles, and hoes—that will be hard to find after the apocalypse. I also ordered a batch of pickle jars.

With that in mind, he went online and bought a batch of sausage casings. He then ordered one black pig and ten free-range chickens from a specialty butcher, planning to make sausages.

In addition to the sausages, he also planned to dry some meat, vegetable slices, mushroom slices, and other dried foods. These goods were durable, portable, and packed with nutrients—perfect for the apocalypse.

After that, he returned to the neighborhood. He first went to the rooftop and pulled out all the old, unwanted vegetables, tilling the garden beds. He planned to redesign the entire rooftop for growing vegetables, fruits, and medicinal herbs.

He chopped up the roots and stems of the old vegetables with a chopping knife, then put them into a compost bin. He also buried some soil that had clearly lost its fertility in layers, sprinkling some compost accelerator on top, waiting for it to decompose into fertilizer.

His movements were quick and agile, free from the cumbersome tasks of the hospital.

After turning the soil, he focused on renovating the rooms. While tidying up and organizing, he found two gold bars in the safe that his mother had left him. His mother had bought them when gold prices were low, saying, "These are for your wedding, to make the traditional three gold pieces."

His mother had passed away, and he hadn’t had the heart to tell her, when she was diagnosed with a terminal illness, that he liked men. He had carefully stored the gold bars.

Seeing these gold bars now made him feel a twinge of sadness. Logically, with the current high gold prices, he should sell them to acquire valuable supplies.

However, his mother’s words still rang in his ears. Besides, gold was still a reliable currency in the apocalypse. While bases often used contribution points or crystal cores for trade, the demand for crystal cores was too high and mainly monopolized by psychics. Ordinary people mostly used gold for transactions, which was still the only thing accepted as currency. In his previous life, these gold bars had been gradually cut into pieces during his wanderings to exchange for food, water, and base taxes.

After some thought, he put the gold bars back in the safe. If his plan went well and he could stay at home this time, these gold bars might remain with him indefinitely.