Panic Buying

I hope nothing too serious happens!

Chen Shouyi crumpled the newspaper into a ball and casually tossed it into the trash can.

At the next stop, he immediately headed to the bank.

Before he even reached the entrance, he saw that the entire bank lobby was already packed to the brim.

Seeing this, Chen Shouyi instead breathed a sigh of relief.

Because the situation had not yet reached its worst point.

Since the bank was still open for business, it meant it had an independent power supply system. And only the mobile wireless network had gone down; at the very least, fiber-optic access was still functioning normally.

Chen Shouyi noticed that the ATMs were not operating.

He guessed it might be to slow down the public's cash withdrawals.

Perhaps the cash reserves were insufficient, or perhaps it was meant to delay the public's rush to buy.

When he entered the bank lobby, he found it packed shoulder to shoulder. Even a train station during the Spring Festival probably had never been this insane.

But thinking about it, that was only natural.

With mobile payment becoming widespread, fewer and fewer people used cash. Many people normally had hardly any occasions where cash was necessary, and did not keep much on them.

Now that the mobile network was down, these people were naturally the most anxious.

He immediately took a number and joined the queue.

He did not have much cash on hand either, only around three or four hundred yuan.

Given the current circumstances, having more money on hand meant being prepared for anything.

Moreover, he did not know whether the invasion of the Otherworld force field would continue to worsen. If the power and network were completely cut off, he might never be able to withdraw this money again.

As time passed, the number of people in the bank lobby not only failed to decrease, but instead continued to grow.

Before long, the bank security guards were shouting themselves hoarse, reminding everyone that each person could withdraw a maximum of only ten thousand yuan.

The crowd erupted into commotion, and some people began arguing fiercely.

"Why can I only withdraw ten thousand? It's my own damn money—am I not allowed to take it out?"

"What can ten thousand yuan even do? Who knows how long the power will be out? What if the bank runs out of cash?"

Fortunately, agitated as they were, the outage had only just begun, and the situation had not deteriorated into chaos.

Most people still retained their reason. Besides, soldiers and police officers were patrolling the street outside.

In the end, under the security guards' repeated soothing, although many people were unwilling, they gradually calmed down. No serious incident occurred.

Chen Shouyi did not care much about it.

His money had come easily, and he did not value it as much as adults did.

If it had been before, even ten thousand yuan would have been a huge sum.

Not to mention that he still had Small Island's gold.

Gold in troubled times, antiques in prosperous times—gold held its value far better than money.

He queued for the entire morning before it was finally his turn.

After withdrawing the money, Chen Shouyi immediately rushed to a nearby supermarket.

In fact, most of the people who had withdrawn money were heading to the same destination.

Although the newspapers were doing their utmost to urge the public not to panic-buy, unless purchases were rationed, preventing it was completely impossible.

Driven by humanity's innate sense of crisis, people always tended to believe news that was unfavorable to them. Coupled with collective panic, a mad scramble was simply unavoidable.

By the time Chen Shouyi arrived at the supermarket, it was already a sea of people. Everyone was shopping frantically as if the goods were free.

Chen Shouyi was among them.

His cart was already full, mostly with drinking water, assorted sealed ready-to-eat food, and long-lasting compressed biscuits.

He had originally wanted to find candles, but could not find any no matter where he looked. They had probably long since been snatched up.

In the end, he had no choice but to take a bottle of cooking oil.

If the power was still out tonight, making an oil lamp in his room might be a good idea.

His phone battery was already running low, so he had turned it off.

He would save the remaining charge for when it truly mattered.

Chen Shouyi was not worried about his family. His mother had always been cautious; in his memory, she had been present at every panic-buying incident in society.

When he returned to the hotel carrying large and small bags, he did not see anyone at the front desk. They had probably gone out to stock up as well.

He put the supplies in his room and let out a long breath.

Thinking of the supermarket's crushing crowd, where a stampede had nearly occurred, Chen Shouyi could not help but feel lingering fear.

This was madness.

Actually, if it had only been a simple power outage, it would not have triggered such panic-driven buying.

It was simply that this invasion of the otherworldly force field had slowed chemical reactions, and the effects showed through in countless details.

For example, the natural gas flames at home had weakened; cars stalled easily and accelerated sluggishly even with the gas pedal down; even smokers felt that their cigarettes had lost some of their kick. Naturally, Chen Shouyi was not the only one to notice these unsettling phenomena.

He let Shell Girl out first, then made her some honey water.

After that, he gnawed through several compressed biscuits and a packet of braised pork knuckle, making do for lunch.

It was already half past two in the afternoon.

He was not planning to go out again today.

The streets were full of soldiers and police now. If he went to the Space Channel in the Unfinished Building again, he would easily be questioned.

For safety's sake, it was better to stay in his room.

"Has Beiqi come back yet?" Shell Girl asked hopefully, licking her lips after pinching her nose and gulping down the honey water.

She had clearly become addicted to cartoons and could not pull herself free.

"Not yet," Chen Shouyi replied.

Hearing the cruel news from the giant's mouth, Shell Girl was heartbroken. She sighed, her expression downcast.

But she was very quiet, no longer clamoring like she had yesterday.

Seeing how pitiful she looked, Chen Shouyi nearly could not resist giving her a Glass Bead to comfort her.

Fortunately, his will was firm enough, and he remained unmoved.

The two stayed silent, sitting across from one another without a word.

After a while, Chen Shouyi opened his status panel out of boredom. He glanced at the words "Beginner Self-Healing." Fortunately, they were still the same as yesterday and had not become any more transparent.

Finally, he swept his gaze over the knowledge section. Just as he was about to close it, a message suddenly flashed through his mind, and his expression froze.

The Book of Knowledge reminded him that the Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms and Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self could be optimized again.

Chen Shouyi's heart surged with excitement.

He had waited so long; at last, the moment had come.

Only then did he realize that Energy Accumulation had reached 3.04.

Did each optimization require two more points than the last, or three times as much as before?

He pondered it for a moment, then gave up.

That was not important. What mattered was which one to optimize first.

The physical attributes granted by the Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms were naturally extremely important!

Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self enhanced control over the body while also increasing perception, so it was equally indispensable.

After thinking it over, he decided to optimize the Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms first.

Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self was important, but its effects were still quite obvious for now—more than enough for his needs.

As for the Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms, ever since his body had transformed, its progress had slowed considerably.

Of course, compared to everyone else, this rate of improvement was still astonishing. But it was like someone who had driven a Ferrari every day suddenly being put behind the wheel of a Passat—the contrast before and after was simply hard to bear.

He glanced at Shell Girl and saw that she was still sighing gloomily.

So he lay back on the bed and closed his eyes.

Then he immediately selected "Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms" for optimization.

The familiar dream descended once more. Amid a stretch of gray fog, he practiced the Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms over and over again. With every repetition, his movements underwent minute adjustments.

As time passed, the changes to the Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms grew greater and greater, until they had gradually become utterly unrecognizable.

By the final repetition, his mind had become tranquil—without thought or desire, without the slightest ripple—revealing a lucid state of entering tranquility.

In a daze, it seemed as though some mysterious vital aura had descended!