Stockpiling in Bulk

After dinner, Chen Luo even had to wash Dharma King's bowl. That dog really had him waiting on him hand and foot.

Once he finished washing up, Chen Luo picked up his phone, ready to head out again.

There was still plenty of time, but the sooner he had his supplies ready, the sooner he could relax.

Chen Luo planned to order a large quantity of vegetables and fruit next, which meant he needed a large warehouse for temporary storage.

Was he supposed to keep collecting everything in batches from trucks? Have people load truck after truck for him?

What a joke.

Before leaving, Chen Luo deliberately tested Dharma King's reaction.

Seeing Chen Luo about to leave, Dharma King grew anxious. This master treated him so well-he had even given him ribs. He had never eaten anything that good in his life.

Was he going to abandon me?

Would I have to be a stray again?

Dharma King whined, gently rubbing his head against Chen Luo's leg.

Chen Luo smiled, stroked his head, and took him along in the car. Building a bond with Dharma King during this period was still very important.

Once he was in the car with Chen Luo, Dharma King settled down again.

Over the next few days, Chen Luo stayed busy looking for warehouses and contacting suppliers, occasionally squeezing in time to stockpile prepared food.

He barely had a moment to breathe.

The balance in his account plummeted.

Chen Luo felt satisfied, though. Money only had value when he spent it. Otherwise, it was just wastepaper.

He had raised three hundred million by mortgaging his house and a billion by selling his shares.

Meat accounted for the biggest expense: five hundred million. The original price was seven hundred million, but the remaining two hundred million would be paid after the apocalypse.

Which meant he would never have to pay it.

He spent three hundred million on vegetables, mainly potatoes, cabbage, radishes, tomatoes, assorted mushrooms, and leafy greens.

He bought these from a number of scattered suppliers who would not let him buy on credit.

He could delay payment a little, but not for ten days or half a month.

Unless Chen Luo waited until the last few days before the apocalypse, but then he might not have enough time to stockpile everything.

Chen Luo stockpiled a hundred million worth of water.

It was all purified drinking water. The water itself was cheap; the containers were what cost money.

A one-yuan bottle of water actually cost a little over twenty cents to produce. Aside from labor, factory space, and equipment, the bottle was the expensive part.

Chen Luo also stockpiled two hundred million worth of fruit, mainly apples and oranges. They were nutritious, cheap, and available in large quantities.

He stocked up on a little of every other kind of fruit, too, but not much.

Assorted snacks, such as chocolate, candy, and chips, along with salt, seeds, and other odds and ends, cost Chen Luo another hundred million. He bought ten million worth of salt, which was enough.

That brought the total to 1.2 billion. Renting warehouses and cold storage, as well as buying prepared food, had also cost him quite a bit.

Now Chen Luo had only fifty million left in his account.

Chen Luo let out a long breath. Stockpiling supplies was no easy job, but he had finally more or less finished.

The only things he had not stockpiled were staple foods. He did not have any rice or flour at all.

For one thing, he was running short of money. For another, he had a better plan.

Who stored the most grain?

Local grain depots, especially those in a metropolis like the Divine Capital. Their grain reserves were enormous.

If he visited one after the apocalypse, Chen Luo was worried even his ability space might not be big enough.

He felt a little regretful. If only he had known to expand his ability space further in his previous life.

It was not just grain, either. He could still stockpile other supplies, such as vegetables and meat. A large supermarket alone held plenty.

Other people could only carry away so much, but Chen Luo had his ability space.

To make moving around after the apocalypse easier, Chen Luo ordered a batch of high-voltage stun batons.

He spared no expense on them, buying fifty in total.

Before long, these stun batons would become useless, but in the earliest days of the apocalypse, they would be unstoppable.

Zombies were vulnerable to electricity, too.

As for why he did not buy blades, those could get stuck, and swinging them took a lot of strength. A stun baton only needed a light touch, saving him the effort.

A blade had to hit a zombie's vital spot. A stun baton could touch any part of its body.

He also ordered two suits of high-tech alloy armor, one fitted to his own build and the other to Su Dazhu's.

Technology had not advanced that far yet. Wearing this armor would be cumbersome and severely hinder speed and movement.

But its advantage was safety. Given the strength of early-stage zombies, very few could break through it with their attacks.

Pair it with a stun baton, and heh-heh.

He could only use it where there were few zombies. If a crowd surrounded him and he could not run, he would be done for.

The armor had not arrived yet.

With a little free time at last, Chen Luo bought a hundred high-capacity phones and copied movies, novels, and study materials onto them.

After the apocalypse, there would be no internet or phone signal, but phones would still work-as long as he had electricity.

For that purpose, Chen Luo also bought ten diesel generators. Why ten? In case they broke down.

He bought a batch of solar panels as well.

If he had possessed a phone with unlimited battery power and internet access, Chen Luo thought he could have lasted another ten or twenty years in his previous life.

He bought plenty of diesel, too.

That way, he could even use air conditioning.

Over time, Chen Luo bought a batch of walkie-talkies and household goods, including rice cookers, ovens, microwaves, and iron woks.

As for medicine, he only bought some for treating external injuries and preventing inflammation. He had no use for the rest.

Meanwhile, Chen Luo hired a cooking instructor.

What had frustrated him most after the apocalypse?

Even when he found ingredients, he could only turn them into food that was hard to choke down. If he had not needed it to stay alive, he really would not have eaten it.

Once, Chen Luo and Su Dazhu found three potatoes and planned to make stir-fried shredded potatoes.

Who knew how to cut them?

Chen Luo and Su Dazhu could only stare blankly at each other.

They had no choice but to roast them through their tears-and burned them, too.

Now he had so many supplies, but if he needed to cook someday, he would still be helpless without any cooking skills.

Chen Luo hired a cooking instructor for the hefty sum of fifty thousand yuan a month.

That was hardly a low salary, was it?

Well, he would pay her in a month.

The instructor was Ma Yu, a pretty twenty-five-year-old with a mature, confident air. Her looks were decent and pleasant enough, but she had a great figure.

Chen Luo had tried Ma Yu's cooking. It was absolutely fantastic, much tastier than the food he had bought from five-star hotels.

At first, Ma Yu had worried that an employer offering such a high salary might have ulterior motives.

After meeting Chen Luo, she relaxed. With everything he had going for him, what pretty young woman out there could he not attract?

Why would he need to go to all this trouble for her?

At that moment, Chen Luo was having a lesson.

"Today, I'll teach you how to make sweet-and-sour ribs."

"First, put the ribs in cold water and bring it to a boil to blanch them and remove the bloody foam."

"Then pour in some of that free oil."

Chen Luo blushed. Since when was oil free?

During his first lesson, Chen Luo had kept worrying that there was not enough oil. Ma Yu went to the bathroom and came back to find he had filled half the wok with it.

Shocked, Ma Yu had asked, "Is oil free in your house? Why did you pour in so much?"

Seeing that Chen Luo was easygoing, Ma Yu had made that little joke.

Even with Ma Yu guiding him step by step, the food Chen Luo made could not compare to hers.

Without Ma Yu there to guide him, even Dharma King refused to eat what Chen Luo cooked.

Not even a dog would eat it.

Dharma King: Master, I've never wronged you. Why are you trying to poison me?

Chen Luo clenched his fists. I'm just not cut out for cooking.

He set his sights on Ma Yu. You're a good cook. I have high hopes for you.

If he could not cook himself, he could find a personal chef. Ma Yu's cooking really was excellent.

Chen Luo and Ma Yu had never met in his previous life. He had no idea whether she would turn into a zombie when the apocalypse came. That would depend on her luck.