The Apocalypse of Natural Disasters Descends During an RV Trip – CH1

Chapter 1

“Hello, your total is 1,588.88 yuan. How would you like to pay?”

“I’ll scan the code. Here.”

“This is your receipt. You can push the shopping cart to the underground parking lot. There are staff members there specifically responsible for collecting carts. If you need any help, you can contact them.”

“Okay, thank you.”

There actually was not that much in this round of purchases. The main reason was that last night, while Jiang Qingyu was lying on the bed in his RV, holding his cat and staring blankly into space, he had suddenly started craving egg tarts very, very badly.

But, as luck would have it—damn his luck—the food he had stockpiled some time ago did not include any egg tarts. Incidentally, it was precisely because of this that he suddenly realized the drawback of not having an oven in the RV.

It was rather embarrassing to say, but when he had first bought this RV, it was still a small secondhand motorhome. The space was not large. All the basic facilities were there, but something like an oven? Sorry, please purchase that separately.

Not only that, but the water purifier kept having problems, the water tank capacity was insufficient, the heater was practically useless, and sometimes the vehicle would inexplicably stall on the road…

Secondhand vehicles always had a few small problems, Jiang Qingyu comforted himself.

But a few days ago, after spending half the night tidying up the RV, then holding a calculator and carefully working out his remaining balance and the expenses for this trip bit by bit, trying to give himself a little sense of security, an electronic voice suddenly sounded in his head.

“The Apocalypse Survival System has been activated. Bound user: Jiang Qingyu.”

“Initial supplies: one secondhand RV, half a case of bottled mineral water, three family-size bags of tomato-flavored instant noodles, one strip of tenderloin, half a jin of green peppers, one bunch of baby bok choy…”

Jiang Qingyu was stunned.

Although he knew very well that he was not particularly well-off, having his meager belongings listed out so emotionlessly by an electronic voice was still somewhat awkward and humiliating.

Seeing that the system seemed intent on continuing to expose his embarrassing inventory, Jiang Qingyu hurriedly called for it to stop, telling the electronic voice to shut up. Then, with his backside sticking up, he began searching all over the RV.

No, seriously, who had such a twisted sense of humor?

Don’t make fun of a poor unemployed person like him, hey!

But the electronic voice seemed to have guessed what he was thinking. It calmly continued, “The Apocalypse Survival System has been activated. Would you like to begin the beginner’s tutorial?”

Jiang Qingyu searched for a long time but found no speakers or cameras. Then he suddenly remembered that the voice had clearly appeared inside his own head. After smacking his forehead hard, he forced himself to stay calm and told the other party to continue.

It was actually very simple. Anyone who often read novels would know that he had been bound to a system and had become a “chosen one.”

In the Apocalypse Survival System, Jiang Qingyu needed to upgrade his cheat-like system by stockpiling supplies. The more things he stockpiled, the more experience points he gained. After leveling up, he would be able to modify his small RV, making it more suitable for survival later on.

At first, Jiang Qingyu was still half-convinced and half-doubtful. Would there really be an apocalypse? He had only ever seen this kind of concept in novels and movies.

And this system—could it be his hallucination?

Very quickly, his doubts were dispelled.

The reason was simple: when the system leveled up, it would also issue points, and those points could be exchanged for real-world currency.

Jiang Qingyu had originally taken a sum of money with him, planning to go on a self-driving trip. Before setting off, he had calculated everything. As long as he did not splurge and the chances of special situations arising remained low, then according to his plan, he would be able to visit all the places he wanted to go, while also leaving a little extra money behind as start-up funds for returning to real life.

So when he first had to dip into his small savings to spend money on stockpiling supplies, Jiang Qingyu had hesitated for quite a while.

However, after the points were credited, the system told him that the exchange ratio was one to one thousand. In other words, one point could be exchanged for one thousand yuan in real-world currency.

Jiang Qingyu calculated the points he had on hand and instantly came back to life.

The extra balance in his bank account could not be fake. For the first time in his life, his desire to spend money was so strong that he immediately ran to a nearby large lifestyle supermarket and went on a fierce shopping spree.

The money was spent, the goods were moved onto his vehicle, and everything was real.

Including the apocalypse three months later.

At present, Jiang Qingyu had just upgraded the space system, so he could finally let loose and make large-scale purchases. The RV was his space. No matter how many supplies he placed inside, they would instantly disappear and be stored within the space.

His consciousness was connected to the space. Whether storing or retrieving something, it only took a single thought.

After he had extra money on hand, Jiang Qingyu finally no longer needed to restrain his spending. He no longer had to put the things he wanted back onto the shelves.

This time, he had come to a warehouse-style chain supermarket. Aside from the desserts he had been thinking about since last night, he also bought some daily necessities along the way—tissues, laundry detergent, toothpaste, and so on—all neatly sorted and stacked into the space.

The egg tarts cost twelve yuan each, and their taste lived up to the price. The puff pastry was layered and flaky, and when he bit into it, the texture was not hollow at all, completely different from the ones he had eaten before.

The rich buttery aroma of the tart filling almost rushed straight at him. The sweetness was just right and did not feel cloying at all. Recently, the temperature had dropped, and the autumn wind was bleak. Jiang Qingyu sat inside the RV and slowly finished two egg tarts. He felt sweetness filling his whole heart, and even the plane trees along the roadside became incredibly adorable.

The system said that the weather would only become worse and worse from now on. It would not be as simple as only severe cold and extreme heat; it would even rise to the level of natural disasters, and the living environment would be greatly affected.

Being on the road did not seem all that different from being at home. This trip had been the wish of both Jiang Qingyu and his grandparents, so after thinking it over, he still decided to continue.

Besides, he had made a small mistake in the beginning. Since he had been traveling by RV, when he upgraded for the first time, he had bound the space together with the RV.

Only after that did the system remind Jiang Qingyu that, for now, the space was only bound to the RV and not to him. If he wanted them to become one, he would have to upgrade again.

Now, even if he had the thought of backing out, he had no choice but to keep going.

Fortunately, he had nowhere to go anyway. Other than this RV, he had no other place to stay and no family. Drifting from place to place seemed to be his destiny.

He had been living pretty well over the past half month. After exchanging some points for money, he finally became willing to start buying things, even if they were a little more expensive.

Especially since the weather had started cooling down recently. Jiang Qingyu’s clothes were still the ones he had bought back in university, all hoodies, long-sleeved shirts, and plain-colored jackets, without much style to speak of.

It was just that his proportions were good, his figure was slender, and his posture was also nice. When simple clothes were worn on him, they instead made him look clean and delicate.

When he had left home, he had brought all these belongings with him. Two days ago, Jiang Qingyu had rummaged through them and felt that he ought to buy some clothes to keep in reserve.

Not only that, but the washing machine in the RV was too small. It could not wash more than a couple of thick garments. He might as well replace it, then add a dryer too, saving himself the trouble of depending on the heavens to dry his clothes.

He exchanged some more points, hardened his heart, and bought two machines that were practically top-of-the-line. After making an appointment for installation, he turned around and rushed off to buy clothes.

He had to develop the bad habit of spending lavishly as quickly as possible.

He would not go to those niche brand stores in shopping malls where a single item cost several thousand yuan. The cost-performance ratio was not high.

To him, a clothing market was perfectly good. Clothes costing around a hundred yuan were fine, and if the quality was better and the price was a little higher, he could accept that too.

He could buy online, of course, but receiving and returning goods was troublesome. It was much more convenient to choose something on the spot and buy it directly.

Although he still had nearly three months to prepare, time waited for no one.

Summer clothes were being cleared out, while autumn and winter clothes had just arrived. This happened to make things convenient for Jiang Qingyu, who swept them all up together.

Summer T-shirts, shorts, and long pants; autumn jackets, hoodies, long-sleeved tops, and trench coats; winter sweaters, down jackets, and padded coats. Jiang Qingyu had grown up living with his grandparents, so picking things out was practically effortless for him. With one touch of the fabric, he could tell what kind of quality it was. No one could dream of ripping him off.

Before coming here, Jiang Qingyu had made a list and written down everything he could think of.

Even if there were things he had not thought of for the moment, there would always be a shop selling them. Things like insoles and gloves—if he saw them, he simply bought them.

For daily clothes and shoes, buying them here was fine. But for gear like hardshell jackets and hiking shoes, Jiang Qingyu still made a detour to brand stores, tried them on, and then bought them.

The entire day, Jiang Qingyu felt as if he had not had a single moment of rest. He bought things and browsed around, but this place did not provide a service for delivering goods to his vehicle. Once he accumulated a certain amount, he had to carry everything back to the RV himself.

But he also found a certain kind of enjoyment in it. After all, in the past, buying one or two pieces of clothing that could be worn was enough. How could he ever have asked carefully about the filling weight of a down jacket or examined the sample clusters of down like this?

Spending money felt amazing!!

He had barely eaten anything all day. During a break between purchases, he did buy a hand-grabbed pancake from a nearby stall and extravagantly added two eggs and two pieces of fried tenderloin. Eating it made his heart feel very happy.

However, that little bit of energy was soon burned away completely. While he was battling through the building, he did not notice it. It was only when he went to buy water and saw the darkness outside the convenience store window that he belatedly realized he should stop and go eat dinner.

Jiang Qingyu packed up his things, drove to a nearby shopping mall, and found a Thai restaurant to eat at.

This restaurant did not use pre-made dishes. The pairing of food and spices was extremely appropriate. The tom yum soup was appetizing, sour, and spicy. He liked eating the seafood mushrooms in it; their taste was very different.

He ordered half a portion of golden shrimp cakes. The outer shell was crisp and thin, and inside he could taste large chunks of shrimp meat. They were also delicious dipped in sweet-and-sour sauce.

He had been exhausted all day, and his appetite had opened up. He inevitably ate a little more. In addition, he ordered salted egg yolk shrimp, grilled pork neck, and stir-fried water spinach with shrimp paste.

At first, the server was worried that he would not be able to finish all of it. After all, when he was not standing but sitting in his seat, he looked like a small little thing. He was skinny, not to mention his pointed chin, which made his pair of eyes look especially large. The folds at the outer half of his double eyelids were a little deep, making him appear particularly well-behaved.

But Jiang Qingyu did not say a word. While playing on his phone, he moved his chopsticks and cleaned nearly everything on the table, bite by bite.

Satisfied!

After drinking the last mouthful of seafood soup, Jiang Qingyu’s expression also turned cheerful and smiley. It was obvious that he was very pleased with the meal.

When the cashier saw him like this, they could not help giving him two bags of shrimp chips.

And so Jiang Qingyu carried those two bags of shrimp chips downstairs to stroll around and digest his food.

There were many dessert shops on the first floor of the mall. He had a sweet tooth, as well as a fussy little habit that came from who-knew-where: he liked desserts made with good ingredients, with sweetness that was just right and not exaggerated.

When he was little, the small stalls outside his school gate always sold those little flower-shaped cakes made with vegetable cream. Jiang Qingyu was picky. After eating one once, he refused to eat them again.

Rather than buy that, it was better to save the money for a proper meal.

Now, Jiang Qingyu stood in front of the glass display case holding the desserts, carrying a tray as he seriously chose the little breads and egg tarts he wanted to eat.

He could not even remember the last time he had come to this kind of dessert shop. New products were updated so quickly.

He bought a large red bean and pork floss toast, a soy milk bun, and an Oreo chocolate cape roll, planning to have them for afternoon tea.

The RV’s refrigerator was a static space. It looked as though it was not very big, but in reality, it was a bottomless pit. No matter how much food he put in, it would fit, and it could preserve the food’s condition without affecting its taste.

Right now, the slightly warm bread was just perfect.

Seeing that there were also taro paste and chocolate lava egg tarts, he bought a mixed box of both and paid for them together.

He had eaten a delicious meal and still had desserts to eat afterward. Although Jiang Qingyu could not guarantee how many egg tarts would end up in his stomach that night, at this moment, he felt incredibly happy.

So happy that he even forgot the bitter little gourd-like state he had been in before this.

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