Chapter 6: The Benefits of Reaching Level 1

Yun Zhi rented a large warehouse near the wholesale market for three days, paying on a daily basis. Driving a small cargo van, she began her frantic shopping spree.

Some vendors were curious about why she was buying so much, but Yun Zhi simply replied that her new boss was preparing a round of employee benefits. If they pressed further, she remained vague; her public persona was merely a purchasing agent working for a boss.

The vendors assumed her employer was wealthy and naive. Hoping she would remember them for future business, they offered their lowest prices. As a purchasing agent, Yun Zhi naturally wanted to maximize her margins, so she sought out the cheapest sources. Many vendors even threw in extra goods as a bonus. Yun Zhi accepted these gifts happily, carefully noting the names and phone numbers of the generous shopkeepers in her small notebook, promising to return for future needs. Both she and the vendors were pleased.

After purchasing bulk supplies of rice, flour, grain, oil, non-staple foods, seasonings, frozen goods, deli items, meat, vegetables, fruits, and snacks, she moved on to daily necessities. Following consultation with Cen Junfei, she also bought finished clothing and shoes, along with a supply of medicine.

In the post-apocalyptic world, ordinary medicine had little effect on the ailments of super-powered individuals, and people usually sought out healing-type superhumans for injuries or illness. Yun Zhi only bought a few common items; buying in bulk was difficult and unnecessary. As for Tang Panpan, she wouldn't trade future medicine for money; she only prepared a few personal supplies for her and those close to her.

Considering the unique context of the 1970s, Yun Zhi visited a vintage-themed shop to purchase various items: replica 1970s watches, 28-inch and 26-inch bicycles, sewing machines, enamel basins and cups, Red Double Happiness thermos flasks, labor gloves, nylon socks, Warrior brand sneakers, Liberation shoes, and rubber shoes. She bought 200 watches—easy to carry and resell—and 10 to 50 units of everything else.

For fabrics, she went to a factory and purchased a batch of "old-fashioned"—or rather, vintage—cotton prints, as well as solid-colored cotton, dacron, corduroy, and processed cotton batting. Tang Panpan could never use all of this herself, but she could disguise it and, once safe, sell it in bulk to black market contacts or wait until after the Reform and Opening-up period.

Additionally, she bought the skincare and cosmetic brands Tang Panpan preferred, along with wigs, colored contacts, and faux eyebrows, beards, and Adam’s apples for disguise. Sanitary napkins—specifically requested by Tang—were essential. With sleep pants, daily and nightly pads, and liners, she had a hundred boxes; enough to last Tang for a hundred years. Tissues were already stockpiled among the daily necessities, providing enough for ten years; given the scarcity of trees on Earth, providing for her fellow compatriots for a while was sufficient.

With the basic needs of Tang and Cen met, she turned to satisfying their mental needs—starting with gourmet food! She bought a hundred sets of fast-food combos, and 20 to 30 portions each from popular restaurants, milk tea shops, and bakeries found on food review apps. She visited several shops to order 100 steamers of Hangzhou-style soup dumplings, and 1,000 buns and mantou for quick meals. She also ordered dozens to a hundred portions each of fried skewers, barbecue, Luosifen, Guilin rice noodles, rice rolls, stir-fried beef noodles, Lanzhou ramen, meat burgers, Jianbing Guozi, Wuhan hot dry noodles, Zhajiang noodles, spicy hot pot, stinky tofu, and spicy crayfish.

Since prepared food spoils quickly, Yun Zhi had it moved to her van and, once sure no one was watching, transferred it immediately into her personal space. She also filled the van with beer and common beverages.

It took two and a half days to complete the procurement mission. During this time, Yun Zhi bought a new phone and downloaded novels completed in the last six months for Tang Panpan. For Cen Junfei, who enjoyed anime and variety shows, she downloaded plenty of content onto a new tablet. She also equipped each with five solar power banks, ten backup fully-charged power banks, and a small solar generator. For Cen, she added two gasoline/diesel generators.

The total expenditure was 2.83 million. Yun Zhi stored everything in her personal space. Now, it was a matter of how the two clients would distribute the supplies and submit their missions.

Cen Junfei had asked her to procure supplies not just for personal use, but to trade for superpower-awakening serums, zombie crystals, and the jewelry Yun Zhi needed. His requirements were high. His mission stipulated that half of the funds raised from the gold jewelry would be spent on supplies—that would suffice to complete the mission, and the rest would be her commission.

The gold was worth about 2 million, meaning over 1 million in supplies would satisfy the requirement. Yun Zhi wouldn't just do the bare minimum, especially since Cen had given her an Imperial Green jade bracelet. However, procuring millions in supplies at once wasn't realistic—the bracelet hadn't been liquidated yet, and she didn't have that much cash. Furthermore, such a massive purchase would attract unwanted attention from superiors.

After some thought, she decided to give Cen about 2.3 million in supplies, using the money from selling the precious metals. The remaining 6 million-plus would serve as her fee. Selling goods with a cost of 2.30 for 8.60 was not excessive—after all, she was the only one offering this service!

The favor of the Imperial Green bracelet would be noted. In the future, if she traded for something extra from other travelers that Cen could use, she would trade it to him at a "friendship price." The same went for Tang Panpan’s stamps—she wouldn't forget her good friend.

Yun Zhi kept a small portion of supplies for herself—food, clothing, and daily necessities—worth about 10,000, stored in her personal space for emergencies. The remaining 520,000 in supplies—a mix of food, clothing, daily items, fabrics, vintage gifts, half the gourmet food, and one-tenth of the drinks—were for Tang Panpan.

To settle the missions, she had to store the items in her personal space and submit them all at once. Her space was 100,000 cubic meters, which she could divide into ten grids of any size. She set Grid 1 to 10x10x10 for her own use, and divided the rest into Grid 2 for Tang and Grid 3 for Cen.

Opening the mission list on her phone, she submitted Tang Panpan's first mission, selecting the items in Grid 2. The page confirmed the submission.

[Mission 1 processing...]
[Mission 1 completed. Congratulations, host, on receiving 100 points!]
[Point system activated. Congratulations on upgrading from lv0 (0/100) to lv1 (100/1000). You need 900 more points to reach lv2 and unlock the Point Mall!]
[lv1 Newcomer Benefit: Spend 10 points to soul-bind the "Traveler Chat Group." It can appear as a WeChat-like interface or a light screen. To use the light screen, recite the group name three times in your mind. Do you want to bind? Bind/Do Not Bind]
[Countdown: 0.3s, 0.2s, 0.1s. No choice made; defaulting to Bind! 10 points deducted. Remaining points: 90.]

A silver-blue light flashed before Yun Zhi’s eyes, and the chat group appeared as a light screen. In the corner were buttons for "Switch to WeChat," "Minimize," "Maximize," and "Close."

Yun Zhi: "..."!
Damn it, such a trap! Only a fraction of a second to react? She had barely read the prompt! Fortunately, it defaulted to binding. Regardless, the group was now bound; she didn't have to worry about losing her phone or not having access to a computer.

She submitted Mission 2, selecting the items in Grid 3. She gained another 100 points. She remained at lv1, and the points had no other use yet—she had to reach lv2 for the Point Mall. While she didn't know what was in the mall, it was bound to be good! But reaching lv2 wouldn't be easy; procurement missions were capped at 100 points. Commissioned tasks rewarded 100–500 points depending on difficulty.

Qin Tianhai’s request hadn't been generated yet because he hadn't prepared the essential body-strengthening serum. Yun Zhi wasn't in a rush to level up; her biggest problem—money—had been significantly alleviated.

Next, she would visit her parents in the hospital, then take time to visit Qin Tianhai’s family to understand their situation. Afterward, she would head to Haicheng to assist the auction house’s appraiser in the final verification of the "Whole Country is Red" stamps and the Imperial Green jade bracelet.

In the chat group, Tang Panpan and Cen Junfei were ecstatic.

Tang Panpan: "Ahhh! @Yun Zhi, my treasure, I love you! So much delicious and useful stuff! You even got me my favorite—mental food, novels! I love you to death!"
Cen Junfei: "Thank you, Sister Yun Zhi! So much good food, I'm going to feast! [Cat bowing in gratitude.jpg]"
Yun Zhi: "I'm glad you like it. Let me know if there's anything else you love, and I'll buy more next month. [Cat heart.jpg]"

Yun Zhi left the warehouse, drove the empty van in circles to fake a delivery, returned the keys, and turned in the van. It was 9:00 PM. She had already booked a high-speed train for the next morning to the neighboring province, so she took a taxi to the hospital.

Two days ago, after her 8.6 million arrived, she had moved her parents, Yun Xinbo and Ran Yao, into private rooms and hired professional caregivers. She visited her father first. He was awake, watching TV. His left hand was relatively fine, allowing him to use the remote and his phone.

Seeing Yun Zhi, Yun Xinbo, whose head was bandaged like a mummy, spoke with difficulty: "Little Zhi, where... did the money... come from?"

Yun Zhi sat by the bed and turned off the TV. "By pure chance, I helped two noble benefactors, and they gave me a generous reward. I haven't done anything illegal or immoral." To reassure him, she took the jade bracelet from her bag. "The money for the room was just a part of it. This Imperial Green jade bracelet is another. Once I sell it, we can pay off the 30 million debt and have millions left over!"

Yun Xinbo was stunned. If not for the casts on his legs and arm, he would have jumped up. Once he was convinced the money was legitimate, his anxiety finally eased.

Yun Zhi painted a picture for him: "I'll hire the best doctors for Mom. She'll wake up soon, and then the three of us will travel the country!"
Yun Xinbo’s eyes filled with tears: "Good... good... good!"

After feeding him his medicine and watching him sleep, she visited her mother, Ran Yao. She remained the same—pale and thin, yet still beautiful. Yun Zhi held her hand and talked to her for a long time, mirroring what she had told her father. Ran Yao showed no reaction. Yun Zhi didn't know if the body-strengthening serum could wake her, but there was hope. And if that didn't work, she had the Traveler Chat Group; as long as she kept completing missions, she believed there would eventually come a day when her mother would wake up.