This was unbelievable—the entire stock of food had sold out.

Ji He instantly perked up and quickly withdrew her earnings. Originally, she had made 10 silver coins, but after a 30% tax deduction, she received only 7.

The same went for gasoline—out of 50 liters, she got 35 after taxes.

The tax deductions made her heart ache.

Ji He deposited all the gasoline into her space.

For now, she decided not to trade more gasoline—the taxes were simply too high to be worthwhile.

She wanted to focus on opening a shop first.

That way, she could pay fewer taxes in the long run.

Judging by how quickly her products were selling, if she saved up for a while, opening a store wouldn’t be just a dream!

Ji He took out the food she had prepared from her space.

She made sure that each portion wasn’t too large—after all, if she stocked too much at once, the system would automatically increase the pricing, making it too expensive for buyers.

On the marketplace, selling food didn’t require providing utensils—buyers had to prepare their own. This saved her a lot of money.

She carefully selected a batch of stir-fried bok choy to put up for sale.

Even though her identity was anonymous and no one could trace the source, Ji He was well aware that since the disaster had just started, food wasn’t yet critically scarce. People might hesitate to buy something like an alien duck head just because of its appearance.

Her priority right now was saving up to open a store, not exchanging supplies to free up space.

The food stored in her space wouldn’t spoil, so she could always sell it later. If no one bought it, she could just eat it herself.

She listed 140 portions of bok choy.

Even though each serving was small, after listing everything, her large bucket of bok choy was more than half gone.

She stored the remaining food back in her space.

Doing some quick calculations, if all her food sold, she could make 98 silver coins.

That was still a long way from 1,000 silver coins.

She gritted her teeth and took out Pralan.

That’s right—this cooling miracle was exactly what people needed the most right now.

The outside temperature had already climbed to 55°C. Stepping out into the sun would be like getting roasted alive.

Ji He wasn’t sure how long a single piece of Pralan could maintain its cooling effect, but there was definitely a time limit.

She had applied it around 7 AM, and by 3 PM, her room was still cool.

First, she put Pralan on the system marketplace to see how the system priced it. Soon, the minimum system price was displayed—3 silver coins.

That was equivalent to three servings of dumplings?

She thought about it—since rare goods were always more valuable, and this was the best solution for extreme heat, having one was like carrying around an air conditioner. It could prevent people from suffering heatstroke, so it was worth more than just 3 silver coins.

She adjusted the price slightly—5 silver coins per palm-sized piece.

She didn’t want to set it too high because silver coins were hard to come by, and players had little money. Completing an A-rank mission only earned 1 silver coin, so 5 was already a steep price.

She listed 10 pieces first to test the waters.

In the product description, she wrote: “Cooling miracle, portable air conditioning—only those who use it will understand its magic.”

Once everything was listed, Ji He stretched and got out of bed to eat.

It was around 3:30 PM. Sunlight streamed through the curtains, and as Ji He walked to the window and pulled them open, she was instantly blinded.

The brightness was dazzling.

She could almost see the air shimmering under the scorching sun.

The weeds that once grew on the streets had all withered and dried up, lying lifeless on the ground.

Ji He quickly shut the curtains. No one could go outside in this heat—staying out too long would probably cause skin cancer.

She walked into the kitchen and immediately noticed a swarm of insects flying around.

Even with all the doors and windows shut, bugs still managed to find their way in.

She quickly took out some insect-repellent incense from her space and lit it. At first, the insects kept flying around, but soon, one by one, they dropped dead.

Satisfied, Ji He grabbed a broom and swept up the bug corpses.

She planned to feed them to her chickens and fish later.

After finishing her chores, Ji He finally sat down to eat.

Even though it was already afternoon, this was her first meal of the day.

She wanted porridge.

She grabbed a plastic bag, placed it over a large bowl, scooped in some black rice porridge, and added a generous amount of sugar.

She loved sweet porridge!

Plastic bags were a lifesaver—thanks to them, she didn’t even need to wash dishes. After eating, she could just throw the bag away, saving water.

Ji He patted herself on the back—she really was a genius.

With no water, no electricity, and no gas, she had nothing else to do, so she ate at a leisurely pace while scrolling through her phone.

The government had clearly been busy overnight, cracking down on tax evasion and summoning many companies for discussions. The list of those caught was over two minutes long.

The announcements included detailed donation records from companies and, at the bottom, a large-font contact number for people wanting to donate supplies.

This had nothing to do with her—her supplies were so little that the government probably wouldn’t even bother with them.

Ji He finished her bowl of porridge, two large steamed buns, and a plate of pickled cucumbers before putting her bowl down.

She packed the used plastic bag and disposable chopsticks into her space to avoid attracting bugs and planned to throw them away later at night.

Sitting on the sofa, she opened the marketplace.

She wanted to see how well her products were selling.

As soon as she logged in, she noticed that the interface had changed—there were now dozens of stores at the top of the screen.

Their names were:

Dragon Nation Store, Pretty Country Store, Eagle Store, Rising Sun Store…

Ji He: “……”

She could tell exactly who owned them just by the names.

She had to admit—the government’s power was truly impressive.

In such a short time, they had already set up official stores? Their resources were incredible.

She clicked into a few and found that most items were just everyday essentials. Each store also had a slogan, encouraging players to register with their respective national agencies.

Ji He closed the stores and checked her own sales.

Her food had only sold a few portions, but Pralan had completely sold out!

Overjoyed, she listed another 50 pieces.

It seemed that her dream of opening a shop would depend on Pralan!

After listing the new stock, Ji He sat down, pulled out some food from her space, and started preparing meals for her livestock.

Once she had cooked everything outside, she entered her space to feed the animals.

Seeing dozens of little chickens running around, Ji He didn’t immediately take out their usual feed.

Instead, she pulled out some bug-infested grains she had picked up from the roadside.

She wanted to see if the chickens would eat them.

If not, she’d trade them in with the government later that night.

The older chickens recognized her and eagerly rushed over, chirping excitedly.

The newer ones, still small, were completely overwhelmed by the larger ones.

Ji He chuckled, grabbed a large stainless-steel tray, and poured in the bug-infested grains.