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[Rice Eater]: You guys still have time to chat? Why aren’t you out grabbing supplies? Things are so expensive in the game—can we really survive just by playing? If we don’t stock up now, our families will starve!
[Eats Without Gaining Weight]: Am I living in outer space? Why are so many players outside causing trouble?
[Xiao Yu]: People are looting the supermarket next door. I joined in and got a lot! [Picture]
[Unforgettable]: Everyone, stop arguing. Even Blazing Flame and the others were forced into this. I heard all the food outside is infested with bugs! They have no food—what are they supposed to do, starve to death?
[Soul of Blazing Flame]: Only weaklings feel useless sympathy. Ordinary people have no social value whatsoever. What’s the big deal if they eat a little less? We, the new humans, are the future of evolution! Why should I go hungry when I have the ability to take what I need? From now on, power is the only law!
The chat channel was in chaos. Ji He scrolled through the messages rapidly, occasionally opening attached photos to check them.
There were many pictures—some showing off supplies, others capturing scenes of looting.
Most players were just snatching goods, but some seemed to have formed small gangs, committing full-scale robbery and destruction.
They had taken over supermarkets and were even recruiting more players to join them.
The images were horrifying—walls reduced to rubble, large pools of blood on the ground, and people lying motionless, their fate uncertain. The whole scene looked like a crime scene from a murder investigation.
These people were cautious, though—they never revealed their faces, only posting pictures of the supplies they had taken.
Ji He’s heart sank the more she scrolled. She bit down hard on her lower lip.
This was bad.
After a while, she closed the chat and pulled out her phone to search the news.
Local news was flooded with real-time updates, mostly reporting multiple terrorist attacks. Ji He kept scrolling but couldn’t reach the end of the reports.
Still, it wasn’t completely out of control—the attackers had clear targets and hadn’t yet turned to residential areas.
The public was panicked, but it hadn’t escalated into widespread rioting.
Most of the attacks focused on police stations, supermarkets, and other places rich in supplies.
The government had also issued an announcement, not offering much explanation but urging citizens to stay home until the situation stabilized, promising further updates later.
As she read, Ji He remained tense, frequently pausing to listen for sounds around her, fearing that someone might suddenly attack her.
Just then, her phone flashed a low battery warning.
Ji He frowned and carefully stored her phone in her inventory space.
The heat was draining her battery fast—she had only used it for a short while, yet the charge from this morning was almost gone.
Of course, she would never admit that it was because the four-year-old battery was simply worn out.
She firmly believed it was the weather’s fault.
Standing up, she cautiously walked toward the first-floor entrance and tried to turn the doorknob to open the door.
…Huh? It wouldn’t budge.
She tried harder. Still wouldn’t move.
After several more attempts, Ji He had to give up. Some idiot had locked the door, and now she was stuck inside!
With no other choice, she continued heading downward.
Reaching another floor, she tried pushing a different door.
It opened! Great—the door here wasn’t locked!
But as soon as she stepped inside, she was stunned by the overwhelming crowd.
This was the basement level—the shopping mall’s supermarket.
In the darkness, people were shining flashlights, pushing shopping carts, and frantically grabbing whatever they could from the shelves.
Shouts of anger, children crying, women screaming, and the sound of items crashing to the floor all blended into a chaotic, frenzied symphony.
Despite the summer heat, Ji He felt a chill run through her body.
Seeing it in pictures was one thing—but experiencing it in person was entirely different.
At the supermarket’s front desk, an employee stood on the cashier counter, desperately yelling into a flashlight’s glow:
“Stop looting! Stop! Line up—line up and pay!”
Before she could finish her plea, she was shoved off the counter by the crazed crowd, disappearing beneath the stampede.
She never made another sound.
But no one in the crowd even hesitated.
Ji He stood in the darkness, listening as someone shrieked:
“The apocalypse is here! All the vegetables are rotten! The grains are infested with bugs! Grab what you can, or we’ll all starve to death! We’re all going to die of hunger!”
The words sent a rush of panic through Ji He, making her blood pump faster. For a moment, she almost felt like she really would starve if she didn’t grab something right away.
She even had a brief moment of mental fog.
Something was wrong. This wasn’t right.
She bit down hard on her tongue, tasting blood and metal. The sharp pain helped her snap back to reality.
She forced herself to look toward the source of the voice.
In the darkness, a figure stood atop a tall shelf, arms spread wide, waving a flashlight while shouting in a hypnotic tone.
They were riling the crowd up even more.
Another official player?
Ji He resisted the urge to act impulsively and assessed the situation. Below the man, two others were holding up the shelf to support him—clearly, they were working together. She couldn’t take them on.
She knew her own limits. She could maybe fight one or two regular people.
But three people with special abilities?
Forget it. She wasn’t strong enough—yet.
Keeping her head down, she turned and slipped into the crowd, moving away from the trio.
“Take what you want without worry! We’ve destroyed all the surveillance cameras! Trust us—we’ll erase all your concerns! This is our sincerity—join our family!”
“Welcome, brothers and sisters!”
The supermarket was pitch black, except for the scattered beams of flashlight. The rest was an abyss.
Now that she was farther from the man’s voice, she could tell the people around her weren’t as frenzied.
Most of the crowd had gathered in the rice, grain, and cooking oil section. Ji He had no interest in fighting them over supplies.
Instead, she moved in the opposite direction, toward the deli and frozen foods sections.
The supermarket had a limited stock, and with no workers restocking the shelves, the looters had already left them nearly empty.
In the deli section, someone was stuffing their cart full, while their companion frantically pulled at them:
“Are you stupid? It’s so hot—this stuff has been sitting out all morning! Who knows if it’ll still be edible when we get home? Just take a little and let’s go—we need to grab some rice!”
“Alright, alright, let’s go now.”
With that, the two ran off.
Ji He: “…”
So thorough. The power had only been out for a short while, and they already thought the food was inedible?
Well, to be fair, they had a point. In this heat, boxed food would spoil fast.
Ji He scanned the area. Seeing no one nearby, she slipped behind the counter and quietly collected the roasted chicken, fried chicken, crispy twists, fried meatballs, grilled fish fillets, sausages, cold salads, cold noodles, pig trotters, ribs, and pickled vegetables.
This was a high-end supermarket, and its deli section offered a variety of foods—not just meat but also steamed buns, flatbreads, and other staples.
Some were pre-prepared and delivered, while others were made fresh on-site.
After storing everything, Ji He even found dishes like spicy beef slices and mala crayfish—things she hadn’t originally stocked up on.
Perfect—now she could take them back and try them out.
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Lhaozi[Translator]
To all my lock translations, 5 chapter will be unlocked every sunday for BG novels and 2 chapter unlocked every sundays for BL novels. Weekly update for all my ongoing translations. Support me in Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/lhaozi_23 If you have concerned in all my translations, DM me in Discord: Lhaozi(I'm a member in Shanghai Fantasy discord)