Supermarket Zero-Yuan Shopping

Qi Xiao went to bed early last night, aiming to replenish his energy for a good round of "zero-dollar shopping" today.

He woke up early, filled his belly, and adjusted his condition to its best.

The train arrived, the doors opened, and Qi Xiao tossed the bag filled with poop out of the carriage.

There are only three hours, so speed is key!

Turning left upon exiting the train, there are neatly arranged shopping carts. Qi Xiao grabbed one.

First, head to the food section!

Qi Xiao sprinted all the way to the food and fresh produce area.

There is an abundance of water and food, with almost all the shelves fully stocked.

But there's a problem: the food section is the farthest from his train!

The straight-line distance is about over a hundred meters.

However, the good news is that the kitchenware and daily supplies section, which contains plenty of metal, plastic, and wood for upgrading materials, is closest to the train.

Following last night's plan, Qi Xiao decided to first collect materials and upgrade to level two!

Because only by upgrading can he increase the number of carriages.

How could one single carriage be enough for a rare encounter like this supermarket?

Spend an hour collecting materials for upgrading. If the progress doesn't meet expectations, use the remaining two hours to stock up on water and food.

Qi Xiao quickly made up his mind, filled the cart he brought with bottled water and bread, and swiftly dragged it back to the train.

Then he grabbed another empty cart and headed for the kitchenware section.

Qi Xiao swiftly detached cutting boards hanging on the shelves—wood and plastic!

A cart full of cutting boards was swiftly dragged to the material-feeding area, and the wood collection progress reached one hundred kilograms.

Great, now only plastic is needed.

Qi Xiao checked the time: 8:20 AM. Progress is swift.

Thanks to the kitchenware section being relatively close to the carriage.

Qi Xiao grabbed two more shopping carts, this time filled with plastic cutting boards.

With these two carts, the plastic collection progress reached eighty-two kilograms.

It’s 8:57 AM now, only three minutes left until the scheduled time, but there's still half the plastic needed.

Is time running out?

There are no more plastic cutting boards left, and other items like plastic cups and bowls are bulky yet light.

Qi Xiao glanced at the rows of shopping carts.

Right, these things have plastic too.

A shopping cart has about a pound of plastic. Sixty-eight kilograms are still needed; at most, drag one hundred forty carts!

Qi Xiao dragged the shopping carts into the material-feeding area.

The material-feeding zone resembles a bottomless abyss, swallowing carts one after another, never satisfied.

This is so convenient; no need to search or carry them.

The plastic collection progress climbed rapidly.

Eigthy-five kilograms...

Ninety-seven kilograms...

One hundred twenty-six kilograms...

One hundred forty-seven kilograms...

When only a dozen carts were left, a message popped up on the screen.

[Upgrade materials collected. Upgrade? ]

[Yes/No]

Finally, enough! Upgrade!

Level Two!

[Obtained one regular carriage]

[Extended maximum stop time by one hour. You can still choose to depart at 11:00 AM.]

[Unlocked train modification module]

A second carriage appeared out of thin air and connected to the original one.

Qi Xiao opened the door between the first and second carriages. The new carriage had no windows or doors, looking like a regular shipping container, except for the lights on the ceiling.

He knew that upgrading could add carriages, but he didn’t expect the maximum stop time to be extended by an hour!

It’s 9:15 AM now; there are two hours and forty-five minutes until departure.

Qi Xiao rolled up his sleeves and got to work!

...

Chewing on a chocolate bar, Qi Xiao dashed into the carriage pulling a small cart.

It’s 11:58 AM; playing it to the limit.

Seeing the mounds of supplies stacked up to half of the first carriage, Qi Xiao sat down and laughed.

This is the fun of zero-dollar shopping in the beautiful country, eh?

The doors closed, and the train started moving.

Qi Xiao leaned against the window, slightly nostalgic as he gazed at the shelves outside.

Were it not for the inevitable day when supplies run out, staying here wouldn’t be bad.

Stretching, Qi Xiao began tallying today’s haul.

First, the water: sixty boxes of 596ml "HaHaHa" mineral water, twenty-four bottles per box.

And over three hundred bottles of various beverages.

A dozen bottles of high-proof liquor.

Qi Xiao doesn't drink alcohol but took it mainly for disinfecting in case of injury.

He couldn’t find medical alcohol or disinfectant.

Mainly due to time constraints; this supermarket is just too big.

He could only move as much as possible within the limited time.

For instant noodles, Qi Xiao only took bags; boxes take up too much space, so they weren’t considered.

Forty boxes, twenty-four packs per box, in various flavors.

For fruits, Qi Xiao chose two types that store well: apples and oranges.

Each crate weighs fifty pounds; four crates of each type.

Also, these carts were filled with various items.

The first cart contains chocolate, candies—high-energy foods that don’t take up much space.

The second cart is packed with cured meats, sausages, jerky, roasted ducks and chicken in bags, meat floss, and other meat products.

The third cart is loaded with beef cans, luncheon meat cans, yellow peach cans, and various other cans.

The fourth cart has five fifty-kilogram bags of rice, dozens of packs of noodles.

Five ten-liter containers of blended oil, over a dozen packs of salt, sugar, and over ten bottles of various types of chili sauce.

Brands like Lao Gan Ma, mushroom sauce, beef sauce, and chopped chili sauce were all included.

Even though cooking isn’t possible right now, stocking grain, oil, rice, and flour is still necessary.

Unfortunately, appliances like rice cookers, induction cookers, and microwaves in the supermarket all need electricity to function.

And this train doesn’t provide electricity!

But Qi Xiao still took them, just in case.

As for instant self-heating hotpots, rice, and chips, Qi Xiao only took a symbolic cartful and not much more.

Mainly because they don’t fill you up, and a cart can’t hold much.

The last cart Qi Xiao dragged in contained various men's clothing—T-shirts, work pants, boots, slippers, socks, boxers, piled chaotically at the bottom, even a snowdown jacket.

That tip from the guy in the snowy region spurred this thought—who knows if the next stop will be a cold snowy mountain or a scorching desert?

Better to be prepared.

On top were two basins, two trash bins, one bucket filled with trash bags, another full of tissues.

And four rolls of toilet paper, five packs of sanitary pads, which Qi Xiao grabbed while taking toilet paper—purple, pink, you name it.

Two pillows, two wool blankets, one air-conditioned quilt.

The only decent weapons Qi Xiao could find in the supermarket were kitchen knives, which he grabbed a few of.

Unfortunately, he didn’t see any cleavers in the fresh produce section; otherwise, that would have been more exciting.

But having something is better than nothing.

As the saying goes, while the neighbor hoards grain, I hoard weapons; the neighbor becomes my grain warehouse.

Self-reliance is essential!

After tallying everything, Qi Xiao nodded in satisfaction.

The slightly crowded carriage now gave him a sense of security.

A whiff of sweat entered Qi Xiao’s nostrils.

Qi Xiao took off his clothes, twisted open a bottle of mineral water, soaked a towel, and wiped his body.

After cleaning up, Qi Xiao put on new clothes.

He grabbed an apple, sat on a chair, stared at the screen, and began studying while munching.

[Trainmaster: Qi Xiao]

[Train Level: 2]

[Carriage Count: 2]

[Initial Carriage x1]

[Regular Carriage x1]