Chapter 89: A Chance Encounter

The second mall wasn’t far away—they arrived in just a few minutes.

This mall didn’t have a supermarket, only clothing, jewelry, cosmetics, and the like, so there were hardly any people inside.

An Nan worked quickly, clearing out all the jewelry in no time, then hurried off to the next place.

She kept busy like this all night, and by dawn, she’d finished raiding nearly half the malls in the city.

The range for entering and exiting her space had also upgraded from 30 meters to 40 meters.

Now that the blinding sun was up and she was exhausted, An Nan decided to call it a day and head home.

She’d hit the rest of the malls tomorrow night. For now, it was time to go home and sleep!

Back near her apartment complex, she found a secluded spot, put the car away into her space, and walked home with a spring in her step.

She was almost home when suddenly, a car horn sounded behind her.

She turned instinctively and saw a battered minivan pull up beside her.

The window rolled down, revealing Chu Peipei’s smiling face.

“Nannan! What a coincidence, I just got back from finding gasoline! Were you out scavenging too?”

An Nan nodded, glancing at her car. “Not bad! You even got yourself a ride?”

Chu Peipei grinned. “It wasn’t me. I don’t have keys, and the cars are all locked—how could I do it? Zhao Ping’an got it for us.”

At that moment, another person in the car poked his head out. “Idol!”

“Zhao Ping’an?”

An Nan was a bit surprised.

She’d heard from Chu Peipei before that she was going to borrow a fuel pump from Zhao Ping’an, but she hadn’t expected him to come out scavenging too.

In her previous life, she’d never seen Zhao Ping’an leave his house. Of course, it was possible he’d slipped out without her knowing.

After all, they’d never even spoken in that life.

Even Zhao Ping’an and Chu Peipei weren’t acquainted back then—Chu Peipei had died early during the floods.

But now, the two of them were catching crocodiles and scavenging gasoline together, and had actually become pretty good friends.

It seemed her rebirth had triggered a butterfly effect.

Chu Peipei hadn’t died, and the three of them—who hadn’t known each other before—were gradually becoming close partners.

They parked the car and unloaded three big barrels of gasoline.

An Nan looked at the haul. “Not bad, you two!”

Zhao Ping’an said, “I have a feeling this disaster won’t end anytime soon… Fuel is a precious resource—the more, the better.”

Chu Peipei added, “This is nothing! We already brought back two loads of gas barrels before this!”

An Nan was surprised. “That much?”

Chu Peipei nodded. “Yup! Everyone else is out raiding supermarkets, so no one’s competing with us.

Other than spending some time at first finding a car and metal barrels, it was pretty easy to collect the gas.

There are cars everywhere, and each one usually has at least twenty liters of fuel. We just went from car to car, and if we ran into anti-theft filters, we just forced them open.”

An Nan laughed. “Sounds kind of fun.”

The three of them chatted as they carried the barrels upstairs.

Chu Peipei said, “Nannan, you have no idea—all those perfectly good gas stations have been completely emptied! Luckily, we brought a pump and could siphon some leftover gas from cars, so we managed to get something!”

An Nan looked at the two of them. “How are you feeling? Not heatstroke, I hope?”

Chu Peipei shook her head. “Nope! Ping’an gave me a set of temperature-regulating clothes. They’re amazing! Once you put them on, you don’t feel the heat at all.”

Zhao Ping’an smiled and nodded.

He’d originally made two sets of temperature-regulating clothes—one for himself, one for his mother.

But since he was going out scavenging with Chu Peipei, his teammate’s safety was important.

Otherwise, if she suddenly passed out from the heat while they were collecting fuel, it’d be a huge problem.

Fortunately, his mom had taken good care of herself over the years—though she was older, her figure wasn’t much bigger than Chu Peipei’s.

So the set he’d made for his mom fit Chu Peipei as well.

He simply gave her his mom’s set for now.

His mom was staying in the air-conditioned room anyway, so he could just make her another set later.

Chu Peipei had been amazed that he had such high-tech gear, and at first was embarrassed to accept it.

After all, in times like these, temperature-regulating clothes were practically life-saving treasures people would fight over.

But considering the risk of heatstroke while scavenging in forty-plus degree heat, she realized it would be dangerous for both herself and her teammate if she refused.

So after a few polite refusals, she accepted.

In exchange, they split the gasoline they found each day seventy-thirty—Zhao Ping’an got the bigger share, she got the smaller.

An Nan was relieved to hear Chu Peipei had temperature-regulating clothes now.

That was good—she’d been wondering how to find an excuse to give her a set.

After all, the temperature would keep rising, maybe even up to sixty degrees. Those clothes would be a lifesaver.

Now that Chu Peipei already had a set, she didn’t have to worry about finding a reason to give her one.

An Nan had always dreaded those awkward situations where people insisted on refusing gifts.

It could turn her from a social butterfly into a social anxiety case in an instant.

Zhao Ping’an glanced at An Nan. “Idol, what did you go out for? Why are your hands empty?”

An Nan shook her backpack. “It’s all in here—jewelry.”

Zhao Ping’an and Chu Peipei stared, dumbfounded.

Everyone else was out looking for survival supplies, and she was collecting jewelry?

Seeing their expressions, An Nan laughed. “I just like this stuff. I can’t resist pretty jewelry.”

The two thought back and realized it was true. Back at the floating market, she’d traded crocodile meat for a jade bracelet and a ring.

She really did love these things.

But Chu Peipei still shook her head.

“As a woman, I like jewelry too, but in this kind of heat, who cares about jewels? Nannan, you really do value beauty over your life!”

An Nan thought to herself: I’m just doing it to upgrade my space.

But she couldn’t say that, so she made up an excuse:

“What if the disaster suddenly ends? If I stock up on jade and gold, I’ll be a little rich lady.

And even if the disaster never ends and money becomes worthless, maybe gold will become the new currency.”

The other two thought about it and realized she had a point.

Throughout history, no matter how currencies changed, gold and silver were always valuable.

Chu Peipei’s eyes lit up. “Nannan, you’re always so farsighted! When I’m done collecting gas, I’ll go look for gold and silver jewelry too!”

An Nan: …

Better not. I’ve already cleaned out all the jewelry in the city.

She cleared her throat and changed the subject. “I wonder if the temperature will drop in a few days…”

Zhao Ping’an replied, “Based on my analysis, it won’t.”

Chu Peipei glared at him. “Don’t jinx it!”

Zhao Ping’an said, “This is the result of careful calculations. I made charts and ran simulations today—the temperature should rise to around sixty degrees…

As for how long the heat will last, it’ll be at least a year.”

Chu Peipei was stunned. “Sixty degrees? Are you kidding me?”"