Chapter 49 - 48: Heading to the Supermarket

Chapter 49: Chapter 48: Heading to the Supermarket

No matter what, he had to get his hands on this RV today! Could it be that the two of them, husband and wife, couldn’t snatch it from a single woman?

Little did they know, Chen Momo didn’t respond. She slowly fished out a can of pepper spray from her pocket. The moment Wang Wu and his wife leaned their heads close to the window, Chen Momo suddenly aimed the pepper spray at them and sprayed fiercely.

"AAHH!"

Wang Wu and his wife clutched their eyes, howling like stuck pigs. The hammer in his hand dropped to the ground with a thud.

Chen Momo stepped out of the vehicle and picked up the hammer. Holding the hammer in one hand and her Swiss Army knife in the other, she pointed them at Wang Wu and his wife. "Get lost!" she said fiercely. "If I see you two again, I’ll kill you!" With that, Chen Momo delivered a vicious kick to Wang Wu’s body.

Terrified out of their wits, Wang Wu and his wife ignored the burning pain in their eyes and scrambled away as fast as they could.

A while later, Xu Xiaoka came out carrying a kettle of hot water, with Xiao Bao following behind her, his short legs going PATTER PATTER. Xiao Bao’s legs were too short, so he had to quicken his wobbly pace just to barely keep up with Sister Xiao Ka in front of him.

"Sister Momo, I’ve boiled the water!" Xu Xiaoka happily handed the hot water to Chen Momo.

Chen Momo popped the hood and used the hot water to thaw the engine. After a moment, she got back in and tried the ignition again. This time, the engine finally started up normally.

"Get in!" Chen Momo told her son and Xu Xiaoka. The two of them happily climbed into the RV.

As Chen Momo drove toward the supermarket indicated on the map, she heard her son say to Xu Xiaoka, "Sister Xiao Ka, can you tell me a story?"

"Then I’ll tell you the story of Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf!" Xu Xiaoka replied.

"Okay!" Xiao Bao chirped.

And so, the older girl held a storybook while the little boy leaned his head close to it, his eyes wide and round. Seeing the two of them getting along so harmoniously, a knowing smile naturally formed on Chen Momo’s lips.

Although the route to the supermarket was only a kilometer long, it wasn’t a simple drive. Chen Momo still had to make several detours. It took her over an hour just to cover that single kilometer before they finally arrived. Fortunately, they had the RV; otherwise, walking here would have undoubtedly been torture!

Chen Momo parked the vehicle and winked at Chen Xiaobao. Chen Xiaobao caught on immediately. He knew that when his mother made this gesture, she either needed to store something in her spatial dimension or take something out of it. He quickly grabbed Xu Xiaoka with his small hand. "Sister, come with me to pee."

Xu Xiaoka looked utterly confused. "Didn’t you just pee before we left the house?"

Lying through his teeth, Chen Xiaobao said, "Xiao Bao wants to pee again." As he spoke, he thought about what an enormous sacrifice he was making to help his dear mother! In Sister Xiao Ka’s eyes, he was probably turning into a "pee monster"!

Once her son had led Xu Xiaoka far enough away by the hand, Chen Momo got out and stored both the RV and its keys into her dimension. After the morning’s incident, Chen Momo realized that the RV was simply too conspicuous under the current circumstances. It was best to keep it hidden in her dimension whenever possible. Once the vehicle was secured, she quickly caught up with Chen Xiaobao and Xu Xiaoka.

The two of them were in the middle of a baffling conversation.

"Xiao Bao, do you actually need to pee or not? One minute you say you do, and the next you say you don’t."

Xiao Bao gave an embarrassed smile. "Sister, Xiao Bao doesn’t think he needs to anymore..."

Xu Xiaoka was left speechless. Chen Xiaobao was equally silent.

"Don’t tell me you don’t even know whether you need to pee or not?" Xu Xiaoka finally said.

Chen Xiaobao put on an innocent look. "Xiao Bao doesn’t know either. Sometimes I need to, but then suddenly I don’t. Hehehe."

"I really don’t know what to do with you," Xu Xiaoka sighed.

Holding back a laugh, Chen Momo walked over to them and said, "Let’s go inside!"

The supermarket occupied three levels of the building: the basement, the first floor, and the second floor. Since the accumulated snow was nine stories high, the ground level they were currently standing on was actually the ninth floor. Chen Momo took the lead, with Xu Xiaoka holding Chen Xiaobao’s hand closely behind her.

The windows on the ninth floor had been smashed in, indicating that someone had already broken in during the blizzard. Chen Momo slipped through the broken window, and Chen Xiaobao and Xu Xiaoka followed suit. The trio located the stairwell and made their way down. They soon reached the second floor.

A banner hung over the second-floor entrance, reading: "Welcome to Walmart Supermarket." Inside, the supermarket was pitch-black; they couldn’t even see their own hands in front of their faces.

Xu Xiaoka pulled a flashlight from her backpack. Flashlights, hammers, and utility knives had become essential items in her bag, and she brought them wherever she went. She flicked on the flashlight and swept the beam across the room, only to discover that the shelves in Walmart Supermarket were actually fully stocked!

"This is so surprising," Xu Xiaoka said, brimming with curiosity. "I remember all the supermarkets getting buried during the blizzard. Why is this one still full?"

As she continuously cleared items off the shelves, Chen Momo replied, "It’s not that strange. Do you remember how prices skyrocketed during the blizzard? A lot of merchants wanted to use the opportunity to make a fortune. Even if they had supplies, they claimed they were sold out and refused to sell them to the public. Instead, they hoarded everything, waiting to bring the goods back out once prices reached astronomical levels.

"It looks like this supermarket had the same idea. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t expect this natural disaster to be endless. Toward the later stages, RMB became worth less than toilet paper, and everyone was trapped in their buildings by the heavy snow. Since RMB lost its value, these goods naturally just sat here, useless to them."

"Oh, I see!" Xu Xiaoka said, suddenly understanding.

"We should split up," Chen Momo suggested. "Once we’re done clearing this floor, let’s meet up on the first floor."

"Got it, Sister Momo," Xu Xiaoka agreed immediately.

This time, Chen Xiaobao stuck with Chen Momo. Despite his small size, Chen Xiaobao wasn’t the least bit sloppy when it came to grabbing supplies. Chen Momo handled the top shelves while Chen Xiaobao took care of the bottom ones. He dropped everything he grabbed straight into Chen Momo’s basket, and whenever it was full, she emptied the entire haul into her dimension.

The second floor was entirely dedicated to food. Whether it was bread, biscuits, milk, or dried fruit, they swept every single thing they laid their eyes on into her spatial dimension. Wherever the mother and son passed, they picked the shelves completely clean, leaving not a single crumb behind.

As for Xu Xiaoka, she had grabbed a shopping cart and quickly stuffed it to the brim. She gathered an especially large amount of items from the freezers: pork belly, lamb rolls, beef meatballs, and various frozen pastries. Once they brought these back to the villa and thawed them, they would perfectly replenish their stock.

After clearing out the second floor, Chen Momo, Chen Xiaobao, and Xu Xiaoka regrouped at the supermarket entrance and headed down to the first floor to continue their haul. The first floor housed everyday household items—blankets, mattresses, three-piece bedding sets, pajamas, slippers, and so on. Chen Momo and Chen Xiaobao formed one group, while Xu Xiaoka formed another, and the two teams split up to cover more ground.

The mother-and-son duo moved just as swiftly and decisively as before. Bedding sets, cotton shoes and socks, laundry detergent powder and liquid, mattresses, tablecloths—whatever they saw, they collected. As for Xu Xiaoka, she specifically targeted valuable goods. She picked out practical yet expensive items, like an LCD TV and a smart soy milk maker, and loaded them into her shopping cart.