However, before any official news arrived, trouble broke out online first.
It all started with a live-streaming sales event by an internet influencer.
Since Qin Sang had stored all the ordered supplies into her space the day before yesterday, she had barely gone out in the past two days. Her parents were busy overseeing the renovations downstairs, while she organized the supplies in her space and kept a storage log. She didn’t want so many items to become hard to find later.
While cataloging, she occasionally realized she had missed some small things, like nail clippers and screwdrivers. She noted them down to buy online.
That evening, while shopping on an e-commerce app, she accidentally tapped into a major streamer’s live room. Such live rooms often appeared on the home page, and Qin Sang usually exited immediately after a mistaken tap. She wasn’t a fan of live-stream shopping.
But today, coincidentally, right after she entered the live room—before she could exit—she saw the streamer frantically promoting a sunscreen lotion. The temperature had been extremely high lately, and sunscreen products were flying off the shelves. That alone wasn’t unusual. Qin Sang even considered whether she should buy an additional batch of sunscreen.
But in the next second, the large screen behind the streamer suddenly displayed a supplies list.
Qin Sang, who was in the middle of stockpiling herself, recognized it at a glance: It was an apocalypse stockpile checklist.
Daily necessities, food—those went without saying. But the list also included large quantities of outdoor gear, speedboats, off-road vehicles, fuel, and even high-lethality weapons. The numbers were staggering. Alongside the list were detailed storage notes. Anyone with a functioning brain would find it unsettling.
Although the screen went black quickly, and the streamer explained it as a technical mistake by the director, the list had already gone viral. The streamer had tens of millions of followers. Within minutes, the list was trending across major apps.
Of course, the streamer’s live room was shut down five minutes after the list appeared.
—
Witnessing the whole thing, Qin Sang couldn’t help but facepalm. This world felt like a poorly run theater troupe. How could such a big influencer’s live room make a mistake like this?
She wondered whether it was truly an accident or if someone close to the streamer had deliberately caused trouble.
In fact, it was the latter. The live room had barely been taken down before the streamer was summoned for questioning by the cyber police.
Of course, that detail hadn’t been made public yet. Online, the various trending topics about the list were quickly removed. But people weren’t stupid. The trends disappeared, but screenshots and posts were flying across the internet.
Even if a post was deleted moments after being uploaded, everyone who needed to see it had already seen it.
“Sang Sang, Sang Sang. Have you looked at the village group chat?”
Qin Sang was still reeling from the streamer’s massive blunder when her mother ran over with her phone.
In the village group chat, many people were discussing the influencer’s stockpile list. Seeing this, Qin Sang realized that quite a few villagers were fans of that streamer.
They ranged from young to old. The older ones sighed with relief, saying they were right to follow the trend and buy rice and oil in the past couple of days. “Look at that big influencer—aren’t they stockpiling a huge amount of supplies too?”
The younger ones, on the other hand, complained that the older generation was mindlessly following trends and hoarding supplies. Not only had their elderly relatives been hauling rice, flour, and oil into the house, but they also suspected the leaked list was just a publicity stunt to drive sales.
Many people believed this theory. Online discussions also leaned that way. Most concluded the influencer had deliberately released such an alarming stockpile list for attention and traffic.
The authorities moved quickly too. Within an hour, an official notice was issued.
But the content of the notice was quite thought-provoking.
It didn’t directly address the supplies list. Instead, it simply urged the public not to believe or spread rumors. “Please rely on official announcements for accurate information.”
After this notice, some people dismissed the whole incident. But those with a sharper mind immediately sensed something was off.
These people frantically searched the internet for more information. Some stumbled upon the existence of a “survivor” community. Others even heard about the prophetic dreams.
Some people started asking friends and family whether something big was about to happen. It’s said that any two strangers can be connected through at most six people. If just one of those strangers is a survivor, then all six people in that chain would also learn the information.
So, when Qin Sang woke up the next day, the world seemed to have changed.
—
“Sang Sang, your second uncle’s family is buying up a lot of supplies. Do they know something?”
As soon as Qin Sang came downstairs, several older women stopped her. The eldest among them, Second Aunt, spoke up directly.
“Know what, Second Aunt?”
Second Aunt: “Your second uncle’s family has been borrowing money from every relative these past few days and buying up a lot of rice, flour, oil, and such. Everyone thought they were planning to open a grain shop! But after that live stream last night, a lot of people are saying things are going to get bad and we need to stock up. Did your second uncle’s family get some inside information?”
The other women nodded in agreement.
What could Qin Sang say? She could only shake her head. “My second uncle hasn’t told us anything. You’ve seen our family—we haven’t been buying rice or oil either. I saw the group chat last night, and we’re actually planning to go out and buy some things after breakfast today.”
Seeing that they couldn’t get anything useful out of Qin Sang, Second Aunt didn’t push further.
“That’s fine. You’re young, and your second uncle’s family is… like that. It’s possible they wouldn’t tell you. But the village chief will probably take some people to your second uncle’s house later and get a clear answer!”
Qin Sang’s eyes lit up. That would be good. If they could find out anything, it would benefit the villagers.
“If things really do get bad, your Fourth Aunt’s family might end up fighting with your second uncle’s family.”
Before leaving, Second Aunt left Qin Sang with that remark.
Qin Sang couldn’t have cared less. She hoped her second uncle’s family got what was coming to them. How could they be so heartless?
In the time it took her to go out and buy breakfast, Qin Sang saw that her second uncle’s house had already been surrounded by villagers.
Their family had been making such big moves recently, and last night the internet was flooded with stockpiling news. Thinking about it, Qin Sang figured there was going to be some excitement to watch.
She didn’t go back inside. She sent a quick message to her family group chat and stayed to watch the show.
—
“Deli! All your uncles and brothers are here. Just tell us straight—what exactly is going on with your family borrowing money and stockpiling supplies these past few days?”
The village chief didn’t beat around the bush. He asked directly.
Second Uncle’s family had been roused from their beds by the villagers. They were all bleary-eyed. At the chief’s words, their faces collectively changed.
Qin Wenbang’s expression was especially ugly.
Last night, when that damn influencer’s broadcast went off the rails, he’d already felt things were going wrong. Wenbang wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. He didn’t bother thinking about how the influencer had found out about the apocalypse. All he knew was that if the whole world found out the end was coming, his advantage as a “prophet” would be gone. Then how was he supposed to recruit underlings and build a harem of beauties?
“Chief, our family heard there’s money to be made in grain and oil right now, so we were preparing to borrow some capital and get into that business.”
That sounded fine on the surface. But the village chief didn’t believe Qin Wenbang. Neither did the other villagers. Someone shouted, “We’re talking to your father! You keep your mouth shut, boy.”
“We don’t know anything. Believe it or not!” Qin Wenbang couldn’t be bothered and just played dumb.
This infuriated the villagers.
Several people demanded that Qin Wenbang pay them back.
“No way. We signed loan contracts. It’s not time to repay yet.”
His shamelessness made the villagers who’d lent him money grind their teeth.
Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt had come along too. Seeing this attitude, Fourth Aunt asked directly, “What about the house? Your family sold us that house at a low price. You don’t expect us to believe you had no idea, do you?”
Fourth Uncle and his wife didn’t watch live streams. But Fourth Aunt loved scrolling through short videos. So last night, she’d seen a lot of news about stockpiling.
Some people said the pandemic was coming back. Others said grain and oil prices were about to skyrocket. A few even said the world was ending.
Fourth Aunt didn’t understand any of that. But she understood one thing: having cash in hand right now was more important than anything else.
And yet, her family had emptied their savings to buy that school-district house from the Wenbangs.
She’d told her son about it last night, but he didn’t care. He said his parents were old and confused, believing online rumors.
But Fourth Aunt just felt something was off. Seeing the village chief and the others confronting Qin Wenbang today, she’d followed them over.
“The house? It’s already transferred. Nothing left to say about it.” Qin Wenbang shrugged off the accusation. He just wanted to get rid of these people and check the situation online. There was no point talking to these country bumpkins.
His attitude was infuriating. Someone in the crowd shouted, “If you won’t pay back the money, then we’ll take the grain and oil!”
Then several people actually rushed into Qin Wenbang’s house.
This was not a turn Qin Sang had expected. The person who had just shouted about using grain as payment seemed to be a high school freshman from the village. His family had lent quite a bit of money to Second Uncle, lured by the three percent interest.
The kid was the fastest. He ran inside, and there was a loud banging sound. Then he came out carrying two bags of rice on his shoulders.
Seeing him take action, others followed suit. They rushed in one by one—rice, noodles, whatever. Everyone grabbed one or two bags and ran out.
Chaos erupted.
But Qin Sang’s gaze was fixed on that high school student.
Leave a Reply