In the video, a young man with dyed yellow hair could be seen sneaking through the aisles. He stopped in front of the instant noodle shelf, glanced around, and placed his hand on a stack of noodles. The next second, the noodles beneath his hand vanished. The entire process took only a few seconds. If the security footage hadn’t been slowed down, most people would have thought their eyes were playing tricks on them.
The video was short. No one knew who had posted it online. It appeared on all major platforms. Officials were likely trying to delete it, but too many people were sharing it—it couldn’t be removed fast enough.
After watching the video, Qin Sang scrolled through various posts and noticed that most young people hadn’t believed in the apocalypse at first. After all, the influencer’s live-stream mishap didn’t prove anything. But the way the yellow-haired guy made supplies disappear—that clearly showed he had a space. It wasn’t magic.
“Oh my, he really made things vanish!”
Second Aunt, who had come shopping with them, suddenly exclaimed. Several other older women were also staring wide-eyed. They thought even a magic trick couldn’t be that fast.
“Then… those missing grains and oils at Dali’s house—could they have disappeared like that?” someone murmured.
Qin Sang struggled to squeeze into the supermarket and thought to herself: People aren’t stupid.
Mother Qin started chatting with the aunties about it, while Qin Sang began assessing the situation inside the supermarket.
Wow. The fresh produce section near the entrance had been almost completely cleared out. The grain and oil section was packed shoulder to shoulder. Qin Sang estimated that no matter how thin she was, she couldn’t squeeze through. She said simply, “Mom, Dad, we can’t get into the grain and oil section. Why don’t we go buy some snacks instead?”
Her family was lacking nothing. But since they were here, Qin Sang decided to buy some calorie-dense, nutritious snacks like chocolate, dried fruit, and nuts.
The other villagers, however, were determined to grab grain and oil. So they quickly parted ways.
—
There were no shopping carts or baskets left, but fortunately they had brought their own bags. Qin Sang had her father hold the bags open and started clearing shelves.
Chocolate, nuts, dried fruit, wafers, soda crackers, candy, pork jerky, dried salted fish, dried squid, eight-treasure porridge, dace in black bean sauce, spicy gluten strips, pickled vegetables, chili sauce, dried shrimp with radish, fermented bean curd—anything they passed, into the bags it went.
The shelves in this section were surrounded almost entirely by young people. They couldn’t squeeze into the grain and oil section either—that area had been completely taken over by middle-aged and elderly shoppers.
Seeing Qin Sang grab things without even looking, they followed her example. They stopped worrying about prices and expiration dates. Buying first, asking questions later.
Someone even struck up a conversation with Qin Sang, asking if she had inside information.
Qin Sang thought for a moment and said, “With so much news online, better to believe it than not.”
“Didn’t the authorities take down those posts? Those videos could be AI-generated,” a young woman who looked very frugal said.
Qin Sang found her vaguely familiar but didn’t dwell on it. She shrugged. “It’s not like stocking up will ruin the food.”
She didn’t bother chatting further and continued buying.
And she had to admit—clearing shelves felt incredibly satisfying. After her earlier stockpiling sprees, she had only about 100,000 yuan left. Just enough to keep buying during this time.
Soon, each of the three family members was carrying four or five shopping bags. Qin Sang decided it was enough and went to line up at checkout.
But the checkout lines were incredibly long. Even the self-checkout stations were packed. It was frustrating, but she joined the queue anyway.
By now, even more people had flooded into the supermarket. More and more young workers were cutting out early to join the rush. The air grew increasingly stuffy. It felt like the air conditioning had broken. The indoor temperature started climbing.
Qin Sang wiped the sweat from her forehead and thought the temperature must have exceeded fifty degrees. Through the display windows, she could see waves of heat rising from the plaza outside.
She figured that once the line reached the freezer section, she might as well clear out all the ice cream.
That was when a roar erupted from the neighboring cashier lane.
—
“How is that possible? How can my credit card not work?”
The middle-aged man’s angry shout quieted the checkout area for a moment. Then the cashier explained in a hoarse voice, “Credit cards aren’t working today. It’s not just yours—no one’s cards are working.”
Clearly, the cashier had explained this countless times already. Otherwise, her voice wouldn’t be so hoarse.
The crowd in line erupted.
Qin Sang understood immediately. The authorities hadn’t just suspended loans—they had also disabled credit cards. Various credit payment methods were likely frozen too. She made a mental note: after buying these things, she would go to the bank and withdraw all the family’s savings.
But not everyone was as calm as Qin Sang. Many of the people in line were young and financially stretched.
Hearing that credit cards couldn’t be used, they checked their payment apps—Huabei, Jiebei, Baitiao, Xiaohebao—only to find their credit limits frozen. Quite a few had still been at work earlier and had no idea that loans had been suspended nationwide. Now, standing with the supplies they had fought so hard to grab, they burst into complaints and curses.
Negativity is contagious. The middle-aged man was still cursing at the register when a bottle of water flew out of nowhere and hit him on the back of the head.
He let out a yelp, spun around, and charged toward where the bottle had come from. But the checkout area was already packed tight with people, shopping carts, and baskets. Supplies were stacked as high as a person.
The man’s sudden movement set off a chain reaction.
Your shopping cart bumped into mine, and mine bumped into someone else’s.
People who were already frustrated and angry over the checkout issues instantly exploded. Fists flew, feet kicked. Pushing turned into shoving.
The scorching heat only fueled their rage. The chaos spread, even reaching the shelves.
Some who considered themselves clever simply grabbed supplies and ran. One person acted, and countless others followed suit.
The entire supermarket descended into utter chaos.
—
Qin Sang quickly pulled her parents to a corner of the store, pressing their backs against the wall as they watched the mayhem unfold. The apocalypse hadn’t even started yet, and people were already losing control. She sighed and quietly sent a text message to report the situation to the police. Calling would be useless—no one could hear a thing over the noise.
It was too loud. People seemed to have found an outlet for their emotions—the anxiety of not grabbing enough supplies, the frustration of being unable to pay. All of it came pouring out.
“The end of the world isn’t even here yet, and this is what it’s like…”
Father and Mother Qin were shocked by the scene before them. But both were quick to react, grabbing brooms from the display racks and holding them horizontally in front of themselves.
Quite a few others had similarly taken refuge in corners. Seeing the Qin family, they quietly grabbed brooms and mops to defend themselves. By now, no one cared about the supplies they had fought for. The only thing that mattered was not getting caught up in the chaos.
Qin Sang frowned as she looked toward the checkout area. There were actually many people there who had been patiently waiting in line. But because of those few hotheads, they were trapped and couldn’t break free. Some had no intention of fighting back, but after being punched a few times, they were left with no choice but to defend themselves.
The chaos did, however, cause many customers to flee the supermarket. And in the escaping crowd, Qin Sang spotted two people with spaces.
Both were young, likely office workers from nearby buildings judging by their attire. One stayed quietly against the wall. The other, however, pushed toward the exit, swiping supplies from shopping carts into his space as he went.
This sneaky theft was no better than just grabbing things and running.
Qin Sang couldn’t understand why these people thought having a space meant they could do whatever they wanted. Security cameras were everywhere, and people weren’t stupid. If anyone noticed, it could bring a world of trouble later.
Just as the chaos escalated and more and more people started bleeding, a convoy of military green vehicles pulled up outside the supermarket. Soldiers armed with rifles appeared.
The sight of that familiar military green seemed to cool the rioters’ minds. One by one, the fighters froze in place.
Qin Sang breathed a sigh of relief. She also realized that the authorities would likely take action soon. Otherwise, soldiers—not police—wouldn’t have shown up. There was a military base in their city, near the airport. But that was a small air force base. The soldiers here were army.
She couldn’t help but suspect that the government had already been quietly making preparations behind the scenes.
—
“Everyone, put down whatever you’re holding immediately. Line up one by one and exit through the main door to register your information.”
A stern-faced soldier jumped onto a cleared checkout counter with a bullhorn and addressed the entire supermarket.
By now, everyone inside had calmed down and returned to being law-abiding citizens. Hearing the bullhorn, they fell in line.
Some elderly uncles and aunties, relying on their age, tried to walk out with supplies in hand. They were immediately stopped. When they tried to argue, they were promptly warned. No special treatment was given because of their age.
After this display, no one dared to be uncooperative.
Mother Qin sighed. “I wish we hadn’t come out.”
Father Qin agreed.
Qin Sang, however, thought it was good to get an early taste of the chaos the apocalypse would bring. And today was nothing compared to what was coming.
Those who had experienced the end of the world in novels knew that killing and cannibalism were the true dark side of the apocalypse.
But she didn’t say that out loud. She continued carefully observing her surroundings. Then she noticed that something resembling a security screening machine had been set up near the supermarket exit. Her instincts told her something was wrong.
Especially when, as a person carrying a space passed through the machine, it made a sound.
Dozens of ordinary people had gone through the machine before without any reaction.
This made Qin Sang suspect that the strange “security door” could detect people with spaces.
At that thought, she desperately wanted to go into her space and ask Grandfather Goose. Unfortunately, she was stuck in line and couldn’t enter. And unlike in novels, she couldn’t communicate with him telepathically.
When a second space carrier was detected, Qin Sang was certain: that strange door was indeed designed to detect spaces.
She wondered: Would her own space be detected?
With a nervous heart, Qin Sang gritted her teeth and followed instructions, stepping through the security door.
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