Jing Shu wandered through the expansive cruise kitchen, her footsteps echoing faintly on the polished floor as she felt a little disappointed by what she found. Everything she saw was just ordinary ingredients, common pantry staples that lacked the rarity she sought. But she didn't give up. Instead, she found her way to the massive, heavy-duty door of the ship's cold storage. Earlier, she had noticed a bunch of people hauling heavy wooden crates of food inside, and now she finally understood why.
Two guards stood by the door, their posture rigid, but they were no problem for her. Using the illusion technique she had been practicing for months, Jing Shu subtly hinted for them to open the door, her movements precise and calm. Once they did, she strolled right into the hundred-square-meter freezer like she owned the place, the heavy steel door thudding shut behind her.
"Damn, it's cold!" She wrapped her thick padded coat tighter around her torso to ward off the sudden chill. Inside, rows of industrial shelves stacked over two meters high filled the room from wall to wall. There was so much stuff packed into the frigid space that she didn't even know where to start, her gaze darting across the sheer volume of supplies.
The dark freezer had no lights, but Jing Shu's eyes gleamed green with greed, lighting up the whole space like a hungry cat's in the darkness. Everything here was hers for the taking.
She brushed her hand over the rough surfaces of bags of rice and flour, feeling the cold grains through the fabric, then skipped them. They were too basic. There was no point wasting precious space on things she could find elsewhere.
"Olive oil with a rich, fruity aroma?"
She nodded in approval, looking at the rows of elegant glass bottles. "Take it all."
"Coconut oil? Sounds good, take it. Peanut oil? Fancy, take it. Avocado oil? Never tried it, take it too. Sesame oil? Holy crap, my favorite, take every damn bottle! Butter, ghee, shredded cheese, and baking ingredients for cakes; taking all of it." She had been wanting to make cream of mushroom soup forever. Now she could finally try.
"Foie gras? World-class delicacy? Heh, sweep!" Jing Shu couldn't resist opening one of the small jars, dipping a piece of a soft steamed bun she had brought into the rich, fatty spread. One bite and her eyes lit up as the flavor hit her tongue. "So good!"
The flavor was incredible, rich and savory. Whether spread on cheap steamed buns or eaten with hot scallion pancakes, it was divine.
"Wait, is this caviar? Sturgeon caviar?" She found a small metal safe tucked in a corner. Inside was a single crate. She didn't hesitate to sweep it all into her space. She tried a little out of curiosity. It tasted... strange. The texture was fresh and juicy, like biting into tiny water balloons. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as mind-blowing as the TV shows made it sound.
"Guess it needs a proper recipe," she muttered, her breath visible in the freezing air. "Just like how foreigners freak out over century eggs until they try them with vinegar. Then they fall in love."
She moved to the fresh meat section where the air was even colder. The racks were packed with frozen longan meat, slabs of pork belly, premium Kobe beef with intricate marbling, ribs, whole turkeys, and stacks of compressed beef patties. Jing Shu decided top-tier meat like this wasn't something she could just leave behind. She swept all of it into her Rubik's Cube Space, about thirty cubic meters' worth of meat, clearing more than ten shelves in the process until the metal grates were bare.
Processed meat was convenient anyway. A bit of cooking and it would be delicious. Even if it couldn't beat what she raised herself, it would still make great gifts or fetch a good price. Of course, she mostly wanted to snack on it herself.
Then her eyes landed on Iberico ham, the world's most expensive kind. Each slice could perfume a whole room with its distinct aroma. She took all of it without hesitation.
To her delight, there was even bluefin tuna, nearly a ton of it frozen solid in large blocks. Her grin widened at the sight. "Perfect." She swept it into her space too. She loved sashimi, especially a proper three-way tuna feast: fresh sashimi, crispy fried fish skin, and tofu fish head soup. "That's dinner sorted!"
Then came the dessert section, filled with layered cakes, puddings, and frozen sweets of every kind. Jing Shu's mouth watered just looking at the colorful displays. "A slice of cake with tea after dinner... yeah, can't leave these behind." She shamelessly cleared an entire shelf, watching the boxes vanish into her space.
Oh, and ice cream! She didn't spare that either. Other than Häagen-Dazs, she didn't recognize any of the luxury brands, but who cared? Into her space they went. She giggled to herself. "Didn't think I would get lucky enough to restock on ice cream after finishing my last stash."
Next came boxed goods. Jing Shu chose only food that no longer existed in China or had gone extinct since the apocalypse began. After living through the end of the world for so long, these once-common treats now felt like priceless treasures.
She even found strange fruits she had never seen before, like avocados—once too weird for her taste—and something called the "miracle fruit," small red berries that made sour foods taste sweet for two hours after eating them.
There was also Moroccan argan oil, nicknamed "liquid gold." Naturally, she took as much as she could find. Supplies like these were rare by the third year of the apocalypse, and most luxury goods had long been consumed. Some of the stuff here was already losing its freshness in the back of the freezer.
Jing Shu walked through the place like she was shopping at a supermarket, tossing anything she liked into her space: frozen pizza, egg tarts, fries, chicken nuggets, sandwiches, hot dogs, bacon—you name it, she took it.
Before she knew it, half the freezer was empty, and more than half her Rubik's Cube Space was full. Shivering from the cold, she finally dragged herself out of the room, her coat puffed up like a ball. The temperature had to be around minus ten degrees, and now that her adrenaline was fading, she could feel her fingers going numb.
Once she had cleaned out the food section, Jing Shu turned her gaze toward the livestock area.
The nobles on the cruise had to be eating well somehow, and that meant they had brought along their own animals. They couldn't just live off stored food forever. From what she had seen, the black market nobles raised plenty of poultry. She wanted to see if there was anything she didn't already have in her space.
Chickens, ducks, pigs, cows, sheep; they were too big and too wasteful. She only wanted small, renewable species that could provide food long-term.
Covering her nose against the rising scent, she followed the stench to the livestock hold. The smell was awful, enough to make her gag, and the area was pitch-black except for the constant, frantic squawking of birds. Cages lined both sides, stacked high with turkeys. But what made her stomach twist was what they were being fed. It wasn't pellets, but piles of chopped meat.
She could still see pale fingernails stuck to some of the raw pieces. It didn't take much imagination to realize what was going on. To save feed, the nobles were using corpses from the arena and the slums. Hundreds died every day, and now they were just fodder for the livestock.
Jing Shu clenched her jaw and moved deeper into the dark hold. Pigs and cows were penned further back, their hooves shifting restlessly as they remained unsettled from the voyage.
Then, suddenly, a sharp, blood-curdling scream pierced the air.
She hadn't planned to get involved. But of course, just her luck, someone was coming from behind. Jing Shu had no choice but to move forward into the darkness.