No one else at home seemed interested in the Elite Club. Grandpa Jing was still busy in the shed, meticulously building intricate insect nests out of scrap wood and wire. Grandma Jing worked from dawn until night, her hands never still. Just feeding the poultry alone was a massive project that required her constant attention. So fine, Jing Shu would go alone.
Buying property and expanding her assets was a small thing anyway. There was no need to tell them the details yet. She would give the family a proper surprise once the deal was finalized.
The next morning, Jing Shu dressed properly and left the house fully prepared for the day.
She finally took off that giant, rustic winter coat and swapped it for a fluffy black down jacket with an open front. Under it, she still had to wear a heavy bulletproof vest, the stiff plates pressing against her chest. The bulletproof helmet was a must too, strapped securely under her chin. These were her standard gear every time she stepped outside the villa gates. In this apocalypse, someone as wealthy as she was could easily get targeted by desperate souls.
And if anyone tried anything, she wouldn't mind smashing them with her little fists.
This time, the Elite Club was held inside the New World Mall in Wu City. Before the apocalypse, the mall had just been completed in a fast-developing district. It opened with great fanfare, and then boom, the apocalypse arrived. Afterward, most of the high-end supplies were evacuated in a hurry.
So now, what was being auctioned wasn't the mall itself but the land it sat upon. And that land was extremely valuable. Wu City and the surrounding towns were all flooded or buried, leaving almost no places livable for the long term. Someone had finally set their sights on this businessman's mall.
Jing Shu had visited the place in her previous life. The interior was insanely luxurious back then, with gold-trimmed railings and marble floors. They even bragged it would surpass Wanda Mall. Entertainment, eating, sleeping, gaming—everything was in one place.
Coming back in this life, everything had changed. After the flood in year two, the earthquake in year three, and now the relentless mudslides, the mall survived only because it sat on the higher outskirts. The inside was already falling apart, with peeling wallpaper and cracked tiles. But even so, anyone who managed to buy a nine-story mall could turn it into a fortress, a factory, or a residence. It still had huge appeal to those with resources.
Jing Shu's goal today was simple. The mobile mansion. That was the only thing she truly cared about.
The first floor's main exhibition hall had been cleaned up recently. Yesterday, her university group chat had almost exploded with complaints about the work.
It turned out that the students who went to work part-time for the Elite Club had been sent there days ago. They spent their time cleaning thick mud from the corners, scraping off aquatic organisms that had soaked into the walls for over a year, transporting buckets of sludge, and wiping down endless shelves. They had to reassemble counters and buff the floors. They had been exhausted for days. Thankfully, meals were included, and everyone was curious to see the Elite Club. If it weren't for that, they wouldn't have quit long ago.
Now the hall had virtual screens flickering with data, red carpets rolled over the grime, and signs pointing toward the various sections. The staff had restored the electricity, and the cool air of the conditioning unit hummed in the background while bright lights illuminated the space. It finally looked presentable.
Walking in and seeing a seven or eight hundred square meter empty hall was quite shocking. The center had rings of open elevators and escalators stretching all the way up to the second, third, and fourth floors. When the place first opened, it used to be packed with shoppers.
But what widened Jing Shu's eyes wasn't the architectural scale of the hall.
It was the exhibition in the center.
Three mobile mansions stood there on raised platforms. Each one was completely different in style. One was sleek and modern, another had a rustic, cabin-like feel, and the third was a towering, futuristic structure. Each one was gorgeous, luxurious, and impressive.
Jing Shu instantly fell in love with the largest and most extravagant one. To her surprise, it looked even better than she had imagined from the catalog. This was exactly the mobile mansion she had dreamed about. The sleek, reinforced exterior and the tinted, armored glass completely conquered her heart.
What about the inside?
"I don't care how expensive it is. I'm getting that mobile mansion." Jing Shu was practically drooling as she stared at the metallic finish. It took Xiao Liu, her factory's accountant, calling her several times before she finally snapped out of her trance.
"Stop staring and go find your seat. I have mine over there, and I have people to deal with. I will head over first." Li Yuetian walked off into the crowd, leaving Jing Shu alone. Xiao Liu stayed by her side, holding a briefcase.
Jing Shu wiped the corner of her mouth, pulled her hat lower to hide her face, and tried to make herself look less eye-catching. Low profile. Always maintain a low profile.
That was when someone charged toward her from the side without looking.
Jing Shu wasn't paying attention either, so the two collided with a heavy impact. But the moment they hit, the man who rushed over was launched several meters away. He flew through the air and landed on the hard, dusty floor with a loud thud that echoed against the high ceilings. Just the sound of the impact made the nearby guests cringe. A moment later, miserable wails filled the hall. His friends' faces went completely pale with shock.
The crowd, who had been admiring the exhibit, all turned to look at them.
"How do you walk? Are you blind? Didn't your eyes grow in? Hurry up and apologize! Hey! Service staff! Where is the staff? Come help!"
Jing Shu frowned and took a closer look at the figure on the floor. Oh. Well, well. Look who it was. Such a coincidence.
The person rolling on the floor and screaming in pain was none other than Jin Baba, Jin Tianci's son, the man who controlled much of Wu City. He and Jing Shu were old enemies. Their last conflict still hadn't been settled. If not for Jin Tianci's sake, this little brat would have suffered much worse by now.
Jin Baba clutched his chest, convinced all his ribs had shattered into dust. It felt like he had slammed into a solid iron block. Pain shot through his torso so badly that his eyes teared up instantly. He opened his mouth, ready to curse her into the ground, but when he looked up and saw who it was, every word he wanted to yell got swallowed back down into his throat.
He glared at Jing Shu with pure hatred. He guessed that enemies really did meet on narrow roads.
His lackeys rushed over to lift him up. It took several people just to help him stand on his shaking legs. Jin Baba kept whining in pain, his body trembling and barely upright. Seeing him in such a pathetic state, his friends burst into more curses directed at her.
"Are you okay? Did you get hurt badly? Do you want us to call an ambulance? Heavens." Jing Shu folded her arms and asked mockingly, her voice cool.
One youth holding him up snapped, "Can't you see how badly Young Overlord got hurt? You vicious woman, aren't you going to apologize? If anything happens to him, can you afford the consequences?"
"Oh? Young Overlord, huh? Do you have any accidents? Do you need me to apologize? I'm pretty sure you are the one who ran into me. I should be the one shouting harassment."
Even though Jin Baba looked fierce, he didn't dare say anything to her face. He kept baring his teeth as the pain throbbed in his chest. He vaguely remembered what his uncle told him. He was told not to provoke this woman. She was impossible to deal with. He knew that too. She had already made him suffer twice, and he couldn't even complain about it to his father. Even worse, she was on good terms with his cousin, Jun Bao. It pissed him off beyond belief.
The youth holding him sneered, his face contorted with anger. "Who do you think you are? Who would believe your harassment nonsense? Maybe you were trying to take advantage of our Young Overlord."
"She is Jing Shu! Holy shit! isn't that her? Guys, look, doesn't she look exactly like the one in that picture?"
A male worker dressed in the standard service staff uniform suddenly shouted with a burst of excitement that cut through the murmurs of the crowd. He fumbled with his pocket, pulled out his phone, and thrust the screen toward the other staff members nearby. He even pointed it out to a man in a sharp suit standing nearby.
Jing Shu frowned, her eyes narrowing. This loudspeaker of a kid… who even was he?
"I'm Jiang Changke! Boss, I'm Jiang Changke! I have studied your pictures hundreds of times. I can recognize you in one glance!"