Chapter 17: What If the Money Runs Out?

The diesel generator was loud enough to wake the sleeping bodyguards.

Those on night watch peeked over curiously, but when they saw the boss speaking privately with the captain, they tactfully retreated to their posts.

A few others came downstairs grumbling, only to freeze when they noticed the two of them. They quickly shut their mouths and slipped back upstairs.

Every one of them wore the same strange expression.

The boss… meeting their captain alone in the middle of the night?

So she hadn’t taken a liking to No. 01 and his impressive chest muscles after all. She had her eye on their handsome captain.

Figures. In this day and age, looks really did matter.

Tang Xiaoman rubbed the bridge of her nose, pretending not to notice the unspoken gossip.

In the apocalypse, who would care about rumors like that? They couldn’t hurt her in the slightest.

Zhou Yichen packed away the diesel generator and asked in his usual rigid, formal tone, “Miss Tang, do you have any further instructions?”

Watching how serious he looked, Tang Xiaoman suddenly felt the urge to tease him.

“It’s not convenient to talk here,” she said casually. “Why don’t we go to my room?”

The man instantly stiffened like he’d been struck by lightning.

“A man and a woman alone… in a room… at this hour,” he said cautiously. “That wouldn’t be appropriate.”

Tang Xiaoman compromised with a shrug. “Then we can go to your room instead.”

Zhou Yichen’s face turned bright red. He took a step back, his eyes full of wary suspicion.

Tang Xiaoman: “……”

She had only been joking. It wasn’t like she was actually planning to do anything to him.

Tsk. The guy was way too rigid—completely immune to teasing.

“Fine,” she sighed. “Where do you think we should talk, then?”

—

The two of them ended up in Tang Xiaoman’s private storage room. Only one ton of diesel was stored here, so the smell wasn’t too overwhelming.

She flicked on the light, and the room brightened instantly.

Zhou Yichen paused when he saw the stacks of supplies inside.

Tang Xiaoman offered no explanation. Instead, she rummaged through the pile and pulled out a nail gun, handing it to him.

“Can you modify this?” she asked. “Increase the range and the impact.”

Zhou Yichen was a retired special forces soldier. He was extremely familiar with firearms and mechanical structures.

He examined the nail gun several times before speaking in a serious tone.

“This model already has the longest range—about ten meters. At that distance, a steel nail can cause serious injury.”

It was already a dangerous weapon.

But Tang Xiaoman wasn’t satisfied.

“Ten meters isn’t enough,” she said calmly. “After modification, I want it to reach at least twenty.”

Zhou Yichen looked up at her.

Tang Xiaoman met his gaze steadily.

“You understand what I’m asking, right?”

After a moment, he nodded.

“Yes, Miss Tang.”

Tang Xiaoman smiled with satisfaction and patted his shoulder.

“Don’t worry. I’m not planning to use it for anything illegal. It’s strictly for self-defense.”

If no one provoked her, she wouldn’t provoke anyone.

But if someone did…

She would make sure they were completely eradicated.

—

By the time Tang Xiaoman finally fell asleep, it was already the middle of the night.

When she woke again, it was past nine.

She let out a howl like someone had carved a chunk out of her flesh and immediately rolled out of bed, rushing into the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, she came out refreshed.

She didn’t even bother with breakfast. Instead, she dashed downstairs and drove straight to the nearest bank.

Gold bars and silver ingots in banks were much cheaper than jewelry store prices.

Tang Xiaoman bought ten jin of gold bars and ten jin of silver bars in one go.

She wanted to test how much the space would expand after consuming them.

If gold and silver produced the same expansion for equal weight, silver would obviously be the better deal.

Back in the car, she fed the gold bars into the space first.

Using her consciousness to check inside, she confirmed that the gold had been absorbed.

The living area expanded by **0.5 square meters**, and the storage volume increased by **5 cubic meters**.

Next, she tossed in the ten jin of silver.

When the silver was absorbed, the virtual display showed an increase of only **0.005 square meters** in living space and **0.05 cubic meters** of storage.

The result was exactly what she expected.

Her space was clever—too clever. It couldn’t be fooled with cheap substitutes.

—

Tang Xiaoman then visited jewelry stores and jade shops, buying gemstones, diamonds, jade pieces, and various ornaments.

Each time, she threw items of equal price into the space and checked how much it expanded.

Eventually, she reached a conclusion.

**Jade offered the best value.**

Checking her bank balance, she saw she had less than sixty million left.

The final payment for the Tianlai Villa renovations would cost over five million, and the escape pods she had ordered would cost another two million. She still needed money for further stockpiling as well.

Money that once seemed impossible to spend was suddenly not enough.

She reserved ten million in cash and spent the rest buying gold bars and jade stones.

Once they were all fed to the space, the jade bracelet on her wrist visibly improved.

What had originally been low-grade, cloudy jade had now transformed into a glossy **waxy jade**, with noticeably improved translucency.

When she entered the space, the virtual display showed:

**Daily time limit: three hours.**

Her time inside the space had doubled.

The living area had expanded by **thirteen square meters**, bringing the total to **ninety-seven square meters**—upgrading it from a two-bedroom layout to a three-bedroom.

The storage volume had increased by another **110 cubic meters**, bringing the total to **290 cubic meters**.

Looking at the space that had more than doubled in size, Tang Xiaoman felt a surge of excitement like adrenaline rushing through her veins.

She exited the space, ready to continue her shopping spree.

But after driving only a short distance, her tire suddenly went flat.

When she got out to check it, a group of burly men appeared out of nowhere.

Bare-armed and covered in dragon-and-tiger tattoos, they looked like trouble.

Tang Xiaoman showed no fear. She raised an eyebrow.

“What do you want?”

It was broad daylight.

The apocalypse hadn’t even begun yet.

Even she didn’t dare act recklessly in public—yet these people dared to attack someone in the street?

“Heh. Little lady,” the leader sneered. A vicious scar ran across his face, making his smile even more terrifying. “You messed with the wrong people. Someone wants to teach you a lesson.”

The men behind him all held baseball bats, ready to rush forward the moment their boss gave the signal.

The girl in front of them was stunningly beautiful. Some of them even swallowed hard while staring at her.

But she had offended someone she shouldn’t have.

For money, they could only follow orders—break her arms and legs and give her a painful warning.

Tang Xiaoman let out a cold snort.

“Hold on a second,” she said leisurely.

The men stared in confusion.

She opened the car door and bent down, using the motion as cover to pull a **chainsaw** out of her space.

The machine roared to life with a terrifying buzz.

Everyone knew what that sound meant.

It was the universal **criminal deterrent**.

The dozen men immediately turned pale, none of them daring to step forward.

Tang Xiaoman went on the offensive, thrusting the roaring chainsaw straight toward Scarface.

Scarface didn’t even hesitate—he turned and ran.

Once the leader fled, the rest instantly scattered like birds and beasts.

“Tsk. Can’t you guys come up with something new?” Tang Xiaoman muttered, giving the fleeing men a mocking thumbs-down. “Pathetic.”

She put away the chainsaw, grabbed a jack from the trunk, and calmly replaced the tire herself.

Four years of surviving the apocalypse had taught her to handle just about anything.

Just as she climbed back into the car, her phone rang.

It was the owner of the outdoor water equipment shop.

The **four escape pods** and **ten oxygen packs** she had ordered had arrived.

Tang Xiaoman immediately gave him the address of the garage she had rented and asked him to deliver them there.

—

Two **team-version escape pods**, each designed for fifteen people, filled the garage completely.

The remaining two **family-version escape pods** and the ten oxygen packs had to be placed outside.

Tang Xiaoman paid the remaining balance and asked the owner if he could help her source **fifty gas masks** and **twenty hazmat suits**.

The owner agreed immediately.

“I can ask some friends. I’ll get them to you quickly. The quality will definitely be top-notch—though the price might be a bit higher.”

“Money isn’t an issue,” Tang Xiaoman said without blinking, paying the deposit on the spot.

The owner left happily.

Tang Xiaoman entered the garage and waved her hand, storing the two massive team escape pods directly into her space.

Inside the living quarters, she reorganized everything.

Anything that could be stacked was piled up to the ceiling.

Even the bathroom space was used to store scattered supplies.

She cleared out the living room specifically to house the two enormous team escape pods.

Then she stepped back outside, stored the two family escape pods and the ten oxygen packs in the garage first, and immediately transferred them into the space as well, placing them neatly in the living room.

With the most important survival equipment secured, she finally felt a bit more at ease.

But when she looked at the **extra 130 cubic meters** of newly expanded storage space, a heavy sense of responsibility settled on her shoulders.

She still had to keep stockpiling supplies like crazy.

The only problem was—

**What should she do if she ran out of money?**