Chapter 9: Final Supplement (Seeking Collection)_1

If my parents are willing to move in, they can live here, we don't lack supplies. If they don't wish to, they can seek shelter at the official's refuge center as before.

After all, judging from my previous life's experience, there's no danger in hiding in the refuge center run by the officials. Even in my last life when I died, it was because I actively applied to go out and gather materials. If I'd simply stayed in the refuge center, I wouldn't have encountered any danger.

It's not that Dong Tianyu isn't willing to bring his parents to live in his shelter, but despite the amount of preparations Dong Tianyu has made, the shelter is only suitable to house no more than five people.

Some might argue that a place this large could house dozens or even hundreds of people, but they don't realize that squeezing into a tiny space defeats the whole purpose of this shelter, otherwise, how different would it be to the official's refuge center?

It could even be worse than the official's refuge center, after all, the latter has a large crowd and a steady supply of food. Although each supply isn't a lot, up until Dong Tianyu died in his previous life, the food supply had never stopped.

There's also one more thing they didn't consider - familiarity breeds contempt. Arguing with others in a crowded refuge center is always better than quarreling with the people you live with in a private sanctuary.

So when it comes to it, don't say that Dong Tianyu is heartless. At most, he will only take his parents to the refuge center. As for the relatives and friends, better to forget it.

"Albert gave you a heads up, there's a meeting at the unit tomorrow morning, don't be late."

In his memory, the electromagnetic pulse seemed to have hit about a month after he returned to work.

Then, after another month or so, the outdoor temperature began to gradually decrease. The drop in temperature was slow at first, but as time went on, it seemed to get faster and faster.

In the morning after the unit meeting finished, Dong Tianyu called out to Taylor Oliver, who was preparing to leave: "Oliver, wait for me."

"What's up?"

"Help me get some cooperative cigarettes."

"Sure, how many do you need?"

"Ten of each brand."

Upon hearing Dong Tianyu's request, Taylor Oliver glanced around cautiously, then discretely pulled Dong Tianyu off to a corner of the stairwell.

"What are you up to, asking for ten boxes of each brand?"

The 'pieces' they are talking about in their conversation is a box, not a direct shipment from Factory Y, but repackaged, with one box containing a hundred packs.

The cooperative cigarettes Dong Tianyu was referring to are just ordinary cigarettes, not fakes, all coming from the same factory, with different prices for different regional sales.

There's an odd phenomenon - the better the items sell in a certain area, the higher the price. On the contrary, the items that don't sell well have to be forced out, even if at a lower price.

Because of this phenomenon, some people get involved in cooperative selling for the service charge, although the practice is legal, it's definitely not lawful.

But this business is only caught by people specifically in-charge at local Factory Y. The officials generally wouldn't interfere, as long as it's not too outrageous, if it's only something like three or five boxes, nobody would question them.

Dong Tianyu's department workload is pretty light, and their salaries also fall below the average line, so everyone has their own side-job.

Everyone in the department knows that Taylor Oliver meddles in cooperative cigarettes because some local brands that they like smoking are usually sold out at shops by mid-month.

While some shops still have stock, the prices are generally quite high. So, his colleagues prefer to buy from Taylor Oliver. Although a purchase usually requires at least one pack, the cost could be several to more than ten dollars lower than the market price, and it's never out of stock.

Sometimes, when a coworker's relative or friend gets married, they would also find him to buy cigarettes. Not only are the cigarettes verified as genuine, but they also accept returns if bought in bulk.

If it was just ordering three to five boxes of a certain brand, Taylor Oliver wouldn't find it strange, because there are often people who buy from him this way.

But this time, Dong Tianyu is asking for 10 boxes of every brand, which makes Taylor Oliver feel tense.

Seeing Taylor Oliver's suddenly changed expression after hearing his request, Dong Tianyu quickly explained: "Oliver, don't overthink it. I'm working on a project at Lone Mountain with some friends.

It's a regular business. The shop has a business license and an YC certificate. But you know the situation – new shops have purchase limits nowadays and I heard that prices are about to rise. I heard the increase will be substantial, so I want to stock up in advance.

After hearing what Dong Tianyu had said, Taylor Oliver's expression immediately relaxed. Still, he confirmed again, "Really, you're not fooling me?"

"My good man, I've been working here for so many years. We see each other all the time, how could I fool you?"

After hearing Dong Tianyu's words, Taylor Oliver finally let his guard down.

"Alright, but you have to give me a deposit first. You know, getting that many at once, I will have to contact people and get the shipment from a different place. It's not like buying in smaller amounts."

"Name your price, Oliver, I'll transfer the money to you right away."

After hearing how readily Dong Tianyu agreed, Taylor Oliver also responded in kind. "Getting ten boxes of every brand will be a bit difficult. The popular brands are easy, the niche ones will be a bit of a problem.

I'll ask around, get as much as I can, then make a list for you. If it's suitable for you, then you can send me the deposit."

"Alright, it's a deal. Thanks, Oliver."

"Don't mention it, you're helping my business!"

Initially, Dong Tianyu didn't think about asking Taylor Oliver for cooperative cigarettes, because although he has the YC certificate, every purchase has a limit. Not only can't he buy a lot at once, but also he has to accept allocated supply requests, which is very troublesome.

Dong Tianyu took out his plan list and did one last check.

Food Category: Vacuum packaged staples, vacuum packaged dried fruits and vegetables, canned fruits...

Seasoning: Salt, sugar, monosodium glutamate, various pickles... (People say monosodium glutamate is terrible, but under the guidance of Alchemist, everyone has known that it's important to look at the ingredient list. The main ingredient in chicken essence, which is highly promoted, is monosodium glutamate.)

Clothing: Apart from cold-resistant clothes, he didn't prepare much, for reasons that everyone can understand.

Breeding: During the virus outbreak, he abandoned the idea of raising ordinary chickens and began to raise kadaknath chickens instead.

Except for their small size, these little creatures aren't very different from regular chickens. As for the eggs being small and hard to peel, there is an automatic egg peeling machine to solve this issue.

Aquaculture: Dong Tianyu didn't dare to mess with the small pond inside the cave mansion. After all, this pond was transformed from the original spirulina oxygenator, and now it's responsible for the oxygen supply inside the mansion.

So Dong Tianyu dug another pond not far from the original. He introduced several types of fishes to this new pond.

Cultivation: Currently, the vegetables with the highest yield here are various types of fungi. Although the yield is not as high as that of professional farmers, it's basically able to ensure complete self-production.