CH 11

The saying that has been passed down for thousands of years: after a great calamity, there will inevitably be a severe epidemic, can be said to be a fact that has been verified with countless lives.

How many plagues and how many different viruses were raging after the apocalypse?

As a witness to the apocalypse, Jiang Muyun cannot provide an answer.

In her previous life, she wandered alone for a long time, and besides wanting to go home, the never-ending epidemics were also one of the reasons.

Jiang Muyun ordered drugs this time, and the item she bought the most was medical-grade alcohol.

A 1-liter bottle of medical-grade alcohol, calculated by Jiang Muyun based on the amount of disinfectant used in the early stages of the post-apocalyptic period, she estimated that she would need to disinfect the entire house three times a day, the corridors three times a day, and perform a full-body disinfection each time she went out. With these usage requirements in mind, one bottle of medical-grade alcohol would last approximately a week. This calculation also included the disinfectant water used along with alcohol when disinfecting the corridor.

The main reason she didn't use disinfectant water for household disinfection was that the commonly available disinfectant water on the market had a strong smell. Jiang Muyun was afraid that by constantly smelling the disinfectant water, instead of driving away the epidemic, she would end up driving herself away.

The wholesale price of alcohol turned out to be surprisingly cheap. The price of a small bottle of alcohol spray in the pharmacy could buy a whole barrel here.

Adhering to the principle of buying more rather than less, Jiang Muyun spent all the alcohol budget.

Jiang Muyun ordered a box of 12 bottles containing 5 liters of 95% disinfectant alcohol.

She also ordered five boxes of 2.5 liters bottles of 75% medical alcohol.

For items like potassium permanganate tablets, erythromycin ointment, burn ointment, frostbite ointment, bone-setting lotion, and Huoxiang Zhengqi water, Jiang Muyun didn't need a lot, but the manufacturers couldn't sell them individually, so she ordered a box of each.

She bought two boxes of radiation-resistant medication, just in case.

Hydrogen peroxide and iodine are also purchased in the largest packaging, with two boxes each.

Five boxes each of Yunnan Baiyao powder and quick-acting hemostatic spray.

As for the medical dressings and gauze bandages that were estimated to be used the most, Jiang Muyun only ordered ten cases.

These were all essential medical supplies that would continue to be produced in the later stages of the apocalypse. Jiang Muyun just needed to ensure that she had enough for the early and middle stages of the apocalypse, and she could acquire more supplies through bartering in the later stages.

Jiang Muyun wanted to save money for other valuable but scarce items in the apocalypse.

For example, anti-inflammatory drugs.

It's not that there aren't any bases capable of restoring the production line for anti-inflammatory drugs, but the demand for them was too high.

Ordinary people living in the apocalypse get injured almost every day.

When searching for food, doing hard labor, or even just sleeping at home doing nothing, they might get bitten by poisonous insects and need to open the wound and squeeze out the venom.

When clean water is scarce, any small wound carries the risk of infection.

Even the top elites that Jiang Muyun has encountered cannot escape bleeding from cracked skin during the dry season.

Like the spendthrift Jiang Muyun had met before, who was able to give up a bucket of water for her to take a bath in exchange for favors, she had only seen one in ten years.

Therefore, Jiang Muyun bought various types of anti-inflammatory drugs while carefully sticking to her budget limit.

She also purchased a box of commonly used stomach medicine and anti-diarrheal medicine.

Jiang Muyun thought for a moment and bought a box of high-efficiency fever-reducing medicine and cold medicine.

Although she didn't know if they would be useful.

She felt that after the apocalypse, her physical fitness skyrocketed and her resistance was quite reliable. Ordinary colds and fevers were rare, mostly caused by wound infections.

For the other people Jiang Muyun had encountered, when they had a fever, they were usually taken to the incinerator for collective cremation, as conventional medications hardly had any effect.

There was no other way. The environment was extremely harsh, and getting over a cold relied mostly on self-recovery. If you relied on medication to recover, by the time you healed, another wave of illness would come.

Buying fever-reducing medicine was for psychological comfort, while cold medicine was for preventive purposes.

Compared to these two, what Jiang Muyun truly needed were painkillers.

Jiang Muyun directly bought two large boxes. Even if she took one pill per day, she could keep taking them in her next life.

And then there were deworming pills.

It was rare to see adults taking deworming pills, but Jiang Muyun bought five boxes at once.

After urban development and the improvement of hygiene conditions, few people would buy these anymore.

The last time Jiang Muyun took deworming medicine, she was still in the orphanage.

But obviously, in the apocalypse, there wouldn't be the same level of hygiene.

Not only did it not exist, but it was even worse.

The insect race was giving birth to new species every day. Occasionally, when the younger ones grew up, they could cause a large-scale insect epidemic and harvest the lives of bipeds in large numbers.

Seeing snake medicine in the pharmaceutical factory, Jiang Muyun also ordered a box.

Other venomous creatures were generally small in size, making it difficult for them to cause harm when proper physical protection is in place. Even if they manage to inflict injuries, they are not usually fatal. Generally, it is sufficient to quickly squeeze out the venomous blood to deal with such cases.

But snakes are different.

In her previous life, Jiang Muyun held onto a piece of wood and drifted in the floodwaters. Suddenly, she inexplicably noticed that the splashes ahead had become colorful.

Then she was forced to face a life-or-death situation with a group of snakes.

If any of those snakes had a fierce temper, she would have probably been reborn years earlier.

There is also realgar powder, and Jiang Muyun ordered 200 catties of it.

This stuff was excellent in driving away insects and snakes. With them, during the insect disaster, Jiang Muyun could at least avoid a hundred venomous wounds.

This pharmaceutical factory seemed to have a traditional Chinese medicine production line, and Jiang Muyun saw various kinds of medicated plasters on the product list.

In her previous life, Jiang Muyun also scavenged some from ruins and found that each kind of medicated plaster worked quite well.

Although she had a few troublesome joint and muscle pain every day, and a small amount of medicated plaster was not enough, but in this lifetime, she wouldn't have to travel long distances! Moreover, with the prolonged rainy season in the apocalypse, it was necessary to prevent rheumatism, right?

Jiang Muyun chose the cheapest one and bought ten large boxes.

She believed in the wisdom of her ancestors, and that the effectiveness of medicine would never be discounted based on its price.

As for other rarely used medicines, even prescription drugs, Jiang Muyun planned to participate in zero-cost acquisitions later, depending on the situation.

For the final medical budget, Jiang Muyun contributed it all to various nutritional supplements.

The quantity of goods purchased by Jiang Muyun was considered small by the manufacturer.

Fortunately, Jiang Muyun had a plan in mind and specifically chose a small pharmaceutical factory. Even though the quantity of items she purchased was not large, the variety was considerable, and the supplier agreed to deliver the goods.

If she had chosen a larger-scale pharmaceutical factory, they probably wouldn't have accepted such fragmented orders.

If that pharmaceutical factory was also exclusively serving a certain pharmaceutical company, Jiang Muyun would have likely been turned away.

But it didn't matter. She was poor and thick-skinned, willing to stick to the bottom line of the pharmaceutical factories to make her purchases.

Only those who had seen the factory's wholesale prices would know how lucrative the pharmaceutical industry was.

Take Paracetamol tablets, for example. A bottle of 100 tablets could alleviate symptoms of cold, fever, headache, and even provide pain relief.

If you didn't specify a brand and purchased online, you could find them for as little as five yuan per bottle. However, if you went to a pharmacy, most of them would cost twenty yuan for a package of eight tablets.

The wholesale price offered by the pharmaceutical factory to Jiang Muyun is only three yuan per bottle, which is incredibly cheap.

Whether it was a pharmaceutical company or a government-supported laboratory, during the initial stages of drug development, the funds burned through billions. With small profit margins, it was unlikely that capitalists would be willing to invest.

As long as she could spend the least amount of money to acquire the most supplies, Jiang Muyun didn't care whether the staff was enthusiastic or not.

Faced with the helpless gaze of the person in charge of the pharmaceutical factory, Jiang Muyun walked out of the door refreshed and rushed towards her next destination.

Due to the fact that the prices of bottled water at the water station are basically unified throughout the province, Jiang Muyun did not bother to inquire about prices everywhere.

She took out her phone and directly checked the map to find the largest water station in her city.

The water station had various brands of bottled water, ranging from thirty yuan to eight yuan per barrel, all from well-known big brands. If brand wasn't a concern, there was a new brand being promoted on sale for six yuan per barrel.

Based on the average daily water intake of 1.5 liters per adult, thirty thousand liters of drinking water, or roughly thirty metric tons, would be enough for her lifetime.

To be safe, Jiang Muyun decided to order fifty metric tons of drinking water.

After roughly calculating the price, she took out her phone and checked the brand that cost six yuan per barrel.

After confirming that it was a new brand launched by a large corporation, Jiang Muyun decisively chose the cheapest option.

If the water was delivered in batches, regardless of the brand, the water station offered three free barrels for every twenty barrels.

Since Jiang Muyun was buying in bulk and the quantity was considerable, the water station gave her a discount of five free barrels for every twenty barrels.

It's like giving her a direct 20% discount.

Of course, this discount only applies to the water itself, not the barrels used to contain it.

Jiang Muyun spent more than half of the money ordering bottled water to buy the barrels.

After paying, Jiang Muyun touched her chest and reassured herself that once her water storage tanks arrived, she would pour all the bottled water into the tanks and return the empty barrels to the water station, earning back some money.

While she could still buy things with money, she wouldn't miss the opportunity to save some effort and money.

Fifty metric tons of drinking water could be immediately dispatched by the water station. Since the loading and unloading equipment was available. 

Jiang Muyun drove directly to the warehouse along with the water delivery truck.

The water delivery truck is equipped with automatic loading and unloading, but the warehouse door is not large enough for heavy trucks to enter, so they had to try to unload the water at the warehouse entrance. Unfortunately, a significant portion of the water couldn't be directly placed inside the warehouse.

Fortunately, Jiang Muyun was strong and, with the help of the two water station workers, the water was quickly transported.

She effortlessly carried one huge barrel of water in each hand, impressing the two workers.

Taking advantage of the situation, Jiang Muyun started chatting with them about her father's educational philosophy, leaving the two workers in admiration of her fortunate father.

The two water station workers, both in their thirties or forties, had children around the same age as Jiang Muyun. One of them sighed and shared that his daughter was going through a rebellious phase and constantly confronting adults for anything.

The three of them engaged in a lively discussion about parent-child communication issues. Just as it coincided with mealtime, Jiang Muyun decided to treat the workers to a meal at a nearby small restaurant.

Since they all had to drive, they could only drink Sprite. After a few cups of Sprite, Jiang Muyun obtained the phone numbers of the two workers.

Before parting ways, the two workers patted Jiang Muyun on the shoulder, calling her "niece" and telling her they’d follow her advice and communicate well with their own children when they returned. They also asked her to remember to call them for help when returning the empty barrels to the water station, or else they would think she was despising them, the two old uncles.

Jiang Muyun nodded repeatedly and took the opportunity to remind the worker, whose daughter was going through a rebellious phase, not to rush things with his child when he returned home.

Fortunately, she had developed a friendly relationship with these two workers. Otherwise, moving these hundreds of large empty barrels would not only be physically demanding but also take up a lot of space. If Jiang Muyun had to call a special truck to transport them, the expenses would not be small.

As soon as the workers left, she went to a tobacco and liquor store to buy two bottles of alcohol.

When seeking help from others, one should always show the right attitude.

Giving a couple hundred yuan as a token of gratitude, only to find out two months later, they wouldn't be able to afford even a cabbage. It would be more practical to exchange it for cigarettes and alcohol instead.

Both of these workers were primarily truck drivers, and they usually refrained from drinking. If the alcohol was given, it was highly likely it’ll be saved for after the apocalypse.

After finishing the meal, Jiang Muyun's socks were also delivered.

Once the socks were organized, Jiang Muyun still had to go and pick up her packages.

Among the items Jiang Muyun ordered online, there were quite a few large and difficult-to-carry ones. The delivery person explained that they couldn't immediately deliver them to her doorstep due to lack of space. So, after asking her, some of the packages were sent to the local post office, while others were placed at the transit station in her district.

She drove her van to pick them up one by one. After each load, she would return to the warehouse, unload the items, and put them in her space.

Back and forth, she made more than ten trips. By the time she finished receiving most of her packages, the lady at the convenience store near the intersection had also become familiar with her van.

When Jiang Muyun put everything in her space and got off the van to buy a bottle of cold water, the aunt couldn't help but ask her what she was doing.

Jiang Muyun unscrewed the water bottle and took a sip without blinking. "I'm a student at the school over there, and we're having military training recently. I'm responsible for buying water for the freshmen."

She also complained about her classmates playing games all day and leaving all the work to her alone.

The auntie listened and cursed games with a shared hatred.

Jiang Muyun smiled at the auntie and waved before turning back to her van and taking out a mirror.

Fortunately, the quality of the cosmetics she bought was poor. After a whole day of smearing them on her face, they had already smudged and lost their shape.

Jiang Muyun grabbed a wet wipe and wiped her face, instantly transforming from a punk senior sister to an innocent junior sister.

Jiang Muyun decided to keep a bottle of water in the car from now on and not dare to get off again.

She only wanted people to know that there was a vehicle shuttling back and forth for transportation at this warehouse, rather than remembering what the person shuttling looked like.