Chapter 57: Sharapova's Accidental Potion

Once the apocalypse arrives, even if some people knew about it beforehand, what difference would it make? The matter is already settled.

After consulting with Yang Jie for the entire morning, Kazi finally left in high spirits. Next up was his dedicated stockpiling time.

By noon, instead of heading back, Yang Jie followed his navigation app to browse through several factories and check out some bustling downtown areas. He wanted to familiarize himself with domestic life as much as possible and take note of the surrounding road conditions.

Haishi, downtown, pedestrian street!

"A bowl of Longjiang pork trotters over rice, a true taste of a man's romance."

At a single table, Yang Jie had polished off four or five bowls of pork trotter rice. Even with superhuman strength, incredible endurance, and a physique approaching human limits, he still had to obey the laws of the conservation of energy.

The surrounding diners cast curious glances his way. There was no helping it; Yang Jie's imposing physique was simply too conspicuous, not to mention his cool haircut.

"Holy shit, is this guy the reincarnation of a starving ghost?"
"How many bowls has he eaten now?"
"Looks like five? My god, a single bowl at Chen's place fills me up, and I work construction!"
"Slurp... watching him eat makes me hungry. Was he just released from somewhere?"
"Shh, keep it down. Didn't you see his build? He's even got tattoos on his arms—not someone you want to mess with!"
"Damn it, so what if he looks like a bear? So what if he's over two meters tall? So what if he's packed with muscle? What's wrong with having tattoos? Let him try hitting me, I bet after one punch he'd drop to his knees and beg me not to die!"

After paying the bill, Yang Jie glanced around the room, causing many of the people who had been pointing and whispering to quickly lower their heads and resume eating.

While Yang Jie's build was somewhat exaggerated, not many people paid attention to that sort of thing in the US. Upon returning to China, however, venturing outside always turned him into a spectacle. This deeply annoyed Yang Jie, but there was nothing he could do—he couldn't just beat up everyone who stared at him, could he?

At that moment, Yang Jie's phone rang.

Sharapova: I was doing some chemical research recently and accidentally whipped up a new chemical reagent. I tested it for a few days and the results are pretty good. Do you want to try it?

Yang Jie frowned: Aren't you supposed to be into researching explosives and stuff like that? How did you end up dabbling in chemical reagents?

Sharapova: Isn't that how nitroglycerin was invented?

Yang Jie: What is its specific function?

Sharapova: It boosts human metabolism.

Yang Jie looked utterly indifferent: There are plenty of drugs like that out there, many of them veterinary medicines. Some idiots inject themselves with that stuff to get huge, but the side effects are massive. It's completely normal for someone to drop dead from sudden cardiac arrest if they aren't careful.

Sharapova's tone instantly turned arrogant: If it only increased metabolism, I wouldn't even bother mentioning it. The best part about this reagent is that its side effects are zero!

Yang Jie was utterly stunned. Although he wasn't an expert, his knowledge base was broad enough for him to immediately grasp the value of such a formula.

Yang Jie stomped his foot in frustration: Damn it! If the apocalypse weren't coming, this single reagent alone would be enough to launch you onto the global rich list! How on earth did you manage to brew this up?!

After a few minutes of silence, Sharapova replied: Well... I ordered takeout, and I accidentally spilled some of the reagent into the food. Not wanting to waste it, I ran an analysis and discovered that the medicinal properties of my primer-manufacturing formula had somehow altered.
I've been injecting it for three consecutive days. According to the test data from the hospital, this reagent accelerates nutrient absorption and toxin elimination while exhibiting anti-aging effects. The crucial part is that I haven't experienced any weight loss, fatigue, diarrhea, abdominal pain, or other side effects.

Yang Jie immediately began brainstorming: "We have several dead weight members on our team. Bring the stuff over and let them try it out!"

Sharapova was horrified: "Are you insane? With such a tiny sample size and so little time, what happens if something goes wrong?"

"What else can we do? Given our current conditions, there's no way we can recruit thousands of volunteers for clinical trials. More importantly, it requires multiple phases—we don't have that kind of time!"

Sharapova sounded somewhat unconfident.

"Alright, how about this? I'll buy a bunch of cats, dogs, and mice. Testing on more subjects is better than no testing at all!"

"Fine, go ahead and do it. Anyway, we still have hundreds of millions in fiat currency left; if we don't spend it, it'll just go to waste in the end."

Sharapova chuckled: "Understood!"

After hanging up, Yang Jie stood frozen for three seconds before a smile crept onto his lips. Good grief, do people need to invent this many excuses just to ask for money now?

Yang Jie called a ride-hailing service, planning to head to a wilderness survival camp in the suburbs that he had recently rented specifically for training the rookies in physical endurance.

A few days passed in the blink of an eye.

As Yang Jie intentionally or unintentionally leaked information, certain exclusive circles had already caught wind of it.

Over in the US, the chubby guy—following Yang Jie's guidance—had formed an alliance with the woman whose husband dealt in medical equipment.

Without prior collusion, they all sold their homes and sought out newly developed residential compounds with prime locations. These neighborhoods were typically situated in the suburbs, offering cheap prices and low population density.

As soon as they purchased the properties, each household began frantically reinforcing their homes and acquiring essential power generation equipment. Furthermore, every family buried a container-sized shelter beneath their backyard. The wealthier ones directly installed three or four containers.

When a live streamer told his audience, "I've got an idea," the entire neighborhood ended up packed with a massive network of container shelters underground. The bunkers of various households were linked together; with mutual consent, residents could open the airtight doors, turning the place into something straight out of a tunnel warfare movie.

Changes were also beginning to surface within Yang Jie's chat group. Those who had joined were hardcore doomsday enthusiasts.

Anyone who merely talked big on the internet would never shell out tens or hundreds of thousands to build a basement and stockpile supplies. They joined primarily because the group was strictly moderated, the group owner was enigmatic, and—most importantly—the owner lived overseas, capable of helping them procure items such as bows and arrows, military rations from various countries, and a few members even bought foreign pet food just to test the waters.

Lu Mengfan was a recent college graduate, but instead of rushing out to hunt for a job like ordinary grads, she spent her days cooped up at home playing video games and surfing the web via a VPN.

Her lifestyle wasn't out of laziness, but rather due to a well-off family background. In her parents' words: "Just don't start a business, and don't date punk guys with dyed hair; other than that, do whatever you want."

Perhaps due to being a homebody, Lu Mengfan had developed a fascination with apocalyptic culture. She had convinced her parents to buy her a villa in Tongmu City and managed to squeeze a few hundred thousand yuan from her mother.

Armed with that capital, and egged on by online friends, she threw the money into the stock market and inexplicably made a profit of several hundred thousand. Later, riding the wave of the Bitcoin boom, she scored a massive windfall before getting cold feet and pulling out.

She knew very well that those few lucky breaks were thanks to her ancestors watching over her; otherwise, all the money she had made over the years would have vanished.

Now holding two to three million yuan in cash, her burning apocalyptic fantasies resurfaced.

She split the funds into several portions: one part went into high-yield digital wallets, another into fixed-term wealth management products, and the final portion was dumped entirely into building her basement.