Chapter Nine: The Plan to Stockpile Supplies

"Yao Yao, total net worth: 3 million," Zhao Baitong read aloud.

As everyone turned their gaze toward her, Zhao Baitong offered a radiant smile. "As for my own net worth, it’s not much—a hundred million dollars. Furthermore, I’m the one who generates about 10% in annual investment returns for all of you."

When she reached Sharapova’s name, Zhao Baitong was left speechless. "Sharapova, given your profession, it’s impossible for your savings to be only 3 million. I’ve checked your spending records; your annual expenses are quite high, and many of them are purchases from the dark web. Are you really spending that much?"

Sharapova, who was busy eating a pastry, immediately laughed. "I set up a chemistry lab. You know as well as I do that playing with chemistry is a very expensive hobby."

Zhao Baitong fell silent instantly. This fake loli was usually incredibly stingy, but when it came to chemical experiments, she was truly willing to spend!

"Choi Hye-joo, your savings are only 2.8 million dollars. Given your income, it shouldn't be this low. Do you have high expenses?"

Choi Hye-joo glanced at her daughter and offered a gentle smile. Zhao Baitong understood immediately. *Well!* It was all being funneled into her daughter, no doubt. With the relationship between mother and daughter being so strained, just how many tutoring classes had she signed the girl up for?

"Finally, including the liquidated cryptocurrency, we have just over five hundred million. In total, we currently have nine hundred and ninety-five million dollars, though we’ve been spending quite heavily lately."

"Hiss!"

Throughout the room, save for Zhao Baitong, there was a continuous intake of sharp breaths. It was true—everyone had money when they returned from the battlefield. Afterward, under the connections of Li Siyao’s family, they began managing their own industries, and after years of hard work, they had each amassed significant wealth. However, their annual expenses were high; public relations costs on all sides were unavoidable. As the saying went, the more you earn, the more you spend. Even someone as wealthy as Yang Jie was stunned to hear the figure was nearly a billion dollars.

Sophia patted Yang Jie on the shoulder with a sigh. "I heard that you people from the Dragon Kingdom love to buy land and houses once you get rich. I didn't expect you to hold back."

"I know many billionaires, even those worth over a billion, but they might not even be able to pull out twenty or thirty million in cash!"

Yang Jie curled his lip. "Five years ago, I felt that the economy of the Lighthouse Nation was problematic. In the current situation, cash is definitely king. I handed all the money I earned to Tongtong to manage. As for why I don't buy more property? Are you completely oblivious to the property taxes in the Lighthouse Nation?"

The mere thought of property taxes made Yang Jie’s liver ache. He only owned two or three properties in the Lighthouse Nation because it was difficult to make a profit from renting them out. Take the mansion he lived in now: it was assessed at fifty million dollars last year. At a 3% property tax rate, he had to pay 1.5 million dollars in taxes alone each year. Compared to the 1% to 1.5% rate in California, Yang Jie felt like crying. However, he wouldn't brag about it; Texas had no state individual income tax, making it the most cost-effective place to live for someone like Yang Jie, who made a significant income each year.

Yang Jie waved his hand and looked at Zhao Baitong. "Back to business. We effectively have nearly a billion dollars, plus weapons, sugar, alcohol, chemicals, and a massive amount of digital products. What else needs to be prepared?"

Zhao Baitong immediately added everyone to a group chat. "This is a 'Doomsday Survivalist' hobbyist group I created. Over the last three days, about a dozen people have joined. Based on known information, content collected online, and AI analysis, we are currently lacking food. We need not only staples but also various canned goods and items with long shelf lives."

"We also need clothing, medical supplies, daily necessities, and various tools."

At this point, Zhao Baitong paused and looked at Yang Jie. "How much time do we have?"

Yang Jie thought for a moment. "As long as the CIA and the FBI don't get involved, based on military intelligence, they won't suspect us within a week. But there is one flaw!"

"Paul?"

Yang Jie nodded.

Li Siyao smiled. "Do you take me for an idiot? When I handled things, no one mentioned his name. No one even knows that it was Paul sitting in that car."

Yang Jie pondered for a long time. He understood there was still one fatal flaw: Commissioner Smith vaguely knew that Paul should be in his hands! Weapons were his life; no one could talk him out of them. If Smith couldn't grasp that, Yang Jie wouldn't mind sending him to meet God. Don't think that a commissioner is all that powerful; he was just a small-time operator for some organization. In the Lighthouse Nation, as long as you pay enough money, there is nothing that cannot be traded. If you really brought out hundreds of billions of dollars, they would even gift-wrap the President and send him to you. Though, Yang Jie estimated that the 'Diaper King' wouldn't cost hundreds of billions.

After Choi Hye-joo sent her daughter to bed, everyone began to plan with a tacit understanding. That was right—from start to finish, Yang Jie never told Choi Hye-joo, Sharapova, or Sophia the exact reason why. Anyone who wasn't a fool would sense that something was off, and after the group was built, their intentions were practically laid bare.

As for anyone doubting the authenticity of these events? Heh. Anyone who had carried out missions with Yang Jie knew that this guy possessed an intuition that surpassed ordinary people.

After some discussion, everyone reached a consensus, starting with food:

Category 1: Salt, sugar, vinegar, alcohol, and honey, which never spoils. Of course, the sugar and alcohol were already taken care of, so there was no need to purchase more.

Category 2: Derivatives of sugar and salt, such as various pickled vegetables and fruit jams. Although their shelf life is only 24 months, if stored properly, they won't spoil for three or four years.

Category 3: Various canned goods. Aside from being food, they were also one of the hard currencies in the apocalypse.

Category 4: Water, beverages, and sports drinks. Not only for pleasure, they could also replenish sugar levels and be used for trade. Especially water—they had to stockpile a massive amount. To save space, Yang Jie decided to purchase square-shaped large water jugs.

Next were the miscellaneous items:

Category 1: Medicines and medical equipment. Many drugs that are prescription-only in some countries, such as painkillers like OxyContin, are sold in 500-pill packs in the "Great Beautiful" nation. In the eyes of capitalists, as long as it doesn't kill you, they’ll let you consume as much as you want! The key was that Yang Jie had the money. He wasn't just buying large quantities of medicine; he was also purchasing medical instruments. While his own body was resilient, the others were ordinary people. They might catch a cold or get injured, and these would come in handy.

Category 2: Tools! All kinds of tools, such as chainsaws and the like, had to be fully stocked.

Category 3: Daily necessities. Shampoo, body wash, toilet paper—they would take it all. Especially sanitary pads; since Yang Jie had many female team members, the consumption of those would certainly be high.

Category 4: Clothing of all kinds. The temperature might rise when the apocalypse arrives, but Yang Jie had only lived through less than a year of it; who knew what the later stages would be like?