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"Man… rich people are ridiculously decadent," Julian muttered.
He parked the car while looking around in amazement.
Honestly, living somewhere like this would make anyone jealous.
Compared to it, his tiny apartment felt like a doghouse.
He walked up and knocked on the door, then pressed the doorbell.
The house was huge, so it took quite a while before someone answered.
"You're the one the property management mentioned? The one delivering food?"
The door opened just a crack, and a clear young female voice spoke from inside.
"Not delivering. Trading," Julian replied calmly.
"Get your gold ready."
"Let me see if you actually have food first!"
The girl behind the door was extremely cautious.
Julian sighed, walked back to the car, and grabbed a bag of brown-sugar steamed buns and a bag of tomatoes. He held them up and waved them toward the crack in the door.
The door slowly opened.
A girl who looked about sixteen or seventeen stood there wearing a plaid skirt. She held a crossbow in her hands and cautiously sized Julian up.
"Where are the adults in your family?" Julian asked, stunned.
"You're home alone?"
In the apocalypse, it was almost impossible for a teenage girl to survive by herself.
Sure, security in this neighborhood was still decent for now, but who knew how long that would last?
"Of course there are adults in my house!"
"They're all inside!"
The girl replied immediately.
Julian just smiled.
"Yeah, right."
If there were adults at home, would they really send a young girl to answer the door?
Still, having that kind of caution was a good thing. She was just a little too inexperienced.
If she ever ran into someone with real bad intentions, she wouldn't be able to handle it.
"You ordered… thirty jin, right?"
"I've still got another fifty-four jin here. If you take it all, I'll just count it as fifty."
Julian grabbed a tomato and bit into it as he spoke.
The girl went quiet for a moment, then nodded.
"I'll go get the gold. Wait by the door."
With that, she shut the door.
Julian chuckled softly. He actually admired the girl a little.
She reminded him of his old self.
Always cautious, no matter the situation.
That was exactly how someone as weak as he used to be had managed to survive a whole year.
Before long, the door opened again.
The girl stepped out carrying a small box.
"Five thousand grams of gold."
"Check it."
She stopped about ten meters away from Julian and tossed the box forward.
At that distance, if a normal person had any bad ideas, they definitely wouldn't be faster than a crossbow.
Julian had already gotten used to her caution. He quickly checked the gold bars. The quality looked fine.
"Fifty-four jin total."
"I'm keeping two eggplants for the security guards at the gate. The rest are yours."
As he spoke, Julian started unloading the food.
Fifty-four jin of supplies were neatly laid out on the ground.
Only then did the girl finally relax a little.
"Oh, right. Can you get a computer mouse?"
"Any good brand will do."
"I'll trade one gold bar for it."
Her gold bars were 500 grams each.
"One gold bar… for a mouse?!"
Julian blinked.
What kind of request was that???
Are you some kind of gaming addict?!
"If possible, help me get a graphics card too. A 2080 Ti is fine."
"I'll give you two gold bars."
She added the last part casually.
"I've got a mouse on hand, but forget the graphics card."
"I'm not running all the way to the computer market just for two gold bars."
"This is my WeChat. If you need anything, just message me."
"If I've got it, I'll bring it."
Julian wrote down his contact on a slip of paper.
The girl nodded.
Who would've thought that even in the apocalypse there'd still be such convenient delivery service?
Aside from it being harder to find opponents in League of Legends matchmaking, life didn't seem that different from before.
Julian pocketed the gold bars and got back into his van.
Today's delivery mission was complete. After driving around all day, he had a pretty good sense of the situation in N City.
Now he just needed to check out Donghu Island before heading home.
Driving his van, Julian returned to the residential complex.
The two security guards spotted him from afar and came over to greet him.
That was the power of friendship built on cucumbers and bananas.
"Back already, kid? Finished delivering so fast?" the older guard asked with a smile.
"Yeah, only two households. Of course it was quick."
"Oh right, I still have a few thousand jin of food to get rid of."
"Could you help ask the residents here if anyone's interested? Maybe make a list."
"Next time I come by, I'll bring you guys some more too."
Julian spoke casually.
If he wanted to quickly deal with all that food that was about to expire, this complex was a perfect place.
Win over the security guards, and they'd naturally help spread the word.
"Oh, come on, that's too generous…"
"Alright! We'll start asking around later."
"You've already delivered to two households, so the residents will trust you more."
The old guard grinned.
"Oh yeah, here—take these eggplants."
Julian handed them over.
When you ask someone to help you with something, you always give a little before and after.
"Oh, right!"
"When I went to deliver to Building 18 earlier, something felt a little off."
"I had this strange feeling…"
"Like there might be a zombie locked inside."
"Of course, I hope I'm just imagining things."
"But just to be safe, you might want to check it out."
Julian gave them a heads-up.
Whether the people here lived or died had nothing to do with him. Still, if anyone was going to die, it should at least be after he finished selling off all his soon-to-expire food.
"Got it! Thanks for the warning, kid!"
"We'll go take a look."
The two guards even gave him a salute.
They lifted the barrier and moved the roadblocks aside, letting Julian drive out of the complex.
Near the entrance, several freshly killed zombie corpses lay sprawled on the ground.
Looks like they'd been taken down while Julian was inside making deliveries.
The security here really wasn't bad. Unless a massive horde or some mutated zombies attacked, it'd be hard for them to break through.
By the time he left, evening was approaching.
The coastal road looked beautiful.
The setting sun painted the ocean red.
Julian drove toward Donghu Island not far away.
After crossing the long bridge, he finally arrived.
The island covered nearly two hundred mu, and a newly built resort sat on it.
Besides dozens of standalone villas, there was also a large main building.
Inside were restaurants, a gym, a rooftop infinity pool, a theater, and a wine cellar.
You could say the place had everything needed for both survival and entertainment.
There was even a freshwater purification system that could distill seawater into drinkable water.
The only pity was that he couldn't find any generators.
The hotel had probably just been finished and hadn't started operating yet, so the equipment hadn't been installed.
He wondered if the few units stored by the warehouse would be enough.
After walking around the island once, Julian couldn't help but sigh again.
The location was perfect.
Cliffs surrounded the island on all sides, and the bridge was the only way in.
A perfect place to defend.
Once he finished dealing with the food he had on hand, he could move here.
Actually… he could even do both at the same time.
Next time he came to deliver goods, he could drive a large truck and start moving supplies over. Things that didn't need refrigeration, like canned food, could come first.
Then he'd just assign a little underling to guard the place.
No one would dare steal anything.
"....."