Chapter 370: The Gunsmoke of the Shopping Season

Chapter 370: Chapter 370: The Gunsmoke of the Shopping Season

"Next, Wang XX!"

A Soldier entered the room, stepped onto a scale, and then had his blood pressure and other data measured.

Medical examinations were underway in the military.

A doctor, slightly surprised, entered the data into a computer.

"75 kilograms... height 175cm..."

Honestly, judging by this Soldier’s height and build, there was no way he should weigh 75 kilograms. After all, he was a seasoned, well-trained man with very little body fat.

Moreover, because their training focused more on endurance, their muscles were well-proportioned rather than bulging.

The examinations had started in the morning. Over a dozen minutes had passed, and every one of the ten or so Soldiers who had come in showed abnormal data.

The most direct manifestations were their blood pressure and weight. Although many had also grown a little taller, it was impossible to gain this much weight from that alone.

There could only be one explanation: the Soldiers’ body density was slowly increasing.

Since the training regimen and intensity of the Soldiers were far beyond what an ordinary, out-of-shape person could compare to, the rate at which their bodies strengthened was naturally more affected by the changes in Earth’s environment.

The army-wide, tiered medical examinations were conducted in stages. Anyone suspected of being a new Evolver would be reported immediately and sent to a special facility for a detailed check-up within a short time.

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE...

The sudden tremor caused a commotion. As the ground swayed unsteadily beneath their feet, many people immediately ran out of the medical examination center.

Many people in the military camp also rushed out, some even carrying their guns.

This military camp was located on the edge of a mountainous area, but now, the surroundings of the camp were already lush with green trees.

Looking toward the distant sky, countless birds from the mountains took flight from the forests in alarm, forming a chattering cloud of birds not far overhead.

"Are there already this many birds?"

One Soldier wasn’t focused on the earthquake; instead, the dense flock of birds captured his attention.

The earthquake came and went quickly, ending after just a few dozen seconds.

For the military rank and file, it was soon back to business as usual. But for the higher-ups, it was something that demanded serious attention.

This tremor was once again global, and the land’s elevation dropped even further than during previous incidents.

But these were events that had been foreseen; at most, they served as a warning bell.

The news media had already loosened many restrictions on reporting, so some television stations and online platforms began to run objective reports.

"In our latest news, at approximately 9:00 a.m. today, several cities in Hua Country experienced light tremors. The magnitude was approximately Level 4, and the duration varied from ten to twenty-odd seconds. Affected cities include Yun City, Chang City... According to reports, similar tremors were felt in places such as the United States... Russia..."

"Experts have begun relevant discussions on the matter... This could perhaps be the arrival of a new active phase of crustal movement..."

Flipping through a few channels, several news programs were reporting on the event during this prime-time slot; even the state-run central television station mentioned it briefly.

CLICK. The television was turned off.

A woman in her thirties sat frowning on the living room sofa, then nudged her husband with her shoulder.

"Hey, don’t you think these earthquakes are just too weird?"

Her husband was glued to his phone, in the middle of a game with his colleagues. They had reached the stage of fighting for the Baron.

"What’s so weird about it? It’s not like the shaking reached here! Hey, hey, hey... Go in, go in! We can steal it, their jungler’s not here!!"

Responses from his other colleagues echoed from the phone’s voice chat.

"I said, are you even listening to me?!"

The wife was furious. She really wanted to snatch his phone and smash it. She was so worried, and all he could think about was his game.

"Singles’ Day is coming up!"

"Huh?"

Her husband finally glanced up at her.

"Let’s buy less this year... Last year we bought a pile of useless stuff. And all that cooking oil we got? I bet we won’t be able to use it all up even by the year after next..."

The wife shot him an annoyed glare.

"This year, I’m planning to buy all food and drinks, plus some daily necessities."

On her phone, the shopping cart already contained a list that scrolled on and on.

The game was a lost cause. The enemy, empowered with double buffs, was pushing straight for their high ground. The husband decisively chose to surrender, then moved closer to his wife to see what she was planning to buy.

A single glance revealed it was all instant food, along with some canned goods and water. The weird, miscellaneous things from previous years weren’t completely absent, but there were far fewer of them.

"Don’t tell me you’re getting ready for the end of the world, too?" the husband asked, astonished.

"Lots of people are buying this stuff, so we should get some too. Xiaohao’s school has been holding emergency drills for a long time now."

"Those are for fires and kidnappings..."

"Are you really this dense, or are you just pretending? Since you’re so clueless, let’s go! You’re coming with me to the supermarket right now!"

"Huh?"

The husband was completely baffled by his wife’s train of thought. Why the sudden trip to the supermarket?

It was a little before 8:00 p.m. At his wife’s stubborn insistence, the husband found himself at the supermarket.

The scene before him was rather shocking.

It was a sea of people!

Elderly uncles and aunties, and even many young people, were bustling through the supermarket. Many of their shopping carts were already overflowing.

"Damn! Is there a huge sale at the supermarket today?"

His wife was actually taken aback by the scene as well; she hadn’t expected there to be even more people than she’d imagined.

There were even two police officers standing next to the supermarket’s security guards.

"Come on! Let’s go buy some things too!"

She grabbed her husband and started to pull him into the supermarket.

"Damn, are you crazy?! With this many people, when are we ever going to finish queuing up to pay?!"

But despite his words, he found himself entering the supermarket with his wife as if moved by some unseen force.

A shopping cart would have been inconvenient under the circumstances, so the two of them grabbed a shopping basket instead.

The first thing they did was head straight for the food section. The canned goods, milk, and similar items were all sold out. A supermarket employee wheeled out new stock from the warehouse, but before it could even reach the shelves, a swarm of auntie-level figures mobbed it. The scene was basically a robbery!

The most crowded areas were the shelves for compressed biscuits and canned goods.

Ironically, even the salt was gone from the shelves.

The two of them expended enormous effort, but in the end, they only managed to buy some chili sauce, fresh vegetables, and a few bags of jasmine rice. They then waited in line for over an hour just to pay.

"Phew~"

The husband wiped the sweat from his forehead. It was clearly early November, yet he felt as if he had just been through the peak of summer. Inside, he could barely breathe.

"See? Now you get it!"

"I get it, I get it... Buying online is definitely the smart move! But hey, maybe we should place our order a bit earlier? Let’s not wait until Singles’ Day..."

Having witnessed the scene at the supermarket, the husband was suddenly a little worried about online shopping.

"Holy crap, you guys are here too?"

The couple turned to see their friend, Lu Yong, also emerging from the supermarket drenched in sweat with his girlfriend. Their haul was quite impressive.

"When did this supermarket get so terrifying?"

"Apparently, after this widespread earthquake, some people started stirring things up online. The panic buying had already started in the evening..."

The four of them chatted idly, watching the stream of people flowing in and out of the supermarket entrance.

The uncle-and-auntie-level shoppers were the main force among them. Their ferocious fighting spirit when it came to grabbing goods was enough to make even the young people shudder.

This whole situation was similar to the salt-hoarding craze a few years back, only on a much broader scale.

Perhaps some people realized they had already hoarded quite a lot of things at home. Or maybe they felt their behavior over the past few days had been a bit ridiculous. Or perhaps their wallets simply couldn’t take it anymore.

In any case, the situation improved over the following week or so.

But it did succeed in making many people realize one thing: if a real disaster struck and they only started panic buying then, they probably wouldn’t be able to get their hands on even the scraps.

In this atmosphere, the major online shopping platforms began to feel a strange pressure, one far greater than ever before.

It was as if the smoke of battle was already starting to fill the air before the war had even begun.

Many people’s shopping carts were already stuffed with pre-ordered goods. Fearing future shipping conflicts, quite a few even paid in advance.

Given their status, the tycoons behind the e-commerce platforms and the like couldn’t possibly be ignorant of certain key information at a time like this.

But the state had already issued them a strict directive: the online shopping platforms had to remain stable. They were even required to cooperate in stabilizing certain merchants and shops.

Times had changed. In this climate, you could offend anyone, but you absolutely could not offend your most important protector.

The non-public second United Nations conference was no longer a secret among circles with sophisticated information channels.

As a member state of the World Alliance, Hua Country firmly occupied a position in the top tier of doomsday preparedness!

PS: Chapter two for Tuesday.