Chapter 371: Three-Month Target

By now, Singles’ Day had developed far beyond a simple, tongue-in-cheek holiday with a few sales, becoming a full-blown shopping carnival.

Its influence was no longer limited to Hua Country but was trending towards becoming a global online shopping festival.

While it wasn’t entirely pure—after all, incidents of merchants selling counterfeits or falsely inflating original prices were endless—it was undeniable that during this period, “orders exploding” wasn’t even enough to describe the frenzy.

Many online merchants would actually start preparing for this day months in advance, readying promotions, stocking inventory, and even coordinating with shipping companies.

This year, however, the discounts for Singles’ Day were polarized compared to previous years.

In sectors like food, daily necessities, and medicine, while prices were still relatively affordable, the discounts were much smaller.

Merchants are driven by profit, so you couldn’t really blame them. Over the past year or two, the cost of various raw materials had risen so quickly that, in some cases, product price hikes couldn’t even keep up.

Businesses wanted to raise prices but feared being undercut by competitors; if they didn’t, they couldn’t withstand the internal attrition. By now, some perceptive individuals already saw the looming crisis. Even if it wasn’t the end of the world, it was a major economic and resource disaster. The only reason prices hadn’t skyrocketed immediately was due to pressure from the e-commerce platforms.

The online shopping platforms explicitly told the merchants: you don’t have to offer discounts, you can even raise prices slightly, but if you go too far, you won’t be welcome on our platform anymore.

After all, the apocalypse was still somewhat speculative, but the platforms’ threats were very real. If the world didn’t end, would they still want to be in business?

Merchants of “precious resources” like canned goods, compressed biscuits, and instant noodles could keenly feel their inventories were insufficient. Some were even tempted to withdraw from this grand event entirely.

At this moment, however, another layer of pressure came from above, with a deterrent power even greater than the shopping platforms. Furthermore, the problem of insufficient stock was surprisingly being solved with support from the authorities, which made these merchants realize certain things.

Since prices were polarized, there were naturally those offering “fire sales.” Products in sectors like home appliances and certain industrial goods saw substantial discounts.

It was no exaggeration to say some products were genuinely half-price, but the merchants had played a few little tricks.

Some items that previously allowed installment plans now required a 50% down payment. Some had huge discounts but were part of a bundle. Others simply launched “full home upgrade” super-sale events.

Although the overall prices were heavily discounted, seemingly at a great loss to the merchants, the speed at which they recouped their capital increased.

In reality, even at this critical juncture, quite a few people would still buy these products. Who wouldn’t want to redecorate their home for less than half the usual price? After all, the money spent stockpiling other supplies hadn’t taken up too large a portion of their savings.

Although rumors of a world-ending event were rampant, the majority of people still dismissed them as “rumors.” Humans are also the best at self-deception, even when some of the news was quite explicit.

This behavior—being half-skeptical yet still taking precautions—had long been calculated by psychologists and behavioral analysts from the various nations of the World Alliance.

In this state, most people wouldn’t disrupt the existing order, yet due to a herd mentality, they would subconsciously make some preparations. It was a process of self-reassurance during a stable phase.

One could say that in the face of an apocalyptic crisis, the collective wisdom and cohesion of human leadership were unprecedented.

Against this backdrop, this year’s Singles’ Day arrived.

The term “shopping spree” was especially fitting this year. Driven by a “better safe than sorry” mentality, people’s desire to shop was stronger than ever. The average person, if not careful, could easily spend several months’ or even half a year’s salary.

Meanwhile, those who had prepared, those who already considered the information “explicit” enough, had their savings ready and were planning to go all out.

Traffic on the major shopping websites had been steadily increasing for days before the event. At the stroke of midnight on November 11th, it experienced an explosive surge.

Even browser refresh speeds were affected. Online orders were placed from All Over the World, and it wasn’t just one or two servers that crashed.

In the back-end systems of major merchants, the order notifications chimed at a frequency more frantic than an old-fashioned alarm clock.

Fortunately, even with the extra support, the quantity of goods for sale was ultimately limited. Despite purchase limits being placed on every real-name registered account, after just a few hours, many product pages already displayed “Sold Out!”

What followed was a terrifying workload, crashing down on the heads of store owners like a mountain.

Of course, the delivery companies were their ever-present partners in suffering, even though they had all raised their prices.

Using the existing industrial supply chain to deliver resources was also something the government was happy to see, as it ensured efficiency while conserving government transport capacity and manpower.

「…」

“PHEW~~”

The tense and exciting shopping frenzy passed. It was 2 a.m. before Zhang Kai and his wife finally put down their mice and phones.

For the past few hours, their shopping accounts had been engaged in a special kind of battle.

“We finally bought everything we wanted!”

His wife took a sip of hot coffee and then handed it to her husband.

“Yeah, but we spent eighteen thousand. My heart aches…”

During the rush, many web pages wouldn’t refresh, and many items were sold out in an instant. The couple had been extremely tense, thinking only of ‘buy, buy, buy.’ Now that it was over, Zhang Kai felt a slight tinge of regret.

This was an amount that would take him and his wife four months to save up after covering their monthly expenses.

“Well, we’ve already bought it all. Do you want to cancel the orders?”

At the mention of this, both of them had the same negative reaction. They had fought so hard to get these things; it would be idiotic to return them.

Afterward, the two posted about their exploits on social media, sharing their current mood with others, before going to sleep contentedly.

In fact, many of their friends were sharing their “battle spoils” on WeChat and other messaging apps. Almost everyone they knew had been through a “fierce battle” of their own.

Even many of the older generation, who weren’t very good at online shopping, had their younger relatives register accounts with their IDs to join the shopping spree, because so many products had purchase limits this time.

For example, at one highly-rated online food store, each account could only buy three cases each of compressed biscuits and canned goods, and they weren’t even discounted, yet they were still snatched up the instant they went on sale.

In an instant, the headlines of all the major websites were filled with sales data from this year’s shopping carnival: breaking last year’s peak in a short time, sales figures rivaling the GDP of a small country, the number of people who participated in the frenzy, and so on.

It’s impossible to account for every single detail; for instance, not everyone is proficient with online shopping. But from the perspective of collective wisdom, it was possible to consider various scenarios.

According to psychologists’ analysis, after achieving huge “battle spoils” from online purchasing—especially this time, with the large sums of money involved—even those with a strong sense of crisis would feel a certain amount of regret or satisfaction, influenced by their ingrained lifestyle habits.

For a period of time, they wouldn’t think about another frantic shopping spree.

The removal of this group from the equation provided a counterbalance, giving an advantage to those who couldn’t use online methods.

In the physical retail system, such as supermarkets, those who had participated in Singles’ Day would mostly not engage in the frantic buying of things like non-perishable foods; at most, they would buy fresh ingredients.

This left a relatively uncrowded physical shopping environment for the elderly folks without tech-savvy children, or for those who lived alone.

This “civilian self-regulation” plan, combining the virtual and the real, was designed to ensure that the majority of the population could stockpile a certain level of resources.

「…」

In the tactical hall of the Special Security Team, Tao Xingzhi faced the video feeds on the main screen and reported in a clear voice.

“Three months! Based on the current data, that’s our preliminary estimate for the reasonable effect the ‘Civilian Self-Regulating Reserve Initiative’ can ultimately achieve!”

“If they manage their own resources in a relatively reasonable manner, the average family should have at least three months’ worth of supplies to sustain them in an extreme environment.”

“This gives both sides reaction time. If our command structure and response forces are not destroyed or severely damaged, this period will be enough for us to arrange rescues or devise countermeasures!”

Tao Xingzhi, who had been injected with an Enhancing Magic Potion months ago, now had more abundant energy, and the risk of his lung condition flaring up was also under better control.

An elder in one of the video feeds nodded.

“Panic stems from the unknown and from a lack of self-confidence. Seeing a stockpile of supplies at home will, at the very least, bring a significant sense of security!”

Since it was just an average, some households would naturally have more and some less, but it was undeniable that everyone would have a considerable base amount.

Unlike the salt-hoarding panic of the past, this time there would be no “rumors stopping at the wise.”

This was because the calm and rational people were often the ones who could see the situation more clearly; they were the ones spending a great deal to stockpile. Meanwhile, those who were typically irrational couldn’t escape the trend this time, and even those in between were inevitably swept up in the terrifying atmosphere.

Behind this simple three-month benchmark, countless companies had been “invited for talks” and warned, countless supply channels had been green-lit, and countless unseen, powerful forces had maneuvered behind the scenes in both the digital and physical industries. It was no exaggeration to call it a war without gunpowder.

「…」

“BEEP BEEP BEEP…”

Two small delivery vans drove through the streets, arriving at their destination.

Just how immense was the delivery pressure?

The extra warehouses the company had temporarily rented were all, without exception, filled to capacity. Normally, these two small vans would carry goods for several hundred customers on a single trip. This time, they held the orders for just ten households.

“Hello? Where’s number 232? I can’t find it… Oh, wait at the intersection by the transformer room? Okay, okay, got it!”

The delivery driver hung up and parked the van at the designated crossroads by the transformer room not far away.

Although transportation in the countryside had improved, the house numbers were a mess, and map navigation wasn’t detailed enough to be of use here. So, he had to rely on “phone navigation.”

A few minutes later, the resident came out to lead the way. The van drove through an intersection and pulled up to their walled compound to make unloading easier.

After this household’s goods were unloaded, one of the vans was significantly lighter. Both the delivery driver and the resident breathed a sigh of relief.

After the delivery van drove away, Zhang Kai looked at the pile of goods inside his compound walls.

“There’s so much… and this is just from one delivery company!”

“Hehe, I feel like we’re animals preparing for hibernation~”

His wife teased as she helped him move the items.

They had waited more than a full week for the first batch of deliveries to arrive. Receiving them brought a magical sense of satisfaction.

Meanwhile, in the delivery van, the young driver followed directions over the phone and headed toward another house in the village.

He didn’t know if the world was really ending, but this period was undoubtedly his own personal apocalypse. At least his pay had gone up.

Weaving through traffic, busy with deliveries, the joy of people receiving their packages, the slight regret of people who got carried away with their shopping.

Amidst the rampant rumors and constant state of alarm, life had to go on, and had even reached a kind of strange equilibrium.

Everything seemed no different from previous years, and yet, everything seemed completely different.

PS: First chapter for Wednesday.