Tang Li's family supermarket wasn't a large one, after all.
While fruits and vegetables were sold, they weren't in high demand. To avoid spoilage from unsold goods, the supply was kept minimal and sold out daily.
As for clothing and footwear, they only stocked timeless loungewear, such as pajamas, slippers, and bathrobes, lacking the extensive variety found in dedicated apparel stores.
Tang Li needed to procure these items before the apocalypse.
Fortunately, her spatial ability allowed for infinite replication of resources.
These items, diverse in nature, each required only a small quantity to be acquired for her needs.
With this in mind, Tang Li immediately pulled out her phone, found a contact saved as "Uncle Niu," and dialed it.
As soon as the call connected, Tang Li greeted him, "Boss Niu, wishing you prosperous business!"
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Boss Niu inquired, "Little niece Li Li, what can Uncle do for you?"
Boss Niu was a long-standing associate of Tang Li's late father. Tang Li's supermarket sourced its fruits, vegetables, pork, beef, lamb, chicken, duck, and fish from Boss Niu, who had always proven reliable.
Furthermore, Boss Niu's business had expanded significantly. He managed various daily shipments of fruits, vegetables, and meats, offering a comprehensive selection. He had even invested in several pig and chicken farms.
Tang Li's need for a wide variety of fresh ingredients made him the perfect contact.
Hearing Boss Niu's hearty voice on the phone, Tang Li promptly stated her requirements:
"Tomatoes, chili peppers, eggplants, pumpkins, cucumbers, winter melon, Chinese cabbage, bok choy, bamboo shoots, lotus root, radishes, carrots..."
"Watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, mangoes, apples, dragon fruit, oranges, pomelos, cherries, grapes, kiwis..."
"All sorts of vegetables and fruits, whatever you have, I'll take one of each. The quantities don't need to be large, but the quality must be top-notch!"
Upon hearing this, Boss Niu asked, "Little niece Li Li, can you sell all these items? Uncle has to remind you, don't end up with unsold stock rotting on your hands!"
Tang Li understood that Uncle Niu was concerned about her.
She had already prepared an explanation: "Uncle Niu, I'm not selling these. I'm giving them away!"
"Isn't there a typhoon coming soon? After the typhoon passes, I plan to renovate the supermarket."
"Before the typhoon, I want to run a promotional event, giving away ingredients with purchases. While everyone is stocking up, I'll sell off all the inventory in the supermarket."
Tang Li's family supermarket was on the ground floor and situated in a low-lying area, which would soon be submerged by floodwaters after the disaster began.
Even without being sold, most of the items in the supermarket would be ruined by the flood.
In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, attempting to salvage goods would be difficult and put those involved in danger.
In her previous life, Tang Guo's refusal to abandon the salvage of supplies led to her being swept away by the floodwaters.
Moreover, Tang Guo's family lived directly above the supermarket. Even if Tang Li had asked her employees to take time off, given Tang Guo's nature, she would likely have rushed back to salvage the goods regardless.
In this life, Tang Li was determined to prevent Tang Guo from repeating her past mistakes.
Therefore, she planned to sell off everything in the supermarket before the disaster struck, allowing Tang Guo to stay home safely.
Furthermore, Tang Li would store all these fresh ingredients in her space, and any given away would be copies. Tang Li wouldn't feel any loss.
Upon hearing Tang Li's explanation, Boss Niu praised, "Young people certainly have ideas."
"This is only because you are my niece. If it were anyone else, a business with such a wide variety of items but small quantities of each would be refused."
"After all the effort, not to mention the exhaustion, the total sales wouldn't amount to much. Who would go through such trouble?"
Boss Niu's reasoning was precisely why Tang Li hadn't gone to the wholesale market.
"That's why I came to you, niece," Tang Li replied.
"However, I don't want to take advantage of you. As long as you can guarantee the quality of these fruits and vegetables, I'm willing to pay ten times the price."
Boss Niu chuckled, "That's not necessary. As my own niece, would Uncle cheat you?"
"I'll assign someone specifically to pick out these items for you, ensuring the highest quality. You just need to cover the labor cost for one person, and the rest will be at wholesale prices."
"Alright, thank you, Uncle," Tang Li said gratefully.
After discussing vegetables and fruits, Tang Li moved on to meat products:
"Pork, beef, and lamb, I need a whole head of each. Keep everything edible from the entire animal, not a drop of blood wasted."
"Chicken, duck, and goose, I need one whole bird of each, also keeping everything edible. They should be properly butchered. If you have pigeons or similar poultry, get one of those as well."
"Also, one kilogram each of chicken eggs, duck eggs, goose eggs, quail eggs, and pigeon eggs."
"Fish, shrimp, crabs, and other freshwater and seafood, regardless of the species, whether fresh, dried, or frozen, whatever you have, I'll take one of each. If the individual items are small, make it one kilogram."
Boss Niu exclaimed in surprise, "Wow! You're truly not letting anything go, whether it walks on land, flies in the sky, or swims in the water!"
However, he agreed, and they arranged for delivery the following morning.
With the fresh ingredients sorted, she could acquire clothing and footwear by taking some time to go shopping.
Besides daily necessities, essential items for survival in the apocalypse, such as weapons and medicine, which could be life-saving at critical moments, were also missing from her supermarket.
In the apocalypse, there were no distinct seasons, only extreme heat and extreme cold.
The temperature during the extreme heat seasons exceeded 50 degrees Celsius, while during the extreme cold seasons, it plummeted below minus 50 degrees Celsius. Moreover, the temperatures would become increasingly extreme as time went on.
Therefore, insulated and heat-resistant items were crucial.
Additionally, solar flares would bring intense radiation, and epidemics would occur after the great disasters.
Four types of protective clothing were essential: extreme cold weather gear, flame-retardant and heat-insulating suits, medical protective suits, and electromagnetic radiation shielding suits.
However, there was no need to stockpile excessive amounts.
These pre-apocalypse protective suits were not entirely capable of withstanding the apocalyptic environment and could not be used long-term; they were only for initial emergency use.
After the apocalypse, more suitable protective clothing designed for the new environment would emerge.
In the apocalypse, migration, relocation, and escape were common occurrences, making transportation vehicles necessary.
During the great flood, most vehicles in City A would be damaged.
In her previous life, Tang Li had to squeeze into a large truck with a group of people during an evacuation after a major earthquake.
Tang Li did not wish to relive that experience.
Tang Li planned to acquire one RV and one SUV each.
She didn't necessarily need to purchase them; she could rent them, place them in her space in a secluded location, and then return a replicated one.
During the flood season and after the tsunamis, water transportation would also be indispensable.
However, external boats were impractical. Their large size would consume space, and retrieving or deploying them into her space would draw unwanted attention.
Therefore, Tang Li decided to purchase a gasoline-powered speed boat.
Along with transportation, various fuels like gasoline and diesel were also essential.
In the apocalypse, these items would cease production, and with each use, the supply would dwindle. All forms of energy would become extremely scarce.
During the extreme cold seasons, fuels like coal and gas would also need to be stored in large quantities.
Electricity, diesel generators, solar panels, and various batteries would also need to be stockpiled.
Although after the apocalypse, various shelters, survivor bases, and even underground cities would be established, and these energy resources would be conserved, they would eventually become insufficient as supplies would be depleted over time.
These items were not available in Tang Li's supermarket at present.
With only four days remaining until the disaster, she needed to gather all these items within this timeframe.
As many areas had already begun experiencing the disaster, remote online shopping was unreliable.
Tang Li would mostly make offline purchases for these items.
However, for some items, she would need to go to different locations, and the quantities required were relatively small.
Given the time constraints, Tang Li opted for online shopping from a local store to avoid wasting time.
She purchased the four types of protective clothing, a portable toilet, a gasoline-powered speed boat, solar panels, portable power banks, lithium batteries, and inverters online, among other scattered items.