CHAPTER 578: CHAPTER 578: NEW WORLD

Once they were hidden from the rest of the base, she waved her hand. A glowing portal opened in the air. It shimmered like a galaxy, filled with swirling colors of blue, purple, and silver.

The two men and one woman stared in awe.

"Beautiful," Qin Feng whispered.

Without hesitation, Su Jiyai transformed into her blue wolf cub form. Her small body leaped into Qin Feng’s arms. Then Qin Feng reached out and held Jake and Xi Ping’s hands tightly.

"Let’s go," Su Jiyai said in her soft wolf voice.

The four of them stepped into the portal.

Light surrounded them. Colors spun. Their bodies felt weightless, like falling through water. Then suddenly, they landed on solid ground.

When they opened their eyes, they were in a completely different world.

Tall buildings stood around them. Neon lights glowed. Cars rushed by on smooth roads. People walked past wearing simple modern clothes, holding bags, looking at glowing phones. It was a bustling city, alive with sound and color.

Su Jiyai transfromed back into her human form.

Qin Feng’s eyes widened. "This... this looks like a pre-apocalypse world."

Jake rubbed his eyes. "It’s modern. Not like our world at all."

Xi Ping frowned. "So what do we do now?"

Su Jiyai glanced around the bustling street, her eyes sharp. People rushed past them, busy with their own lives. She lowered her voice and asked, "Did you all bring gold?"

Qin Feng, Jake, and Xi Ping all nodded right away.

"Yes," Qin Feng said, patting his storage ring. "I have plenty stored."

"Me too," Jake added. "From the time you told us, I started saving every bit of gold I found."

Xi Ping smiled faintly. "Same here. Since we became part of your personal team, I’ve been keeping it safe in my ring."

Su Jiyai nodded in approval. "Good. We’ll need it. Gold here can be exchanged for money. Once we have money, we can buy machines and supplies."

"Machines?" Jake tilted his head.

"Yes," Su Jiyai explained calmly.

"We need machines that can help in production. For example, oil pressing machines, flour grinders, and maybe even sewing machines. Things that can help us produce food, clothes, and medicine. This world has technology, our world doesn’t."

Hearing that, Qin Feng’s eyes lit up. "Smart. If we bring these machines back, Hope Base will grow faster."

Xi Ping crossed her arms thoughtfully. "And herbs, right? You mentioned herbs."

"Yes," Su Jiyai nodded. "This world has many different plants. If we collect the right ones, they could be useful for healing or even the antidote."

Jake grinned. "Boss Su, you think of everything. What’s first?"

Su Jiyai looked around the street, scanning the glowing signs. "First, we go to a pawn shop. We need to exchange gold for money. After that, we rent a car for transportation. With a car, we can move around easily and carry the machines."

"Sounds like a plan," Qin Feng said with admiration. "You really thought this through."

The others nodded in agreement. They followed Su Jiyai through the streets until they found a pawn shop. The sign was old but clear: Pawn & Exchange.

Inside, the shop smelled of dust and metal. A middle-aged man sat behind the counter, looking bored.

Su Jiyai stepped forward, her voice polite. "We’d like to pawn some items."

The man raised an eyebrow. "What kind of items?"

Qin Feng reached into his storage ring and pulled out a gold bar. It gleamed under the shop lights.

The man’s eyes widened. He stood up right away. "Is... is this real?"

"Of course," Su Jiyai said firmly. "We have more."

The man swallowed hard and quickly weighed the bar. His eyes glittered. "This is pure. Very pure. I can give you a lot of cash for this."

"Good," Su Jiyai said calmly. "We’ll trade several bars."

One by one, they placed gold bars on the counter. The man almost fainted from excitement. Soon, he brought out thick stacks of money, more than enough to fill two bags.

Jake grinned as he grabbed one of the bags. "Boss Su, we’re rich!"

Xi Ping chuckled softly. "Yes. Very rich."

Su Jiyai only gave a small smile. "Don’t get distracted. Money is only useful if we use it well. Let’s rent a car next."

They walked to a rental company nearby. Rows of shiny cars stood parked. A young woman behind the desk greeted them.

"Hello, would you like to rent a car?" she asked brightly.

"Yes," Qin Feng said. "Something big. With space in the back."

The woman tapped her computer. "We have several trucks available. Large ones. Do you want to rent one?"

Su Jiyai shook her head. "We’ll need more than one. Give us four trucks. Each person can drive their own."

The woman blinked in surprise. "Four? That’s a lot."

Qin Feng smiled. "We have a lot to carry."

After filling out the papers and paying with a stack of money, they walked outside. Three trucks waited in the parking lot. They were shiny and new, one silver, one black, and one white.

Jake ran to the black one and patted the hood. "I call this one. Looks fierce."

Xi Ping rolled her eyes and walked to the silver one. "I’ll take this."

Qin Feng nodded and got into the white one. "That leaves me this one. Fine by me."

Su Jiyai stood in the middle of them.

"Alright. We’ll split up to gather supplies, but keep in contact. Buy as much as you can fit into the trucks. Focus on machines first."

Jake grinned. "This is going to be fun."

They climbed into their trucks and drove off together, following Su Jiyai’s directions to the nearest big machinery store. The sign outside read Super Industrial Market.

Inside, the store was massive. Machines of every size filled the building, from small grinders to giant harvesters. The air smelled like metal and oil.

Jake’s eyes went wide. "Whoa... this is like a candy shop for machines."

Qin Feng chuckled. "Except everything is heavy instead of sweet."

Su Jiyai walked forward with steady steps.

"Let’s start. Jake, you focus on food machines. Xi Ping, you take clothing and sewing machines. Qin Feng, you handle farming tools. I’ll look for medicine and purification equipment. We’ll meet back in two hours."

Everyone nodded and split up.

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Jake rushed toward the aisle filled with food machines. His eyes sparkled when he saw a large machine with a funnel on top. He waved at a worker nearby.

"Hey, what’s this thing?" Jake asked.

"That’s an oil pressing machine," the worker explained. "You put in seeds, like peanuts or soybeans, and it squeezes out oil."

Jake slapped the side of the machine. "Perfect. I’ll take two of these!"

The worker looked shocked. "Two? Are you sure?"

Jake grinned. "Yeah. The more, the better."

Next, Jake found a flour grinder. It was tall, with grinding stones inside. He imagined grinding wheat into flour for bread and noodles.

"This one too," Jake said quickly. "Load it into the truck."

He also spotted a rice mill, a noodle-making machine, and even a machine for pressing tofu. He bought them all, smiling the whole time.

When he walked back to the truck, workers followed him, pushing carts with machines stacked high. The black truck almost looked too small for everything.

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Meanwhile, Xi Ping walked calmly to the textile section. Her sharp eyes scanned the rows of sewing machines. There were small ones for homes and huge industrial ones for factories.

She touched a heavy-duty sewing machine and nodded. "This one can stitch leather. Strong. We need it."

She ordered three of them.

Then she saw a weaving machine. It was big and loud, but it could make fabric quickly. She thought about blankets, clothes, and tents.

"Yes. This too," she said firmly.

A worker hesitated. "This machine is very large. Do you have space?"

Xi Ping pointed at her truck outside. "Don’t worry. Load it up."

She also bought a knitting machine and a small embroidery machine. She thought about how people back at Hope Base could wear better clothes instead of repeated pattern clothes.

By the time she was done, her silver truck was stacked high with machines covered in tarps. She looked at it with quiet satisfaction. "Good. This will help many people."

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Qin Feng walked with long strides to the farming section. He immediately noticed a small tractor. His eyes widened. "A tractor! With this, we can farm so much land."

He called over a worker. "I want this one. Can you fit it into my truck?"

The worker laughed. "It will be tight, but we can do it."

Qin Feng also bought a seed planter, a small harvester, and tools for irrigation. He even picked a machine that could cut wood into planks.

"This is perfect," Qin Feng muttered to himself. "Hope Base will finally have real farming tools, not just shovels."

His white truck soon filled up with machines. It looked like a moving farm.

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Su Jiyai walked quietly, her sharp eyes scanning everything. She found a water purification system that could clean river water into drinking water. She bought two of them.