CHAPTER 24: GOODNESS, IT FEELS LIKE LIFE HAS PEAKED

Zhu Zhengqi had been harshly criticized and hurt before, which made him realize just how severe online attacks could be.

During his junior year in Hebei, he molested a female student and was exposed on local online forums. Overnight, thousands of abusive comments flooded in. He didn’t want to look but couldn’t stop himself. After reading them, he felt utterly abandoned by the world. Everywhere he went, people pointed and whispered about him. Some even threw feces at him or publicly ridiculed him.

Zhu Zhengqi couldn’t comprehend how just touching a breast had escalated to this severity. Every day, people cursed him, calling him scum and telling him to die. Unable to bear the pressure, Zhu Zhengqi developed depression. Within a few days, the situation had escalated to the point where the school intervened and expelled him.

After returning to Wu City, he tearfully begged a local ’Big Bro’ for help. This ’Big Bro’ took one hundred thousand yuan from him, hired an internet army to spin a sob story and whitewash his image, and successfully quelled the outcry. That was when Zhu Zhengqi truly understood the power of an internet army and decided to join the industry.

Public opinion can crush a person. Just watch, it won’t take more than three days.

「 」

Since it was their first day in the villa, everything was new and exciting. The elderly couple, Grandma Jing and Grandpa Jing, were especially energetic in organizing things. Jing Shu arranged for them to stay in a secondary bedroom on the ground floor, complete with new bedding and sheets. At twenty square meters with its own bathroom, it was plenty spacious for the old couple.

The master bedroom, twenty-five square meters with an en-suite bathroom and a large wardrobe, was allocated to Jing Shu’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jing, as they had more clothing and miscellaneous items.

Jing Shu resided in the large bedroom on the second floor, which would also serve as her main storage area for supplies after the apocalypse. This large bedroom suite included a study, a storage room, a walk-in closet, and a bathroom.

The study was already stacked high with bottled water and various beverages. The storage room housed outdoor equipment and daily necessities purchased during the Singles’ Day sale. The twenty-square-meter walk-in closet was filled to the brim with all sorts of snacks Jing Shu had bought during the Singles’ Day sale, giving her a profound sense of security.

There was another twenty-square-meter walk-in closet on the ground floor, which Jing Shu planned to stock with various undergarments, sweaters, thermal pants, down jackets, and other clothing for the whole family. Cotton and linen production would cease in the apocalypse, and floods and earthquakes would destroy even more existing supplies. Jing Shu did not want to resort to stripping clothes from corpses again in this lifetime.

The second floor also had an independent living room that had been converted into a large greenhouse, and another empty bedroom was filled by Jing Shu with sacks of feed for chickens, ducks, pigs, cattle, and sheep.

Having made these thorough preparations, Jing Shu wouldn’t be afraid even if the apocalypse arrived early. If it didn’t come, that would be even better. Unfortunately, everything was following the trajectory of her previous life to the letter, leaving Jing Shu to simply count down the days until the sun disappeared.

「 」

In the evening, as usual, while having an extra meal, she inspected the Magic Cube Space. She pulled out all the vegetable roots and threw them to the chickens, cows, and sheep. Then, she began planting a batch of fruit. She considered harvesting several batches before the apocalypse for canning and drying.

Jing Shu had specific plans for the fruits she planted. Pears, cherries, oranges, lychees, and yellow peaches were designated for canning. Strawberries, pineapples, red dates, and grapes would be turned into dried fruit. Crystal Heart apples and apricots were transplanted into the yard. Sugar oranges and hawthorns could be grown in pots. Red globe grapes could be trellised in the greenhouse. Persimmons would be made into dried persimmon cakes. Pomegranates, watermelons, and oranges would be juiced and stored in the Magic Cube Space, ready to drink anytime... SLURP.

「 」

Did you think that without Mom’s morning ’bombardment’ and sleeping on the second floor, I could actually sleep in?

The air filled with the sounds of chickens crowing, news broadcasts, the rhythmic CHOP-CHOP-CHOP of Grandma Jing cooking, mixed with Grandpa Jing singing opera, and the vibrating hum from the ten-thousand-yuan massage chair.

AAAH! I forgot to close the window!

No, it’s that my ears have become sharper than before. As soon as Jing Shu went downstairs, she saw Grandpa Jing lying leisurely in the raffle-won massage chair, occasionally belting out a few lines, his expression clearly saying, "This is so exhilarating; it feels like I’ve reached the peak of my life."

Jing Shu watched him. As long as you’re happy.

The morning news was still focused on arresting corrupt officials and the amounts of money seized, but it now also included a list of donations from major corporations, praising those who contributed more.

Those with money donated money; those with supplies donated supplies. Mobile operators even competed to give away plenty of free call time. In short, the past half-month had thoroughly scared quite a few people, and the smarter ones knew what they had to do.

The news presented an atmosphere of harmony and loving kindness, yet Jing Shu understood the turbulent undercurrents. In just over twenty days, hundreds of countries, as if by prior agreement, would simultaneously announce that Earth was about to enter a period of darkness, devoid of sunlight.

「 」

"Kimchi can be eaten in many ways," Grandma Jing explained. "You can have it as a side dish with plain rice, in a kimchi hotpot, kimchi fried rice, stir-fried with meat, in tofu soup, and so on."

"But making kimchi that’s spicy, crispy, sour, sweet, and refreshing is quite an art. Cabbage is rich in that coarse... whatchamacallit... fiber, you know? The kind that helps you go to the bathroom, lose weight, and look beautiful!"

Grandma Jing chatted happily as she saw the countless bullet comments flooding the phone screen. She even asked Jing Shu if many people watching the livestream liked what she was saying.

Jing Shu squinted and smiled, saying yes. Grandma Jing and Grandpa Jing were illiterate and had no idea what the bullet comments actually said.

Today, Jing Shu was in the washing area, still responsible for washing the cabbage and various other ingredients like carrots, apples, pears, scallions, and garlic. Grandpa Jing was at the cutting station, using his unique cutting and breaking techniques to ensure the cabbage pieces remained intact and visually appealing.

Grandma Jing was in charge of evenly rubbing salt onto each cabbage leaf and letting them cure for half a day. Then, the three of them began preparing the seasoning paste.

In the afternoon, they rinsed the cabbage with fresh water to remove the excess salt, squeezed out the moisture, and then spread the seasoning paste between each layer of cabbage. They packed the kimchi into pickling jars, filling ten large ones, along with some smaller two-liter jars that would be ready to eat in a few days.

Only after ending the day’s livestream did Jing Shu finally have time to carefully review what had happened during the broadcast and read the bullet comments.

Just yesterday, she hadn’t had a single follower. Even the few passersby who had tuned in left without saying anything. But today, the number of viewers had suddenly jumped to fifty thousand and remained steady throughout the day.

If this had been ten years ago, her naïve self wouldn’t have understood. But since hiring an internet army herself, what didn’t she understand?

The entire screen was filled with just a few repeating phrases:

"Crazy for money, selling it for 998 yuan! I wouldn’t buy it even if you beat me to death!"

"Eating that South Korean garbage? Get out of China!"

"Quick, look! There’s a traitor who worships foreign things! Beat her to death!"

"People like this should just die."

"Trying to sell trash for a sky-high price? Get out of this livestream! You’re not welcome here!"

Seeing the comments made Jing Shu both angry and amused. This internet army even knows how to tailor their attacks based on the content, accusing me of being unpatriotic. That must have cost a pretty penny, right?

"Even internet trolls need some culture," Jing Shu retorted disdainfully, though no one could hear her. "Kimchi originated with the Korean ethnic group, and the Korean ethnic group also includes descendants of the Huaxia Shang Clan who migrated there. How did it become South Korean? It’s clearly part of our Great Huaxia too!"

Although she knew there was no genuine audience in the livestream, only trolls from a hired internet army, Jing Shu was still quite angry. She was angry at human nature.

There was no need to guess who had hired the internet army. Besides Zhu Zhengqi, who else could it be? She hadn’t expected that merely by not signing the contract, which affected Zhu Zhengqi’s commission, he would stoop to such a filthy tactic against her. For fifty thousand yuan, Zhu Zhengqi was willing to destroy someone. Is he doing this to pressure me into quickly fulfilling the contract?