Stockpiling

At 7 a.m. the next morning, Dylan was awakened by the chirping of the birds.

The little chick was hungry again, its cries much louder than yesterday, indicating that it was recovering well.

After feeding it some worms, Clarence and Alberta arrived.

Alberta, sporting dark circles under her eyes, handed over the blueprints and quotation to Dylan.

"Manager Dylan, based on initial estimates, Alberta's design plan can be executed for around $30 million," Clarence said.

"Alright! The price is acceptable!" Dylan glanced at the blueprints, quite satisfied. 

It seemed that Alberta had put in genuine effort.

"How long will it take to complete?" Dylan asked.

"Well, at the quickest, it'll still take 15 days! Some materials and equipment need to be custom-made," Clarence replied.

"What?! 15 days? No, that's too long!" Dylan was taken aback. 

With less than 9 days until doomsday, this wouldn't cut it!

"I can give you a maximum of 8 days. Can you manage that?" 

Clarence was astonished. "

Manager Dylan, that's impossible!"

"I'll pay more! How about $40 million?"

"Manager Dylan, it's not about the money, it's..."

"$50 million!"

"Alright, I'll do my best..."

"I want certainty, not just efforts!"

"Alright, Manager Dylan, deal! I promise to deliver on time!"

Clarence was stunned. 

He had never seen such extravagance, someone who treated money as if it were dirt.

Dylan transferred the money directly to Clarence, making him even more cautious. 

He quickly gathered his team and began construction.

Alberta, on the sidelines, was speechless. Manager Dylan was spending money as if it were nothing!

"Alberta, you haven't slept all night. How about I take you home to rest?" Clarence looked at the exhausted Alberta with concern.

Dylan noticed Alberta's condition; she did look quite worn out. Although she was working to earn him money, she was truly putting in effort.

For that alone, Dylan felt grateful and decided to express his gratitude."Alberta Miss, how about I drive you back home to rest? Clarence can stay here, and I also have some other questions to consult you about!" 

Alberta hesitated for a moment, but considering that Dylan might indeed have something to consult her about, she agreed.

"Wait here, I'll go get something and be right back!" 

In a short while, to the surprise of Alberta and Clarence, Dylan came down carrying the bird's nest.

"You, you're still carrying a bird's nest at your age?" Alberta felt incredulous.

"Oh, no, I just happened to see a nest of baby birds on the way. The others all starved to death, leaving only this one. I rescued it. Look, how cute!" Dylan explained while showing it to Alberta.

Alberta felt pity at once and reached out to stroke it. "

It's really pitiful. What kind of bird is this?"

"It's a crow chick. I used to see them often at the construction sites. Manager Dylan, keeping this thing isn't auspicious. You should just throw it away!" Clarence advised, peering over.

Upon hearing her brother's words, Alberta became angry. "How can you be so heartless? It's still so small; throwing it away would mean its death."

Dylan smiled and said, "It's okay. We'll release it back into nature when it grows up."

He didn't care about auspiciousness. 

Did the end of the world depend on this little creature?

"Manager Dylan is indeed compassionate!" Alberta praised.

"Let's go, put it in the car. I'll take you back to rest first."

"Okay."

...

Dylan dropped Alberta off at her school, the Bluewater Bay Art College.

It was located in the university city at the foot of Purple Mountain.

Dylan only just learned that Alberta hadn't graduated yet; she was just interning at her brother's company.

When the imposing Barbos G800 stopped at the school gate, it immediately attracted the attention of many students.

"Manager Dylan, I'll carefully consider the list of end-of-the-world supplies and send it to you tonight," Alberta said.

"Okay, thank you."

As Alberta got out of the car, she caused quite a stir once again.

"Isn't that our school's beauty queen, Alberta? Why is she being driven back by a man in a car early in the morning?"

"Hey, what kind of car is that? Did BYD release a new model?"

"Idiot, that's the Barbos logo. It's worth a hundred BYDs!"

"Really? No wonder, our beauty queen is out of reach for us nerds."Alberta couldn't sleep in her dorm bed. 

It was unbelievable that Manager Dylan had asked her to help him prepare for the apocalypse by brainstorming what items to stock up on.

 He was really obsessed with it, making it seem like the end of the world was imminent.

However, she found the idea quite amusing and decided to play along.

Alberta wasn't sleepy anymore. 

She picked up pen and paper and started writing seriously.

Dylan drove straight to the largest storage base in Bluewater Bay.

There were hundreds of warehouses and cold storage facilities here.

He rented 5 warehouses and 5 cold storage units, respectively for storing daily necessities and perishable food items.

In reality, Dylan didn't intend to store the supplies here;

 it was just a diversion tactic.

He couldn't just bring these supplies into his space in plain sight.

 It would freak everyone out.

Then, he rushed to the largest wholesale vegetable market.

Time for some vegetables.

As soon as Dylan arrived, the entire wholesale market went crazy.

Everyone knew a big spender had come today.

From onions, ginger, and garlic to peppers, cucumbers, eggplants, tomatoes, radishes, potatoes, winter melons, pumpkins, various greens, and more, Dylan ordered almost everything available.

He didn't need too much of each, just 100 tons of each item.

In the end, the total bill came to 100 million dollar.

He paid a deposit first, and all the goods would be delivered to the cold storage in batches within seven days, with the final settlement later.

There was no choice; the boss had to source nationwide!

He then went to the seasoning area.

Oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, barbecue sauce, hot pot ingredients, and more.

He didn't need too much of these either. In the end, the total bill was 50 million dollar.

Again, the goods would be delivered in batches.

Next stop, the rice area.

He ordered 10,000 tons of rice at wholesale prices, totaling 50 million dollar.

The boss promised to have the goods ready for Dylan within eight days at most.

Then he headed to the adjacent fruit wholesale market.

Similarly, it caused a sensation throughout the market again.

Various fruits and vegetables, a total of 100 tons of them.

After the final settlement, it amounted to a total of 100 million US dollars.

imilarly, paying a deposit first, settling the payment upon delivery.

With the fruits and vegetables taken care of, the most crucial part was stocking up on meat.

Dylan went straight to the headquarters of the largest fresh meat chain store in the city.

The meat from such a place can be trusted.

Dylan went straight to the point, "How much for pork, lamb, beef, and chicken per ton? Give me the lowest price!"

The manager asked, "Sir, how many tons do you need of each?"

Dylan replied, "Ten thousand tons of pork, and two thousand tons each of lamb, beef, and chicken. 

Also, two thousand tons each of lamb offal and beef offal!"

Upon hearing this, the manager was so shocked that he almost dropped his accounting book.

Could this be trouble coming their way?

The manager quickly called for the boss's son, Dwight Manager.

Dwight Manager instructed the manager to calculate the prices first and see the other party's reaction. 

If Dylan dared to play games with him, he would make sure Dylan regretted it.

As a result, after the calculation, the total came to 700 million US dollars.

Dylan didn't even bat an eye and directly paid the deposit, leaving his address and departing gracefully under the astonished gaze of Dwight Manager.

Finally, Dylan arrived at the seafood wholesale market.

As usual, all kinds of seafood were in high demand.

Various sea fish, freshwater fish, Australian lobsters, king crabs, various shellfish, abalones, and yes, sea cucumbers too.

Sea cucumbers are great; even the national team eats them, making them stronger.

In the end, after the settlement, it amounted to a total of 200 million US dollars.

Dylan specifically instructed that all live seafood must be killed and frozen.

Unfortunately, his space couldn't accommodate live creatures.

In the end, after tallying everything up, Dylan placed orders worth 1.2 billion US dollars just for today.

Adding to that the 50 million US dollars for equipment modification and warehouse rental fees, he had spent more than half of the money.

However, it was still not enough.

Where could he get more of these supplies?