Chapter 5 Global Sourcing (Part 1)
The fortress's framework grew stronger day by day on Cuiping Mountain, while Wenyu's battlefield had long since shifted from the dusty construction site to the invisible commercial network and logistics chain.
The August heatwave scorched the city, and the air conditioner outdoor units hummed, like the last gasps of a world before the apocalypse.
Wen Yu sat in a meeting room of a high-end business hotel suite in the city center. The air conditioning was blasting cold air, and three open laptops were placed in front of him, their screens reflecting his expressionless face.
This was his temporary "procurement command center." Hotel rooms were changed daily, with different identities used for registration and cash payments. He needed an absolutely clean communication environment and business meeting place; apartments and villas under renovation were unsuitable.
The first battlefield: food, the cornerstone of life.
In the center of the screen is a constantly scrolling Excel spreadsheet titled "Sustainability Supplies Summary - Food Category." The categorization is astonishingly detailed:
Staple foods
Rice: Grade 1 Japonica rice from Northeast China, 50 tons (vacuum-packed, 25kg/bag, shelf life 3 years)
Flour: 15 tons each of high-gluten, medium-gluten, and low-gluten flour, totaling 45 tons (nitrogen-filled packaging, 20kg/bag, shelf life 2 years).
Coarse grains: 5 tons each of soybeans, mung beans, red beans, black rice, millet, oats, and corn grits, totaling 35 tons.
Noodles: 10 tons each of dried noodles, pasta, and instant noodles (non-fried), totaling 30 tons.
Compressed rations: Military Type 90 compressed rations, 5 tons (500g/bag, shelf life 4 years)
[Side Dishes - Canned Goods]
Canned meats: 2000 cases each of luncheon meat, braised pork, curry beef, and black bean dace (24 cans/case)
Canned Fruit: 1000 boxes each of yellow peaches, oranges, and pineapples
Canned vegetables: 1000 boxes each of corn, green beans, mushrooms, and diced tomatoes.
Other: 500 cases each of eight-treasure porridge, peanut soup, and canned sweet corn kernels.
[Side Dishes - Freeze-dried and Dehydrated]
Freeze-dried vegetable packages: Mixed vegetables, broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, etc., totaling 5 tons.
Freeze-dried fruit packages: strawberries, blueberries, mangoes, bananas, etc., totaling 3 tons.
Freeze-dried meat and eggs: beef cubes, chicken cubes, and chopped eggs, totaling 2 tons.
Dehydrated vegetables: evergreen plants, diced potatoes, scallions, etc., totaling 2 tons.
[Seasonings and Oils]
Salt: Refined iodized salt/sea salt/rock salt, totaling 10 tons (individual small packages and large packages)
Sugar: 5 tons of white sugar/rock sugar/brown sugar
Cooking oils: soybean oil/peanut oil/olive oil/coconut oil, totaling 2000 barrels (20L/barrel)
Common condiments such as soy sauce, vinegar, cooking wine, and oyster sauce: 500 boxes each
Compound seasonings: hot pot base, curry cubes, concentrated soup stock, various sauces, totaling 1000 boxes.
[Snacks and Drinks]
Chocolate: High-cocoa-butter dark chocolate, 1 ton
Candy: Hard candy, milk candy, chocolate candy, 500kg
Roasted nuts and seeds: vacuum-packed, various mixtures, 2 tons
Coffee: Coffee beans/instant coffee/drip coffee bags, 500kg
Tea: Green tea/Black tea/Pu-erh tea, 200kg
Milk powder/protein powder: whole/skimmed/whey protein, totaling 2 tons
Solid beverages: fruit juice powder, soy milk powder, lotus root powder, etc., 1 ton
The list continues to grow. Wenyu is not simply adding items to a shopping cart, but building a meticulously calculated, closed ecosystem that can support two people for at least twenty years, with relatively balanced nutrition and as diverse a variety of flavors as possible.
He does not blindly pursue quantity, but focuses on diversity, durability, space efficiency, and energy density.
For example, he purchased a large amount of high-fat foods (nuts, chocolate, cooking oil) because fat is high in calories and can be stored for a long time, which is key to maintaining body temperature in extremely cold environments.
He selected a variety of beans (rich in plant protein and fiber, can be stored for a long time, and can also be sprouted as a fresh vegetable supplement).
Although canned foods are heavy, they require no cooking and can be eaten directly from the can, making them irreplaceable in extreme situations. Freeze-dried and dehydrated foods save space and can greatly improve dietary structure after rehydration.
The procurement channels are even more diverse.
He posed as a "purchasing manager of a newly emerging supermarket chain" and placed orders for dozens of tons of staple foods and grains with a large domestic grain processing plant through a trading company.
The other party was initially suspicious, but the company background information provided by Wen Yu (a shell company purchased through the dark web) was complete, and his prompt payment of a 30% deposit dispelled their doubts.
Delivery locations are specified at several large logistics warehouses in a neighboring city, with goods picked up in batches.
He found several specialty food factories that focused on export and military supplies for canned and freeze-dried foods.
Under the guise of "exploring the high-end emergency food market" and "stockpiling supplies for overseas projects," they directly signed large orders with manufacturers.
These manufacturers are experienced and knowledgeable. Although they found it strange that the "purchasing manager" personally came forward, demanded rapid delivery and full payment, they all chose to cooperate in the face of real money.
After all, some Middle Eastern and African customers have even more unusual purchasing behaviors.
Condiments and snacks were purchased through wholesale channels on e-commerce platforms and large offline wholesale markets. He hired several temporary workers to make purchases in different markets, using different vehicles, over multiple days, and then transported them to different transit warehouses.
The second battlefield: medicine, the line of defense for health.
Compared to food, the difficulty of procuring medicines increases exponentially. Prescription drugs and antibiotics, in particular, are subject to strict regulations.
Wen Yu's strategy is to take a multi-pronged approach.
1. Legal channels, break down the large amount into smaller parts:
He used online consultation platforms to book appointments with doctors for various symptoms (requiring different antibiotics and chronic disease medications) and obtain electronic prescriptions.
Then, using these prescriptions, the maximum permitted quantity was purchased in batches from different pharmacies in different cities.
Amoxicillin, cephalosporins, levofloxacin, oseltamivir... You can't buy too much of any of them, but you can try to have as many varieties as possible.
He even "suffered" from "chronic diseases" that require long-term medication, such as high blood pressure (amlodipine), diabetes (metformin), and asthma (salbutamol inhaler).
To this end, he forged elaborate medical records and lab reports (using dark web services), regularly visited different hospitals for "follow-up visits," and obtained prescriptions for several months' worth of medication.
These medicines are priceless in the end times.
Over-the-counter medications are much simpler. Cold medicine, painkillers (ibuprofen, acetaminophen), gastrointestinal medicine, allergy medication, vitamins, trace element supplements... He buys them by the case through pharmaceutical wholesale companies under the guise of "collective purchase of labor protection supplies by the unit" or "replenishment of medical stations in remote areas".
2. Gray channels, risky game:
For more strictly regulated anesthetic analgesics, psychotropic drugs, as well as a large number of antibiotics and surgical instruments, legal channels are far from sufficient.
Through the network of intermediaries he had previously used to contact the loan shark "Old Chen," Wen Yu made some vague contact with leads in the underground drug smuggling operation. He was extremely cautious, only using encrypted instant messaging software to communicate with an intermediary codenamed "Drug Rat."
The "drug rat" sent an encrypted catalog listing a dazzling array of medicines and medical devices, from common antibiotics to antiviral drugs, from disposable syringes to simple surgical kits, sutures, and even portable electrocardiographs and oxygen concentrators—everything imaginable.
The price is five to ten times the market price, or even higher.
Wen Yu did not haggle.
He carefully selected a list: five times the amount of core medicines needed to treat common infections, trauma, surgery, and chronic diseases; a complete set of surgical instruments (sterilized and packaged); a large quantity of disposable medical supplies (gauze, bandages, gloves, masks, infusion sets); and several key diagnostic and life support devices (pulse oximeter, blood pressure monitor, portable ultrasound, and diesel generator-powered oxygen concentrator).
The transaction was conducted in a highly clandestine manner. "Drug Rat" designated an abandoned factory in the suburbs as the meeting point. Wen Yu had placed a waterproof box filled with cash there beforehand. Late at night, someone would retrieve the cash, leaving the corresponding goods behind. No one would have any contact with the buyer; all risks were borne by the buyer.
Before the transaction, Wen Yu used drones and remote cameras to monitor the factory for 48 hours to confirm that there was no ambush.
During the transaction, he hid in a disguised truck two kilometers away and monitored it remotely.
After receiving the goods, he immediately used the test strips he carried with him (also bought on the black market) to quickly test several key antibiotics to confirm that they were not counterfeit drugs before transferring them to another vehicle and transporting them to a more hidden transit point.
3. Traditional wisdom, Chinese medicine reserves:
Wen Yu did not neglect traditional Chinese medicine.
He visited several time-honored pharmacies and Chinese herbal medicine wholesale markets, purchasing large quantities of commonly used Chinese herbal medicines (Angelica sinensis, Astragalus membranaceus, Codonopsis pilosula, Lycium barbarum, Lonicera japonica, Isatis indigotica, etc.) and prepared Chinese medicines (Cold and Fever Relief Granules, Lianhua Qingwen Capsules, Yunnan Baiyao, Angong Niuhuang Wan, etc.) under the guise of "opening a Chinese medicine health club" and "donating to overseas Chinese medicine clinics".
If stored properly, Chinese medicinal herbs can last for many years, and in times of decline where modern medicine is lacking, they often have unexpected and remarkable effects.
Logistics and Warehousing: An Invisible Maze
Procurement was only the first step; the bigger challenge was how to safely and covertly transport massive amounts of supplies to the fortress on Cuiping Mountain. Wenyu would not allow any batch of supplies to be transported directly to the villa, as that would be tantamount to announcing to the world that there was a "big fat sheep" here.
His plan was to establish a complex "three-stage" logistics system.
Level 1: Dispersed receiving points.
He rented seven large warehouses in different areas around the city for short periods, ranging from half a month to a month. These warehouses were located in remote areas, loosely managed, and frequently entered and exited by trucks, making them difficult to spot. Each warehouse only accepted specific types of goods (e.g., warehouse 1 only accepted grain, warehouse 2 only accepted canned goods, warehouse 3 only accepted medicines and equipment, etc.). He used different forged documents to identify each of the renters.
Level 2: Overnight transfer and repackaging.
After the goods arrive at the first-level warehouse, temporary loading and unloading teams hired by Wen Yu, who are unaware of each other's identities (again, different batches and different intermediaries), will move them onto Wen Yu's own vans late at night.
He parked these trucks in different parking lots and frequently changed their license plates (fake plates).
The goods were transported to the second level—two "transit warehouses" located in more remote urban-rural fringe areas.
This area is personally controlled by Wen Yu, who conducts secondary inspections and inventory checks on the goods and repackages them here.
For example, the original packaging boxes from the manufacturer were removed, food items were replaced with uniform gray plastic storage boxes, and medicines and medical devices were categorized and packaged in special moisture-proof and shock-proof boxes. All information that could potentially reveal the source (manufacturer labels, batch numbers, purchase receipts, etc.) was carefully removed or obscured.
Level 3: Break down the whole into smaller parts, like ants moving house.
The final stretch of road from the transit warehouse to the Cuipingshan villa is the most crucial. Wenyu absolutely will not use large trucks.
He bought five used vans and box trucks of different brands and colors and made simple modifications himself (strengthening the suspension and increasing the load capacity).
Every day at two or three in the morning, he would personally drive one of the vehicles, loaded with a small amount of supplies (not exceeding the vehicle's usual cargo capacity), like a cautious ant, along different routes (sometimes even taking a longer route) towards Cuiping Mountain.
After the supplies arrived, they were moved directly into the basement of the villa, where two workers trusted by Liu Mingda helped unload them (they assumed the boss was hoarding renovation materials or ordinary daily necessities).
They often had to make three or four trips a night, only resting when it was just getting light.
During the day, he also had to handle countless tasks such as purchasing, payments, and coordination. His sleep time was compressed to three or four hours a day, sustained only by strong coffee and his tenacious willpower.
The money is burning at an alarming rate.
Food procurement: The first batch of orders has already been paid for, totaling nearly 20 million yuan.
The legal part of drug procurement costs millions, but the gray channels are even more money-devouring, with the first batch of transactions costing more than five million in cash.
Warehouse rent, vehicle purchase and modification, staff hiring, fuel costs, packaging materials... miscellaneous expenses flowed in like water.
On the financial statement in front of Wen Yu, the red numbers representing expenditures kept jumping and accumulating.
On the revenue side, he mainly relied on his third intelligence deal with Zhou Lin (a prediction about a sudden shift in monetary policy by a certain country's central bank, which brought him another eight million US dollars) and precise short-term operations in the stock and foreign exchange markets.
His nerves were like a taut bowstring, maintaining incredible calmness and efficiency amidst immense spending pressure and a tight time race.
Every decision is made quickly and decisively, every payment is accurate to the millimeter, and every logistics dispatch is carried out with the utmost care to leave no trace.
August 4th, 4 AM.
Wen Yu unloaded the last truckload of canned goods into the basement.
The damp, chilly air was thick with the smell of metal and dust. Supply crates, filling most of the space, cast huge shadows under the dim light, like silent mountains.
After one of Liu Mingda's older workers finished unloading the goods, he rubbed his back and muttered, "Boss Wen, you've stockpiled way too much... How long are we going to eat this?"
Wen Yu handed him a bottle of water and some banknotes: "Thank you for your hard work. It's reassuring to eat for a while."
The worker grinned and didn't ask any more questions. As long as he got paid, he didn't care if the boss had a hoarding problem.
After seeing the workers off, Wen Yu didn't leave immediately. He sat alone on a plastic box filled with rice, unscrewed a bottle of water, and slowly drank it.
Tired. Tired to the bone.
But looking at the mountains of supplies before me, a numb sense of satisfaction mixed with a deeper anxiety weighed heavily on my heart.
That's not enough. Far from enough.
The medicines haven't all arrived yet, the energy system is being installed, the security equipment is still being tested, and weapons... that's the next challenge. There are also seeds, tools, daily necessities, and spiritual nourishment...
There are only 16 days left.
He took out his phone, the screen's pale blue light illuminating the dark circles under his eyes. On his schedule, the entries "Global Procurement (Part 2)" and "Special Equipment" were highlighted in red.
Just then, my phone vibrated; a new encrypted message had arrived from "Drug Rat":
[Your last shipment has arrived. Same place, same rules. Tomorrow night at 11 PM. Also, the source for the "hardcore" equipment you requested is starting to look promising, but it's very risky and expensive. Shall we meet to discuss it?]
Wen Yu stared at the screen, his fingers tapping lightly on the cold plastic casing.
Medicine is the bottom line for saving lives.
And "hard stuff"... refers to weapons. In the coming chaotic world, food and medicine alone are nothing more than fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered. He needs teeth, he needs claws.
He replied:
[Tomorrow night at 11 PM, only discussing medication. We'll schedule another time for the "hard stuff," wait for my update.]
send.
The basement grew increasingly quiet, save for the faint hum of air escaping from the ventilation ducts. In the distance, towards the city, the horizon began to lighten with the first hint of dawn.
A new day is about to begin. And his shopping list still has a long column waiting to be crossed off.
Wen Yu put away her phone, crushed the empty water bottle, and precisely threw it into the trash bag in the corner.
He stood up, took one last look at his "mountains," and turned to walk up the stairs.
Behind them, the heavy blast door slowly closed, locking the silence and the shadows of the supplies into darkness.