Chapter 62: Buy Everything Three Times
The first purchasing request reached Hanchuan at 3:17 that afternoon.
It came from one of Pei Holdings’ food-distribution subsidiaries and contained enough rice, flour, dried noodles, canned meat, cooking oil and shelf-stable milk to supply six people for four years.
Or nine popular restaurants for two months. Either way, his restaurants weren’t going to see the supplies.
Hanchuan approved it.
A second request arrived eleven minutes later through another company. The quantities were nearly identical, but the suppliers, delivery address and payment account were different.
He approved that one too.
The third request triggered a call from his finance director.
"President Pei, we may have duplicate orders."
"They aren’t duplicates."
The man hesitated. "The quantities are almost exactly the same."
"That’s intentional."
Hanchuan ended the call before the finance director could begin asking questions he wasn’t authorized to have answered.
Across the conference table, Zhiyi continued separating supplies by shelter. Her bruises had darkened further throughout the day, but she appeared to have forgotten them after opening the permanent-shelter files. Every property now occupied its own section of the table, with universal supplies listed first and specialized requirements waiting beneath them.
The Heat shelters required three complete four-year stockpiles.
So did the Flood shelters.
So did the Freeze shelters.
They weren’t purchasing enough food to survive four years and dividing it among three possible locations. That approach would leave two-thirds of their supplies inaccessible the moment they committed to a shelter.
They were buying everything three times.
Then they were repeating the process for the next disaster.
Hanchuan’s tablet vibrated again.
This request covered hygiene products, cleaning supplies, water-storage containers and sanitation equipment for the Luming Mountain Hotel. The same purchasing company had prepared separate orders for the Reservoir Safe House and Xiling Data Archive, but each order would be delivered to a different warehouse under separate project numbers.
Hanchuan approved all three.
His office had processed acquisitions worth hundreds of millions without requiring his direct attention. Today, employees were calling him over canned food and toilet paper because the quantities exceeded every normal commercial projection.
That would stop once they understood that approval was automatic.
"Create a standing authorization," he told his assistant. "Anything submitted under these project accounts is approved unless the quantity falls below the request."
His assistant looked up from the growing order queue. "Below?"
"Reducing an order requires my permission. Increasing one doesn’t."
Zhiyi’s pen stopped.
She examined Hanchuan as though the instruction contained a flaw. "An unlimited increase creates an opportunity for purchasing errors."
"Then set the upper limits yourself."
That solved the problem. Her attention returned to the lists.
Hanchuan watched her calculate for another moment before opening the next request.
Food required more than multiplying an ordinary annual grocery order by four.
The first Heat would reduce physical activity but increase water and electrolyte requirements. Flood conditions would limit access to fresh food while increasing contamination risks. During the Freeze, maintaining body temperature would require more calories even when they remained inside protected shelters.
Zhiyi refused to apply the same consumption estimate to all three disasters.
Qinghe supported her calculations with nutritional requirements and deficiency risks. He added supplements, oral rehydration supplies and long-term storage requirements while removing several foods that would become useless without reliable refrigeration.
Zeyu objected when he discovered that one supplier intended to deliver several years of canned fish packed in oil.
"That’s not happening," he stated empahatically.
Zhiyi looked at the order. "The shelf life is sufficient."
"That isn’t the problem. If I’m trapped underground for four years, I’m not eating oily fish every third day."
"You may not be able to obtain an alternative source of protein."
"I’ll take the lack of protein then," he countered with a definitive shake of his head.
Qinghe didn’t look up from the medical inventory. "No, you won’t."
Zeyu leaned back in his chair, apparently offended that even the end of the world wasn’t enough to let him refuse canned fish without a doctor getting involved.
Hanchuan replaced half the order with canned poultry and beans. The change cost nothing significant and prevented Zeyu from attempting to survive the Freeze on spite.
The food orders expanded beyond basic storage.
Each shelter required seeds selected for controlled production, growing medium, nutrient solutions, lighting replacements and tools.
The Heat shelters needed crops capable of producing inside protected underground areas. The Flood towers required compact systems that could operate on upper floors without depending upon soil from contaminated ground. The Freeze shelters needed enough replacement components to continue indoor production for years without outside access.
The same independence applied to clothing.
They ordered complete wardrobes for six people at all nine shelters rather than carrying their belongings between disaster phases. Each place would have their normal clothes, their socks and underwear, their same style and a replica of their current closets.
In addition to that, lighter clothing with more appropriate fabric would go to the three Heat networks. Waterproof layers, boots and protective equipment were duplicated across the Flood locations. The Freeze shelters received insulated clothing in multiple sizes, thermal layers, gloves, boots and enough replacements to account for wear.
Bedding, towels and basic household supplies followed.
Then came cooking equipment.
Zhiyi rejected any plan that relied upon a single fuel or power source.
Every shelter received electric appliances, manual alternatives and equipment compatible with the systems installed at that property. If the electrical grid failed, if stored fuel degraded or if one kitchen became unusable, they still needed a way to prepare food and sterilize water.
By five o’clock, the conference table no longer had room for additional files.
Hanchuan moved the ordering system onto the wall display. The total rose every time another company submitted a request, but the number meant nothing without the corresponding supplies.
Money would lose value.
But warehouses full of food wouldn’t.
Qinghe began separating medical basics from the specialized inventories he would prepare later.
Every shelter received bandages, antiseptics, pain medication, fever reducers, splints, suturing supplies and ordinary medications before he added anything related to a specific disaster.
Jingwei handled communications equipment, surveillance replacements and access-control components. He required every location to possess independent radios, spare parts and manual systems that couldn’t be disabled by one failed network.
Shichen added construction materials that needed to remain after renovations ended: sealants, fasteners, piping, filters, wiring, insulation, pumps and replacement ventilation components.
Zeyu took responsibility for vehicles, tires, batteries, lubricants and repair equipment.
No one list remained small for long.
Zhiyi stared at the wall display as the orders separated into nine property groups. "This represents 36 shelter-years."
"For all six of us," Hanchuan confirmed. "Every shelter has to support the entire group without depending on either of its alternatives."
Two hundred and sixteen person-years of supplies. Zhiyi followed the totals across the display before reaching the unavoidable result. "We may never enter six of the shelters."
"That would be ideal," Hanchuan said. "If we only need one shelter during each disaster, then every untouched stockpile did its job by giving us an alternative we didn’t have to use."
If every primary shelter remained functional, the alternate stockpiles would never be used. Hanchuan would consider the money well spent if eight entire properties sat untouched while the six of them survived inside the ninth.
Zhiyi examined him for several seconds. "You aren’t concerned about the cost at all, are you?" she asked.
"Not even a little," he assured her. The one thing that he had was money. By his calculations, he could supply each shelter with three times the supplies and still have enough money to do what he wanted to do after. Money was not an issue.
And if it was, he would start dipping into his friends funds.
"The total hasn’t finished calculating," she reminded him softly.
"And that still won’t matter."
A small change appeared in her expression. Hanchuan couldn’t identify it completely, but some part of her had expected resistance once the requirements became real enough to attach prices.
She had spent ten years calculating survival around insufficiency. Every plan from their first life had begun with what they didn’t possess and couldn’t replace.
This time, Hanchuan intended to give her enough.
The first delivery confirmations appeared shortly after six.
Several suppliers already had the requested food and household products in regional distribution centers. Hanchuan authorized additional payments for immediate transport, and Zeyu redirected the available trucks toward the largest warehouse southeast of the city.
By 8:30 pm, the first vehicles were waiting at its loading docks.
Zhiyi closed the final purchasing file and looked toward the confirmation screen. "They arrived today?"
"Hanchuan paid them to," Zeyu said.
Hanchuan stood and collected his car keys.
Zhiyi looked at him. "Where are we going?"
"To verify the delivery."
She gathered her notebook immediately.
The others remained behind to continue processing the orders that would arrive throughout the night. Hanchuan led Zhiyi to the elevator while the warehouse staff began unloading the first pallets.
For the first time since their rebirth, the supplies they needed were no longer calculations on paper.
They were waiting for her to count them.
21 days left.