# Chapter 4: She's Not Short on Money—Only on Value
Sophia's apartment was equipped with the most advanced water filtration system. The filtered water was of excellent quality.
Three months was plenty of time for Sophia to fill all the water barrels and containers.
In addition, Sophia bought cases of bottled water, as well as her favorite sodas, juices, and milk.
Ready-to-eat foods were also necessary.
Instant noodles, crackers, trail mix, macaroni and cheese, beef jerky, potato chips, energy bars, Snickers—hundreds of cases of each.
In the apocalypse, cigarettes, alcohol, and coffee were also hard currencies.
Sophia herself didn't smoke or drink much, but she still bought some of each to store. There would always be a use for them eventually.
In the morning, Sophia purchased these items. In the afternoon, she went to the warehouse to receive deliveries.
The first to arrive was the shelving.
These shelves all needed assembly. If Sophia had to put them together alone, she didn't know how long it would take.
Sophia negotiated with the workers unloading the shipment, offering extra pay for them to help with assembly.
Sophia was generous with money. With fair compensation, the workers had no objections.
More hands make light work. These experienced laborers finished assembling all the shelves in three hours.
While they worked, Sophia went to withdraw cash and paid them in full.
After the workers left, it was already dark.
Sophia turned off the warehouse lights, stored all the shelving units into her space, then locked up and left.
To avoid suspicion, Sophia decided to rent a moving truck starting tomorrow. She'd drive it to the warehouse twice daily, pretending to transport goods out.
Back home, while eating dinner, Sophia contacted various factories.
For clothing, Sophia planned to order directly from manufacturers.
A full range of options, and better prices too.
Quilts, down comforters, silk comforters, wool blankets, fleece throws—dozens of each.
Bed sheets and duvet covers for all seasons, in various materials—several dozen sets.
Sophia owned plenty of her own clothes, but while those were fine for daily life, they'd be insufficient in the apocalypse.
Sun-protective clothing, windbreakers, thermal suits—she needed plenty of these.
For T-shirts and shorts, Sophia chose simple, practical styles, buying hundreds of each.
For undergarments, she selected many different styles, buying over a thousand sets of each.
After the year of extreme heat came extreme cold—temperatures could drop to sixty below zero. She absolutely had to prepare warm clothing.
Sophia didn't care about style. Only function mattered.
Extra-thick, ankle-length black down jackets—she bought a hundred.
Thermal tops, long johns, wool pants, wool coats—100 of each.
When buying, anything not worn directly on the skin, she sized up. That way, she could layer without restriction.
Colors were all dark tones like black and gray. Practicality over aesthetics.
Green army-style parkas—though not pretty, they were thick and warm. She bought 100 of those too.
Compared to the variety of clothing, shoe styles were simpler.
Sneakers, hiking boots, snow boots, plus indoor slippers.
High heels? She didn't even glance at them.
Frivolous things like that had long been banished from her world.
Over the following days, Sophia was either receiving deliveries or placing new orders.
Various insecticides, mosquito coils, flea powder, DEET spray, calamine lotion, and frostbite ointment—all ordered directly from factories. Bulk orders meant better prices and less suspicion.
After all, factories only cared about selling goods. They didn't care what you did with them.
Beyond these, various medicines were essential.
But buying from regular pharmacies, she could only get small quantities.
Sophia thought it over and contacted a friend of her adoptive father's—a pharmaceutical representative with connections.
He didn't refuse when Sophia called. He agreed directly.
After all, what Sophia needed were common medications: fever reducers, cold medicine, cough syrup, anti-inflammatories, and stomach and diarrhea remedies.
Additionally: wound powder, antiseptic spray, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol swabs, iodine, gauze, bandages, and Band-Aids.
The variety wasn't large, but since Sophia needed large quantities, he still asked what she needed them for.
Sophia had already prepared her answer.
She said she wanted to donate to impoverished areas—to do something within her means.
This wasn't entirely a lie. She really did donate a small portion.
But the rest was more than enough for her own use.
Since he'd helped her, Sophia placed an order for food and drink and had it anonymously delivered to his house.
Whether in the apocalypse or after being reborn, Sophia had no intention of telling anyone.
Call her cold-blooded or heartless—she'd already died once.
Now that she'd been given a second chance at life, she just wanted to live well.
After the medicine matter was resolved, all the goods Sophia had ordered gradually made their way into her space.
After receiving the final shipment, Sophia locked the warehouse and drove away.
For weapons, after extensive inquiries, Sophia finally had a lead.
A weapons enthusiast ran a cold weapons gallery.
On the surface, everything was collectible. But in reality, quite a few were real.
Sophia visited and bought two longswords, one long dagger, and one short dagger.
These four items alone cost her $250,000.
But Sophia didn't feel the slightest regret.
She wasn't short on money—only on value.
By this point, a month had passed since Sophia's rebirth.
After picking up all the prepared meals from various restaurants, Sophia rented a large moving truck and drove out of the city.
Grains and rice were sufficient, but fresh produce was still lacking. She planned to drive directly to farms and rural areas to get the freshest stock.
For chicken, duck, fish, pork, beef, and lamb, Sophia planned to buy freshly slaughtered meat.
Freshly slaughtered also meant she could get fresh chicken blood and duck blood.
Beyond that, canned goods were needed.
Sophia visited a cannery and bought plenty of canned food.
She also bought hot dogs, roast beef, ham, smoked tofu, and other prepared foods.
Over the next month, Sophia drove around nearby cities, buying every conceivable thing.
Whenever she passed a gas station, she filled up.
After leaving the station, she'd find a spot without cameras, siphon the gasoline into pre-purchased fuel cans.
The method was crude and tedious, but it was safe.
After a month, Sophia had stored several tons of gasoline and several tons of diesel.
It wasn't much, but it was enough for her needs.