Manager Williams worked with remarkable efficiency and immediately began making arrangements.
Soon after, Suzy and Manager Williams left the private lounge together to sign the contracts.
Their company primarily handled luxury goods.
Jewelry, on the other hand, was managed by a different shop.
The remaining jewelry had already been appraised and was laid out neatly on the counter.
Suzy's gaze swept over the pieces, and she couldn't help feeling that their luster seemed a little duller than before.
She wasn't sure whether it was just her imagination.
But the appraisal confirmed that everything was authentic and valuable—there was no issue there.
Just then, a system notification chimed in her mind.
[Ding! Derek Martin has consumed 1 boxed meal.]
[Rebate: Boxed meal ×10. Items have been stored in the space. Please check.]
Suzy froze for a moment, then immediately entered the space with her consciousness to take a look.
Sure enough, ten extra boxed meals had appeared.
Her eyes lit up with delight.
She could practically raise Derek Martin during the apocalypse!
With this rebate mechanism alone, the two of them would never starve.
Her phone vibrated.
Suzy picked it up to see a message from Derek.
It was a photo—his boxed meal completely cleaned out, not a single grain of rice left.
[Derek: Senior, I've finished eating. Thanks for the treat!]
Suzy thought again of that absurdly powerful rebate function.
[Suzy: Next time you're free, Senior will treat you to a real feast.]
She waited a bit, but Derek didn't reply.
Suzy exited the chat window.
Meanwhile, Wendy still hadn't replied either.
Before long, the manager from the other store arrived with their jewelry appraiser.
They re-examined everything once more. This time, the process was quick—only half an hour.
Once all the items were appraised, Suzy signed the contract with them as well.
The total buyback price came to over eighty million. The money was transferred directly into Suzy's account.
As soon as the funds came through, Suzy set off for a real estate agency.
First, she listed the apartment she was currently living in. Then she inquired about several large warehouses located in the suburbs.
After that, she asked about properties in Starlight Towers.
Starlight Towers was a high-end residential complex built halfway up a mountain, at relatively high elevation.
After the extreme heat disaster, typhoons and flooding would follow one after another.
By then, the entire city of A would be submerged.
Homes in low-lying areas would be completely underwater—forget about building underground shelters or bunkers.
Only Starlight Towers would suffer relatively minor damage.
This was a detail briefly mentioned in the novel, and other cities were said to be much the same.
The first half of the story took place entirely in City A.
Because of that, Suzy had no intention of leaving.
First, she was worried about triggering a butterfly effect.
Second, if she left City A, she wouldn't be able to rely on existing information to make accurate plans.
Most importantly, Suzy remembered that before Wendy left City A, she encountered a major opportunity…
Though that happened only after the disasters were nearing their end. If possible, Suzy naturally wanted to seize that opportunity for herself.
…
"Miss Kale, there happen to be a few units available for rent in Starlight Towers right now," the agent said after checking.
"Let me take a look," Suzy replied.
She accepted the tablet the agent handed her.
In reality, she already owned an apartment in Starlight Towers. It was in Building Eight, on the twentieth floor—the very top floor.
But the first disaster to arrive would be extreme heat.
When the temperatures skyrocketed, the suffering of living on the top floor went without saying.
Once the heat disaster began, the city would soon lose power, making air conditioning unusable, and at that point, it would be downright unbearable.
Suzy had no intention of moving straight into the top-floor apartment.
She planned to rent another unit on a lower floor to get through the extreme heat disaster first.
Surviving the heat wave itself wasn't actually that difficult. Among all the disasters, extreme heat claimed the fewest lives.
At that stage, the government would still be maintaining basic order. It wouldn't be until the second disaster arrived that everything truly collapsed.
As for the top-floor apartment, Suzy intended to transform it into a proper safe house—and only move in once the second disaster began.
Conveniently, both places were in the same residential complex, not too far apart.
The tablet showed that Starlight Towers currently had more than a dozen units available for rent.
There were options on almost every floor.
After some consideration, Suzy chose an apartment in Building Three, fifth floor.
The others were either too high or too low—this one was just right.
The real estate agent enthusiastically led Suzy over to view the place.
Starlight Towers, Building Three.
Several construction vehicles were parked downstairs.
Workers were installing reinforced glass, targeting the very top-floor unit.
Suzy lingered for a few extra glances.
The agent, Sam Carter, noticed her expression and explained,
"The top-floor unit is undergoing renovations. It might be a bit noisy."
"That's quite a setup," Suzy remarked casually.
Sam nodded. "Yeah. No idea what they're thinking. They were living there just fine, and suddenly they decided to overhaul the entire place."
He'd brought plenty of clients to Starlight Towers before and was on good terms with the property staff and security.
He even knew several residents and had recently heard quite a bit of complaining about this renovation.
"If you're concerned, I can show you another unit," he offered.
Suzy felt a faint ripple of unease. "When did the renovation start?" she asked.
"Just in the past couple of days," Sam replied offhandedly.
Suzy's thoughts stirred. Building Three was part of the first phase of Starlight Towers—constructed earlier, and nearly fully occupied.
Who would suddenly start renovating for no reason at all?
And the glass she'd just seen… it was unusually thick.
"Did the owner sell the place?" Suzy asked.
Sam shook his head. "That, I'm not sure about."
As they spoke, they reached the elevator. The doors slid open, and a young man in his early twenties stepped out.
His features were well-defined, his looks handsome, his pace hurried.
At the same moment, the system chimed in Suzy's mind:
[Suitable target detected: Richard Stone]
[Level: S]
[Affinity insufficient. Binding unavailable.]
Suzy paused.
She couldn't help glancing at him again. Another suitable target had appeared.
It seemed the system only issued notifications when a person met the evaluation criteria.
Sam, for one, had fairly decent features himself, yet the system hadn't reacted at all.
Richard's figure quickly disappeared down the corridor.
They entered the elevator.
Sam swiped his card and pressed the button. "That guy we saw just now—that's the owner of the top-floor unit."
Suzy was momentarily surprised. "Oh? You know him?"
Sam laughed and shook his head. "Not really. Just seen him a few times."
Richard Stone was good-looking, and Sam had run into him several times while showing properties, so he'd remembered him.
The elevator stopped at the fifth floor.
Suzy was very satisfied with the apartment. She signed the contract on the spot.
After contacting the landlord, she also received permission to make some basic modifications.
The rent was four thousand a month. Suzy paid six months upfront, along with the deposit.
Another bonus—the landlord lived overseas and rarely returned.
Sam handed over the keys and left.
Suzy then went to take a look at her own apartment in Building Eight.
Building Eight belonged to the newest phase of the project, delivered earlier this year, fully furnished.
However, many owners weren't satisfied and planned to renovate on their own.
The entire building echoed with constant clanging and drilling.
That suited Suzy just fine—when she remodeled her safe house, it wouldn't draw too much attention.
Without delay, Suzy headed straight for a renovation company in the western part of the city, known simply as "X."
According to the plot of her dream, this company specialized in one-stop safe house construction services.