6: Chapter 4 Shopping 6: Chapter 4 Shopping The bus hurtles down a dedicated lane, reaching speeds up to 150km/h.
Most residents use the bus as their mode of transport, which is one of the fastest ways to travel in the city.
Moreover, due to the Corner Law, there is no such thing as a subway in the city.
The squad leader chose the largest supermarket in the city as the meeting place, which Luo Di had only visited once five years ago.
“Next stop, Terminal Supermarket (Front Plaza).
This station is a high-density platform, and the door opening time will be extended to ninety seconds.
Please disembark in an orderly manner.”
Outside the bus window, the landmark building with a huge footprint is on display.
The building’s surface uses a dynamic projection lighting system that continuously illuminates while continuously displaying various avant-garde product advertisements.
Each entrance is engraved with the supermarket’s logo – “Brain Placed Among Shopping Carts”.
The bustling front plaza made Luo Di quite uncomfortable; aside from school, he hadn’t been to such crowd-concentrated areas in a long time, so he quickly dialed the squad leader’s phone.
Almost at the same time as making the call, a familiar voice came from the side, accompanied by a slender arm waving back and forth in the air.
Today, the squad leader wore a white T-shirt with a cute bunny on the chest, still wearing tight sports pants and small white shoes beneath.
The team members mentioned earlier all stood by her side,
including a male student who had been taking leave recently,
his physical education scores in the class were only second to Luo Di and the squad leader, ranking third, but he was always first in academic subjects.
Wearing custom glasses of over Five Hundred degrees,
a casual shirt paired with capri pants suitable for sports,
standing at 183cm tall, he clearly was a student who excels at both sports and academics, and he was also the vice squad leader of class five.
Luo Di rarely interacted with classmates on regular days and was not familiar with this person either; they had spoken less than ten sentences in two years of high school.
Of course, this vice squad leader himself was quite solitary and strange; he liked to go alone to deserted staircases or rooftops to read during non-class hours.
The other team member was the squad leader’s friend from another school.
Under the light golden hair were a pair of emerald green eyes, white skin,
dressed in a short-sleeved outfit similar to the squad leader’s couple outfit, with a cartoon fierce dog printed on the chest, and wearing sports shorts below.
Compared to the squad leader’s relatively slender legs, this Caucasian girl’s legs were much thicker, specifically having more pronounced muscle definition.
It’s worth noting that her height surpassed the other members of the team, making her the tallest among the four.
As Luo Di approached, the squad leader warmly introduced the group.
“No need to introduce our Vice Squad Leader Gao too much, right?
Gao Yuxuan was still recuperating at home, but he agreed to join the practice session to give face to me, the squad leader.”
Luo Di and Vice Squad Leader Gao looked at each other and nodded politely.
The squad leader then turned to her friend from another school.
“Anna Ivanova, attending the best city center school in our city.
Her grades are above average within her school but would be exceptional if placed in ours.
Probably only you, Luo Di, could surpass her in physical education.”
Anna had already come close earlier and was scrutinizing this ordinary-looking young man, speaking in standardized Russian: “So you are Luo Di, who has higher sports scores than Wen?
Want to arm wrestle?”
Before Luo Di could refuse, the squad leader had already jumped between the two.
“Anna~ don’t scare away the teammate I finally managed to bring here.
We can talk about these matters after you get to know each other better; our time is very limited; let’s quickly go buy the necessary items for this practice session.”
Anna seemed slightly unhappy for not getting a chance to arm wrestle, leading the way while persistently showing off her biceps.
Terminal Supermarket (T.S.M)
The entrance has a security checkpoint similar to intelligent airports, where each customer needs to be inspected before they can enter.
The scanning equipment will also recognize individuals’ identity wristbands, calling up their recent valid ‘psychological report.’
As students, all four of them go to the School Medical Room for psychological checks every half month, which is quite convenient.
After passing through the security check,
a manager dressed in a tailcoat immediately greeted them inside the mall, actively approaching Squad Leader Wu Wen.
“Respected VIP customer, what can I do for you?”
“There’s no need, just open the express checkout lane for us when we pay.”
“Then I won’t disturb you further.
We will keep an eye on your movements, and you only need to wave at the surveillances if you need help.”
Luo Di silently watched all this; membership in the terminal supermarket wasn’t something you could simply buy into, as the member count was very low.
The Squad Leader skillfully pushed over a large shopping cart and reminded,
“We have three hours for shopping; let’s get the necessities first.”
[Living Goods – Outdoor Survival Equipment Section]
Here, you could purchase all sorts of items for outdoor camping and survival.
Luo Di, unclear about the practice content and unsure of what to take for field practice, silently watched others picking items.
‘Long-lasting strong flashlight’, ‘Electric lantern (portable)’, ‘Windproof lighter’, ‘Matches’, ‘Portable first aid kit’, ‘Backpack and toolset’
Initially, these were relatively normal items.
Until Vice Squad Leader Gao grabbed a standard Field Knife,
Anna opted for a Tactical Axe stamped with a military logo,
The Squad Leader didn’t pick any weapon for self-defense but looked toward the back of the group, “Luo Di, why aren’t you picking anything?
I’ve said that I will handle any expenses related to the practice, don’t be shy.”
“No, are these cold weapons intended to be used against wild animals?”
I haven’t explained to you the specific type of ‘practice’ yet.
This is a whole new kind of practice that’s never been mentioned in our textbooks and might become mainstream in the future.”
The Squad Leader stepped back to Luo Di’s side with a light pace,
tiptoeing closer, and whispered softly, his lips nearly touching the ear,
words slipping smoothly from his lips like a baby’s arms massaging the ear,
“Because we are all considered top students, I asked my dad to secure us a more challenging ‘new type of practice’. Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by novel·fiɾe·net
A local research institute is conducting a practice project for exceptional young people.
This project can effectively simulate encountering [anomaly events].
Don’t worry, these simulated events are far from real and are finely controlled by the research institute, so there’s no danger to our lives.”
“Simulated Anomaly?” Luo Di heard of it for the first time.
“Right, recently some top students have been secretly engaging in this kind of practice, and it greatly aids admissions.”
“How challenging is it?”
“Between three stars and full stars, it depends on the ‘lottery results’ at that time.
So Luo Di, you’d better pick a suitable self-defense weapon.
If you haven’t performed extra training in this area, I personally suggest that the Field Knife we practice with during PE class would be better for you.”
“Okay, I’ll go look around on my own first.”
Temporarily leaving the group, the corners of Luo Di’s mouth twitched slightly.
After learning that practice could simulate anomalies, an excitement engulfed in deep thought began to slowly emerge.
He even thought about customizing his own mask, but there wasn’t enough time.
As he contemplated tools suitable for targeting simulated objectives, Luo Di immediately thought of the chopping tools akin to those in the movies, stopping in front of a cleaving knife,
Just as Luo Di reached out his hand to grab the handle, a burst of engine noise suddenly came from behind him.
Luo Di’s pupils instantly fixed and narrowed, that excitement hidden within his pupils flowed out like pus,
his gaze directed towards a special counter inside the supermarket,