Under normal conditions, an exposed steak in the air can only remain edible for about an hour. At a refrigeration temperature of 0~4°C, the time can be extended to 4~6 hours. In vacuum packaging and frozen at -30°C, the steak will hardly spoil.

"It seems that not only plants, but even fungi and bacteria have significantly accelerated their reproduction rates."

"Probably about four or five times faster."

This speed was still within acceptable limits, but what worried Qin Yu was that these microorganisms were not maintaining this reproduction rate. They were rapidly evolving, and their reproduction speed was visibly increasing. This also meant that the rate of food spoilage would continue to accelerate.

Qin Yu took a deep breath, a trace of worry in his eyes. After all the employees left, it was already 19:47 in the evening. Qin Yu began to sort out the food that needed to be discarded today. Half an hour later, ensuring no one would return, he quickly entered the monitoring room and turned off all the surveillance screens.

"Although my personal space is very discreet to use, it's safer to take precautions."

Leaving the monitoring room, Qin Yu no longer hesitated and directly used the infinite space to store all the food.

"Time stands still in the personal space, and it can also be used to store cooked food."

He cooked two high-grade steaks for himself, steamed two large baskets of a luxurious seafood set, thought for a moment, and also made some wontons, while roasting a lamb and a suckling pig.

"That should be enough." Qin Yu smiled slightly.

After finishing all this, more than two hours had passed. During this time, Qin Yu collected drinks, alcohol, snacks, instant noodles, seasonings, rice, flour, and oil from the supermarket. These were all well-packaged and showed no signs of spoilage. He then turned his attention to the vegetable and fruit sections.

"I have a system that returns a hundredfold, as long as I give them to women, there's no need to take all the food." Qin Yu was very cautious, perhaps overly so, taking only four or five of each kind and not more.

For the large Hippo Fresh supermarket, this quantity would not be noticeable in a short time, only possibly discovered during the monthly inventory check. But Qin Yu was not afraid; with the surveillance off, no one knew what he had done during this time. Moreover, with the increasing speed of food spoilage, the microorganisms could take the blame for what he took. Even if traces were found, the growing density of the red mist outside had law enforcement overwhelmed, making it unlikely they would deploy significant resources for such a small matter.

"Why are these vegetables sprouting?"

In the vegetable and fruit section, Qin Yu frowned. The potatoes had mostly sprouted, and the sweet potatoes had a dozen new sprouts, each as long as a finger. Leeks and cabbages were the same.

"Something's wrong." Qin Yu looked up sharply. The entire Hippo Fresh supermarket was shrouded in a faint red mist. This place was no longer safe! His body was covered in goosebumps. Qin Yu quickly picked some vegetables and fruits that hadn't shown any anomalies and stored them in his personal space, then rushed to the seafood section.

"Bang!" As he arrived, a glass tank exploded, and a bullfrog the size of a rice cooker jumped out, staring at Qin Yu. Simultaneously, the nylon-tied crabs also crawled out of the tank, each as large as a washbasin. The sight of the giant crabs made Qin Yu's heart race, and tears of terror welled up.

Six eyes stared at each other.

"Forget it, I can't win."

"Let's get out of here!"

Qin Yu felt a pang of regret; these were plump crabs and a robust bullfrog! But facing these mutated monsters, he wasn't confident in his combat abilities. He suspected he might not be able to fight them. If the roles of hunter and prey were reversed, it would be truly embarrassing.

Wiping his mouth, he took out a large bottle of cola from his personal space, shook it vigorously, opened it, and threw it far away. The mutant bullfrog noticed the spraying cola and leaped over ten meters towards it. The giant crab also noticed the commotion and moved toward the cola, its claws waving.

"Phew, their intelligence hasn't evolved." Qin Yu exhaled and quietly bypassed them, grabbing a club from the seafood section and moving towards the remaining unaffected seafood.

"East Star Grouper?"

"Thud!" He struck it on the head and threw it into his personal space.

"Mantis shrimp, you're mine!"

"Conch, blood clam, sea melon seeds... come to daddy!"

"King crab, take this!"

"Don't blame me; if I don't kill you, you'll become monsters sooner or later."

"You wouldn't want to become mutants and not find a mate, right?"

Qin Yu moved quickly, collecting seafood while the mutated bullfrog and crab were distracted.

"Tick, tick, ding~"

22:00. After storing the roasted lamb and suckling pig, Qin Yu dashed into the cold storage for more supplies, then rode his electric scooter home as fast as he could.

"The red mist is so thick at night!" The floating red mist reduced visibility to almost five meters, and the scooter's light couldn't penetrate it.

"Weird noises kept coming from the darkness." Qin Yu's lips turned blue, his back drenched in cold sweat as he floored the scooter.

"Faster, faster!"

"Thump, thump, thump~" In the silent night, Qin Yu felt his heart pounding in his throat. He didn't care about traffic rules, going the wrong way, running red lights, drifting—all kinds of maneuvers, relying on his memory of the route, he dashed through the red mist.

"Phew." After a dozen minutes, he finally reached his neighborhood. Feeling a sense of safety, Qin Yu supported himself on his knees, panting heavily.

"Meow~" At that moment, a pair of crimson eyes lit up in the red mist. A scar-faced white cat, half the height of a person, emerged from the darkness, staring at Qin Yu.

"Little White?" The white cat was a stray in the Yushui Garden neighborhood, often seen rummaging through trash with other skinny cats. When Qin Yu first arrived, he used to bring discarded roasted fish from the supermarket to feed them. After two feedings, more and more stray cats appeared. Once, coming home late, he was blocked by a dozen cats, and he never fed them again. How did it get so big? Could it be the red mist? Thinking of the giant bullfrog and crab in the supermarket, Qin Yu had a bad feeling.

The red mist appeared a few days ago, causing plants to grow wildly and microorganisms to reproduce faster. Now, even animals were unpredictably mutating?! The world had suddenly become extremely dangerous.

"Little White, I fed you several times. You wouldn't repay kindness with enmity, would you?" Qin Yu slowly backed away, his palms sweating, his heart racing. This cat was nearly the size of a leopard, and he doubted his combat abilities. But he knew he couldn't run. Turning to flee would signal to the feline that he was prey, starting a hunt he couldn't win. Qin Yu stared fiercely at the white cat, trying to make himself look bigger, growling lowly. The white cat tilted its head, a cautious look on its scarred face.

"Here, my toll fee." He took a pomfret from his personal space and threw it to the cat. The white cat glanced at Qin Yu, deciding he was not to be trifled with, and took the fish away.

Seeing the cat disappear into the mist, Qin Yu clutched his pounding heart and rushed to his room.

"Bang!" He shut the door, didn't turn on the light, and drew all the curtains, finally relaxing a bit.

"Phew, phew, phew." Gulping air, Qin Yu felt he was suffocating when facing the white cat. He knew he had been marked as prey. If not for the cat's lingering fear of humans and its adjustment to its new role as a predator, he might not have made it back.

"Next time, it won't be so easy to fool..." Qin Yu's eyes showed worry.

"Ding! Wang Mengting consumed a bag of Lay's chips, returning 100 bags! Stored in personal space."

"Ding! Wang Mengting consumed a cup of Hei Long Tang milk tea, returning 100 cups! Stored in personal space."

"Ding! Wang Mengting consumed 8 cherry tomatoes, returning 800! Stored in personal space."

"Ding! Wang Mengting consumed a spirit fruit, returning 100! Stored in personal space."

At that moment, a series of notifications sounded. Qin Yu was speechless; he had just been in a life-and-death race, and Wang Mengting was leisurely watching shows and eating snacks. "Is this the life of a civil servant?"

Once, Qin Yu worked three jobs a day for six years, spending tens of thousands to support Wang Mengting's civil service exams. The moment she passed, she broke up with him. No matter how he pleaded, she ruthlessly refused. He still remembered her icy, resolute face, feeling the world turn gray. The first sword on landing was to cut down the one he loved. There really were such cruel things in the world, and it happened to him. Qin Yu almost ended up like the poor cat, nearly jumping into the river.

"Consider the tens of thousands as your reward for six years." Qin Yu walked to the curtain, opened a slit, and looked at the floating red mist outside, his eyes cold.

"Wang Mengting, I hope you get the life you wanted..."