On an endless highway, Su Xiaoyu starts from the beginning with a pink tricycle that’s about to fall apart and an AI called Lulu, sharp-tongued but soft-hearted.
While everyone else is wailing and fighting in the channel, she calmly analyzes supply and demand.
“Trading blueprints for a basic water purifier. Need metal parts. DM me.”
“Buying all kinds of seeds. Can trade antibiotics or intel.”
At first, people came to her only for her blueprints and information.
There was Old Chen, the earnest cook who traded canned luncheon meat for a blueprint; Dashan, the engineer father looking for picture books for his daughter; and A-Qi, the mechanical girl who traded radio technology for shelter…
Later, they fought together for their shared “Pink Fortress.”
And later still, when the devastating bone-melting acid rain arrived, the brightly lit pink steel fortress opened its gates.
Su Xiaoyu’s calm voice rang through the channel: “All partners with whom we have records of ‘friendly’ trades may now enter the shelter. Repeat, this isn’t a rescue. It’s… fulfillment of our agreement.”
It turned out she had long ago turned every trade into a future lifeline.
