Wasteland Survival, but in Management Mode

Ling Zhao inexplicably gets bound to a System that demands she struggle to survive in the apocalypse. ...Or so it should have gone. Ling Zhao looks at the randomly assigned initial safehouse, [Office], and the main storyline about ending the apocalypse, and falls into deep thought. [Universal Conglomerate: Trade, monopoly, capital! If you have enough money, you can buy anything!] [As chairman of the Universal Conglomerate, you cannot gain experience from combat, mining, repairs, cleaning, cooking, or other such activities. You can only earn income through employee activities and trade.] * In the wasteland, where disasters are everywhere and human calamities run rampant, 14-to-16-hour workdays are the norm in every industry. Resources are worth more than human lives, jobs offer no security, and all overtime is treated as a blessing... One day, a company called Noah appeared. Some called it the hope of a new world; others said it was going too far. The shelters objected: "Give the lower classes too much, and they'll get lazy!" Factory owners lamented: "All our workers have run off!" The business association protested: "She's violating our freedom to work whatever hours we want, and she's cut the prices of so many things in half. This is too radical!" They say the best scientists are there, along with the finest generals and soldiers, as well as world-famous doctors, teachers, scholars, wealthy merchants... People tried to poach them, offering astronomical sums, but were turned down one after another. Asked why, they said: "They have an eight-hour workday here." "They pay overtime here." "We get two days off a week and paid leave here." Chairwoman Ling Zhao once said, "I'll pay you above the market rate. If the value you create doesn't measure up to this generous treatment, you can repay my kindness with absolute loyalty." As for the loyalty she bought... The wasteland's original inhabitants, who never knew if they'd make it through the day and might not see tomorrow: "You mean we can get a job with 13 types of insurance, including meteorite insurance, romance insurance, illness insurance, and falling-into-a-ditch-while-walking insurance, plus three funds: a housing fund, unemployment benefits, and an education fund, just by pledging our loyalty? What a deal!" Much later, on the day a certain name rang across the wasteland, someone realized: She was a greedy ship, carrying everyone toward the end of the apocalypse. A reporter asked, "How did you manage to do all this?" Ling Zhao: "Because I acted like a decent person?" Reading Guide: 1. A very long story about developing and managing a wasteland settlement. Is a company basically the same as a territory? 2. The heroine is absurdly greedy and has an overwhelming sense of entitlement: I came, I saw, I wanted it, I got it. (A wasteland B-king.) 3. For the reasons above, there are many one-sided crushes. The plot has a happy ending, while the romance has an open ending. 4. Some details that seem off are foreshadowing. 5. The heroine's greed is positive in nature. She values long-term gains over immediate ones. She is neither a villain nor a mad capitalist. Comments on individual chapters are now open. Blurb saved on May 7, 2025. A sort of prequel to this story, without the settlement-building. A cyberpunk drama set in an earlier era of the same world. See my profile for: Upend the World [Cyberpunk]. Another completed work: The World Is Updating. If you have time, please also check out my upcoming works. Thank you so much. Theme: Hope is a priceless treasure.