Chapter 19: Accidental Space

Some rejoiced, others grieved.

The temperature was fairly tolerable, just around fifty degrees.

Online posts surged one after another, all filled with various complaints.

Jhiang Yuan checked them daily, and although the internet wasn't great, she could still load the pages, which was enough for her.

Because discussions about the apocalypse were hot, many experts had emerged with predictions, claiming that a cold front accompanied by a strong typhoon was imminent.

The government also issued statements confirming this, sparking joy and motivation online for a while.

West City was an inland area; typhoons couldn't really reach there.

But if the coastal areas were hit by a typhoon, the inland could benefit as well.

Rain, or the cold air, would always help alleviate the current high temperatures.

However, some island nations had already started taking action.

The typhoon "Tien Viet" seemed to have a high category and was potent enough to prompt a level one alert.

The persistent global heat warranted only a level two alert under such circumstances.

It seemed that this typhoon shouldn't be underestimated.

Jhiang Yuan was uneasy. Unlike others, she knew what the world would face after the heavy rains.

With this thought, she ran up to the attic again to carefully check her supplies.

Although she had prepared a lot, she still felt it wasn't enough. If she could gather more supplies before the severe cold hit, she guessed she still had time.

She remembered that it would rain for a month; when that happened, rivers would rise, and many places would flood.

To buy supplies, she didn't have much money left.

It was troublesome. In the face of natural disasters, human strength seemed too insignificant.

Jhiang Yuan sighed and started to check the food items on the shelves with shorter shelf lives.

"Oh my…"

The shelving was crude, merely assembled with simple steel bars.

Jhiang Yuan didn't notice and scratched her hand on one of the steel bars.

Perhaps she was too tense.

The cut was pretty deep; blood appeared immediately.

She didn't need to rush things to such an extent.

After leaving the attic, she went straight to her room so her parents wouldn't see and get more worried.

She had an emergency first-aid kit in her nightstand, bought from an outdoor supply store, and she took it out to use now.

Unexpectedly, such a small cut on her hand bled so much.

Jhiang Yuan prepared to bandage it herself.

Suddenly, she was dazzled by a burst of light.

She was puzzled. Was it coming from this bracelet?

The bracelet she had gotten in exchange yesterday was not put away, but left on the nightstand.

Jhiang Yuan was at a loss, harboring an improbable thought.

She silently picked up the bracelet, and to her astonishment, her blood was completely absorbed by it, followed by a brilliant golden light.

She had read a lot of novels and had a bold assumption. Could this be a "space" artifact?

But this was a modern thing, not some antique jade stone from Cartier, making it feel so unrealistic.

The light continued for three minutes before stopping, and Jhiang Yuan focused on stopping the blood on her finger first.

She applied a Yunnan Baiyao plaster, then picked up the bracelet again to study it carefully.

The bracelet seemed not to be from Cartier; its shape was designed according to models on the market.

But it contained numbers one through ten inside, which were hard to see unless examined closely.

Jhiang Yuan was feeling around inside, touching each one "1, 2, 3… 10, ah…"

She hadn't expected to actually get sucked in.

She was still holding that bracelet. Inside, there was a wooden cabin, with only one room featuring a bed equipped with something like a countdown timer, ticking away.

It started from twelve hours, and there was nothing else…

Exiting the door, there was a small courtyard outside, without any fences or such.

The place wasn't large, the cabin was about twenty square meters, and the courtyard seemed to be around sixty square meters.

Surrounding area was an expanse of whiteness, not like in the novels that described vast spaces with electricity, water, and even natural gas.

The ground in this courtyard was flat and square, and the soil seemed like it could be cultivated.

Okay, her space, compared to others', was somewhat rudimentary.

It seemed like it was just there to make up the numbers.

After a day of research, she had finally understood how this space worked.

1, 2, 3, was the password to enter the space…

Inside, it definitely had a constant temperature; anything put inside would come out just the same.

The timer, apparently, was the duration she could stay inside.

Entering would start the countdown, exiting would stop it.

Xiao Nuan could enter too, but she had to be in physical contact with her and then activate the password.

4, 5, 6: to retrieve items, she needed to think of the item and its location, which were also the exit passwords.

The rest of the familiar combinations did not trigger any reaction.

In other words, it seemed that there were some features yet to be activated, waiting for some kind of trigger.

This matter was very fantastical, and it made her quite excited.

Having this thing, after all, was better than not having it.

However, the space wasn't bound to her.

Her blood was merely a catalyst to open the space, not something exclusive to her.

The girl in apartment 11 likely hadn't discovered this space, otherwise, she wouldn't have parted with the bracelet.

By sheer accident, she ended up activating the space.

Now, the most important thing was to figure out if the countdown timer could be extended and how to do so if possible.

Additionally, whether cultivating plants inside was feasible.

Jhiang Yuan had grown up in a rural area, was familiar with land, and could handle agricultural tasks.

However, this would take a long time, and if the timer wasn't extended, it really wouldn't be worth it.

Another concern was to be wary that this space, well, could easily be taken by someone else.

Did that mean that if she put a lot of things inside, those too could be taken?

During the apocalypse, items like gold were a prime target for looting.

Although food was the main currency, real gold and silver certainly wouldn't be overshadowed.

This was also why she needed to exchange some gold to keep on hand.

The bracelet needed to be carefully hidden, unnoticeable to others, yet easily accessible to her.

Jhiang Yuan thought back to the girl on the 11th floor, realizing she had inadvertently seized a lifeline of hers. If possible, she should help her out within her means in the future.

That was, as long as this girl didn't threaten her interests or her family's safety.

She had been messing around with it all day, and in the evening, Qin Yue came to invite her out for dinner.

They had previously ordered a lot of mushroom logs online; with an ample water supply and high temperatures, several mushrooms had already grown.

Tonight, mom had picked a lot of them and cooked a mushroom pot with plenty of side dishes.

Said to be a hotpot, it was served all in one pot; upon lifting the lid, the aroma was tantalizing.