In a dim and cluttered room, Qin Zhiyuan was packing up the Lego building models, sandbox bases, and various tools on the floor with a face full of exhaustion.
These were once his most beloved treasures, carefully built and collected with countless hours of hard work. Now, however, he had to pack them up and sell them.
His mother had been diagnosed with mid-stage cancer last year. The sudden bad news had weighed down the entire family until they could barely breathe, and their savings had been poured into the bottomless pit of medical expenses.
Now that their savings had hit rock bottom, he had reached the point where he had to start selling off his possessions. These stockpiled Lego models from his personal hobby became the first things he considered selling for cash.
the set on the floor was his most satisfying recent work: a massive five-square-meter sandbox base paired with an exquisite three-square-meter Lego Store building. Although it took up a lot of space, it was beautiful.
Qin Zhiyuan sighed. This set had a market value of tens of thousands of yuan. He hoped to find a buyer who liked it and could pay a good price, adding another glimmer of hope for his mother’s treatment.
He bent down and reached out, intending to lift the Lego building into a nearby box for packing. At that moment, he suddenly saw something.
Inside the sandbox, a miniature person—only a dozen or so centimeters tall, just slightly taller than a common smartphone—appeared out of thin air without warning, crashing into his field of vision.
The little person was drenched in sweat and dressed in rags. Their expression was panicked, as if being closely pursued by something terrifying. From time to time, they looked back in horror, their steps staggering and stumbling as they ran across the sandbox toward the Lego Store.
“Huh?” Qin Zhiyuan couldn’t help but widen his eyes, a look of unbelievable shock appearing on his face. He stopped his movements, stunned in place.
What is this? Is this a human?
Unbelievable… how could there be such a miniature, tiny human in the world?
He subconsciously raised his hand to rub his brow and then his eyes, wondering if he was having hallucinations because he had been worrying about his mother’s illness and suffering from insomnia for too long.
However, just as he was filled with suspicion, a clear and cold mechanical announcement suddenly rang out in his mind without warning, striking his very soul.
[Host’s wish detected: To cure mother’s cancer.]
[Miniature Sandbox Management System is binding. Operate the store and reach the turnover targets to exchange for a “Cure-All” potion to fulfill the Host’s wish.]
[Does the Host agree to bind?]
Qin Zhiyuan felt as if a freezing spell had been cast on him. He froze instantly, his eyes filled with shock and confusion.
What? A novel plot coming to life?
It took several seconds before he snapped out of his shock and replied tentatively, “Yes?”
The conditions offered by the system were beneficial to him. If this was real and not a hallucination, he would naturally choose to agree. As long as he could save someone, he was willing to do anything.
[Congratulations Host, binding successful!]
Qin Zhiyuan looked at the sandbox. The little person was still there and had not disappeared. None of this was a hallucination; it was a bizarre event happening right before his eyes.
[Your store has welcomed its first customer. Please receive her and complete the first order of the new store’s opening!]
A complex mix of emotions welled up in his heart—shock, confusion, but more than anything, hope.
Although he didn’t know what this system was or what it wanted, if what it said was true…
Then that was wonderful. His mother could be saved.
…
Han Qingying braved the high heat, not daring to make a sound as she walked cautiously along the street, hiding herself.
Sweat constantly beaded on her forehead and slid down her cheeks, soaking her tattered clothes. The fabric had long been permeated with sweat and dust, emitting an unpleasant odor, but she had no time to worry about that.
Three years ago, the apocalypse broke out without warning. A nightmare from hell swept across the entire Earth in an instant.
Almost all animals other than humans underwent terrifying mutations. Their bodies became twisted and deformed, and their temperaments became incredibly ferocious, frantically attacking humans and feeding on them.
At the same time, the weather became extremely abnormal. For example, her region became unbearably hot all year round, with persistent high temperatures and chronic drought.
Human society completely collapsed in this disaster. The once prosperous and bustling cities turned into ruins of broken walls, and order vanished.
The extreme weather made it very difficult to grow food, and all kinds of original resources were gradually exhausted over these three years. Necessities such as food, water, and medicine became extremely scarce. Survival became difficult and increasingly desperate.
The scorching heat of the end times seemed as if it would melt everything. During the day, temperatures reached 50 or 60 degrees Celsius. Even at night when the temperature was lowest, it would not drop below 40 degrees. Every minute spent outside made one feel like they were going mad from the heat.
But for the sake of survival, humans could not avoid going out. If they didn’t come out to find food and water, they would starve or die of thirst. People died every day; they could only live day by day, struggling to survive in despair.
Food in the abandoned cities was becoming scarcer. Han Qingying had taken advantage of the slightly lower temperatures at night to scramble around the city for hours. After much trouble and searching every nook and cranny, she had only managed to find a single box of expired biscuits.
Most food had been scavenged over the past three years. Even those that hadn’t been found had mostly rotted and spoiled in the high heat, leaving only a few that had slipped through the net. In the current state of material scarcity, having something was better than nothing. With this box of biscuits, she could last another two days.
Han Qingying moved through the ruins of the city, taking each step with extreme caution, trying not to make noise to avoid attracting other creatures, planning to return to the human base before dawn.
It would be fine once she reached the base. Her base was stationed at the lowest level of a large underground parking lot, where the temperature was about five degrees lower than outside. It was slightly more bearable—at least she wouldn’t die of heat.
Seeing her base getting closer, Han Qingying’s spirit relaxed slightly.
Suddenly, an eerie cat meow erupted from the darkness far behind her, piercing the nearby dead silence. The cry carried an indescribable quality of strangeness and ferocity.
Han Qingying’s body froze instantly, a chill racing from the soles of her feet up her spine. She slowly turned her head. In the darkness, a massive mutant cat was arching its back, swishing its tail, and staring at her like a predator.
The bodies of most animals increased in size after mutating. So, although it was just a small cat once, after mutating, its size had reached that of an ordinary wolf.
Her gaze met its crimson eyes. Putrid saliva dripped from the corners of the mutant cat’s mouth, pulling into sticky threads in the night, as a low purr vibrated in its throat.
Han Qingying’s face turned as pale as paper. Her face, already somewhat wan from exhaustion, was now completely bloodless. She didn’t have time to think; her feet instinctively pushed off the ground, and she sprinted forward for her life like an arrow from a bow.
The mutant cat behind her leaped into the air, chasing her at extreme speed. Its claws scraped against the ground with an ear-piercing sound, and every time it landed, it seemed to get a step closer to Han Qingying.
Her heart hammered like thunder, each beat striking heavily against her chest. The sound of her rapid breathing echoed in her ears, and she felt as if her lungs were going to tear.
The weather was already sweltering, and combined with the intense exercise, sweat poured from her forehead, cheeks, and neck, sliding down her body and falling onto the path where she sprinted.
The shrill meowing of the cat behind her was like a death knell. The streets of the apocalypse were a mess, with vehicles overturned in every direction and broken glass and bricks scattered everywhere.
In her panic, Han Qingying had no time to watch her footing. She almost tripped over sharp debris several times. She gritted her teeth, rushing forward recklessly.
The distance between them was rapidly shrinking. It wouldn’t be more than a few minutes before the creature caught up. Fighting a mutant beast alone was extremely risky—it meant either death or serious injury.
Suddenly, she saw something.
Somewhere ahead on the street, a very faint golden light was radiating, shielding a building like a lighthouse in the fog, drawing her gaze. She didn’t know what it was.
Han Qingying, who was already on the verge of exhaustion and considering a fight to the death with the mutant beast, ran toward the faint golden light as a last-ditch effort. Although her legs felt like they were filled with lead and were incredibly heavy, her desire to survive allowed her to burst forth with a final surge of strength.
At the critical moment, Han Qingying burst into the area covered by the light.
The mutant cat was a step too slow after all. It could only roar in impotent rage outside the light shield, frantically striking the barrier with its claws, yet it failed to cause even a bit of damage.
Saved… Safe…
The heart Han Qingying had been holding in her throat settled slightly. Leaning on her waist and gasping for breath, she took a couple of deep gulps of air, and only then did she notice something was wrong with her surroundings.
It’s so cool here!
All at once, she couldn’t feel the heat!
It was a normal twenty-some degrees! A normal temperature she hadn’t felt for three whole years!
This long-lost comfort made her almost unable to believe her senses. She raised a hand to slap her face, suspecting she was dreaming, and only after a long time did she accept the fact that she wasn’t.
Han Qingying looked around in wonder. Looking forward, what entered her sight was the store not far in front of her.
A standard modern store stood there quietly. Its main appearance was like a simple geometric box with straight, smooth lines.
On the front of the store, taking up nearly two-thirds of the area, was a massive sheet of transparent glass curtain wall, allowing the interior of the shop to be displayed to passersby and attracting attention.
The store’s sign read “Shengshi Department Store” in large characters, and an “Open” sign was still hanging from the door handle.
Her eyes widened, and she stumbled forward as if in a dream, pushing open the store door in a daze.
The door opened slowly, and a breath of fresh air rushed toward her. The store was brightly lit, with soft light spilling into every corner, forming a sharp contrast with the dilapidated, desolate, and fear-filled apocalyptic world outside.
Her eyes grew even wider, full of disbelief, and her footsteps paused involuntarily.
The layout inside the store was very orderly. Rows of shelves were arranged neatly, filled with a dazzling array of goods, all of which were precious items she hadn’t seen in a long time…
Had she traveled through time? This place looked just like a store before the apocalypse!