Qiao Xin examined the surveillance feeds carefully and noticed that the factory had a courtyard outside.
A faint smirk touched her lips. She dismantled the main monitor and recording equipment, stowing them into her space. After checking the room one last time and finding nothing else of value, she flipped the master power switch, plunging the entire factory into darkness.
Retrieving a high-intensity flashlight from her space, she stepped carefully over the two unconscious men and made her way into the yard. It was stacked with anthracite coal, piled as high as a small hill—at least a hundred tons. Beside it sat two large trucks and an excavator. Since she hadn’t stockpiled any of these, she swept the lot into her space, not even leaving a coal cinder behind.
As she turned to leave, she paused. At the back of the yard stood a large prefabricated cabin. Curious, she approached and shone her light on the closed door. It wasn’t locked. She pushed it open to find it filled with oil drums, clearly labeled “gasoline” and “diesel.” Combined, the volume was more than double what she had spent hundreds of thousands to purchase earlier.
Qiao Xin popped a few lids, ecstatic to find them brimmed to the top. Don’t mind if I do, she thought, whisking them all away into her space.
This wasn’t a kidnapping, she mused. This was a delivery service for my supplies. She had no intention of saying thank you—she needed to get out of there, fast.
She materialized Lin Qing’s sedan from her space and slammed on the accelerator. Only after driving a safe distance did she finally slow down, though her heart was still hammering against her ribs. She forced herself to breathe. Things she had never dared to imagine doing, she had accomplished today, and she had escaped unscathed. The thought only made her adrenaline spike further.
With one hand on the wheel, she grabbed a cup of stream water from her space and drank it down to steady her nerves. She opened her GPS and set a course. She knew those men wouldn’t let this slide once they woke up, but they certainly wouldn’t dare go to the police. She just needed to buy herself a head start. She decided she would change cities and lay low for a while.
Three hours later, she pulled into the city. She debated her next move. There was one last batch of deliveries waiting; she needed to return home, pack up, and clear out.
It was past 2:00 AM when she arrived. She packed everything she owned. The furniture belonged to the landlord, but the small kitchen appliances she and Lin Qing had bought together were all accounted for.
She looked at the empty room. She and Lin Qing had lived here for five years. Even if it wasn’t their house, it held memories. She gave the place a final, thorough cleaning, showered, dried her hair, ate a bowl of beef noodles, and collapsed onto the sofa.
She was soon dead to the world, only to be jolted awake by her phone. It was the rental car agency. The lease on the small cargo van had expired yesterday—she was supposed to return it then, but fate had other plans.
“I need one more day,” Qiao Xin said to the boss. “You can keep the deposit. The day after tomorrow morning, just send someone to pick it up in front of the XXX apartment complex. You have a spare key, right?”
A thousand yuan for an extra day was a great deal, and the owner was more than happy to agree.
Qiao Xin checked the time: 2:00 PM. She’d slept much longer than expected. After a quick meal, she took one final look at the apartment and left. She was certain those men wouldn’t dare hunt her down in broad daylight, which was why she hadn’t fled the city the night before.
She took a taxi to the street yesterday. The cargo van was still parked where she’d left it. She confirmed with the courier that the final shipments had arrived at the station, drove over, and cleared them all. By the time she finished, dusk was settling in. She parked the van in the lot by her apartment complex, grabbed a pre-packed backpack, and left.
She hailed a cab to the airport and boarded a flight to H City, which took off an hour later.
Meanwhile, the man who had been sprayed in the eyes was at the hospital, his fists clenched tight. That filthy btch,* he seethed. I will make her regret being born.
An hour into the flight, Qiao Xin sipped her drink, closed her eyes, and let her consciousness slip into her space.
All of today’s deliveries had arrived, including the saplings she’d ordered online. She had time now; she would plant them and pray they would bloom and fruit soon.
She toured the hillside and was stunned to find that the animals she’d brought in just days ago had grown significantly. The chickens and ducks were nearly full-grown—they’d be laying eggs before she knew it. It was a delightful surprise.
There was plenty of space left on the slopes. She decided to plant tall fruit trees like walnut, jujube, persimmon, and chestnut on the hills, fearing that smaller saplings might be trampled by the livestock. The smaller ones would go along the edges of the fields. She spent the next few hours digging holes, planting, and watering—resting only when her muscles burned—until she was finally satisfied with the orchard’s new layout.
When she’d ordered the saplings, she’d only bought three to five of each variety, but the sheer number of types added up quickly. By the time she finished watering the last plum tree, she was drenched in sweat and panting, collapsing onto the ground. I’m exhausted, she thought. This is manual labor at its finest.
Looks like I need to step up my physical training, she mused. With my current stamina, I won’t last a day in the ancient world.
Qiao Xin opened her eyes. She’d spent hours toiling away in space, but only two hours had passed in the real world. The plane wouldn’t land for another forty minutes, so she closed her eyes and dove back in.
She still hadn’t opened the safe she’d seized the night before. She was burning with curiosity—what was inside? Since the guy owned a knife shop, maybe he had weapons. She was woefully short on those.
She dragged the safe to a flat patch of ground outside the cabin. She grabbed a chainsaw—with all that gasoline, she didn’t care about burning through fuel. Donning goggles and a mask, she fired it up. As the teeth bit into the metal, a shower of sparks flew, accompanied by a high-pitched, incessant screeching.
Her arms were shaking from the vibration, and she’d only managed a tiny slice. She was so frustrated she wanted to scream. Is this really worth it?
Looking at the two-finger-long gash, a flash of inspiration hit her. She dropped the chainsaw and pressed her hand against the opening, whispering, “Collect.”
Qiao Xin almost jumped for joy—it worked! As she laid the contents of the safe out on the ground, she wanted to shriek, jolting upward from her seat with such force that the passengers around her stared in alarm.
Qiao Xin waved her hands sheepishly. “Sorry! Sorry, excuse me.”
She sat down quickly, wishing she could bury her head under the seat. How embarrassing.
She squeezed her eyes shut and dove back into her consciousness. The man must have been involved in the underworld. What she’d previously only seen on TV and smartphones was now in her hands: two handguns and two boxes containing fifty rounds of ammunition each.
She gingerly picked one up; it was heavier than it looked. Well, she might not be a shooter, but she’d seen enough action movies to know the drill. She struck a few poses, feeling incredibly cool. After admiring them for a while, she stowed them in a drawer in the first room—somewhere she could keep them separate, along with the two boxes of bullets.
Next came a pile of gold-colored objects. She counted them: twenty-five gold bars. Haha! It’s all mine! Beneath them was a stack of cash—one hundred bundles of ten thousand each. One million yuan! Good heavens, what kind of honest person keeps that much cash in their home?
It was clearly a black market operation. Who knew how that money was earned? I have to spend every cent of it, Qiao Xin thought, flashing a wicked grin.
After the flight landed, Qiao Xin checked into a five-star hotel. It was peak tourist season, and even a standard double room cost eight hundred yuan a night, but she booked a suite for the week without blinking.
“Miss, here is your room card. The elevator is on your left,” the receptionist said.
“Thank you!” Qiao Xin replied, taking the card.
She followed the directions to the twenty-second floor. Now that she was flush with cash again, she decided to stockpile supplies for the rest of her life. Things wouldn’t spoil in the space, so she had to buy, buy, buy.
Toiletries, cosmetics, pantry staples like oil and vinegar, cigarettes, alcohol, beverages, snacks, and pastries—she spent four days buying it all.
By the fifth day, she began hoarding the local delicacies of H City. Street stalls, hotpot joints, and classic restaurants—she bought everything in sight. By the time she finished, the last of her hundred thousand was gone, leaving her with only three thousand yuan to her name.
I heard there’s a spa up ahead, she thought. Time to go in and relax.