“Hu… hu…”
Under the pitch-black night sky, heavy panting echoed through a dilapidated wooden shack by the river.
Qiao Yu collapsed onto the dusty wooden floor like a puddle of mud, her lungs heaving violently like bellows.
Her cheap hubby was 1.88 meters tall, with a solid, lean, muscular build.
He might have looked slender, but in reality, he was as heavy as a block of cast iron!
Qiao Yu felt as though her arms no longer belonged to her, having completely lost all sensation.
In order to find a safe place within five minutes, she had practically summoned every ounce of her strength before finally dragging Rong Chen, who had been unconscious like a dead dog, into this abandoned wooden shack once used by fishermen.
The river wind continued to howl outside, and the distant, aimless growls of zombies could still be heard faintly.
Although the wooden shack was full of gaps that let the wind whistle through, at least it blocked some of their sight and scent.
She turned her head and glanced at Rong Chen, who had been carelessly tossed into a corner.
The man’s eyes were tightly closed, his handsome, pale face drawn into a deep frown.
Even in a profound coma, he still radiated an icy, forbidding aura that warned others to keep their distance.
That dangerous presence, as though he might drag the entire world down with him at any moment, seemed to lower the temperature inside the shack by several degrees.
“Ding! The Villain’s vital signs are continuing to decline. Only three minutes remain before the linked erasure takes effect!”
The system’s cold, life-threatening alarm exploded in Qiao Yu’s mind once again.
Qiao Yu irritably grabbed a handful of hair covered in mud and sand.
“I know, I know! Are you trying to rush me to my death? We’re in the middle of nowhere. Where am I supposed to find energy to replenish him?”
“Should I cut off a piece of my own thigh and feed it to him?”
【Ding! Detecting that the host is facing a life-or-death crisis.】
【The beginner gift pack is being issued…】
Qiao Yu’s eyes suddenly lit up.
A beginner gift pack? This stingy system was finally acting human for once!
【Ding! Congratulations, host, you have successfully awakened your exclusive cheat ability: Level-One Green Oasis Space!】
【The space is soul-bound to the host and cannot be taken away. Current level: Level One, upgradeable.】
As the system notification sounded, Qiao Yu felt a warm sensation spread from between her brows.
She closed her eyes, and her consciousness was instantly pulled into a mysterious dimension.
The world before her suddenly opened up.
It was an independent space of approximately one hundred square meters.
Beneath her feet was fertile black soil so rich it seemed as though oil could be squeezed from it, carrying the fresh fragrance of earth.
At the center of the black soil was a small spring surrounded by neatly laid bluestones.
Clear spring water continuously gushed forth, so transparent that the bottom could be seen clearly, while a faint layer of white spiritual energy hovered over its surface.
After taking just one breath of it, Qiao Yu immediately felt the pain in her lungs and the exhaustion in her body ease considerably.
“It really is a space!”
In the original story, the original owner possessed an ancestral space jade pendant.
Yet on the very first day the Apocalypse broke out, not only was the jade pendant snatched away by Sheng Yue, but she was also pushed into the river to be fed to the zombies.
She never expected that a disaster would actually bring her good fortune. The system had directly bound her to an even more advanced soul space!
This was an absolute trump card that even Sheng Yue could never take away.
Qiao Yu excitedly walked around the space.
Suddenly, her attention was caught by a package lying on the grass beside the spring.
She eagerly opened it.
Inside were two packets of Laotan Pickled Cabbage Beef Noodles.
“Pfft!”
Qiao Yu almost burst out laughing.
“System, are you messing with me? The beginner gift pack for a god-level space only gives me two packets of instant noodles?”
【Ding! The host’s current authority is only Level One, so the supplies produced by the space are limited.】
【These instant noodles are specially made by the system and contain basic energy, which is sufficient to stabilize the current vital signs of the Villain.】
Fine. Having something was better than having nothing.
In the Apocalypse, a single packet of clean instant noodles could absolutely trigger a bloody incident.
Qiao Yu hurriedly withdrew her consciousness from the space.
Two packets of Laotan Pickled Cabbage Noodles and half a bowl of clear spring water appeared out of thin air in her hands.
Time was running out, and Rong Chen’s face had already begun turning blue.
Qiao Yu did not dare delay.
She searched around the corner of the wooden shack and, fortunately, found a rusty iron pot with a chipped rim.
She then went outside and gathered some dry wooden planks and dead grass.
Thankfully, the original owner enjoyed camping, so she still had a windproof lighter in her pocket.
“Click.”
A flame sprang up and caught the dry grass, finally bringing a little light and warmth into the wooden shack.
Qiao Yu placed the iron pot over the fire and poured the spiritual spring water from the space into it.
The spring water was truly miraculous. The moment it was heated, it immediately released a refreshing, sweet fragrance that filled the air.
The water quickly came to a boil, bubbling and rolling.
Qiao Yu tore open the packets, then dumped both noodle cakes and all the seasoning packets into the pot at once.
On this cold night in the Apocalypse, the uniquely tangy and intensely savory aroma of Laotan pickled cabbage instantly filled the cramped wooden shack.
Steam billowed from the pot, and the fragrance was so irresistible that it seemed capable of hooking the soul right out of a person.
Qiao Yu swallowed hungrily as she stirred the noodles with a thoroughly cleaned tree branch.
“Hubby, hubby, you’d better hang in there. I risked my life to cook these life-saving noodles for you.”
She muttered softly under her breath with her back turned to Rong Chen.
The firelight illuminated the mud-streaked side of her face, giving her an inexplicable air of warmth and concentration.
However, Qiao Yu failed to notice something.
The moment the aroma of the noodles began spreading through the shack, Rong Chen, who had seemed completely dead in the corner, suddenly twitched his fingers slightly.
That rich, overpowering food aroma forcibly dragged him back from the endless darkness on the brink of death.
Rong Chen slowly opened his eyes.
A flash of crimson light passed through his deep eyes.
The splitting pain in his head had eased somewhat, but the hunger in his stomach and the extreme weakness of his body surged over him like a tide.
He made no sound.
He merely watched the woman busying herself beside the fire with her back turned to him, like a leopard lurking silently in the darkness.
The woman who claimed to be his “Beloved Wife.”
The firelight danced across her back, while the bubbling sound from the pot seemed almost unreal in this Apocalypse.
Yet the aroma of the food was undeniably real.
There was not the slightest trace of gratitude in Rong Chen’s eyes. Instead, a chilling killing intent gradually surfaced within them.
In this world where people devoured one another, food represented the right to survive.
She had her back to him and was completely defenseless.
This was an excellent opportunity to seize what he wanted.
Rong Chen slowly raised his right hand.
Between his originally slender, pale fingers, the surrounding light began to subtly distort.
Threads of extremely pure dark energy rapidly gathered in his palm.
It was a tiny yet terrifying Black Hole Superpower!
The force did not even need to touch a human body. With the slightest release, it could instantly twist that woman’s body into a mass of bloody mist!
Kill her.
Then the food will be mine.
No burden, no lies.
Rong Chen’s gaze turned utterly cold, and the corners of his lips curled into a cruel, crazed smile.
The black light in his palm grew increasingly intense, radiating an aura capable of destroying everything.
With the slightest movement of his hand, this broken wooden shack and the woman inside it, who was full of lies, would disappear from this world completely.
His arm slowly rose, aiming directly at Qiao Yu’s back.
Black light flickered between his fingers, emitting a faint sizzling sound.
“The noodles are ready!”
At this critical moment, Qiao Yu’s cheerful voice suddenly rang out.
She turned around without the slightest hint of caution.
Both hands held the still-scalding, battered iron pot, with steaming instant noodles inside that glistened enticingly.
The smile on her face was as bright as the spring breeze of March, and there was even a hint of ingratiation in it.
But in the next second, the smile on her face completely froze.
By the light of the fire, she clearly saw Rong Chen facing her.
She saw those blood-red eyes, cold and merciless, as though she were already a dead woman in his eyes.
More importantly, she saw the black ball of light in his palm, radiating a terrifying aura of destruction as though it were ready to swallow her whole at any moment.
The air seemed to freeze in an instant.
Qiao Yu felt a chill shoot straight from the soles of her feet to the crown of her head, and every drop of blood in her body seemed to freeze.
This Devil King!
She had kindly cooked noodles to save his life, and the moment he opened his eyes, he was already charging up a devastating attack, preparing to turn her into ash?!