[Congratulations, Host! You have obtained the Treasure Detection function. This ability can scan for treasures within an area of approximately ten square meters. The System Shop has also been unlocked. Please explore it on your own.]
Lin Xiaxia stared at the words on the screen, both surprised and delighted.
“Huh? I have to figure it out myself? Isn’t the system supposed to guide its host?”
[Insufficient balance. Each answer costs 10 gold coins. Would you like to pay 10 gold coins to have this question answered?]
The mechanical voice was cold and completely merciless.
Lin Xiaxia was utterly dumbfounded. It took her a long moment to recover.
This system actually charged money?
She couldn’t help grumbling inwardly.
Weren’t other people’s systems supposed to shower their hosts with care and give them whatever they wanted? How did she end up with one so obsessed with money?
Her gaze drifted toward the glaring words in the upper-right corner of the screen:
[Balance: 0]
She silently selected “Cancel.”
She didn’t have a single coin. What was she supposed to use to ask questions? Better save herself the trouble.
But then again, she couldn’t just remain ignorant of how to add funds to her account.
With that thought, she tapped the balance box in the upper-right corner.
The page immediately changed, and a top-up screen appeared.
[Would you like to add funds? Cash, jewelry, and gold bars are accepted.]
Cash?
Lin Xiaxia instinctively reached into her pocket. She only had thirty-six yuan in total, and that was everything she owned.
It was her lifeline for when she was sent to the countryside. She couldn’t afford to spend it carelessly.
The corner of her mouth twitched, and she immediately abandoned the idea of adding funds.
Returning to the main page, she carefully examined the shop.
The layout was simple and easy to understand. Everything was neatly divided into categories: food, daily necessities, clothing, and even tools she couldn’t name. The selection was surprisingly complete.
But when she saw the prices beside them, she couldn’t help clicking her tongue.
Even an ordinary bottle of vitamins cost 50 gold coins, while a single compressed biscuit cost 10.
That was ridiculously expensive.
Raw ingredients such as flour, however, were much cheaper. Ten gold coins could buy twenty jin of flour.
She patiently continued browsing until she found two options under the “My” section:
Exploration and Storage.
She opened the Storage function first.
The moment the thought crossed her mind, a faint pressure appeared in her head. Immediately afterward, she became clearly aware of a space roughly five cubic meters in size.
It resembled a neat little storage room. It was completely empty, yet she could distinctly sense that it truly existed.
“So there’s a storage space too!”
Lin Xiaxia’s eyes lit up.
This was incredibly useful!
It would be inconvenient to carry too many things when she went to the countryside. With this space, she could secretly store food and other necessities without worrying about anyone stealing them or losing them along the way.
She decided to test it by trying to store the blue cloth bundle at the corner of the bed.
With a single thought, the bundle vanished into thin air.
At the same time, she could clearly sense it inside the storage space in her mind.
Another thought later, and the bundle reappeared exactly where it had been.
“This is great!”
Lin Xiaxia clenched her fists excitedly.
With these two abilities, even if the days ahead became difficult, she now had something to rely on.
Her gaze shifted toward the “Exploration” function, and she tapped it curiously.
The screen before her instantly changed.
The shop interface disappeared, replaced by something resembling a bird’s-eye view map.
The storage room where she stood appeared at the center, while the surrounding area was outlined in a simplified form.
On one side of the map, a conspicuous red dot flashed rhythmically.
It seemed extremely close.
“Wow, I found treasure already?”
Lin Xiaxia’s heart skipped a beat, and her eyes brightened.
“But this red dot is so close. Where exactly is it hidden?”
As she wondered about it, the screen seemed to sense her thoughts. The image suddenly enlarged and focused, making the red dot’s location increasingly clear.
It was in the Xue family’s kitchen.
Finally, the image stopped over an old cabinet.
The red dot continued flashing directly over it.
Lin Xiaxia frowned slightly.
“The Xue family actually hid something in their cabinet? Judging from the system’s reaction, it doesn’t seem like an ordinary item.”
For a moment, she hesitated.
Should she take it or not?
Suddenly, Lin Xiaxia slapped her thigh hard, determination flashing in her eyes.
“Take it! Why shouldn’t I? Everything I suffered in my previous life is more than enough to make up for this. They owe me!”
She listened carefully for any sounds outside.
She had vaguely heard people talking earlier, but now everything was quiet.
Lin Xiaxia crept toward the crack in the door and carefully observed the living room for a moment.
There was no one there.
The front door was tightly shut as well. It seemed unlikely that anyone would come in or out anytime soon.
“Perfect.”
She quietly opened the door and cautiously poked her head out like a startled kitten, glancing toward the staircase.
Only after confirming that no one was there did she step outside.
To be safe, she quickly checked both upstairs and downstairs. She stopped outside each room and listened carefully.
Once she was certain there was no sign of anyone else in the entire house, she finally relaxed and headed toward the kitchen.
The kitchen door was slightly ajar.
She gently pushed it open.
The old cabinet stood in the corner against the wall. Much of its paint had peeled away, making it look completely unremarkable.
No one would ever imagine that treasure could be hidden there.
Lin Xiaxia took a deep breath and reached out to open the cabinet.
Creak—
The cabinet door made a soft sound that seemed especially loud in the silent kitchen.
She leaned closer and carefully inspected the inside from top to bottom.
Several coarse porcelain bowls and a jar of oil sat on the shelves, while some dried vegetables were piled in one corner.
Everything looked perfectly ordinary.
She tapped her fingers against the wooden boards of the cabinet.
The sound was dull and solid.
It didn’t seem as though anything was hidden inside.
“Could it be somewhere other than the cabinet?”
Lin Xiaxia frowned thoughtfully.
Her gaze shifted toward the wall behind the cabinet.
She suddenly remembered the television dramas she had watched before. People in those shows often hid valuables inside hollow compartments in walls.
An idea flashed through her mind.
She focused on the cabinet and silently commanded,
“Store.”
The old cabinet instantly vanished from its original position and entered her storage space, revealing the bare wall behind it.
The wall was made of gray bricks covered with a layer of mortar. Everything looked neat and ordinary, with nothing obviously unusual.
Lin Xiaxia crouched down and pressed her ear against the wall, tapping the surface little by little with her fingers.
When she reached a brick near the middle, the sound was noticeably different.
There was a faint, hollow echo.
“It really is here!”
Her eyes lit up, and her heartbeat quickened.
But when she looked at the solid wall in front of her, another problem arose.
If she smashed it open, she would definitely make a lot of noise.
If someone heard her, she would be in serious trouble.
She braced one hand against the wall, her brows tightly furrowed as she muttered under her breath,
“If only I could retrieve things from a distance and take whatever’s inside directly. Then I wouldn’t have to go through all this trouble…”
The moment she finished speaking, a faint ripple suddenly passed through her mind, almost as though something had been placed inside her consciousness.
She instinctively checked her storage space.
Two small wooden chests had suddenly appeared inside the previously empty space.
Simple cloud patterns were carved into their surfaces, and judging by their appearance, they seemed quite old.
“This… actually worked?”
Lin Xiaxia was both shocked and delighted. It took her several seconds to process what had happened.
Apparently, the storage space wasn’t only capable of storing objects.
It could actually retrieve things from a distance!
She hurriedly brought the cabinet back out of the storage space and returned it to its original position.
After closing the cabinet door, she carefully checked everything to make sure she hadn’t left any traces behind.
Only then did she quietly tiptoe out of the kitchen and slip back into her little storage room.