Shen Ruoran found a spot closest to the men’s clothing and sat on the floor, her hands resting on her knees, no longer paying any attention to Cai Juanhua.
With no one to talk to, Cai Juanhua muttered to herself for half an hour before losing interest in speaking. Uncharacteristically, she sat quietly, staring at an embroidery of eight galloping horses.
At seven o’clock in the evening, the alarm clock hanging on the wall announced the time. Shen Ruoran then watched as the old man and the others instinctively dug out quilts, pillows, and even straw mats from various corners. They laid them out and went straight to sleep.
Their movements were as practiced and synchronized as programmed robots.
She felt something was off, but for a moment, she couldn’t put her finger on exactly what it was.
Grumble, grumble.
She had been focusing so much on scouting her surroundings that her stomach growled several times. Shen Ruoran slapped her forehead as the realization dawned on her.
The strange thing about these people was: didn’t they need to eat?
She had entered the 14th floor around three in the afternoon, and it was now seven in the evening. They had somehow skipped dinner entirely and fallen asleep without any issue.
However, the fact that everyone went to bed early was a good thing for Shen Ruoran; it made it easier for her to begin her clothes-hoarding mission.
Each floor of Wantang Building covered a massive area with an open layout, and there were many stacks of clothing. Perhaps due to a lack of cleaning, the outer layers of some men’s garments were covered in thick spider webs.
Shen Ruoran bypassed the surface pieces in disgust. Before collecting anything, she paid close attention to the hygiene and quality of each item.
After quietly finishing her collection, it was past her usual dinner time, yet Shen Ruoran found herself facing a rare dilemma.
What kind of food smelled like nothing and made no sound when eaten?
The delicious food stored in her portable space would still be steaming hot the moment she took it out, which was exactly when the aroma would be most intense. The scent would definitely drift into the nostrils of the others. Even if she chose snacks, opening the packaging would make noise.
Shen Ruoran suddenly found it annoying that her portable space couldn’t accommodate living people. If only she could step inside herself.
Back when she completed the first hell-mode apocalypse dungeon of her fast-travel missions, the system had offered her a choice between two space rewards.
One was the portable space she currently used, which was divided into three sectors and featured infinite expansion, time stasis, and the ability to purify filth. The other was a “Manor Space,” which required the consumption of gold, zombie nuclei, or mutant beast magic crystals to buy time for the host to survive inside the manor.
Given her strength, Shen Ruoran had no need for a protective amulet. At the time, she hadn’t given it much thought and chose the portable space. She didn’t regret it now; she was simply frustrated that the portable space lacked a hiding function.
In a dark corner, the lid of a grape-flavored jelly pouch was quietly twisted open. The volume inside the pouch began to decrease bit by bit, silently.
Sip, sip, sip. Shen Ruoran ate very carefully. The jelly had no lingering smell, and compared to other snacks that needed to be unwrapped, it was much quieter. As long as she sipped slowly, she could finish it in silence.
After two pouches of jelly, she was still very hungry. She was nowhere near full.
As someone who could eat endlessly without gaining weight, Shen Ruoran had a large appetite. She really wanted to eat fried chicken, snail rice noodles, and Malatang.
But she couldn’t. The smell of those foods was too strong. The elderly, weak, women, and children sleeping on the 14th floor had been hungry for a long time; their noses would be exceptionally sensitive. They would likely be woken up by the fragrance.
Shen Ruoran’s expression became increasingly resentful. Since dying from overwork, she had never mistreated herself. This time was no different.
The night wind was exceptionally violent, and raindrops hammered against the floor-to-ceiling windows, creating a domineering auditory feast. The sound of deep snoring rose and fell, accompanied by equally loud teeth-grinding and mumbling.
In a corner a hundred meters away from the others, three fans were spinning constantly on their highest setting. A thick rope was tied to their stands, with the other end connected to Shen Ruoran’s left hand.
Meanwhile, in Shen Ruoran’s right hand, a pair of chopsticks held a piece of pork tenderloin and delivered it to her mouth.
She chewed happily.
A large bowl of Malatang, filled with various ingredients, appeared out in the open on the 14th floor. The powerful airflow from the fans quickly dissipated the high concentration of food aromas.
“Mmm… Mommy…” Huang Xiaoya’s little feet twitched in fear. She was dreaming that she and her mother were drifting on a storm-tossed sea.
A ten-meter-tall wave transformed into a demonic black face, surging toward her to swallow her whole.
The little girl woke up with a start. Her right hand tightly gripped Liu Yun’s collar as she hugged her, feeling the warmth of her mother’s body to confirm that everything just now had been fake. She looked up, using the faint, ethereal moonlight to double-check that the person she was holding was indeed her beloved mother.
“Ooh.”
Huang Xiaoya rubbed her eyes, feeling like she was dreaming again. She blinked hard several times. Eh? This time it was actually a good dream. She seemed to really see a beautiful fairy eating meat.
Her small, thin body stood up, and her feet went tap-tap-tap toward the direction of the Malatang, her drool practically trailing on the floor.
Shen Ruoran, who was keeping an eye on the status of Cai Juanhua and the others, saw that Huang Xiaoya was awake. With a single thought, utilizing the rope connection, she instantly stored the three fans and her half-eaten Malatang back into her space.
Lie down, curl up, close eyes—it was done in one smooth motion.
“Sister, were you just eating something? I think I saw meat. Did you hide it?”
The soft, milky voice sounded right next to her ear. Shen Ruoran felt a tickling sensation but continued to pretend she was asleep.
Huang Xiaoya sniffed the air vigorously, trying to catch a scent of something.
“Sister, Xiaoya is so hungry. Can you give some to Xiaoya too?” The little girl’s stomach growled loudly. She licked her lips thirstily and pleaded.
Shen Ruoran pretended to be woken up. She furrowed her brows in displeasure and said in an impatient tone, “Little sister, why aren’t you sleeping at this hour? Why did you come over here to bother me?”
Huang Xiaoya was startled into a daze. She timidly backed away, pressed her hands together in prayer like she was bowing to a Buddha during New Year, and bowed to Shen Ruoran.
“Sister, I just saw you eating. Can you share a little bit with me? Xiaoya and Mommy can work for you.”
Although Shen Ruoran felt the little girl was pitiful, she still said crossly, “You saw wrong. Where would I get food? Little girl, what you think about during the day, you dream about at night. Something is wrong with your eyes.”
Shen Ruoran had prepared this excuse long ago. After all, who would believe that things could simply vanish into thin air? It must be that they saw wrong, or at worst, they encountered a ghost.
However, Huang Xiaoya was young, and her worldview was simple; she was firmly convinced that Shen Ruoran had hidden the food. She kept begging her.
Shen Ruoran felt a bit of a headache. she realized that the tactics she had prepared were very effective against adults, but they didn’t work on children. Children believed what they saw with their own eyes, whereas adults would become suspicious based on a few words.
“Do the people on this floor not get any food at all?”
Seeing that she couldn’t get rid of Huang Xiaoya, Shen Ruoran gave up and decided to get some information out of her instead.
Having slept through the days at Xinju Garden, her internal clock was already flipped. Following the sliver of light left by the moon, she could vaguely see the electronic alarm clock on the wall pointing to ten o’clock.