Finally, he turned his gaze toward Shen Ruoran, who had posed the questions, and addressed her two remaining inquiries.
“The equipment my son sent me is an instrument with a preservation effect tens of thousands of times stronger than a refrigerator. According to them, it also possesses an inversion function. If food has only just begun to spoil, placing it inside for a day and a night will restore it to a completely fresh state.”
“When the thugs took it, they specifically warned me not to think about taking it back. So, I’m sorry; this old man is willing but lacks the power.”
Shen Ruoran looked up in shock. Driven by an intense spirit of scientific exploration, she asked curiously, “Old Man Chen, can the instrument restore any spoiled or rotten food to freshness?”
Old Man Chen shook his head. The question went too deep; he didn’t know the answer.
The old man’s rough palms rubbed against his calloused skin. He was old, and sometimes, knowing less was a blessing.
Shen Ruoran couldn’t extract any more information, so she let it drop for now. She had originally decided to stay here for three days at most; if she couldn’t find Lai Yecheng, it would be his loss for missing the chance to live a better life with her.
However, now that she knew about the existence of the inversion equipment, Shen Ruoran changed her mind; she could afford to stay for a few more days.
The atmosphere on the 14th floor successfully shifted toward scientific questions, alleviating much of the gloom. Cai Juanhua began her idle chatter about life once again.
[Spatial Storage—Third Area, purification completed. Materials have been restored to a non-toxic, unowned state.]
It happened to be 12:30 PM, the usual time for a noon break. Shen Ruoran found a secluded spot, leaned against the wall, closed her eyes, and pretended to rest.
Her consciousness connected with the Third Area.
The purple-gray mist that had lingered for so long had finally vanished, replaced by a brilliant white light shimmering within the area.
Shen Ruoran was dazed by the sudden surprise, and a surge of excitement instantly filled her body.
Not only was the Third Area open, but her SS+ mental power was back!
Through her connection with the spatial storage, Shen Ruoran knew that the items inside were no longer harmful to her. She couldn’t wait to see what kind of miraculous treasures the Fourth Interstellar Pirate had collected.
[The host’s mental power is limited; please act within your capacity when retrieving items.]
Suddenly, Shen Ruoran’s consciousness was jolted out by a powerful force. Her head spun, her face turned pale instantly, and she broke into a cold sweat. The dizziness was intense.
The transmigration system had once appraised her mental power at the SS+ level, a strength exceeding 98.99% of interstellar natives—a truly formidable existence. This suggested that the items in the Third Area might possess world-shaking power.
Shen Ruoran had been careless. She thought she could simply retrieve her own belongings, not expecting a backlash.
After lying down and resting for about twenty minutes, her depleted mental power recovered. She decided to try again.
This time, she carefully probed the outer edges of the area with her mental power, searching for a weak point. Finally, a faint shimmering shadow appeared, and her mental power quickly surrounded it.
An object resembling a white ceramic tile appeared in Shen Ruoran’s palm.
Shen Ruoran: “…”
What on earth? Was it just a mysterious piece of trash?
As if hearing her silent complaint, a notification appeared from the space.
[Interstellar artifacts are too advanced. To maintain the technological trajectory of ordinary worlds and avoid technological gaps, interstellar items are disguised as everyday household objects. Their usage methods have also been modified for easier concealment.]
[Inter-medium Displacement Device (Tile): When pressed against any plane parallel to it, it allows for vertical or horizontal displacement. The displacement distance is determined by the strength of the user’s mental power.]
Good stuff!
Shen Ruoran tested the tile. With her current mental power, she could traverse up to 20 floors at once. Since she was on the 14th floor, she could reach either the top floor or the bottom floor directly.
A spark of excitement lit up her eyes, and she couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
On the other side of the room, the crowd waiting for death felt their skin crawl, their eyes collectively turning toward the laughter hidden behind the wall.
“That girl must have been driven mad by the fear of the flood.” Cai Juanhua frowned, her gaze filled with sympathy as she reached a firm conclusion. “Little Tu, you can’t end up like her. Once you go crazy and lose your mind, life loses its meaning.”
Cai Juanhua habitually chatted with Tu Zhouzhou, but after receiving no response, she turned to see the girl squatting on the ground, hugging her knees in silence.
“Little Tu, what’s wrong? You have to stay cheerful and optimistic. The water hasn’t even reached the 14th floor yet.”
Her dirty, thick hand waved broadly in front of Tu Zhouzhou, trying to snap her out of it. Just as she was about to pat her shoulder, Tu Zhouzhou shook her head to stop her.
“I just want to be alone. Go talk to someone else; I need some quiet.”
Her hair, unwashed for days, was a tangled mess, mirroring Tu Zhouzhou’s chaotic thoughts. She missed home and her parents so much. If she had known this would happen, she would have gone back over the weekend. Now, she couldn’t even get news of them.
The flood was rising faster and faster. Which would come first: death or tomorrow?
Tu Zhouzhou’s eyes were bloodshot, tears welling up as she tried to force herself to be strong. A moment later, she laughed at herself in self-deprecation. This was a devastating apocalypse; she was likely destined to be cannon fodder.
She thought about the drinking water and instant noodles she had hidden behind the bathroom tile. Should she find a chance to consume them all today, or hide them for a few more days? If the flood reached this floor tonight, she would be a completely starved ghost.
Shen Ruoran, unable to empathize with the ordinary people’s plight, was excitedly planning her night mission. Her primary target was the inversion equipment, followed by Lai Yecheng.
The night was pitch black, with no starlight in sight, and the sound of the pouring rain was particularly loud.
Accompanied by the familiar snoring on the 14th floor, Shen Ruoran walked to where Liu Yun and her daughter were lying and quietly slipped the half-piece of white flatbread from the morning into Huang Xiaoya’s pocket. She pressed it down to make sure it wouldn’t fall out.
Returning to her resting spot, Shen Ruoran took out a yellow curly wig with bangs from her space and put it on. She applied various cosmetics to her features—a little bit of everything—then added black-framed glasses and changed into new clothes.
Thinking it still wasn’t safe enough, she simply put on a ghost mask.
Once prepared, she used her mental power to activate the Inter-medium Displacement Device (Tile), teleporting herself to the 19th floor.
Based on her deduction, since the 17th floor was for servants and the 18th floor was for the entertainers of the upper class, then reasoning upward, the 19th floor was likely the residence of important figures.
[Inter-medium Displacement Device has been used. Cooldown time: 1 hour.]
Interstellar items truly had their pitfalls—usage first, explanation later. Fortunately, Shen Ruoran’s strength was sufficient; even if the cooldown were 24 hours, it wouldn’t have mattered.