"Bad luck."
Bad luck.
Xia Mu cursed under his breath, while Xia Nuan cursed in her heart.
The young man behind them was dressed plainly and had an unremarkable appearance, but at that moment, he was looking at them with a curious and probing gaze.
This face—Xia Nuan would never forget it.
Even though she had only seen it once in her previous life.
Ye Fan, Lu Zhaozhao's future boyfriend.
It was because he had praised Xia Nuan's beauty in front of Lu Zhaozhao that it had strengthened Lu Jiancheng and his daughter's resolve to abandon her, even giving rise to the vicious idea of selling her to the black market.
Just like in her previous life, when Ye Fan saw Xia Nuan's beautiful face, his eyes were practically glued to her.
His gaze was filled with scrutiny and aggression, as if he were appraising a piece of merchandise.
It made her feel uncomfortable all over, utterly disgusted.
"Xia Mu, it really is you. It's been so long—what have you been up to lately? Is this your girlfriend? She's really beautiful."
"Do you need something?"
Xia Mu raised his hand, pulling Xia Nuan back by her shoulder and shielding her with his body, blocking Ye Fan's disgusting gaze.
As a man himself, he understood all too well what Ye Fan's look meant.
Xia Mu's attitude was extremely cold, tinged with displeasure.
Having been met with such a cold reception, Ye Fan immediately changed his demeanor.
His polite enthusiasm was replaced by an arrogant, condescending look, as if Xia Mu owed him money.
"At least we used to be colleagues working part-time together. What's with your attitude when I'm just saying hello? Did finding a pretty girl make you so full of yourself? People might think you won the lottery and struck it rich."
"Girl, don't say I didn't warn you. When I knew Xia Mu, he never went without women around him. Don't get sold out and still help him count the money. That's all I have to say—take it or leave it."
With those two sentences, Ye Fan turned and disappeared from the siblings' sight.
The brief encounter, lasting less than five minutes, left Xia Nuan feeling as disgusted as if she had swallowed a fly.
"Is he living in his own world?"
The people in this world had ultimately become so twisted that Xia Nuan couldn't understand them.
Her brother hadn't even said much.
He had just asked if there was something wrong—how could that lead to so many words?
"He's just an idiot. Don't mind him. The car we called is here—let's go."
Xia Mu's eyes darkened briefly before returning to their usual lazy, carefree expression.
He tilted the umbrella toward Xia Nuan and pulled her quickly toward the taxi.
After getting into the car, Xia Mu lowered his head, closed his eyes, and recalled the content of the original book.
Ye Fan, the male lead of the original book.
The overall tone of the novel was mindless wish-fulfillment, the kind where an underdog rises to the top.
Like most stereotypical male leads in online novels, he had an unremarkable appearance and a life full of hardships until, one day, he obtained a Golden Finger. From then on, he soared to success, humiliated others left and right, and gathered a harem of beautiful women.
The male lead in this kind of story operated on one principle:
Those who submit prosper; those who resist perish. There was nothing he couldn't think of, and nothing he couldn't obtain.
In other words, he was a petty man who had gained power—selfish, narrow-minded, lustful, greedy, and utterly without morals or limits.
Sometimes, just because someone said something unpleasant to him, he would ruin their entire family.
Xia Mu despised such a character. If it weren't for the fact that the cannon fodder characters in this book happened to share the same names as his entire family, he wouldn't have been able to read a single word of it.
After seeing the cannon fodder characters written out of the story, he hadn't continued reading.
If he had known he would transmigrate, he would have memorized the entire book.
Relying on just a vague impression now, Xia Mu could roughly recall that one month before the Apocalypse was when the male lead, Ye Fan, obtained his System Golden Finger.
But the book didn’t specify the exact date, so he could only guess that Ye Fan would likely bind with the System in the next few days.
The System would inform him of the impending Apocalypse, allowing him to prepare in advance.
The original owner of this body had briefly interacted with Ye Fan while working part-time.
Back then, Ye Fan was cautious, worldly, and tactful—nothing like the person who had spoken so many offensive words today.
Unless…
He had already bound with the System.
Judging by Ye Fan’s demeanor, he had already been thoroughly resented.
Xia Mu narrowed his eyes slightly, a mocking smile curling at the corner of his lips.
He wouldn’t feel intimidated or avoid provoking someone just because they were the male lead.
If anyone dared to look at his sister with such disgusting eyes, even if they were the male lead, he wouldn’t back down.
If Ye Fan dared to act on his vile intentions, Xia Mu wouldn’t show any mercy either.
Success depends on human effort, but fortune lies in heaven’s hands.
What could a System do?
Having read half the novel, he was practically a half-prophet.
"Brother…"
The car stopped, and Xia Nuan, seeing her brother hadn’t gotten out yet, quickly nudged him.
Xia Mu snapped back to reality and turned to see Xia Nuan’s bright, clear eyes, his expression instantly softening.
"Brother will get out first and hold the umbrella, then you can come out."
Xia Mu stopped Xia Nuan from exiting on the other side, opened the door, and was drenched by the rain. Only after opening the umbrella did he pull her out, shielding her from the wind and rain with his own actions.
When they reached the warehouse door, Xia Mu, head bowed as he unlocked it, suddenly muttered, "If you ever encounter a strange man like the one earlier, don’t pay any attention to him. If some shameless person insists on bothering you, beat him to death. If you can’t handle it, tell me, and your brother will take care of it."
Xia Nuan was slightly taken aback. Without her brother’s reminder, she had almost forgotten about that inexplicable person, Ye Fan.
"Okay, don’t worry. If I encounter someone like that again, I’ll definitely beat them to death."
Xia Nuan knew her brother was just concerned for her. She smiled knowingly, clenched her fists, and put on a fierce expression.
But her appearance was far too soft and adorable, making her seem fragile and easy to bully in Xia Mu’s eyes.
Ah, his sister looked so easy to take advantage of and deceive.
That’s exactly how she was described in the original work.
It seemed he’d have to pay more attention to his sister’s situation in the future, making sure she wasn’t easily fooled by sweet talk from just anyone.
This was his family’s little cabbage!
Creak.
The warehouse door was pulled open with a loud noise.
Xia Nuan’s eyes lit up as she saw the neatly stacked bags of grain and boxes of food inside.
Their guarantee of survival was all here.
The two of them slipped inside cautiously and closed the door behind them.
After waiting a moment to ensure there was no movement around them, Xia Nuan reached out and began storing the items.
The Space still had its inconveniences—to store things, she had to touch them with her hands.
Storing an entire warehouse’s worth of goods was a massive task.
Fortunately, the Space warehouse didn’t require her to organize it. It automatically sorted and arranged everything into categories, optimizing the layout to make the best use of all available space.
Otherwise, if she had to store everything and then go back to organize it, Xia Nuan would have been exhausted.
While storing the warehouse supplies, Xia Nuan secretly reached out and touched her brother.
She wanted to see if she could bring him into the Space with her.
But holding onto her brother not only failed to bring him in—she couldn’t even enter the Space herself.
It seemed the Space only allowed her alone to enter.
Xia Nuan felt somewhat disappointed. If only she could bring her family in with her, that place would become their safest harbor.
While halfway through gathering supplies, a bag in the corner suddenly twitched. Xia Nuan was startled, her expression instantly turning cold and fierce, revealing a hint of killing intent.
She reached out, grabbed the bag, and swiftly opened it, only to find that it was the bag itself moving, not something hidden behind it.
"Hey! Don't panic, little sis, that's a chicken!"
Noticing the commotion, Xia Mu remembered that when he went to the countryside with their dad today, they had bought two live chickens and casually placed them in the corner of the warehouse.
"We bought them today, just to test whether the Space can hold living creatures."
Xia Mu took the bag, opened it, and revealed two live chickens, tightly bound.
The two chickens stretched their necks upward, clucking softly. Xia Nuan withdrew all her killing intent and returned to her usual good-natured demeanor.
"Then I'll give it a try."
Xia Nuan reached out and grabbed one of the chickens. With a thought, the chicken instantly vanished from sight.
However… while she managed to store it, in the Space within her mind, the live chicken that had just entered became a dead chicken in less than half a minute, lying peacefully in the warehouse.
"It's no use. The Space can't hold living creatures."
Xia Nuan lowered her head in disappointment.
Apart from the living creatures sold by the Space itself, no external species—except for her, a living human—could enter the Space.
"It was just a test. It's fine if it doesn't work. Let's continue gathering the rest. We'll take the remaining chicken back and have Mom stew it for us tomorrow."
Xia Mu wasn't too surprised. He hadn't held much hope to begin with and had only suggested it as an experiment.
Continuing to gather supplies, Xia Nuan busied herself happily.
When only the last corner of supplies remained, the bag in the corner twitched again.
This time, Xia Nuan didn't act rashly. Instead, she looked helplessly at Xia Mu, shrugging as if to ask.
"Brother, what else did you and Dad buy? Why is there another living creature?"
"Dad and I only bought chickens, nothing else."
Xia Mu was taken aback. Realizing the situation, he quickly pulled Xia Nuan back.
What was moving in the corner?
Could someone have sneaked into their warehouse?