Bai Bai picked up three alien plant branches from the ground and went to open the door.
“Auntie Wang, here is your firewood. Are three enough?”
“Enough, enough, it’s just to boil some water. Thank you, Xiao Bai, I’ll return them to you tomorrow.”
Auntie Wang happily took the firewood.
“Oh, right, Xiao Bai, I haven’t seen you fetching water for several days. Is the bucket of water you fetched last time still not used up? Young people should drink when they need to; if you don’t drink water, people will die of thirst.”
“It’s used up, used up. It’s just enough for tonight, I’ll go fetch water tomorrow.”
“Oh, good.”
The two of them exchanged a few pleasant, superficial pleasantries, and Auntie Wang turned around and returned to her own apartment across the hall.
Bai Bai closed the door and shook her head.
In the original owner’s memories, Auntie Wang’s family didn’t have any major flaws; both the men and women could make money, except that they were exceptionally fond of eating. In this apocalyptic world, whatever money the family earned went straight into their mouths.
Such a characteristic lifestyle naturally also made them the unfortunate family most entangled by that little brat.
Borrowing firewood from the original owner was a common occurrence—not much, just three or five pieces, which was indeed enough to simply boil some water. There was borrowing and returning, and it was always returned the next day.
Otherwise, under this survival pressure, why would the original owner frequently lend firewood to people? That was also something she had worked hard to gather.
But to the current Bai Bai, Auntie Wang’s family across the hall was a ready-made source of threat.
It wasn’t to say a threat to her life, but Auntie Wang was clearly the type to be a hub for gossip. In this apartment complex, living slightly more comfortably than others, she loved to observe her surroundings and gossip about everyone’s business.
From a certain perspective, this was a warm-hearted person, adding a touch of color to this lifeless environment.
It just wasn’t very friendly to the current Bai Bai.
Look, hadn’t it only been a few days of not fetching water before she was noticed? Heaven have mercy, it had only been three days since she took over the body.
Moving house, moving house, she needed to move house quickly.
Lowering her expectations, she would first rent a single room with an independent toilet. It didn’t matter even if the environment was a bit poor, as long as there was a room so she could move as soon as possible.
Even for such a small requirement, she had to prepare 2,000 in reserves.
Bai Bai clicked her teeth; she couldn’t fix this in the short term. The rent was due for renewal in a few days. Being able to save enough money, rent a good room, and move away before paying next month’s rent was already the fastest speed.
This kind of matter couldn’t be rushed. At worst, at the very last moment, she would go back and find that scalper to sell him some grain and oil for cash.
That was the absolute last resort born out of desperation. Even if the scalper accepted that she was just an unlucky person hitting a streak of bad luck, grain and oil worth several thousand yuan were enough for the scalper to sell her out to his superiors.
Bai Bai rubbed her stubbly buzz-cut head, put aside this anxiety that could cause anyone to lose sleep, and ate first.
The rice balls were completely heated through. Using the pot lid as a plate, she carefully scooped them out of the pot and stored them in her spatial storage, then took out those heavily cooled meat dishes and took turns putting them into the pot for a water-bath heating.
Thanks to the food box material being able to withstand the tossing—the raw materials came entirely from alien plants—they could be reused three or five times before breaking.
Bai Bai guarded the stove, heating her food while eating.
After the meal, she brushed her teeth, washed her face, wiped down her body, and went to bed early.
After a night of sufficient sleep, she woke up early again the next morning when the horizon was only slightly pale.
The first thing upon waking up was to continue drawing the character for “zheng” (straight/upright) as a tally; today was the fourth stroke.
Then she washed up and cooked breakfast.
Fully fed and watered, she went out and headed downstairs.
First, she queued up at the public water faucet to fetch water. Placing her bucket down and handing over her water tickets, the administrator would turn on the corresponding faucet to release water at a high flow rate.
This moment was when everyone up and down the building envied spatial ability users the most, because they could fill the bucket to the brim and directly store it into their spatial storage.
Ordinary people, however, couldn’t do that; if the bucket was filled to the brim, they wouldn’t be able to lift it up at all, and they had to leave a little spare room.
Comparing it this way naturally made ordinary people feel that using the exact same water tickets meant they were getting a raw deal on their water.
When the apartment complex was first built, neighbors still helped each other out; spatial ability users would help neighbors on the same floor bring water upstairs for free.
Good times don’t last long, however. When an eccentric individual appeared among a group of normal people, fragile social trust instantly vanished.
Some would grab onto a spatial ability user and insist that the person had spilled their water, demanding compensation.
Some spatial ability users were bossed around left and right by ordinary people until they were thoroughly fed up, and when carrying water for people, they would throw things into the bucket to make them sick.
Ordinary people and ability users hurt each other, and naturally, it ended with a crushing defeat for the ordinary people.
After that, both sides minded their own business.
The original owner had such clear memories naturally because she had also once been a part of it. After all, she lived on the tenth floor; just how difficult it was for an ordinary person to manually carry a bucket of water all the way from the first floor to the tenth floor on foot could be imagined with one’s toes.
When that rat’s dropping of an eccentric ruined the whole pot of soup, the original owner immediately withdrew to protect herself. Coupled with the fact that she was then in contact with the “All-Knowing” gang, she wholeheartedly looked forward to having a stable income in the future.
Who could have imagined that the “All-Knowing” gang was even more disgusting.
Bai Bai filled a whole bucket of water, and amidst the envious gazes of others, swoosh, she stored it into her spatial storage, squeezed out of the crowded group, and dashed toward the public restroom.
Under the free hand-washing faucet, she rinsed her hands with a stream of water as thin as cat urine, and then Bai Bai headed straight for the neighborhood’s main gate.
Taking a turn along the way, just as the main gate appeared in sight, she saw that little brat rolling around in front of a dust-covered male neighbor, stubbornly demanding to eat the food in the man’s hands.
The man had luggage on his back and a fatigued expression, clearly returning from a long trip. He was holding a cloth bag, and what was inside couldn’t be seen by outsiders, but that little brat’s enhanced sense of smell had sniffed it out.
Bai Bai walked a couple of steps faster, turned on her enhanced sense of smell, sniffed, and faintly smelled the scent of roasted meat.
She was still far away, so the scent of the overnight roasted meat was faint, but that little brat was close by, so naturally he smelled a heavy aroma.
No wonder.
The man dodged left and right. He went left, and the little brat rolled left; he went right, and the little brat rolled right. He just blocked the other person and wouldn’t let him pass, without the slightest fear that the other person might kick him to death.
This was a public apartment complex built by the government, it was a child, and coupled with the rumor—heard only of by all but witnessed by none—that “there is someone in my family in an adventure team,” these factors stacked together became his unshakeable source of confidence.
Seeing that the exhausted male neighbor was about to compromise, Bai Bai made her move.
She first turned off her enhanced sense of smell, poured her strength into her right hand, and a split, sour-and-foul-smelling fruit nimbly appeared in her palm. Three fingers gently curled around it, and walking two steps closer, she measured the distance, flicked her wrist, and threw it.
The little brat was rolling around, and the fruit landed precisely right beside his head.
The sour and foul odor directly flooded the little brat’s nasal cavity, instantly paralyzing his whole body as he lay there for two seconds. Before he could even crawl up, he violently retched and vomited everywhere—a mess of liquefied waste vomited all over his face and body.
Seeing this, the male neighbor immediately slipped away from the side.
His family members, who were hiding not far away watching the battle unfold, saw that things were going south. Without bothering to check on the child, they went to intercept the male neighbor, insisting that he had broken their child and demanding compensation.
Seeing that it was an adults coming at him, the man didn’t hold back either, kicking one person to the ground and walking away without looking back.