Shen Hanyin pressed her palm against the interface and quickly searched for the coordinates of the shooting range.
Adjusting her stance, she spread her legs apart and stretched her arms wide, making herself occupy as much space as possible.
Please, let me teleport inside the door.
The next second, a wave of dizziness hit her.
She couldn’t open her eyes.
Breathing became difficult.
It felt as though she were lying on the ground. Nausea churned in her stomach, yet she couldn’t make a sound. Her body refused to move.
A chilling cold spread from her toes to the top of her head.
Lying there, she felt as if her soul were sinking out of her body, dragged endlessly downward.
She couldn’t control it.
The sensation of suffocation swept through her nerves again and again.
Shen Hanyin thought she was going to die.
After what felt like an eternity, the cold gradually receded.
Slowly, she sat up.
The moment she did, she vomited violently, retching until it felt like her organs were about to come out before she finally began to recover.
The storage room’s seal was excellent. No floodwater had seeped inside.
Looking around, she saw guns. Lots of guns.
She took a bottle of warm water from her space, rinsed her mouth, and wiped her face, trying to make herself feel human again.
After resting for half an hour, she forced herself to stand.
Gritting her teeth, she rapidly stored every firearm in the room into her space.
No one knew when someone might come to relocate them.
She couldn’t afford to waste time.
After another short rest, Shen Hanyin put on a diving suit.
Now it was time to collect the ammunition.
Suppressing her discomfort, she entered her space and located the coordinates of the warehouse directly opposite.
Again, she maximized the surface area of her body.
This time she failed.
The teleportation deposited her outside the door.
Floodwater outside had already risen past her waist.
Even over such a short distance, her head spun violently. Her condition was clearly affecting the teleportation.
She returned to the space and tried again.
Still outside.
Leaning against the door, she rested for a while.
Only on the third attempt did she finally appear inside the ammunition warehouse and successfully store all the bullets.
Afterward, she entered the bedroom inside her space to rest.
The firearms were dangerous goods. She had no idea when people might come looking for them.
At this point, she had accumulated 46 hours and 13 minutes of living time inside the space.
That should be enough.
The moment her head touched the pillow, she fell unconscious.
…
When Shen Hanyin woke up again, only 11 minutes remained on the timer.
She had actually slept that long?
Coming to her senses, she quickly ate and replenished her energy.
Two energy bars later, when only five minutes remained, she went to the teleportation point and placed her hand on it.
She found the coordinates of her bedroom.
Fear gripped her heart.
Less than two days had passed since her last teleportation.
That near-death experience was something she never wanted to endure again.
It had been too painful.
She was afraid that if she lost consciousness again, she might never wake up.
But she had no choice.
Floods and storms were ravaging the country.
She didn’t know when this place would be submerged as well.
The space had no remaining usable time.
A gambler was a gambler.
In the end, she was gambling with her own life.
As she fixed her gaze on the coordinate point, Shen Hanyin steeled herself.
The only comforting thing was that, before blacking out, she distinctly saw the ceiling of her own room.
…
She didn’t know how much time had passed.
Something was pressing against her face.
Something rough and dry was licking her eyelids.
It was annoying.
She wanted to push it away.
Her fingers wouldn’t move.
“Go away…”
She wanted to speak, but no sound came out.
She was exhausted.
So tired.
She just wanted to sleep peacefully.
What was this thing?
Why wouldn’t it leave?
Something rubbed against the tip of her nose.
It tickled.
With tremendous effort, Shen Hanyin opened her eyes.
All she saw was a mass of silver-white fur.
The fur moved.
Only then did she realize—
It was a cat.
Slowly, she closed her eyes again.
Her mind was blank.
Then her memories returned.
She had gone to loot the guns.
Then she came back.
After that…
Nothing.
Her eyelids felt heavy.
Suisui was licking her.
Finally, Shen Hanyin realized something important.
She couldn’t keep sleeping.
She tried to wake herself up but discovered she couldn’t even clench a fist.
Seeing her move, Suisui began meowing nonstop and pawing at her hair.
She wanted to pet the little cat.
She had no strength.
She was thirsty.
Hungry.
She tried to take water from her space, but her thoughts were too muddled and nothing happened.
Forcing herself to move, Shen Hanyin rolled off the bed.
The pain briefly cleared her mind.
Both her arms and legs trembled uncontrollably.
Her heart pounded wildly, as though it were trying to leap out of her throat.
The space still wouldn’t respond.
Staggering into the kitchen, she didn’t care how many days old the water in the kettle was.
She poured herself a huge cup and drank it all in one go.
Suisui followed behind her, meowing continuously.
Gradually, Shen Hanyin’s awareness returned.
Collapsing onto the floor, she thought:
Suisui, you saved my life.
Thank you.
Her throat was so hoarse that she couldn’t make a sound.
Suisui pressed its head against her neck and rubbed affectionately.
The floor tiles were cold.
After resting for a while, Shen Hanyin recovered enough strength to move.
As she stroked Suisui, she realized the kitten had become frighteningly thin.
The once-soft belly had flattened until little remained but bone.
Who knew how long it had gone hungry?
At last she felt her connection to the space return.
She took out prepared goat milk formula and placed it in front of the kitten.
Motioning for it to eat, she urged silently.
Suisui looked at her first.
Then rubbed against her shoulder again before finally beginning to drink greedily.
Shen Hanyin took out some milk for herself.
Her lips were cracked and dry.
After going so long without food, liquid nourishment came first.
Her arm hurt badly, but it could still move.
Probably just bruised from the fall rather than broken.
Half an hour later, she had regained enough strength to walk into the living room.
For Suisui, she set out canned food, dry food, and fresh water.
For herself, she prepared corn-and-pork-rib soup, a bowl of rice, fish-flavored shredded pork, and braised green beans.
She was starving.
Only after every plate had been cleaned spotless did she finally feel alive again.
She checked the time.
November 25, 2023, 3:45 PM.
She had been unconscious for almost three days.
Had she not awakened, she truly would have died.
…
Picking up Suisui, Shen Hanyin held the kitten in her arms.
She had never particularly liked cats.
Bringing it home had been a moment of impulse.
She hadn’t even cared for it all that carefully.
Even the name “Xiaobai” had simply been a convenient training cue.
Looking into the cat’s eyes, she spoke solemnly.
“I hope you live a long life.”
“You’ll be called Suisui from now on.”
“Shen Suisui.”
“We’re family now.”
She grabbed one of its paws and gently squeezed the pink toe beans.
“Please take care of me.”
As if sensing her emotions, Suisui let out a cheerful:
“Meow.”
…
During the days she had been unconscious, the floodwaters had already risen to the third floor.
She didn’t know whether government rescue teams had arrived.
She didn’t know how many residents remained in the community.
Her WeChat messages ended at the moment before her free shopping spree.
The guns she had brought back still needed sorting.
Entering the space, she took inventory.
15 handguns
31 boxes of handgun ammunition (50 rounds per box)
7 rifles
17 boxes of rifle ammunition
2 sniper rifles
10 boxes of sniper ammunition
There were three different handgun models.
She took out one she was familiar with and two boxes of ammunition.
She also took out a rifle and two boxes of ammunition.
The rest were carefully organized and returned to their wooden crates.
These shooting-range firearms weren’t as good as military weapons.
But a gun was still a gun.
And they fired live ammunition.
That alone was enough to greatly improve her chances of survival.
…
Leaving the space, Shen Hanyin carried Suisui with her uninjured arm and lay down on the sofa.
What should I do next?
The power was out.
The internet was gone.
She stood and walked into the kitchen, turning the faucet.
Nothing.
The water supply had stopped as well.
When renovating, she had deliberately stocked twenty bags of cement and sand.
Now she used them to seal the floor drains and toilet.
…
She wanted to go looting again.
A shopping mall this time.
There were still tools and daily necessities she wanted to collect.
She also needed men’s clothing.
Back then, she’d bought only women’s sizes.
She wanted to cut her hair too.
She needed a hair clipper.
There was no way she could cut it properly herself, so shaving it all off would be easiest.
The mall wasn’t nearly as far away as the shooting range in Nancheng.
She should be fine.
At least, that’s what she told herself.
Still, Shen Hanyin rested for another night.
She wasn’t in a hurry.
Most people didn’t have a spatial ability.
Even if they possessed transportation tools, food would be their first priority.
And if she happened to encounter someone else with a space ability?
Haicheng had more than one mall.
She could always choose a different one.