Catastrophe Countdown: 19 Days
Bank Balance: 14,874,129 Yuan
Shen Hanyin hired a team of workers and chose a time when most residents were either at work or at school.
Keeping the noise to a minimum, they installed a security door across the fire escape outside her new apartment.
Since her unit occupied the top floor and there was no public area nearby, the chances of anyone discovering it in the short term were very low.
The workers knew perfectly well that the property management company prohibited such modifications.
But that wasn’t their concern.
The homeowner was paying.
Their job was simply to install it.
Working efficiently and quietly, they finished the job without any problems.
Shen Hanyin wasn’t particularly worried.
She had never officially moved into the apartment anyway and could always claim that renovations were still ongoing.
Even if property management noticed the door, removal would take time.
If the catastrophe really arrived, nobody would care about building regulations anymore.
And if it didn’t arrive, then having it removed later wouldn’t matter.
That evening, she transferred all of her gasoline and diesel into the newly appeared attic inside the space.
Although fuel could be stored for long periods, extended storage still affected its quality.
Now that she had a time-frozen attic, it was the perfect place to keep fuel reserves.
…
The next day after class, Shen Hanyin decided to visit Antique Street again.
Whether it was superstition or not, she preferred to believe there was at least a possibility.
This time, she bought ten peachwood swords in one go.
She couldn’t wait to get home and test her theory.
On her way back, she encountered an elderly woman walking a small corgi outside her apartment building.
Lately, Shen Hanyin had been deliberately timing her departures and returns to avoid interacting with neighbors.
She wanted as little contact with people in the building as possible.
Unfortunately, some encounters were unavoidable.
The little corgi wasn’t shy at all.
It immediately trotted over and rubbed against her legs.
The elderly woman smiled.
“Don’t worry, he doesn’t bite. He just likes you.”
Shen Hanyin crouched down and gently patted the dog’s head.
The corgi immediately pressed its round little head into her palm.
Even after she stepped out of the elevator later, she found herself rubbing her right hand.
The soft warmth still seemed to linger there.
For a moment, she stood frozen.
Maybe…
Maybe she could get a dog too.
One person and one dog.
Keeping each other company through the catastrophe.
That didn’t sound bad at all.
…
Back in her apartment, Shen Hanyin sat on the sofa and tossed all ten peachwood swords into the space.
Ten minutes passed.
Twenty minutes.
An hour.
Nothing happened.
She still clung to a shred of hope.
Maybe the effect would only appear tomorrow.
That was the only way she could comfort herself.
The following morning, she checked the space immediately after waking up.
She didn’t even need to inspect it closely.
The ten peachwood swords were still lying there exactly as before.
Completely intact.
Her hopes shattered instantly.
One hundred and thirty thousand yuan.
Gone.
She had been wasteful again.
Sure enough, greed always led to disappointment.
…
The catastrophe countdown inside the space had fallen to 17 days.
The mysterious number beside it had risen to 3.
Meanwhile, the timer floating above the living room now displayed:
5 Hours 10 Minutes
Staring at the number three, Shen Hanyin pressed her hand against the handprint once more.
The familiar images appeared again.
Whatever location she imagined would immediately appear before her.
Each image was accompanied by a series of numbers.
This time, she finally figured it out.
The numbers were coordinates.
But coordinates for what?
Could it be…
Teleportation?
After thinking for a long time, she decided to test her theory somewhere safe.
The safest destination was obviously her own home.
She pictured her bedroom.
Immediately, a set of coordinates appeared.
Silently reciting them in her mind, she activated the ability.
The next instant, she was violently ejected from the space.
Then—
She appeared directly on her bed.
“Holy crap, there’s a demon!”
The words escaped before she could stop herself.
…
Shen Hanyin forced herself to calm down.
Taking several deep breaths, she entered the space again.
The number had already changed from 3 to 2.
In other words, she had two uses remaining.
Since discovering the feature, three days had passed.
The number appeared to increase by one each day.
She placed her hand against the handprint again.
This time, she imagined locations she had never visited.
Nothing happened.
No image.
No coordinates.
Apparently, only places she had personally been to could be selected.
Next, she imagined the second bedroom in her apartment.
One more test.
Just in case the first success had been a coincidence.
The next moment, she appeared on the other bed.
Back inside the space, the number had dropped to 1.
That was enough proof.
The teleportation ability was real.
Happy?
How could she not be?
She was ecstatic.
…
After finally calming down, Shen Hanyin remembered that she had originally planned to visit the morning market and continue stockpiling supplies.
The countdown was getting dangerously low.
Every day mattered.
Unfortunately, by now the market had probably already dispersed.
In that case, she might as well continue siphoning fuel.
Anything was better than wasting time at home.
She also filled a bottle with water from the faucet inside the space.
She intended to have it tested and determine whether it was safe to drink directly.
After leaving the building, she unexpectedly ran into the little corgi again.
Perhaps it was fate.
For a brief moment, Shen Hanyin seriously considered getting a dog.
After all, the rest of her life might be very long.
Long enough that imagining it alone made her feel lonely.
She drove out of the neighborhood.
Not long afterward, reason returned.
She couldn’t get a dog.
The space could only hold living creatures while she herself was inside.
Otherwise, living things died immediately.
She had never experienced a catastrophe before.
But she knew one thing.
When food became scarce and everyone was struggling to survive, she wouldn’t necessarily have the ability to protect a pet.
She couldn’t bear the thought of losing it.
Partings like that were something she wasn’t prepared to endure.
After dropping off the water sample for testing, she drove to more distant gas stations.
By the end of the day, she had siphoned nearly half a barrel of fuel.
Not bad.
…
That evening, Shen Hanyin returned to her apartment complex.
In the underground parking garage, she pulled out her phone.
As she did, her keys accidentally slipped from her pocket.
When she crouched down to pick them up, she noticed something beside them.
A kitten.
Tiny.
Its eyes were still closed.
Curled up tightly on the ground.
Shen Hanyin didn’t particularly like cats.
She picked up her keys and stood.
Then she walked away.
A weak meow sounded behind her.
Perhaps that tiny cry awakened what little kindness remained in her.
Or perhaps the corgi had already softened her resolve.
Either way, she turned around.
Returning to her car, she found a cardboard box.
After hesitating for a long time, she carefully placed the kitten inside and drove to a nearby veterinary clinic.
…
After a thorough examination, the veterinarian determined that the kitten was merely weak and malnourished.
Otherwise, it was healthy.
It probably hadn’t been abandoned intentionally.
At only about one month old, it was still too young to receive vaccinations.
Shen Hanyin decided to purchase the vaccines anyway.
Seventeen days later, who knew whether the clinic would still be operating?
She also bought a huge collection of pet supplies.
The clinic owner warned her that raising such a young kitten alone would be difficult.
After giving her an endless list of precautions and care instructions, he finally sent her on her way.
The cat litter she had previously stockpiled had originally been intended for emergency toilet use.
Since the space had upgraded, she no longer needed it for that purpose.
Now it could be used for the kitten.
Worried that it wouldn’t be enough, she bought more.
Then came
Cat litter
Cat food
Canned cat food
Cat treats
Fish oil
Hairball paste
Goat milk powder
Cat trees
Cat toys
Various pet medications
She visited several pet stores and continued purchasing supplies until she was satisfied.
Somewhere along the way, she forgot one important fact.
Cats only lived for a little over ten years.
They couldn’t stay with someone until the age of one hundred.
…
By the time Shen Hanyin returned home, night had already fallen.
She set up a small cat bed and fed the white kitten some goat milk.
Then she cooked herself a simple bowl of noodles.
One egg.
A few vegetables.
That was enough.
After eating, she entered the space.
She began reorganizing everything.
Items were sorted by category and placed in designated areas.
Taking out a notebook, she carefully recorded quantities and approximate storage locations.
Every shelf received labels.
When she wasn’t physically inside the space, retrieving items relied entirely on mental commands.
Proper organization would save valuable time.
Especially for important equipment like blades and crossbows.
An hour passed.
The work remained unfinished.
But Shen Hanyin couldn’t continue.
She was exhausted.
Leaving the space, she quickly showered and went to bed.
…
The next morning was a day off.
Without classes, Shen Hanyin stayed in bed later than usual.
Half-asleep, she vaguely heard a kitten crying.
Only then did she remember.
There was now a little creature depending on her.
Whether she liked cats or not was irrelevant.
She had brought it home.
That meant she was responsible for it.
She never gave the kitten a formal name.
Instead, she simply called it Xiaobai.
It wasn’t actually pure white.
The name was just a name.
Xiaobai was still young enough to drink only goat milk formula.
Tiny and fragile, it curled up inside its bed.
After feeding it, Shen Hanyin headed out once more.
Her great fuel-siphoning mission could never stop.