After taking some time to take in the spacious room, Cheng Qisheng began her experiment.
She was already very experienced with experiments involving such unnatural phenomena.
Three years ago, when the Dark Star appeared, Cheng Qisheng had conducted similar tests.
First, she took out her phone and started recording. As expected, the screen showed only a small, dusty balcony.
She wasn’t surprised. It had been the same when the Dark Star first appeared—electronic devices couldn’t capture it, and other people couldn’t see it with the naked eye either.
Cheng Qisheng placed her phone on a stand to record, walked inside, then walked back out, and finally reviewed the footage.
In the video, it was still that same small balcony. But the moment Cheng Qisheng walked inside, her figure simply vanished.
It was as though she had stepped into some kind of alternate space.
She put away her phone, slowly knocked on different parts of the room, then opened the window.
The scenery outside was indeed the view from the City Lord’s Mansion in Safe City. Wildflowers and trees that had been left untended for hundreds of millions of years grew freely and chaotically. It wasn’t the carefully maintained kind of beautiful scenery, but it was still quite pleasant to look at.
It had the beauty of a wild mountain.
Cheng Qisheng could still faintly see a towering statue not far away.
—A statue of herself.
In the Blue Sea Civilization, no one had ever obtained permission to enter the City Lord’s Mansion in Safe City.
At first, there simply hadn’t been a city lord. Later, after Cheng Qisheng became the city lord, she wanted to open access permissions, only to discover that a Tier-1 city lord couldn’t allow residents into the mansion.
She guessed that this rule existed to protect the city lord. At Tier 2, access would become possible, but even then there would only be ten available slots, so Cheng Qisheng simply never enabled it.
Ever since the primitive era of the Blue Sea Civilization, this inaccessible restricted zone had always been regarded as a divine place.
All the core areas of the Divine Temple had likewise been built around this so-called “land of the gods.”
Cheng Qisheng thought: could the coordinates of this room actually be inside Safe City?
She reached a hand out through the window and encountered an invisible wall.
Cheng Qisheng then asked Aether to enlarge the image of the City Lord’s Mansion inside Safe City.
No.
This house didn’t exist there at all.
There were quite a few wild animals inside the City Lord’s Mansion grounds.
From inside this room, Cheng Qisheng could see small animals passing by outside, as well as flying insects, but none of them could see her.
She asked Aether to deploy a weather-control device capable of covering 500 mu of land above the City Lord’s Mansion.
A violent storm soon arrived, and the small animals scattered in search of shelter.
Heavy rain and powerful winds battered the trees, making them sway violently—but even though Cheng Qisheng had the window open, not a single drop of rain or gust of wind entered the room.
This room was located neither at her coordinates nor at Safe City’s coordinates.
—It was a room that only Cheng Qisheng could see and enter.
Was it because this was the City Lord’s bedroom?
Cheng Qisheng remembered what Aether had told her before: the reason she had suffered from a terminal illness was that her spiritual power had been far too great, far exceeding the limits that her physical body could withstand.
Could this room—one that existed at no detectable coordinates and only appeared before her eyes—also have something to do with spiritual power?
Unable to figure it out, Cheng Qisheng stopped dwelling on it and forcefully pried up a section of flooring from the room.
After taking it outside, she discovered that this time, it could indeed be photographed.
She knew nothing about flooring materials, but she could still recognize something expensive when she saw it.
Just as someone who knows nothing about cars can still usually tell from appearances that a luxury car probably isn’t cheap.
This floor tile looked like the equivalent of a “luxury car”—the grain was smooth and flowing, the color warm and lustrous, with a beautiful golden sheen.
At a glance, it looked far more expensive than the wooden flooring in her own home.
Cheng Qisheng searched for the flooring shop where she had bought materials during her renovation, sent them the photo along with a small 8.8-yuan red packet, and asked whether they could identify what kind of wood it was and roughly how much it might cost.
The shop owner accepted the red packet and replied very quickly with a voice message:
“Looks like Burmese teak. The tree was clearly quite large, and the quality is pretty good too. For wood of this grade, you’re looking at at least around 4,000 per square meter.”
Cheng Qisheng thanked the owner, then turned back to look at the flooring that covered the entire room.
Visually, the room was about 150 square meters.
The flooring cost 4,000 per square meter.
She immediately did the calculation in her head: 600,000.
“Aether, where did the flooring in the City Lord’s room come from?”
It seemed to have been the same flooring back at Tier 1.
Could it have been automatically generated?
Like a system automatically generating assets in a game?
Aether replied, “When the City Lord’s bedroom has not yet been customized by the City Lord, it is automatically furnished using the most suitable materials available within Safe City. After detecting that Safe City advanced to Tier 2, your city lost one teak tree.”
Cheng Qisheng: What? There are teak trees in my city?
Well… there really were quite a lot of trees in Safe City. The City Lord’s Mansion, which had been left completely unmanaged, had the most of them—but she had never paid attention.
Even if she had noticed, she probably wouldn’t have been able to identify what kind of trees they were.
Cheng Qisheng began seriously considering whether she should pry up all the floorboards and sell them.
That was 600,000!
Even second-hand flooring should probably still sell for at least 300,000, right?
After thinking it over, she decided to leave it alone for now.
After all, this wasn’t real Burmese teak—it was “otherworld teak.” Although both were wood and the chances of anyone noticing the difference were low, what if someone did?
Of course, the most important reason was that Cheng Qisheng’s ability to earn money wasn’t weak. If she wanted to, she could take on an outsourcing job tonight and make a decent amount immediately.
If she ever truly needed money, she could sell it then.
For now… she would just enjoy this 600,000-yuan floor properly.
She stood barefoot on the slightly soft teak flooring and felt extremely pleased.
“Aether, I remember the City Lord’s Mansion expands every time Safe City’s area increases, right? Does the City Lord’s bedroom expand too?”
Aether replied, “Yes, City Lord. Your bedroom will continue to expand as the city ranks up.”
Every time Safe City advanced by one tier, its total building area doubled, and the City Lord’s Mansion followed the same rule.
The base bedroom of a Tier-1 City Lord was 150 square meters.
After she advanced to Tier 2, the bedroom doubled to 300 square meters.
But the additional 150 square meters had directly “run off” into her world—into her home.
Wait a second.
If every upgrade caused the newly expanded space to become another room in her home…
Then the Tier-3 City Lord’s bedroom would be 600 square meters.
By that logic, wouldn’t a 300-square-meter room eventually appear inside her home?
No shared property area, no property management fees, no electricity bills—completely private, accessible only to her.
And—
“Can the layout of the City Lord’s bedroom be redesigned at any time using nuclear crystals?”
After all, every civilization had different preferences for how a City Lord’s room should be arranged. It made sense that the room could be freely modified according to the City Lord’s wishes.
“Yes, City Lord. Would you like to begin remodeling your bedroom now? Aether will display the floor plan for you.”
Aether floated into the air and projected a floor plan, then froze for two seconds.
“Apologies, City Lord. Due to an unknown error, approximately 150 square meters of your bedroom floor plan is missing. Error in detection—error detection failed.”
Cheng Qisheng wasn’t surprised. She looked at the remaining 150 square meters of the basic Tier-1 bedroom displayed on the map.
Just as she had guessed.
The original Tier-1 core room still existed.
But the expanded space from Tier 2 had already been transferred into her home.
Because its coordinates didn’t exist within Safe City, even Aether couldn’t project or detect that expanded area.
The bed, desk lamp, and other basic furniture that had originally belonged in the Safe City bedroom hadn’t followed her into this world either.
So only the room itself appeared?
Then why had the floor come with it?
Was it because the basic bedroom’s default properties included flooring, so when the rank increased, a tree had automatically been “used up” to generate the floor?
Then what if she changed the basic bedroom in Safe City into a cultivation area?
When the next expansion was triggered and that space arrived in her world, would a completely new cultivation-zone room appear in her home?
Cheng Qisheng looked at the basic bedroom in the City Lord’s Mansion and said:
“Aether, how many nuclear crystals would it cost to convert the bedroom into a cultivation area?”
“Aether has calculated: 500 nuclear crystals are required.”
A little expensive, but acceptable.
“Alright. Do it.”
Once the 500 nuclear crystals were spent, the basic bedroom in Safe City immediately collapsed where it stood. In its place, a new structure rose up—a sunlit greenhouse with freshly turned soil inside.
The glasshouse was bright and transparent, making one immediately look forward to Safe City’s next expansion.
Cheng Qisheng checked the 150-square-meter room beneath her feet again.
Good.
It hadn’t been affected.
Now all that remained was to wait for Safe City’s next expansion.
If every expansion meant gaining a new room inside her home, that would be incredible.
Wouldn’t that mean that as long as she kept upgrading, she could theoretically expand her home until it contained tens of thousands of rooms?
—Thinking about expansion naturally made her think of “Cosmic.”
Cheng Qisheng moved a table, chair, and computer into this newly arrived spacious room.
She planned to work while waiting for news from the Nuclear Crystal Hunters.
It sounded simple, but for Cheng Qisheng—whose body still moved rather sluggishly—it took nearly half an hour just to move the furniture.
By the time she finished, faint beads of sweat had formed on her forehead.
It wasn’t that the furniture was heavy.
Rather, controlling a body that didn’t completely obey her was exhausting in itself.
Every step she took, every time she exerted force through her fingers—something effortless for an ordinary person felt to her like operating an old machine that had gone years without proper maintenance.
But Cheng Qisheng didn’t complain. Even though everything was slow and tiring, she showed no impatience or frustration whatsoever.
Aether, however, grew anxious watching her and wanted to help. But the body it used was only virtual—something the City Lord could touch, but ultimately nothing more than simulated sensation.
“City Lord, you could purchase a small household robot to take care of all the chores.”
Cheng Qisheng shook her head.
“No need. For now, we should save as many nuclear crystals as possible for the Air Tower.”
The 500 nuclear crystals had been earned by selling a mattress. If the cost had been even a hundred higher, she wouldn’t have chosen to remodel the City Lord’s bedroom.
Verifying her hypothesis was important—but ensuring that the Blue Sea Civilization accumulated more resources mattered even more.
A faint smile appeared on her lips.
“Besides, I don’t think doing these things is difficult.”
No matter how hard it was, it was still better than being unable to move at all—like a living corpse.
Now her body could at least take care of itself again, there was even hope that she might gradually recover, and her home had gained such a large usable space—
Even if it took her three hours to move a table, she would still be happy.
After finishing, she sat down and slowly raised her head to look at the bright, gentle lighting that didn’t hurt her eyes.
“Alright. Time to work.”
What a hopeful day this was, wasn’t it?
***
Zombie World, Qianli City.
Song Xi and her team lay prone on a rooftop, scanning the surroundings through binoculars.
“Strange… the zombies around here haven’t been cleared out much, but why can’t we see a single survivor?”
Their objective was to determine whether a Safe City existed here, so they couldn’t simply wander around at random.
There was also a local among the group. The crystal hunters had originally planned to find a local resident so that Wang Moning could ask for clues about Safe City.
To avoid alerting the enemy, they had even already planned how to disguise themselves as locals.
But after searching for so long, they still hadn’t encountered a single local person.
Song Xi lowered her binoculars in disappointment.
“Let’s go. Change positions.”
She began swinging the grappling gun in her hand, preparing to launch the iron claw attached to its steel cable toward the building across from them.
Crystal hunters usually traveled across rooftops, since there were fewer zombies there. As long as the rooftop doors remained shut and they kept quiet, they generally didn’t have to worry about being surrounded.
Just as they chose a firing position, the distant sound of an approaching vehicle echoed through the streets—followed by the crash of cars colliding.
Song Xi jolted.
She and the other crystal hunters immediately crouched in a neat row along the rooftop and peered down.
“Great! It’s people!”
“Praise the Divine! We finally found survivors!”
Their faces lit up with excitement.
If they still couldn’t find anyone, they would have no choice but to use the most primitive method—searching the entire area to see whether a Safe City existed at all.
However, the survivors in that vehicle were obviously unlucky.
With so many zombies around, who would think of driving a four-wheeled vehicle?
Motorcycles would have been much faster.
Sure enough, the vehicle was far too conspicuous and was quickly surrounded. Zombies slammed themselves against it, and it wouldn’t be long before the windows shattered and the people inside became prey.
The crystal hunters assessed the situation briefly, then turned toward the only team member who had once served as a tactical observer.
“So? Can we go in?”
“There are still a lot of zombies nearby. It’s pretty dangerous.”
“How dangerous?”
After thinking for a moment, the man replied, “With this terrain… about a 60% risk.”
“Oh! Then that means we can go!”
Standing nearby, Wang Moning vaguely understood what they were saying, and the corner of her mouth twitched.
—Almost simultaneously, the crystal hunters fired their grappling hooks. The hooks latched onto a building closest to the trapped vehicle.
They rolled their necks, checked their equipment, and pulled down their masks.
Song Xi reminded Wang Moning:
“Ningning, stay here. Don’t run around.”
Wang Moning watched as Song Xi skillfully pulled down her tactical mask, then glanced at the darkening sky.
She had always assumed that the crystal hunters wore masks only to block the harsh sunlight.
“Why do you still wear it at night?” she asked hesitantly in her still-clumsy Blue Sea language.
Then she heard Song Xi reply, “Because this #￥#%￥…”
What?
That word wasn’t in her vocabulary.
Wang Moning automatically interpreted it as:
“Because this helps prevent zombie blood from splashing onto the face.”
After giving instructions to the team’s translator, Song Xi returned to the other crystal hunters.
Another team leader asked her, “What were you talking about with the local?”
Song Xi replied, “Ningning asked why we still wear masks at night.”
“Do we even need to explain that? Isn’t it just because it looks cool? Military masks are stylish!”
Song Xi nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I told her too. Maybe the locals just don’t have an eye for aesthetics. How pitiful.”
She tested the steel cable to make sure it was secure, then checked her weapons.
“For the Divine! Let’s move!”
Inside the vehicle, someone caught sight of figures in the half-shattered rearview mirror—on the distant rooftops behind them.
More than ten people dressed in tactical gear, their faces covered.
“Those!! Are those people?!”
“Are they military? Special forces?!”
“Are they here to save us?!”
Some were filled with hope, while others fell into despair.
“Even if they want to save us, they’re too far away. By the time they get here, the windshield will already have been smashed by the zombies…”
Every exit was blocked by zombies.
Unless those people could fly, there was no way in.
And then—
They saw it.
Those dozen or so figures, gripping ropes, leapt downward in unison.
“Woohoo!!”
With that shout—
They swung down from the rooftops toward the vehicle.