After being swallowed by that light, Mo Fei’s vision went black, and at the same time she felt a searing pain on her left wrist, as though it had been branded.
Before opening her eyes, she even thought she had transmigrated again.
But when she opened them, she discovered an oval-shaped mark with two circular rings on her left wrist. It was exactly the shape of the iron wok. Mo Fei instinctively pressed it and found that the pain in her wrist had already disappeared. Since it was only a mark, she decided not to worry about it for the moment and instead turned her attention to the space before her, which was about twenty cubic meters in size.
The space was completely empty. There were no walls surrounding it, and beyond it stretched nothing but a vast whiteness, as though everything outside was shrouded in a thin mist.
Mo Fei walked to the edge of the white expanse and tried to continue forward, only to discover an invisible wall blocking her way. No matter what she did, she could not get through.
Left with no choice, Mo Fei walked back to the center of the space. It was then that she noticed a large iron wok floating before her.
The large iron wok looked exactly the same as the one in the kitchen, except that two enormous characters were engraved on its body: Divine Wok.
“What a silly name,” Mo Fei thought.
She carefully examined the wok and immediately understood that the source of everything really was this wok. Not only could it heat itself and cook without relying on any external heat source, it had now even produced such a miraculous place.
A portable space!
The phrase instantly popped into Mo Fei’s mind.
Just as Mo Fei wanted to investigate further, she suddenly heard the children crying, each wail louder than the last.
“Oh…” Mo Fei panicked. She had no idea where this place was or how to get out.
But the moment the thought of returning crossed her mind, in the blink of an eye she was back in the kitchen.
It was exactly where she had been swallowed by the light moments earlier.
“I’m here,” Mo Fei called as she lifted the kitchen curtain and stepped out.
“Mom.” Mo Jiayue ran over with her teddy bear clutched in her arms, her lips pouting.
Mo Jianian silently followed behind her, rubbing his eyes.
He had obviously been woken up by Mo Jiayue, and he could barely keep his eyes open.
It turned out that when Mo Jiayue woke up and could not find her mother, she became worried that Mo Fei had suddenly collapsed again like she had during the day, so she burst into tears.
“I got thirsty just now and came out to get some water,” Mo Fei explained. “Alright, I’ll go back and sleep with you.”
As she led the two children back to bed, Mo Fei subconsciously looked back at the mysterious wok. The large iron wok was no longer glowing with firelight, as though everything she had just experienced had been nothing more than an illusion.
The two children lay on either side of her, and before long their breathing became slow and steady. However, Mo Fei could not resist conducting an experiment. Holding both children in her arms, she silently thought, “Go in.”
The next second, Mo Fei really did appear inside the space. However, the children in her arms had not come in with her.
“Go back,” Mo Fei silently thought again.
Mo Fei then quietly got up and carried the pile of odds and ends around the house into the space to continue her experiments. The space automatically sorted and neatly arranged everything she brought in, as though it had obsessive compulsive disorder.
After repeating the process several times, she discovered that only she herself and inanimate objects could enter the space.
It seemed that this portable space, so common in apocalypse novels, came with quite a few limitations.
Fortunately, whether it was entering the space herself or storing and retrieving items, everything seemed to be controlled purely by her thoughts.
It was as convenient as the inventory system in a video game.
It was already two o’clock in the morning. Mo Fei sat by the bed and picked up her phone.
Using the familiar search engine, she searched for Yate Grand Hotel. As the country’s most famous luxury hotel, it should have produced countless results, yet the search returned zero. She then searched for her own name, only to find a few people who happened to share the same name.
It seemed this truly was no longer the world she had come from. Mo Fei let out a deep sigh.
After experiencing transmigration and then discovering a portable space, all within the span of a single day, Mo Fei finally drifted into a deep sleep alongside the children.
Out of professional habit, Mo Fei never slept in.
No matter what day of the week it was or how late she had gone to bed, she would naturally wake up at six o’clock every morning.
When she woke up, she was still not used to the unfamiliar room or the two children sleeping beside her, and she was startled.
After coming to her senses, she rubbed her temples and quietly climbed out of bed.
According to the original owner’s routine, she would first prepare breakfast for the two children before heading to the morning market to buy groceries.
“Mom.” Mo Jianian sat up.
He was so sleepy that he could barely open his eyes, yet the moment he heard Mo Fei getting out of bed, he sat up as well.
Mo Jianian had been born only a few minutes before Mo Jiayue, making him the older brother.
Because of those few minutes, he was especially mature and sensible. He usually behaved as seriously as an adult, and anything he could do for himself or his younger sister, he would never trouble Mo Fei with. But no matter how sensible he was, he was still a child who depended on his mother.
Seeing that her daughter was still fast asleep, Mo Fei pointed toward the kitchen and silently mouthed to her son, “Go back to sleep for a while. I’ll make breakfast.”
Mo Jianian copied her and silently mouthed back, “I’ll do it. Mom, you sleep a little longer.”
His eyes were dark and bright, making Mo Fei’s heart soften.
Mo Fei fell silent for a moment.
When she had first realized yesterday that she had transmigrated into this world, she had actually considered whether she should send these two children to their real relatives.
After all, she had always been used to living alone and had no experience raising children.
But later she discovered that the original owner had already severed ties with her family, the children’s father was nowhere to be found, and the original owner hardly had any friends. Not only did the children have nowhere else to go, but they certainly would not be willing to leave her, their “mother.”
Forget it.
Since she was now using someone else’s body, and the children were so well behaved, then she would raise them.
With her abilities, raising these two children until they turned eighteen would not be difficult at all.
Mo Fei made her decision in that very moment.
Mo Fei reached out and hugged Mo Jianian, telling him she had already rested enough. Only after promising that breakfast would be ready very soon did Mo Jianian reluctantly lie back down.
After washing up, Mo Fei went into the kitchen.
Considering that both children were only eight years old and at an age when they needed proper nutrition, she first poured two bottles of milk into bowls to warm them over hot water, then boiled three eggs.
Just like yesterday, the large iron wok automatically heated up without any fire beneath it. Mo Fei even boldly reached her hand underneath the wok, yet she felt absolutely nothing. There was no warmth and no heat. Most astonishing of all, the wok seemed capable of detecting when the food was perfectly cooked, stopping the heating at precisely the right moment.
“Not bad. I’ll even save on gas bills from now on.” Mo Fei looked the iron wok up and down, becoming more satisfied the longer she looked at it. She could not help thinking that a fully automatic temperature control system that required no fire at all was probably something every chef in the world would dream of owning.
There was still some minced pork in the refrigerator, so Mo Fei decided to make another batch of steamed dumplings.
Steam soon began rising from beneath the wok’s lid. A few minutes later, the aroma of the steamed dumplings gradually filled the air.
After taking the steamed dumplings out, Mo Fei remembered the portable space again.
It certainly could store things, but she did not know how well it preserved temperature or freshness.
So before going to bed the previous night, she had placed a basin of freshly boiled hot water inside it.
Thinking of this, Mo Fei waved her hand, and the basin instantly appeared from the portable space.
The basin itself had no lid. If it had been left outside overnight, the water should have long since cooled. Yet the basin before her was still filled with scalding hot water, exactly the same as when she had first put it inside.
This pleasantly surprised Mo Fei.
Just as she was rejoicing, a sharp pain suddenly shot through her hand.
Black words began appearing on her wrist.
1. Congratulations to Test Subject No. 001 on successfully binding with the Divine Wok.
2. The Divine Wok comes with an upgradable portable space.
3. A Level 1 space has basic functions including storage, permanent preservation of freshness, and heat retention. The method of upgrading and the functions unlocked after upgrading must be explored by the test subject.
After confirming that Mo Fei had finished reading, the black words disappeared one by one, as though they had never appeared on her wrist at all.
Test subject. It sounded like some kind of closed beta tester in a game, or a laboratory guinea pig.
Mo Fei recalled the male voice from last night telling her that she was one of the chosen. So this so-called chosen one referred to being some kind of test subject.
By the time Mo Fei finished setting breakfast on the dining table, it was already half past six. Both children were awake, and Mo Jianian was helping Mo Jiayue comb her hair.
“Mom, hug!” Compared to her older brother, the younger sister was much more attached to Mo Fei and especially loved acting spoiled.
Mo Fei treated both children equally. After hugging her daughter, she hugged her son as well.
She reminded them to wash up before eating breakfast, to lock the door from the inside while they were home, and never to open it if someone knocked.
Then she left the house by herself.
At the dining table, the plate of steamed dumplings was the first thing to be emptied. The milk and eggs, on the other hand, were left untouched.
“Big Brother, it’s so good!” Mo Jiayue burned her mouth and blew on the dumpling to cool it, yet she could not stop eating.
“Mm. Eat more.” Mo Jianian placed the last two steamed dumplings from his own bowl into his sister’s.
Watching how happily she was eating, he could not help saying, “Don’t you think Mom seems a little different?”
Mo Jiayue shook her head.
“Alright then.” Mo Jianian sighed. After thinking it over for a long time, he still decided not to mention what had happened the previous night. Their home was tiny. After his sister woke up and said that their mother was missing, he had looked toward the kitchen. The curtain had been blowing in the wind, and there had clearly been no one there. Yet after his sister started crying, their mother had suddenly come out of the kitchen.
Mom was different.
But Mom still treated him and his sister very well.
Mo Jianian carried the bowls and chopsticks into the kitchen. While thinking things over, he began washing his own dishes.
Mo Fei walked down the stairwell, whose walls were plastered with small advertisements on both sides, and finally reached the street.
The place where she lived was called a residential compound, but in reality it was nothing more than a run-down cluster of old buildings in the old district that desperately needed redevelopment, yet had still not been demolished by the government.
Quite a lot of people lived there, and all kinds of residents were mixed together. Most of them were tenants who rented there so their children could attend nearby schools.
Fortunately, all the most basic amenities were available nearby. Within five hundred meters were the market, the Weimin Pharmacy, as well as various grocery shops, barber shops, and other small businesses, where almost anything could be bought at very reasonable prices. It was chaotic yet orderly, and bustling with life.
The primary school attended by Jianian and Jiayue was two kilometers away. It was a public primary school with excellent teaching standards called Qinglang Primary School.
Under the old admissions policy, it would have been very difficult to get into this school.
But now students were admitted according to the school district where their home was located, so Jianian and Jiayue were currently both in the same Year Three class.
“Off to buy groceries again, Xiao Mo?” A woman wearing a red top and black cropped trousers greeted Mo Fei enthusiastically.
Mo Fei froze for a moment before immediately recalling from the original owner’s memories that this woman was Li Hong, the neighbor who ran the ground floor shop.
She had moved there last year to open a fruit shop. Her son was in Year One at Qinglang Primary School and had even come to ask Mo Jianian for help with his homework before. Sometimes the children from both families would play together on weekends.
Mo Fei immediately replied. Looking at the newly unloaded crate of peaches outside the shop, she said, “Sister Hong, your peaches look great. Save me two jin. I’ll come back and buy them after I return.”
“Sure thing!” Li Hong happily picked up a plastic bag and immediately began selecting the biggest, plumpest peaches for Mo Fei.
The original owner had lived there for many years, and quite a few people knew her.
Just on the walk to the market, Mo Fei stopped to exchange greetings with at least a dozen people.
From feeling awkward at first, Mo Fei gradually became completely at ease.
She had accepted the fact that she was now Mo Fei, and Mo Fei was her.
The morning market was especially lively, with vendors shouting and people bargaining everywhere.
The sounds of WeChat Pay and Alipay QR code payment notifications rose and fell one after another.
Besides the nearby residents, many elderly people from all over the city also came there to buy groceries.
Older people needed less sleep and woke up early, so they were willing to take the bus before dawn just to shop there for the freshest and cheapest vegetables to bring home.
Mo Fei could not help being swept up in the atmosphere.
After becoming the head chef at the hotel, purchasing ingredients had been handled by dedicated staff.
She herself usually ate in the hotel’s kitchen, making do with whatever was available. It had been a very long time since she had personally gone to a market to buy groceries.
But today she was not buying ingredients for everyday meals or for her food stall.
She was buying enough food to ensure that when the apocalyptic disaster and evolutionary phase fully arrived, there would be enough vegetables for the three of them to survive.
Since the space could preserve everything perfectly, then she would buy as much as she possibly could!
The moment that thought crossed Mo Fei’s mind, she looked at the balance in the original owner’s bank account and froze in shock.