Her hands trembled as she first tore open the package of milk that she had taken out of the Space Dimension.
A pure milk fragrance, faintly sweet, immediately drifted out and slipped into her nose. She carefully leaned closer and took a small sip.
Cold!
Smooth!
Incredibly fresh!
It tasted exactly the same as the sample she had tried at the supermarket yesterday.
Next, she held her breath and tore open the package of the carton of milk from the refrigerator.
Because of the scorching weather, the refrigerator’s cooling ability had already weakened.
“Ugh…”
A strange sour smell rushed straight into her nose. When she poured a little into the cup, she saw that the milk already contained tiny clumps, each about the size of sesame seeds.
It had only been one night.
In this bizarre, hellish high temperature, whether outside the refrigerator or inside it, things spoiled far too quickly.
Two cartons of milk.
One remained as fresh as when it had been bought.
The other had completely gone bad.
The contrast was brutally obvious.
Lin Wan’s tears burst out in large drops.
When she thought about her previous life, and then about what lay ahead, the emotions overwhelmed her.
It was the relief of surviving a disaster.
It was the joy of escaping from a desperate situation.
It was the wild exhilaration of finally grasping a life-saving straw.
And there was also the bitterness and grievances that had accumulated over two lifetimes—things she had never been able to speak about.
All of it surged out at once.
“Dad… Mom…”
She choked on her words. Her voice was broken and hoarse, thick with tears, yet carried a firmness she had never possessed before, as solid as stone.
“This time… this time… I will definitely… protect you.”
Now she possessed a storage space where time itself completely stopped.
She could store all the supplies she bought inside the Space Dimension.
They could remain there for many years without spoiling.
She cried for an unknown amount of time. Only when her eyes felt dry and sore and her throat had grown hoarse did Lin Wan slowly raise her head.
She wiped her face with her sleeve in a careless motion.
When she stood up again, the last trace of fragility and confusion in her eyes had been completely wiped away.
What remained was a nearly ruthless clarity and a determination as solid as rock.
Simply knowing that time stopped inside the space was not enough.
She had to thoroughly understand every inch of the Space Dimension and every rule that governed it.
Her gaze settled on the small glass fish tank in the corner of the living room.
Inside were two foolish little goldfish that did nothing but blow bubbles. They were the “pets” of her younger brother, Lin Yang.
Lin Wan walked over and carefully scooped up the most lively one. The little goldfish flopped around in her palm, splashing droplets of water onto her face.
She focused her mind and locked her thoughts onto the Dormancy Area inside the Space Dimension.
In her mind, she silently commanded, “Go in.”
“Whoosh!”
Her palm suddenly felt empty.
The goldfish had disappeared.
Lin Wan’s consciousness entered the Space Dimension.
She saw the goldfish now suspended above the empty ground of the Dormancy Area, completely motionless.
Its fins no longer moved.
Its gills no longer fluttered.
Even the tip of its tail was frozen in midair.
It looked as though someone had pressed a pause button on it, or as though it had been sealed inside a gigantic invisible piece of amber.
Yet Lin Wan could clearly sense that it was still alive.
An extremely faint trace of life was perfectly wrapped and sealed by a mysterious force, as if it had fallen into the deepest possible hibernation.
Lin Wan’s heartbeat quickened.
With a shift of her thoughts, the goldfish returned to the fish tank.
It immediately began swimming around energetically again, as if nothing had ever happened.
Lin Wan finally understood completely.
The Storage Area—time was frozen. Whatever state an item was in when placed inside would remain exactly the same when taken out. Food, drinks, clothing, daily supplies—she could pile everything there. Even after a hundred years, nothing would spoil.
The Dormancy Area—life itself was paused. Whether it was a little goldfish… or even a human. As long as there was still a breath of life remaining, placing them inside would suspend their life. Time would stop for them.
This was a true life-saving talisman.
It was the final hope that could buy time for someone gravely injured and on the verge of death.
This Space Dimension was not just some convenient supernatural ability.
It was clearly the greatest support Lin Wan possessed to survive in the coming apocalypse—and to help her entire family survive.
It was the only confidence she had to step on fate and crush it beneath her feet.
That night, when everything was quiet and still.
Lin Wan’s consciousness once again sank into the vast white expanse of the Space Dimension.
She stood in the center with her hands on her hips—mentally placing them there—like a queen inspecting her territory.
One thousand square meters.
That was the size of two football fields.
And the height above stretched so high it seemed bottomless.
How much stuff could this place hold?
Her previous stingy, carefully calculated hoarding plan was instantly torn to shreds.
Stockpile!
She had to stockpile like crazy!
Stockpile systematically!
Stockpile until there was nothing left to buy!
From today onward, Lin Wan’s life had only two words:
Buy. Store.
She mobilized all her mental energy as if she were playing a massive virtual warehouse management game.
The enormous floor of the Space Dimension was divided by invisible lines she drew with her thoughts, splitting it into countless neat square grids.
Zone A: Food Area!
A1: Staple foods
(Rice, flour, grains, noodles—these had to be piled up like mountains!)
A2: Side dishes
(All kinds of canned meat, canned fish, luncheon meat, sausages, vacuum-packed cured meat and sausages!)
A3: Snacks and drinking water
(Compressed biscuits, chocolate, energy bars! Bottled water, large water containers! Juice, beverages, instant self-heating rice and hotpot…)
Zone B: Medical Area! The lifeline!
B1: Regular medicines
(Cold medicine, fever reducers, anti-diarrheal medicine, antibiotics—sorted by drawer!)
B2: Emergency medical supplies
(Gauze, bandages, iodine solution, alcohol, surgical knives, suturing needles and thread—all lifesaving tools!)
Zone C: Fuel Area!
(Gasoline, diesel, charcoal, solid alcohol—how could anyone cook without fire?)
Zone D: Tool Area!
(Axes, hammers, saws, crowbars, entrenching shovels, and even generators!)
Zone E: Daily Necessities!
(Toilet paper, sanitary pads, soap, toothpaste, shampoo—life would be miserable without any of these!)
Zone F: Weapon Area!
(Compound bows, spiked clubs, fire axes, nail guns, knives. Her father could modify the nail gun to make it more practical.)
She even behaved like an obsessive warehouse manager with severe compulsive tendencies, stamping bright glowing labels onto the floor of every section with her thoughts to ensure she could find everything even with her eyes closed.
Just as she carefully stacked the fifty boxes of broad-spectrum antibiotics she had gathered after visiting several pharmacies during the day onto the shelf she had mentally built in Area B1—
“Ding!”
The cold electronic voice in her mind suddenly rang again.
At the same time, the floating panel flashed with a faint white light.
[Detected key survival supplies: Broad-spectrum antibiotics ×50 boxes. Survival Points +5. Current Survival Points total: 6.]
Survival Points… had increased again?
Lin Wan’s heart stirred slightly.
It seemed that not only saving people could earn points.
Stockpiling certain critical supplies could also increase them.
Although she still did not know what these Survival Points were actually used for, it did not matter.
Just like money, having more was always better than having less.
She would save them for now.
The bedroom door creaked open.
Lin Yang, her younger brother, appeared in the doorway with a messy bird’s nest of hair on his head, wearing his ridiculous green dinosaur onesie pajamas.
He rubbed his sleepy eyes as he stood there.
…