“So that’s how it is! Surviving a great calamity bound to bring future blessings—thank you, Ancestor! From now on, Yining will surely live a magnificent life and make the whole world remember my name.” Mu Yining instantly swelled with surge of passion.
“Hmph! This sword spirit has suffered excessive exhaustion and will enter a deep sleep for a short period. You may enter and leave this space freely and use it as you wish. Nothing here will harm you, so go explore on your own. As for the jade around your neck, you must keep it safe—it is the medium for entering and exiting the space. Should you ever encounter the other half of the jade, the two will naturally merge into one.” With that, the voice fell completely silent.
“…I haven’t even finished asking! Hello? Where are you?!”
The only answer to her call was her own echo.
Still, the jade around her neck was a relic left behind by her mother. Father Mu had mentioned that it was an heirloom passed down through generations of their family.
Throughout the five years of the apocalypse, Mu Yining had always worn it—it was the only warmth left to her. Her fingers unconsciously stroked the jade; just as she was thinking of preserving it carefully, the jade stone vanished without a trace, leaving behind only a faint purple pattern on the nape of her neck.
“Well, that makes it even safer.” Mu Yining picked up the Qingling Sword. It was light and agile, but carrying such a treasure out into the open world wasn’t appropriate anyway, so leaving it inside the space was just right.
Mu Yining proceeded to check the other rooms, only to find them all completely empty. The house was filled with abundant light and perfectly suitable for living. However, she was currently all alone, and she certainly wouldn’t expose her space carelessly after the apocalypse hit. If her parents were still alive, she would have had them live here to enjoy a lifetime free of worries. Unfortunately, she no longer had that chance. Perhaps her parents’ passing was a form of fortune in itself—at least they didn’t have to witness the filthy, horrifying side of the apocalypse. It didn’t matter if no one lived here; with such a vast expanse, who knew how many supplies she could store? She could simply use it as a warehouse! Coming back to life was already Heaven’s greatest blessing—what more could she dare covet?
Stepping out of the courtyard, Mu Yining continued strolling across the space’s grassy fields. She simply loved the sensation of stepping on the grass, though she didn’t discover anything else out of the ordinary.
“Hss…”
Suddenly, an abrupt, excruciating pain made Mu Yining collapse directly onto the grass, rolling over in agony. A surge of power tossed and turned within her body from top to bottom, as if every single bone in her body were shattering. It felt as though someone were tearing her bones apart and twisting them into ropes. Her body temperature fluctuated wildly between hot and cold, and a splitting headache tore through her mind. She clutched the grass tightly with both hands, her ten fingertips already slick with blood. Enduring this explosive, agonizing pain for half an hour, Mu Yining ended up drenched in sweat, her entire body covered in a sticky, greasy substance.
Having just taken a bath, Mu Yining stood frozen in place like a statue. A thick layer of sludge covered her body and face, making her feel nauseous just looking at it. Reaching out to touch it felt like grabbing a handful of mud, except it wasn’t ordinary mud. What on earth was happening to her?!
“Shower… need a shower… Ugh… How do I get out…” The world spun around her, and Mu Yining re-emerged back in the bathtub at home. Only then did she realize that she had been so captivated by the miraculous space that she hadn’t worn a single piece of clothing in there, completely forgetting what she was doing before entering!
Unable to care about anything else, Mu Yining scrubbed her body frantically. The water in the bathtub turned black in an instant. Miraculously, the water was still pleasantly warm; even though at least two hours had passed, the water hadn’t cooled down at all.
“Perhaps it really is a space where time remains frozen, just like in the legends.” Mu Yining was no longer surprised by such wonders.
Draining the tub, she turned the tap on to its maximum setting. The pressure of the water pounded against her body, and in less than a minute, she had to change the water once again.
After repeating this process several times, the water’s color finally began to lighten. Mu Yining hadn’t realized she was this dirty—it felt as though the scrubbing would never end.
She normally never used body wash, but right now, she couldn’t care less about artificial fragrances. She popped open the bottle cap and squeezed it recklessly over her body until the greasy feeling finally vanished completely.
Stepping out of the shower and getting dressed, she prepared to head out and purchase supplies. It was only then that Mu Yining noticed the dramatic change in herself: her skin had become smooth and flawless, her body far more proportionate, and her legs long and straight. As her delicate feet stepped onto the floor, she realized that while she had already been attractive before, she was now absolute perfection. Her lively eyes carried a touch of indifference, complimented by a high nose bridge and thin lips slightly curved into a subtle arc. Her jet-black long hair fell casually over her shoulders, its wet strands adding a touch of allure. Mu Yining stared in awe—was this really herself?
So much for thinking she had a good foundation before; it turned out her body had been thoroughly clogged, or else how could one explain all that thick sludge?
A moment later, sensing a power surging within her, Mu Yining tried to guide it, slowly letting it merge with her being. A quarter of an hour later, a satisfied smile appeared on her face. Reaching both hands out, her left palm emitted faint, glowing white motes of light, while her right hand crackled with blue-purple electric sparks. They were healing and lightning powers! Yet, Mu Yining didn’t let her guard down because of this. In her past life, she had only survived five years into the apocalypse; who knew what might happen in the future?
Thinking back to the small fruit she had eaten earlier, Mu Yining smiled. A tree full of those fruits—they were all hers.
Alan let out a low whimper, taking in the changes in its master. The fluctuations of energy around her, in particular, allowed its sensitive instincts to capture how much the person before it had transformed, yet she remained its master all the same.
Snapping out of her thoughts, Mu Yining found a set of casual clothes to put on. Once dressed, she tried sending items from her room into the space. Heading downstairs, Alan trotted alongside her feet, tilting its head. Walking straight into the kitchen, she took away the breakfast the servant had just prepared. Finding an empty room, she flicked her wrist, deciding to test whether food would undergo any changes when stored inside the space.
Afterward, she gathered the servants in the living room. Usually, it was just her and three domestic helpers living in the house. Giving them a generous payout, she used the excuse of going on a trip, instructing them to return home and stock up on food, claiming a contagious pandemic abroad was spreading back to the country.
Once the servants left, Mu Yining breathed a sigh of relief. From now on, focusing on living her own life well would be more than enough.
After storing all the practical household items and her parents’ precious relics into the space, she went down to the garage and swept away two off-road SUVs. Taking Alan with her, Mu Yining walked out of her villa’s main gate without looking back. Alan was a Chow Chow she had adopted a year ago—large in stature, covered in pure white fur, and raised by Mu Yining to be as lazy as a pig, hence the name Alan (“Lazy”). In her previous life, when the apocalypse broke out, she hadn’t been at home, and after fleeing all the way, she never managed to return, never knowing if Alan had survived. Returning here after five years, the outbreak was still unavoidable, so all she could do was prepare in advance. Locking the main gate, she stood in silence for a long time before coolly walking away.
Mu Yining sold off all of her family’s other real estate properties at a low price. Along with the funds in her bank account, it only amounted to a little over thirty million yuan—the rest of her assets couldn’t be liquidated on short notice. She could only use these funds to stock up on supplies. After all, once the apocalypse hit, whether one stole or looted, no one would care anyway. When the time came, a single wave of her hand would make everything hers for the taking.