He was dumbfounded. He looked down at his empty hands, then at Ye Qing’s empty back, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets as he roared at the top of his lungs.
“What the hell?! Where’s the basket? I clearly saw it on your back!”
“What kind of cursed thing are you hiding?!”
Ye Qing’s heart was in turmoil as well, but this was no time to think.
Since this villain had witnessed this strange occurrence, she couldn’t let him live!
“Die!”
Taking advantage of his distraction, Ye Qing didn’t retreat but charged forward instead. She slid a step and viciously kicked the back of his knee.
With a sharp crack, Scarface let out a miserable scream and dropped to his knees. Before he could even raise his head, the dagger in Ye Qing’s hand plunged straight into his heart!
Ye Qing’s chest heaved violently. Looking at the corpse on the ground, her stomach churned again.
But this time, she didn’t throw up.
She had no time for fear, though. The bizarre sight of the basket disappearing was still fresh in her mind.
Could it be… a storage space?
Had she actually obtained the legendary dimensional space?
Better late than never!
An overwhelming wave of joy instantly drowned out her fear. She bit her lip hard to stop herself from shouting in excitement.
She quickly placed her hand on the basket and willed it to disappear. In an instant, it vanished before her eyes.
Now that she had confirmed she’d truly gained a golden finger—a cheat ability—she finally relaxed.
The most urgent task was dealing with these two “friends.” Following the principle of never leaving loot behind, she searched their bodies once more.
This time her luck was better. Besides silver, she found two leather water skins and a bundle containing three baked flatbreads, something like modern naan—thick and filling.
Ye Qing’s eyes lit up, and she hurriedly stored all these life-saving supplies into her space.
After taking a break and drinking some water, she finally noticed how badly her feet hurt. Looking down, she saw that her already flimsy straw sandals had completely fallen apart.
The corpse beside her happened to be wearing a pair of cloth shoes with leather soles. They looked incredibly sturdy.
But those were dead men’s shoes!
Even if she starved or died of thirst, Ye Qing didn’t dare wear them.
Forget whether they were unlucky or not—with her all alone in these desolate mountains, what if they carried something unclean? She might not even know how she died!
She looked at her feet, then at the sturdy shoes. In the end, she resigned herself and stripped them off the corpse. She even took the shorter man’s shoes as well.
She could alter them later. Anything was better than going barefoot.
Ye Qing had always been an expert at comforting herself.
To prevent being tracked down by any accomplices, she directly stored the two corpses in her space, planning to dump them deep in the mountains.
After all, she now had a map. In this era, such a thing was considered a rare treasure. It was covered with rivers, mountains, villages, and relay stations, which was far better than knowing nothing.
Thanks to it, Ye Qing discovered several routes to the Liuyang River. There was no need to leave evidence here and invite disaster upon herself.
So all of this had been caused by that token?
What kind of token was so precious that three people had died for it in a single day?
Her eyes darted about, and she suddenly slapped her forehead, innocently muttering,
“Tsk, how did those three die again? Ah, I’m so young, yet my memory is already this bad!”
The dead couldn’t speak to defend themselves anyway. Whoever wanted to sort out this mess could do it themselves.
After putting some distance between herself and the crime scene, Ye Qing looked at her battered feet and decided to modify the shoes first.
In all those palace intrigue and political dramas she’d watched in her previous life, the supporting characters had eagle eyes. They could identify someone’s master from nothing more than a hidden pattern on a piece of cloth.
These shoes didn’t look remarkable, but who knew if they bore some recognizable mark? Better safe than sorry.
“I want a steady kind of happiness~ One that can withstand the cruelty of the apocalypse~”
Humming badly out of tune, Ye Qing skillfully flipped her knife around and thoroughly examined both pairs of shoes inside and out. Only after confirming there were no strange markings did she breathe a sigh of relief.
Using her own feet as a guide, she cut off a section from the oversized toes of the shoes. Then she took out the coarse cloth left over from altering her clothes, patched the necessary areas, and finally used a needle and thread to firmly sew everything together.
A pair of uniquely ugly shoes was born.
Looking at her handiwork, Ye Qing grinned.
In fairy tales, Cinderella’s stepsisters had cut off their toes and heels to fit into the glass slipper.
As for her? No need to cut her own flesh—she could just cut the shoes!
She broke off a small piece of naan and took several large gulps of water. The original owner’s body was small and so was her appetite. This little bit of food was enough to make her completely full.
Ten days.
A full ten days.
Today, she had finally eaten a proper meal.
Only then did Ye Qing’s eyes redden.
Letting out a satisfied burp, she finally remembered the mysterious space.
Across both her past and present lives, she’d only ever seen such legendary treasures in novels and short dramas. She never imagined that one day such a blessing would fall into her lap.
Taking a deep breath, she silently recited in her heart:
“Basket.”
The next second, the basket appeared steadily beside her.
“Oh my god!”
Her eyes nearly bulged out, and her heart pounded so hard it almost leaped out of her throat.
Like a child discovering a new continent, she hugged the basket and thought, “Store.”
The basket instantly vanished.
Then she thought, “Take out.”
The basket appeared again.
Store it, take it out.
Store it, take it out.
After repeating the process three times, Ye Qing finally covered her burning cheeks, convinced that she wasn’t dreaming.
But she still wasn’t done.
Biting her lip, she tried something smaller.
“Medicine for stopping bleeding!”
As soon as the words left her mouth, a paper packet of medicinal powder appeared in her palm.
“Needle!”
A sewing needle instantly appeared, bare and without any thread attached.
Good heavens!
It could be this precise?
Her playful side awakened. She quickly caught an ant crawling on the ground, carefully placed it on her fingertip, and thought:
“Go in!”
The ant continued crawling on her finger as if nothing had happened.
Unwilling to give up, she tried again.
Still no reaction.
“So living things can’t be stored inside.”
Stroking her chin, Ye Qing nodded thoughtfully.
She had already investigated. The entire space was only about ten square meters in size. Aside from storage, it had no other functions.
Forget things like spiritual farmland or beauty-enhancing spring water.
Even so, Ye Qing was so satisfied she nearly cried.
With this thing, she could store several buckets of water whenever she found a clean source. Whenever she came across something useful, she could quietly stash it away.
It practically freed up both her hands!
She no longer needed to carry so many things on the road, nor worry about displaying wealth and attracting trouble.
It was practically a life-saving artifact for fleeing refugees.
Ye Qing quickly made up her mind.
Since she’d decided to avoid Sihe Town, her new route would pass through the deep mountains. Along the way, she’d find clean water sources to store in her space and gather some wild fruits as provisions.
Once her supplies were sufficient, she’d head to the main road and find a merchant caravan or a traveling group to join.
Out here in these desolate mountains, having too many people around was a minor issue.
Safety was the most important thing of all.