Chapter 74

Even though she didn’t fully understand the meaning of the “compressed display cabinet” right away, seeing that it was a blue second prize, she knew it must be something good!

She immediately chose to claim it and felt a flicker of light and shadow in the floating island house, which was a unique step when the hardware in the house changed. She got up and started searching around. Soon, she saw an additional cabinet against the left wall by the front door.

The cabinet was plain and unremarkable, somewhat like a wooden display cabinet with a glass panel, featuring five levels, each divided into two compartments, making a total of ten compartments. Through the glass, she could clearly see the empty spaces inside each compartment.

Unlike ordinary cabinets, this one didn’t have handles to open, and it didn’t look like a sliding glass door either. It seemed purely like a display cabinet.

How would she put things in this cabinet?

She reached out to touch the glass, hoping to find a hidden handle or switch. As soon as her finger touched the glass of one of the compartments, writing appeared: Empty (can display).

Shu Fu had an inkling of what was happening. She suppressed her excitement, took her phone from the side, and as soon as her phone touched her finger, the writing on the glass changed: Detected phone, display phone? Yes/No.

She clicked “Yes,” and the phone disappeared from her hand, reappearing in the first compartment of the glass cabinet.

When she touched the glass of this compartment again, the writing changed: Full (item displayed); remove phone? Yes/No.

The phone didn’t occupy the entire space of the first compartment, but it was clear that the compartment wasn’t judged by size but by quantity. In other words, one compartment could only store one item. She now wondered if the name “compressed display cabinet” meant it could display items that appeared much larger than the compartments.

At this point, her wristband vibrated, showing the ninth icon, which looked like a cabinet.

She clicked on the new icon on her wristband, and immediately, another identical wooden display cabinet appeared in front of her. The first compartment still contained her phone, but this display cabinet, created via the wristband, was a simulated projection effect, though the operating process was the same as the real display cabinet in the floating island house.

“Portable” seemed to mean that no matter where she was, even outside the floating island house, she could use the wristband to open this display cabinet and store or retrieve items anytime.

Although storing and retrieving things this way wasn’t as convenient as the wristband’s backpack space, wasn’t this just a way to indirectly expand her personal space?

Shu Fu thought about it and began experimenting one by one.

She first stored a cup of hot water, then waited for thirty minutes before taking it out. The hot water had turned into warm water, suggesting that the storage cabinet didn’t freeze time like the space did, meaning it couldn’t store fresh food.

She tried storing tables, sofas, mattresses… even herself. As long as it was a single item, it could be stored, regardless of size. However, the biggest single item she had at the moment was a mattress, so she didn’t test the size limit of stored items.

Of course, she couldn’t store herself. No matter how much she touched herself, no writing appeared on the glass, likely because living creatures couldn’t be stored inside.

Additionally, any accessories that reasonably belonged with or inside a stored item would be considered as part of the same item.

For example, the bedsheet, blanket, and pillows on the mattress would all be counted as one item.

But if she placed a cup on the mattress, two questions would appear: “Display mattress? Yes/No” and “Display cup? Yes/No.”

Whether the cup contained water or coffee, both would be stored together. However, if she placed a flower in the cup, two questions would appear, indicating that two compartments would be occupied.

But when she placed the flower in a proper vase, it reverted to one question, meaning the flower and vase could be stored together—showing the high level of differentiation.

She quickly experimented with a suitcase. Obviously, any reasonable accessories inside the suitcase would also be stored together.

This way, she could store a suitcase full of clothes or books or mix food and other items together, and they would all be considered one item.

However, the same rule didn’t apply to cardboard boxes. Whether she placed one item or many inside a box, and whether the box was sealed with tape, it would occupy multiple compartments.

But an unopened box of drinks or instant noodles would be considered one item.

She felt like she had a basic understanding of the rules for the compressed display cabinet and planned to find bigger items to try storing when the opportunity arose.

Next, Shu Fu began a big clean-up of her space. She stored the largest items that didn’t have time limits and took up the most room in her wristband’s backpack: a wardrobe, office desk, large dining table, unused sofa…

Then, she took out the two suitcases she had and filled them with things she wouldn’t be using for a while: out-of-season clothes, books she wasn’t reading at the moment, duplicate camping gear, miscellaneous items she had bought before the apocalypse…

In short, anything that wouldn’t expire and wasn’t needed right now, she packed it up and stored it all in the suitcases, which she then placed into the compressed display cabinet.

After the suitcase, which was about half her height, was stored in the display cabinet, it appeared in a miniature size in one of the compartments, looking unusually amusing.

In the end, she filled eight of the ten compartments, clearing up a lot of space inside her wristband backpack. This meant she could now claim the 10 fruit gift sets and 10 barbecue gift sets that she had previously been hesitant to take.

The contents of the barbecue gift set were indeed exactly the same as before.

Each fruit gift set was a cardboard box containing about a dozen different kinds of fruit, each in a box or bag. The key point was that most of the fruits were pre-cut and ready to eat!

There was a box of durian flesh, which contained about seven or eight excellent pieces of golden flesh; a box of crispy kumquats, about one kilogram; a box of blueberries, about 500 grams; a box of watermelon cubes, weighing approximately 1500 grams…

In addition, there were avocados, peaches, apples, bananas, cherries, mangoes, jackfruit, cantaloupe, lychees, passionfruit, and lemons.

It almost included all the fruits she loved and disliked.

After unboxing, she happily kept a box of lychees and two peaches, then stored all 10 fruit gift sets and 10 barbecue gift sets into her space. Even after placing the 20 boxes in the display cabinet, there was still plenty of room left.

Once everything was done, Shu Fu removed the electric card, took a bowl of spicy pea and beef noodle soup, a serving of five-spice duck feet, and a bowl of red bean double-skin milk from the shelf, and casually sat at the dining table barefoot. While watching a funny variety show to relax, she began enjoying the first hearty and stable dinner—or rather, late-night snack—she’d had in days.

**

After dinner, she cleaned up the trash, then sat on the sofa with fruit in hand, took out her notebook to record important matters, and began analyzing her notes.

The second bug had appeared. If she was right, there would likely be a third, fourth, and so on…

Each time a bug appeared, it perhaps represented a new piece of information. Some of the information she could understand, while some she couldn’t comprehend just yet. But no matter what, these pieces of information seemed to be clues, leading her closer to the truth of the world.

It was like unlocking different areas on a map—bit by bit, revealing fragments of the truth. One day, she would be able to piece together the full story using these fragments.

As for Lu Zheng, there were two possibilities.

First, he might, from start to finish, not be the real Lu Zheng—not the Lu Zheng from this world. He and she might come from the same world, having crossed over for unknown reasons, and whether he had a “golden finger” was unclear.

One clue supporting this possibility was: his memory recognized her, but she didn’t recognize him at all, and didn’t recall ever seeing his face. Another clue was that when she regained her memory, it happened in an instant and was very clear, like suddenly waking up from a dream. But he clearly wasn’t the same—he even exhibited memory confusion and cognitive errors, making him appear more like a bug, very different from her.

So, who was special—him or her?

The second possibility was that before their re-encounter, the Lu Zheng she had seen was indeed the real Lu Zheng from this world. But after their re-encounter, Lu Zheng had been taken over by an unknown individual from her world for some reason—what was commonly referred to as soul transference.

This unknown individual recognized her and remembered her. The reason she didn’t recognize him was because the soul transference had altered his face, and he himself was confused due to memory issues.

In either case, his memories from his original world were incomplete.

Furthermore, the white light bar above his head might represent his memory or level of awakening.

The question now was: What would happen when the white light bar reached full capacity?

Lastly, Chen Fa also had the same white light bar above his head. Was it possible that she might experience the same memory confusion as Lu Zheng? Could she be from the same world as him?

Lu Zheng and Chen Fa both exhibited the same unreal bug-like state. What was the connection between them, and why were they the ones affected?

Could it be because they were both task-related individuals?

Shu Fu felt like she had grasped the key point.

If that was the case, what was the sequence? Did the task cause their current bug-like state? Or was it their existence that brought the task into being?

…

She slowly pieced her thoughts together. If her previous guesses had seemed like castles in the air—chaotic and abrupt—now, Shu Fu felt like she had started to approach the truth.

She closed the notebook, set an alarm for six o’clock, then turned off the lights and climbed into her wooden loft bed, lying down on her soft, clean, and comfortable bed to sleep.

**

Against the backdrop of a gloomy, rainy day, the Sky Eye Salt Lake scenic area appeared particularly pale and desolate. Located between mountains, this area had been difficult to access even in peacetime, and now it was even more abandoned and ruined.

But previously, the group fleeing from Lu Zheng had chosen this place, primarily because of its inaccessibility and desolation.

The city could offer supplies, but it was also full of dangers. So, this had always been a dilemma, depending on what was most needed at the time by those making the decision.

Shu Fu had only slept for six hours. The alarm was set for six o’clock so she could return to the container house in time, in case Chen Fa came to knock in the morning. She couldn’t hear anything when inside the floating island house with the protective shield on.

She took a set of waterproof sportswear from the dryer, tied up her hair, put on her waterproof boots, and carried the untouched backpack and travel bag. She left the wooden raft, stored it away, turned off the drift bottle’s protective shield, and then returned to the dark, damp container house.

The heavy rain continued to fall on the roof, making it noisy inside the container house. There was still some rainwater seeping through the corners of the walls. She spread out the camping moisture-proof mat she had used for the ground bed on the mildew-spotted single bed sheet before sitting down.

As expected, around 7:00 AM, Chen Fa knocked on her door and called her to breakfast.

The welcome meal last night was an exception, since the three of them weren’t part of the team from Pincheng Town, so they were responsible for their own meals.

Shu Fu responded and, wearing only a raincoat, went over directly. It was just next door, only a few steps away.

Chen Yuezhen was also at Chen Fa’s place. Chen Fa’s house was slightly better than hers, probably because it wasn’t located on the edge, so there was no water leakage. She had already taken a shower, washed her hair, and changed clothes. Inside the room, there was a small, rusted metal bucket she had somehow found, with a fire burning in it, using some cardboard scraps and broken wood pieces.

The cardboard scraps were leftover from the bus window repairs yesterday, and the broken wood seemed to have come from a chair in the room. The wood was solid and could likely burn for a long time.

A clothesline was set up along the wall with some rope, and washed clothes were hung out to dry.

The altitude near the salt lake was around 1500 meters, and the indoor temperature ranged from 15 to 20 degrees Celsius. The fire didn’t make the room feel hot; instead, it made the space drier.

The faint sounds of the fire mixed with the sound of rain on the roof, creating a dual white noise that was soothing, almost like being on a vacation in a mountain cabin.

For breakfast, each person had a bowl of vegetable soup, a piece of bread, some pickled vegetables, and a can of pork with preserved plums to eat with the bread.

Shu Fu didn’t eat much while having breakfast with them—not because she was picky, but because she wanted to save as much of the supplies as possible for them.

While eating, Shu Fu occasionally glanced at the white light bar above Chen Fa’s head. She was really hoping for her to enter a bug state, as that would mean they were similar. And some of the unreal secrets could be shared more safely between people who were the same.

Unfortunately, the white light bar did not appear.

Later in the morning, Braid Head came to knock on the door and informed them to head to the warehouse for a meeting.

Shu Fu still carried her backpack and waist bag with her, and Chen Fa and the others did the same. The most important items were always kept in their bags, not because they were wary of others, but because it was a habit developed in the chaos of these times.

They had become accustomed to being ready to flee at any moment, and their backpacks contained the most basic supplies for survival.

The meeting was being held by the same group of people who had gone to Lucheng before. Lu Ce came along with Lu Zheng again, and he specifically sat next to Shu Fu with a tabby cat, glancing at her occasionally, looking like he had something to say but wasn’t sure how to start.

Lu Zheng seemed unusually quiet, possibly because of the memory confusion from yesterday. The white light bar above his head had disappeared again, and it was unclear when it would reappear.

This time, Thin Long Face and Xu Jiechu also came along. One had both legs bitten, walking with a limp, while the other had only just regained consciousness last night and had just recovered.

Xu Jiechu also had a cat with him—a very beautiful cheese-colored cat that was very attached to its owner, constantly rubbing against him in his arms, completely ignoring the tabby cat by Lu Ce’s side.

In comparison, Xu Tingfeng, who had a chunk of flesh missing from his calf, seemed almost inhumanly strong. He was the one organizing the meeting and also the main speaker, while Lu Zheng was the one planning the route based on the map.

Lu Zheng took out a marked map, and Xu Tingfeng had prepared a supply plan overnight, with the destination set for Youcheng.

Youcheng was slightly larger than Lucheng, but also farther away. It was located southwest of Pincheng and Lucheng, at the border of Lankou Province. They had seen some information about the area when they accessed the internet at the Lucheng trading post.

The urban area there was also in chaos, but due to the terrain, there was a river running from west to east that divided Youcheng into two parts. Currently, the northern part of the city was in turmoil, with several factions in conflict, but the southern part still had a small unit of troops holding their ground. It was said that they had even destroyed several major bridges along the river to prevent the northern forces from crossing and causing trouble in the south.

However, the northern forces were not to be underestimated. They had managed to secure the largest bridge, which had become the only remaining line of defense between the north and south.

The northern forces needed this bridge, so they had stationed a large number of people to guard it, to prevent the southern forces from blowing it up.

On the southern side of the bridge, they had cleared a large area and set up heavy defenses to guard against incursions from the northern forces.

Because the defenses were well made, it was said that the situation in the south was manageable.

They hadn’t planned to go there before, mainly because of the issue with vehicles.

With limited fuel, they couldn’t use too many vehicles for a single trip. Fewer vehicles meant limited cargo capacity, and they couldn’t carry much to bring back. Traveling too far wasn’t cost-effective, since they could obtain supplies in Lucheng, which was closer.

But now, they had a bus.

A 25-seat bus with a huge loading capacity. Their plan was to repair and reinforce it, much like they had done with the van, and then use it to head to Youcheng.

Some of the fuel they had now was brought over from the town, while others were scavenged along the way from gas stations on provincial and national highways during their evacuation. There were several routes and gas stations between Tianyan Salt Lake and Youcheng as well.

Even though it was likely that the fuel had already been looted, if they searched carefully, they could still gather a bit more from the edges and corners.

After all, their requirements weren’t high—5 liters, 10 liters more was still a good gain.

However, there was a small issue. Since the bus had been found by Shu Fu and was her vehicle, now that they wanted to use it, they would need to discuss things with her. For example, they could offer her a portion of the materials they found or exchanged, or find other ways to make up for it.

Shu Fu glanced at Chen Fa.

This small issue had already been anticipated by Chen Fa during breakfast. After all, there were only three of them, and driving such a big bus would be too conspicuous, not to mention unnecessary. Furthermore, the other team clearly needed the bus more than they did. The three of them had already worked out a plan for this situation.

First, they would swap the bus for another vehicle. They also needed a vehicle, so the bus could be given to them, but in exchange, they would have to provide another vehicle for the three of them. There were several vehicles in the warehouse, and Chen Fa had already set her sights on a modified off-road vehicle yesterday. She just needed them to help her repair and reinforce it.

In addition, they would certainly need to take the remaining fuel from the bus’s tank. The next time they went out to Youcheng or elsewhere to scavenge for supplies, the three of them would drive the off-road vehicle, so they were in need of that fuel.

When Chen Fa mentioned the off-road vehicle, several of the men in the warehouse turned their gaze toward Xu Tingfeng.

Coincidentally, the off-road vehicle that Chen Fa had set her eyes on was Xu Tingfeng’s.