At a glance, it was clear they weren’t a potential customer.

Just another visitor coming to take a look.

Ji He was happy to be ignored. She walked over, spotted a few stray hairs on the platform, picked them up, and moved on to the next stall.

That afternoon, many shop owners noticed this strange little girl wearing a mask. She stood in front of the stalls, looking but rarely touching. Whenever she saw loose fur on the ground, she would pick it up.

The stall owners saw that she didn’t even ask questions, so they didn’t bother talking to her either.

If she hadn’t come here, Ji He wouldn’t have realized how many breeds of pet cats and dogs existed. In just an hour, she had collected fur from 48 different kinds of cats, dogs, and rabbits.

Encouraged by her success, she set her sights on more exotic pets—miniature pigs, sugar gliders, lizards, foxes, hedgehogs, chinchillas—she didn’t discriminate.

If she could touch them, she would. If she couldn’t, she’d pay the owner for a single strand.

With that, she managed to collect more than ten additional types.

Next, she visited a shop selling birds, flowers, and fish. Originally, she wanted to buy some ornamental fish, but when she glanced down, she saw a pile of freshly dead fish that the owner had scooped out and discarded.

Thick-skinned, she asked for them.

The shopkeeper saw she was serious and waved a hand, letting her take them.

They were dead anyway—just trash at this point. If the girl wanted them, she could have them.

That’s how she collected over 30 different species of ornamental fish.

Some were big, some were small. The owner refused to give her the larger ones, so she shamelessly asked for a single fish scale instead.

Leaving the pet market, she was only 12 species short of her goal.

Another fruitful day.

Ji He happily boarded the bus home.

As soon as she got off, she looked up and spotted a large willow tree by the street. She walked over, plucked a leaf, and tossed it into her space.

11 left.

Ji He strolled home, suddenly remembering that she hadn’t given the space any samples from her alien cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks, or geese. She offered one from each, and sure enough, the space acknowledged them—now only six species remained.

Victory was in sight. Keep going!

As she walked, she bent down to pull up some weeds, but unfortunately, they were ones she had already collected before. The counter on her space’s display board didn’t change.

She wasn’t discouraged. Only six more to go—she’d get them sooner or later.

The moment she stepped through her front door, the first thing she did was turn on the air conditioning. Running around all day had left her sweltering.

The cool air revived her appetite.

The heat made her crave something refreshing, so she took a pre-chilled cucumber from the fridge, sliced it into strips, and prepared to make cold noodles.

It was a simple dish—boil the noodles, rinse them in cold water, and they were ready.

She plated the cucumber and cilantro, then added the seasonings she had prepared in advance.

A fragrant bowl of cold noodles was done.

Ji He ate with satisfaction, mentally praising herself for having all the right condiments on hand.

Seasoning was the soul of food. She had worked hard all day, wasn’t on a diet, and just wanted something that looked, smelled, and tasted good.

As she ate, she also gnawed on duck, chicken, and goose heads.

Out of all her meals, dinner was the most satisfying—lunch had been more of a quick fix.

After finishing her meal, Ji He hooked up her water barrels.

Tonight, she planned to fill three taps at once.

That would speed things up considerably.

She couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling from what Auntie Li mentioned earlier about the sudden mass fish deaths. It didn’t seem like a good sign.

Comparing her storage space to the size of a seasoning box, she estimated it had grown to about 1,000 square meters. More than enough for her needs, with room to spare.

She had originally wanted to fill all her water barrels at home, but there was always so much to do that she could never sit still long enough.

Ji He sat down, opened her laptop, and started downloading information. Meanwhile, she took out the sweet potato seedlings she had prepared the day before.

They were growing well—ready for transplanting.

The plants in her space grew significantly faster than in the real world, which was a relief. Otherwise, with only 60 or so square meters of black soil, she’d worry about having enough to feed her livestock.

Ji He grabbed some cornmeal and the cabbage she had bought earlier, chopped them up, and mixed them together.

She carried the mixture into her space.

For now, she mixed the grains with animal feed to supplement her livestock’s diet. The cows and sheep could stick to feed until the mountain grass seeds matured—then they could graze freely.

After feeding the animals, Ji He rolled up her sleeves and planted all the sweet potato seedlings.

Now, every inch of empty land in her planting space was in use.

Ji He took a satisfied look around—she loved this feeling of productivity.

It made her feel secure.

But there was one downside—when feeding the animals today, she realized she was out of animal feed. She’d have to buy more tomorrow.

Leaving the space, Ji He opened her laptop and began researching fish feed recipes.

Buying it long-term wasn’t practical—she wanted to see if she could make her own.

Her brows furrowed at what she found. It wasn’t impossible, but it required soybean meal, wheat bran, peanut cake, and other agricultural byproducts.

These byproducts could be repurposed for fish farming, making use of everything.

But she faced several challenges. First, she didn’t have the machines needed to dehull grains or extract oil.

Second, her black soil plot was too small. Every inch was already planted—there was no space left for anything new.

Ji He diligently wrote down the materials she needed in her notebook, making plans to buy them once she earned more money.

After closing the research tabs, she queued up more documents for downloading.

Tomorrow, she would still have to buy feed. She couldn’t let the fish starve.

Ji He moved to the living room, turned on the TV, and let a variety show play in the background while she kept working.

Her lamb offal and braised meats had sold well in the morning, so she decided to make extra to ensure there’d be enough to sell tomorrow.

She worked efficiently, and by 11 p.m., everything was ready.

Setting her alarm for 5 a.m., she climbed into bed, making sure she’d be able to wake up on time.

Even though she doubted the game would start tonight, she still put on her sneakers before going to sleep.

She could deal with clothes, but running barefoot on the farm would be unbearable.

Then, just as she drifted into a half-asleep state, a familiar electronic voice rang in her ears.

[Dear temporary M-Star player, hello! The Support Game invites you to participate in the second round. Will you accept?]

[Yes / No]

[Countdown: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3…]