Chapter 26 – The Secret of the Space

Hearing the voice, she quickly stepped back, just as Song Yi came up carrying a large basin.

That woman — she was here again.

“Hey handsome, what did you buy? Can you share a bit with me?”

Jiang Yuan turned her head and saw the woman striking a flirtatious pose.

Song Yi ignored her and continued walking upstairs.

He had carried so many things — he was clearly exhausted.

“Hmph, fine! Don’t share then. Acting like you’re all that.”

When they reached the 21st floor, Jiang Yuan slammed the door shut, completely cutting off the woman and her annoying voice.

Jiang Xingzhi had been waiting by the door. As soon as he saw Jiang Yuan, he rushed out.

He had noticed earlier downstairs that Jiang Yuan wasn’t alone, so he’d been cautious. He was holding a small hammer behind his back, eyeing Song Yi warily.

“Dad, come help. Our neighbor helped me carry the stuff back.”

“Thank you so much, young man.”

Jiang Xingzhi thanked him while keeping a close eye on his movements.

“No problem, sir. Just lending a hand…”

Song Yi squatted down and took out Jiang Yuan’s share of the goods. The rest, along with the large basin, he dragged over to the door of Unit 2102.

“Dad, hurry.”

Jiang Yuan urged him. Seeing Song Yi return to his own place, Jiang Xingzhi finally came over to help carry the items inside.

“How did you run into him?”

“It’s a long story. Let’s go inside first.”

Saying that, she entered the apartment. Qin Yue was waiting too.

Seeing her daughter come back safe and sound, she was visibly relieved and happy.

“You scared me to death. Next time, let your dad go with you.”

Her parents kept fussing over her. But once they saw the things she brought back, they were shocked.

“My daughter is amazing. These things are so heavy. Thankfully the neighbor helped. But next time, let your dad go with you…”

“Let’s talk about next time later. Mom, Dad — things out there aren’t looking good. We can’t let our guard down…”

As she spoke, she took off her backpack. Inside were two packs of noodles, a strawberry bear plushie, a can of thumb-sized cookies, and two packs of hotpot soup base.

“But the temperature has dropped — what else could happen?”

Qin Yue was a little nervous. Things finally seemed to be settling down, so why was her daughter still talking like that?

“Let’s talk tomorrow. Get some sleep and don’t overthink it.”

It was already very late — past 1 a.m. Everyone was tired.

“Yeah, you’ve worked hard today. Go to bed early. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

With that, everyone went to their rooms.

The weather was cool, so the vegetables stored on the floor wouldn’t spoil.

Jiang Yuan returned to her room and tidied herself up.

She checked on her daughter, gave her a kiss on the forehead, and then entered her space. She needed to sort out everything she’d gathered tonight.

In the coming days, she needed to seize every chance for “zero-cost shopping.” Her space had to be prepared.

But as soon as she entered the space, something felt… off. The house looked different from before.

She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but something had changed.

When she looked at the timer, her eyes widened. Even the screen font had changed.

12 hours, 21 minutes, and 6 seconds — the last time she left, it had been 10 hours and 21 minutes.

It had increased by two whole hours!

Then she noticed the bottom right corner — there was a small, faint gold character: “金” (gold).

Below it, the screen lit up with six simple icons. She could vaguely make out a cabinet, a table, and a chair.

There was also a square patch with green grass — like the land plots in old farm simulation games. And one strange icon that looked like a water droplet or three sweat beads.

All six icons were blinking. On impulse, Jiang Yuan tapped the cabinet icon.

Instantly, a full-sized three-door cabinet appeared in the middle of the room.

Since the walls were lined with stuff, the cabinet had materialized right in the center.

The sudden appearance of such a big item startled her — it was a bit eerie.

When she looked at the display again, all the other new elements had vanished. Only the original countdown remained.

The gold character wasn’t flashing anymore either — but she could still faintly make out its shape.

She found this all incredible. What had triggered this upgrade in the space?

Not only had the duration increased, but a new item had appeared too.

Wait — “金”!

Jiang Yuan rushed to her bed and dug out the jewelry box she had placed inside the space yesterday.

When she opened it, most of the items were still there — except two gold bangles and half of a gold necklace.

Yes — half of it. A necklace was missing half its length.

It seemed this space had strict weight requirements for adding new elements.

The good news was, it selected items on its own. She didn’t have to think too hard.

Judging by what was missing, the required gold was about 100 grams.

Still curious, Jiang Yuan picked up the timer device again.

Above the gold character, she now saw a tiny “1” — so small you’d miss it if you didn’t look closely.

Could this mean “Level 1”? Maybe each upgrade adds a new item?

But then, why hadn’t it used the rest of her gold jewelry? There was still a lot left — she didn’t get it.

She looked at the positions of the icons and suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

“Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth… these icons are laid out just right.”

She murmured to herself, as if discovering a whole new world.

Could those extra two hours also be related to this?

She started searching the space, hoping to find more clues. There were a lot of things she’d thrown in before, and they were all still here.

What could it be?

She had already been in the space for 40 minutes and still found nothing.

Forget it. She decided to organize her things first. These were valuable — worth a lot in the old world.

Money?

Right! What about that 20,000 yuan?

She had casually tossed it in with the stuff by the bar counter.

She looked around again — and sure enough, it was gone.

Could this be the key to those extra two hours? It was unbelievable.

But now she was basically broke.

If the cost was 10,000 yuan per hour, she couldn’t even manage one more hour.

If I’d known, I would’ve kept more cash. Damn.

There was no time for regret. Jiang Yuan started organizing again, shifting things along the wall to make space and dragging the cabinet over.

She still couldn’t understand why the space rewarded her with these items.

She already had these things at home — she could just toss them in herself.

Still, since the space had gifted them, they must hold some value.

She stopped overthinking and began sorting everything again. Random odds and ends were grouped separately.

When she finished, she went to the garden section and watered the vegetables. By the time she was done, it was already 2:30 a.m.

When she finally emerged from the space, she was dripping with sweat — only to find Xiao Nuan staring wide-eyed at her.

“Mama…”

Jiang Yuan jumped, her back instantly breaking into a cold sweat.

Getting caught off-guard like this was… unsettling.

Still, she gently asked, “What’s wrong, baby?”