Chapter 48: Dad Came to Take Her Home

After finishing everything, it was already 5:10.
Why hadn’t anyone come yet?
Strange.

She sat down to rest and noticed two messages in the group chat, both tagging her.

Song Yi:
“Jiang Yuan, we’ll probably come to pick you up around 10 o’clock.”

Ye Mianmian:
“Sister Yuan, on our way back, the elevated road below collapsed. We had to take a detour.
Everyone was exhausted and we just finished organizing everything. Don’t worry, we’ll rest a bit and come get you right after.”

Well, as expected, it had to be Ye Mianmian who was thoughtful enough to explain everything clearly.

Then another message popped up:

Zhang Kaiyang:
“Sister Yuan, don’t be scared. Eat something and replenish your energy. We’ll be there soon…”

Jiang Yuan:
“Okay, no rush. You guys rest if you need to. I’m on the 10th floor — downstairs is already flooded.”

Ye Mianmian:
“No time to rest. Brother Song said the wind will pick up later, possibly becoming serious. Sister Yuan, stay safe. We’re on our way now…”

Jiang Yuan:
“Alright, you all be careful too…”

With the overpass damaged, the only way from Lushan Yayuan to her location was a longer detour around the back road.
That route had more narrow village paths and was undoubtedly more difficult to travel.

Since that was the case, she couldn’t afford to stop either.

She took a sip of water and entered her storage space.
She now had plenty of materials — enough to upgrade.
If she didn’t, she’d run out of room to stand.

Inside the space, it was warm and cozy. She took off her windbreaker.

“Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth…”

This time, what she lacked was fire.

Her space had already grown to over 200 square meters, and she had scavenged quite a few lighters.
She remembered that matches needed to be lit — did that mean…

Jiang Yuan quickly exited the space. On the 10th floor, there was a 1-meter-long fish tank.
Earlier, Zhang Kaiyang had joked it was too small, otherwise it could have been turned into a bathtub.

Now, she wanted to try it out.

She put the tank into her space, then picked up some previously ignored children’s clothing — too small even for Xiao Nuan.
She hadn’t had time to go through them earlier and had just grabbed them from a maternity store.

Then she used a lighter to ignite a few tissues and tossed them in.
The flame rose quickly.

Good thing she was indoors — no wind.
The fish tank was tall enough, and she hadn’t added many clothes.

When the fire was at its peak, she pressed the upgrade button.
Surprisingly, the once roaring fire abruptly died down, as if it were about to go out.

“Yay, success!”

She felt like she had just discovered a new continent.

The 15th floor had a pajama live-stream studio.
The 19th floor had a shop for four-piece bedding sets.

She couldn’t waste time — rushed up to collect more fuel to burn.
As long as the fire kept going, she could keep upgrading.

She was ecstatic — if this worked, she could continuously level up her space.
Even the rainwater outside could be collected and used.

However, the smoke from burning clothes wasn’t dispersing properly.
It all rose upward into the foggy sky — who knew where it drifted off to?

“Ding, ding, ding…”

Her timer rang. She was puzzled.
Why wasn’t there a land icon anymore?

There was still a country road icon, but it only worked inside her land space, and it even turned farmland into stone-paved roads — not worth it.

Several new icons had appeared, but none for land.
What was going on?

She stepped out to check. Her house was now about 500 square meters.
Had she hit a bottleneck? Or was this the maximum size?

Her front yard was about 300 square meters.
Now the back had opened up too — around 200 square meters.

Never mind — no time to worry.
It was already 5:30. She geared up and headed to check out the other two buildings.

With the space this big, most things could now fit.

She wasn’t in a rush — anything useful she threw inside, planning to sort it all later.

The wind had definitely picked up.
Paddling her own canoe was getting harder.

She needed to hurry.

The remaining two buildings had similar goods — random assortments of everything.

Mostly influencer products from online live streams.
Jiang Yuan didn’t have time to pick and choose — just grabbed what she could.

If they were coming around 10, and she could spend two hours per building,
she’d be able to clear out most of the goods, pantries, and offices.

There was still plenty left in drawers, but she had no choice but to leave some behind.

She prioritized: clothes, cotton textiles, food, and jewelry.

Anything space-related was an absolute must-have.

In Building A, she even found some high-tech gadgets, seedlings, and hydroponic plants.

Those could potentially be planted later — a great find.

Despite the rush, she didn’t lose track of time.

At 10:01, Jiang Yuan quickly packed up and began heading back.

To get from Building A to Building C, she had to pass Building B.
By then, the wind had gotten much worse.

She struggled but didn’t dare delay — paddled with all her strength.

Good thing she’d eaten two energy bars earlier — otherwise, this level of exertion would have wiped her out.

Finally, she reached Building C, utterly exhausted.

She quickly stored everything, ran up to the 10th floor — her ride should arrive any minute.

Suddenly, she remembered: the 18th floor — Ye Mianmian’s company — she hadn’t gone yet.

“No, I can’t skip it. There’s still space left. Gotta go now.”

She grabbed a sticky note and scribbled that she’d gone to the 18th floor.

Climbing up, she found it was a beauty company.
She’d already gathered plenty from similar places.

Still, a few expensive, well-known products caught her eye — she took those.

The cubicles had clearly been searched already — likely by Ye Mianmian.

But the office remained untouched.

The boss must’ve been male — lots of stuff there.
She even found a dagger.

She took some solid wood furniture and soil — another fruitful stop.

Just as she was about to leave, she noticed a finance office across the hall.

She immediately turned around.
And sure enough — lots of cash, over 60,000 yuan.

Nice. Perfect ending.

She got back to the 10th floor — it was already 11:00, but they still hadn’t arrived.

She tore down the sticky note and tossed it into her space.
No time to rest — just now, she’d seen a beam of light.

She rushed to the window to check — sure enough, Song Yi and the others were back!

They had kept their word — truly reliable partners.

Wait… why did it look like four people?

Could it be…?

Jiang Yuan ran downstairs to greet them.

Now that they had to come in through the 8th floor, she only needed to go down two floors.

“Dad? Why are you here?”