Chapter 2: A Spatial Ability
“Su Ruizhe!” A suddenly sharp voice called out his name.
Su Ruizhe slowly turned around and saw a plump middle-aged woman standing at the entrance of the alley. Her round face was lit with a kindly smile, as though she were looking at a dearly loved child.
Su Ruizhe parted his lips, only managing to force out three words. “Auntie…”
“Little Zhe, where have you been these past few days? I’ve come by several times, and every time you’ve given me a closed door!” Chen Huizhen said, looking utterly distressed. “Oh my, look at you—you’ve lost weight again. You haven’t been eating properly, have you? What a sin!” She looked so heartbroken that anyone unaware of the situation might think they were extremely close—despite the fact that this family hadn’t shown up at all when his grandfather passed away…
Thinking of his grandfather, Su Ruizhe couldn’t help but feel his eyes redden again. He had clearly sworn not to shed such weak tears anymore, but his grandfather and Zhan Yun were the wounds in his heart that could never be touched. He simply couldn’t control himself…
Seeing him like this, Chen Huizhen thought he was genuinely moved by her concern. Her tone softened even more. “You can’t possibly eat properly all by yourself at home. Come, come—go back with Auntie and have a meal.”
At her words, the trace of sorrow in Su Ruizhe’s eyes that came from thinking of his grandfather quickly vanished, replaced by pure indifference.
Once upon a time, this seemingly kind aunt had invited him home just as warmly, asking him to eat with them, then suggesting that he stay over so they could “take better care of him.” Uncle’s family was well-off. Both Uncle and Auntie worked for state-owned enterprises, and the three-bedroom apartment they lived in had just been allocated to them that very year. It was spacious, bright, and spotless—nothing like the crude little house he shared with his grandfather.
It was the first time he had ever lived in such a bright home, worn clean, brand-new clothes, and slept on a soft, comfortable bed. Everything was so beautiful it felt unreal, like a wonderful dream.
Later, Auntie said that his cousin’s child was about to start school and that they wanted the kid to attend a better public elementary school. They had their eyes on the elementary school affiliated with No. 1 High School, but the child’s household registration wasn’t in that district, leaving them at a loss. So she asked whether it would be possible to register the child’s household under his grandfather’s house.
Only then did Su Ruizhe remember that although his grandfather’s house was old and shabby, its location was actually quite good…
After his grandfather passed away, that dilapidated little house became his only property, and he himself became the registered head of the household.
At the time, he was still just a seventeen-year-old child. He truly believed he had regained family affection. Those days living at his aunt’s house were the best days of his life. Naturally, he agreed without hesitation.
And then… Auntie treated him even better.
His cousin, who worked in a government office, quickly used connections to transfer his child’s household registration into his grandfather’s house. Along with that, his cousin and cousin-in-law’s registrations were added as well. In the end, Auntie said that Su Ruizhe was too young to be the head of the household, so they simply changed that too.
It was only later that Su Ruizhe learned that his grandfather’s house wasn’t commercial property at all, but public rental housing. It came with usage rights only, no ownership—something that could only be compensated for during demolition, not sold. Coincidentally, Uncle had connections and had heard that the area was about to be demolished. That was why Auntie had gone through all that trouble to bring him home in the first place.
The demolition notice came down quickly. Compensation was distributed per person, amounting to several hundred thousand yuan each. Everyone got their share. Su Ruizhe received nearly three hundred thousand yuan. Auntie said that since he was just a child and his food and lodging were already covered by their family, he didn’t need to use the money, so she would keep it for him.
Then she continued to feed and clothe him well. In less than a month, she had already coaxed him to the point where he believed anything she said…
Thinking back on how naïve he had been then, Su Ruizhe couldn’t help but sigh. If it hadn’t been for his longing for that warmth and his trust in it, he would never have ended up like that later—nor would he have cruelly pushed away the person he loved most…
“Little Zhe? Little Zhe!”
Su Ruizhe’s memories were interrupted by his aunt’s slightly shrill voice. He lifted his head and looked at her—the same gentle, kindly smile still on her face.
“Come home with Auntie, okay? There’s meat stewing at home, and your uncle is always talking about you. After all, we’re your only blood relatives now,” Chen Huizhen said pointedly, emphasizing the words blood relatives.
In his heart, Su Ruizhe let out a cold laugh. What fine blood relatives—ones who squeezed every last bit of value out of him and then kicked him aside without mercy?!
“No need, Auntie. Today is Grandpa’s third seventh day. I need to stay home with him, so he won’t be lonely.”
At the mention of the late Grandpa Su, Chen Huizhen’s smile immediately faltered. She could only respond stiffly, “Oh… t-then let’s eat together at my place another day.”
Only after watching that plump figure disappear from the alley entrance did Su Ruizhe lower his gaze, slowly turn around, and walk back into the dilapidated little house.
The room was empty. A black-and-white photo of his grandfather hung on the wall. The toothless old man was smiling kindly, and Su Ruizhe’s tears instantly fell.
His grandfather had worked so hard to raise him, never enjoying even a single good day before passing away. His rebirth—with a spatial ability and supernatural powers—seemed to hold no meaning at all…
If not for… if not for the fact that there was still someone in this world he couldn’t stop caring about, he wouldn’t want to face that terrifying apocalypse ever again.
As dusk fell, the scent of cooking drifted in from afar. Su Ruizhe took out the barbecue he had stored in his spatial storage and wolfed it down, then lay on the hard wooden bed, beginning to think about what he needed to do tomorrow.
There was only one month left before the apocalypse broke out. Time was extremely tight—he had to prepare thoroughly. But right now, he was penniless. Relying solely on selling vegetables, he couldn’t even earn a few hundred yuan a day… Food wasn’t too much of an issue—his space contained fruits, vegetables, grains, and staples of every kind—but there was one thing it lacked: meat! Heaven knew how difficult it would be to eat even a hot meal in the apocalypse, let alone meat!
To earn enough money to eat meat for ten or so years—robbing a bank would probably be faster…
Unfortunately, the apocalypse hadn’t broken out yet. The world was still in order. Not to mention whether someone with his slight build could even succeed in robbing a bank, if he got caught, he’d end up in prison. And prisons during the apocalypse were anything but safe—if you weren’t bitten to death by inmates who hadn’t yet turned into zombies, you’d starve to death behind iron bars. Better to be a law-abiding citizen and save up money the honest way.
Su Ruizhe slipped into his spatial domain and arrived in a beautiful valley. The valley wasn’t large—at most a dozen or so mu (1 mu = 0.164 acres)—but it contained rice paddies, vegetable plots, and fruit orchards, all brimming with life. There was also a clear spring, from which cool, pure water flowed continuously. He walked straight to it and took a long drink of the sweet spring water, feeling instantly refreshed. On the other side of the spring was a wide expanse of green grass; in the future, he planned to raise some livestock there. There was also a small cave in the valley, about four or five square meters in size. Anything stored inside it was preserved, so harvested vegetables and fruits were placed directly into the cave.
This space was actually Su Ruizhe’s second ability. Dual-attribute abilities weren’t unheard of in the apocalypse—just relatively rare.
At first, his ability levels were low. His wood-type ability could do little more than speed up the growth of seedlings and had no offensive power. His spatial ability was only a few cubic meters in size, without mountains or water, capable of storing only inanimate objects. It wasn’t particularly useful.
As the apocalyptic environment grew increasingly harsh, many plants mutated, and humanity faced an urgent survival crisis. After years of drifting from place to place, Su Ruizhe and his uncle’s family finally arrived at a large base. The base’s research institute recruited a group of ability users as volunteers to assist with research, and abilities like Su Ruizhe’s—related to planting and space—were highly sought after.
At first, the institute treated him well. Their main focus was studying his abilities, and they brought him plenty of crystal cores to help him level up, forcibly raising his abilities to Tier Three. That was when he discovered that his powers had mutated: his space expanded, mountains, water, and land appeared within it, and not only could he grow crops—he could also use his wood-type ability to turn the fruits of those crops into weapons…
However, no other spatial ability users experienced anything like this. By then, Su Ruizhe had survived in the apocalypse for many years and had seen plenty of darkness. Yet in his heart, he still cherished the “family” who had once given him warmth and care. Believing he could help them live better lives, he revealed this huge secret to his aunt.
He never imagined that she would immediately turn around and sell him out to the research institute…
The kindly researchers tore off their gentle masks and used every possible means to experiment on him, all while claiming that he was humanity’s hope for the future.
After enduring all kinds of inhumane experiments, Su Ruizhe was ultimately killed when his ability core was extracted. The researchers then went on to look for their next “hope.”
Heh. How ironic.
Su Ruizhe took out several large plastic bags and filled them with vegetables and fruits from his space, stacking them on the cave floor in preparation to sell them for money the next day.
Leaving the space, Su Ruizhe lay back down on the wooden plank bed. He pulled a wad of scattered bills from the pocket of his worn tracksuit and carefully counted them. It was all the money he’d made today from selling vegetables and fruit—five hundred and twenty yuan. In the past, that would have been a huge sum, but for the current Su Ruizhe, it was still far from enough.
The apocalypse would require far too many supplies. If he didn’t hurry to gather necessities during this one month before it arrived, it would be too late once the apocalypse began…
Money, money, money! He needed money desperately!
At that moment, he suddenly thought of this house… Before long, the demolition notice would be issued. As long as he signed the agreement, he’d get paid. The compensation was divided per person—each person seemed to get more than three hundred thousand yuan!
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