Zhāng 67

The rickshaw puller picked up the ten yuan, feeling it was a bit hot in his hand, and his face showed unease.

"Keep it. That's his compensation for you. Besides, if he holds a grudge, it'll be against me, not you," Paige said as she walked away.

Paige rode Seven back home and went straight into her room.

Her original plan was to set up a grassland and raise some small animals, so she could have whatever food she wanted anytime.

Also, to prepare some soil for growing vegetables, rice, fruit trees, and so on—to achieve food independence as early as possible.

But after her recent outing, she suddenly had a new realization.

Why bother with so much trouble? She could create a mountain and a large grassland.

Couldn't fruit trees grow on the mountain?

All the animals could live together. An entire mountain with grassland should be enough to sustain them.

If not, she could always add more whenever she remembered.

As for a water source, she could clear some space halfway up the mountain or at the top to make a few fish ponds.

They could be used to raise fish and shrimp, and the animals could come there to drink water when thirsty.

On the plains, she could also dig some lower water pools. If they couldn't be used for breeding, they could simply serve as drinking troughs for the animals.

Past the plains, she could turn the area into farmland, with fences or wooden barriers in between.

In the beginning, she could use her spiritual power to drive the animals away. After some time, the small animals would likely understand not to step into that area.

If not, then any that dared cross would be slaughtered on the spot.

During her inspection, Paige noticed the two food containers she had prepared earlier for experiments.

All these days, she had been so busy she'd forgotten to eat.

Paige took out the two containers. The crystal core placed under one of them had dimmed considerably.

When she opened the container, the food was still hot and smelled delicious.

The crystal core clearly could preserve food well—just that it consumed a lot of energy.

It had only been a short time, and one container had nearly used up half a crystal core.

Paige then looked at the other container, where the core was placed inside.

Upon opening it, the aroma immediately told her that the food was still fresh, just like when it was first stored.

She checked that crystal core. It was still clear and glossy, showing very little energy loss.

Paige looked at both cores and understood the key difference.

Perhaps crystal cores could preserve food only within a sealed space.

Previously, the one pressed under the container and another at the bottom of the water tank, though covered, had gaps—so their energy was used for preserving the whole surrounding area.

Her space was boundless. If she really used crystal cores to preserve the entire space, then the energy drain wouldn't just be quick—it'd be unbelievably massive.

To test further, Paige took out a level-one crystal core and dropped it in the empty space.

For now, there was no noticeable change. She planned to check it again in the evening or the next day.

Moving a mountain into her space was a big project, so Paige had to focus on other preparations first.

Fortunately, she had stored plenty of soil and wild vegetables earlier. She spread them all out, aiming to first complete the grassland.

The grassland itself would need at least hundreds of acres. It wasn't something that could be done quickly.

Later, whenever Paige saw wild vegetables, she'd want to dig up the whole patch to expand her grassland.

There were plenty of mountains nearby, including many unnamed ones.

Paige was thinking—which mountain could she take away without anyone noticing for a while?

After a long time, maybe everyone would forget the existence of that mountain.

Besides, Paige didn't need a very tall mountain inside her space. As long as it was three or four meters high, it could be used to plant fruit trees.

After taking away a mountain, the soil underneath could be flattened and used to plant other fruit trees.

After doing some quick planning in her mind, Paige went downstairs.

She needed the butler to make many sealed cabinets, and each cabinet needed to have shelves inside.

She would place a crystal core in every cabinet. That way, she could store a lot of cooked food in her space and take out whatever she wanted to eat anytime.

Anyway, sealed cabinets were transparent to her, so it wouldn't stop her from taking things in and out.

Paige happily went downstairs. She felt that life had something to look forward to again.

So, she rode Seven and went out again. She wanted to find a warehouse to store the cabinets.

After all, cabinets took up a lot of space. Even though she wasn't afraid of exposing her powers, since Winn and Uziel told her to be more careful, she decided to be a bit more cautious.

Paige completely forgot that back then, when she brought truckloads of bricks into the villa and they mysteriously disappeared, it already looked suspicious.

After all, in her previous life, having space abilities was common, so no one tried to hide it.

That's why Paige would naturally ignore such things.

But over time, she felt like her two sets of memories were slowly merging together.

In the beginning, Paige always felt like there were two of her—not physically, but mentally.

It felt like there were two souls inside one body.

And she could clearly feel that both souls were herself, but she could still tell them apart.

Now, the two souls were slowly merging, and her thoughts were becoming one.

Before, because the PN Soldiers were going to attack this place, most of the powerful and influential people had run away.

Naturally, that left a lot of empty houses in the city.

Most of them only had butlers staying behind to take care of them, while a few followed their owners and left, leaving the properties unused.

Paige wasn't someone who liked taking advantage of others.

She simply found a butler and rented a large warehouse. Later, whenever she needed something, she could just ask the butler to deliver it there.

Her spiritual power could cover the entire Jinling City.

So no matter where she rented the warehouse, as long as she was in the city, she could access her space directly without even moving her feet.

After arranging the warehouse, Paige returned home and tossed the keys to the butler, telling him the warehouse's location.

She also instructed the butler to find more people to make a hundred cabinets.

Even if she didn't need all of them right away, it was always better to be prepared.

"Also, after you finish making the hundred with shelves, make another hundred without shelves.

Remember, they all need to be completely sealed. No holes, no openings," Paige reminded him.

Because she suddenly realized that the food, medicine, and other supplies stored in her space could still expire.

Since she had plenty of crystal cores, why not make good use of them?

However, she would need to run some experiments first to see how long a level-one crystal core could keep things fresh.

If it turned out to be wasteful, she'd use them more carefully. If they were very effective, then great.

Paige looked at the big boxes nearby. There weren't just level-one cores—she also had level-two, three, and four ones.

She even had a few level-five and level-six cores. Honestly, it was enough to last her a lifetime.