Chapter 17: A Gift: [Unlimited Storage Space Activated!]

Tang Danqing stared at the top-up screen for Extreme Cold Apocalypse.

Her balance read: You currently have 118,620 Survival Coins.

She’d spent nearly all the Survival Coins she’d topped up earlier on the defenses around her home, leaving her with just over ten thousand. That was why she’d added another hundred thousand coins yesterday—enough to cover her usual spending money.

While topping up, she’d noticed the Cumulative Top-Up Event banner. Just like real-world brand stores, the game ran all kinds of promotions to encourage spending and boost its revenue.

The banner hung right above the top-up page. The event lasted three days, starting yesterday and ending at midnight the day after tomorrow. It promised just one thing:

[Top up a total of 30,000,000 Survival Coins during the event to receive the Limited-Edition Spatial Storage Feature!]

How much money was thirty million Survival Coins?

Tang Danqing had done the math as soon as she saw the banner: 300,000 yuan.

So far, she’d spent less than 10,000 yuan on the game and had nearly finished renovating her home. Food and daily necessities for the NPCs cost next to nothing, and she could live comfortably in the game by topping up a thousand or two yuan now and then.

If she dumped 300,000 yuan into the game all at once, she couldn’t imagine how she’d spend it. Buying a pile of useless items from the Shop just to let them gather dust would be a waste.

Three hundred thousand yuan was no small amount. Once she’d calculated the cost, she hadn’t even considered spending that much.

That had been yesterday.

Today was different.

The urge to spend had been circling in Tang Danqing’s mind all day. Even after she’d finished shopping, something still felt off, a knot of pent-up frustration sitting in her chest.

Then I’ll top up 300,000 yuan and claim the Spatial Storage Feature. I can spend the Survival Coins a little at a time afterward.

It was still her money once it was in the game, wasn’t it? It wasn’t going to expire.

Tang Danqing was at the height of her I need to buy something mood. Before she knew it, she’d tapped her phone several times and opened her banking app.

Transfer 299,000 yuan to the GM bank account.

Confirm this transfer?

Confirm.

Tang Danqing followed the app’s instructions step by step. She didn’t hesitate when she entered the verification code or completed the face scan. She only paused when a green check mark appeared to confirm the transfer had gone through.

Back in the game’s top-up screen, a long string of numbers appeared:

[Converted to 29,900,000 Survival Coins!]

She checked her balance.

[You currently have 30,018,620 Survival Coins!]

Only then did Tang Danqing feel, all at once, that the hard-earned cash she’d worked for had turned into nothing but virtual numbers.

Ah…

A small pang of regret stirred up a jumble of emotions, but she barely had time to sit with them. The event banner unfurled across her phone in a burst of light.

Its dazzling, colorful reward animation sent a thrill through her. Endorphins kicked in, and her brief regret over the money faded like mist.

[Congratulations! You have unlocked the Spatial Storage Feature! You have also received 1 Spatial Ring. Give the ring to any NPC to share your Spatial Storage Feature with them.]

Tang Danqing tapped [Expand] in the bottom-right corner of the prompt.

[Details:

1. The Spatial Storage Feature can be bound to a maximum of 2 people. Once you have given the ring to another NPC and they have activated it, giving it to a third person will have no effect. Choose carefully!

2. Your current storage is a supply storage space.

3. It can hold an unlimited amount of supplies.

4. Time is stopped inside the supply storage space.

5. No living creatures can be stored inside.

6. The space is expandable. You’ll have to explore how on your own…]

The explanation was simple enough. Tang Danqing skimmed it, put her phone away, and went to take a shower.

It was too late to stay up gaming, and she had somersault and flying-kick training early the next morning. She couldn’t afford to lose sleep.

Tang Danqing went to bed early and woke up rested. That night, Shang You noticed, unusually, that she hadn’t come home. Aside from leaving a light on for her in the living room, Shang You carried on as usual.

Tang Danqing didn’t log in again until the following afternoon.

As soon as she returned to her warm-as-spring game home, a notification flashed before her eyes confirming that 29.9 million Survival Coins had been deposited. Then she noticed a strange sensation in her hand. She opened her fist and found a silver ring clenched in her palm.

Oh, the Spatial Ring.

The NPC wasn’t there, so Tang Danqing hurriedly slipped it into her pants pocket.

She tiptoed into the master bedroom. A faint sound drew her to the bathroom, where she saw the light on and the door closed. The NPC was taking a bath.

Tang Danqing waited quietly in the bedroom. In the meantime, she tried the Spatial Storage Feature on the bedside table, the little desk, and the TV stand.

Whenever her palm touched an object and she thought Store, the item vanished on the spot. Books, tissues, a speaker—and even a glass of half-finished water—all went into the space.

The storage worked like a game inventory with endless pages. Everything she put away became an icon arranged in its own slot. Her thoughts controlled it; with a silent call, the inventory appeared before her eyes.

Tang Danqing took out the glass. Its shape shimmered into view in her hand. Once she’d settled on its position and how she wanted to hold it, she brought it out safely.

By the time the NPC finished bathing, Tang Danqing had already gotten the hang of the Spatial Storage Feature.

This is so fun. So much fun.

Now that she thought about it, the 300,000-yuan purchase had been a premium experience.

It had been worth every penny.

Before long, Little Jelly came out, fresh and dewy in a long gray silk robe. The steam had brought a faint blush to both cheeks, and her golden hair fell in a soft, fluffy cloud down her back. Yellow sponge slippers padded beneath her feet.

She looked like a princess straight out of a storybook.

She’s so cute!

Pink bubbles seemed to fizz in Tang Danqing’s heart. She couldn’t stop the corners of her mouth from lifting. Seeing the NPC like this, so utterly transformed from the girl she’d first met, filled Tang Danqing with a deep sense of accomplishment.

Taking care of a little NPC really wasn’t that hard.

She went over to Little Jelly, asking if she’d dried her hair and warning her not to catch a chill. As she spoke, Tang Danqing reached out and ran her fingers through the NPC’s hair, from the crown all the way to the ends.

It was soft, fluffy, and still warm from the hair dryer.

The NPC gave a demure little nod.

“Shan Qing, are you okay?”

“Hm?” Tang Danqing wondered what she meant.

“You didn’t come back yesterday. Did something happen? Were you in danger?”

The NPC’s eyes shone with such tender concern that anyone would have melted.

And she was asking because she’d been worried sick.

Tang Danqing quickly explained that she hadn’t encountered any danger yesterday; she’d just been busy and tired, and hadn’t come back. She wanted to put the NPC’s mind at ease.

Then she picked the NPC up and carried her into the home gym to weigh her. Yes, she carried her.

Little Jelly was so small and light that it was easy as anything. Besides, whenever Tang Danqing picked her up, she couldn’t help wondering if she’d gained any weight.

She hoped the NPC would soon recover from her malnutrition and reach a healthy weight, instead of staying as she was now.

She was so thin that Tang Danqing didn’t even need both arms. One hand was enough to scoop her up.

As she carried the NPC toward the gym, Tang Danqing kept thinking about her weight and asking what she’d eaten over the past two days. Had she been eating properly? Was she getting enough to grow?

“I have. I’ve been eating,” Shang You said softly, her arms looped around Tang Danqing’s neck.

She hung securely in the air. Deep down, Shang You couldn’t help envying Tang Danqing.

She had plenty of supplies and money. She was strong and healthy, and she knew how to use a gun. Shang You had watched her beat someone up through the peephole. She’d also watched her reinforce the room after studying a book, and she was clever enough to pick things up quickly.

Even in the apocalypse, someone like her had a real chance of surviving.

Unlike Shang You, who’d been left with nothing just a few days earlier…

She’d nearly died.

But right before the end, she’d met this woman.

Once she’d measured how little she had to offer someone like Shan Qing, who already had everything, Shang You could only conclude that she’d been lucky.

She didn’t have anything like Shan Qing’s resources. All she had was the tiny bit of luck that had saved her…

The NPC told her what she’d eaten for the past two days. Tang Danqing thought it sounded pretty good and watched as she stepped onto the scale.

She weighed only 99 pounds. Far too little. At her in-game height of five foot nine, she was tall for her weight.

Still, that was 2.2 pounds more than she’d weighed six days ago.

Tang Danqing could only be glad she was making progress. Getting back to a healthy weight would take time; there was no rushing it.

“Take it slowly. No need to hurry. Jelly’s gained a little more weight. Good job! How about I give you a present?”

Her eyes curved with a smile, and there was a hint of happiness in her expression as she looked at the NPC.

She seemed to have a treasure she couldn’t keep to herself, something she was dying to show off.

That was how it looked to Shang You, anyway.

Shan Qing seemed even more excited than usual about giving her something today.

The NPC tilted her head, wide-eyed and bewildered.

Then a flicker of guilt crossed her soft, sweet face.

“Shan Qing, when will I be able to prepare a present for you…? I’m so useless…”

Tang Danqing’s heart gave a little scratch, like a kitten’s paw. She was even more eager now to surprise the girl and make her happy, make her feel more confident.

“Shh… I give you things because I want you to be happy. You make me happy all the time, too. You just don’t realize it…”

Shang You lowered her eyes, feigning reluctance. She knew.

Four years in the apocalypse had taught her one thing above all else: how to make people like her so she could live a little better.

If she didn’t know how to make Shan Qing happy, would Shan Qing still give her all these things?

She had to make sure the emotional comfort she offered was worth more than what Shan Qing spent on her…

Shang You sat on the rowing machine’s padded seat, lost in thought. Tang Danqing crouched in front of her and gently took her right hand. Her fingers moved from Shang You’s palm to her knuckles, then closed softly around them.

Then Tang Danqing pulled a silver ring from her pants pocket.

“?!”

Shang You stared at her. Her right hand went rigid from wrist to fingertips, her face a picture of shock.

“Sh-Shan Qing…” the NPC murmured.

“This is too valuable. I can’t—”

The NPC tried to pull her hand away, but Tang Danqing held it firmly. The ring gleamed in her other hand.

A few seconds later, she slid it onto Shang You’s right middle finger.

Shang You froze and stared at her hand. Hm? The middle finger…?

She let out a blank little breath of relief. Then, the next instant, a strange sensation washed through her mind.

Like an endless sea pouring out of a magic bottle.

[Spatial Storage Feature Activated!]

[Unlimited Storage Space Unlocked!]