Chapter 27: Gathering, the Spatial Ability Girl

The woman in red was stunned. The man beside her yanked her away, and the lucky cat statue smashed through the convenience store’s large glass window with a loud crash.

The man turned and angrily yelled at Bian Changxi, “Are you crazy? What the hell is wrong with you?!”

Bian Changxi raised her voice, scolding the woman in red, “Yang Xiaowen, you made that noise on purpose to rile up the zombies and think you can just walk away like nothing happened?”

Anyone brave enough to scavenge near a big mall wasn’t likely to be timid. The people fleeing for their lives suddenly realized what was going on. A few of the fiercest among them shouted, “Damn, so it was this bitch who screwed us over!”

“Yang Xiaowen, right? If I make it out of here alive, you better watch your back!”

Yang Xiaowen, still unaware of the trouble she was in, stared at Bian Changxi in shock. “How do you know my name?”

Bian Changxi gave her a cold, mocking smile. Seeing that zombies were starting to surround their group, she turned and ran off in the opposite direction.

How did she know?

Well, Yang Xiaowen was something of a celebrity. In her previous life, there were a few notorious socialites at the Su City base. To put it bluntly, they were high-class escorts—more refined than ordinary prostitutes, but still providing “special services” to powerful figures in exchange for benefits for their own organizations.

Bian Wei from the Bian family was one, and Yang Xiaowen was another. As rivals in the same business—and both beautiful women—they naturally became sworn enemies. During her time with the Bian family, Bian Changxi often heard Yang Xiaowen’s name.

If Bian Wei was like a little flower—innocent on the surface but rotten inside—then Yang Xiaowen was the thorny stem of a rose, always pricking people for no reason. Unfortunately, she wasn’t very smart, so even when she bullied others, she often ended up hurting herself too.

Just like now—Bian Changxi was sure Yang Xiaowen didn’t recognize her, but Yang insisted on causing trouble, only to get herself caught up in it. It was simply ridiculous.

But that wasn’t all. The real reason Bian Changxi recognized Yang Xiaowen at a glance was because, in her previous life, Yang had tried to seduce Bian Kuang. Unfortunately for her, Bian Kuang wasn’t interested. Later, she latched onto a military officer and started making trouble for Bian Kuang instead. Rumor had it that Yang Xiaowen was partly responsible for Bian Kuang’s death.

Bian Changxi had investigated her for a while, but before she could figure things out, this arrogant, foolish woman was killed by someone else. So, Bian Changxi ended up blaming Bian Wei and the Bian family for Bian Kuang’s death.

Seeing Yang Xiaowen again now, she truly felt a mix of old and new grudges welling up inside her.

Bian Changxi ran toward an area with fewer zombies, grateful for their slow speed. The further she went, the fewer zombies followed her. Eventually, there were none left. She stopped to catch her breath and realized she was standing on a pedestrian street. She’d only mentioned it earlier to trick Zhang Hu, but to her surprise, there really was a pedestrian street here.

On both sides of the street were mostly clothing stores. Standing at the entrance, she saw only decay and chaos—garbage swirling in the wind, but no sign of people or zombies.

Something felt off. It was too quiet.

She looked around, ready to leave, but then decided to take out a straight-edged knife from her farm space and strapped it to her back. Two smaller knives went on her thigh and calf, a backpack on her shoulders, and a fire axe in her hands. Fully armed, she headed for the nearest shop.

It was a small roasted chestnut shop. The shutter had been forcibly pulled up, and the cramped space was laid bare. The glass display case had been knocked over, and the cooked chestnuts inside had been looted, with only a few rolling on the floor.

Bian Changxi immediately spotted two large woven sacks piled against the wall. Through the gaps, she could see they were full of chestnuts.

She loved these!

Seeing no danger, she went in, opened the bags, and grabbed a handful—glossy, plump raw chestnuts. One bag held Chinese chestnuts, the other pointed chestnuts. Without hesitation, she stored them in her farm space. Then she turned and took the electric chestnut-roasting machine, along with the salt, sugar, and paper bags for packaging—all of it went into her space as well.

Next door was a grilled squid and stinky tofu shop, but it had already been ransacked. The squid skewers left in the freezer were soggy, and the tofu looked spoiled, so she gave up on those. However, this shop used charcoal for grilling, and Bian Changxi found three and a half bags of charcoal in the cabinet—over a hundred pounds. She took those too, and while she was at it, grabbed the grill.

It might look greasy and black now, but after soaking in the farm’s creek for an hour, it would be sparkling clean. The creek water was better than any detergent—good for raising fish, safe to drink, and self-purifying. Truly miraculous.

After a few rounds of collecting, Bian Changxi got more and more into it, feeling like a squirrel gathering food for winter—delighted and a little giddy.

In her previous life, she’d unlocked the jade bracelet’s powers too late and had never experienced the thrill of collecting supplies so freely. Now, anything useful, interesting, or desirable went straight into her farm space.

She visited several clothing stores, taking plenty of men’s, women’s, and children’s clothes and shoes. Jiang City would soon fall, and these things would only rot with the zombies. It seemed a shame, so whether she needed them or not, she took what she could—though she always left most behind for any survivors who might pass through.

The next shop was Urban Beauty, a lingerie store—a small but important detail. Just as Bian Changxi was about to push open the door, a sharp, cold sense of danger flashed through her mind. She quickly dodged to the side and peeked inside.

Frosted window film on the glass door broke up the view, but she could still see a girl inside, picking through a pile of clothes. Whenever she found something she liked, she’d grab it—and it would vanish into thin air.

Bian Changxi was a little surprised. A spatial ability user?

She studied the girl carefully. Sweater and jeans, about 1.6 meters tall, around her own age. Despite being covered in grime and with a face smudged like a kitten, it was clear she was a pretty girl.

Bian Changxi was puzzled. Spatial ability users had very low combat power, but their powers were rare and extremely useful. They needed protection from a team and were always in high demand—rarely did one act alone. In her previous life, there was a spatial ability girl in her team, and she was practically treated like a princess.

Unless… this spatial user was strong enough to protect herself. Maybe even…

Bian Changxi touched the jade bracelet on her left wrist.

The girl inside seemed to sense something. She turned and spotted Bian Changxi, her face twisting in alarm. She hurriedly grabbed a steel rod, her defensive posture obvious.

Bian Changxi relaxed a little. The girl was clearly a rookie—very green.

She pushed open the door. “Don’t be nervous—” Suddenly, her eyes narrowed. She raised her hand, whipped out a small knife from her thigh, and threw it. The girl shrieked, dropping the steel rod and covering her head.

She’d barely closed her eyes when she heard the knife whistle through the air, then felt a sharp pain in her shoulder as she was knocked aside. She crashed into a row of clothing racks, scrambled up from a pile of pajamas, and opened her eyes—only for her legs to go weak.

The short-haired woman who’d been at the door was now standing right in front of her, and across from them was a huge, terrifying zombie with a bulging tumor on its left side.

Realizing she’d been in the same room as this zombie for who knows how long, the girl was so scared she nearly fainted, sitting dazed on the floor.

The zombie shook its head, flinging off the knife stuck in its forehead. The skin split open, revealing bluish-black bone, but the wound wasn’t deep. Bian Changxi’s heart sank as she saw the zombie open its mouth in a silent roar and lunge at them. She quickly leapt forward, gripping her axe with both hands and bringing it down hard on the wound in its forehead.

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