When he left, the old lady downstairs was making sarcastic remarks, apparently accusing one of the neighbors of stealing something from her family.
A young man dressed like a thug slammed the door open and cursed loudly at the old lady, saying that she was disturbing him while he was playing games. The old lady muttered something under her breath and shrank back inside.
Quan Xiaoyu shook his head.
Uncle Li clearly had a villa in the suburbs, yet he insisted on living in a place like this.
Once the apocalypse began, who knew what would happen to these people?
Quan Xiaoyu first went to the bank and withdrew some cash using the card Li Shunwei had given him.
He found a hotel, rented a room, and put away the things he had brought from home.
After thinking for a moment, he went first to the park where he had obtained his supernatural ability in his previous life.
In his previous life, he had wandered there aimlessly. After the apocalypse broke out, he had hurriedly left in fear and anxiety. After surviving three years in the apocalypse and then returning to the present, his memories of the location had already become somewhat vague.
He decided to find that place ahead of time.
If he came back here three days later, he should be able to obtain his supernatural ability again, just as he had in his previous life.
In the apocalypse, supernatural abilities were far too important.
They were not only a prerequisite for survival; in the later stages of the apocalypse, supernatural ability users and ordinary people were practically like two new species divided by the hand of God. There was a clear hierarchy between the two, and crossing that divide was extremely difficult.
After spending some time, Quan Xiaoyu finally found the park bench from his previous life.
He repeatedly observed his surroundings to confirm the location.
This place was in a remote corner of the park, with hardly anyone around. He supposed that the reason he had wandered here in his previous life was probably because there was no one around, making it suitable for quietly thinking things over.
After confirming that this was indeed the place, he sat down on the bench and let out a deep breath, considering what he should do next.
With money, purchasing supplies was not difficult.
But storage was the biggest problem.
He considered renting a warehouse to store the supplies and then coming back to retrieve them after the apocalypse.
Within seconds, he rejected the idea himself.
Just as Quan Xiaoyu was immersed in his thoughts, a sharp little knife was pressed against his neck.
A muffled voice with a hint of hoarseness sounded from behind him.
“Don’t move! Hand over your money! Don’t shout, or I’ll slit your throat right now.”
The words sounded vicious, but Quan Xiaoyu could still hear the panic in the man’s voice.
After three years in the apocalypse, what kind of person had he not encountered?
Judging from this man’s tone, he did not sound like a habitual criminal.
Quan Xiaoyu glanced from the corner of his eye at the small knife gleaming coldly against his neck and the man’s thick arm pressing down on his shoulder.
He abandoned the idea of resisting.
He had not obtained his supernatural ability yet, and his physical abilities had not undergone three years of training in the apocalypse.
If he made a mistake in his reaction…
Wasting time and blood over something like this was not worth it.
He reached into his pocket.
Inside was the cash he had withdrawn only moments ago.
“What are you doing?!”
The man behind him asked nervously.
His hands tightened, and the sharp blade cut through the skin on Quan Xiaoyu’s neck.
A sharp pain struck him.
Liquid seeped from his neck, and Quan Xiaoyu smelled a faintly sweet, metallic scent.
He frowned.
“I’m getting the money. Didn’t you say you wanted money?”
The man froze for a moment, seemingly not expecting the robbery to go so smoothly.
But he did not relax his tense body.
The sharp blade remained firmly pressed against Quan Xiaoyu’s neck, while the man’s eyes nervously stared at the hand Quan Xiaoyu had thrust into his pocket.
Quan Xiaoyu took out all the money from his pocket and gently placed it beside him.
“This is all of it. Take it. Go away.”
His voice was calm and cold.
The man’s hands finally loosened somewhat.
He seemed to hesitate for a moment before quickly reaching out and grabbing the stack of cash.
After taking the money, the sharp little knife finally left Quan Xiaoyu’s neck.
As the man was leaving, he quietly said from behind Quan Xiaoyu,
“I’m sorry.”
Hearing his voice, Quan Xiaoyu turned around in surprise.
He finally saw the man’s face clearly.
He was an ordinary-looking middle-aged man with thick, powerful limbs. His messy short hair and cheap clothes made him look somewhat unkempt.
His eyes were not fierce.
When he looked at Quan Xiaoyu, there was even some guilt in them.
Their eyes met.
The middle-aged man became flustered again.
He hurriedly covered his face and fled.
Perhaps he really was in desperate need of money.
Quan Xiaoyu calmly turned back, as though nothing had happened.
Only, waves of stinging pain came from his neck.
The blood flowing from the wound seemed to have no intention of stopping.
Quan Xiaoyu found this somewhat strange.
After three years in the apocalypse, he was extremely familiar with wounds and blood.
An external injury like this had not even cut into the dermis. It should not have been bleeding this much.
Unfortunately, Quan Xiaoyu had no mirror with him.
Otherwise, he would have seen a bizarre scene.
Blood continuously gushed from the wound on his neck.
The blood flowed along the cotton cord around his neck and continuously seeped into the jade plaque hanging there.
The Imperial Green jade plaque looked extraordinarily bewitching under the coating and soaking of blood.
The next moment, it emitted a faint glow.
Quan Xiaoyu suddenly felt his neck tighten.
A searing pain spread throughout his entire body.
He wiped his neck and found his hand covered in blood.
Before he could even react, Quan Xiaoyu suddenly lost consciousness and collapsed onto the park bench.
A scene from his previous life seemed to be repeating itself.
Only this time, it had happened three days earlier.
Quan Xiaoyu’s consciousness did not fall asleep along with his unconscious body.
In a hazy state, he walked into a pure-white space.
Mist surrounded him on all sides, making it impossible to see anything clearly.
Is this the depths of consciousness?
Quan Xiaoyu wondered.
“The seal of the Dust Immortal Abode has been released. Will you acknowledge its master?”
A cold voice, impossible to distinguish as male or female, rang out mechanically.
The surroundings remained an expanse of white.
Quan Xiaoyu cautiously asked,
“Who are you?”
There was no answer.
The cold voice simply repeated what it had said before.
“The seal of the Dust Immortal Abode has been released. Will you acknowledge its master?”
Quan Xiaoyu did not dare answer so easily.
He began exploring his surroundings.
But no matter where he went, there was only white mist.
He could not see anything, and it seemed to have no end.
Perhaps because of Quan Xiaoyu’s silence, when the cold voice sounded again, its words changed.
“The seal of the Dust Immortal Abode has been released. Will you acknowledge its master? If you acknowledge the master, the blood sacrificer will become the new master of the abode. If you refuse, the blood sacrificer will be annihilated.”
Annihilated?
So that meant that although this was a multiple-choice question, there was actually only one answer?
Then why even ask?!
“Last chance. The seal of the Dust Immortal Abode has been released. Will you acknowledge its master?”
The cold voice carried a hint of warning.
“Of course I acknowledge it!”
Quan Xiaoyu’s voice was even colder than the voice itself.
After all, anyone would be extremely unhappy if they were inexplicably forced to acknowledge something as their master.
“The blood sacrificer has acknowledged the master. The Dust Immortal Abode is opening.”
As the voice fell, the thick mist before Quan Xiaoyu’s eyes gradually began to disperse.
Green spread upward from beneath his feet.
It was soft grass.
Gradually, the flowers, plants, and trees in the distance also began to become clear.
About five minutes later, all the thick mist had completely disappeared.
Quan Xiaoyu finally saw his surroundings clearly.
He was standing in a valley.
Not far away, a small stream flowed gently.
Mountains surrounded the area on all four sides, and faint bird calls could be heard in the distance.
Beyond the stream stood rows upon rows of orderly forest.
Quan Xiaoyu turned around.
Behind him stood a simple wooden house.
Outside the house was a small courtyard enclosed by bamboo.
Inside the courtyard was a tree, a well, and some unknown flowers and plants.
Quan Xiaoyu thought for a moment before slowly walking into the little wooden house.
The interior was extremely simple.
There were no traces of anyone living there.
There was only a wooden platform resembling a bed and a set of tables and chairs that looked strongly handmade.
The house was very small, and he could see everything at a glance.
There was nothing else.
Quan Xiaoyu reached out and touched the table.
Although there was no sign of human habitation here, it was strangely spotless.
Everything, including the wooden house itself, was simple but not worn out.
“Hey! Where are you?”
Quan Xiaoyu returned to the courtyard and shouted toward his surroundings.
He was trying to call out the owner of the cold voice from earlier.
Unfortunately, no one answered.
Quan Xiaoyu began exploring the surroundings again.
This place looked like an isolated paradise—a Peach Blossom Spring separated from the world, clean, beautiful, and completely devoid of people.
Several times, Quan Xiaoyu tried to find the source of that cold voice, but he found not the slightest clue and received no response.
He looked up at the sky.
There were no blue skies or white clouds, nor were there any sun, moon, or stars.
The sky was like the thick mist he had first seen, an expanse of pure white.
Yet it radiated warm, gentle light, making the entire area feel pleasantly warm.
Standing in this space felt incredibly comfortable.
It was as though it were a secluded realm perfectly created by the hand of God.
Quan Xiaoyu helplessly sat down on the ground.
He did not know what this place was, nor did he know what exactly had happened to him.
Nothing like this had happened in his previous life, and he had never heard of anything similar.
Although he had initially suspected that this might be a spatial ability, he had encountered spatial ability users in his previous life.
But not a single spatial ability user’s space had looked anything like this.
The spaces of spatial ability users could not contain living creatures.
Therefore, no one had ever actually seen their spaces.
They had only heard the users describe them.
Their spaces were an expanse of gray.
They could only sense the size of the space through their consciousness.
They could store things inside, but the size varied according to each ability user’s individual strength.
Moreover, spatial ability users were extremely rare.
In the apocalypse, they were always fiercely fought over by the various major factions.
That was why, in his previous life, when Wen Tong—who was completely helpless—fell into danger, everyone had risked their lives to rescue him.
That was why, between Wen Tong and Quan Xiaoyu, Jia Lunxu had chosen to forcefully push Quan Xiaoyu into the horde of zombies.
That was why, even though so many people had personally witnessed Jia Lunxu’s actions, they had still chosen to tacitly accept them.
Quan Xiaoyu shook his head, pulling himself out of those unpleasant memories.
In any case, he had never heard of a spatial realm with mountains, water, flowers, birds, fish, and insects.
So, what exactly was this place?
And what the hell did “acknowledge the master” mean?
Where was the owner of that voice?
How was he supposed to leave?
What would he do if he could not leave?
At the thought of this, his desire to leave became extremely strong.