This car dealership was located at the turn of the shopping center, with an outward-facing entrance. Occasionally, they held car exhibitions on the first floor of the shopping center.
The dealership mainly sold two-row Jeeps, which were reasonably priced and had plenty of stock. The vehicle warehouse was nearby, so the staff could drive the car over immediately.
Yu Xi spent less than ten minutes choosing a model—a low-profile, iron-gray vehicle with a spacious trunk. Once the back seats were folded down, it could hold even more cargo.
She then inquired about window tinting and license plates. The staff informed her that expedited tinting would take around two to three hours, and she could use a temporary license plate for now, with the option to apply for a permanent one later.
Since she was only staying in Wu Kong City for 44 days and wasn’t sure if she could take the car with her when she left, she didn’t mind about the license plate. As long as the privacy tint was applied, she could pick up the car right away.
She told the staff that she had other errands to run and expected the car to be ready in two hours. She also offered to pay extra for faster service.
Money talked—no matter the world. As expected, the dealership staff had a soft spot for generous customers, readily agreeing to all her requests as long as they were feasible.
Yu Xi pulled up the unlimited currency payment code and paid in full. Then, she headed to the third and fourth floors of the shopping center to visit the restaurants.
Before entering a restaurant, she stopped by the restroom. Inside a stall, she retrieved the cup of boiling water she had stored earlier and tested its temperature—it was still scalding hot.
Relieved, she confirmed that the time-freezing function in her storage space was still active. This would make stockpiling supplies much easier.
She browsed the food and dining app, selecting a few well-rated restaurants of different cuisines. Upon entering each one, she claimed she was organizing a company event and needed to order large meal sets.
It was currently 1:00 p.m. on a workday in Wu Kong City, so the restaurants weren’t too busy. Their kitchens had time to take on large orders. After briefly reviewing the menus, Yu Xi specified her request.
She wanted pre-packed meal boxes, allowing her to choose the dishes while the restaurant portioned them into individual compartments of sturdy, microwave-safe containers. Each meal would include a main dish, rice, and a soup of her choice.
The restaurant staff hesitated, explaining that plating dishes separately wasn’t an issue, but they didn’t have the kind of compartmentalized containers she requested.
“There’s a large supermarket in the basement and two homeware stores on the second floor. You can pick out the biggest containers with the most compartments and buy them. If you handle this for me, I’ll pay extra—aside from the cost of meals and containers, I’ll add a 500-unit delivery and labor fee. Deal?”
The restaurant worker was speechless.
The manager stepped in, dismissing the hesitant staff member, and politely asked Yu Xi to select her dishes from the menu. He also offered to recommend some specialties.
With that, her “money power” worked its magic, allowing her to place orders at six restaurants. Each restaurant prepared 50 meal boxes, packed generously with enough food for two people.
Northwestern Cuisine Restaurant
: Cumin lamb chops (2), dry pot pork slices with organic cauliflower, lamb skewers (5, de-skewered), shredded chicken with Sichuan pepper, cheese flatbread, stir-fried mixed mushrooms, paired with lamb soup.
Japanese Restaurant
: Foie gras sushi (4), thinly sliced salmon sashimi (10 pieces), spicy stir-fried clams, shrimp and avocado rolls (4), arctic surf clams (5), king crab Caesar salad. Half of the orders came with almond tofu, the other half with grilled eel rice.
Korean Barbecue House
: Wagyu beef slices, pork belly, beef tongue, stir-fried mixed vegetables, teriyaki chicken steak, seafood pancakes. Half of the meals were paired with spicy beef glass noodle soup, the other half with seafood tofu soup.
Since the Wagyu, pork belly, and beef tongue were typically served raw, she paid extra to have everything grilled, sliced, and packed with different dipping sauces.
She also tried the Wagyu beef. It wasn’t M12 grade but was M9, which was still tender and delicious. She requested extra Wagyu for the meal boxes.
Sichuan Cuisine Restaurant
: Spicy diced chicken, dry pot bullfrog, mouthwatering chicken, sizzling fish fillets, hand-torn cabbage, garlic stir-fried water spinach, served with rice and bamboo fungus soup with pork intestines.
Cantonese Restaurant
: Roasted pigeon (1), large pork chop, Singapore-style fried vermicelli, roast goose, char siu, stir-fried seasonal vegetables. Half of the orders were paired with cured meat clay pot rice and iced lemon tea, the other half with century egg and lean pork congee and silk-stocking milk tea.
Fast Food Chain
: Spicy chicken wings (4), original fried chicken (2), beef burger, grilled chicken burger, iced cola, latte, sea salt sundae.
Since fast food was already pre-packaged, she ordered an additional 20 family-sized meal buckets.
She left her phone number at each restaurant, requesting a call when the meals were nearly ready.
Since no restaurant could prepare all 50 meal boxes instantly, she estimated pickup times ranging from one to four hours. She planned to collect them one by one, using large cardboard boxes for easy transport. A handcart would suffice, and she had already spotted them for sale in the supermarket.
As she descended the escalator, passing a row of gold and jewelry stores, a thought crossed her mind.
Unlimited currency might get disabled. If she stocked up on gold in advance, she could sell it later when the unlimited currency ran out. After all, her 100-cubic-meter storage space had limited capacity. No matter how many supplies she gathered, gold would always be a more compact and lasting asset.
With that in mind, she turned and entered a gold shop.
Since it was the festive season, the store was crowded with customers buying gold for younger relatives, gifts, or investment.
Among them, Yu Xi blended in seamlessly.
Ignoring the flashy jewelry, she bought several gold bars—spending 200,000 at one store and 150,000 at another.
The sales assistants, seeing how readily she purchased gold, eagerly pushed high-end jewelry: oversized diamond rings, platinum and diamond bracelets, and more. They enthusiastically encouraged her to try them on, reassuring her she didn’t need to buy—just take a look.
Yu Xi did appreciate sparkling things—after all, no woman could completely resist a massive diamond ring. But she remained rational. Having bought enough gold, she knew buying more would draw unnecessary attention, so she politely declined.
Wukong City looked normal, identical to her original world. It was easy to forget the eerie train and the grinning figures at the last station.
But precisely because everything seemed normal, she had to stay alert. Moderation was key.
As she exited the gold store, she overheard commotion from a luxury boutique nearby. The place was bustling with chatter.
Passing by, she noticed a crowd gathered outside, peering into the store.
This boutique was a well-known luxury retailer, where even the cheapest item cost over 2,000 units. Despite its spacious interior, it rarely had customers—even during the holiday season.
With her sharp eyesight and hearing, Yu Xi quickly assessed the situation from the crowd.
A man in his forties had entered the store with grand flair. His clothes were old and dirty, his hands rough with callouses. Initially, the staff had “politely” asked him to leave when he inquired about the merchandise.
But the man was furious, accusing them of discrimination based on appearance. To prove them wrong, he demanded to buy the store’s most expensive men’s travel bag.
The staff assumed he was bluffing—his appearance suggested he was a “new industrial worker” (manual laborer). Yet, to their shock, he pulled out his phone and instantly paid for the bag.
And that was just the beginning.
Now, he lounged on the boutique’s luxurious sofa, demanding the staff display every high-end suit, trousers, shoes, and bag in the store. Each time he liked an item, he bought it without hesitation.
At first, the store employees remained skeptical. After all, buying a single travel bag might be manageable, but affording a second or third expensive item seemed unlikely.
However, the man proceeded to make another payment, purchasing all ten or so items he had previously selected. The total instantly amounted to hundreds of thousands, leaving the employees completely stunned.
It seemed he was thoroughly enjoying the transformation in their expressions—from initial disdain to utter shock. Settling back down, he continued selecting luxury goods.
“This isn’t even the first store he’s bought from. I heard he already spent several hundred thousand at another shop before this. The employees there were thrilled—hitting their monthly sales targets in one go! Now, every other store is hoping he’ll come their way.”
“Damn, you really can’t judge a book by its cover! No wonder the employees here are parading the products in front of him like a beauty pageant—those commissions must be insane!”
Amidst the chatter of onlookers, Yu Xi withdrew her gaze from the man in the store. She adjusted the thick new hoodie she had just purchased, lowered her head, and turned toward the supermarket.
She recognized that man—or rather, she had seen him before. He had been one of the passengers who disembarked at the same station as her, from another car number.
She distinctly remembered that he had been among the new travelers who had been terrified by the grinning figures. At the time, he had collapsed to the ground in fear, but he hadn’t run back onto the train. Instead, after she left, he must have still chosen to walk out of the station.
He had probably led a stressful and repressive life before this, weighed down by heavy burdens. Now, after experiencing such drastic changes, he had resorted to reckless spending—after all, who could resist the temptation of “unlimited currency”?
Still, Yu Xi felt uneasy about this approach. Being too ostentatious didn’t seem wise—it made her feel unsafe.
At 2 p.m., she pushed a shopping cart back into the supermarket.
The 320 meal boxes from six different restaurants would last her a long time, but since she had easy access to a supermarket, it made sense to stock up on additional supplies.
She wheeled the cart to the fruit section first. The selection was vast, with no clear seasonal limitations.
She opted for pre-washed, boxed fruits, focusing on variety for vitamin intake rather than sheer quantity: cherry tomatoes, lychees, baby cucumbers, green grapes, blueberries, tangerines, easy-peel oranges, kumquats, and longans—ten boxes of each.
Considering that she was only staying in the city for 44 days and likely wouldn’t be cooking much later, she skipped fresh vegetables, meats, and seafood. Instead, she grabbed a case of dehydrated vegetables.
Each case contained twenty 500g packs. The brand was reputable, and the vegetables even included eggs, making for a well-balanced nutritional supply. The contents could be rehydrated before use, suitable for stir-fries or soups.
Next, she selected high-end canned foods: two cases each of luncheon meat, smoked fish, braised pork, lamb, and canned peaches. Each case contained 24 cans.
She also stocked up on ready-to-eat hot pots and instant rice meals—five flavors of self-heating hot pots (one case per flavor, six per case) and six flavors of self-heating rice meals (one case per flavor, four per case).
For daily hydration, she grabbed ten cases of 550ml bottled water, each case containing 24 bottles.
Since her cart couldn’t hold so many bulk items, she approached a supermarket staff member and requested the goods be retrieved directly from the warehouse and delivered to her temporary apartment-style hotel.
She paid for everything upfront and scheduled delivery for 5:30 p.m. The hotel wasn’t particularly high-end, and security was relaxed, so delivery staff would have no trouble entering.
After finalizing the order, she wheeled her cart of fruit over to pick up ten packs of disposable face masks (each pack containing ten). Then, she stopped by the household section to find a collapsible utility cart.
The cart unfolded with mesh side panels to prevent items from falling out. She picked the largest size, checked out, and transferred her seven or eight large bags of boxed fruit into it.
Mask on, cart covered, she casually strolled toward the car dealership.
By now, the two-hour waiting period was nearly over, and the tinting work on her vehicle was almost complete. The dealership staff warmly offered her tea, candy, and snacks, apologizing for the slight delay. Since she had chosen privacy glass, the process had taken a bit longer than expected.
After waiting another twenty minutes, she successfully picked up the car. She folded the back seats down, transferred her shopping bags inside, then collapsed and stored the utility cart.
Then, she drove into the underground parking lot.
Once inside the vehicle, she seamlessly transferred all the fruit into her storage space.
At that moment, the fast-food restaurant called. Their delivery staff could bring the meals directly to her, so she had them deliver everything to the underground level two, at Elevator 1.
Two delivery workers and a staff member made two trips each, hauling fifty customized meal boxes and twenty family-sized buckets.
Yu Xi folded the temporary cart back into storage, then switched to a different colored jacket, tied up her long hair, put on a mask, and re-entered the shopping center.
Her next destination was the large pharmacy on the first floor.
Even with her current physical condition—where knives couldn’t cut her and bullets might not even harm her—it was still necessary to stock up on medical supplies.
She grabbed antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, hemostatic sprays, iodine disinfectant, gauze, alcohol, and cold and fever medications—filling two large bags.
Not wanting to carry them around, she returned to the parking garage, used the privacy tint to conceal her actions, and transferred everything into her storage space.
Next, she checked the mall’s directory and headed to an outdoor gear store on the fourth floor.
While the store didn’t carry professional protective gear, it stocked winterproof and waterproof outerwear, camping tents, and survival tools.
She asked the staff to assemble a comprehensive outdoor survival kit, including a tent, sleeping bag, camp stove, cooking utensils, heating and lighting equipment, a multifunctional shovel, a tactical knife, a Swiss Army knife, a compass, an emergency blanket, fire-starting rods, and lighters.
She also bought two extra cases of gas canisters for the stove, along with mountaineering boots, gloves, ropes, and several sets of replacement batteries and survival backpacks.
She didn’t bother with water purification tools—her storage contained a case of metal ice, which could produce 50,000 liters of clean water. That alone would last her a lifetime.
As for daily water use, she planned to buy large square water storage containers later and fill ten cubic meters of space. If needed, she could keep replenishing her supply.
She couldn’t carry all these items alone, so she scheduled delivery for 6:30 p.m., intentionally setting it an hour apart from the canned goods delivery.
Afterward, she went to a textile store on the second floor and bought several thin and thick fleece blankets. Then, she stopped by a nearby women’s clothing store and picked up a batch of breathable, lightweight summer clothes. Since Wu Kong City was currently in winter, summer clothes had been stored in the back warehouse, and she bought out the remaining stock.
After transferring everything into storage using her car, calls from the restaurants started coming in.
Yu Xi retrieved her folding cart, took the direct elevator to the fourth floor, and began checking and collecting the meals.
At 4:45 p.m., she drove a loop around the underground parking lot and parked near the hotel’s dedicated elevator entrance.
The two buildings were close together, with connected underground parking lots. The shopping center’s parking was on level -2, while the hotel’s parking was on level -1, requiring her to loop around to reach it.
Stopping at the hotel’s reception desk on the fourth floor, she requested to exchange some cash. The clerk asked how much she needed, scanned her payment code, and handed her 2,000 in cash.
For a hotel, 2,000 was already a generous exchange limit. If she needed more, she would have to visit a bank.
But she didn’t have a bank card and wasn’t sure how to proceed, so she decided to exchange only this amount for now.
At 5:35, the supermarket delivery arrived. Including the dehydrated vegetables, canned food, self-heating rice, hot pots, and bottled water, there were a total of 22 boxes and 10 packs of bottled water. Two delivery workers made several trips with carts, using the elevator to bring everything to her unit.
Yu Xi tipped each of them 100, which delighted the workers. They told her to call customer service if she needed anything.
At 6:00, she stored 21 boxes and 10 packs of bottled water in her space, turned on the TV to the news channel, and took a quick shower. She changed into a comfortable T-shirt and sweatpants, clothes more suitable for movement.
It was winter in Wu Kong City, but due to her physique, she didn’t feel particularly cold. The winter clothes she bought were mainly for disguise.
Her reflection in the mirror revealed the full appearance of this body—waist-length black hair, a well-proportioned figure, fair skin, and naturally red lips. Thick brows and deep-set eyes gave her a striking beauty, even without makeup.
If she looked closely, she could see about 30% resemblance to her original face. Her body shape was almost identical to before.
Yet, compared to the bodies she had inhabited in the previous eight mission worlds, this one felt different—like a perfectly arranged sequence that had suddenly been disrupted.
Why?
Steam filled the bathroom, and the mirror, just wiped clean, quickly fogged up again. As she bent down to pick up her clothes, she caught something in the corner of her eye.
A chill ran down her spine.
She sharply lifted her head and looked at the mirror. Through the thin mist, her reflection stared back at her with the same shocked expression.
An illusion? She frowned slightly. Just now, when she lowered her head, it seemed that her reflection had remained still, its head raised…
Yu Xi wiped the mirror completely clear again and leaned on the sink, staring at her reflection.
One minute passed. Nothing unusual.
Shaking her head, she turned to grab her clothes from the rack. This time, as she deliberately glanced at the mirror out of the corner of her eye, everything seemed normal.
Under the dim bathroom lighting, the reflection of her back, which had almost fully turned away, silently twisted its neck ever so slightly. The angle of the turn revealed a portion of her face—dark pupils embedded deep at the corners of her eyes, and lips that were ever so slightly curved.
Smiling.
—
At 6:30, the outdoor equipment store delivered her order, and she tipped the workers 200 as usual.
The news on TV provided no new information. Yu Xi put on a hoodie, a mask, and stepped out again, planning to walk to the shopping center for dinner.
She had a bowl of tonkotsu ramen with a cup of bubble tea. Afterward, she picked up five cups of black sugar bubble tea and five cups of matcha boba dirty tea, along with a bag of small boxed desserts—soy milk cake, sea salt chocolate mille crepes, red velvet cake—and left the shopping center.
The sky had completely darkened. The wind was strong, and Wukong City at night felt very different from during the day. Whether it was because the shopping center was close to closing time or for some other reason, there were few pedestrians. The surrounding area felt eerily quiet, amplifying the city’s unfamiliarity.
As Yu Xi reached a street corner, she suddenly sensed something off. Her reflexes activated immediately, and she swiftly moved seven or eight steps away from the sidewalk.
Almost at the same moment, a heavy object crashed down onto the spot where she had just stood.
She looked up and saw a shadow flickering at the edge of the shopping center’s rooftop before disappearing into the night.
Then, she lowered her gaze to examine the fallen object—it was a person.
A corpse, horrifically disfigured.
The flesh on the body seemed completely gone, leaving only skin clinging tightly to the bones. The face was sunken, resembling a skull. Every exposed area of the body was charred black, as if it had been burned to death.
But… only “as if.”
The clothing on the body was intact, making it clear that it was a man.
Wait.
Yu Xi narrowed her eyes and examined his clothing and the watch on his wrist.
She recognized him.
He was the same man from the luxury store earlier that afternoon—the one who had drawn a crowd by recklessly spending large amounts of money.
He was also one of the new passengers who had arrived in Wu Kong City with her.
Why?
Who killed him? And how?
The screams of bystanders brought Yu Xi back to her senses. Instinctively, she took a few steps back, carefully distancing herself from the commotion.
—
At 7:00 a.m., after freshening up, Yu Xi turned on the TV news and checked several news platforms on her phone.
Nothing.
There were no s at all about the bizarre death at the shopping center—no videos, no headlines, not even a single mention.
That was strange.
She was increasingly convinced that the man’s death had something to do with the experienced travelers.
She had originally planned to stay in the city for another night, but now she decided to leave immediately after breakfast.
Since the apartment-style hotel required payment upfront, including a deposit, checking out was simple—she only needed to leave her key card behind and walk out.
Half an hour later, Yu Xi pulled her windproof hat low, put on a mask, and dressed in plain, inconspicuous clothing. She took the elevator to the underground parking lot and drove away.
Today’s plan was to explore the city.
According to the data from her navigation app, Wu Kong City wasn’t large, covering an area of about 100 square kilometers with a population of just over 200,000.
However, finding a hidden train station in a city of this size was still an immense challenge.
Her current location was in the southwestern part of the city. The nearest highway exit was ten kilometers south.
She decided to head there first—to test a theory.
—
Half an hour later, Yu Xi sat in her car, staring at the traffic light across the road in a daze.
This was an exit road. The highway entrance was just to the left beyond the intersection. Even without taking the highway, simply crossing the intersection and continuing straight would lead out of the city and into the countryside.
She had already driven to this intersection twice.
More precisely, she had twice driven to the center of the intersection.
But each time she did, the world outside her car suddenly plunged into utter darkness.
It was as if she had fallen straight from daylight into a thick, impenetrable void.
And in that darkness, she could feel countless eyes watching her.
When she regained her senses, she found herself back behind the pedestrian crossing, as if she had never moved forward.
She checked the time on her phone—time was flowing normally.
This wasn’t the same as the storm world, where she had been trapped in a time loop.
But regardless of the cause, the result was the same: she couldn’t leave Wu Kong City.
Perhaps the only way out… was to find the hidden train station and board the train.
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