3: Chapter 3 Blood Pact Space

The dragon-patterned jade pendant vibrated violently, and an indescribable, massive suction force suddenly erupted from it!

Qi Yin felt her blood, and even the mental energy deep within her mind, being frantically drained by the jade pendant, as if a hundred rivers were rushing into the sea.

The scene before her eyes began to twist, the expensive bedroom furnishings blurring into obscurity, as an intense wave of dizziness and weakness threatened to instantly collapse her.

Yet, there was no panic in Qi Yin's eyes, only a nearly paranoid madness and an absolute desire for control; this jade pendant belonged to her.

Clenching her teeth, Qi Yin relied on her formidable willpower to resist the jade pendant's intense suction, her right hand gripping it tightly without the slightest hint of loosening.

Qi Yin felt her life force and mental energy establishing an ancient and mysterious connection with the jade pendant through the wound in her palm.

This was a situation that had not occurred when she had bonded with the jade pendant in her previous life.

The process brought with it a tearing pain, yet it vaguely gave Qi Yin a sense of peculiar resonance.

It felt incredibly long, yet it also seemed to pass in an instant.

Just as Qi Yin felt she was about to be drained dry, the jade pendant's terrifying suction suddenly vanished.

Her body felt drained, forcing Qi Yin to lean against the bed to recover, her breathing slightly rapid as fine beads of sweat seeped from her temples.

Raising her hand to look, she saw that the wound in her palm had miraculously healed without her noticing, leaving only an imperceptible red dot, as if it had never existed.

And the jade pendant in her hand had undergone an earth-shattering transformation.

The light it had been emitting now slowly receded, and the entire jade pendant became crystal clear. It seemed to contain a massive amount of spiritual energy flowing slowly within, and the emerald green point at the center was breathtaking, radiating an indescribable life pressure and an ancient aura.

Suddenly, a crystal-clear sensation of being connected by blood emanated from the jade pendant.

The jade pendant that had been lying quietly in her palm just moments ago gradually shrank, turning into a speck of light that shot into the center of Qi Yin's forehead with lightning speed.

Just as in her previous life, it was no longer an external object but had become a part of her body, a transmission of her spirit, and an extension of her consciousness.

Qi Yin's eyes flickered, and her thoughts stirred.

"Enter!"

In the next second, her consciousness was pulled by a gentle force into an unimaginably magical space.

Unlike the cramped space from her previous life, this space world was not pitch black, but filled with a bright and soft white halo, forming a world unto itself.

Although not endless, its size exceeded her imagination; looking around, it was as large as three standard football fields.

In the very center of the field, a small spring bubbled away, gushing out water; though the volume was small, it was persistent.

All around were winding gullies, which would likely become the channels for the spring water in the future.

"This…"

Even with Qi Yin's current state of mind, she was deeply shocked, and for the first time, a look of distinct astonishment appeared on her cold face.

This was no illusion; this space could truly grow.

But what the catalyst was, Qi Yin did not yet know.

Focusing her mind, Qi Yin silently commanded.

"Exit!"

In the next instant, she and the cup of hot water she had inadvertently brought inside returned to their original location.

Upon touching the cup of hot water, the obvious warmth it retained made Qi Yin realize something.

She opened her phone to check the time, and Qi Yin was shocked.

An hour—a full hour had passed, yet the temperature of the water had not changed in the slightest.

Qi Yin clearly sensed that the space within the jade pendant was in a state of absolute time stasis.

This meant that any items stored within would never spoil, lose potency, or rot!

Perhaps it was because, in her previous life, she had only bonded with the space two years after the Apocalypse; by then, there was no fresh food left to collect, only expired packaged goods, which was why she had never discovered this function.

For Qi Yin at this moment, this was an even more heaven-defying existence than the space itself.

The sudden ecstasy felt like a high-voltage current, instantly surging through her entire body.

Calming herself, Qi Yin coolly assessed and planned.

With this nearly infinite space of absolute stasis, her two-billion-dollar procurement plan now had real meaning and a revolutionary way to be executed.

Otherwise, no matter how many supplies she hoarded, it would be futile if they could not be properly preserved and transported quickly.

Even if she truly managed to hoard sufficient supplies, there was no guarantee they wouldn't be discovered and plundered by others in the man-eating Apocalypse, thereby inviting disaster.

With the experience from her previous life, Qi Yin controlled the space with great ease and zero latency; wherever her thoughts went, the items reacted accordingly.

She tested it several times; while the speed was indeed fast, it consumed a significant amount of mental energy.

However, for Qi Yin's formidable mental energy, which had been tempered by her rebirth, it was almost negligible.

Qi Yin judged calmly, as if weighing a newly acquired weapon, and gradually reached a conclusion.

"Large-scale retrieval and deployment will require more mental energy and further practice."

Thinking this, Qi Yin controlled her mental energy and sank back into the space, beginning to carefully explore this domain that belonged solely to her.

Walking along the perimeter of the field, Qi Yin became even more certain that the space was not finite; the connections seemed to be blocked by a transparent barrier, waiting for the opportunity to be broken.

Its current size was sufficient to store enough supplies for her to survive the Apocalypse, with more than enough room to spare for even a few cruise ships.

At the central spring, the light was intense, almost becoming tangible as it formed a slowly rotating white vortex that continuously emitted heart-palpitating energy fluctuations.

"What is that?"

Qi Yin cautiously attempted to release some mental energy to probe into the vortex.

"Boom!"

A wave of information, far more massive than when the jade pendant had bonded with her earlier, surged into her mind!

A violent, throbbing pain struck, and countless incomprehensible, complex runes and images flashed by at high speed—so fast that Qi Yin could not grasp their specific meaning at all.

In the end, only a few blurry yet remarkably clear words remained in the air:

"Devour... Grow... Life Energy... Evolve..."

A moment later, even these few short words vanished without a trace...

Qi Yin withdrew her mental energy and returned to the real world, breathing slightly heavily, her eyes filled with profound astonishment.

"Devour? Grow? Life Energy? And... Evolve?"

What did the jade pendant need to devour to grow? Evolution might refer to the evolution of a Supernatural Ability, but what did this 'life energy' mean?

Qi Yin's shock was beyond measure.

This jade pendant truly concealed an even greater secret. For now, it was not merely a simple container for storing items; it was more like a... living thing!

Or rather, it needed to devour external forces to grow and evolve.

And what did this 'external force' refer to? Supplies? Zombies? Mutants?

A secret she had failed to trigger in her previous life, even until the moment of her death, had finally been unveiled—at least the tip of the iceberg—in this life, thanks to the sacrifice of her blood and mental energy!

That rebirth after her death had indeed been a self-protection mechanism triggered by the jade pendant when it exhausted its power at the final moment!

And the jade pendant's energy had not been completely exhausted; rather, it had opened a new chapter in a peculiar way—a chapter that required even more "nourishment"!

This immense surprise washed over Qi Yin's heart; in the wake of the surprise came a deeper sense of calm and an irrepressible excitement.

In other words, the greater the secret of the jade pendant, the greater her advantage would be in this man-eating Apocalypse.

She could control her own destiny, and perhaps, even the destiny of others.

So what if it required devouring? Qi Yin looked at her fair, slender, and powerful fingers, a cold glint flashing in her eyes.

"It won't be long now. In this world, the one thing that will be in no short supply... is nourishment!"

Before the massive floor-to-ceiling window, the city lights had just come on, creating a scene of dazzling brilliance.

Gazing at this splendor that was about to fall, Qi Yin's eyes were calm and waveless, as if she were looking at a chessboard about to be wiped clean,

and she held the power that existed outside the board.

"Ring, ring..."

Her phone rang at the perfect moment!

A cold, yet chilling, curve slowly crept onto the corners of Qi Yin's lips.

Now, it was time to use money to forge an unbreakable scabbard for her newly born blade!