9: Chapter 9 The Spirit of the Artifact, Xiaoyu

Late at night, at the top of Fengming Mountain in the western suburbs, a helicopter roared.

A tall man dressed as a bodyguard stood before Qi Yin, respectful and deferential.

"Miss Qi, Mr. Lu has asked me to take you to the port."

As for why Lu Yanxiu himself didn't come, Qi Yin felt it wasn't important; she assumed he was busy with something.

She turned to ask Chen Quan behind her if he knew how to fly a helicopter, and after receiving an affirmative answer, she waved at the bodyguard.

"We'll go ourselves; you go ahead and get busy."

The bodyguard clearly hadn't expected this move from her and felt somewhat conflicted.

"I need to ask for instructions from Mr. Lu."

His execution skills were no joke; he immediately made a call to ask for Lu Yanxiu's opinion.

On the other end, Lu Yanxiu pulled the receiver away and glanced at Xiao Sinian, who was wiping a blade.

The sharp, angular profile of the other man flashed across the bright, sharp blade, and a cryptic curve played on the corner of his lips.

"Follow her arrangements."

Having received the go-ahead, the bodyguard ushered Qi Yin onto the helicopter and tossed the keys to Chen Quan.

"Miss Qi, you can leave once you return the helicopter here after use."

Qi Yin pulled the door shut, shouted "Let's go," and waved at the black-clad bodyguard to indicate she understood.

The journey from Kyoto to the port took about two hours. Chen Quan was responsible for flying, while Qi Yin seized the opportunity to catch up on some sleep.

Perhaps because she had lived in the Apocalypse for too long and dared not sleep too soundly, she woke up after only an hour.

Since she was idle anyway, she glanced at the focused Chen Quan, pulled up the partition, and slipped into her space.

Before she could even steady her footing, Qi Yin heard a childish voice broadcasting, as if it had been waiting specifically for her to enter to notify her.

"Welcome home, Master. Due to your stockpiling amount exceeding 50 million yuan today, your space has increased by 1,000 square meters."

"The output of the spiritual spring water has increased, and two plots of spiritual fields have been gifted!"

"Please keep up the good work, Master, and unlock new surprises!"

Did this mean that as long as she stockpiled enough supplies, the space could be upgraded?

Qi Yin looked up abruptly to see a small, wing-bearing, translucent sprite floating in the air.

What was this? Why hadn't she seen it when she came in last time?

Also, as for the shelves and gourmet food she had collected, she had assumed no one would organize them and that it would be a chaotic mess inside.

But now, those shelves were standing in neat rows, and the delicious food was organized by flavor and arranged tidily on the shelves.

This space even had an automatic organizing function.

Qi Yin had to look up at the sprite: "Who are you? Did you do all this?"

The sprite flapped its wings and swooped down, excitedly circling Qi Yin several times.

"Master, Master, I am Xiao Yu, the spirit of this dragon-patterned jade pendant. I am very useful; I can do more than just help you manage the space."

The changes in the space in this lifetime were already enough to leave Qi Yin dumbfounded, and now with an added spirit, she couldn't help but ponder: where did this jade pendant actually come from? And what kind of role did it play?

"Xiao Yu? What exactly is this jade pendant? Where does it come from? And why did it acknowledge me as its master?"

However, her questions seemed difficult, and the sprite shook its head repeatedly.

"Sorry, Master, your question is too difficult; I don't remember."

The sprite didn't look like it was lying; it seemed to really not know where it came from, so Qi Yin had to change her line of questioning.

"Then, according to what you just said, as long as I stockpile supplies in the space, the space can upgrade accordingly, and the spiritual spring water will increase? And it gifts spiritual fields? What is their purpose?"

"Also, what are the surprises you mentioned?"

She had quite a few questions, and the sprite took a moment to process the information.

"Yes, Master. The jade pendant space can be upgraded based on the value of the supplies you stockpile. As long as the supplies keep coming, the upgrades will continue."

"In addition, it's not just supplies; as long as it devours energy bodies related to the Apocalypse, the space will also upgrade accordingly."

"The higher the space level, the more rewards you will receive, such as the healing spiritual spring water, spiritual fields that can plant any vegetation, and even more surprises waiting for you!"

The sprite explained it in detail and quite completely, yet Qi Yin grasped the most important point.

Regardless of whether she could catch it or not, she reached out and grabbed directly toward the sprite's wings, and to her surprise, she actually caught it.

"You know about the Apocalypse?"

Seeing it couldn't break free, the sprite hurriedly covered its mouth: "I don't know, I don't know!"

However, Qi Yin wouldn't believe it. The Apocalypse of this lifetime hadn't arrived yet, yet Xiao Yu knew so much about it; she wouldn't believe that it didn't know something.

Clutching the sprite's fluttering wings, Qi Yin threatened: "If you don't talk, I'll pluck the feathers off your wings one by one and make you a little clown ghost."

Perhaps because it was naive, the sprite actually believed her, and while Qi Yin wasn't paying attention, it ran behind the spiritual spring to hide.

"I'll talk, I'll talk! I only know that I exhausted my energy to bring you back from the Apocalypse. As for the rest, I slept for too long and really can't remember!"

Seeing that she couldn't squeeze any more useful information out, Qi Yin didn't intend to continue giving it a hard time.

Anyway, she would have to experience it all eventually, so she would take it one step at a time.

Just as she wanted to say something else, a massive force kicked Qi Yin out.

Her back slammed hard against the seat, leaving her dazed.

What on earth was going on?

Deep in her mind, Xiao Yu's voice came again: "Oh, by the way, Master, your body can only stay in the space for ten minutes at this stage! Keep up the good work stockpiling! You can contact me with your consciousness later!"

Qi Yin: "Oh, oh, oh? Oh, my foot! That hurt like hell."

Xiao Yu: "...I didn't mean to."

Soon, the helicopter landed on the helipad at the port.

Sorting out her thoughts, the two strode toward the giant cargo ship docked at the coast.

Along the way, Chen Quan was extremely cautious. If Qi Yin hadn't told him that things had been arranged beforehand, he would have really thought someone was ambushing them there.

Qi Yin let Chen Quan stay on the shore to keep watch, while she dove into the first cargo ship and began collecting the goods.

The first cargo ship contained 5,000 high-strength alloy steel plates, which had superb shock resistance.

"Collect!"

Moving on to the second cargo ship, there were 20,000 pieces of custom-made bulletproof glass, essential for renovating the shelter.

"Collect!"

The third cargo ship was loaded with 1,000 bank-vault-grade composite armored security doors; the high-strength steel met all security needs.

"Collect!"

Immediately after, Qi Yin went to work, quickly pocketing all the defensive equipment stored on the ships behind, including a large amount of concrete blasting fibers, explosion-proof coatings, high-voltage pulse power grids and wires, sonic dispersers, tear gas, and automatic shooting traps.

Lu Yanxiu had even thought of everything for her, including ultra-high-definition infrared night-vision cameras, miniature hidden cameras, vibration sensors, infrared beam intrusion detectors, and pressure-sensitive pads.

Qi Yin took them all as usual; the thrill of this crazy collection was simply unparalleled.

By the time all the items on the cargo ships were collected in one go, only half an hour had passed, and most of that time had been spent running back and forth.

Although things had been arranged, she was still afraid of attracting attention and quickly left the scene with Chen Quan.

It took another two hours to rush back to Kyoto; by 12:00 midnight, both of them were exhausted.

"Uncle Chen, let's rest for today. Tomorrow morning at eight, I'll take you to a place."

"Alright!"

After saying that, Qi Yin ducked into her bedroom, didn't even take a shower, and collapsed into bed!

Far away in Kyoto, Xiao Sinian stood before a massive floor-to-ceiling window, hands in his pockets, the faint, elusive smile on his lips extremely captivating.

"Half an hour, and all the goods are gone? Interesting!"

...

The next morning, when Qi Yin got up at 7:30, she was drawn to the dining room by the aroma of food.

Chen Quan had already gotten up, no one knew when, and was already practicing boxing. On the table sat steaming hot millet porridge, along with the soy milk, fried dough sticks, and eggs that Qi Yin loved.

"Uncle Chen, up so early?" Qi Yin exclaimed, pulling out a chair to sit down and unceremoniously began to enjoy the meal.

Chen Quan stopped his movements, sweat dripping profusely from his body, and gave Qi Yin a deep look.

"Miss, from now on, you must get up at six every day to exercise. Start by building up your endurance and run five laps around the villa."

"Clang!"

The egg Qi Yin had just picked up dropped onto the table. Five laps? That was death!

However, looking at her frail little body, which couldn't compare to her previous life, Qi Yin still readily accepted Chen Quan's arrangement.

"Got it, Uncle Chen."

After breakfast, Qi Yin got into Chen Quan's little Audi and headed to the shelter renovation site she had selected.

Don't ask her why she didn't get a few good cars to use in the Apocalypse; if you asked, it was because she had already hired people to modify them. For now, just making do would suffice.

In the early stages of the Apocalypse, it was chaotic and dangerous. Having a sturdy, hidden, and well-equipped shelter was the guarantee for surviving the dangerous phase.

Although the country had built a main base in the Apocalypse, having been given a second chance, Qi Yin didn't want to join it.

Therefore, on the first day she returned, she had already selected three excellent locations for shelters.

The first one was the villa at the top of Xianhe Mountain in her grandmother's hometown of Lin City. This villa had significant meaning to her grandmother and had always been under her grandfather's name; even Lu Yingman didn't know about it.

It was also the primary location Qi Yin had chosen and the one that needed the most camouflage.

Xianhe Mountain had a high elevation. She remembered that in her previous life, the tsunami caused by the heavy rain had submerged most cities, but it hadn't had the slightest impact on Xianhe Mountain.

It was precisely because of this that after the tsunami, many people had their eyes on Xianhe Mountain, because, in addition to her villa at the top, there were a dozen luxury mansions halfway up the mountain.

Who knew if the tsunami would come again? Everyone wanted to be the first to occupy a safe zone.

To renovate the villa at the top, Qi Yin, under the pretext of upgrading the security system of the luxury mansion, spent 20 million to hire the nation's top security team. She provided the materials herself, and they carried out a series of renovations.

She only had one requirement: be fast!

In the car, Qi Yin told Chen Quan about her plan to renovate the shelter. The whole process required Chen Quan to supervise it personally, while for the other two locations, he could arrange for his trusted old comrades-in-arms to help.

By the time Qi Yin and Chen Quan arrived at the villa at the top, the workers from the security team had all arrived—a large group of over a hundred people, a vast crowd.

Chen Quan was responsible for explaining the renovation points to the workers, while Qi Yin circled to the back of the villa.

"Appear!"

Looking at the large batch of security materials that had suddenly appeared in the open space under the trees, Qi Yin felt as if she were hiding her merits and fame!

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Hmm, as the author, sometimes I really can't think of good place names. What should I do?