In the earlier chapters, you'll notice I often wrote things like "Father Jing" and "Mother Jing" or "Jing's Dad" and"Jing's Mom." That wasn't me being lazy—that's actually how the author wrote it in the original text, using terms like 静爸 (Jìng bà) and 静妈 (Jìng mā) instead of their proper names. Even after their names were introduced, the author continued to rely mostly on relationship titles in the narration, like 静爸, 静妈, 静奶, 静爷, 大姑, 二姑, and so on.
It makes sense when you think about it, since some of the narration is written from Jing Shu's point of view. From her perspective, it's natural to think of people as "Mom," "Dad," or "Grandma" rather than calling them by name. That's why, in places where it's clearly her POV, I sometimes translate 静爸 as "her father" or just "Jing's Dad." That said, please forgive me if you occasionally see me slip and use their name in general instead of relationship titles in those POV-heavy sections. I try to stay consistent, but sometimes it really comes down to judgment calls.
Over time, though, I started shifting how I handle this. Instead of sticking purely to relationship titles, I began introducing more of their actual names, especially once the narrative got broader and more family members came into play. This change wasn't overnight—it happened gradually. When I first began, I was translating almost exactly how the author wrote it. Then I transitioned with her parents (using Jing An and Su Lanzhi more often), and later, around chapter 200 or so, I started expanding that approach to her extended family as well.
So, if you notice a mix of styles between earlier and later chapters, that's why. Also, if you notice some inconsistencies, I hope you can overlook them. The author themselves writes most of the narration using family terms rather than proper names (as I mentioned earlier). Because I've chosen to "force" those terms into names for clarity, there might be moments where the switch feels bigger, or even a little awkward, depending on how my judgment lands on whether to keep a relationship title or use a name.
This Aux chapter is here to explain those decisions and give you a clearer picture of how I'm handling family relationships moving forward.
Family Reference List (How I'm Translating It): Since the author mostly writes family members using relationship titles instead of names, here's a quick guide to how I'll be handling them in my translation.
静爸 (Jìng bà) → Jing An (Jing Shu's father)
静妈 (Jìng mā) → Su Lanzhi (Jing Shu's mother)
大姑 (dà gū) → Jing Pan (eldest paternal aunt, Jing Shu's father's eldest sister)
二姑 (èr gū) → Jing Zhao (second paternal aunt)
三姑 (sān gū) → Jing Lai (third paternal aunt)
大舅 (dà jiù) → Su Yiyang (maternal uncle, older brother of Su Lanzhi)
大舅妈 (dà jiùmā) → Wang Fang (Su Yiyang's wife)
大伯 (dà bó) "Paternal Eldest Uncle" and 大姑父 (Dàgūfu) "Eldest Uncle by marriage." → Wei Chong (husband of Jing Pan)
静奶 (Jìng nǎi) → Grandma Jing
静爷 (Jìng yé) → Grandpa Jing
大姑家的儿媳妇 (Dàgū jiā de ér xífu) → Qiao Lan (eldest paternal aunt's daughter-in-law).
As for Jing Shu's cousins, the author usually writes their actual names directly, so I won't list them here.
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Ability List:
Since so much of Jing Shu's power comes from her Rubik's Cube Space, I thought it'd be helpful to make a separate note here. This section gathers the major functions of the Cube Space, the abilities Jing Shu has developed through it, and the way her "numbered pets" tie into these powers.
1. The Rubik's Cube Space – Core Ability
Origin: The Cube started as an ordinary 3×3×3 puzzle. Once scrambled and solved within a time limit, it rooted itself in Jing Shu's spiritual world and recognized her as its master.
Binding & Upgrades: After binding, it upgraded to a 4×4×4 Cube (the Fourth Order). Later upgrades followed the pattern:
4×4×4 = 64 cubic meters
5×5×5 = 125 cubic meters
6×6×6 = 216 cubic meters
…and so on.
When Jing Shu reached the seven-layer Rubik's Cube, everything changed. Unlike before, where upgrading only required solving the cube within a time limit, the seventh order introduced hidden challenges. From this stage onward, speed alone wasn't enough—each upgrade carried extra, unpredictable conditions. Jing Shu suspected that the upgrade conditions themselves had evolved. It was no longer just about restoring the cube to its original state; new disruptive elements would appear to slow her down and raise the difficulty. But the rewards, richer and more dangerous, always came hand in hand with new abilities.
Challenge that she get when do 7×7×7 Cube:
First Hidden Challenge – Flickering Colors: As she tried to solve the 7×7×7 Cube, some of the squares began to flicker rapidly between colors. If she missed the correct shade or failed to lock it in, the entire face she was working on became unsolvable. This meant that while racing against the clock, she also had to anticipate and catch the shifting colors. The puzzle became brutally unforgiving—one missed flicker and her run was ruined.
Second Hidden Challenge – The 4 A.M. Awakening: After Shangguan Jun's death, a stranger test emerged. Jing Shu would always "wake up" at exactly 4 a.m., her sleep cut short and her body dragged into wakefulness. If she used that time to practice solving the Cube, nothing unusual happened—it was just her and the puzzle. But if she ignored the Cube during that window, something in the real world would always demand her attention, forcing her into events she couldn't avoid. This pattern left her sleep-deprived and anxious, knowing that even rest had become part of the Cube's trial.
Final Challenge: The decisive trial came when Jing Shu and Su Mali (plus her bodyguard) were trapped in a sealed low-oxygen chamber. Fighting suffocation, Jing Shu hammered tile by tile with nothing but a mini hammer and nail. Her chest heaved, her vision blurred, and her mind teetered on hallucination. Spirit Spring only delayed the decline; it couldn't clear her fog. The sensation of dying crept over her again, pressing her to the brink.
When she was shoved to the ground in that haze, something inside her snapped into place. Cause and effect aligned, the final condition was met, and the Cube Space surged into its seventh-tier upgrade.
Journey Toward the 8th-Tier Rubik's Cube Space:
After the Cube upgraded to its seventh tier, Jing Shu assumed the worst was over. The hallucinations, the suffocation trial, the constant 4 a.m. awakenings—all of that felt like the final wall. But not long after the upgrade stabilized, the next evolution began revealing itself, not through puzzles or mechanical tests this time, but through her own mind.
1. Illusion Overload & Memory Loss Phenomenon
It started small. She'd walk into a room, forget why she was there, then realize she'd already finished the task hours ago. At first, Jing Shu blamed exhaustion—too much multitasking, too many sleepless nights—but the pattern was too precise to be coincidence.
The more she practiced manipulating the Cube or layering illusions, the more memory gaps appeared. Sometimes it was just missing a few minutes. Other times, entire events blurred out, like they'd been deleted from existence.
After several weeks, she noticed something stranger. Each time she pushed her illusion control to its limit, the Cube would "glitch" for a split second—lights flickering in her overlay vision, livestock freezing mid-motion, crops halting growth. It was as if both her mind and the Cube Space were running on the same circuit, and when one overloaded, both stuttered.
Her conclusion: the Cube's seventh-tier expansion wasn't complete. The real challenge was hidden inside her own cognitive field. The path to the 8th-tier wasn't about solving a puzzle anymore—it was about surviving one.
2. The Backlash at Qiao Lian's Delivery
The breakthrough came in the worst possible way. During Qiao Lian's delivery, Jing Shu relied too heavily on her illusion ability to block panic and stabilize the room. For a few minutes, her control was flawless. Then her vision dimmed, and pain slammed into her skull like an electric pulse.
She described the sensation as her consciousness being "split in two." Her body remained functional, but half her mind was trapped inside the Cube Space, looping endlessly between crops, animals, and half-finished commands. The Spirit Spring couldn't soothe it, no matter how much she drank.
That night marked her first major backlash. She vomited blood, lost hearing for nearly ten minutes, and woke up feeling detached from her surroundings—as if her body was real, but her soul had gone thin. It was then she realized the illusion power wasn't just a tool anymore. It had fused with her Cube Space, feeding off both mental focus and emotional stability. The stronger her illusion, the more unstable her cognition became.
3. "Self-Torment" Training Plan
Once the pain faded, Jing Shu did what she always did—turn disaster into data. She began deliberately pushing herself into illusion overload, maintaining it just until the edge of collapse, then logging the results.
She called it her "self-torment plan."
Each cycle followed the same pattern: overstimulation, temporary blackout, recovery, then incremental gains in control and endurance. She charted her brain fog periods, noting that each time her illusion distorted reality, the Cube's grid flickered in sync, like it was observing and recording her progress.
By the time her flight to America neared, her illusions had grown almost instinctive, and her memory lapses had vanished. What she thought was "forgetfulness" was actually the Cube forcing synchronization between her conscious and subconscious states.
Her hypothesis: the 8th-tier upgrade required emotional and neural strain, not physical endurance. Every illusion she maintained under duress refined her neural resonance, syncing her consciousness closer with the Cube's frequency.
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One of the Cube Space's greatest strengths is that it doesn't just store things—it actually stimulates optimal conditions for growth and survival. Inside, every animal and plant lives in its most favorable season, with balanced climate, soil, and environment.
For plants: The taller or more complex the plant, the longer it takes to mature, but overall growth is vigorous and healthy. Crops planted closer to the Spirit Spring grow faster and reach maturity earlier, while those further away mature more slowly. The environment makes farming inside the Cube both efficient and sustainable.
For animals: The space ensures an ideal habitat. Livestock, insects, and even more unusual creatures adapt quickly inside. Over time, with the influence of the Spirit Spring, they grow stronger, reproduce faster, and in some cases develop unexpected traits.
2. Structure of the Cube Space
Spirit Spring: At its center lies one cubic meter of Spirit Spring, endlessly bubbling and producing ~20 drops of liquid per day (≈1 gram). If her six fields go unplanted, she gets six extra drops.
Six Dark Soil Fields: Each one cubic meter in size. Crops root in the soil and grow upward without restriction. A single drop of spring water doubles growth speed and boosts yield.
Storage Space: The remaining cubic meters act like free-form Tetris blocks, stackable into vaults, barns, or warehouses. Objects stored here are frozen in time (no spoilage), though animals and living beings experience normal time.
So, in short:
1 Spirit Spring + 6 soil plots + modular storage = a farmland, warehouse, and breeding ground under Jing Shu's absolute control (when she just bounded and upgrade her rubic cube, basically the initial layout).
Layout Changes at the Seventh Tier
Space Expansion: The Cube Space expanded to 343 cubic meters (7×7×7).
New Farmland: Six new fields appeared, bringing the total to 24 plots. Each plot automatically absorbed one drop of Spirit Spring daily, whether planted or not. This meant no field could be left idle—every inch had to be cultivated to avoid waste.
Spirit Spring Output: Still ~20 drops per day (about 1 gram), but now supplemented by the auto-infusion into the new fields.
Practical Use: Jing Shu cleverly used the Cube for fermentation and brewing. Outside weather spoiled wine, but inside the Cube, time-still mode preserved fermentation perfectly—so long as living creatures were present. To balance it, she stored the vats alongside her snakes. Chickens, ducks, or cattle carried strong odors that might taint the brew, but snakes had no stench, making them the perfect companions for her wine jars.
3.The Spirit Spring – Uses and Effects
At the heart of the Cube lies the Spirit Spring, and it's easily the most precious feature of all. In general sense it can boosted vitality and functionality in living organisms
Usage on Humans: Drinking Spirit Spring water strengthens the body, slows aging, and has rejuvenating effects. It also works as a potent medicine—Jing Shu believes that as long as someone is still breathing, the Spirit Spring could save them.
But the water isn't without side effects. Those who consume it for long periods often become irritable, short-tempered, and prone to destructive impulses. The intensity of these side effects varies depending on how much Spirit Spring a person has taken in (details appear in later chapters).
Usage on Plants: Spirit Spring acts as the perfect fertilizer. Just as it rejuvenates humans, it also restores and nourishes plants, feeding them rich nutrients and stimulating stronger, faster, and more resilient growth.
Usage on Animals: Animals benefit much like humans: their bodies strengthen, their health improves, and with prolonged exposure, they can even develop intelligence. But, just like humans, they inherit the darker side as well. For example, carp exposed to Spirit Spring under Jing Shu's experiments gradually developed traits similar to piranhas—aggressive, sharp-toothed, and bloodthirsty.
4. Forms of Control
First Form ("Mind-Summon"): Jing Shu closes her eyes, enters a pitch-black world divided by glowing squares, and operates the Cube Space mentally.
Second Form (Overlay Vision): After upgrading further, Jing Shu can "see" her Cube Space layered over reality. She can hear livestock, observe crops growing in real time, mute sounds with a thought, and interact without closing her eyes.
This overlay vision makes multitasking easy—she can cook, farm, or raise animals while going about daily life.
5. Special Abilities
Absolute Authority: Jing Shu can farm, cook, and butcher animals inside the Cube with a thought. She can also pull goods out of safes or vaults (the container stays intact, but the contents transfer).
Fusion Ability: Animals raised inside the Cube and fed Spirit Spring for long periods begin forming emotional bonds with her. This allows her to guide their behavior.
Requirements: At least six months in the Cube, fed Spirit Spring daily, never removed for more than a day.
Current success: Bees (partially controllable) and Pet No. 1, Xiao Dou (fully bonded).
The Seventh-Tier Rubik's Cube Space – New Powers
The upgrade felt like a system reboot—her consciousness shut down for moments, then reawakened with streams of new "system messages." Unlike earlier upgrades, this time she received the Cube's information consciously, even as her body drifted in and out of hallucination.
God's-Eye Vision: With the Second Form's overlay, she now gained a true god's-eye perspective of the overlapping Cube Space. No blind spots. She could zoom, rotate, and focus like a surveillance camera. At one point, she snapped her view closer to catch a tiny surveillance bug hidden on a door. This was the beginning of full spatial dominance—the more the Cube overlapped reality, the greater her control.
Hallucination Power (Illusion Ability): The greatest gift of Tier Seven was the ability to induce cognitive disruptions. Living beings inside the Cube (and partially within its overlap in the real world) suffered perceptual errors. At first, this appeared as hallucinations, but it soon became clear Jing Shu could plant suggestions: "Jing Shu is your master. Obey Jing Shu."
Before, she needed months of Spirit Spring feeding to bond with Xiao Dou or the bees. Now, she bonded instantly with the two five-step vipers, commanding them to fight and even receiving execution feedback.
She could borrow their vision, turning them into living scouts better than any camera.
Against people, she couldn't seize their minds outright, but she could nudge them into slips—hesitations, mistakes, a fatal misstep at the right moment.
Physical Boost: Her body itself grew sturdier. Pain still hurt, and bruises still came, but internal injuries didn't linger. Her physique had been lifted alongside her Cube.
The 8-Tier Rubik's Cube Space – New Powers
The America Arc – Illusion Evolution
The next stage unfolded during the mission abroad, when she faced Peggy's psychological manipulation. Under high stress, Jing Shu's illusion cracked—then changed.
Her illusions stopped being simple visual or sensory distortions. Instead, she entered a state she later termed "Nullity." In this phase, her body existed halfway between material and immaterial. She could move unseen, her presence vanishing from people's perception even if she stood right in front of them.
This was quickly followed by the development of "Phantasm", a secondary illusion layer that let her project false versions of herself while her true body remained hidden.
But the most dangerous part wasn't the new power—it was the side effect. Anyone who looked at her too long began to forget her face within minutes. Even allies struggled to recall her voice or gestures unless they actively recorded them.
When the battle with Peggy ended, Jing Shu realized something profound: her illusion wasn't manipulating others' senses anymore. It was altering existence probability—the likelihood of her being perceived by reality itself.
The upgrade finalized as Phantom Bypass, the evolved form of her illusion. It wasn't illusion at all anymore—it was dimensional displacement. She'd partially entered the Cube's higher layer, letting her presence slip between coordinates.
That's why patrols walked past her without reaction, and even her teammates forgot her existence. Their brains filled the blank automatically, editing her out of reality. Her existence had become too faint, too unstable, echoing the Cube's four-dimensional nature.
But this power was dangerous. Use it too long, and she risked fading for good—becoming one of those "unanchored consciousnesses" that the crimson energy carried between planes. To counter that, she anchored herself through living connections: Xiao Dou, Wu You'ai, and those who had tasted Spirit Spring. Their life-signatures tethered her to the world.
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Before the Cube Space had upgraded, hypnotizing two people at once had already been difficult. But she'd kept pushing herself for months, training through excruciating pain. Now that the Cube Space had evolved, every one of her abilities had leveled up. The Cube Space was a construct beyond six-dimensional space. The fifth dimension corresponded to speed, something like an "electrical wave" or "ultrasound."
Before, she hadn't fully understood, but after the Cube's enlightenment, it all clicked into place. When her brainwaves matched a target's frequency, she could induce hypnosis. When she tuned them to guide another's thoughts, she could implant suggestions. That meant she could communicate across languages. And when her own waves synchronized perfectly with those around her, she became invisible—completely undetectable.
Every person had unique brainwave signatures, shaped by their consciousness and willpower. The stronger the mind, the harder it was to influence. So controlling five people at once was the perfect test of her newly upgraded space.
6. Pet Connections
Pet No. 1 – Xiao Dou the Battle Chicken: Early experiment Jing Shu carried out with the Spirit Spring from her Rubik Cube Space. It was originally just a hen, but after exposure, it became what the author calls 战斗鸡 (Zhàndòu Jī) — "battle chicken." As usual, I like giving pets nicknames, so I call her 小斗 (Xiǎo Dòu), taken from Zhàndòu (battle, combat). Over time, Xiao Dou gained intelligence. After feeding on human eyes, its gaze turned disturbingly humanlike.
Pet No. 2 – The Bee: Another early experiment Jing Shu carried out with the Spirit Spring. At first, the bees were just ordinary insects, but over time, daily drops of Spirit Spring changed them. They became stronger, more irritable, and their stingers carried venom far more potent than normal bees. After half a year inside the Cube Space, something unexpected happened: they started showing faint signs of recognizing Jing Shu as their owner. With the Cube's Second Form, she could even guide them to fly in or return on command.
That said, the bond was fragile—if the bees were moved outside the Cube for more than a day, the connection broke completely. Even bringing them back for weeks couldn't reestablish it. Despite that limitation, the bees proved their value as both protectors and natural pollinators, and they became the second "numbered pet" in her growing roster.
Pet No. 3 – The Sulfuric Ant Queen, Yi Hou
Jing Shu's next discovery emerged while researching biochemical adaptability. Among the mutated colonies she raised, one stood out—a sulfuric ant queen she named Yi Hou ("Ant Empress").
Yi Hou survived repeated Spirit Spring exposure that killed every other insect species. Instead of dying, it mutated into a hybrid capable of limited thought. Through resonance within the Cube, Jing Shu could hear its intent—fragmented impressions of hunger, defense, and territory.
Over time, the ant colony structured itself into a hierarchy that mirrored human order. Yi Hou became the first non-mammalian creature to achieve spiritual communication with Jing Shu, solidifying its place as Pet No. 3.
In strength and usefulness, Yi Hou surpassed even the Five-Pace Vipers. The queen's acid secretion could melt metal, and her brood reproduced exponentially under the Cube's optimized conditions. In apocalypse terms, she wasn't just a pet—she was a living factory.
Pets No. 6 & 7 – Horned Frogs: Used as natural pesticides to wipe out the wave of carrion scavengers that appeared in the early apocalypse.
Pet No. 4 – Five-Pace Viper (Sharp-Nosed Pit Viper): This one came from Hongshan Ecological Park, from Zhou Fellow. Known as the sharp-nosed pit viper, or "five-step snake," it's infamous for its lethal venom—and also prized for making medicinal wine. Jing Shu quickly realized its potential, pairing it with herbs from her Cube Space to brew potent turtle-snake wine.
Inside the Cube, she began feeding it Spirit Spring to build a bond, just like with her other pets. The viper grew more spirited and alert, adapting to the Cube's environment with ease.
This snake was different from what Li Yuetian give to her.
(Note: I'm still not sure if Pet 5 were ever introduced. If you catch them in earlier or later chapters, please comment with the number, species, how Jing Shu got them, and their usage! I'll update this list as we go.)
7. Limitations & Unknowns
No Humans Allowed: The Cube Space cannot hold humans or other intelligent beings. Even Jing Shu herself can't physically step inside—only her spiritual body interacts with it.
Shortcomings: Whether future upgrades will merge the Cube with reality (allowing human entry) remains unknown.
Energy Source: As the Cube evolves into higher dimensions, it demands more than just puzzle-solving speed. It also requires energy from higher-level dimensions, making upgrades harder.
This ability system is central to Jing Shu's survival, farming, and pet-bonding experiments. It's equal parts treasure, farm, storage vault, and mysterious evolving power. I'll keep updating this list as more abilities (and pets!) are revealed.
8. Higher-Dimensional Energy & the Nature of the Cube
By the time Jing Shu stabilized her new abilities (after upgrade to 8th tier) , she noticed the Cube's aura had changed. The familiar golden hue of Spirit Spring had dimmed into a translucent prism-light, like looking through fractured glass.
Measurements from her mental overlay showed irregular data—no fixed pattern, no clear energy cycle. It wasn't purely spiritual energy anymore. It was conceptual, responding to consciousness, emotion, and memory rather than mass or volume.
Her observations:
The Cube's energy no longer nourished life directly. It manipulated cognition and existence frequency.
Living beings exposed to it experienced temporary memory gaps, déjà vu, or sensory dissonance.
The Spirit Spring's liquid started emitting faint chromatic glows, fluctuating between seven colors—likely echoes of dimensional resonance.
Jing Shu theorized that the Rubik's Cube had begun reaching beyond the third dimension. Each "tier" wasn't just a spatial expansion—it was an awakening of new reality parameters. The seventh tier governed visibility and illusion. The eighth began touching memory, identity, and the boundaries of what it meant to "exist."
What lay beyond that—whether the ninth tier would reshape reality itself—remained a mystery. But one thing was certain: the Cube was no longer a tool she controlled. It was evolving with her.
9. Crimson Energy and Higher-Dimensional Resonance
The crimson energy that had long powered her Cube Space was, in truth, a residue from a higher-dimensional source. Every upgrade peeled the veil between dimensions just a little thinner, allowing Jing Shu's consciousness to brush against structures not bound by the three axes of the physical world.
In simple terms, the Rubik's Cube wasn't merely a container—it was a four-dimensional hinge, folding and unfolding reality like an interlocking puzzle. Each face represented a direction unseen by three-dimensional eyes, and every rotation altered the alignment of that higher geometry.
Humans, bound to three dimensions, could only perceive slices of it—like watching a shadow move on a wall. The Cube taught her how to "feel" the missing axis through energy resonance. That's why time sometimes slipped, why she'd forget to practice, or why the Cube "interrupted" her. Her consciousness was being tugged in and out of alignment with the fourth axis.
The crimson energy itself wasn't destructive by nature. It was neutral—a carrier of frequency between realities. At the eighth tier, the energy began to bleed into her body's electromagnetic field, subtly erasing her presence from ordinary perception. It wasn't invisibility yet, but the prototype of what would come next.
10. Higher-Dimensional Energy Catalog
When the Cube reached the 8th-tier, its resonance frequency crossed the barrier between the known energy layers and a higher-dimensional spectrum. Only one energy type has been confirmed so far, known as the Crimson Crystal Energy.
Energy Name: Crimson Crystal Energy
Classification: Type-01
Conceptual Domain: Time
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Factory List:
1. Red Nematode Feed Processing Factory.
By the second year of the apocalypse, Jing Shu wasn't just surviving anymore—she was building. Her first major step was establishing the Red Nematode Feed Processing Factory.
The First Factory – Wu County
The first branch was set up in Wu County, taking advantage of the abundant red nematodes that had become both a resource and a staple food during that time. The share distribution was divided among the family:
-Su Lanzhi (Jing Shu's mother): 20% (she put in 1,500 virtual coins).
-Grandparents (credited under Su Lanzhi): 20% (another 1,500 virtual coins contributed on their behalf).
-Jing Shu: 40% (she contributed 1,500 virtual coins herself, but also covered fuel, coal, natural gas, and electricity—so her share was higher).
-Eldest Aunt Jing Pan: 20% (she was responsible for labor, labor costs, and overall management).
The Second Factory – Larger, More Professional
The second branch was built later and designed to be larger and more professional than the Wu County one. The share split this time looked different:
-Jing Shu: 70% (she invested 10,000 virtual coins and supplied the fuel).
-Wang Gang (brother of Wang Fang): 15% (he provided the site, equipment, and covered wages and meals).
-Su Yiyang + Wang Fang: 15% (they invested 1,000 virtual coins and managed day-to-day operations).
Shutdown of the Red Nematode Factory
Unfortunately, the success didn't last long. Red nematodes—once plentiful—became contaminated by the Zombie Deer virus from Australia and were also heavily consumed by starving survivors. Within less than a year, the resource collapsed, and the factories had to suspend operations.