Jing Shu never expected that upgrading from the 7th-tier to the 8th-tier Rubik's Cube Space would be this dangerous. But spatially speaking, an 8×8×8 configuration meant she now possessed 512 cubic meters of storage. That gave her an extra 169 cubic meters of room, a vast expansion that allowed her to store even more rare, precious, and extinct materials.
With that much space at her disposal, surviving the apocalypse would definitely be more comfortable for her and her family. Right now, the upgrade couldn't have come at a better time as they navigated the lawless environment of America.
When the Rubik's Cube Space began reconstructing itself inside her mind, Jing Shu felt something real and unnerving. It was like lying anesthetized on a cold operating table, listening to the sharp sound of a scalpel slicing through her skull. She could clearly hear her brain being opened, new spatial particles being implanted into the void, spiritual fields being restructured, and a passcode being entered to unlock the 8th-tier's full potential.
Then the mental incision was sewn shut, and the upgrade was done. Each tier unlocked a new seal, making the Rubik's Cube Space stronger and her connection with the artifact deeper. After this upgrade, she gained a much better understanding of its power, reaching a level of comprehension that went far beyond what she had grasped with her previous new abilities.
Not only that, but Jing Shu could feel a strange, cool energy flowing into her tired body. The blood vessels that had ruptured before from the spatial backlash were slowly being restored. It wasn't occurring by natural regeneration, but as if time itself was being reversed, bringing her physical body back to the state it had been five hours ago. It was incredible to witness. This must have been the power of the four-dimensional space she had touched.
But this kind of time-reversal healing wasn't omnipotent. It couldn't reverse her memories or her sensory perception of the pain she had endured, so she still felt every ounce of the sharp agony from her near-explosion.
"You awake?" Ling Ling looked over from where she was checking her gear.
"Her wounds look a lot better. Must be thanks to the ointment I told her to use," Snake Spirit said smugly, his tongue flicking.
"Or maybe she just has a strong self-repair ability," Ling Ling shot back.
Jing Shu slowly opened her eyes. A searing pain shot through her entire body, making it feel like her blood vessels were about to burst again. She clenched her jaw and forced herself to stay calm, twitching her fingers just to test her movement. But her body felt stiff and uncoordinated, like she had lost control of her limbs entirely.
"How do you feel? Any better?" Tank asked. His voice was full of genuine concern as he looked down at her. The others looked over too, their expressions worried.
Jing Shu realized something was pressing heavily on her legs, making it hard to breathe. When she squinted against the light, she saw she was lying on a makeshift cart Tank was pulling, and the others were walking alongside the wheels. On her lap sat Xiao Dou, staring at her with an oddly tender look in the hen's eyes.
"Move it, you're too heavy." Jing Shu kicked the hen off her legs, panting a little from the effort. "How long was I out?"
"A whole day. No idea what you did, but ever since you passed out, everything in the mountain went back to normal. I figured it had something to do with you, so we didn't dare waste time and just kept moving. You were badly hurt, so Snake Spirit grabbed a few of your meds and had Ling Ling apply them. Don't worry, we didn't touch your stuff. Your battle hen has been guarding it. Honestly, if you hadn't woken up soon, we would all have starved to death."
Snake Spirit pouted, his arms crossed. "I just took one bottle of medicine, and your chicken chased me for three kilometers. I had to beg and explain it was for you before it finally let me go. That chicken isn't normal, I'm telling you—it's got to be a chicken spirit."
Ling Ling snorted at him. "If it weren't for that battle hen laying a few dozen eggs, you guys wouldn't even have the strength to walk."
Monkey sighed, his shoulders sagging. "And each egg costs fifty contribution points. No credit, no discount. Never thought I would live to eat the most expensive eggs in the world."
Xiao Dou puffed up like a tiger guarding its territory. Her head was held high, and she looked as arrogant as ever. She even stomped twice on Yi Hou, the Sulfuric Acid Ant Queen, as if to say, "See that, Master? While you were out cold, I was protecting you and earning contribution points. Unlike that useless bug that just eats all day."
Jing Shu couldn't help but laugh, though the movement hurt her chest. "Fine, fine. I will reward you with two drumsticks." The hen spun in circles happily, and no one dared to ask whose drumsticks she meant. While Jing Shu was bedridden, Xiao Dou had basically become the boss of the team. She was the hen who called the shots. Nobody was allowed to touch Jing Shu's belongings.
Whenever someone needed something from her luggage, Xiao Dou went in and fetched it herself with her beak. She was even a curious learner, trying to fly alongside Ling Ling's bird and sniff scents with Ah Huang, though she always ended up tumbling midair or sneezing halfway through the attempt.
By the time Xiao Dou had fully embraced her wild side, Jing Shu had already finished syncing with her newly upgraded 8th-tier Rubik's Cube Space and its refined power, Phantom Bypass. Before, she could only partially make herself ignored by others, but now, she could merge completely into any environment. She could disappear from people's awareness at will. That gave her another layer of protection and a hidden trump card to use in America.
The four-dimensional space had sealed itself after she stole that crystal, so the team soon left the endless mountains behind and found a small, abandoned town. After getting a rusty pickup truck, they rushed toward the meeting point they had agreed on with Yang Yang half a month ago.
As for that crystal she had taken, Jing Shu was still a bit puzzled by it. The crimson liquid in her space seemed to have decreased, and the crystal itself had shrunk too. Maybe it was her imagination? Or was the Rubik's Cube Space secretly consuming the liquid? That couldn't be right.
She had watched it carefully for two days and didn't see anything unusual happening to the contents. Before she could think too much about it, a new mission took priority. This was the real reason they had come to America. After all, this was the job Qian Duoduo had sponsored their entire trip for.
Back at Shiyuan, Qian Duoduo had publicly raised funds to send the Wu City team to America with the goal of obtaining a complete vegetable dehydration technology set. When asked why they didn't just use domestic resources, the explanation was that China's cost and efficiency were too low.
With resources this scarce, dehydrating vegetables at scale just wasn't feasible anymore. America, on the other hand, had a fully developed industrial chain for it. But they needed expertise in precision cultivation, special planting methods, new equipment, and upgraded techniques. Since Qian Duoduo wanted the core technology, there was only one thing to do: come here and learn it.
Jing Shu had no idea how much money Qian Duoduo raised, but sending several teams back and forth across the ocean, plus placing local contacts and liaisons in America, must have cost a fortune. Even though Jing Shu's squad had gone missing for over two weeks, Yang Yang had to press on under immense pressure from the higher-ups.
Unfortunately, progress had been slow without their support. Thankfully, Jing Shu's team made it out of the mountains in one piece. After half a month, they finally reconnected with Yang Yang's group, ready to finish this high-stakes mission together.