Chapter 402: Chapter 402: Sun Exposure 7
Ethan Dawson picked a young, bay-red horse. After he left, Evelyn Ford returned to the cabin with the box.
The gasoline and the truck were stored in the warehouse. What Evelyn cared about most was what this gold could upgrade.
Ronan Kendrick cut open his palm and coated all the gold jewelry in the box with his fresh blood.
Evelyn absorbed it into her space and waited a few seconds, but the space didn’t react at all.
"Be patient. Try putting all of it in," Ronan Kendrick said.
Evelyn absorbed all the gold jewelry into her space. She waited another half a minute, but there was still no activity.
"It can’t be fake. Does this mean it can’t be upgraded anymore? But the space has already absorbed the gold."
Ronan looked at Evelyn. "It might be because my blood didn’t work."
"Impossible. We used your blood the last few times, and we even upgraded the well."
Evelyn’s mood was still quite calm. After all, having the space was already a miracle; whether it could be upgraded or not was just the icing on the cake for her.
Besides, they had traded for a truck and gasoline, so they hadn’t lost out on the deal.
"Looks like it can’t be upgraded after all," Evelyn smiled.
Before going to sleep, Evelyn checked again. The space was still unchanged. She sighed.
"I should have just kept the jewelry. Ethan Dawson has good taste; these are all high-quality pieces. They would have even made for some high-class grave goods."
Ronan pinched her cheek. "What nonsense are you talking about?"
"Okay, no more nonsense. Time for bed."
Evelyn didn’t notice that after her consciousness withdrew from the space, it began to change.
「The next day.」
The first thing Evelyn did upon waking was check her space. However, she found her consciousness could no longer enter it. Her hands trembled in shock. She picked up a book beside her pillow and mentally commanded, ’Store.’ The book instantly vanished.
She then thought, ’Retrieve,’ and the book reappeared in her hand.
’How could this be?’
Not only did the space not upgrade, but now her consciousness couldn’t even enter? Evelyn closed her eyes and began to examine the situation inside the space. Although she couldn’t enter, she could still see the interior of the space in her mind’s eye.
However, next to the storage, livestock, and farming areas, a new, misty region had appeared.
It looked as if it had been pixelated. Evelyn couldn’t see what was inside at all. She tried to place something in that area but failed; items were automatically sorted based on whether they were living or inanimate.
’If my consciousness can’t go in, what about the manure in the livestock area?’
The moment this thought crossed Evelyn’s mind, the manure in the livestock area was cleaned up automatically.
Evelyn was a bit stunned. ’Did the gold from yesterday actually upgrade the space?’
Although the upgraded space could automatically handle waste, Evelyn found it a bit underwhelming.
The fourth area seemed to be behind some sort of barrier. Evelyn really couldn’t guess what was inside.
When Ronan entered the cabin, Evelyn was staring blankly, a frown on her face.
"What’s wrong?" Ronan reached out and touched Evelyn’s forehead. "Are you feeling unwell?"
"No, it’s not that. The space upgraded, but my consciousness can’t get in anymore. Ronan, hurry and try to see if you can get in."
Ronan nodded. "Don’t worry, I’ll try."
However, Ronan failed as well.
"I can still store and retrieve things, and the manure from the livestock area is automatically moved to the farming area. I can control it with my consciousness from the outside. And a fourth area was unlocked, but it seems to be sealed. I can’t see what’s inside for now."
"Perhaps the time isn’t right yet," Ronan said, taking Evelyn’s hand to comfort her. "It’s like when the farming area was unlocked; that also required the right timing."
Evelyn gave a helpless smile. "I guess we’ll have to wait. But since I can’t get in, I don’t know if I can still plant anything in the farming area."
Evelyn immediately closed her eyes and mentally commanded, ’Harvest the cabbage.’
Then, the cabbage in the farming area began to be harvested automatically. Although the speed was a bit slow, she watched as head after head of cabbage detached from the ground and landed neatly on the black soil, roots and dirt still attached.
Evelyn continued her mental command, ’Cut the roots.’
Only then were the roots cut off one by one. Just as Evelyn was thinking that she would only have to issue one command for the space to harvest continuously, she suddenly felt dizzy and lightheaded.
The moment Evelyn opened her eyes, the space immediately stopped working. Evelyn understood.
"Harvesting in the space requires me to power it with my consciousness, like charging a battery. When I withdraw my consciousness, it’s like cutting the power, and the harvesting stops automatically."
Evelyn’s imagination began to run wild. "Do you think the fourth area could be a pile of energy ore?"
Evelyn thought her guess made a lot of sense, but Ronan found it unlikely.
"There’s land and water... could it be a mountain?"
Evelyn burst out laughing. "A mountain? What would I do with a mountain in my space? We can’t even go in. Chop down trees?"
"Maybe you could dig up that ore you’ve been dreaming of?"
Evelyn nodded. "That makes sense."
Just then, she faintly smelled a foul odor, much like the smell of burning plastic bags.
Evelyn looked at Ronan. "What is that smell?"
Ronan’s expression also became puzzled. "It just appeared. I’ll go check it out."
Evelyn quickly got up as well. The two of them went to the kitchen. No one was there, and the stove was clean, without a single trace of having been lit.
"Let’s go look outside."
Once outside, they saw that everyone else had come out too. Evelyn looked at the nearby cabins.
"Who’s burning something?"
Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads. "No one’s burning anything. The kitchen stoves haven’t even been lit yet."
Evelyn was puzzled. If no one was burning anything, where was the foul smell coming from?
Everyone began to search the farm, worried that someone might be starting a fire outside.
However, after searching the entire area, they didn’t find any fires. Nathan Xavier, Drako, and Peter Owens took the wolfdogs and left the farm to patrol the surroundings. Two hours later, they returned, out of breath.
"Ma’am, we checked the surrounding mountains and even went over to Fairgate Farm. We didn’t find any signs of arson, but the foul smell is over there too, and on the mountains."
Evelyn’s expression grew grim. No one had started a fire, yet the foul smell was spreading. Why was this happening?
This smell wasn’t the stench of decay; it was definitely the smell of burning plastic bags.
Even if a nearby garbage dump was on fire, it wouldn’t produce such a thick, pervasive odor.
’Could something be... mutating?’
"Everyone, head back to the cabins. Mr. Graham, get some cloth. Everyone start making masks and face coverings. If this foul air is toxic, we need to be protected."
Evelyn’s words struck a heavy blow to everyone’s hearts. The more timid ones were already on the verge of tears.
"We’re not going to get infected, are we? Could the air be polluted?"
Evelyn’s mind was a mess right now; she was completely unable to answer their questions.
Evelyn returned to her cabin and quickly used her consciousness to search for the air quality detector in her space.
