Chapter 2: A Different Magic Cube Space

A BOOM resounded in Jing Shu’s head, and then she lost consciousness. Indeed, activating this personal space required no blood or Spell. One simply had to restore the disordered Magic Cube within the prescribed time, and it would take root in your spiritual world, recognizing you as its master. In her previous life, it took Jing Shu nine whole years and a fortuitous set of circumstances to activate the Magic Cube Space. Who could have imagined that a toy Magic Cube was a space? Other people’s spaces were typically rings, bracelets, or necklaces. The more bizarre ones involved having a space directly inside their superpowered brains.Besides, the activation condition for Jing Shu’s Magic Cube Space was so stringent; without having been reincarnated, it would have been impossible to know of such a thing. No matter what, fate finally changed at that moment. She regained consciousness to the persistent ringing of her cell phone. The continuous sound, like a death knell, finally roused her. Shaking, Jing Shu got up from the ground. After putting down the Four-level Magic Cube that had transformed into a Five-stage Rubik’s Cube, she picked up the phone and saw the caller: Zhu Zhengqi. Jing Shu’s thoughts drifted far into the past. Events from ten years ago slowly became clear as she pressed the answer button. "Hello? Why aren’t you answering your phone? I’ve got good news for you! I contacted ’Star Dream Entertainment’ to support you! Promotion, marketing team, persona, packaging—they handle it all! It’s a bit pricey, but the hottest stars right now were all launched by them. Little Miss, you’re finally going to be famous!" Zhu Zhengqi seemed overly excited on the other end of the phone. Jing Shu’s memories were finally triggered. As a child, her dream was to become a star. Later, after being admitted into an arts college in Wu City, she realized during her college years that becoming an actor or a star wasn’t so easy. You either needed a powerful biological father, a sugar daddy, or an exceptionally interesting soul. Because good looks are common, but interesting souls are one in a million. With nothing but her good looks, Jing Shu decided to lower her standards. After graduation, she constantly tried to become a popular female streamer by broadcasting from home, but unfortunately, no one watched. Hence, she relied on Zhu Zhengqi, the son of her father’s colleague. He found a marketing team that initially faked viewership through Zombie fans, mass message barrages, fraudulent donations, and artificially boosting her popularity. Essentially, they created the illusion that she, the female streamer, was very popular to attract genuine followers and donations. "I’ve already sent you the electronic contract. You need to print it out, sign it, put your thumbprint on it, and pay a deposit of three hundred thousand..." "Hello, Jing Shu, are you there?" Jing Shu narrowed her eyes, reminiscing. In her previous life, she had been thrilled to receive Zhu Zhengqi’s call. Her parents enthusiastically supported her. They gathered money by selling the family car and shop properties so she could become an internet sensation, relying on a carefully crafted persona and marketing hype. Her live streams were indeed swamped with tens of thousands of ’water army’ accounts leading the narrative, and she did achieve a brief period of fame. Unfortunately, just as she began accepting advertisements, the apocalypse arrived. It was a classic case of investing a lot only to lose everything. In this life, Jing Shu didn’t want to be a star or a popular female streamer. She just wanted to eat and sleep well every day, stay healthy, and maintain a healthy body throughout the apocalypse. "Zhu Zhengqi, thank you for your effort during this time. I suddenly don’t want to be an internet sensation anymore," Jing Shu said flatly. Zhu Zhengqi was clearly agitated. "Why did you suddenly decide against becoming an internet sensation? This was your lifelong dream! What on earth...?!" Suddenly, Jing Shu remembered. In her previous life, Zhu Zhengqi had been so enthusiastic because he received a fifty-thousand commission. Getting a commission wasn’t inherently wrong, but Jing Shu had unfortunately found out about this later. Moreover, to show his gratitude afterward, Mr. Jing had given him red envelopes containing tens of thousands more. The most disheartening part was that the normal price shouldn’t have been that high. It turned out that by involving Zhu Zhengqi and using his connections, the price ended up being fifty percent higher—a clear case of exploiting an acquaintance and ripping someone off. "I just don’t want to do it anymore." Her mind preoccupied with the space, Jing Shu quickly ended the call. She closed her eyes and silently chanted, "Space Magic Cube." Immediately, the world transformed, and her Spiritual Body arrived in her Space Magic Cube. The surroundings were pitch-black, with only a huge Magic Cube emitting a brilliant white light. Each small cube within it had its own independent frame. Jing Shu could perceive the Magic Cube Space with an overhead view, able to zoom in and out. Jing Shu’s Magic Cube Space differed significantly from the spaces described in novels. Through a year of exploration in her previous life, she had discovered that apart from humans (intelligent beings), she could bring anything else inside by touching it. However, her physical body could not enter; only her consciousness could, but her control over the Magic Cube Space was absolute. Initially, the Magic Cube Space had a total volume equivalent to 64 one-cubic-meter blocks (4x4x4). Oh, wait—that’s before subtracting the one cubic meter occupied by the small Spiritual Spring in the center. In reality, the Spiritual Spring itself was only the size of a basketball. It hadn’t even filled that single cubic meter of space in the entire past year of her previous life, highlighting its preciousness. The one-cubic-meter space allocated to the Spiritual Spring was its unmovable core at the center of the Magic Cube Space, and the spring within constantly gurgled. This core space had six faces, each connected by transparent transport lines to six movable, cultivable black fields, irrigating them. Jing Shu had discovered that if she didn’t cultivate the fields, the Spiritual Spring would produce an additional six droplets per day. Otherwise, it produced only 20 droplets daily (about 1 ml, or roughly 1 gram). Thus, Jing Shu’s current Magic Cube Space comprised: one cubic meter for the Spiritual Spring, six cubic meters for the fields, and fifty-seven cubic meters of empty storage space. The fifty-seven cubic meters of storage could be divided into fifty-seven individual one-cubic-meter spaces or pieced together freely. This was where the Magic Cube Space differed most from spaces in novels: it maximized space utilization, ensuring not a single area was wasted. More impressively, each cubic field could be cultivated on all six of its faces, offering a total of 36 square meters of planting area. Finally, the flow of time within the field spaces was the same as in the outside world. Vegetables would age if not harvested and would dry out if harvested but not stored within a stasis space. The time required for crops to grow and be ready for harvest was also identical to the outside world. The role of the Spiritual Spring was to accelerate growth by a factor of two (halving the required time) and increase output per droplet used. If Seeds were present, the Spiritual Spring would automatically irrigate one field with one droplet per day. If she felt the growth was too slow, she could manually add more droplets of Spiritual Spring water. However, the Spiritual Spring would provide a twofold acceleration daily, so vegetables generally matured in six to ten days. For spaces not containing living beings, time stood still. This meant that if hot water was placed inside such a space, it would maintain its temperature indefinitely until removed. Jing Shu had experimented by placing live mice inside, and time in that isolated space started to flow, matching the outside world. She figured the same principle likely applied to the field spaces as well: mice would age and eventually die; they would starve without food. Similarly, vegetables left in such an active space for too long would decay, and hot water would eventually cool down. This was Jing Shu’s Magic Cube Space—a truly magical and unique dimension. Looking at the neatly arranged Magic Cube, the vast empty storage areas, and the black, fertile soil, Jing Shu felt a profound sense of satisfaction. In an apocalypse where sunlight for cultivation would be scarce or non-existent, everything would depend on this Magic Cube Space.