Chapter 5
The Space in the Ring
What appeared in front of Xiaoguo was clearly her house before the drought. The stove, kitchenware, oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar were neatly placed by the stove.
Xiaoguo wandered around the house. ”
Is this a dream
?” It felt so real. She remembered that she was just about to take a shower when the ring fell out. Once she put it on, she reappeared at this place.
Before Xiaoguo could make sense of the situation, she had already transmigrated.
Xiaoguo was lying on the kitchen floor when she reopened her eyes. She could hear Zhuang Zhuang crying. Xiaoguo quickly got up and ran towards the room. When she opened the door, she saw that the boy had woken up in bed and was crying.
“Zhuang Zhuang, I’m here. Is there anything wrong?” Xiaoguo asked as she hugged Zhuang Zhuang tenderly, feeling sorry for him.
“Mother, wait for me to find food. Don’t go alone, okay?” Zhuang Zhuang was still traumatized by his mother’s fall in the morning.
“Okay, I won’t go alone. You are such a dear. Let’s go to bed.”
Listening to Xiaoguo’s gentle voice, Zhuang Zhuang gradually fell asleep in her arms.
After Zhuang Zhuang was sound asleep, Xiaoguo quietly lay him down and sat by the bed to watch him. She began to think about the unusual incident that happened earlier. It was clearly related to the ring. Xiaoguo felt all over her body for the ring. She was wearing it on her hand earlier. But after waking up, she was in such a hurry to tend to Zhuang Zhuang that she did not pay attention to it. As she looked down, she realized that the ring she had on her finger was now resting within her palm.
Feeling curious, Xiaoguo put the ring on her finger again. As soon as she put it on, she was dragged into another space within the ring. It turned out that the ring acted as a switch to enter another realm.
Xiaoguo was overjoyed by this new discovery. She didn’t have to worry about food anymore. There was still a lot of rice and noodles in her kitchen and the fridge was well-stocked with meat. During the apocalypse, money had zero value. The only thing that was valuable were the crystals in zombies’ heads. These crystals could be used to cultivate superpowers. The diners who ate at Xiaoguo’s place knew that she didn’t need these crystals. Therefore, they paid for their meals by giving Xiaoguo pigs, ducks, chickens, and fish they found in the wild. As time passed, Xiaoguo managed to stockpile a good amount of meat.
After looking around the kitchen, Xiaoguo realized that she didn’t have a chance to explore the rest of the house. She wondered if she had crossed over together with the kitchen.
Observing the small space that she was in, Xiaoguo tried to walk out of the kitchen. She realized shortly that she was only walking around in circles. Unable to find any doors to exit the room, Xiaoguo got a better grasp of the situation. The kitchen was the only place where she could move about.
Xiaoguo was getting more curious. She wondered if she could bring the meat out of the kitchen. WIth that thought, she carved out a piece of pork, grabbed a small bag of flour, and prepared to exit the room. ”
W.. Wait. How? How can I get out
?” She thought to herself.
Curiosity was getting the better of her now. Based on what she had watched before on TV, people could usually get out after chanting a spell. She cleared her throat and said,” Ahem, open sesame!”
Nothing happened. All she could hear was an eerie silence.
”
Did I get the spell wrong
? Xiaoguo thought. She shouted another two spells. Nothing worked. “Don’t tell me it’s something as straight-forward as ‘get out’?”
Before she could finish, Xiaoguo had exited the kitchen with the pork and flour. She could see Zhuang Zhuang fast asleep beside her. She was speechless. It was really that simple.
Xiaoguo slowly stood up and brought the pork and flour back to the kitchen. She added a handful of firewood to the stove and washed up quickly after the water boiled. She placed the pork and the flour into a pot, and covered it. When morning comes, she will make these into wontons and have them for breakfast.
After cleaning up the kitchen, Xiaoguo felt a little tired. She returned to the bedroom and gently laid down beside Zhuang Zhuang. The child felt his mother’s weight sink into the bed, he rolled over in his slumber and wrapped his arms around her. Xiaoguo lowered her head and kissed him on his forehead before dozing off.