The faint light of dawn arrived quietly, and the two sisters had barely slept all night. Lin Yue emerged from the space world, her face filled with unconcealable excitement and confusion.
"That space... is even more magical than we imagined," she whispered, as if afraid of being overheard through the walls. "When I rested inside, I felt my energy recover extremely quickly. And..." She paused, "I tried planting half a potato and a few mung beans, and they actually sprouted within just a few hours."
Lin Yao's eyes widened, and then she also lowered her voice: "Really? Does that mean..."
"Hush—" Lin Yue made a gesture to be quiet and pointed out the window. Several zombies were wandering downstairs; their movements were indeed more coordinated than the day before, no longer just mechanical pacing.
The sisters tacitly moved to the bathroom farthest from the window, where sounds were least likely to leak outside. Lin Yue carefully conjured a layer of dense vines to cover the door cracks and air vents, ensuring their conversation wouldn't be accidentally heard.
"We must be extremely careful," Lin Yue's voice was barely a whisper. "If this space ability is known to others, it will definitely bring us mortal danger."
Lin Yao nodded solemnly: "I understand, sister. In this post-apocalyptic world, trust is too much of a luxury."
They began to carefully inventory all usable supplies in the house. Lin Yue took charge of recording, while Lin Yao searched every corner cautiously. In the end, they tallied up: 12 cans of food, 5 bottles of bottled water, approximately 3 kilograms of rice, 2 kilograms of flour, and a number of seasonings. There were also some daily medicines, batteries, and a flashlight.
"These can last us at most a week," Lin Yue frowned. "And we're lacking fresh vegetables and protein."
Lin Yao suddenly remembered something: "There are a few pots of small greens I planted on the balcony earlier, and in the kitchen, there are some potatoes and carrots that have sprouted—they were originally going to be thrown away..."
This sentence lit up Lin Yue's eyes: "We can try planting all of these in the space. If that space really can accelerate plant growth..."
But Lin Yue's cautious nature stopped her from acting rashly. She first took out a mung bean, carefully entered the space, planted it in the soft soil by the river, and used her water-type ability to conjure clear water to water it. Then she exited the space and waited together with her sister.
To their shock, just two hours later, when she entered the space again, that mung bean had grown into a sturdy plant, covered with plump pods.
"This growth rate... is incredible!" Lin Yue picked the fresh pods, exited the space, and showed them to her sister.
Lin Yao covered her mouth in surprise, her eyes shining with hope. But soon, she looked worried: "Sister, with such a fast growth rate, could there be some kind of cost? Like consuming your life force or something?"
This question stunned Lin Yue. She carefully felt her physical condition and found that she was indeed a little tired, but it was more like energy consumption rather than the loss of life force.
"I don't think it's a problem," she said thoughtfully. "When I'm in the space, I actually feel my energy recover faster. But to be cautious, we still shouldn't overuse it."
For the rest of the time, the two sisters began their careful transplanting work. Lin Yue brought the pots of small greens from the balcony into the space, along with their soil, and planted them by the river. Lin Yao handled the sprouted potatoes and carrots, cutting them into pieces carefully to ensure each piece had an eye.
During the transplanting process, they made more discoveries: the plants in the space not only grew quickly but were also exceptionally strong and healthy; the river water was sweet and delicious, more refreshing than the purified water outside; even after staying in the space for a while, their abilities seemed to become much easier to control.
"This space... seems to be nourishing us," Lin Yue felt the wood-type energy flowing in her body—it was much more docile and obedient than before.
Lin Yao nodded in agreement; the water ball in her hand became particularly crystal clear: "My control has also improved. And..." She hesitated for a moment, "I seem to be able to sense the energy contained in the water."
This discovery made the sisters both excited and anxious. They decided not to use their abilities casually for the time being and focus first on using the space to solve the food problem.
By evening, the first batch of vegetables in the space was already ready for harvest. There were green small greens, plump bean pods, and even the potato and carrot tubers that had started to take root. The sisters carefully harvested a portion, leaving the rest to continue growing.
"We need to make a plan," Lin Yue said while sorting the harvested vegetables. "We can't stay in the space for too long every day, in case we attract attention. The harvest should also be done in batches to maintain continuous production."
Lin Yao added: "We also need to record the growth cycles of different crops and find the most efficient way to plant them."
Just as they were discussing, an unusual commotion suddenly came from downstairs. The sisters immediately stopped talking vigilantly, and Lin Yue quickly removed the vine cover from the door.
Through the bathroom's ventilation window, they saw a team of survivors fighting zombies downstairs. These people were obviously well-trained and cooperated seamlessly, quickly clearing out the threat downstairs.
"Should we contact them?" Lin Yao whispered, a glimmer of hope flashing in her eyes.
But Lin Yue frowned: "Let's wait and see. They're too well-trained to be ordinary survivors."
Her caution was soon confirmed. After clearing the zombies, the team didn't leave immediately; instead, they started searching the entrance of each building, as if looking for something. One of them took out a device and scanned the building.
"They're looking for something... or rather, someone," Lin Yue's heart sank. "I suspect they're looking for ability users."
This guess made the sisters shudder. If these well-equipped people were really hunting ability users, then revealing the space ability would undoubtedly be courting death.
They quietly retreated into the room and decided to hide their whereabouts and special abilities even more carefully. The produce from the space could only be taken out in small quantities to avoid suspicion; practice with their abilities also had to be done inside the space to ensure it wouldn't be detected by the outside world.
As night fell, the sisters took turns entering the space to tend to the crops and practice their abilities. Lin Yue found that by practicing in the space, her control over the wood element became more precise—she could even sense the "mood" of plants; Lin Yao's water-type ability also became more handy, and the effect of her healing improved significantly.
However, late at night, when Lin Yue was practicing in the space, she suddenly felt a strong sense of palpitations—some kind of danger was approaching. She immediately exited the space and found her sister nervously pressing her ear to the door, listening to the movement outside.
"Someone is coming upstairs," Lin Yao's voice trembled. "They're searching every household..."
The sisters' heartbeats accelerated almost in sync. Lin Yue quickly thought of a plan: hide in the space? But what if those people had some kind of detection device...
The sound of footsteps drew closer and closer, already reaching their floor. The moment of fate was quietly approaching.