"Guodong, this is your mom. Your aunt's family wants us to stay, but your dad and I won't be going back tonight. You'll have to buy your own food!"

In the afternoon, my parents called the landlord's house and said that my aunt's family wanted us to stay there for one night.

"Okay, Mom—" Zhang Guodong had no choice but to continue preparing his meal. Going out to buy food was no better than just having a simple meal at home!

There was some leftover rice in the rice cooker, enough for two people. Zhang Guodong cut a slice of lean meat from the stored salted pork and made a not-so-authentic salt-fried potato and pork dish with potato slices. He ate it with the cold rice, poured a cup of boiled water, and made do with it. When you're hungry, even ordinary food tastes delicious.

Zhang Guodong ate his fill.

After resting for a while, Zhang Guodong went to the tap on the second floor to wash the dishes. Almost all the residents on the second and third floors washed their dishes on the second floor. In the dead of winter, the water was very cold. As soon as Zhang Guodong's hands touched the water, they were icy cold, and he quickly shook his hands a few times.

"This water is freezing!" Zhang Guodong thought to himself.

"Smash!" With a flick of his wrist, he lost his grip on the bowl, and it crashed to the ground, shattering into several pieces.

An elderly woman living on the second floor heard the noise and came out. Zhang Guodong was washing dishes. She breathed a sigh of relief, as if she were guarding against a thief. There had been burglaries on this floor before.

A kind neighbor said, "Guodong, are you alright? The water from the tap is well water, it's ice cold. You need to add hot water to wash the dishes!"

Zhang Guodong smiled wryly at the other person and said, "It's nothing, just a broken bowl. I didn't expect the water to be so cold!"

"Oh, then you'd better be careful!"

I chatted with them for a bit, but it seemed the hallway outside wasn't warm either, so they went back to their room.

Zhang Guodong continued washing the dishes, but today was destined to be unlucky. After washing the dishes, he still had to clean up the broken pieces. The landlord cleaned every three to five days, and it was unrealistic to expect the neighbors to clean the hallway, but Zhang Guodong felt bad about not doing it. When bad luck strikes, even drinking water can cause problems; while cleaning up the shards, Zhang Guodong cut his finger just by touching the broken pieces.

Zhang Guodong hurriedly took out some tissues from his pocket. In the dead of winter, wounds don't heal well, so he had to be careful.

With this scoop, four so-called rare stone necklaces were pulled out. There was no paper in either of his pockets, so Zhang Guodong had no choice but to pick up the pieces and go upstairs to get them bandaged.

Once inside the house, Zhang Guodong quickly found hot water to wash his wounds and then bandaged them simply, completely unaware of the unusual stone fragment in his pocket.

The blood from the finger stained one of the stone slabs and began to slowly seep in. The blood streaks spread along the textures of the stone, forming extremely mysterious patterns, resembling a nine-story pagoda, which was very beautiful.

"Huh!" After the wound was bandaged, Zhang Guodong remembered the stone he bought for twenty yuan. Although he was annoyed by the expense, it was still twenty yuan after all. But when he took it out, he found that one of the stones was unusual.

The blood-stained pattern was crimson and magnificent, like a nine-story pagoda, and it kept extending, as if it wouldn't be finished until the entire stone slab was carved.

Zhang Guodong had never seen anything so supernatural and was momentarily frightened. Why was the blood rising upwards? Like thin, fibrous snakes, it meandered and coiled upwards.

There are many science fiction movies, but as someone with higher education, I don't believe in ghosts or fantasy.

But what's this thing in front of me?

Was he just dizzy and seeing things? Zhang Guodong pinched his face hard; it hurt, he was perfectly fine. Looking around the room, everything was very clear, and upon closer inspection of the unusual stone fragment, he realized it was indeed involved in something supernatural.

Good heavens, could this be a treasure? A path to immortality? Or a magical artifact? Or something else entirely?

Thinking about this, Zhang Guodong's heart began to pound violently. His mind was filled with fantasies about what kind of immortal cultivation techniques were inside. Wouldn't he be invincible? Immortals, able to move mountains and overturn seas, fly through the sky and escape into the earth, omnipotent!

In a moment, blood-red patterns covered the entire stone slab, and a white light rose up, instantly enveloping the stone slab and Zhang Guodong. Just as it was completely enveloped, the white light disappeared in the blink of an eye, along with the stone slab!

"Ah!" Zhang Guodong rubbed his eyes, only three stone fragments left in his hand!

Where did the fourth piece go? Did it just vanish into thin air?

Suddenly, an itch appeared on his chest. This itch seemed uncontrollable and spread throughout his body in just a few seconds. Zhang Guodong felt very uncomfortable and quickly took off his clothes. He saw a blue pagoda mark on his chest. Although the pattern was very faint, it was exactly the same as the one on the stone.

The stone fragment burrowed into his body!

Zhang Guodong immediately realized that the missing stone fragment had actually entered his body! This was simply unbelievable. His previous joy instantly turned cold; whether this was a blessing or a curse, he still didn't know.

Anyone would feel uneasy with a stone weighing on their heart. They might even lose their life if someone rebelled one day.

Although Zhang Guodong was a college student, he never believed in ghosts or gods, but in science. Although he read some novels online, he thought they were just for cultivating his mind and not to be taken seriously. But what was going on today? A supernatural thing had actually happened to him.

After gritting his teeth and calming down a bit, Zhang Guodong immediately checked his body for changes.

As soon as attention focused on the mark on his chest, the scene changed again, and Zhang Guodong suddenly disappeared from the room.

The environment before him suddenly changed. Zhang Guodong did not feel that he had moved, but the scenery in front of him suddenly transformed into an unfamiliar place: the sky was gray and half-lit, as if it had no top, and the surroundings were shimmering with blue light. It was not transparent. He appeared on a small piece of purplish-black land, about two-tenths of an acre, not even an acre. There was not a single plant or animal on the land.

Zhang Guodong stared in astonishment, mouth agape. Was it an illusion? He crouched down and touched the ground; it was definitely solid, feeling a slight dampness. Was this some kind of alternate dimension from fantasy novels?!

Breathing in the air was extremely pleasant, millions of times better than the air in the city. Beside the purplish-black soil, a pool of water less than ten square meters in size was as calm as a mirror, with a gentle, refreshing breeze rising from its surface.

Damn it, we can't get out once we're in! After calming down, Zhang Guodong realized that the area was only so big, but there were no doors or gaps, and he panicked.

In a moment of panic, the scenery changed again, and they found themselves in a room.

After a moment of surprise, Zhang Guodong let out a cheer, making the neighbors think he had gone mad. Everyone knew that Zhang Guodong was looking for a decent job, or perhaps he had found one?

"A paradise on earth!" Zhang Guodong exclaimed excitedly, immediately giving the space a name. Although the name was quite common, it was better than nothing.

Having found something fun, Zhang Guodong went in and out, playing as he pleased, and ended up playing for the entire afternoon.

By evening, Zhang Guodong realized he had gone too far with his fun, slapped his forehead, and seemed to have forgotten something important.

"Oh no, I completely forgot to buy all those stone slabs!" Zhang Guodong immediately locked the door. He noticed it was already dark, and going out was just a gamble; he didn't even know if the small vendor was still there.

Five pieces of stone for each stone shard. If the peddler knew this was a priceless treasure, so mysterious it was unbelievable, he'd probably regret it terribly. Sure enough, after Zhang Guodong jogged through the crowd in the night, the peddler was long gone. He searched the entire village but couldn't find him anywhere.

Such an opportunity was rare and hard to come by. Frustrated, Zhang Guodong returned to his house and couldn't wait to test the other three stone pieces. Although it would draw blood again, which would be painful, he was unwilling to give up. As a result, he endured the pain and made another cut on his newly healed wound. When the blood dripped onto the other three stone pieces, there was no reaction at all.

Only then did Zhang Guodong realize that this opportunity was truly rare and hard to come by; there could be a whole bunch of them on a stall!

Zhang Guodong knew he had obtained a treasure, but it was too mysterious to tell anyone. Currently, besides being able to come and go as he pleased, he didn't know any other uses. It was getting late, so Zhang Guodong reluctantly went to bed, planning to test it out the next morning. While counting sheep, his mind was filled with thoughts of fantasy novels. It has to be said, online novels really do have some use; Zhang Guodong's imagination was surprisingly accurate.

This space is like a paradise, where you can grow vegetables and raise fish, even though the total area is not large.