Jing Shu never expected that upgrading from the 7th-tier to the 8th-tier Rubik's Cube Space would be this dangerous. But spatially speaking, 8×8×8 meant 512 cubic meters. That gave her an extra 169 cubic meters, enough to store even more rare, precious, and extinct materials. With that much space, surviving the apocalypse would definitely be more comfortable.
Right now, the upgrade couldn't have come at a better time.
When the Rubik's Cube Space began reconstructing itself inside her mind, Jing Shu felt something real and unnerving. It was like lying anesthetized on an operating table, listening to the sound of a scalpel slicing through her skull. She could clearly hear her brain being opened, new spatial particles implanted, spiritual fields restructured, and a passcode entered to unlock the 8th-tier's full potential—then the incision was sewn shut, and the upgrade was done.
Each tier unlocked a new seal, making the Rubik's Cube Space stronger and her connection with it deeper. After this upgrade, she gained a much better understanding of its power, far beyond what she'd grasped with the previous new abilities.
Not only that, but Jing Shu could feel a strange energy flowing into her body. The blood vessels that had ruptured before were slowly being restored, not by natural regeneration, but as if time itself was being reversed, bringing her body back to what it had been five hours ago. It was incredible.
This must've been the power of the four-dimensional space.
But this kind of time-reversal healing wasn't omnipotent—it couldn't reverse her memories or sensory pain, so she still felt every ounce of agony from her near-explosion.
"You awake?" Ling Ling looked over.
"Her wounds look a lot better. Must be thanks to the ointment I told her to use," Snake Spirit said smugly.
"Or maybe she just has a strong self-repair ability," Ling Ling shot back.
Jing Shu slowly opened her eyes. A searing pain shot through her entire body, like her blood vessels were about to burst. She clenched her jaw and forced herself to stay calm, twitching her fingers just to test movement, but her body felt stiff and uncoordinated, like she'd lost control of it entirely.
"How do you feel? Any better?" Tank asked, his voice full of concern. The others looked over too, worried.
Jing Shu realized something was pressing heavily on her legs, making it hard to breathe. When she squinted, she saw she was lying on a cart Tank was pulling, and the others were walking alongside. On her lap sat Xiao Dou, staring at her with an oddly tender look.
"Move it, you're too heavy." Jing Shu kicked the hen off, panting a little. "How long was I out?"
"A whole day. No idea what you did, but ever since you passed out, everything went back to normal. I figured it had something to do with you, so we didn't dare waste time and just kept moving. You were badly hurt, so Snake Spirit grabbed a few of your meds and had Ling Ling apply them. Don't worry, we didn't touch your stuff. Your battle hen's been guarding it. Honestly, if you hadn't woken up soon, we'd all have starved to death."
Snake Spirit pouted. "I just took one bottle of medicine, and your chicken chased me for three kilometers. I had to beg and explain it was for you before it finally let me go. That chicken's not normal, I'm telling you—it's gotta be a chicken spirit."
Ling Ling snorted. "If it weren't for that battle hen laying a few dozen eggs, you guys wouldn't even have the strength to walk."
Monkey sighed. "And each egg costs fifty contribution points. No credit, no discount. Never thought I'd live to eat the most expensive eggs in the world."
Xiao Dou puffed up like a tiger guarding its territory, head held high, arrogant as ever. It even stomped twice on Yi Hou, the Sulfuric Acid Ant Queen, as if to say, "See that, Master? While you were out cold, I was protecting you and earning contribution points. Unlike that useless bug that just eats all day."
Jing Shu couldn't help but laugh. "Fine, fine. I'll reward you with two drumsticks."
The hen spun in circles happily, and no one dared to ask whose drumsticks she meant.
While Jing Shu was bedridden, Xiao Dou had basically become the boss of the team—the hen who called the shots. Nobody was allowed to touch Jing Shu's belongings. Whenever someone needed something from her luggage, Xiao Dou went in and fetched it herself. She was even a curious learner, trying to fly with Ling Ling's bird and sniff scents with Ah Huang, though she always ended up tumbling midair or sneezing halfway through.
By the time Xiao Dou had fully embraced her wild side, Jing Shu had already finished syncing with her newly upgraded 8th-tier Rubik's Cube Space and its power, Phantom Bypass. Before, she could only partially make herself ignored, but now, she could merge completely into any environment—disappearing from people's awareness at will.
That gave her another layer of protection and a hidden trump card in America.
The four-dimensional space had sealed itself after she stole that crystal, so the team soon left the endless mountains behind and found a small town. After getting a pickup truck, they rushed toward the meeting point they'd agreed on with Yang Yang half a month ago.
As for that crystal she'd taken, Jing Shu was still a bit puzzled. The crimson liquid in her space seemed to have decreased, and the crystal had shrunk too. Maybe it was her imagination? Or was the Rubik's Cube Space secretly consuming the liquid? That couldn't be right. She'd watched it carefully for two days and didn't see anything unusual.
Before she could think too much about it, a new mission took priority—the real reason they'd come to America. After all, this was the job Qian Duoduo had sponsored their entire trip for.
Back at Shiyuan, Qian Duoduo had publicly raised funds to send the Wu City team to America, with the goal of obtaining a complete vegetable dehydration technology set. When asked why they didn't just use domestic resources, the explanation was that China's cost and efficiency were too low. With resources this scarce, dehydrating vegetables at scale just wasn't feasible anymore.
America, on the other hand, had a fully developed industrial chain for it—but they needed expertise in precision cultivation, special planting methods, new equipment, and upgraded techniques. Since Qian Duoduo wanted the core technology, there was only one thing to do: come here and learn it.
Jing Shu had no idea how much money Qian Duoduo raised, but sending several teams back and forth across the ocean, plus placing local contacts and liaisons in America, must've cost a fortune.
Even though Jing Shu's squad had gone missing for over two weeks, Yang Yang had to press on under immense pressure. Unfortunately, progress had been slow.
Thankfully, Jing Shu's team made it out in one piece. After half a month, they finally reconnected with Yang Yang's group, ready to finish this high-stakes mission together.