Tang Xiaoman’s first instinct was panic.

The jade bracelet—was it gone?!

She didn’t even have time to revel in the explosive growth of her space. She immediately reached for her wrist.

Relief flooded her.

It was still there.

She couldn’t see it anymore, but she could still feel it—solid and real against her skin.

As the space evolved, the bracelet itself had begun to fade from sight, until now it had vanished completely to the naked eye.

A form of self-protection after its upgrade?

—

The trip to the furniture mall ended in a full haul.

Tang Xiaoman now practically owned an entire furniture empire—every global brand, every style, every material imaginable.

The two of them selected what they liked and furnished the villa inside the space from top to bottom.

Once all four floors were fully furnished, she had Zhou Yichen help her move the remaining furniture into the villa as well. She needed to free up the static storage—for something much more important.

She then brought out the appliances she had stockpiled. Even though there was no signal inside the space, pre-downloaded shows still played perfectly—variety programs, comedy skits, song-and-dance galas. Lively, colorful, perfect for passing time over meals.

This place was her sanctuary.

Her private paradise.

No—that wasn’t entirely true anymore.

There was one other person who knew about it now.

Zhou Yichen.

Since meeting him, her impression of him had only grown better. His character, his temperament, his ability—there was nothing to fault.

If she had already chosen him as a teammate, then she would trust him.

No more needless suspicion.

—

They left the furniture mall, and Zhou Yichen piloted the helicopter back toward the hills.

There were still livestock hiding there.

Cattle, sheep, pigs.

They took them all.

With the previous day’s experience, they worked with even greater ease this time.

They dug traps, coordinated seamlessly—Zhou Yichen flying low, Tang Xiaoman driving the herds with her rifle, funneling them into the pits.

The same method worked on pigs just as well.

After four days, they had nearly wiped out all the livestock that had fled to the nearby hills.

Inside Tang Xiaoman’s space: over fifty pigs, more than two hundred sheep, and over thirty large cattle.

Enough to feed them for the rest of their lives.

—

The five-day deadline arrived.

Tang Xiaoman retrieved Su Ke’s phone from her space and unlocked it using the severed finger.

As expected, Su Cheng had replied.

“I’ve prepared the yacht. Where do we make the exchange?”

He had even sent a photo.

Tang Xiaoman studied the yacht in the picture and found it satisfactory.

She sent him a location and told him to get there within thirty minutes.

Putting the phone away, she snapped her fingers at Zhou Yichen. “Let’s go. Another big deal.”

—

Of course, Su Cheng hadn’t bought the yacht.

He had rented it at an exorbitant price.

Gu Heng had pulled every string he could, leveraging all his connections—and even personally guaranteeing the deal—to secure the mid-sized yacht for the Su family.

But according to Gu Heng’s plan, the yacht was merely bait.

A trap to lure out the mysterious figure behind everything.

He had hired a large number of elite killers, hiding them throughout the yacht. The moment their target stepped aboard, they would strike from every angle—no escape, no blind spots.

For days, Gu Heng had been plagued by nightmares.

In them, Tang Xiaoman was still alive.

She carved out his heart with a blade, lifting it up with a twisted smile. “I told you—your heart’s black.”

He would wake in a cold sweat, heart pounding violently.

Was the one behind Su Ke’s kidnapping Tang Xiaoman?

Was she really still alive?

The questions had become an obsession.

Villa 98 was heavily guarded, full of armed bodyguards. He couldn’t attack it directly.

So he had people probe the guards on duty, trying to gather information.

They all said the same thing: Miss Tang was fine—just away on a trip.

Gu Heng couldn’t tell what to believe.

This yacht exchange was his gamble.

If Tang Xiaoman really was alive—

he would make sure she died again.

—

The small helicopter circled above Lincheng before descending slowly over an open stretch of water on the outskirts.

It hovered two meters above the surface.

Tang Xiaoman, already dressed in a diving suit, sent her location to Su Cheng using Su Ke’s phone.

“Come here for the exchange. You’ll see your son soon.”

After sending the message, she opened the cabin door and rappelled straight into the water.

Zhou Yichen, also in diving gear, followed immediately.

Once submerged, Tang Xiaoman swam about ten meters away, then grabbed the rope—pulling both the hovering helicopter and Zhou Yichen into her space.

The water surface stilled.

Only faint ripples remained, as though nothing had ever been there.

—

Half an hour later, the yacht arrived.

Su Cheng kept calling his son’s phone, but every attempt failed.

What was going on?

Was the other party toying with him again?

But the yacht was in his hands—and it was filled with hidden killers.

As long as the enemy boarded, they would be trapped.

In his mind, Gu Heng’s plan was flawless.

Now it was just a matter of waiting for the prey to take the bait.

—

Inside her space, Tang Xiaoman observed everything above through her awareness.

The yacht had arrived.

Which meant the trap was set.

She brought Zhou Yichen out of the space, both of them still submerged, only a few meters away from the yacht—exactly as she had calculated beforehand.

They swam silently beneath the water.

No one aboard could possibly detect them.

Tang Xiaoman took a deep breath, focusing all her energy. She reached out and touched the metal hull—

*Collect.*

A violent wave of dizziness struck her.

The entire yacht vanished in an instant.

The sudden displacement of mass churned the water into a massive whirlpool.

Exhausted, Tang Xiaoman nearly lost control and fell into it—but Zhou Yichen reacted instantly, grabbing hold of her.

At the same moment, everyone aboard the yacht was expelled into the water.

Zhou Yichen pulled Tang Xiaoman away in the chaos.

The killers, along with Su Cheng himself, had all been thrown into the sea.

They were completely bewildered.

One moment, they were on the yacht.

The next—they were in the water.

Where was the yacht?

How could it just disappear out of thin air?

It was like seeing a ghost.

Su Cheng opened his mouth to scream for help, only to gulp down icy water, nearly choking to death on the spot.

Fortunately, a nearby bodyguard swam over and dragged him upward.

All the hidden assassins flailed in the water, struggling for their lives, faces full of confusion.

Was this a dream?

What just happened?!

—

Tang Xiaoman had never absorbed something as large as a yacht before.

The strain drained her completely—she nearly blacked out.

Underwater, that was fatal.

Fortunately, Zhou Yichen was right beside her, and she had already put on an oxygen mask.

Otherwise, things could have gone very wrong.

By the time she recovered slightly, reinforcements had arrived.

The roar of helicopter rotors and assault boat engines echoed across the water.

Gu Heng was here.

To avoid exposing her space, Tang Xiaoman abandoned the idea of seizing their weapons.

She grabbed Zhou Yichen—

and vanished back into her space.