Chapter 3: Who

Going out once is not easy; before leaving town, Lin Meng went to the supermarket to stock up on some rations, and also ordered a takeaway of three dishes and a soup for herself, then she headed for the village.

In the evening the town became lively, so Lin Meng did not put them into her space.

By the time she returned to Lin Jia Cun, it was already night, with stars overhead.

Lin Meng carried her spoils back home, locked the door, and then entered the main hall.

She found a broken pot, set up a simple stove, intending to use this pot to burn paper money for her grandfather.

On the Eight Immortals table, she placed the incense burner, lit two candles and three sticks of incense.

She also placed her grandfather's portrait in the center, then Lin Meng clasped her hands together and bowed devoutly.

"Grandfather, I am unfilial; I will now burn this paper money for you—please receive it."

As soon as she finished speaking, Lin Meng thought of taking the paper money out.

But her hands were empty—no paper money in sight.

She frowned, then simply entered her space herself, only to find the corner empty as well.

The corner that had originally held several large bags of paper money now had not a single fen left; it had vanished cleanly.

Lin Meng staggered, almost losing her footing.

"Where is the money? Where is my grandfather's money?"

Lin Meng suddenly realized: could this space have a bug, swallowing her things like that?

But surely not—it's just a pile of paper money…

"Who is so lacking in manners, stealing paper money too! Is there no decency? Give my paper money back quick!"

Ye Heng, who was carefully avoiding zombies and mutant beasts while rushing back to the Bi Hu Suo shelter, suddenly heard an angry roar explode in his mind, startling him so much his body jerked, nearly giving himself away.

He quickly sought cover, then extended his mental power into the space.

The voice seemed to come from inside the space.

In the center of the space, there appeared to be a figure stamping his feet, furious and flustered.

But from Ye Heng's perspective, he could only roughly see that someone was in his space, yet he could not make out the person's appearance at all, not even a clear outline.

At that moment, Lin Meng also suddenly felt a gaze fall upon her, though there was no one else in the space.

"Who? Stealing my paper money wasn't enough, now you're spying on me?"

Although Lin Meng acted tough on the surface, inside she was nervous.

Logically, this is her personal space; no one else should appear in it.

But at this very moment, she clearly sensed that another person's mental power was probing the space, even attempting to spy on her.

Ye Heng heard that voice again; although the words were crystal clear, it also gave him an ethereal, almost otherworldly sensation.

He was greatly shocked, and responded with his mental power:

"Hello, I am the owner of this space; my name is Ye Heng. May I ask who you are?"

Lin Meng's heart gave a jolt; she stared wide-eyed in shock.

"What? This space is shared? Huh? I mean, excuse me?"

After several rounds of communication, Lin Meng and Ye Heng finally sorted things out and had to accept a reality.

That is, this space is jointly owned by the two of them!

Fortunately, however, only Lin Meng can enter the space with her physical body, while Ye Heng can only connect to it via mental power.

After exchanging a few more words, Lin Meng called out to Ye Heng.

"If that's the case, shouldn't you return my paper money?"

Ye Heng froze at her words, his chiseled, stern face showing a hint of hesitation.

Amid the dangers of the ruins at night, he had come out to scavenge supplies, been delayed for a long time, and should have rushed back to the shelter overnight.

But this girl's belongings were indeed thrown away by him; he had just drunk her water and eaten her delicious fruit.

Both emotionally and logically, he ought to return to that very ruin and help her retrieve the paper money.

Seeing Ye Heng remain silent, Lin Meng grew a little anxious.

"Ye Heng, right? Handsome Ye, could you trouble yourself to make a trip? To you those paper money might seem useless, but here they are lifesaving funds."

If she doesn't burn the money for her grandfather tonight, she simply won't dare close her eyes to sleep!

At this hour, going back to town to buy more would probably be too late, so she can only beg him.

Ye Heng already felt guilty; hearing that it was her lifesaving money, even though he didn't understand how spirit money could be lifesaving, he still agreed.

"Alright, I'll go back now to retrieve it; it might take a bit of time, and I'll let you know once I've found it."

Both of them then severed their connection with the space.

Lin Meng sat foolishly beside the Eight Immortals table, thinking her grandfather still hadn't seen the money, and she didn't dare eat dinner herself, merely smelling the food and licking her lips.

Fortunately, Ye Heng was highly efficient; in less than half an hour he called out within the space.

The paper money had returned, not a single bag missing, and Lin Meng grinned, thanking him.

"Ye Heng, thank you for making this run late at night; I can't let you work for free, so how about I give you fifty bucks as a courier fee? Thanks for your trouble."

As she spoke, Lin Meng was about to put the fifty yuan into her space, but Ye Heng hurriedly said:

"Um, Miss Lin, money isn't usable where we are; if possible, I'd like to take that fish tank of yours from your space—would that be alright?"

Ye Heng said this while negotiating; although he also really wanted those sweet‑sour‑astringent fruits and that bag of grain ground into fine powder, right now uncontaminated water is the most precious.

The children in the Bi Hu Suo shelter have no better resistance than adults; long‑term drinking of polluted water means many die young.

This tank of water, if sipped sparingly, can sustain the children's drinking needs for a month, and it even contains a few fish, making it a rare treasure.

Lin Meng didn't understand why he said money couldn't be used, nor why he had his eye on the big water tank, but she didn't press further.

Although the two had exchanged a lot, neither had revealed their full background to the other, each maintaining a sense of mystery and boundaries.

"Alright, I'll give you the water tank; if you don't mind, I'll also throw in the chicken feed and rotten grapes—you can discard them if you don't want them."

From now on we'll split this space fifty-fifty; I'll draw a 38th parallel line here, and thereafter we'll keep to our own wells and not interfere with each other's rivers.

Ye Heng was smacked by the huge advantage Lin Meng had given him; before he could react, he heard the 38th parallel line.

He nodded dazedly and promised:

"Miss Lin, rest assured; from now on I won't touch your things randomly; this time it was an accident."

Lin Meng felt Ye Heng's spiritual power was gone, then she breathed a sigh of relief, immediately took out a marker, and drew a 38th parallel line in the exact center of the space.

She had a faint feeling that Ye Heng seemed not to be in the same dimension as her; as long as they weren't in the same spacetime, it was relatively safer.

Having half the usage rights of the space would be fine; it's better than having nothing at all.

However, from now on it seems valuable items can't be kept in the space.

Knowing a person's face but not their heart, she still needed to be on guard.

After leaving the space, Lin Meng immediately burned paper money for her grandfather.

Soon, the main hall was filled with swirling smoke.

Several bags of paper money took Lin Meng a full half hour to burn completely, and at that moment her little face was scorched red.

"Grandfather, hurry up and come get the money; don't keep saying your granddaughter is unfilial; if you need anything, just speak up; as long as I can obtain it, I'll burn it all for you."