Volume 1: Entering the Future for the First Time
After a full two hours of remaining still, the motionless little figure finally stirred. Shu Xun stood up, surveyed the surroundings, and carefully examined the space he was in. It was not outdoors but inside a room. However, the furnishings and furniture in the room were vastly different from the mansion Shu Xun had once lived in.
Shu Xun took a step forward, then looked down, raising his small feet in puzzlement. The ground beneath his feet felt very soft, nothing like the soil of the outdoors.
Quietly crouching down, Shu Xun extended his hand to touch it. The texture was unlike animal fur and didn’t resemble the things his mother had shown him in those TV dramas. Still, it was spread on the floor and seemed to function similarly to a carpet.
Stepping on the peculiar rubbery carpet, Shu Xun decided to climb onto the sofa, occupying a higher vantage point to get a better view of the room. The little figure pitter-pattered to the nearby sofa, grabbed the edge and climbed up. Standing on the backrest of the sofa, Shu Xun finally took in all the interior decorations.
It was a room with a modern style, and the spot where Shu Xun stood seemed to be the living room. In the darkness, he could see a few open doors. However, the decorations here differed slightly from what Shu Xun knew about modern styles. For example, across from the sofa were several strange items instead of a typical television. The position where a window should be had a transparent wall without curtains. The carpet he had just walked over still had a row of small footprints, slowly fading away. There were also pieces of furniture and items that Shu Xun couldn’t name, always appearing different from the devices in his memory.
Shu Xun jumped down from the sofa and walked to the window, where a faint silver moonlight scattered. Looking up, he was immediately captivated by the enormous moon outside. It turned out that the silver moonlight wasn’t a result of the window; the moon itself was silver-white. Its radiance, while dimmer compared to the moon seen from Earth, appeared significantly larger.
After a moment of mild surprise, Shu Xun quickly understood that he had indeed arrived in an unfamiliar world. Looking down, he saw himself in the sky, with brilliant lights and a bustling cityscape below. However, being so high above, Shu Xun couldn’t make out the details on the ground.
As he was engrossed in observing, a massive shadow passed by outside the window. Instinctively, Shu Xun took two steps back, only to realize that it was a person. The individual, dressed in casual modern attire, moved swiftly and flew upwards, though Shu Xun couldn’t discern the features, he could tell it was a man from the figure.
Shu Xun began to ponder. Could it be that he misunderstood, and this was a world of cultivation? Why else would people be flying? In the following time, there were no more abnormalities outside the window. Shu Xun quietly circled the living room, not daring to enter other rooms because he couldn’t be sure if there were people inside. After all, according to his mother’s narration, someone of his size was not normal.
Shu Xun wanted to leave the room to avoid being discovered by the owner during the daytime, but after circling multiple times, he couldn’t find an exit. Even at the doorways of several rooms, he looked around but didn’t spot any doors to leave. However, he could confirm that there was no one else living in this house.
After tossing and turning for most of the night, Shu Xun eventually gave up on finding an exit. Tired and weary, he decided to rest. Although he knew there was no one else in the house, Shu Xun still circled around and, in the end, spread his small bedding under the sofa.
He chose this spot because the sofa overhead gave Shu Xun a sense of security as if he were still in a cave. Once he lay down on the soft blanket, Shu Xun finally sighed with relief and looked at the bottom of the sofa before slowly falling asleep.
The next day, Shu Xun, who was sound asleep, was suddenly enveloped by a strong sense of danger. His sleepiness cleared instantly, and he opened his eyes. Not far from him, a strange disc was silently approaching. Almost instinctively, Shu Xun grabbed his bedding and the small package placed nearby and started running.
The strange disc actually caught up. It didn’t move close to the ground but hovered about an inch above it, making no sound. However, this unknown object clearly frightened Shu Xun.
In this way, on this early morning, in a room that had not been inhabited for a long time, a small figure ran ahead with bags, and a round and smooth disc chased behind. After running two rounds, Shu Xun couldn’t shake off this peculiar item. Seeing the sofa ahead, Shu Xun gritted his teeth, increased his speed, and then jumped, reaching out to grab the edge of the sofa and lift himself off the ground.
However, the small bedding and package that Shu Xun had been holding in his hands fell at that moment. Shu Xun couldn’t consider much and could only climb up with both hands grabbing the sofa.
When Shu Xun finally climbed onto the sofa and looked back, he saw that the strange thing indeed hadn’t flown up. It seemed that it could only hover at a low distance from the ground. Shu Xun lay on the edge of the sofa, peeking his small head to watch the peculiar thing float to where he had dropped his bedding and package. Then, in Shu Xun’s pained expression, the strange creature swallowed the small blanket.
Shu Xun clenched his little fists, controlling the impulse to rush up and snatch the blanket back.
After swallowing the small blanket, the round creature seemed to want to go for Shu Xun’s small package next. However, a red dot suddenly flashed on the creature’s body, and it gave up on the small package. It paused in place for a moment, then spat out the small blanket.
Shu Xun stared blankly, thinking, indeed, blankets couldn’t be eaten. But the next moment, the strange thing below suddenly made a sound.
“The room inspection and cleaning are complete. A high-quality cotton handkerchief was found, categorized as non-garbage. After cleaning, a space compression item was found, unable to be cleaned. The household mini cleaner is at your service. Have a pleasant day.”
Shu Xun: “…”
So, under Shu Xun’s gaze, the strange round object silently left again, floating to the room Shu Xun determined to be the bathroom. Shu Xun peeked his little head to get a better look and saw that the floor of the bathroom suddenly folded open. Then, the round cleaner automatically fell into it, and the floor spread out again, returning to its original appearance without any signs of abnormality.
Shu Xun jumped off the sofa, picked up his little blanket, and found that the small blanket was now refreshed. The previously accidentally stained areas were also clean. Shu Xun looked towards the bathroom, finally confirming that the round cleaner was a tool for sweeping and tidying up the room.
Shu Xun vaguely remembered hearing his mother talk about robot vacuum cleaners, which should be similar to the cleaner he just saw. However, it looked more advanced, able to autonomously distinguish items and clean the room automatically.
In Shu Xun’s view, the thrilling morning finally came to an end. After tidying up the blanket and preparing to put it into the small package, Shu Xun paused. Yesterday’s activation of the inheritance and talent awakening, along with his spiritual space, had also awakened.
The so-called spiritual space is the independent space that a demon spirit possesses. Of course, not all demon spirits can awaken the talent of spiritual space, and according to different aptitudes, each awakened spiritual space is unique. The rarest should be the spiritual space that can accommodate living beings, followed by those with abundant spiritual power and spacious space, as well as some with special attributes.
The existence of a spiritual space greatly increases the survival rate of demon spirits. This is also the tolerance and kindness of the Huanchen continent towards demon spirits. As a treasure-seeking mouse, Shu Xun’s spiritual space naturally wouldn’t be too shabby. Although it couldn’t accommodate living beings, the space was quite vast.
Shu Xun put the small blanket into the spiritual space, organized the items in the package, and also placed them in the spiritual space. Then, he neatly folded the small package and placed it into the spiritual space.
This seemingly simple little package was, in fact, a rare storage spiritual space device, also known as a storage bag. The materials were extremely rare, otherwise, it wouldn’t have survived Shu Xun’s time and space journey without damage.
Because spaces cannot overlap, if the package contains items, it cannot be stored in the spiritual space. Similarly, the previous household cleaner couldn’t include the package for the same reason. Only when the package is empty, treated as ordinary fabric, can it be placed in another space.
Putting all his belongings into the spiritual space, Shu Xun once again examined this unfamiliar room. In the bright daylight, he could clearly see every corner of the room. There were many devices in the room that Shu Xun couldn’t determine the purpose of, and naturally, he wouldn’t touch them. As an uninvited outsider, Shu Xun didn’t plan to take too many actions.
Shu Xun’s idea was simple. The time and space traversal talent allowed him to have a unique learning and adaptability, making it easier for him to integrate into this world. As long as he was careful, gradually understood the world, and then cultivated slowly, if he could reach the tribulation period and ascend, he might be able to break through the void, and perhaps reunite with his family.
If not, Shu Xun would earnestly live in this world, diligently cultivate, strive for survival, and strive for a fulfilling life.
Once he had a goal, the panic and confusion about arriving in a strange world gradually faded. Shu Xun tried to plan his future methodically.
Unaware that with his seemingly reasonable plan, Shu Xun soon encountered a massive crisis— the exit he had been searching for never appeared. The house seemed completely sealed, with only a few transparent glass walls allowing a view outside. Everywhere else was walls of unknown material.
On the first day, Shu Xun patiently searched, believing that in such a large house, he would eventually find a way to leave without a trace. On the second day, a slight panic crept into Shu Xun’s heart. By the third day, Shu Xun started anxiously digging at the walls…
Seven days passed, and Shu Xun saw that the only remaining food in his spiritual space was the hundred-year-old ginseng. With a frustrated expression, Shu Xun sat on the sofa, a small dark cloud seemingly hovering over his head.
The little figure contemplated for a while, holding a ginseng taller than itself. Then, it started nibbling on it in small bites. After a few days, not a single root of the hundred-year-old ginseng remained. (I feel like I ate my master’s distant relative, but there’s no other way ╮(╯_╰)╭, blame it on ginseng being a specialty of Changbai Mountain~~)
Author’s note:
Cleaner: “Ding! Household cleaner is at your service, wishing you a happy new day~~~”
Shu Xun, who had been frantically running away all morning. (I have a sentence to say, but I don’t know if I should say it! Hmmp!)
