Chapter 1

"We've supported her until she graduated from college, and what does she do? Instead of working in the city, she moves back to the village!" Tatiana Lloyd snapped. "So what if Lucy moves back to the village? Living in the city is so stressful—rent alone costs at least 2,000 dollars!" Gordon Sandywell countered. "It's great to have her back home." "What's so great about that? She's not even making any money!" "Mom, keep your voice down. Lucy was on the train all night. Let her rest." Meanwhile, Lucy Sandywell sat in her room, feeling confused. A few years ago, she was granted the ability of spatial manipulation—she could create a pocket space of just a few square feet. At first, she thought her power would make her invincible, but it didn't bring her any further convenience over the years apart from storing things. When she returned to the village, she only brought a small suitcase. The rest of her stuff from her rental was all stored inside her pocket space. At least, it did save her a fair amount of delivery charges. But now, Lucy realized some of the items in her pocket space had disappeared. Her clothes and daily necessities were still there, but her snacks, gourmet souvenirs, yogurt, and soda had vanished. She had never encountered anything like this before. Could these things possibly disappear into thin air? Lucy also discovered something bizarre in her pocket space. What on earth were these? Tattered men's clothes and a rusty knife—these weren't hers! She pulled out a box of chocolate cookies, only to find half of them had already been eaten. Even her soda bottle was half-empty! Clearly, someone had eaten her snacks. Who ate them and even put them back half-finished? The dirty clothes were such an eyesore that Lucy immediately threw them into the trash. She began to suspect that someone had broken into her space. But who could have done that? … Hans Sorrell had gone nearly four or five days without food. If it weren't for his exceptional physique, he would've starved to death by now. His lips were cracked, and he was severely dehydrated. Yet, even his grim expression couldn't hide his chiseled features and piercing gaze. Hans lived in Pluteon, a world devastated by the apocalypse a year ago. Many food supplies had already expired and were no longer safe to eat. He had gotten injured while scavenging for supplies. Just when he thought he was about to die, he was unexpectedly granted a power—a pocket space. But the power he had gained felt like a cruel joke. Where could he collect supplies now? But miraculously, the space actually contained things. Shampoo, conditioner, shoes, clothes, and toilet paper—though most of them seemed to belong to a woman. However, Hans caught sight of a large stash of snacks and bottles of water. He tried taking some out, and to his surprise, it actually worked! He stared at the somewhat familiar packaging, noticing that the food was clean with no sign of mold. But having been starved for too long, he couldn't stuff his face at once. He only ate a few packets and put the remaining snacks back in the space, along with his few remaining belongings. Though he had no idea how he had acquired this space, he felt like this was a sign that he wasn't meant to die. He could survive now. Just then, he almost thought he heard a woman's angry voice. It sounded sweet and melodious. "Who stole my stuff?" Lucy fumed. Realization dawned on Hans—was the space he'd acquired somehow connected to someone else's space? Amused, he replied, "I'm sorry. I have no idea how I ended up being connected to your space. I've been starving for days, so I ate some of your snacks. I can give you some Plutings in return." "Plutings? What are those?" Lucy wondered, still frowning. As Hans' voice echoed through the space, she noticed how pleasant he sounded despite his hoarse tone. This somewhat placated her since she had a voice fetish. They couldn't see each other, but they could hear each other. Both also had access to this space. "You're starving? Don't you have any money?" Lucy asked. She wasn't wealthy herself, but at least she didn't have to worry about going hungry in the village. She had finally been accepted into a university and could study in the capital. However, while other students had living expenses of 2000 to 3000 dollars a month, she only had 500 dollars. She had to work part-time to support herself. As a graphic design major, she struggled to find a job after graduating. The cost of living in the city was so expensive that she had no choice but to return to her hometown. "Money?" Hans replied, seemingly amused. "Money is useless here. A gold bar is worth less than a loaf of bread. If you can give me food, I can get you all the gold, silver, and jewels you want." Despite his playful tone, what he said was a fact. Gold and jewelry were everywhere, but food was the rarest commodity. He could even give her Plutings in exchange for food. "Really? That's great! What kind of food do you want?" Lucy squealed. Just where did this man come from? He had money but no food to buy! Realizing that Lucy wasn't joking, he began tentatively, "Anything, as long as it's food. What would you like? Gold? Diamonds? Plutings?" Lucy wondered what Plutings were, though she felt too embarrassed to ask. Were they some kind of crystal? "I'm fine with anything!" she replied. "What do you want to eat, though? Pasta? Spicy stew? Roasted turkey? Bouillabaisse? Or maybe roasted chicken?" Hans swallowed hard as Lucy listed the food. It had been ages since he had eaten such dishes, some of which he had never even heard of. "Oh, we have fruits too!" Lucy exclaimed. "We plant apples, strawberries, and also peaches!" A pang of anxiety shot through Hans. How could those fruits possibly exist? After the apocalypse, all plants in his world had mutated. Not only were they inedible, but they were also poisonous. Yet for the sake of survival, some people still chose to eat the poisonous fruits. Hans couldn't help but start salivating. Did the woman really have all those fruits? At this point, he was fairly certain that she wasn't from his dimension. Perhaps she was from another dimension, and he happened to connect to her space after gaining the power of spatial manipulation. Being able to communicate across dimensions gave him some hope. "I'd like to drink some water," Hans said. "Do you have any medicine? I can give you some Plutings in return." Some of his friends back at the sanctuary had been infected and were feverish. "Medicine? What kind of medicine do you need?" Lucy asked, clearly bewildered. "Can't you even buy some when you're this rich?" "We're not in the same dimension," Hans explained grimly, his voice turning more hoarse. "An apocalypse has struck my world, so the place I'm living in is overrun with zombies and viruses. The temperatures here are either extremely hot or extremely cold. He added, "Gold is available in any city, yet none of us want it. In fact, expired bread is more valuable than gold." Lucy was flabbergasted, to say the least. How could gold have lesser value than expired bread?