The blood dripped onto the jade and was instantly absorbed.
A green light flashed, and the scene before Sierra Sullivan changed.
A moment ago, she had been standing in her villa's kitchen.
But now, she was standing by the edge of a spring.
Before her was crystal-clear spring water, and beneath her feet was rich, black earth.
The entire space wasn't enormous, but it wasn't small either.
Sierra paced it out; it was a perfect square, roughly two hundred meters long on each side.
The perimeter of the space was white, looking like mist, but when she reached out to touch it, it felt like an invisible barrier.
The height of the space, however, seemed to have no limit. She could even see a blue sky when she looked up.
She just didn't know if the blue sky in the space was the same one as the sky outside.
'But that doesn't matter.'
'What matters is that the space is high enough. I can use the vertical space to have more room to store more supplies!'
After another look around the space and forming a rough plan in her mind, Sierra left.
She had already tested it in her past life. Her physical body entered the space, causing her to disappear from the outside world.
Wherever she entered the space from was where she would reappear upon exiting.
The space was now completely bound to her. The piece of jade had even merged into her body, vanishing without a trace.
Even if they flayed her alive, no one else could ever hope to possess her space.
Before she died in her previous life, she wasn't just trying to provoke Autumn Lynch; she was also stating a fact.
Autumn Lynch wanting to get her space was, and always would be, a pipe dream!
When Sierra emerged from the space, only a few seconds had passed in the outside world.
This was another discovery she'd made in her past life.
The flow of time was different inside the space compared to the outside.
One day inside the space was equivalent to only one hour outside.
In other words, one day in the outside world was equal to twenty-four days in the space.
However, she herself was unaffected while inside the space. The faster flow of time didn't cause her to age more quickly.
Sierra guessed that this time dilation probably only applied to plants grown within the space.
In her past life, she had once put a cup of ice she'd bought into the space on a whim.
But right up until the moment she died, that cup of ice remained exactly as it was when she first put it in, without the slightest change.
She hadn't been able to use these functions in her past life, but this time, she could!
The cut on her hand had already healed on its own. Sierra turned and went back to her room.
After a shower and a change of clothes, Sierra went to the basement, got in her car, and drove straight out of the villa complex.
When Sierra arrived at the breakfast shop she frequented, it was still mostly empty.
"A bowl of savory tofu pudding, a meat bun, a tofu bun, a fried dough stick, and a sugar cake."
Sierra's appetite wasn't usually large. She would even deliberately eat less to maintain her figure.
But in the days before she died in her past life, tortured by Autumn Lynch, Sierra had viscerally experienced what true hunger was.
It was a clawing hunger that made her stomach feel like it was on fire, made her nauseous, and made her want to shove anything edible into her mouth.
Now that she had a second chance, 'dieting was out of the question.'
'I'm not just going to eat until I'm full; I'm going to eat well!'
After a delicious breakfast, Sierra went to pay the bill.
After paying, Sierra didn't leave immediately. "Boss, do you take special orders?"
It was a husband-and-wife-run shop, the couple both around their forties or fifties.
Hearing her question, the couple looked confused. "Special orders? What kind of special orders?"
"I'm planning to make a charitable donation to the community, so I want to order a large amount of prepared food to give to people in need. How much can you make in a day?"
The husband and wife looked at each other, their faces still full of disbelief.
Seeing them remain silent, Sierra simply scanned the payment code again.
This time, she transferred 10,000 yuan directly.
"This 10,000 is a deposit. Now, can you tell me how much prepared food you can make in a day?"
The couple saw the transaction confirmation for themselves and finally believed what Sierra was saying.
"We... we can make a lot! Our son and daughter-in-law can help too. We can close the shop for a few days to work just for you. It just depends on how much you need."
This was exactly what Sierra liked to hear.
"How about this? You have a limited number of people, so you probably can't make 10,000 yuan worth of food in a day, right? Let's do 5,000 yuan worth. You can put together whatever assortment you like. How does that sound?"
The man was about to agree, but the woman spoke up before he could.
"We can do it! We can do 10,000 yuan worth!"
Sierra looked at the woman with a serious expression. "I need quantity, but I also need quality. If you try to cut corners just to make money, you won't get a single cent in the end!"
The woman shook her head repeatedly. "We wouldn't dare! We wouldn't dare to cut corners! I also have two daughters. Before they got married, they used to help out at the shop all the time. They know how to make buns and fry dough sticks, they can do it all!"
Only then did Sierra nod. "Alright, I'll trust you this time. Pack up all the prepared food in individual portions, just like the serving size I just had. Use meal containers, not bags. I'll pay you extra for the packaging. Let me add you on WeChat. Later tonight, I'll send you the delivery address. Just send the food over there once it's ready."
The woman nodded again and again, repeatedly assuring Sierra that she would guarantee the quality and that Sierra had nothing to worry about.
Sierra just smiled and said nothing.
'Whether they can guarantee the quality isn't about what they say, but what they do!'
After leaving the breakfast shop, Sierra went to several of her other favorite restaurants, both large and small, and used a similar excuse to order ten days' worth of prepared food.
But no matter how much prepared food she ordered, it wouldn't be enough.
In her past life, Sierra had only survived for a little over a month. She had no idea how long the apocalypse would last.
All she could do was prepare as if it would last a lifetime.
Besides proper meals, Sierra also went to shops specializing in braised duck, stewed pork, beggar's chicken, and beef, ordering five thousand kilograms of each.
Five thousand kilograms was a huge amount.
But people who open a business are in it to make money.
Sierra paid readily, didn't haggle at all, and gave them ample time to prepare the stock. Naturally, they had no objections. After taking the deposit, they immediately closed their shops to begin preparations.
With that, the orders for prepared food were more or less settled.
After a simple lunch, Sierra headed to the wholesale market.
All sorts of grains, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and various spices—she ordered two thousand crates of each.
Thinking of the land in her space, Sierra then visited several seed stores and bought every type of seed available on the market.
If it were just her planting them, she had enough to keep sowing non-stop for sixty years.
Of course, she couldn't have this many things delivered to her home.
Other people might have had to rent a warehouse to find a place to accept all these supplies.
But Sierra didn't have to.
Because Sierra herself owned a massive warehouse, spanning over ten thousand square meters.
And as luck would have it, the lease on this warehouse had expired just three days ago.
The previous tenant hadn't renewed.
The warehouse was now empty.
Sierra had previously been thinking that she couldn't let it stay empty and should rent it out as soon as possible to make more money.
But now, she felt like it was all for the best.
This warehouse had become vacant just to make it more convenient for her to receive her supplies!