What Could Be Hidden in a Secret Room That Was Ordinary?

Yang Yong shook his head. "I could make one, but it would take too much time. Three months for just one. It's not worth it."

Anyway, he rattled on and on, all to say he didn't want to make it!

Actually.

There was something else he hadn't said.

The Thousand-Hammer, Hundred-Refinement Furnace only worked intermittently. Right now, he needed to focus his energy on improving his cultivation and refining Magical Artifacts. Increasing his own strength was what truly mattered.

Once his furnace was free, he could refine things for the others.

Of course, who knew when that would be?

Seeing him shake his head, Cao Xianming let the matter drop. Fuel was scarce, but they could always find a way to collect more.

He went to the roadside and found a rock to sit on. The Data Model appeared in his palm again, running rapid calculations.

A moment later, he stood up. "Let's find somewhere to camp first, rest for a day, then decide our next move."

No one objected.

Cao Xianming had always handled all the convoy's arrangements himself, and his data analysis had never been wrong.

The convoy set off again in the direction Cao Xianming indicated, and soon they spotted an isolated three-story house.

The house stood right beside the road, four or five hundred meters from the other buildings. It was a typical self-built rural home.

By now, Wang Ying, the only one with any fighting strength, had recovered a little energy. Carrying her long saber, she led several strong survivors briskly to the house, cut through the lock on the front door with one slash, and charged inside.

Only one family had lived in the entire house. After searching it, Wang Ying called out.

"There's no Eerie presence inside. We can stay here!"

Cao Xianming nodded.

He had already calculated that the probability of encountering Eerie while staying in this house was only 10%, making it an excellent place to spend the night.

Compared with facing Eerie every day in that Small World, this was incredible safety.

Everyone in the convoy immediately gathered their belongings and moved into the house.

The survivors searched the house from top to bottom and were delighted to discover an earthen stove on the first floor.

They had been running all night without eating a single grain of rice and were already weak with hunger. The sight of the earthen stove instantly made their eyes burn.

Next came lighting a fire and cooking, so they could get a hot meal into them first.

And so the convoy settled into the house.

With Lao Zhang, the convoy's manager, making the arrangements, everything proceeded in an orderly fashion.

The women handled the cooking while the men sat on the floor chatting.

It wasn't that the men didn't want to lend a hand.

Rather, Lao Zhang knew exactly what he was doing.

Some women in the group were afraid to go out gathering supplies but were also unwilling to trade for survival resources through dubious means. To keep them from starving to death, he left chores like cooking to them. At least they could exchange their labor for some basic supplies and barely stay alive.

In the apocalypse, ordinary people had no privileges.

No matter how rich, powerful, or beautiful you had been before, in this world, your fists were your only support.

Only strong fists could seize the supplies needed to survive. That was an ironclad rule!

Of course, there were a few people in the convoy whom Lao Zhang treated differently.

One was that quiet young girl. No one knew her full name; everyone called her Xiao Xuan.

Whenever a new member joined, Cao Xianming calculated their probability of awakening. Aside from Yang Yong's 100% awakening rate, Xiao Xuan ranked second. Though hers was only 69%, it was still far above the less than 30% chance ordinary people had.

Xiao Xuan always kept to herself and never interacted with anyone.

Earlier, some fools had tried to set their sights on her.

But Lao Zhang had made it clear that she was under his protection, and those survivors no longer dared entertain any crooked ideas.

At that moment, Xiao Xuan sat quietly in a corner, her expression gentle and meek. No one could guess what was on her mind.

Among the survivors, there were also those who couldn't sit still.

While the other men sprawled on the floor waiting for food, a young man wearing black-rimmed glasses who looked like a college student kept studying the house's structure, his eyes full of curiosity.

After looking for a while, he suddenly stood up and paced through the rooms, looking this way and that. Finally, he simply headed upstairs, gawking around like a country bumpkin on his first visit to a grand estate.

The men on the floor immediately burst into chatter.

"Hey, what's that kid up to?"

"That's Xiao Liao. What's he running upstairs for? The second floor is where the women are staying. Could he be..."

"Don't get any ideas. He doesn't have the guts! Besides, we've already searched this place from top to bottom. There isn't even a grain of rice left. What could he possibly find?"

"Wait, maybe he's looking for somewhere to relieve himself?"

"Relieve himself, my ass! The toilet's on the first floor!"

They joked and speculated, but not one was willing to get up and follow him to see.

Ignoring the chatter behind him, Xiao Liao kept looking around as he walked and soon reached a room on the second floor.

He pushed the door open and went inside, his brows knitting tighter and tighter.

The second floor clearly had the same layout as the first, yet the rooms' actual floor area was considerably smaller!

Where had the missing space gone?

With his suspicions growing, Xiao Liao headed for the third floor. Just as he stepped onto the stairs, he encountered Wang Ying, who had her head lowered as she wiped her saber.

Xiao Liao froze, his ears turning scarlet, but he still steeled himself and approached. "Hello, Sister Ying."

Wang Ying merely glanced up at him and gave a slight nod, never stopping as she wiped her saber. Her icy aura made Xiao Liao feel apprehensive.

He edged carefully past her along the wall. Then his gaze swept over the third-floor rooms, and his pupils contracted sharply.

The space on the third floor was back to normal!

There really was something wrong!

Having confirmed his suspicion, Xiao Liao was about to turn and head downstairs when Wang Ying's cool voice suddenly rang out. "What did you find?"

"Uh..." Xiao Liao was instantly at a loss for words.

In the days since joining the group, he had already heard.

Wang Ying was the convoy's strongest fighter, with a temperament as cold as ice, and she always kept to herself.

He had never imagined that she would take the initiative to speak to him.

"Speak!"

A note of impatience entered Wang Ying's voice. She hated people who dawdled most of all.

Xiao Liao was a little like her younger brother.

But.

At the thought of her brother, the chill in her heart deepened.

Before the apocalypse, she had always been strict with him, frustrated by his failure to make something of himself.

But when the apocalypse broke out, she hadn't been able to escape with him. Now she didn't even know whether he was alive or dead.

The icy rebuke startled Xiao Liao, and he blurted out what he had discovered.

"Sister Ying, I think... there's a secret room hidden on the second floor of this house! There might be something good inside!"

A secret room?

Wang Ying was taken aback too. She was just about to say, "Let's take a look," when Cao Xianming's voice suddenly came from inside a room.

"There's a secret room? Then let's hurry and have a look!"

Wang Ying's face darkened.

So this guy had been eavesdropping in his room the whole time. Shameless bastard!

"Oh... okay, sure!" Xiao Liao hurried to lead the way.

But before they had gone more than a few steps, Yang Yong emerged from the room next door too, wearing a mischievous grin, and eagerly tagged along.

Wang Ying rolled her eyes. So there was more than one sneaky bastard!

Yang Yong felt no embarrassment whatsoever. Wearing an expression that said everyone present deserved a share, he was already making calculations inwardly:

What could be hidden in a secret room that was ordinary?

Probably some high-end goods, right?

Just thinking about it was exciting!

Yang Yong's eyes shone as his imagination ran wild!