Chapter 138
Chapter 138: Little Hamster Presents Treasures to Coax Shu Shu
Cloud Link City, Dragon Ridge Palace.
In the courtyard of a residence.
Rong Shu looked at the still distressed Little Hamster, thought for a moment, then chose not to probe further. [Perhaps I am overthinking it; maybe Little Hamster truly knows nothing.]
Rong Shu walked over, gently lifted the dejected Little Hamster from the table, and just as she was about to speak, Little Hamster’s small ears twitched and he suddenly seemed revitalized.
He turned excitedly toward Rong Shu, chirring nonstop as if trying to say something. Rong Shu tapped his little head with a finger, saying: “What do you want to say?”
Little Hamster pointed at the table, so Rong Shu set him back down. He stretched out a tiny paw and traced a motion through the air, and a slender spatial rift opened before Rong Shu’s eyes.
At once, Rong Shu’s expression tightened in alarm. [What… what is this?] It felt like a passageway, yet she had no idea where it led.
As soon as the spatial rift appeared, Little Hamster darted straight into it. She called softly: “Yan Yan?”
Several seconds later, Little Hamster emerged huffing and lugging a spirit stone, then presented it to Rong Shu like a tribute. Rong Shu took it, puzzled, and asked: “Spirit stones? Why are there spirit stones in there?”
Once she accepted the spirit stone, Little Hamster immediately turned and rushed back into the rift. A few seconds later he produced another spirit stone and set it on the table. After repeating this several times, spirit stones formed a small mound on the tabletop.
Just as he was about to fetch more, a hand scooped him up from behind. Rong Shu stopped him, saying: “Hold on, Yan Yan.”
Little Hamster looked at her in puzzlement, as if to ask: What is it? When they had bought his nest at the shop before, he had seen Rong Shu take out stones called spirit stones. Later, he had accidentally found the same stones inside the space and realized they were spirit stones. He dared not admit he could turn human, but he felt no pressure revealing this space to Rong Shu.
Rong Shu pointed at the spatial rift and asked: “What is this?” Little Hamster tilted his head. [Can he say… he does not know either?] It was as if he had been born knowing how: swipe a paw and it would appear. There were many strange things inside that he did not understand; so far he only knew there were clothes and spirit stones. But sometimes a swipe would not open into the space; instead he would suddenly be transported to some unfamiliar place. Little Hamster shook his head at Rong Shu. This time, he truly did not know.
Seeing this, Rong Shu changed tack and asked: “Is it dangerous inside? Can I go in?” Little Hamster looked at Rong Shu, then at the somewhat narrow rift. [It is so small; Shu Shu will not fit.] Just as he thought this, the spatial rift widened severalfold on its own, just enough for Rong Shu to walk through. Seeing this, he patted her finger with his little paw in excitement. [Now she can go in!]
After Little Hamster nodded, she held him in her right arm and, with her left, quietly took out the defensive artifact Lin Dao had given her and gripped it in her palm. If anything felt off, she would retreat immediately.
When she carefully stepped into the spatial rift, she was stunned by what lay within. Inside was a boundless expanse stretching to the horizon. It was gray and seemingly lightless, yet Rong Shu could see as usual. More importantly, mountains of wealth were piled through this space: spirit stones, spirit herbs, magic artifacts… the sight was overwhelming.
Rong Shu’s heart stirred and a thought rose up: [Could this be a personal pocket space?] [Could Little Hamster have the spatial attribute?] Among spiritual roots, the spatial spiritual root was rarer than even the wind-thunder spiritual root and on par with the dark spiritual root.
At that moment, the Little Hamster in her right hand cautiously studied her expression. [Shu Shu should not be angry at him… right?] He did not understand the uses of these many odd items, but if they could divert Rong Shu’s fixation on whether he could turn human, then these odd things might be useful after all.
Rong Shu asked: “Is this your ability?” Little Hamster hesitated, then nodded. [It should be, probably.] Even he did not know how the things inside had gotten here.
Rong Shu glanced around; everything in the space had been sealed with restrictions. Unless the person who laid them lifted them, the items would self-destruct. The spirit stones Little Hamster had taken earlier were possible only because a small patch of the restriction had been damaged in one mound of spirit stones. So he could slip in there and pull some out. Yet even that small mound of spirit stones, by Rong Shu’s rough estimate, contained at least several hundred thousand spirit stones.
Rong Shu asked: “Yan Yan, what did you mean by taking spirit stones from here to give me?” As she spoke, her voice grew much softer. Then she realized a problem. Since Little Hamster could open this space at will, it meant he had the spatial attribute. In that case, even the formation in the room earlier might not have been able to stop him. The more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Heaven’s Evolution Sect had few records on spatial arts, yet an ability like spatial traversal was said to be child’s play for those with the spatial spiritual root. This had been mentioned in the sect’s public Library Pavilion, which Rong Shu had happened to read.
Lowering her gaze to Little Hamster, Rong Shu asked: “Did you use space to slip out of the room earlier?” Little Hamster nodded. She asked: “Why did you want to go out? If you wanted to, you could have told me at the time.”
Little Hamster had no answer. He hugged his little head with both paws and plopped down in Rong Shu’s palm, looking like he had a headache and was shamelessly refusing to speak. In truth, he himself did not know. Besides, it touched on his secret of turning into many terrifying, ugly monsters, which he instinctively did not want to reveal.
Seeing this, Rong Shu quickly stroked him and soothed him, saying: “All right, all right, then we will not talk about it.” Everyone has secrets, and Rong Shu would not force him.
She stayed in the space for a short while before exiting. She was afraid that if they lingered and kept the space open, outsiders might discover it. With so many treasures inside, it would be hard for others not to be tempted. Even she was tempted. Yet seeing the simple Little Hamster reveal everything without reservation, her mood suddenly calmed.
She said: “You must not tell this secret casually to others; do not let someone trick you with a few words and make you expose yourself.” Seeing that Rong Shu seemed done pursuing the matter, Little Hamster stood happily and nodded again and again.
Then he motioned for her to look at the table in the courtyard. Rong Shu set him on the table, and he immediately scurried to the pile of spirit stones and, using all his strength, pushed the heap toward her. The meaning was clear: he wanted to give them all to her.
She could not help teasing as she saw this: “All for me? Including that whole pile of spirit stones in the space too?” Little Hamster nodded, then tilted his head in puzzlement. His expression seemed to say: They are yours to begin with, why are you asking? At that, Rong Shu scooped him into her hands again and rubbed him thoroughly several times, fluffing him up into a ball. She murmured: “Thank you, Yan Yan.”
All feelings cannot be measured by money or objects. Yet sometimes, if a person is unwilling to part with even money or objects for you, they likely do not care for you very much.
After this episode, Rong Shu felt delighted and did not forget to remind Little Hamster to put those spirit stones back into the space. She said: “I already promised to take care of Yan Yan; I have no use for these spirit stones, so take them back.”
At her words, Little Hamster grew a bit uneasy and wanted to tug her hand to lead her back into the spatial rift. Rong Shu smiled warmly, saying: “All right, I know Yan Yan’s good intentions. Thank you, Yan Yan.”
After triple-confirming that Rong Shu was not angry, the hamster finally let out a breath and obediently closed the spatial rift. Then he held both little paws high, waiting for Rong Shu to reach out and pick him up.
Little Hamster thought the matter was over. But it was not. Rong Shu’s eyes darkened slightly. If she had not seen wrong, she had glimpsed some men’s clothing inside the space. There were garments for a child and clothes for a grown man, all of them. If Little Hamster could not assume human form, he would not need them, because only humans wore such things. Or perhaps Little Hamster had a master, and these clothes had been left here by that master.
The thought rose and she immediately cut it off. She had examined Little Hamster before and found not the slightest trace of a contract with anyone. But if Little Hamster meant to use them himself, that was another matter.
This time, however, Rong Shu did not confront him; she pretended to know nothing. She said: “For the time being we will stay in the house; tomorrow we will go out and stock up a bit, all right?” She already had supplies prepared for herself in her storage pouch. Little Hamster, unaware that he had been exposed, nodded at once.