Chapter 77: The Great Transformation of Space

Xiao Weiguo arrived alone at Shi Guanglin’s dormitory in the factory compound. As soon as he entered the factory, Shi Guanglin hurried off somewhere, leaving Xiao Weiguo to return by himself with the key. Entering the room, Xiao Weiguo lay down on the bed, closed his eyes, and quietly reviewed the day’s events in his mind, making sure everything was in order.

Now, all that remained was to see how the higher-ups would appraise his contribution. If he had left those gold bars and other valuables behind, his contribution would have been far greater. But in this era, unlike times of intense warfare, firearms and ammunition were not in short supply. Still, even the smallest contribution would be a windfall for someone like Xiao Weiguo, a mere temporary worker.

Taking advantage of this free moment, Xiao Weiguo decided to enter his space. The jade he had longed for was now in his possession in large quantities—he could hardly wait another second. After locking the dormitory door from the inside, he lay on the bed and, with a single thought, entered the space.

He once again surveyed the dozens of boxes of treasure, his heart pounding with excitement. Even if he did nothing from now on, he would have nothing to worry about for the rest of his life. But Xiao Weiguo’s ambitions extended far beyond this. As someone with foreknowledge, making a fortune would be effortless—though he’d have to wait for the era of reform and opening up.

He took out a large yellow bar and a small yellow bar, one in each hand, and stroked them fondly. The “large yellow bar” was a local nickname in the Shanghai area during the Republic era for a ten-tael gold bar, so called because its color and weight reminded people of a large yellow croaker fish. These gold bars were mainly for official government and military use, rarely circulating among the public, and were typically held by society’s elite and high-ranking officials. The “small yellow bar” was simply a one-tael gold bar. Xiao Weiguo grew more enamored the more he handled them.

If this were the future, with gold at 700 yuan per gram, he would have 350,000 yuan in one hand and 35,000 in the other—not to mention several large boxes more. As for antiques, Xiao Weiguo didn’t know much about them and didn’t bother to check them carefully for now. He would make an effort to learn more later. In ten years’ time, these antiques would be considered worthless junk, and many would be wantonly destroyed. If he could collect more of them, it would be his small contribution to the preservation of heritage.

Examining the various jade ornaments, he saw that each was exquisitely crafted, and it pained him to think of feeding them to the space. He then turned his attention to the last few boxes of large rocks, lifting one with his mind and shaving off the outer layer. Soon, he caught a glimpse of green on the surface. He stopped at once and peered closer—the “window” revealed a breathtaking green. He continued grinding away the outer layer, and soon an irregular piece of jadeite emerged in his hand, as transparent as glass and radiating a vibrant green, simply beautiful.

Xiao Weiguo had previously studied jadeite and believed this piece to be of the “glass type,” though he wasn’t sure how it compared to the finest Imperial Green. It seemed this batch of raw stones was of the highest quality—any one of them could yield glass-type jadeite.

He was reluctant to feed such treasures to his space. But he knew deep down that in this era, the space was his foundation. No matter how much he had, he would have no qualms about sacrificing it all—even if it meant giving up all the gold bars.

Resolute in his purpose, Xiao Weiguo used his mind to move several boxes of raw jade to the center of his space, at the altar, and threw in the entire stones. Several minutes passed and nothing happened at the altar—strange. He took out the raw stones and placed the glass-type jadeite he had just revealed into the altar. Instantly, the piece dissolved into a stream of water and vanished without a trace.

The space rumbled with thunderous noise, though only faintly—apparently, this piece was not enough. It seemed the space wouldn’t absorb raw stones encased in rock; only pure jadeite would do.

So, Xiao Weiguo played the role of a jade carver, opening box after box of raw stones. He first fed the lesser “bean-type” jadeite to the space, saving the finer glass-type pieces for himself as future treasures. During the process, he realized the raw stones were of exceptionally high quality—eight out of ten contained jadeite, with only two in ten being mere stone.

He sorted the jadeite into four piles: glass-type, ice-type, waxy-type, and bean-type. He started with a few pieces of bean-type, filling the altar. After several minutes, there was still no reaction. Was the space picky, refusing to accept inferior jadeite or stone at all?

He quickly cleared the altar and put in several pieces of waxy-type. Inside, the jadeite melted into liquid very slowly, leaving behind many impurities, and the space remained unresponsive. Xiao Weiguo cleaned out the impurities and tried again with a new batch of waxy-type jadeite.

It turned out that the purity of the jadeite was crucial—the space was indeed selective. He had planned to collect jade offcuts from city workshops to feed to the space, but that was now out of the question. If even bean-type jadeite was rejected, offcuts would certainly be useless.

So it was with jadeite—the same would be true for other impure stones: only high-purity materials would do. This made the search for suitable jade more difficult, but Xiao Weiguo wasn’t worried. The world was vast, the earth even vaster—surely he could find high-quality jade somewhere.

He fed the space batch after batch. Once the waxy-type was gone, he moved on to the ice-type, but the space only continued to rumble, with no dramatic change. The only visible effect was that the once white soil had turned black, as if the space had recharged the earth.

Looking at the small pile of glass-type jadeite beside him, Xiao Weiguo felt a twinge of regret. He set aside an especially green piece—surely the legendary Imperial Green—and a red glass-type jadeite as well. These two he could not bear to feed to the space. The rest he tossed in all at once, shutting his eyes in distress.

A thunderous rumbling filled the space. Suddenly, the ground shook violently, sending Xiao Weiguo sprawling. In the next moment, the space expelled him outright, and he landed back on his dormitory bed.

He tried to enter again, but the space remained unresponsive. He grew anxious—what if he couldn’t get back in for a long time?

Just then, he heard the dormitory door being pounded vigorously from outside. Forcing himself to calm down, he went to open the door.

There stood Shi Guanglin, still knocking in rhythm, and when the door unexpectedly swung open, Shi Guanglin nearly tumbled inside.