"No." Ryan's voice was firm. "If outsiders hear about this, they'll talk. They'll say our marriage is fake. Don't worry. If I say I won't touch you, I won't. I've been honest all my life—you can trust me."
Mary shrugged internally. Even if he did try anything, she had enough strength to throw him out the window. So she tidied the room and prepared for the night calmly.
Ryan watched her move around and felt a strange tug inside him.
She really was different now.
Before, the original Mary looked at him like a hungry wolf staring at meat—drooling with obsession. But the woman before him didn't look at him that way at all. She was calm. Indifferent, even. There was something unfamiliar in her eyes, a steady confidence that didn't belong to the girl he had once met.
Upstairs, Thea was coaxing her child to sleep. But her mind wandered to the neighbor she had visited earlier.
She nudged her husband, Philip. "I gave some food to Ryan's wife today. Do you think Ryan will definitely get promoted this time?"
Philip stiffened. His heart soured instantly.
He and Ryan had entered the factory together. If Ryan hadn't been promoted… the position would have been his. He might have become deputy director.
But he swallowed the bitterness.
He couldn't say that to his wife—not when he wanted to maintain face. A man with pride didn't spill jealousy openly.
So he turned his back and pretended to sleep.
Philip was already drifting toward sleep when his wife nudged him again, waiting for an answer. Irritated, he muttered, "That kid is just good at flattering people. His relationship with the leaders is strong. Go to sleep."
Thea's expression darkened. He spoke so casually, as if she hadn't sacrificed anything. Bacon wasn't cheap—not here. In this remote area, meat required either a long bus trip or joining a hunting group in the mountains. And people only invited those they liked.
She and Philip were too stingy. No one wanted to call them for anything.
She huffed softly. "Forget it. It's better to get close to them early. Have you seen his wife? She's fat, yes, but she doesn't talk like a countryside woman. Her accent feels urban."
Philip's chest tightened with a strange discomfort. Thoughts of Kael flickered through his mind. The courage that man had—jumping in to save Ryan without a second thought.
If it had been him?
He wouldn't have dared.
He had seen too many people die. Their lives were gone in an instant, like a candle snuffed out. And the steel factory's pension wasn't even generous enough to justify such heroism.
"She's Kael's sister," Philip grumbled. "Kael died for Ryan. And now his sister has even married him." Bitterness twisted his features as he further added. "Of course, all the girls like Ryan. He's good-looking—that's all it takes."
He remembered going to the health center recently. There, Nurse Vanessa had asked about Ryan, and Philip saw her eyes light up when she spoke about Ryan.
Philip had to pretend not to hear her.
He would never admit it, but jealousy stuck in his throat like a fishbone.
*
Next door, Kristen sat on her bed, unable to sleep either.
Her thoughts circled around the bowl of rice she had lent Mary. Would she return it tomorrow? Her husband's salary was less than thirty Pounds, and half of it always had to go back to his parents. Rice was precious. If not for its volume content, commoners in this western world wouldn't have preferred rice at all, but at the moment, the global food cultivation is not doing well, and rice has also become a staple product. But it is nowhere considered cheap, because most of it is imported from neighboring countries.
However, as Kristen then remembered her confinement period, she couldn't help but let out a long breath.
Because of her mother-in-law's sharp tongue and tight fists, she and her family suffered a lot.
She hadn't even recovered when her mother-in-law forced her back to work. Her baby boy had never once eaten his fill.
Only when she moved into the factory family housing this year did life become bearable. She and her son finally gained weight. Peace had finally reached them.
Compared to those hardships, lending a bowl of rice wasn't such a big deal.
*
Meanwhile, Mary had no idea that two neighboring households were lying awake thinking about her.
She was only worried about one thing—how she was going to sleep tonight.
Earlier, when she was sick and half-conscious, she hadn't noticed a thing. But now…
It was early summer. The heat clung to her skin. Sleeping alone in the room was fine. Sleeping with a man in close quarters? Absolutely not. If she wore too many clothes, she'd cook herself like steamed buns. If she wore too few…
Her mind instantly pictured Ryan—tall, strong, in the same room—and her heart thumped.
No way.
He's a man in his prime. Who knows what he's thinking? Not to mention, they just talked about consummation earlier. Just the thought heated her up, not because she wanted to, but because of her body's auto response.
The more she thought, the more she missed her space. Clothing. Supplies. Everything she needed could be inside.
Mary closed her eyes and tried reaching out with her spiritual power. She focused, pushing past the dull throb in her head. After several attempts, she finally felt it—a faint, familiar pull.
Her heart leaped.
She rushed into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. She couldn't risk Ryan seeing anything strange.
As Mary proceeded to check her body, she found that on the lower back, hidden beneath her clothes, was a birthmark shaped exactly like the old jade pendant.
So the jade fused with me…
She thought as she remembered the shattering of the jade pendant before her death.
She placed her palm over it and whispered, "Go in."
Her body vanished instantly.
*
Inside the Mindscape;
The world around her brightened.
The space was enormous—far larger than the few hundred square meters she used to have. She turned slowly, taking it in.
A soft sound echoed in the distance.
Water…?
She followed it until she found a stunning fountain, crystalline water bubbling upward and falling back gracefully. It shimmered with a faint spiritual energy she couldn't identify.
Behind the fountain stood a small bamboo house, elegant and peaceful. None of this existed before.
Her heart pounded with excitement and a bit of nervousness due to the unknown.
Did the space evolve? Because I died? Or because of the explosion?
She hurried toward the bamboo house and pushed open the door.
Inside, every item she had ever collected lay perfectly arranged—tools, seeds, clothes, medicines, weapons, food. Her old belongings, untouched, as if waiting to welcome her home.
Her breath hitched at the sight.
How… how did all this become so organized?
Before she could comprehend it, a soft white glow appeared in the corner of the room. Words shimmered across the wall in floating characters.
Mary stepped closer.
Line by line, she read.
And with each sentence, her understanding deepened—
Why had she survived?
Why did she transmigrate?
Why did the space change?
The cloud of doubts hangings over head slowly started dissipating away.