That night, late, when all was quiet, Stella Sterling rested for a bit and read a book. After making sure her door was locked, she entered her space.

In her hands were the few pieces of jade and jade ornaments she had taken from that "Skinny Monkey."

Once inside, Stella Sterling tossed the items directly into the space’s exchange area.

This time, she wasn’t ejected from the space and got to watch it change bit by bit with her own eyes.

A thick fog suddenly rose within the space. After it dissipated, the distant mountains had become more solid, more and more real.

Indeed, the space had been undergoing greater and greater changes over the past two years. A year ago, mountains and trees had even begun to appear.

But when Stella Sterling had gone to check before, those mountains and trees weren’t real—just illusory phantoms.

She could see them, but she couldn’t touch them.

But as she threw more and more junk into the makeshift exchange area, these scenes before her became increasingly realistic, as if they truly existed.

’Her space is about to give birth to a new world,’ she thought.

It was no longer static and motionless.

The smile in Stella Sterling’s eyes deepened. She wasn’t in a hurry to leave. These were just the changes to the space itself; she knew there would be other benefits for her besides this.

She looked toward the small cabin that had appeared two years ago. Every time the space produced a benefit, it would appear inside this cabin.

The Loyal Servant Pill from two years ago was one such example, as was the Human Potential Development Technique.

In addition, over the past two years, Stella Sterling had acquired many other good things from this cabin.

But when she entered this time, there was only an empty table inside. Nothing else.

However, Stella Sterling wasn’t disappointed. In fact, the smile in her eyes grew even deeper.

’The fact that there’s nothing this time means the next item to appear will be even better. I just need to wait patiently.’

So she left that area and went to where she stored her supplies.

After picking out a large pile of things from the space, she finally left and began her late-night snack.

The weather had been rainy recently, and there were quite a few bugs and mosquitoes.

She sprayed some insecticide.

’Bugs are truly the one thing in this world I absolutely detest. They always make me unconsciously think of unpleasant things.’

They also made her feel inexplicably irritable.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

A knock sounded at the door, accompanied by Louis Grant’s voice. "Stella Sterling! Stella, are you asleep?"

"Why does your room smell so good? Do I smell fried chicken? How is that possible? How could there still be something like fried chicken now? Don’t tell me I’m just craving it so much that I’m imagining the smell..."

Louis Grant’s voice chattered on outside, and Stella Sterling had no intention of answering.

But the voice outside was incessant. She had no choice but to put her unfinished food back into her space and go open the door.

"You’d better have a good reason for this, or I’ll kill you tonight."

As she spoke, she made a throat-slitting gesture at him, her eyes filled with displeasure.

’Does this guy have any concept of time? Doesn’t he know what time it is? Everyone else is asleep, and he’s still knocking on my door.’

’Have I been too nice to him?’

Stella Sterling looked at the slightly chubby man before her, wondering if she should teach him a harsh lesson so he’d learn to stop bothering her. They knew each other, but they really weren’t that close.

Louis Grant was frightened by the look in Stella Sterling’s eyes. He immediately took a few steps back. Hearing her harsh words, he felt a wave of fear; he was genuinely worried she might actually do it.

So he retreated several more steps, watching Stella Sterling warily as he quickly said, "No, no! I really do have something important to tell you."

’Although, it’s not that important,’ he thought, ’but I can’t say that right now.’

It wasn’t like he wanted to disturb someone so late, but he had gone looking for her where she used to live and couldn’t find her. He later found Ms. Ward and learned that Stella Sterling had actually rented a place of her own.

That was why it had gotten so late.

Besides, his dad had given him a direct order to invite Stella Sterling to dinner. He didn’t dare disobey.

Stella Sterling ran a hand through her hair, her tone irritable. "Spit it out."

Louis Grant was about to say that his father wanted to invite her to dinner, but the words died on his lips. He changed his approach. "How about I introduce you to the base’s upper management tomorrow? There’s a lot of benefit in it for you."

After saying this, he edged even farther away from Stella Sterling. He wasn’t sure if what he was offering would be considered important enough by her.

’Better to play it safe and keep my distance, just in case this woman kills me in a fit of rage.’

"Not going. Not interested."

After spitting out those four words, Stella Sterling stared hard at him. "Anything else to say?"

Louis Grant swallowed hard, estimating the distance between himself and Stella. ’Could I get away if I had to run?’ he wondered. Finally, he worked up the courage to say, "Actually... my dad told me to invite you to my place for dinner tomorrow. He said it’s to thank you for saving my cousin’s life."

The moment he finished speaking, Louis Grant turned and ran for it without the slightest hesitation.

’I’ve delivered the message. Whether Stella Sterling goes or not is out of my hands. Right now, saving my own skin is the priority.’

After Louis Grant left, Stella Sterling’s expression calmed, no longer showing the anger from before.

She was so calm it was as if nothing had happened. She went inside, closed the door, and breathed a sigh of relief as she noticed the smell of roasted chicken in the room had faded a bit.

’Looks like I should try to eat inside the space from now on.’

’Otherwise, it’ll be too easy for people to notice something is off.’

’He probably didn’t get a good whiff of it. Even if he did, as long as he didn’t see it with his own eyes, he won’t overthink it. Nothing to worry too much about.’

The next day, she ran into Louis Grant in the cafeteria. He was with Vivian Larkin. The two seemed to be hitting it off and had grown closer.

A day had passed. ’Even if she was unhappy yesterday, she should be over it by now,’ Louis Grant thought. So, he boldly walked over and sat down in front of Stella Sterling.

"So, what about the thing I mentioned yesterday? My dad sincerely wants to thank you. He’d really like to invite you to our home for dinner tonight."

Stella Sterling noted Louis Grant’s expression. He seemed completely normal, with nothing out of the ordinary.

She slightly schooled her expression, her tone indifferent. "Dr. Grant is too kind. I already said I only helped because it would count as you owing me a favor. In the end, it was just a transaction between us. There’s no need to thank me."