“Let go! Let go! What do you think you’re doing?!”
Seeing his painstakingly stockpiled grain being hauled away, Qin Wenbang reached out to grab it back. Second Uncle and Second Aunt naturally spread their arms to block the way. But there were too many villagers.
When they had gone around borrowing money from every relative, they had actually been glad to have so many relatives. Borrowing a few tens of thousands from each family could easily net them hundreds of thousands or even a million. But now, having so many relatives meant there were even more people grabbing their supplies.
The scene became livelier than a vegetable market.
Afraid of getting jostled, Qin Sang quickly retreated to a safe spot. But she didn’t take her eyes off the high school student. She noticed he made several trips, carrying out five or six bags of rice. Several other villagers had similar hauls. Even the worst off managed to grab at least one bag of rice and set it beside them.
Seeing that they couldn’t stop the crowd, the family of three stopped trying to block them. Instead, they turned and grabbed brooms and hoes from the corner, swinging them at the people carrying things away.
Only then did the village chief finally order everyone to step back. In an instant, a large empty space formed in front of Qin Wenbang’s house, leaving only a pile of supplies behind.
“Enough, enough. You’re all relatives. What kind of spectacle is this? Dali, given the situation, how does your family plan to resolve this?” The village chief looked calmly at the slightly relieved family of three.
What could Second Uncle say? The commotion just now had genuinely frightened him. His family had bought quite a few supplies over the past two days—some stored in a rented warehouse, some kept at home. The plan was to have them handy when the apocalypse came.
They had even discussed it: when the apocalypse arrived, if relatives pressed for repayment, they would point to the loan contracts. If it came to it, they’d offer a bag of rice to settle the debt. After all, in the apocalypse, money would be worthless. They would be doing their relatives a favor by giving them a life-saving bag of rice. What more could they want?
But they hadn’t expected things to go wrong so quickly. Second Uncle knew they wouldn’t get out of this without shedding some blood.
Fortunately, their son had said that besides selling the house and borrowing from relatives, they could also take out online loans, borrow from various payment apps, and max out several credit cards. They had already drained all those sources in the past few days. The money was mostly used up.
And using supplies to pay off debts was out of the question.
Thankfully, the old house they were living in hadn’t been mortgaged yet.
Second Uncle’s mind raced. He shot his son a meaningful look, then said to the village chief, “Brother Hai, these grains and oils are meant to be sold for money, so I can’t let people take them. But our old house can be mortgaged. I’ll go to the bank tomorrow. Once the loan is approved, I’ll pay everyone back.”
That sounded sincere enough, but Fourth Aunt cut in: “Who are you kidding? The internet says things are going to get bad. Who knows when that mortgage will come through? Everyone wants money now to buy grain and oil. Since you have them, use them to pay us back!”
Her eyes were bloodshot. Clearly, she was furious at being tricked into buying the house.
Qin Sang couldn’t help but shake her head. What was the point of arguing now? The smart move was to take the supplies home!
Just as things looked like they were about to spiral out of control again, the village chief acted decisively.
“The supplies can stay for now. But as for mortgaging the house—do it now. Get your documents. I’ll take you to someone I know and get it approved quickly so you can pay everyone back.”
The village chief was one of the lenders too. His wife had also been tempted by that three percent interest.
Seeing the chief take charge, the other villagers held their tongues.
With the matter seemingly resolved, everyone prepared to disperse and hurry off to stock up on supplies themselves.
Qin Sang was about to leave too. It looked like Second Uncle’s family had dodged a bullet for now. But with their supplies already exposed like this, they wouldn’t last long once the apocalypse truly hit.
However, today was destined to be anything but calm.
Just as people were starting to drift away in twos and threes, Qin Wenbang suddenly shouted, “Who? Who took my rice and didn’t bring it back!”
He ran out of the house, screaming, a kitchen knife in hand.
“What? What now? Weren’t all the supplies left piled right in front of your house?”
The village chief had his phone out, about to call an acquaintance about the mortgage loan. And now Qin Wenbang was causing trouble again. It made him furious.
But Qin Wenbang yelled, “Chief, the numbers don’t add up. Someone didn’t bring back what they took!”
The villagers who hadn’t yet left stopped in their tracks and looked around. Clearly, everyone wanted to know who could have taken the grain and oil.
At that moment, Qin Sang understood something. She looked again at the high school student. Sure enough, he was pressing his lips together tightly, struggling to suppress a smile as he looked at Qin Wenbang.
It seemed the missing grain and oil had ended up in his pocket—or rather, in his space.
Qin Sang had no proof, but her intuition told her she was right.
Although many people had rushed in to grab supplies, everyone had been in close quarters. The supplies had been carried out and stacked right at the door. No one had actually taken anything away.
And this high school student had been the first to suggest using grain and oil to repay debts. What’s more, for some reason, Qin Sang sensed a strange energy fluctuation coming from him.
Grandfather Goose had mentioned before that the energy in the outside world was fluctuating abnormally, but she had never felt it herself. Over the past few days, while stocking up outside, she had encountered many people and hadn’t sensed anything either. But this morning, as soon as she woke up, Qin Sang felt that something had been added to the air. When she came to watch the commotion, she felt something strange within the gathered crowd.
And then she saw the high school student.
He was like a transmitter—emitting a special energy field from his body.
It was an elusive feeling. For now, she sensed it only from him. Added to the fact that Qin Wenbang claimed a large amount of grain and oil had gone missing, Qin Sang boldly speculated that this kid had a space. And the strange energy field she was sensing was likely that space.
But why hadn’t she felt it from Qu Meijing before?
With that question in mind, Qin Sang continued watching the drama unfold.
Meanwhile, the village chief asked Qin Wenbang for details, then went inside his house to take a look. He found that the previously towering pile of grain and oil was indeed missing a large corner. The first wave of villagers who had rushed in were called back to confirm—it was true. Quite a bit of grain and oil had vanished.
This was like seeing a ghost in broad daylight!
But all the supplies that had been carried out were still piled right in front of Qin Wenbang’s house!
The village chief could only say there was no way to resolve this. They might have to call the police.
At the mention of the police, Qin Wenbang fell silent. He was afraid the police would confiscate his supplies.
But letting the loss go wasn’t something he could swallow.
Suddenly, Qin Wenbang seemed to realize something. He shouted toward the crowd, “I’ve got it! One of you must have a space! You used it to steal my grain and oil!”
Almost everyone watching was middle-aged or elderly. There were only a handful of young people—students home from school for the summer.
When Qin Wenbang yelled “space,” the older folks looked completely confused. But the students’ eyes lit up.
They didn’t believe in the apocalypse. But a space? They knew what that was.
Seeing the situation take such an interesting turn, Qin Sang found it even more entertaining.
But spaces were intangible and elusive. Most people just shook their heads.
Then Fourth Aunt shouted loudly, “Space, my foot! This is divine punishment for your family’s wicked deeds!”
A new round of shouting was about to break out when the village chief told everyone to be quiet. The reason? His acquaintance at the bank had just called back. The message: the bank had received orders from above. Starting today, all loan services were suspended.
The village chief didn’t hide this and told Second Uncle directly.
Hearing this, the villagers became even less willing to leave. Some even pulled out their phones to text other relatives who had lent money but hadn’t come, telling them to get to Qin Deli’s house immediately.
Qin Sang, however, stepped back from the crowd.
This matter would be difficult to resolve today.
She was now more concerned about the loan suspension.
Was this only happening at their local banks, or was it provincial—or even national?
Taking out her phone, Qin Sang logged onto major bank websites. They all displayed the same suspension notice on their homepages.
She then opened various payment apps and online lending platforms—all showed suspension notices as well. Suddenly, she realized: the authorities had begun to take action.
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