Mine. Mine. Mine - Sweep’er up into his arms!

  Success! If it weren’t for the cramped space, Bubai would’ve spun the sleeping goddess around in sheer joy!

  Plot armor for the win! Banzai almighty golden finger!

  His cheat really never fails to surprise him!

  After this test, it’s been confirmed.

  His tribulation seed was really like a tyrant that can assimilate all sorts of cultivation byproducts.

  Kinda like a virus.

  Bubai smirked.

  “Might as well name it T-seed for short. Those with growing veins can be coined the Alpha stage. Crystallized variants will be T-seed Beta.”

  By those evil names, residents of his previous world can tell: his hopes for these t-seeds were great!

  Too bad there were only five seeds left, making them all the more precious.

  Each one may be a tiny nucleus with infinite possibilities that he can’t wait to unearth.

  But any new experiments will require careful oversight after taking into account this round.

  Bubai is still unsure about the actual absorption limit, but this time was really cutting it close.

  “Well, that was a ride. I’m just glad I didn’t lose out on all my investment.”

  The mental tally began.

  A high-grade talisman, suffering an injury that can’t be considered light, a t-seed...

  Considering all other factors and adding a staggering investment that consumed 25% of his main Qi reserves, this was an expensive cutthroat trade!

  "But hey, no risk, no reward, right? And this reward?"

  When Bubai squeezed the gorgeous goddess in his arms, his heart sung a silent anthem to his ever-reliable plot armor.

  “Totally worth it!”

  What this got him wasn’t just another exquisite servant for churning out memory orbs.

  This was a sword goddess with combat power that could wreck most late-stage Qi Refiners and very well stand toe-to-toe against Foundation Establishment rookies!

  Not only that…

  Getting his hands on this killer opened up new escape routes he never had the chance to try before!

  So many grand, ambitious plans ran through Bubai’s mind in an instant...

  Never underestimate what value a powerful pawn can bring to a king!

  Bubai gazed at his new chess piece that may very well be a queen. “So much value in one body…”

  But then his attention snapped to the slight imperfection at the nape of her neck and his face hardened.

  He really can’t bear to see her flawless skin damaged, but that incision wasn’t going to heal itself.

  “Since I’ve already spent so much, there’s no any harm in spending a bit more…”

  With that train of thought, his fingers pinched together the opened skin on the nape of her neck…

  Beads of dew squeezed out from his fingertips, melting into the slit…

  Under his gaze, the would visibly patched itself up!

  Bubai whistled smugly. “Works on my mask, works on this.”

  Not even a minute later, the doll was flawlessly mended and ready for use. But...

  The loyalty test will have to wait till later.

  Bubai’s hand caressed that cool, angelic face that made his little brother hot ever since he first laid eyes on her.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  "Sleep tight, my ice queen… We’ll have plenty of fun once you wake up."

  A single thought opened up the spatial tunnel to his storage warehouse and in went the doll.

  There was no counteracting force impeding the journey...

  Soon, the dormant goddess took her spot on the rooftops over his doll corner. Safe and sound.

  Bubai dusted off his hands, and a cycle of Qi cleared off the thin layer of frost coating his legs.

  “With that settled…”

  Time to prepare the convincing cover-up story.

  Why did he come all the way out here? How did the doll “disappear” from all his bags?

  A legitimate reason is needed.

  What better excuse to use than the famous: “Want my treasure? I left everything at that place!”

  And then the great era of stall pirates began… Ahem.

  Of course, Bubai wasn’t naive enough to actually leave any actual wealth behind.

  What if some lucky fella stumbles upon it by accident? Never doubt the shameless grandpa heavens.

  Unless he’s cheating, never leave matters to chance!

  Since he gotta set up a false impression anyways…

  “Transfer of wealth it is.”

  The new Leng Meng doll was just the first.

  Bubai opened his own low-grade storage pouch and emptied its content into his high-grade pouch.

  “Sorting can be done later. Now for the finishing touch…”

  He added trash of various sizes into the coarse brown pouch for experimental data. Done. For science!

  Now everything was in place.

  Time for his storage warehouse to undergo another expansion!

  Hesitating no longer, the suction force of his spatial warehouse tugged on reality once more.

  Under the vacuuming force, the space in the low-grade pouch collapsed almost instantly…

  On the other end, his entire storage warehouse shook as if an earth dragon was turning over.

  “Hmm… the quake is somewhat weaker than the previous time? Makes sense, since the pouch being absorbed is of lower grade this time. Nothing special there. What’s more interesting is…”

  From random parts in the void, some debris rained down like confetti into his warehouse.

  Yet that only lasted a few moments.

  Bubai frowned inside. “A few pieces went missing... Lost forever?”

  A hypothesis tested. A lesson learned.

  Note to self: Don’t go directly absorbing a locked storage pouch or risk losing a part of what’s kept inside.

  “What next?” Bubai searched through the list of follow-up tests and arranged a few more on his agenda.

  There was still a long road ahead...

  Not even a minute later, the earthquake in the space subsided.

  Bubai surveyed the slightly expanded space.

  “Just barely touching upon six meters on each side. So... finally hitting 216 cubic meter blocks of volume?”

  It wasn’t a big expansion, but it was a step forward.

  Now, there is a narrow gap opened up along the outer perimeter of his shelves and morgue, but that wasn’t a big deal, considering he has taken everything into account.

  Ever since the first, Bubai expected every expansions to always be accompanied by seismic rumbles.

  This personal storage space of his was essentially an earthquake-prone disaster zone!

  That’s why he went through all the trouble to get proper shelves instead of just stacking boxes and jars up high to infinity and beyond.

  High stacks aren’t just harder to maintain, but was also a disaster waiting to happen!

  Let’s not even talk about how his doll will access the top levels... or the hassle of getting stuff out from the bottom layer.

  Convenience was obviously a main consideration.

  But Bubai also took into account that there were rickety stuff that don’t like sitting stably when stacked too high.

  Then, there’s the fact that his growing hoard will require far too many boxes to accommodate them all.

  If there were sturdy metal frames constructed to support them, that would work fine.

  Alas... he can’t exactly drive piles into the solid floor of his space.

  That’d require a sand bed or some sort of artificial “ground layer”.

  But establishing such a stable foundation will no doubt eat up most of his precious storage room.

  That defeats the whole purpose of optimizing his space!

  Since that was out of his consideration, any quake-resistance framework will require extensive architectural design.

  But getting that industrialized in this era was a pipe dream without slapping the face of others using both money and power.

  Hence, simple alternatives, like shelves, was the solution.

  Humble, functional… barely within budget. Then, adding some stability...

  "Sandbags anchoring the base below, weights crowning the top, all neighbors interconnected for counterbalancing and support…”

  “It’s stable enough to not topple over easily, even if they get shaken harder! There’s just one problem…”

  Shelves were good and all, but...

  Bubai surveyed the insides of the barrister shelves.

  Thanks to the pane of glass shutting them in, nothing fell out, but many items had lost their spots.

  A minor inconvenience, but one worth noting.

  “Can’t win everywhere.” Bubai sighed.

  Clothes and rags aren’t too effective as a stopgap measure. As for racks…

  Bubai looked over to the doll’s crafting desk.

  Here, the An Jali doll was hard at work in her new black uniform that did little to cover what doesn’t need to be hidden.

  Yep, those were some big racks alright…

  Ahem. By that, he meant the sandstone block she was busy chiseling away at.

  A jigsaw of holes fitting various-shaped vials were already carved out in the block.

  Makeshift racks. This was a long-term side-job.

  When she’s kept in this dark warehouse, he was literally working her to the bones.

  Her tasks were never ending. Now, he added another task for her.

  “Jali, clean up the mess on the shelves when you have the time... Oh, and the trash that fell outside too.”

  The puppet, lost in her work, looked up and nodded. “By your command, my king.”

  There was no answer. Her king was gone once more.

  Letting out a soft sigh, An Jali put down her work. “Let’s sweep up the trash first.”

  She can’t bear the thought of her king getting dissatisfied by an unclean palace.

  Humming a little upbeat tune coined by her king during their physical activities, she walked out from the shelved-off area into the small garden area.

  “…You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone~”

  Trash sack in hand, she worked outward and picked up the few scraps that didn’t belong.

  An Jali then looked up to the roof. “Hmm. Check up there too?”

  Setting the bamboo ladder against the wall, she skittered up like a spider…

  But after one look at what’s up there, the happy housewife froze in place like a cat that had her tail stepped on.