Chapter 184: Acquaintances For Free, Friends Over Shared Melons
After listening for a long time, the lonely Yuan Zhu revealed a confused gaze: “So what exactly is this [Little Pumpkin]?”
“A type of space equipment that grows naturally with extremely good stability. The exterior is uniformly a miniature pumpkin three to four centimeters in size. But inside, it naturally nurtures a storage space in the shape (and size) of a normal pumpkin.”
Yuan Zhu: “Space equipment that grows naturally?”
Meng Xiyue nodded: “Yes, it’s the racial talent of the pumpkin head aliens in terms of appearance. It is said that every pumpkin head’s ‘head’ or ‘body’ will, as they age, nurture an exclusive ‘storage space.’ Not only that, among the many pumpkin aliens, there are also a very few who awaken the [Planting] talent, which can cultivate the ‘spatial small pumpkins’ I mentioned using irrigation from starlight.”
“This type of ‘wild little pumpkin’ that is not a racial talent has a small internal volume. The exterior is a tiny one, and the internal space is about the same as the ‘pumpkins’ commonly found in the marketplace. The small ones are only the size of an adult fist, usually equivalent to a woman’s bag, and the larger ones are comparable to a backpack, which are top quality. Because they can be bred in batches, and the space is limited but still precious, they are used by the [Star Realm Bank] as signature gifts for VIP clients.”
A Miao added from the side: “It is rumored that the foundation of the [Star Realm Bank] is related to the mysterious and unique [Space Pumpkin technology]. It is said that the Star Realm Bank’s main vault is a ‘space pumpkin plant’ established in a different dimensional dimension, using starlight as a channel to connect countless large and small independent pumpkin spaces. Anywhere starlight shines, ‘space transmission’ can be performed. Therefore, the most unremarkable ‘little pumpkin’ also has an incomprehensible positioning function, making it a small top-quality item that is very popular in the black market.”
Yuan Zhu compared it and felt it seemed not as good as his [Soul Space]?
“This thing is very precious?”
Meng Xiyue nodded: “Yes! You can think of it as a ‘luxury bag,’ and even more value-retaining and practical. I still don’t have one.”
A Miao replied concisely: “Black market average price 10,000.”
Yuan Zhu finally understood: “Hiss! Terrifying.”
Meng Xiyue added: “The most unique thing about the [Little Pumpkin] is its stability, which is vastly different from traditional ‘space equipment.’ The internal space is small, but it is not affected by the external environment and can be used normally in any situation. Isn’t your [Holy Seal] a [Sanctuary]? I even specifically investigated it; when this [Holy Seal] is developed to the extreme, it can produce a [Space Anchor] effect. It locks down a piece of space, prohibits instant movement, and prohibits the opening and closing of space items. But the ‘little pumpkin’ ignores this kind of spatial restraint, as if it isn’t space equipment at all.”
In Meng Xiyue’s introduction, the ‘space rings and storage bags’ from fantasy novels cannot be stored inside another ‘space ring or storage bag.’ Otherwise, it would bug out with infinite stacking, allowing one ring to contain an entire universe.
But the wonder of the little pumpkin is that it can be collected into a ‘storage equipment’ filled with little pumpkins, bugging one layer. But little pumpkins cannot contain little pumpkins, or even if a little pumpkin is damaged, it can still be stuffed in.
Yuan Zhu: “I see, that’s indeed quite precious.”
So far, he had not obtained a single piece of space equipment. The only two ‘space skills’ were also innate divine abilities cultivated through his own efforts. One was the [Universe Within The Belly] awakened from the [Boss Template], which was more like a ‘shadow pollution refinement furnace.’ The [Soul Space] was entirely obtained from the [Sanctuary].
As for pseudo-space technology, putting the Golden Bodhisattva into the shadow seemed like a very advanced ‘spatial ability.’ But in essence, it was dragging a big net bag quickly through stealth in the [Shadow Layer]; once exposed, it would lose all style, not worth mentioning.
No wonder Meng Xi would say: Everything he has, double it to make him feel it’s excess; what he doesn’t have, take even what he has!
Poor ghosts have no access to spatial abilities or storage equipment, let alone qualify for the [Star Realm Bank]’s gift little pumpkins. Any money on hand would be scraped away by the bank to buy investments or life insurance, squeezing it clean.
While rich people can naturally buy genuine storage equipment with larger capacity, or even learn a [Spatial Supernatural Ability] without much difficulty. At least A Miao had repeatedly demonstrated ‘space’ abilities; and deep in his soul, there was indeed a connected exclusive space. The difficulty to obtain them wasn’t high, compared to other systems as well.
At this time, Meng Xiyue pointed to the interior map on the wall and said: “We already passed several vaults earlier; the specially made alloy doors didn’t budge, the anti-theft effects didn’t dissipate, impossible to crack or enter. So, I strongly suggest going to this internal VIP reception room; there should be [Gifts.Little Pumpkin] stored there.”
A Miao: “I agree!”
Yuan Zhu: “Then let’s move!”
Yuan Zhu, who was fortunately participating in his first bank robbery team-building activity in life, never expected a professional bank to have such advanced anti-theft measures? Even without any external obstruction, with the door wide open for you to roam, you could only return empty-handed from door after alloy door. If given the real chance, he’d still be useless!
Thinking of the sad part, he couldn’t help sighing: “Sigh! We’ve clearly penetrated deep into the bank interior, so why can’t we rob any money? Carefully calculating, from the time we got trapped until now, all the ill-gotten gains were actually scraped from passersby in the external business hall. Does this even count as robbing a bank?!”
Ever since entering the bank interior through the big hole in the wall, there had been almost no business the whole way. Until just now, getting a pile of small-denomination bills from the opened box—this was truly too ironic.
To think he was a fierce bandit who had ransacked the [Vajra Temple] Golden Bodhisattva and committed serial major robberies in [Cicada City], yet stumped in front of a bank?
A Miao, however, maintained an excellent mindset: “What’s the big deal? We’re in the [Star Realm Bank] headquarters in [Taixi], so the safety index is naturally the highest. Even if no one stops you and lets you steal freely, the probability of success is extremely low. Such a huge [Structure], mainly serving various ‘safes’ inside; even if you break open door after alloy door, there are even sturdier protective measures inside. Robbing it clean is too difficult; the VIP reception room is indeed a good place.”
After abandoning the delusion of ransacking the vaults, Yuan Zhu’s mind became completely calm. He followed beside A Miao, cherishing this rare beautiful time spent with the pretty young lady.
Hoping to forge a bond through the experience of touring the bank together. His mouth was full of little topics to close the distance, making Meng Xiyue roll her eyes wildly: Why aren’t you this attentive to me and Zhou Chu?
Finally, after the three twisted and turned, passing several alloy vault doors with different numbers, they finally arrived at the VIP reception room.
A Miao raised her pistol and continuously blasted the door lock, destroying the already not very theft-proof expensive wooden door, successfully breaking in.
Meng Xiyue immediately started searching; soon, they found several small wooden boxes on the shelves filled with various statues, porcelain, famous paintings, and handicrafts.
Opening the wooden boxes, delicate miniature little pumpkins were placed in soft silk cloth. Each one was smaller than a ping-pong ball, even more exquisite and compact; each one was unique, like naturally formed fruit.
Alright, this thing is the ‘star realm plant’ planted by pumpkin head aliens: some are green, some are the stereotypical orange flattened pumpkins, and there are other styles.
Yuan Zhu asked: “This is it?!” He just scanned it with mental perception and found nothing special.
Meng Xiyue affirmed: “Yes, this is it.” Saying so, she tossed a wooden box to Yuan Zhu.
At this time, Yuan Zhu also opened the lid; similarly, ‘miniature little pumpkins’ of various shapes. Picking one up and fiddling with it lightly, he found it had substantial weight, quite heavy, not like plant fruit but more like a lump of metal, hefty.
After personally grabbing the ‘little pumpkin’ and sensing it carefully, a vague spherical space the size of a shoebox appeared in his mind, with a metal card inside.
With a thought, the ‘card’ appeared in his hand. The front read [Star Realm Bank.Savings Card], and below was a string of scribble-like ‘vine script,’ the common text of [Plant Universe] aliens—even little spicy sticks didn’t recognize it.
“What is this card? A unique number for each little pumpkin?”
Meng Xiyue: “No, it’s just a simple red envelope.”
A Miao: “This kind of anonymous savings card usually has a sum of money directly deposited for transactions. Anyone who gets it can withdraw. Putting it in the [Little Pumpkin] is naturally a holiday gift in return for users.”
Under the guidance of the two experts, Yuan Zhu quickly mastered the ‘reading number’ skill and confirmed that each little pumpkin contained a savings of 500-1000 yuan or so.
The larger the internal space of the little pumpkin, the higher the amount on the card. The smaller the space, the less money in the card. Regardless of amount, it was a very small number.
“It really is a gift; this kind of ‘little pumpkin’ is for giving to kids, right?”
Yuan Zhu thought: According to Running’s living standards, a 1000-denomination card was enough for an ordinary family to save for half a year. But for Taixi’s big shots, it should be just pocket money for the brat at home during holidays.
As for the [Little Pumpkin]? Doesn’t it perfectly serve as a schoolbag, stationery case, snack box, toy box…? So damn thoughtful; banks give small gifts during festivals, attached with a [Shopping Savings Card] for buying extracurricular books, snacks, stationery, then putting the purchased items into the ‘little pumpkin.’
Which parent could refuse such a thoughtful children’s package? It’s full of heart, without any hint of bribery.
The three gathered together and tallied: they found a total of 5 wooden boxes on the storage shelf. On average, each box contained 13 little pumpkins. But one wooden box had only 8 left. The missing 5 were probably given away.
13×4+8=60
Meng Xiyue: “Great! 20 each, very fair.”
Yuan Zhu: “How to calculate internal size? Common sense says bigger is more valuable, right?”
The loot-sharing expert A Miao spoke directly: “Look at the amount on the anonymous card; determine the little pumpkin’s total volume by the total face value.”
“Brilliant!”
The three hurried to the big table. Yuan Zhu turned into a one-click clear master, sweeping away the desktop obstacles. Then he poured out the little pumpkins, arranged them neatly, and took out the ‘savings cards’ one by one to place in front of each little pumpkin.
The three all turned into mental math masters. Yuan Zhu had [Smart Little Spicy Stick] at his side; Meng Xiyue had [Skull Server] protection; A Miao was a professional fencing master, so the three divided the little pumpkins into three piles quickly, accurately, and very harmoniously, tacitly pocketing them.
Meng Xi’s face showed an irrepressible happy smile as she eagerly swept all the little pumpkins into her backpack; Yuan Zhu joyfully discovered that these ‘little pumpkins’ could be stored in the [Soul Space]!
Not only that, after storing the little pumpkins in the soul space, he was even more delighted to find that each ‘little pumpkin storage space’ was simultaneously accessible in his perception for free storage, like a large toolbox with 20 distinct ‘space compartments’ unfolded at the same time, without affecting the original soul space usage.
Thus, Yuan Zhu’s mouth also uncontrollably curved up. This is awesome! I want to collect more ‘little pumpkins’ to fill the [Soul Space] in the future; it’s so satisfying!
In his mind, 20 large and small pumpkin spaces—the small ones were at least two fists big, and the large ones comparable to a backpack. The kind of top-quality big Halloween pumpkin only seen on TV!
While Yuan Zhu was immersed in the [Soul Space] being bugged by little pumpkins, simultaneously stacking 20 secondary spaces; on the other side, Meng Xiyue and A Miao had already taken action first.
The two came to the storage shelf in the reception room and began carefully selecting religious mythological statues, exquisite porcelain, or jade carvings… calligraphy and painting; anything that caught their eye or fit the size was directly stored in the [Little Pumpkin].
After filling one, they switched to the next little pumpkin, like the Golden Horned King holding a purple gold gourd, endlessly collecting! Collecting! Collecting!
“Wait, let me do it!”
When it was Yuan Zhu’s turn to approach, he didn’t even need to take out a little pumpkin; whatever caught his eye, he grabbed it and sent it into the [Soul Space, secondary space].
Ah! Feeling the long-lost joy of plundering again. Clearly strangers who had known each other for less than a day, yet inexplicably grew closer; in this zero-yuan purchase activity, they established deep plastic friendship.
Especially Meng Xiyue; she had known A Miao for no more than an hour and a half, yet now she was calling “Sister Miao, Sister Miao” nonstop, like close girlfriends at first sight.
After the three swept the reception room clean—even collecting pens and exquisite ink bottles of unknown value—they finally stopped with lingering reluctance.
At this time, Meng Xiyue suddenly exclaimed: “Ah! Almost forgot, the purpose of coming to the [Star Realm Bank] this time is to transfer money to Sister Miao Miao and pay for the goods. Now, this pocket money (new year’s money) we got from the [Little Pumpkin] is enough to buy the goods.”
Reminded by Meng Xiyue, Yuan Zhu hurriedly took out 20 anonymous cards from the [Soul Space], drew out the one with the lowest denomination to keep for self-defense, and handed the remaining 19 over: “Miao Miao, please accept.”
Then, Meng Xiyue also pulled out a stack and handed it over.
Seeing this, A Miao satisfactorily accepted and said: “Actually, just this batch of ‘little pumpkins’ means I’ve profited; the arms fee is secondary. But rules can’t be broken; since you’re willing to give, I won’t refuse. You two have given me a good impression; consider me your friend. Future transaction ‘credibility’ will accordingly improve.”
While the three were happily dividing the loot, the ground transmitted waves of intense tremors, shaking the office supplies off the desk.
Immediately, the three simultaneously heard [Buddhist Dharma Zen Sound] with different contents in their ears. This sound had no source, appearing out of thin air in their ears, minds, invading their consciousness.
