28. Spatial Ring

Ye Feng was utterly stunned by the sight before him, his nerves so overwhelmed by shock that he felt almost numb. The secret chamber stretched farther than the eye could see, resembling a vast library divided into numerous shelves. The entire room was lined with row upon row of wooden racks, clearly aged; they must have been made of ironwood, for no ordinary timber could have withstood the ravages of time.

Each shelf was labeled with its contents, though the script was not modern; Ye Feng glanced over them, faintly discerning labels for antiques, medicinal herbs, metals, documents, and some shelves left unmarked. The meticulous categorization alone revealed the Luo family’s immense wealth and influence.

After twenty minutes, Ye Feng had a general grasp of what each category contained. The ores were mostly jewels and crystals; the antiques were all items of significant collectible value—far beyond the bits and pieces in his own home. Among the medicinal herbs, a few were recognizable and prohibitively expensive, while others, with their vivid colors, were clearly potent poisons. The metals astonished Ye Feng the most: a dazzling array, including several he had only heard about in legends—never expecting to see them in reality. As for the documents, their presence was both unsurprising and revealing; a family as powerful as the Luo would surely have its own intelligence network, and some of the secrets recorded about other families were genuinely astonishing. The unmarked shelves were even more perplexing, holding plain-looking objects that seemed neither valuable nor collectible.

What puzzled Ye Feng most was a ring that looked like nothing more than an iron band, placed inconspicuously on a shelf. He examined it from every angle, unable to discern any value.

“Never thought I’d see this treasure here!” came Bad Bad’s mischievous voice.

“What?” asked Ye Feng reflexively.

“I said, I never expected to find this thing here. The Luo family is truly remarkable, though I doubt they know what it actually is,” Bad Bad replied, leaving Ye Feng even more baffled.

“So what exactly is this thing?”

“It’s the very first spatial ring.”

“A spatial ring? That? You make it sound like a sci-fi novel!” Ye Feng laughed dryly, but when Bad Bad didn’t reply, he asked again, uncertain, “You’re not joking, are you?”

“Of course not. I never lie.”

“This ring is the legendary spatial ring? It looks so worn out,” Ye Feng said, eyeing the ring with disbelief.

“What did you expect a spatial ring to look like? Encrusted with diamonds, or maybe set with a gemstone? Besides, this is the first spatial ring in the world. It’s been around for many years—of course it looks a bit battered!” Bad Bad’s tone was that of someone explaining the obvious to a fool.

“The first? When was the spatial ring invented? Who made it? It looks ancient—don’t tell me it’s only a few decades old!” Ye Feng was still skeptical.

“It wasn’t invented just a few decades ago.”

“Oh? Then was it invented just recently? Why is it so old?”

“This thing was created over a century ago; to be precise, it was invented in 1926, exactly 102 years ago.”

Ye Feng nearly choked on Bad Bad’s drawn-out explanation. “Can’t you just say everything at once? Over a hundred years ago? Were people really that clever back then? That’s hard to believe. There weren’t many famous people then, let alone anyone who understood the concept of ‘space.’ Don’t tell me it was Einstein?” Ye Feng shook his head, laughing at the absurdity. If Einstein had invented something like this, it would have been public knowledge long ago—how could it have remained hidden until now?

“Believe it or not, you guessed right. It really was invented by Einstein. When he was forty-three, he proposed a theory about utilizing space, but other scientists at the time thought he was mad. Einstein himself never succeeded in developing a concrete project, so his so-called mad theories were only recorded by a few of his assistants and never recognized by the world. Over time, his theories about space were forgotten.”

“Seriously? That’s quite a twist! If he never completed a concrete project, then how did this ring come about?” Ye Feng still found it hard to believe.

“In fact, this ring is only a prototype. Back then, Einstein, with his limited understanding of space, managed to create a small spatial ring, but he himself could never open it. After years of fruitless research, he concluded the experiment was a failure and tossed it aside. It wasn’t until 2048 that scientists managed to study it again.”

“2048? Then doesn’t that mean I’m changing history right now?”

“The moment my old master sent me back, history had already begun to change. All you’ve done is activate the spatial ring a little earlier—no need to make a fuss.”

Ye Feng had to admit it made sense. If sending an artificial intelligence back in time had already happened, his own actions were a mere trifle by comparison.

But then he paused, “Wait, if even Einstein couldn’t open the ring, why can I?”

“You wouldn’t have been able to originally, but now you can,” Bad Bad said, dangling the answer tantalizingly.

“Alright, so why can I open it? Is it because I’ve died once?” Ye Feng joked at his own expense.

“That’s exactly it. You’ve lived two lifetimes, and your spiritual power far exceeds the average person—though not by a huge margin, just a bit over double. But that’s enough to meet the ring’s activation requirements.”

Listening to Bad Bad’s explanation, Ye Feng felt a surge of satisfaction. To be honest, surrounded by all these treasures, even Ye Feng—who had long since cultivated a calm mind—could barely contain his excitement. He knew he couldn’t simply take these things with him, but now that he had the ring, all his problems were solved. He could empty out the entire chamber—at least, he hoped so, glancing around at the vast underground vault.

“So, how do I open the spatial ring? How large is it?” Seeing that Bad Bad wasn’t going to offer the information freely, Ye Feng swallowed his pride and asked.

“Bring the ring close to whatever you want to store, and mentally will it into the ring,” Bad Bad replied, demonstrating a few gestures. After a few seconds, he added, “As for its capacity, I remember it’s not enormous, but slightly smaller than this underground chamber. If you really cram things in, you should be able to empty the whole place.” Bad Bad gave Ye Feng a knowing look.

Ye Feng was elated. Surveying the entire chamber, he thought, “Good heavens, this ring can hold quite a lot!” He’d have been content to fit half of it, but to take it all was beyond his wildest dreams.

Gazing at the countless treasures on the shelves, Ye Feng could hardly contain the urge to shout for joy. Money is a wonderful thing—it isn’t everything, but life without it is impossible. After all, food, clothing, shelter, and transportation all depend on it. With these thoughts in mind, Ye Feng’s hands didn’t slow for a moment, tirelessly sweeping handful after handful of items from the shelves and into the spatial ring. Before long, he was drenched in sweat, and realized he had already emptied more than half the shelves—what remained were mostly worthless odds and ends. The satisfaction was indescribable; after all, who ever complained of having too much money?

“It’s a pity I didn’t find that bottle of wine,” he sighed inwardly.

But before he could finish lamenting, Bad Bad’s voice rang out, “You idiot! Among the medicinal herbs you just packed into the ring, there’s a large piece of White Tiger Claw. Honestly, ignorance is frightening!”

Ye Feng felt a little embarrassed. He’d been so busy collecting treasures, he hadn’t even noticed that he’d already achieved his original goal without realizing it.

He checked his phone and saw he’d been in the chamber for over two hours. Glancing at the now-empty shelves, Ye Feng knew it was time to leave.

“Are you leaving?” At some point, the old man, who had been deep in thought, appeared silently behind Ye Feng.

On Earth, this old man would have been called a ghost. Appearing so suddenly behind him would have startled anyone, but Ye Feng’s strong heart kept him from crying out. Still, he was rattled, his face a little pale. “Do you have to appear so suddenly? Are you trying to scare me to death?”

Ignoring Ye Feng’s complaint, the old man’s face was as calm as still water. “If you’re leaving, could you take me with you?”

“What would I do with a ghost?” Ye Feng thought to himself, just about to refuse when Bad Bad spoke up. “Agree to it. I have a feeling he might be useful to you.”

“You have a feeling?” Ye Feng was surprised. “You actually use the word ‘feeling’? How am I supposed to take him with me? He’s not an object, and he doesn’t have a physical form.”

“If my information is correct, you should be able to store him inside the ring. Though this spatial ring is incomplete, it has one special feature: it can store living beings. No one knows how Einstein managed it, and for six hundred years, scientists were never able to replicate this ability. Later spatial rings could only contain non-living objects.”

“Alright then, I’ll give it a try.”

Turning to the old man, Ye Feng said, “Sir, please stand still. I’ll see if I can bring you out with me.”

He pointed the ring at the ghost and made a gesture. Instantly, the ghost vanished. “Sir? Sir? Are you still there?”

“Stop calling for him. He’s already been stored in the ring. Let’s go,” Bad Bad said impatiently.

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