Chapter 101: After a Long Day, Su Miao Takes a Bath

Su Miao descended from the third floor to the first, first gathering all the large damaged items into her magical storage space, along with anything she no longer wanted. Once the bulky objects were cleared away, save for a few items like the air conditioners, the rooms were nearly empty.

Looking at the now bare rooms, Su Miao felt a considerable sense of relief.

“Are these heating pipes?” she wondered, noticing that each room was fitted with heating ducts. Curiosity piqued, she observed that the villa had no natural gas lines installed, yet had an extensive network of heating pipes. Could it be electric heating? But if so, wouldn’t air conditioning be more practical?

Although Su Miao longed for warmth, this was the apocalypse. There was no gas, and even water and electricity were scarce. For now, she pushed those thoughts aside.

Retrieving a bucket, broom, and mop from her magical storage, she began cleaning the master bedroom on the second floor. She would be living here for quite some time, so the main bedroom had to be spotless. The other rooms received a cursory cleaning—just enough to appear tidy. The first floor was treated the same way.

Since the curtains had been taken by passing refugees, Su Miao pulled some fabric from her magical storage and hung it haphazardly as makeshift curtains, limited to the bedrooms for decoration.

At moments like these, she deeply missed Xia Xiao’an. Whenever they cleaned together, Xiao’an would put in extraordinary effort, not resting until the room was thoroughly clean.

At first, Su Miao thought it was because Xiao’an feared being abandoned. Later, when Su Miao assured her otherwise, Xiao’an’s diligent cleaning continued unabated. Eventually, Su Miao simply let it be.

Half an hour later, the master bedroom was spotless. Su Miao brought out her bed, laid down fresh, comfortable bedding, ready for a good night’s sleep. To cover up the graffiti on the walls, she adorned them with posters of anime heroines, adding a warm touch to the room.

“Your Highness, I want one too! I want a bed!” the mutated myna bird exclaimed, hopping excitedly on the table where Su Miao had just set things down.

“Alright, I’ll make one for you soon, but it will be in the living room,” Su Miao replied.

The mutated myna couldn’t stay in the bedroom during sleep. Placing its bed in the living room wasn’t cruel, as there was a fireplace there. Lighting some wood would warm up the entire area.

“Thank you, Your Highness! Thank you!” the bird chirped happily.

After arranging the bedroom, Su Miao went to the living room, took a sturdy box, placed a down pillow at the bottom, stuffed cotton around the sides, and thus made a cozy nest for the myna. How the bird adjusted it thereafter was up to itself.

“Thank you, Your Highness!” the bird happily nestled inside, head poking out in contentment.

It was clear the bird had suffered from the cold during their journey.

Next, Su Miao went to the kitchen and summoned a water sphere to give it a quick wash. She placed a dining table and several chairs in the living room—items scavenged along the way.

“It’s so cold!” she frowned.

She had been cleaning for a while and should have felt some warmth by now, yet she felt none. Checking the thermometer, it read minus 20 degrees Celsius.

Was the indoor temperature really that low?

Looking at the shivering myna nestling inside its box, Su Miao asked, “As a mutated animal, can’t you resist the cold?”

The bird shivered and replied, “Your Highness, mutated animals are cold-sensitive too.”

Su Miao felt she had just asked a pointless question.

She fetched some firewood from her magical storage, piled it into the fireplace, and doused it with a bit of diesel to help ignite the fire.

With a lit napkin tossed into the fireplace, the wood caught fire swiftly, flames roaring to life. The entire living room warmed up in an instant. Su Miao crouched by the hearth, feeling rejuvenated.

Suddenly, she noticed a screen near the fireplace glowing red. Approaching, she saw a symbol resembling a red liquid reservoir, seemingly indicating a need to add water.

Curious, she studied the screen until her eyes brightened with understanding.

The heating pipes were integrated with the fireplace system. Residents could use either electric heating or the fireplace, simply by adding water to the corresponding reservoirs.

Searching around, she quickly found two hidden water tanks embedded within the walls on either side of the fireplace. She opened the lids and filled them with several water spheres.

Once the flames grew stronger, the water in these tanks would heat and turn to steam, which would then be distributed through the heating pipes to warm the entire villa. The prospect was exciting.

Moreover, the monitoring screen was powered by built-in batteries, allowing it to function without electricity for the time being, so Su Miao need not worry about system failure. If the batteries died, she could simply replace them.

Hurriedly, Su Miao went downstairs and closed all doors and windows to help the indoor temperature rise quickly.

About half an hour later, the thermometer showed a room temperature of 5 degrees Celsius.

Previously, she would have still complained about the cold, but now, 5 degrees felt truly warm.

“Ah, that reminds me!” Su Miao recalled something crucial.

Braving the biting cold, she stepped outside and circled the villa, spreading a half-formed batch of highly toxic hallucinogenic potion. Whether it would be effective or not, it was a precaution.

If any mutated creatures approached, they would be drawn by the poisonous scent, sniff curiously, and perhaps lick it—only to perish as many others had along this route.

However, the temperature had dropped sharply, and snow had begun to fall. Su Miao wasn’t sure if the potion’s potency would hold.

Regardless, some defense was better than none.

Thinking of defenses, she left a large cart at the villa’s gate—something she could retrieve later when she needed to venture out for supplies.

Firewood was crucial for the fireplace. She considered taking some large trees out of her magical storage to chop into logs.

But the thought lasted only a second before she retreated indoors.

It was too cold outside.

Chopping wood could wait.

If it were merely minus 20 degrees, she might endure it. But unlike the dry north, this place was damp, affected by heavy rains and floods. The moist air outside meant exposure to both physical and magical cold attacks.

Each breath felt like inhaling shards of glass.

That was the sensation.

Therefore, if she had to go out, she’d wait for the damp chill to lessen.

Returning indoors, Su Miao took a deep breath, savoring the warm air, feeling fully restored.

After a brief rest, she set up shelving units in two vacant rooms on the first floor.

The first room was for cultivating mushrooms.

Since leaving the tourist area, she hadn’t grown mushrooms; her magical storage was nearly depleted of fresh ones.

Besides, the beautiful mushrooms needed to craft the toxic hallucinogenic potion only grew on pine logs.

The other room she prepared for hydroponic vegetable cultivation.

She had purchased all the equipment at a wholesale market.

The shopkeeper initially taught her how to make nutrient solutions, water the plants, sow seeds, and care for them.

Su Miao studied diligently, but memorizing everything in minutes was challenging.

Eventually, the shopkeeper simply suggested she buy their hydroponic racks and told her to sow seeds whenever she wished, water daily, add compound fertilizer if desired, and consult the manual if problems arose.

Later, Su Miao suspected the shopkeeper had intended to sell her everything from the start; otherwise, such fuss was unnecessary.

Considering her limited time then, she didn’t argue, especially since she truly needed the supplies.

Back in the tourist zone, she had wanted to try hydroponic vegetable farming, but constant attacks meant she barely managed to grow mushrooms.

Now, with the environment stable and a warm place to live, thanks to the wood-fired heating, she could finally give it a try.

She scattered vegetable seeds—bok choy, Shanghai greens, spinach, pea shoots, eggplants, cucumbers, among others.

Using a magic water sphere, she irrigated the seeds with hope.

Watching the setup, Su Miao envisioned herself enjoying fresh homegrown vegetables soon.

“All set,” she said, pride swelling in her chest as she surveyed the mushroom and vegetable rooms.

However, reading the seed packets’ growth cycles, she fell into thought.

The vegetables took too long to mature.

Her magical storage’s fresh vegetable reserves were nearly gone; once eaten, there’d be no more.

If only she could use magic to accelerate growth, she could enjoy fresh produce sooner.

“I’ve decided—I’ll brew a magical potion to promote vegetable growth,” she resolved.

She recalled a potion from a game that restored forests devastated by wildfires.

One drop on a seed would make it grow into a towering tree within breaths, restoring the forest’s greenery.

She didn’t need such powerful effects, just enough to speed up vegetable growth over two or three days.

The day passed busily, and night fell unnoticed.

Hungry, Su Miao went upstairs to the second floor, lit an oil lamp, brought out her alcohol stove and beef hotpot, and began cooking.

Setting the bowls and chopsticks, she prepared an extra portion, about to call someone when she realized Xiao’an wasn’t there.

“Your Highness, you are too kind!” Suddenly, the myna flew onto the table, eagerly eyeing the steaming hotpot.

“All right,” Su Miao said, startled by the talking bird, momentarily thinking a stranger had appeared.

The beef hotpot was delicious, especially with the fresh mushrooms she had added.

Having skipped lunch, Su Miao filled herself up on the meat, but was surprised that the small myna had such a large appetite, eating two portions of beef and a serving of instant noodles before feeling satisfied.

Recalling the myna had once pecked out and eaten the eyeball of a giant jellyfish, she found the bird’s appetite less surprising.

After the meal, Su Miao washed the dishes and pot clean.

She added more firewood to the fireplace and checked the water levels for the heating system.

By her calculations, the water tanks by the fireplace held enough water for about 72 hours; beyond that, water needed to be replenished to prevent damage from overheating while the fire remained lit.

Taking advantage of the villa’s comfortable temperature, Su Miao retrieved some clean clothes from her magical storage and headed to the bathroom.

After days on the road, she could finally take a bath.

She conjured a fireball, carefully sanitizing the bathtub, then summoned a large water sphere to fill it.

Using another fireball, she warmed the water.

Once the temperature was just right, she removed her wool sweater and thermal underwear and stepped into the tub, her smooth, pale legs entering the warm water.

Lying back slowly, she gently splashed the water, feeling immensely joyful.

Bathing in hot water amid such cold weather was sublime.

Half an hour later, the bath was over. Su Miao changed into fresh clothes and returned to the living room by the fireplace.

She wanted to check on the myna but found it already asleep in its nest.

Not wanting to disturb it, she refrained from waking the bird.

Eager to hasten the day she could eat her own fresh vegetables, Su Miao took out her tome on potion-making, preparing to study a while before sleep.