Courtyard House: Home Alone

In this area, he could perceive every subtle change, whether it was the bowls and chopsticks on the table or the dust in the corner of the wall.

Even the faint sound of coal burning in the stove in the opposite courtyard, separated by several walls, seemed to be right in front of me.

He tried to put the empty porcelain bowl on the table into his spatial storage. He silently said "store," and the bowl instantly disappeared from the table and appeared in the still warehouse of the spiritual spring space.

Then, with a thought, he "released" the porcelain bowl, which steadily returned to its original position. The entire process was smooth and seamless.

Then he found a brick at the farthest point of the field, about a hundred meters away, and with a thought, the brick disappeared instantly.

The next second, he appeared inside his stationary warehouse. Lin Yifan was overjoyed: "A hundred-meter range, telekinetic storage—this ability is so practical, so incredible! Getting things or moving items in case of danger will be incredibly convenient!"

He tried several more times, collecting and releasing items from different directions and distances, from small coal ash to slightly larger wooden stools, and he was able to do it all with ease.

He discovered that any item within his domain that he could clearly "see" could be instantly collected and released, regardless of its size or weight (at least the ones tested so far worked fine; the maximum weight he could collect was a small stone weighing about ten kilograms, located a hundred meters away).

However, these feelings should be enough for now. Besides, my system space can be upgraded, and my space skills will be greatly improved in the future.

"And teleportation!" Lin Yifan thought of the teleportation within the domain mentioned in the space description. It was daytime, and he was still in his small house, a cramped space, clearly unsuitable for testing.

"It seems I can only wait until tonight, or find a secluded place to try again." He suppressed his excitement and focused his attention back on checking the spatial domain.

He tried to probe underground, and he found that the area he could probe into had shrunk by about 40%, meaning that the direct depth for observation was only 60 meters. But that was enough.

Most of the novels he had read in his previous life said that the deaf old woman's house contained a large amount of gold and jewelry. Since he was just sitting there anyway, he figured he might as well use it as training. So, Lin Yifan started by searching the deaf old woman's house, examining everything inside and on the floor.

You wouldn't believe it until you see it. After checking, Lin Yifan realized that the deaf old lady was indeed the richest person in the courtyard, but it wasn't as exaggerated as those novels made it out to be.

Under the steps of the bed in the deaf old woman's house, he "saw" a wooden box about 80 centimeters square, with 30 large yellow croakers, more than 110 small yellow croakers, and 1,000 silver dollars.

In addition, there were some jewelry and two jade bracelets, and the rest were some silk clothes. There were also two photos on the clothes, both of which showed the same young officer wearing the uniform of a major in the National Revolutionary Army.

Then, in her wardrobe, he also found two small yellow croakers and more than seventy silver dollars.

What surprised Lin Yifan was not these things, but the couple living in the room next to the deaf old woman.

As far as he knew, the man was named Qian Liugen, a teacher at a nearby middle school, and the woman was named Chen Zhirong, who worked at a bookstore. The couple were usually low-key and rarely interacted with others, but they had a very good relationship with the deaf old woman. They were not particularly noticeable figures in the neighborhood.

However, Lin Yifan's investigation revealed that this seemingly ordinary couple was anything but simple.

Under their bedroom bed, near the corner of the wall, there was a pull ring. Below the pull ring was a thick wooden board, and below the board was a ladder more than four meters long. Then there was a passage leading directly to the east courtyard, at the end of which was a basement.

The basement contained several wooden crates and a set of tables and chairs. On the table sat a telegraph machine and a small booklet with a badly worn red cover.

Inside the box were two boxes of silver dollars, worth about five thousand yuan, and a small wooden box containing fifty small yellow croakers.

Another box contained five Mauser M1896 pistols (also known as Mauser C96 pistols) and two Browning M1910 pistols (also known as Browning pistols with a holographic rim). The other two boxes contained ammunition for these two types of pistols, wrapped in oil paper.

Of the last three boxes, two contained explosives, and the third box was probably filled with detonators. Lin Yifan wasn't familiar with these, so he could only guess.

"They actually hid these things..." Lin Yifan's heart skipped a beat, and a chill ran down his spine. Explosives, pistols, bullets, radio transmitters—he knew all too well what these meant in this day and age.

This couple is probably not just an ordinary teacher and factory worker. What do they do? Are they from the Military Intelligence Bureau? The Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics? Or... some other secret organization? But they're definitely not Communists.

Lin Yifan knew that the Red Party couldn't possibly be that wealthy. He found it hard to believe, feeling that this seemingly peaceful courtyard house was hiding so many turbulent waves.

He continued to check the situation in the other houses in the yard. Fortunately, he did not find anything special in the other houses. He did find some small yellow croakers and silver coins hidden in Yi Zhonghai's and Xu Fugui's houses, but not many of them.

Then, Lin Yifan remembered the stories of hidden treasures in backyards in fan fiction, so he set his sights on the destroyed and abandoned backyard.

Before long, he made a discovery: there was indeed a basement in the backyard, containing many boxes. Judging from the gold and silver ingots, antique paintings and calligraphy, and jewelry and jade artifacts inside, the basement had been there for over two hundred years. These things should have nothing to do with the deaf old woman.

The basement was built with great care. The walls were made of glutinous rice mortar mixed with blue bricks, making it exceptionally sturdy. The top was also covered with thick stone slabs and soil layers, so ordinary digging and bombing could not damage it in the slightest.

The entrance to the basement was hidden in the east courtyard, covered by various kinds of garbage and thick fallen leaves. If Lin Yifan's domain had not been able to penetrate the ground and vegetation, it would have been impossible to discover this hidden place.

He "looked" at the boxes. The largest boxes were filled with neatly stacked gold and silver ingots. The gold ingots were all plump, while the silver ingots had oxidized and turned black.

In the smaller boxes next to him, scrolls of calligraphy and paintings were neatly stacked. Even through the boxes, Lin Yifan could feel the antique aura emanating from the calligraphy and paintings, which must be priceless antiques.

There was another box filled with all kinds of jewelry and jade artifacts: jadeite bracelets, white jade pendants, pearl necklaces, gemstone rings... a dazzling array, each piece exquisitely crafted, seemingly glowing faintly in the dim basement.

A rough estimate suggests that the value of these gold and silver ingots alone is immeasurable, not to mention the antique paintings, calligraphy, jewelry, and jade artifacts.