After Zero taught Li Fan how to enter and exit the Alternate Space, his consciousness left it.

As soon as his awareness returned, he heard the doorbell ring, followed by a familiar female voice from outside:

"Li Fan, are you home? It's Liu Ruyan. I brought you some food. I saw you at the planetarium today, and you didn't look well. Are you sick?"

"Just as I thought, Liu Ruyan came specifically to see me today."

Li Fan didn't plan to respond to her. He went straight to the bedroom, where he had the clothes and bedding worth over three million that he bought today.

He reached out to touch them, initiating meditation. His mental energy enveloped the entire object, and with a thought, the bedroom, which was piled high with clothes, was suddenly empty.

Though convenient, it still consumed mental energy.

Just as Li Fan was about to enter the Alternate Space to check on how the Laboratory was refining materials, his phone rang. Was it a local number?

The ringtone was loud enough for Liu Ruyan to hear outside, prompting her to knock even more vigorously:

"Li Fan, I heard your phone. Are you sick? Open the door; let me take a look..."

Li Fan didn't let her finish, nor did he answer the call. He directly entered the Alternate Space, clearly suspecting the call was from Liu Ruyan.

Back in the control room, he saw Zero operating the Materials Laboratory on the control panel.

All the clothes he transferred in had been placed into one of the Laboratory's entrances and then left unattended.

Zero took out a men's trench coat Li Fan had bought, put it on, and twirled in front of a mirror, looking at herself from different angles.

She seemed to really like Earth's clothing designs and didn't forget to ask:

"Host, do I look good in this?"

Watching the vain Zero, Li Fan increasingly felt that she wasn't just an artificial intelligence AI product. She must be a humanoid being with human emotions and independent thought.

Li Fan said, "That's a men's coat."

Zero seemed to hear something strange and asked, "Are clothes divided into men's and women's?"

"Yes."

"What do women's clothes look like? In my memory, a long, long time ago, we all wore the same clothes, the same styles, even the colors were identical. Unlike you, with such unique colors and styles."

"You? Do you have other companions? Are they here too?"

Zero looked a bit forlorn after hearing this, took off the coat, and murmured, "They disappeared a long, long time ago. My memory is incomplete, so I don't know where they went."

Hearing this, Li Fan couldn't help but feel some sympathy for this girl, alone in this space, not knowing how long she's been waiting for a host to appear.

"How about this, tomorrow I'll buy you some clothes that suit you as a thank you for helping me."

Zero's blue eyes lit up with happiness as she said, "Really? Host, you're so kind."

Li Fan smiled and replied, "I'll buy them for you tomorrow. And don't call me 'host' anymore; it's awkward. Call me Li Fan. You must have a name, right? Zero should be your code name."

Zero seemed genuinely happy, nodding and saying, "Okay, I'll call you Li Fan from now on. As for my name, I don't remember it, but in my memory, there's a vague image of a man, my father, who was a very powerful person. I also remember a patch of Ranlin Flowers at home and some fragmented memories..."

Li Fan had never heard of Ranlin Flowers. He guessed it was a type of flower from her place and said, "Then you'll be called Ran Lin from now on. I'll call you Little Ran; it sounds more endearing."

"Ran Lin, Ran Lin, it sounds nice. I'll be called Ran Lin from now on. I have a name now."

Ran Lin happily twirled in place a few times.

Watching her, Li Fan thought that in the real world, such a cheerful girl would probably be liked by many people. Apart from her silver hair and blue eyes, she was just like a naive girl next door.

Before long, a mechanical voice sounded:

"Ding! Material conversion complete. Collected 1,100 raw materials, produced 60 combat suits. Capable of maintaining temperature, withstanding 18,000 joules of damage, auxiliary force limit 70%. Evaluation level—F-Level. This conversion produced 1 unit of waste material; the Recycling Station is not activated, unable to refine waste materials."

Hearing the mechanical report, Li Fan was stunned. Over a thousand pieces of clothing resulted in just 60 pieces.

"This loss is terrifying. Over a thousand pieces of clothing, three million worth, and only 60 pieces came out."

Looking at the 60 pieces of clothing from the Materials Laboratory, the style and color hadn't changed much, but they felt much lighter. The texture reminded him of the beluga whale's head he touched at the aquarium—delicate and soft.

He tugged at it a few times, finding it slightly elastic. He couldn't help but have some doubts, knowing that the famous Barrett Anti-Material Sniper Rifle had only 15,000 joules.

This clothing could withstand an 18,000-joule single-point impact, meaning it could block all conventional bullets.

"Little Ran, can this really be bulletproof?"

"I don't know. Without syncing with your technological data, I can't give you an accurate answer. But this is just F-Level. Once you have new materials, you can continue refining."

"F-Level? What materials do I need to upgrade?"

Ran Lin extended her hand, swiping a few times, and a projection of text Li Fan couldn't understand appeared before her. After a long pause, she said:

"These materials should be found in your world. Once you sync your world's data with me, I'll tell you what these materials are called in your world."

"How do we sync?"

Ran Lin thought for a while, unsure how to express it, and simply waved Li Fan over, saying:

"Come with me."

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

Ran Lin led Li Fan through another door, into a room filled with intricate crystal circuits, all leading to a central floating rectangular crystal.

About a meter long and 30 centimeters in diameter, only the bottom section emitted a bright glow, while the upper part looked like ordinary glass.

Ran Lin stopped in front of the crystal and said:

"This is it. It's called the Gate, our memory storage, and the data repository for this entire space. Only one-tenth is currently active, which is the glowing part."

Li Fan looked at the crystal, bewildered, and pointed at it, saying:

"Are you saying the central data of the entire Korenya is in this crystal, and most of your memory is related to it?"

"Yes, once you fully activate this Gate, you'll be able to use Korenya's technology to end the Doomsday."

Li Fan, unimpressed, shrugged and said:

"We'll talk about that later. First, tell me how to sync data?"

"You need to find your Gate, and then leave the rest to me. Then I can translate our text, all element names, uses, and technology into your language, making communication easier. We won't need to use mental transmission anymore. Then I can understand what the outside world is like through your brainwaves!"

Li Fan understood that this girl had mentioned data syncing several times, and it was all about wanting to see the outside world. It made sense; this place was like a cage for her.

But a new problem arose. Li Fan was sure that such high-tech things didn't exist in the real world.

"Little Ran, our data storage is different from yours. How do we sync?"

"What do you use to store various data?"

"Books and computers."

"Then bring the books and computers, and I'll give it a try."

Li Fan thought about it and decided to try it at an internet cafe the next day, just to be safe, as he wasn't sure what the device was.

Now he was thinking about another matter, the storage capacity of this space. He wanted to conduct a thorough test tonight.

"Alright, you rest for now. I'm going out to take care of some things."

With that, Li Fan left the Alternate Space. As his consciousness returned, he heard the phone ringing and Liu Ruyan's voice outside:

"...Are you unconscious? If you don't open the door, I'll call 120."

Li Fan picked up his phone, stunned to see only one missed call still ringing.

It seemed that Liu Ruyan's voice outside had paused when he entered the space and resumed when he came out.

A bold guess excited Li Fan: there was no time in the Alternate Space.

He got up, went to the living room, and poured a cup of hot water, placing a thermometer inside. It read 91 degrees. Then he sent it into the Alternate Space with a thought.

If he took it out after an hour and the water was still 91 degrees, it would mean energy didn't dissipate in the Alternate Space, and food wouldn't spoil if stored there.

With excitement, he sat on the sofa to wait, but Liu Ruyan outside was like a persistent pest, still knocking on the door, annoying Li Fan.

Li Fan could roughly guess Liu Ruyan's intentions, a type of woman common in the Doomsday.

He felt a bit sorry for Fatty Kou, who had been eating leftovers for three years without getting anywhere, and a mischievous thought arose.

Li Fan opened the door and asked:

"Do you need something?"

Liu Ruyan, unfazed by Li Fan's unfriendly expression, maintained a concerned tone and said:

"Are you alright? That's great. I saw you at the Astronomy Club today, and you didn't look well, so I came to check on you."

As she spoke, she skillfully slipped into the house. Li Fan didn't stop her; he wanted to see what act this woman was planning to put on. After all, it's not like he had anything better to do on a rainy day.