Chapter 12: Spatial Inventory Successfully Bound.
Seeing the name on the screen, Violet curled her lips and shook her head slightly. Harry had never called her, not even when she left the house.
He must have found out she didn’t buy the vase he’d instructed her to buy, and instead spent 200 million on the jade necklace.
Her finger hovered over the screen just as a voice from the telephone spoke, "Hello, room service, how may I help you?"
"I’m sorry, I’ll call you back." Without waiting for a response, she placed the phone back on its cradle and adjusted herself in the chair she was seated in.
She stared at her phone until it stopped ringing. A minute later, it beeped.
Mr. Sullivan: Violet, what did you do? 200 million spent, not on a vase but on a godforsaken, useless necklace?
She could hear his angry voice and see the red veins popping on his forehead, like they normally did when he was angry.
Her phone beeped again, another message followed.
Mr. Sullivan: And you had the nerve to ignore my call? You will return the necklace or return my money. Do you understand? Come home tomorrow.
Home?
Violet scoffed, her eyes lingering on the word. The Sullivan mansion had not been home since her mother died.
She felt a deep satisfaction as she imagined him pacing about in his study, drowning in his regret. He must resent himself for sending her.
’Well, that makes us two.’ she said to herself as she blocked him. A slow smile spread across her lips, and she let out a short, satisfied laugh, tossing her phone onto the bed beside her.
The 200 million she’d taken was just the tip of the iceberg of what she planned to take from him. For all the years he’d ignored her and watched his wife and beloved daughter treat her wrongly, he would pay with his hard-earned cash.
For now, Violet decided to eat, then bond with the special jade. This time, she called the butler assigned to her room.
The butler was a man in his late forties. He wore black trousers and a white shirt, his blond hair combed neatly back. He stood in the sitting area.
After giving him her order for the food she wanted, she asked if he could arrange some clothes for her. She hadn’t brought anything from her apartment and needed to change out of the dress she was wearing if she wanted a comfortable night.
After the butler left, Violet walked into the master bathroom. She pulled out the velvet box and opened the lid.
The almond-shaped jade lay safely inside. She inhaled sharply as she traced it with her finger.
She also brought out Dylan’s phone and placed it, along with the velvet box, on the nightstand beside the bed.
Twenty minutes later, a trolley was rolled into the suite and her food was served, placed neatly on the glass table in the dining area.
A silver platter revealed a perfectly seared filet mignon, resting beside a delicate arrangement of truffle mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus.
Beside it sat a small crystal bowl of soup and a basket of freshly baked artisan rolls.
Violet inhaled the smell of seared beef and truffle that filled the air, her mouth watering and her stomach rumbling as she saw the food.
The butler placed the box of clothes he’d brought on the table and bowed slightly before leaving.
Violet ignored the neatly arranged cutlery and tore into the filet with her bare hands, then, as though it were a race, quickly shoved a roll into her mouth before she’d even swallowed the last bite.
Her fingers glistened with grease as she scooped up the mashed potatoes, barely pausing to breathe between mouthfuls.
Having so much food in front of her brought tears to her eyes, and her mind drifted to the apocalypse, where she had survived on scraps and rotten vegetables that were also difficult to find.
At that time, people had to choose between dying at the hands of zombies or dying of hunger. And other times, it was a fight between the strong and the weak.
She stuffed her mouth with meat, chewing loudly.
When she was done, she wiped her hands before grabbing hold of a glass of water. She took large gulps and belched loudly, wiping away the water that had escaped and rolled down her lips with the back of her hand. She rubbed her stomach with one hand, then closed her eyes and took in a slow breath.
Now that she had satisfied her hunger, it was time for the next step. Her heart raced with anticipation as she rose from her seat and walked into the room, with a knife.
She closed the door securely and walked to the nightstand.
Grabbing hold of the velvet box, she drew in a deep breath before opening it. She took out the necklace. The jade was cold in her hand.
Violet remembered the system’s instructions. She had to ensure her blood touched the jade. She could hear her heart pounding in her ear.
She let out a breath, sat on the bed and stretched out her hand.
With the knife in one hand, she made a sharp cut on her arm, deep enough to draw blood. She felt a sharp sting as blood slowly seeped out.
She bit down on her lower lip as the blood dripped onto the jade, twice.
The moment the blood touched the jade, it began to glow, the once-cold jade turning warm.
The warmth spread through Violet’s hand.
Slowly, the jade rose in her hand, emitting red glitter that filled the room. Violet watched in astonishment, her mind almost coming to a stop as the red glitter surrounded her like fireflies and the jade lifted to eye level, floating in the air.
There was a faint crack in the room, and in a heartbeat, the jade surged into her forehead, disappearing completely out of sight.
Violet instinctively closed her eyes, dropping onto the bed, and the world disappeared.
When she opened her eyes, she was no longer in the bedroom. She stood in the middle of a vast, endless expanse.
There was no wall or ceiling.
She turned around, completely flabbergasted at the sight. Above was an infinite sky veiled in soft jade-white light, neither day nor night.
And beneath her feet stretched a smooth, solid surface unlike any material she had ever seen.
It wasn’t stone, nor marble, nor glass. It simply possessed the cool firmness of polished jade, yet it felt strangely alive beneath her soles.
A peaceful silence filled the space; it was a perfect place to take a break from the loud, stress-filled world.
Violet’s chest tightened with pure ecstasy. This space was hers. She could store everything she needed right here.
Ding!
Congratulations, Host. Spatial Inventory successfully bound.
Current Inventory Level: Level One.
The inventory exists in an independent space linked to the Host. At the current level, all non-living items may be stored and retrieved instantly through thought. Time does not flow for stored items. The inventory will automatically expand as it reaches capacity and advances to the next level. Higher inventory levels remain locked.
What made this more thrilling was that time didn’t affect the items she stored, unlike in the real world. In fact, once an item was placed here, it became frozen in time.
So, for example, if she stored a hot plate of food, whenever she retrieved it, it would still be hot. Nothing could go bad here, even medicine would never expire.
This meant she could store things for decades and they would be the same when she retrieved them.
Ding!
Host may enter the inventory at any time. However, physical stay is limited to one hour per day. Once the daily limit is reached, the Host will be automatically returned to the outside world.
Violet tilted her head to the side, trying to understand what this meant.
While time would become stagnant for the items, that did not apply to her. She could always stay in the inventory for just one hour.
As this information settled in her mind, she heard the ticking sound of a clock and looked to the side to see a countdown, currently at 50 minutes.
Violet bobbed her head up and down in understanding. Her next step was testing the efficiency of the space.