David opened the door to the warehouse and they walked in. There were a few items stacked near the front so Aria walked further inside to an empty corner. Aria turned around and smiled at the 4 family members.

Aria: "I mentioned that I will be providing all the materials needed for this project. We won't be going through the traditional means of having things shipped to your warehouse but will require face to face transactions. Which two of you would be available to fly to Country C for these transactions?"

John and David looked at one another. Traveling between the countries is very tiring so they obviously volunteered to be the ones to meet Aria. After Aria asked them to activate the sound shield and deactivate the video surveillance inside the warehouse, she took out the rings and asked the two males to pick a ring of their choice that fits and give it back to her.

Aria: "What you're about to see is why keeping this project secret is so important. Please try to remain calm."

Suddenly the corner of the warehouse started filling up magically. Tons and tons of raw materials were piled up neatly in front of the group. Machines and robots were neatly stacked up as well. One second they filled up the corner of the warehouse, the next second they disappeared. This went on for some time until Aria switched to holding the 2nd ring. She did the same. This time interior machineries for various facilities and robots appeared and disappeared.

This process took 10 minutes. The Chens were speechless at first then they became numb to the amount of materials that showed up in front of their eyes. Once things stopped appearing in front of the, their eyes turned to Aria with shocked curiosity. Aria handed the rings over to John and David.

Aria: "Let's move back upstairs and I'll answer some of your questions."

John and David held the rings in their hands tightly. What they just saw was a space storage that surpasses their imagination. Everyone knew that the space button's maximum storage size was 6x6 cubic feet. To see so many things appear and disappear in front of them, they had an idea of how large these rings hold.

Melanie and Joseph felt like they had discovered something scary. Melanie thought the young man was being paranoid and preparing for an imaginary war in his head- since young rich people like to spend money on unnecessary things. But seeing the capacity storage that the young man just showcased, they felt like they had stumbled onto something that might change the world. No wonder Aries told them their family might be in trouble if discovered.

This time they brought Aria to Joseph's office since it was more comfortable. And Joseph had a full bar which the family immediately put into full use at the moment.

David: "These rings! These rings you casually left on a stack in the meeting room table earlier, unattended, are space rings?"

Aria: "They weren't left unattended. You guys were there to keep an eye on them."

David: "Okay. Well, you should never leave anything like that unattended! Hell, I barely want to keep this on my body! Do you realize how many people would want to get their hands on this?!"

David swept his hands through his hair, messing it up. Then filled another shot of vodka and immediately consumed it.

John: "Mister Wang, are you anticipating a war to break out because of this technology you have?"

Aria: "You can call me Aries. No need to be so formal, John. As for anticipating a war, yes. As of now, there are only 5 people in the whole world that knows I am in possession of this technology. Although I cannot find proof, I suspect Country C's government put a hit out on the person who originally discovered how to expand the storage capacity of the space button technology.

Fatih Corporation used the EOS line as an initial test to introduce larger space button technology to Country C. I believe Faith was in the process of releasing a larger storage capacity to the space button market but that didn't happen. I need the project to be completed as soon as possible and then I will be out of your hair.

These two rings should never ever leave your side. Don't let anyone know about them or your life will be in danger. Don't let anyone see what we are working on. Don't leave anything laying around after hours. I would highly suggest you build the houses and the cruisers in different cities to prevent curious eyes from contractors you'll be hiring. Please tell me what your plans are so we are on the same page. The more precautions you take the better.

I will pay for all the labor and materials. I mentioned 4 groups of contractors but if you believe it's better to have more contractors, then that's fine too. I can afford it."

Melanie: "These two rings..."

Aria: "Are for you to make your job easier. I know this is very shocking but please take the rest of the day to go through the inventory and let's meet up tomorrow to discuss any missing materials or machines you will need and we'll go shopping. For tomorrow I want to check out some personal security technology and tour some ships."

——

After sending Aria out, the Chem family sat in silence. Luckily they gave everyone the day off otherwise everyone would notice the unusualness of the family of 4.

The young man had a terrible secret that he wanted to keep. No wonder he wanted to protect himself in a different country.

David: "Mother, Father, is it really okay for us to work on this project? If people find out, the rings will be taken away and we would most likely be tortured for answers. It's really too dangerous this time."

Joseph: "Even if there will be a war once this news gets out, the young man projects that it won't happen for the next 1.5 years. He's taking measures to protect himself now. Let's just finish this project as soon as possible."

Melanie: "After we hand off all the projects at hand, your father and I will take a year long vacation. During this time, David will continue to socialize and keep appearance with his clients since that will provide the most exposure in public. But in private you will work closely with John to be onsite and manage the construction. John, you will be the voice and face for this project using an alias. Your Father and I will manage the hiring rotation and design planning of both the houses and the battlecruisers."

John: "We will need to rent a secure warehouse in the next few cities over under a different name. We can't use anything that can tie back to ourselves."

They continued discussing for a while before all deciding to visit their biggest empty warehouse. John and David proceeded to empty out their space rings while Melanie and Joseph took stock of the inventory. There was so much stuff.

In their eyes, the unassuming silver bands are like the shiniest and brightest treasure. Luckily it doesn't attract that much attention. After taking stock of the inventory they put everything away according to the timeline of the construction and went back to their office to work.

Melanie made a list of materials missing and machines required to do the work. Joseph worked on a rough draft of the house floor plans that Aria mentioned.

John, noticing there are no battlecruisers inside the space ring pulled some strings to visit a large military base the next day. This way they also will get to see the security features as well as weapons. Aries mentioned personal security so he assumed she would want to upgrade the home and ship's security systems as well as have different weapons to deter others from harming him. Even though he will work under an alias for protection, he had to use his military connections now for Aries to shop for the correct things.

David was thinking about the same thing. He deals with celebrities and important people under the cameras. Besides bodyguards, there are a lot of security measures that a star has in place on their bodies to prevent disaster or injury.

Like a personal sound shield that prevents sounds from inside being heard or outside sounds to distract the users. This is popular with celebrities when they go out in public.

They would activate the sound shield and only those they chose through the display would be included with them. The shield accessory was an earbud. With a tap on the bud, a thin metal wire would come out from the bud to the side of the temple and a display is projected into the iris.

Through the dashboard, an individual can include or exclude any person they want to communicate with. By default everyone is excluded. As for how others know when it's on, the same thin metal wire would project a blurred slightly opaque "mask" in front of the user. This blocks the public from seeing their face, making eye contact, or reading lips. When in a group setting, the wire required the speakers to be within 10 feet of one another and the light would blur the other person's face as well.

The price range depends on battery duration, accessories size, number of approved speakers to be shielded, etc. Political members usually own the highest priced and most upgraded sound shield accessory due to the confidential nature of their conversations.

Another thing that's quite popular with these high profiled people is the personal perimeter guard made by the same company. It is a thin wrist band that emits a high frequency sound wave as well as a force field barrier keeping people at a certain distance.

These types of technology have only been around for the last 6 years and everyone wanted them. The problem was that the price tag was too high. Access to the store requires an appointment and a word of mouth recommendation. The company only has a handful of locations in Country M, and has not considered expanding outside its country due to certain restrictions and red tapes they have to work through with other country's governments.

David's relationships with this company was very good since all his clients are high rollers, so he was easily able to book an appointment in the afternoon the next day for Aries, himself, and his brother. David figured that Aries will benefit greatly from owning these personal accessories since there will be instances where communications between them can't wait until they get to a secure location.

The family of four emailed Aria with the next plan of action and appointments they have booked for the next day, cc-ing everyone else. Since only 4 of them are managing the project, they all have to know exactly what's going on at all times. Aria confirmed the appointments and plans from the four and sent a request in return for access to a small secure warehouse to use for the duration of her stay in Country M. John sent her the address and passcode access in response.

-----

Aria spent the rest of the day walking around and eating good food. She loved the simple and filling food of Country M since they are not too greasy. Not a lot of oil was used in their cooking... just a lot of butter. Being reminded of that, Aria made a trip to a wholesale spice market that caters to restaurateurs.

During the ZA, a year after all the food was consumed, people started eating the mutated plants and animals. Although they were meatier and hardier, the gameyness of the meat was not pleasant to consume. Natural spices were later foraged but the refining and processing methods were crude and raw materials were limited. So any remaining spice was like gold in people's eyes.

Hmm... Should she also visit some spice processing plants to copy those materials and machines as well? Sending a quick email inquiry to John to take her to places who specialize in the productions of spices, bugs, cotton, silk, tea, fruit trees, oil trees, coffee, etc.

Country M and Country C amongst others won the war, but Country M has always excelled at farming and husbandry due to their highly regulated system.

Country C are very strict with imports from other countries but they are much more lenient with their own people's businesses. Suffice to say, corruption and bribery is a well known thing to get certain quality approved.

Rubbing her temple, Aria is suddenly overwhelmed by the list of things she needed to collect. Food, animals, seeds, bugs, everything. Once her space gets bigger, she imagined it'll act like a Noah's Ark, preserving the pure DNA of everything that the world has before the ZA. Perhaps when there are no more zombies or mutations happening, then she can release all the animals back into the world to repopulate it back to the way it was. No matter how unlikely that will be...

-- Author's Notes --

(^０^)ノ New characters!

Also, I just realized the chapters are getting longer. It used to be around 600 words but we're at ~2200ish with this newest chapter. If broken out, it can be 2-3 chapter releases instead of 1. What do you you guys prefer? Longer chapters or MORE chapters?