Chapter 38: Chapter 38

Her Source Energy had now reached 42 points.

She still had 85 coal blocks and 443 stone blocks in her inventory, and her level 2 experience bar was almost full.

If she worked hard today, she’d have enough Source Energy to upgrade her backpack.

She quickly ran to the chest, grabbed a bed, a stack of sticks, a stack of bread, and a full waterskin, then headed through the innermost door of the stone chamber."

"Behind the door was the mining tunnel she had painstakingly dug out, with torches set at intervals along the stone walls on both sides. These torches never went out, illuminating the entire tunnel brightly.

Mu Ying hurried up to the upper levels, and only when she reached the top did she take out the stone pickaxe she had prepared from her backpack and began striking the stone in front of her.

After digging through about twenty blocks of stone, she finally uncovered a familiar chunk of black coal. Her spirits lifted, and she rushed over to mine it.

“One, two, three… five pieces!”

Mu Ying watched as her experience bar inched forward again—finally, she’d reached the next level.

Almost there, almost there—the storage pouch was within reach!

The mining tunnel was filled with gray stone blocks, all with identical patterns.

Mining only required continuous strikes; she didn’t even need to use much strength—a light tap was enough.

So it was an extremely monotonous task, but Mu Ying found it enjoyable, because you never knew if the next strike would reveal a chunk of coal.

It was like opening a blind box, an addictive thrill.

Now, with the storage equipment she’d been longing for dangling just ahead, she was even more energized, and her mining speed picked up.

As long as she remembered to replenish her stamina, she didn’t feel tired at all.

Halfway through, she used the single bed she carried with her to quickly pass the night.

“Forty-six points!”

By the time she’d completely hollowed out the mountain, she’d finally collected the last set of stone blocks she needed.

She opened her backpack, clicked on the coal and stone blocks, and selected Source Energy Conversion.

She took out the backpack she’d prepared earlier.

Mu Ying had never seen another person in Block World, and after so long, she often talked to herself.

Now, unable to hold back, she said out loud what was on her mind: “Yes!”

Transformed items would appear in the real world—she’d have to leave the trial to see it.

There was still some time before today’s trial ended. Having just completed a major goal, the tension that had been holding her up suddenly released, and Mu Ying felt a bit lazy.

She simply dug a tunnel straight up to the mountaintop, climbed out, and gazed into the distance.

Blocky clouds, peaks of varying heights, winding rivers, and endless oak forests. Wait—was that a house?

It really was!

Mu Ying stared in surprise at the depths of the oak forest.

If her perception hadn’t greatly enhanced her vision, she wouldn’t have been able to confirm it.

At the end of a tributary leading into the forest, there seemed to be a lake, and by the lakeshore, something taller than the oaks—a wooden structure—looked just like a house.

And not just one or two.

She gazed intently in that direction.

Ever since she learned the trial world was a fictional energy world, she’d assumed there were no intelligent beings here. Now, she realized she might have been wrong.

She couldn’t help but remember the first night—the tattered clothes on those zombies. Could they have been people once?

Mu Ying was well aware of her current appearance—a mass of pixel blocks. With a bit more black, green, and red, she’d look almost no different from a zombie.

If zombies were once human, and there were no people around her during the day, where did the zombies come from?

Mu Ying was full of questions, but unfortunately, the trial was about to end, and she couldn’t investigate further.

She took one last look in that direction, then turned and slipped back into the mine, making it back to her stone chamber just before the trial ended.

On the second floor of the treehouse, Mu Ying opened her eyes in bed and felt something new in her hand.

She sat up with a start, yanked off the cloth covering the glowing cucumber at her bedside, and by its light, saw what she was holding.

A palm-sized brown pouch, made of leather, with a familiar pixelated face embroidered on it.

“…”

Wasn’t this the avatar of her Block World trial character?

Facepalm—

No one else could ever know this secret!

Mu Ying opened the pouch’s clasp and immediately sensed the space inside.

She looked around, then took the glowing cucumber from her bedside and placed it at the pouch’s opening. The cucumber disappeared from her hand, and the room fell into darkness.

The next moment, she lightly tapped the clasp and thought of the glowing cucumber—it popped right back out of the pouch.

Mu Ying spent a while playing with storing and retrieving items before finally stopping.

Yuan Gun Gun waddled over with its little basket on its back and tugged at the bedsheet.

“What is it?”

Yuan Gun Gun stretched out a furry little paw, patted its basket, then pointed at the storage pouch in Mu Ying’s hand, looking hopeful.

“…”

“No, your little basket can’t become like this. There’s no storage equipment shaped like a basket, and even if there were, your poor owner couldn’t afford it.”

Mu Ying said helplessly—her Source Energy was now zero.

Yuan Gun Gun put one paw on its hip and pointed with the other at the pile of coins in the corner, as if to say, “There’s plenty of money right there!”

“That’s bought with a different kind of money. These don’t work—they’re all spent!”

Mu Ying couldn’t help but laugh at the little guy’s expressive antics. The more anxious and indignant it got, the cuter it seemed—especially that look of righteous accusation. Pfft—haha!