Chapter 95: “Time Difference, This Is Just Too Unfair!”

So, after repeatedly recalling her state of control that day, she was still amazed. That was a level she could never reach in her previous life, no matter how hard she tried. Although she couldn’t get back to that state now, she believed that since it had happened once, it meant she had the potential. Once her rank increased, it would come naturally.

Her control ability was gone, but her perception was still there. She could extend her senses seventy or eighty meters outside her body, which was perfect for finding hunting targets.

With the help of her perception, Bian Changxi managed to catch a mutated speckled snake that had grown a pair of fleshy wings, a mutated bird nesting in the grass, two clumsy mutated rabbits, and a giant female mantis that had bitten off her mate’s head during mating. Altogether, she obtained one first-tier white core and one second-tier white core.

She also discovered a mutated shrub. After hacking off its wildly waving stems, she dug up its roots and found a first-tier golden core inside.

—Mutated plants don’t necessarily grow green wood-type cores. They can grow any attribute core, all with equal probability. The only difference is that different attributes give them different bonuses.

The same goes for mutated animals and zombies.

Although Bian Changxi wasn’t entirely satisfied with her haul, it was getting late, so she had no choice but to head back to the factory.

She decided to sleep outside that night. Although the environment outside wasn’t great, staying in the space all the time was too comfortable—she couldn’t let herself get complacent.

She went into the space to check things first.

After absorbing three white cores, the space had grown a bit, but it was still only one or two square meters larger. She tied the two cows to the chicken coop, gave them and the chickens and ducks enough grass and feed, and scattered some fish food in the creek. Once the water upstairs cleared up again, she fetched a bucket to wash herself. The calf was still asleep, not even changing position. Seeing nothing was wrong, she went back outside.

As soon as she stepped out, she felt something was off.

She glanced out the window. The sky was still overcast, but it was much colder than before. The huge factory was filled with stagnant cold air, and chilly wind kept blowing in through the cracks. It was much colder than when she’d gone into the space earlier.

She shivered, puzzled. Had the weather become this weird already? She laid a sleeping mat and a blanket on the straw pile, lay down with her backpack and Tang sword at hand, and closed her eyes, ready for a good sleep.

But after just a few minutes, she suddenly opened her eyes. Something was wrong!

The light in the factory seemed even brighter than before. She jumped up and ran to the window, her mouth falling open.

A small half of the sun was rising on the horizon? The sun had clearly already set! She rubbed her eyes hard and stared again, only to see the reddish, ball-like sun climbing higher, radiating endless energy.

She was utterly shocked. Was this the legendary sun rising in the west?

But... she counted directions on her fingers. That really was the east!

Suddenly, a possibility struck her, and her face changed as she hurried back into the space.

After a while, the sun had climbed even higher, and as its rays shone in, she came out again. Looking at the watch she’d left outside, her face darkened, torn between wanting to laugh and cry.

She’d only spent a minute inside the space, but more than ten minutes had passed outside. What kind of ratio was that?

In other words, just by busying herself in the space—taking a shower and grabbing a bite to eat—an entire night had passed outside, skipping straight from dusk to dawn.

How much time had passed outside when she’d slept so long before? No wonder the plants had mutated, the grass had grown so tall, and the main group had moved on without a trace of anyone left.

Thinking about how she’d planned to spend the night in the space, she felt a pang in her teeth.

Great, if she stayed in the space for a few more days, she could literally watch the world change before her eyes!

This was just too unfair!

Bian Changxi slumped down in defeat. She’d been secretly pleased about advancing to Tier 2 early, but now it seemed she’d fallen out of sync with the world. Whether she was ahead or behind was anyone’s guess.

With that in mind, she quickly got the two cows and the calf out of the space. Staying in there was just a waste of time! No wonder the calf was always sleepy—while hours passed for her, it hadn’t even slept ten minutes.

Now only one problem remained. She looked gloomily at her bed, then at the growing sunlight outside. Should she sleep or not?

...

In a short, wide alley, a woman in gray with a mask was weaving between four zombies. She moved with agility, dodging left and right, not letting those vicious, disgusting zombies even brush her clothes. Suddenly, she leapt onto a trash can by the wall and delivered a spinning kick, sending one zombie crashing into the opposite wall. She flipped down behind another, grabbed its head and jaw with her gloved hands, and twisted—crack! The zombie collapsed to the ground.

The third zombie was especially tall and had long arms. It lunged at her, arms outstretched. She ducked low, pivoted on her bent left leg, and swept her right leg out—smack!—knocking the zombie down. She couldn’t help but grimace at the pain. “That was tough.”

At that moment, the fourth zombie, which had been lingering on the edge, finally moved its mouth and spat out a fireball. The woman narrowed her eyes, dodged at lightning speed, and charged at it. Halfway there, she pushed off with her left foot, rose slightly into the air, and brought her right leg down hard on the zombie’s skull. Its already bulging eyes popped out, hanging from its rotting face, while its neck caved into its chest. It collapsed instantly.

She let out a breath, then drew the Tang sword from her back and finished off the four fallen foes.

This woman was none other than Bian Changxi. It had been two days since she’d discovered the massive time difference between the space and the outside world. In those two days, she’d avoided entering the space as much as possible, only popping in briefly to check on the chickens, ducks, cows, and fish—never staying more than half a minute. At the same time, she was more eager than ever to collect crystal cores to replenish the space’s energy.

Driven by this urgency, she finally absorbed the last bit of energy from her crystal cores, using her powers day and night to heal her body. She fully recovered yesterday and swept the little prairie one more time. Realizing she’d never get rich there, she decided to move on early and headed for Longyue Town.

Sure enough, there were plenty of zombies here. Those staggering creatures were practically walking crystal cores. In just a few hours, she’d killed over thirty zombies, collecting one blue core, one green core, and more than thirty white cores—mostly first-tier, with only a few second-tier.

She threw all the white cores into the space for it to absorb. The first-tier green core was only slightly better than nothing for her current level, but at least it matched her attribute, so she kept it for herself. The blue core she saved as part of her growing wealth.

Of course, her impressive haul and efficiency were largely because she was only skirting the outskirts of Longyue Town, where first-tier zombies were the majority and fairly scattered. If she went deeper into town, things would get much tougher.

With her Tier 2 strength, fighting these low-level zombies was almost bullying, so she used them as practice for her new powers. After a while, she couldn’t help but get excited—her physical abilities had improved dramatically. She felt bursting with energy, and every time she saw a zombie move, her mind would automatically map out how to counter it without powers or weapons. So... she started fighting them hand-to-hand.

The results were satisfying. As martial arts novels say, “All martial arts under heaven are unbreakable”—she now felt that as long as your body, reflexes, strength, and mind were sharp, you’d have a huge advantage in a fight. Training her combat skills was twice as effective as before.

She happily dug out two first-tier white cores and one second-tier white core. The fire-type zombie even gave her a second-tier red core.

She took off her gloves and mask, wiping sweat from her brow. Even as a Tier 2, with improved resistance to heat and cold, she was still drenched. Her clothes were stained all over. She frowned—at her current rate of changing every two or three days, she only had enough clothes in the space for another month or so, and she hadn’t had much chance to scavenge before. She didn’t have many loose tracksuits left. Food was running out, too, and she couldn’t count on the space to grow any more vegetables or grain for now. If she didn’t restock soon, life would get tough.

She looked toward the center of town. After all that warm-up, it was time to go deeper.

She wiped her blade clean with the mask, tossed it aside, shook out her gloves and hung them at her waist, then took out her motorcycle and rode forward.

The road into town was a concrete highway, lined with trees and some factories and homes. Further out were rice paddies, now overgrown with weeds but full of life. The road was littered with wrecked cars and old bloodstains and remains. She could even tell which vehicles belonged to convoys, though she didn’t know if they were left by the main group or the earlier scouting party of two thousand.

She memorized the route. If she couldn’t get through Longyue Town, she’d have to double back and take the mountain road.

The road wasn’t long. In less than five minutes, she reached a gas station next to a small middle school. She parked her bike, slung on her backpack, and looked around. The gas tanks were bone dry, the convenience store had been cleaned out, and the school was silent and empty. That was normal—unlike universities, middle schools didn’t have everyone living on campus, so there wouldn’t be crowds of people or zombies.

The small restaurants and snack shops outside the school were also empty, just a mess left behind.

Up ahead was a fork in the road. Bian Changxi had never been to Longyue Town and didn’t know where the main shopping areas were. Judging by the situation, the smaller, scattered shops were probably already picked clean—only the more dangerous places might still have what she needed. So, she headed toward the denser, taller buildings.

PS:

Thank you to Feng Zhong Xin Sheng for the Peach Blossom Fan—what a lovely surprise! You’re too generous, hugs and kisses!

Thank you to Qiqiao Yezi for the pink ticket! And thanks to everyone who’s supported me!

One more thing: I originally planned to wrap up this arc of Xiaoxi leaving the group in just a few chapters, but sitting at my computer this morning, nothing felt right. The more I thought about it, the more ideas I had, so I decided to slow down the pace! I personally prefer a more detailed style, but detailed doesn’t mean filler—I’ll do my best to write useful and interesting content!"