“Are you going now?”
Standing atop Hope Plains, they looked at the land that had undergone the baptism of the “rain”; the soil had become even darker and lush, jade-green, trees were growing in the distance.
He could not tell by Zhong Qingshu’s voice if she was sad or calm.
“Uh-huh. My mission’s finished for now. I have to go!”
“With the guns and ammunition I’ve left behind for you, along with the plans we made for the shelter’s future direction of development, I believe there should be no problems in the short term.”
Before the reward for having gone through the first disaster had even been released, and even before the game panel went through an update to version 1.0, the game panel was already urging Su Mo to quickly leave this world.
Hurried beeping sounds would chirp in his ear every three or four seconds.
The game’s mission panel revealed a jade-green progress bar that indicated a 120% completion rate, meaning that Su Mo had already successfully completed the mission of saving enough humans upon entering the ruins of time this time.
The final five-minute countdown in the top right corner was the time allocated by the game panel as a “reward” after considering many factors.
“If the next mission…”
“Shh!”
With no declarations of love being as eternal as the sea and mountains, or promises to never change, Zhong Qingshu’s gently pressed her red lips against Su Mo’s, stopping Su Mo’s words from coming.
By the time this intoxicating and delicate kiss had ended, when Zhong Qingshu’s arms loosened, Su Mo had already vanished from the land.
Aside from the trace of his fragrance lingering in the air, Su Mo was like an foreign visitor who had never really “existed”.
“Next time, you’ll definitely return!”
Summoning the game panel and hearing the many notification prompts that suddenly rang in her ears, Zhong Qingshu smiled sweetly, without a trace of sadness in her eyes.
She believed that Su Mo would definitely come back!
No matter what the cost!
This was her intuition, and also the belief that her subconscious had been conveying to her.
…
[Record]: Congratulations to player “Su Mo” for completing the ruins of time mission. Mission completion rate: 120%.
[Record]: Congratulations to player “Su Mo” for surpassing the mission’s requirements. The reward is being calculated and multiplied.
[Record]: Congratulations to player “Su Mo” for activating the self-chosen reward function. Please open the game panel to make your own decisions and choose your reward.
Standing in the void of space, Su Mo curiously evaluated the mysterious grey substance around him that looked both tangible and endlessly distant at the same time.
Just a second ago, the two of them had still been warmly embracing and kissing each other.
The next second, Su Mo had been sent to this space, and his posture had not even changed much.
This kind of silent transportation method was so advanced that there was no warning or sensation at all. It was also something that only the mysterious game panel could do!
Seeing that Su Mo had no reaction, the sound once again echoed from all around him, repeating the previous statement given to him.
“Choosing my own reward item, huh. That’s new too…”
With a thought, he focused mentally. The game panel slowly appeared and displayed a choice between three items.
[Record]: Player “Su Mo” has received 100% of the time currency reward. The reward will be issued automatically after the reward selection process is over.
[Record]: Player “Su Mo” can use the excess 20% completion rate to select a reward. Only one reward can be selected and the choice cannot be changed after the selection. Please make the decision yourself.
After the short notification prompt, a 360-second countdown appeared in the selection panel’s top right corner.
“Three reward options, huh…”
He was not rushed. After quickly examining the shapes of the three items, Su Mo started checking out the properties from the first reward option.
[Item transfer limit +1: One item from all the received items can be brought out from the ruins of time.]
“It’s definitely a good thing to be able to bring more items out, but since I have the card from before to bring out the epic treasure chest, there’s no harm in missing out on this reward!”
The items he received in the ruins of time were mostly of the good-quality level. The occasional excellent-quality level items were also just useless trash.
Items of such quality were gradually increasing in the main world currently. There was no need at all to waste this reward option on these items.
Sweeping his gaze over to the second reward option, the property panel appeared before his eyes.
[Time currency (30 days)*1: 30 day’s worth of time currency. Possesses unbelievable effects and an extremely high price.]
“Another time currency reward, and it’s 30 days’ worth!”
After seeing the first reward option, although Su Mo had been mentally prepared, he was still slightly surprised by the second reward option.
Thirty days’ worth of time currency was too useful at this stage of the game. As long as he had two or three of them, it would be enough for Su Mo to nurture sufficient seeds during the upcoming welfare disaster.
Still, nothing could have prepared him for the surprise he felt when the third reward option was revealed.
Su Mo’s gaze was a mixture of ecstasy and seriousness.
Without hesistation, after checking and confirming that there were no issues with the reward’s properties, Su Mo instantly selected the third reward option. With a flash of light, the game panel disappeared.
[Record]: Player “Su Mo” has chosen “Bond” and will automatically be bound to the current mission’s ruins of time.
[Record]: When you next enter the ruins of time, player Su Mo will only be able to arrive at the bonded ruins to carry out the second mission.
[Record]: Congratulations to player “Su Mo” for completing the mission. The reward has been placed in the storage space.
[Record]: The flow of time in the ruins of time cannot be offset by time currency. Time spent this time: 1680 minutes.
[Record]: Returning. Target: Candlelight Shelter. Counting down… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…
After choosing the reward, the game panel’s notification prompts roared like a series of explosions.
Before Su Mo could examine everything in detail, once the countdown ended, his vision darkened, and he experienced the sensation of the world turning upside down in his head.
This kind of violent transportation was a far cry from the gentle experience he had just undergone.
It felt as if he was tumbling around in a washing machine. In just a few short seconds, it felt like his guts were all going to be wrung out.
If Su Mo’s body had not been sufficiently strengthened, or if he had just been a regular person, he probably would have died on the spot.
Fortunately, the game panel was still a little humane. After a few seconds, the violent movement finally lessened by a few degrees, and the darkness started to fade as light began to enter his vision once again.
Using the ground for support, Su Mo shakily sat up and wearily opened his eyelids.
Not far from him was the familiar Candlelight Shelter. Sitting on familiar ground, Su Mo was in a trance as he observed the foreign yet familiar Hope Plains.
“I’ve come back, huh…”
Producing a bottle of psychic energy water, he slowly gulped it down. When the mess in his head finally dissipated, Su Mo began to exert himself to stand to his feet.
This hill was the only high place on Hope Plains.
Standing here, he could see most of the surrounding land.
In his vision, Su Mo saw the excavator currently working hard in the field as well as…
The dense group of civilians in the Candlelight Shelter.
“I can’t use time currency to offset the time spent in the ruins of time, but that’s fine. Seeing that the elapsed time is just around 28 hours, the situation is still within acceptable limits.
“As for the time currency I received…”
Sucking in three large, deep breaths, and feeling his lungs return to normal, Su Mo shifted his attention and opened the storage space, examining its contents in detail.
The time currency in the storage space was very eye-catching. Like the cards and coupons, the currency did not take up space in the storage space. Instead, it floated in the darkness outside the space, swimming around slowly like a fish.
“One day’s worth of time currency is just like a regular coin, but now I actually have three currency items that exude even brighter colors. I’m rich!”
Strongly suppressing his inner excitement, Su Mo concentrated his thoughts to collect the currency items to check out their property panels clearly.
Among the tens of currency items floating about, the most were still normal one-day currencies.
He counted them. There were a total of more than thirty. Totaled up, it was more than a full month.
The second type of currency item had a slightly brighter bronze color. It appeared to be of higher quality and grade compared to the one-day currency items; and its time value reflected that as well, quintupled to five days’ worth.
He had a total of ten of this currency item. Totaled up, it was fifty days’ worth of time.
The even brighter copper-colored time currency doubled the value of the previous bronze ones, being worth 10 days. Three of these ten-day coins totaled up to a month’s worth of time.
Removing these, the Se Mo was left with the last three currency items. With a trace of expectation on his face, Su Mo smiled and examined the property panel of this final currency item.
Each of these was a month’s worth of time. Added together, that was a full three months of time, or 90 days!
Adding up all the currency together, Su Mo now had 200 days’ worth of time currency.
Not only did it largely surpass what Su Mo had hoped to receive, but even after deducting Zhong Qingshu’s portion and the amount set aside to cultivate seeds, there would likely be still plenty of time currency remaining.
“Entering the ruins of time this time around was the right choice. It’s a pity that I don’t know when the next time would be.”
Having placed too much emphasis into this chance to enter before the upcoming flood, it seemed that if he wanted to enter the ruins of time again, he would have to wait until the arrival of the fifth disaster.
Shaking his head, Su Mo tossed all the distracting thoughts to the back of his mind and rearranged the clothes he had on him. He took out his rifle and swaggered toward the crowd.
In the distance, when the first person noticed Su Mo’s figure, cheers instantly swelled.
Chen Shen and the others, who had been supervising the work, threw their tools down and rushed to Su Mo’s side, starting to urgently express their concerns.
Compared to the ruins of time, the main world had a tad more noise and smoke.
However, this atmosphere was completely broken when Zhong Qingshu appeared.
“You’re back? Did you get it?”
“Uh-huh! Not a bad harvest!”
Seeing her familiar, pretty face, unconsciously, Su Mo’s gaze turned gentle.
This gaze startled Zhong Qingshu, but she did not reveal any odd expressions after that. Instead, she nodded her head meaningfully and quietly stepped to the side.
No matter whether it was the version of her in the ruins of time or in the main world, they were both so smart they made his heart hurt. He could not feel any disgust for her at all.
After giving another round of greetings and reassurances to the refugees, Su Mo shrugged his shoulders and took a deep long breath before walking over to a tree, standing under its shade alongside Zhong Qingshu.
“My gains were decent this time—a total of 200 days. Based on our agreement, I’ll give you 30. Take the excess as a gift.”
Previously, he had spent fun nights with her in the ruins of time, but now he had to act proper.
Seeing Su Mo’s uneasy appearance, laughter burst from Zhong Qingshu, and she used her small fist to lightly knock Su Mo’s shoulder.
“Hey, why are you acting so weird now after entering the ruins once? Something’s not right. There’s something really wrong with you!”
She scrutinized him and, just as Zhong Qingshu was about to press the subject further, Su Mo produced the time currency, and she was unable to tear her gaze from the coins at all.
The mysterious currency attracted the gazes of everyone who could see it, as if it contained some sort of magic.
“This is a 30-day one. I have the same amount in one-day coins too. Which one do you want?”
“Definitely the 30-day one. You take the one-day coins and use them when you need to!”
Nodded joyfully, Zhong Qingshu took the coin and put it into her own storage space, smiling.
Following the interruption of the time currency, Zhong Qingshu also “seemed” to have forgotten the previous matter and began to inform Su Mo regarding the huge changes that had taken place in their surroundings over the past 28 hours.
