Suddenly, Zhang Yanhang thought of another possibility. "Is it possible that this new Transmission Channel was the supernatural encounter on October 9, while the Gathering Spirit Jade was the encounter on October 10? If that’s really the case, then the encounter on October 9 was too incredible, actually providing a Transmission Channel..."
Now that it was already midnight, according to the patterns he had deduced from triggering encounters previously, the Gathering Spirit Jade could indeed be the supernatural encounter of October 10.
Because each time he triggered an encounter before, it happened before midnight, never exactly at midnight. Thus, the encounter at this time point was more likely to belong to October 10 rather than October 9.
As for how to verify which day the Gathering Spirit Jade was the encounter of, this matter was actually quite simple. One only needed to wait another twenty-four hours. If Zhang Yanhang did not trigger a new encounter within these twenty-four hours, then the Gathering Spirit Jade would naturally be considered the encounter of October 10.
If he triggered a new encounter, then the Gathering Spirit Jade was probably the encounter of October 9. Although he occasionally experienced multiple encounters in a day before, those were low probability events. Normally, he would at most have one encounter a day.
Thus, using this method to verify which day’s encounter the Gathering Spirit Jade was should be relatively reliable unless he happened to be lucky enough to trigger some new encounters tomorrow.
"So, I choose Option Three, the self-control youth." Compared to being called a self-control youth, Zhang Yanhang preferred being referred to as a promising young man, but unfortunately, given Zhang Yanhang’s introverted character and his habit of staying home during holidays, outsiders who didn’t know the truth would probably just think he was unambitious.
If Zhang Yanhang were associated with the two-dimensional world, he might be called an otaku, but unfortunately, he was neither two-dimensional nor overweight, though he indeed watched anime series, and due to his muscular build, he appeared quite large, but this was definitely not a reason for him to be called an otaku.
After making his choice, the area before Zhang Yanhang turned dark, then dark again, or rather, although he had left the Ashen World, everything he could see remained engulfed in darkness.
The main reason was that Zhang Yanhang hadn’t turned on the lights to keep others from realizing someone was in the room. If previously, around eight o’clock, it was still quite light outside and there were street lamps for illumination, now, at midnight, it was pitch-black outside and the street lamps were gone, hence the room appeared exceptionally dark.
Although there was faint moonlight filtering through the window into the living room where Zhang Yanhang was, it was almost negligible, so the dominant hue in front of Zhang Yanhang remained black.
"Forget it, I’ll just go home first, I’m really too tired today, having been hunting monsters in the Ashen World the whole time." But before going home, Zhang Yanhang took out his phone and snapped a photo of the rental information which had the landlord’s phone number and QQ number on it, which he could use to contact the person when renting the place tomorrow.
After taking the photo, Zhang Yanhang scanned the room with Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil to make sure he hadn’t left any traces, then nodded in reassurance. When he rented the place, the landlord might bring him over to see the apartment, and it would be quite embarrassing if he had left noticeable traces like his footprints. Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs novel⚑fire.net
Zhang Yanhang quietly opened the door of apartment 702 and softly closed the anti-theft door to avoid any neighbors hearing the noise. Although he didn’t have the keys, it didn’t stop him from locking the door. The versatile Alchemy was activated once again, and the door lock was transformed into its locked state.
After confirming that the anti-theft door was successfully locked, Zhang Yanhang quietly walked down the stairs. As it was midnight, he didn’t encounter any residents going up or down the stairs and made his way downstairs without interruption.
Zhang Yanhang scanned the surrounding environment with Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil and, finding no one on the streets, he immediately ran at top speed out of East River District. Although he was indeed very tired, he had rested for over an hour, so his physical strength had somewhat recovered.
The restored physical strength might not enable him to hunt many monsters, but it was certainly enough to run home comfortably.
When occasionally encountering cars and pedestrians on the road, Zhang Yanhang would slightly reduce his speed. Since the school was very close to his home, he quickly arrived back at Xingfuli District.
Standing at the entrance of Xingfuli District, Zhang Yanhang began searching for the Gathering Spirit Jade mentioned in the options, but after looking around the roadside, he couldn’t find the so-called Gathering Spirit Jade. "Could I have looked in the wrong place? It shouldn’t be."
Zhang Yanhang gradually expanded the Perception Range of Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil, initially only exploring the surface but eventually penetrating underground. Eventually, Zhang Yanhang found a dark, slick stone fifteen meters deep under the ground to the left of the district gate. "Could this be the Gathering Spirit Jade?"
"Located fifteen meters underground, how am I supposed to retrieve it? I can’t possibly dig up the ground, can I?" Zhang Yanhang thought, perhaps it was time for the all-powerful Alchemy to make an appearance again.
Zhang Yanhang squatted down and placed his hands on a section of the road tiles. Alchemy was instantly activated, a sequence of Alchemy Arrays penetrated deep into the ground directly reaching the Gathering Spirit Jade. As Zhang Yanhang continued to input Energy Value, the soil and sand around the Gathering Spirit Jade surged, and it started to lift itself slowly.
Various obstructions along the way, whether large stones or soil, were actively cleared by the Alchemy Array, allowing the Gathering Spirit Jade to pass through smoothly.
Minutes later, accompanied by a slight tremor, the Gathering Spirit Jade, encircled by a golden Alchemy Array, forcefully pushed open the road tiles and appeared in front of Zhang Yanhang.
After obtaining this dark, slick Gathering Spirit Jade, Zhang Yanhang briefly checked its effectiveness and, confirming that it seemed to be useful, restored the road tiles to their original state.
As for the underground part, it remained as it was, just a slightly abnormal soil layer, which didn’t affect walking, so he didn’t waste the Energy Value on it.
"Speaking of which, if the Gathering Spirit Jade is to be effective, it probably can’t just be tossed into the Waist Bag, can it?" Zhang Yanhang thought. This type of Spiritual Artifact should ideally be carried on the person, so he placed it into his waist pouch.
While normal people would usually hang jade pendants around their waist, Zhang Yanhang didn’t bother with such tedious tasks. After all, keeping it in his miscellaneous pouch would still let it function effectively.