October 19th, 11 days after the end of the Mid-Autumn and National Day holidays, and also the fifth day since Zhang Yanhang left the Main World, 11:30 PM, at the Crimson Iron Ore Vein, small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dala Gu, Outer Zone. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel•fire.net
At this moment, Zhang Yanhang was carrying a slot machine while moving at high speed. He had initially estimated that it might take him over fifty minutes to return to the C-shaped channel.
But whether it was because he had become more familiar with the pathways of the Crimson Iron Ant Nest, he had only taken half an hour to cover two-thirds of the distance.
So, basing on his current pace, Zhang Yanhang felt that he would need at most another fifteen minutes to finish the remaining distance. Saving time for playing the slot machine shouldn’t be a problem.
By the way, although Zhang Yanhang’s time seemed extremely tight on the surface, tight enough that a delay of a few minutes would prevent his return to the Main World, this was actually because he hadn’t activated the Spiritual Qi Blessing.
Should something delay him midway, he could always ensure an on-time arrival at the transmission channel by activating the Spiritual Qi Blessing.
As for why Zhang Yanhang didn’t activate the Spiritual Qi Blessing from the start to speed up his journey? That was naturally because most of his energy value had been spent on tunneling.
Thus, if Zhang Yanhang really got delayed by some unexpected issues, although he could indeed activate the Spiritual Qi Blessing, the specific endurance would then have to be maintained by small Magic Recovery Potions.
Feeling it was a loss to drink a small Magic Recovery Potion to save twenty minutes, Zhang Yanhang thus hadn’t activated the Spiritual Qi Blessing right from the start.
Just as Zhang Yanhang was moving uniformly at a speed of eighty-two meters per second, the surrounding air suddenly shifted with a clear sense of damping—undoubtedly, Time Pause had descended again.
However, this time, it seemed to be a regular option—Zhang Yanhang glanced at the option box, and indeed, it was giving him the choice to continue hunting monsters in the Ashen World.
"Continue hunting monsters in the Ashen World?"
"Option One: Yes (This is your second time to the Crimson Iron Ore Vein in the Ashen World. Last time, after briefly exploring the Crimson Iron Ore Vein, you found that the area opposite the transmission channel had been turned into an environment highly suitable for the Crimson Iron Ants, although not so much for you.
Yet, you also know that hostility towards invaders is quite normal. Unlike last time when you merely explored, this time your goal was to completely eliminate all the Crimson Iron Ants from the small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dala Gu, and indeed you succeeded. But you weren’t satisfied; instead, you wanted to continue hunting more monsters.)"
"Option Two: Continue (After you completely cleared out the small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dala Gu, you unexpectedly found yourself actually quite fond of the environment, especially the quiet passages and caves inside. With no more Crimson Iron Ants possibly emerging from every crevice, the scenery wasn’t bad.
Although the scenery in the small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dala Gu was quite nice, you’ve grown tired of it after staying for several days. Thus, driven by the human trait of novelty-seeking, you decided to create a new tranquil scenic area and began furiously slaughtering the monsters in a new region.)"
"Option Three: Go home (Although clearing out the entire small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dala Gu brought massive gains in terms of Soul Points and items, including equipment, thus causing your strength to surge rapidly, it had taken a toll on your energy and physical strength.
Having hunted so many monsters, you now felt mentally and physically exhausted and no longer wanted to continue. Just then, you learned that the transmission channel was closing in half an hour, prompting you to quickly make your way towards the transmission channel.)"
"These options feel a bit off this time, especially the second one; it makes me sound like some kind of psychopathic killer, creating a ’tranquil scenic area’ indeed. Was I there to enjoy the scenery? I didn’t have time for that, as I was clearly working hard on tunneling the whole time.
Besides, I hunted those monsters because I wanted to gain Soul Points and Drop Treasure Boxes, not because I wanted to clear out all the monsters in the area—it was only because the Evaluation Settlement Treasure Box had requirements for completeness that I ended up creating a new ’tranquil scenic area,’ but the result was completely opposite to the intention."
Speaking of the topic of working hard on tunneling, it was worth mentioning that Zhang Yanhang had not slept for four days and nights, continuously laboring on the tunneling work without rest.
He had reached this state because Zhang Yanhang found that if he did not exert much physical strength, he did not feel sleepy—a realization he had made back during the First Tier Period.
Back then, if he just lay in bed playing games, he would only start feeling tired and sleepy after playing continuously for two or three days.
This time, the task of tunneling the channel similarly required little physical exertion; all Zhang Yanhang had to do was sit at the base of the tunnel and continuously separate the Crimson Iron Ore Pillars using Alchemy.
The only physical exertion might have been climbing the Crimson Iron Chains to return from the vertical tunnel to the inner area of the small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dala Gu, but that was negligible compared to the energy expenditure of swinging punches at full speed; so negligible that it couldn’t even catch up with the speed of Zhang Yanhang’s recovery.
Therefore, maintaining full physical strength throughout, it was indeed quite normal for Zhang Yanhang to not sleep at all for just four days and nights, especially since he had reached the Second Tier Period as a Transcendent Awakener, which unquestionably also transcended ordinary human limitations regarding sleep.
Zhang Yanhang even felt that with this level of work intensity, continuing without sleep for a week would likely pose no significant issue.
However, mechanically tunneling through the channel, despite not being physically demanding, was truly boring and tedious. Maintaining such a state could easily induce sleepiness, so Zhang Yanhang usually distracted himself by engaging in other activities.