October 1, 2020, the first day of the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday, in the afternoon at 2:21 PM.
Zhang Yanhang had just continuously concocted a hundred red and green pills for emergencies, although he now had an energy shield provided by Technique Immunity. However, when facing tyrants, especially the Second Tier Second Star Lord Monster Tracker, he still risked losing Life Value, so it was always good to be prepared.
Now, Zhang Yanhang was taking a rest, or rather, he had officially started his three-day slouching life. He was currently scrolling through TikTok; since the recovery of Spiritual Qi, quite a few social media influencers who were Awakeners had emerged, quickly capturing their share of the spotlight with their purely natural, pollution-free real special effects (superpowers).
Of course, it was still important to be creative; otherwise, merely having cool superpowers would definitely not catch fire. After all, the number of Awakeners in the Empire reached more than two million, so competition was fierce.
After scrolling through TikTok for a while, Zhang Yanhang’s phone emitted a sound that was both unfamiliar and familiar, "Wu Lake!"
It was unfamiliar because this voice had some differences from what he considered his own voice, and familiar because this word was indeed shouted by himself yesterday, and also the figure on the screen was indeed himself.
The reason for this phenomenon was due to differences caused by the medium of transmission; when he spoke, he primarily heard his own voice through bone conduction, where sound attenuation is reduced in solids, so it sounded slightly more pleasant.
Whereas, hearing his own voice from the phone relied mainly on air transmission, where the air’s transmission compared to solids and liquids experiences greater attenuation, making his own voice sound less pleasant.
Zhang Yanhang usually could only hear his own voice through bone conduction most of the time. As for air transmission? Because he had no one to voice chat with, he hardly ever encountered it, so that’s why the voice felt unfamiliar.
If someone were to voice chat with Zhang Yanhang, he guessed he would become familiar with his voice, but unfortunately, there was no one, and moreover, he didn’t want anyone. He thought that spending time chatting would be better spent doing other meaningful things.
In fact, back in high school, there were girls who had asked him to go out and have fun, like going to an amusement park or watching a movie. However, Zhang Yanhang had always been too lazy to go; there was only one day off a week in high school, adding up to just four days in a month. He felt that even gaming time was insufficient, so how could he possibly waste time on other things?
"This can be recorded? Is it based on muscle memory filming?" Zhang Yanhang glanced at the username of the account that posted the video and found that the name was directly Zhao Yalan, followed by a yellow Awakener verification icon. The profile picture was a 2D beauty that Zhang Yanhang did not recognize.
Her video about Zhang Yanhang had a whopping 154,000 likes, and he estimated that the view count must be several million, "Are modern people really this idle? Such a video can get more than a hundred thousand likes..."
Zhang Yanhang scrolled through Zhao Yalan’s account, which had a total of 220,000 followers. Aside from the post from yesterday, the most likes any of her other posts had received were only about thirty or forty thousand, "Even though this person herself isn’t popular, the options suggest I could get more than a hundred thousand followers through her."
Zhang Yanhang scrolled through some of the top comments on this video with a high number of likes. The first comment read, "Wu Lake! Takeoff!" The second comment said, "Not very harmful, but highly insulting." The third comment stated, "You haven’t updated for a minute; even the farm’s donkey wouldn’t dare to rest !" This text is hosted at novｅlfire.net
Although Zhang Yanhang came across this video about himself, he simply gave Zhao Yalan a follow and then flipped to the next post.
Yes, there was no further follow-up. His life was just that tranquil and mundane.
October 4, 2020, the fourth day of the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday, in the evening at 9:29 PM.
Having learned from the lesson that sleeping in the nude led to him having no clothes in the Ashen World, this time Zhang Yanhang was fully armed and lying on the bed with all the equipment he could wear, making him look like a ready riot police, "I remember the options said that the portal would open at 9:30, right?"
After waiting for about a minute, time abruptly paused, and the familiar text option box appeared before Zhang Yanhang.
[Do you want to enter the Ashen World?]
[Option One: Yes (Immediately enter the Ashen World to hunt monsters and restart the Raccoon City Outer Zone cleanup plan.)]
[Option Two: No (Refuse to enter the Ashen World but feel it’s a waste to go to sleep immediately, so start gaming all night and also cultivate. At 1:59 AM, you will encounter a ghost woman attracted by the big meal of your strong Yang Qi, Evil Odor Blood Absorption Moss, and Xuanyin Fruit.)]
[Option Three: Temporarily ignore (Recommended for those with decision-making difficulties; you will be tormented and struggle with whether to enter the Ashen World, and will fall asleep at 2 AM. You will then start dreaming and continue your relationship with the ragged lady you dreamed of before, and this time there will be additional multiplayer interaction options.)]
"Why is it half an hour earlier this time? What exactly is the reason?" Zhang Yanhang remembered that the three choices he had triggered before were always at 10 PM, but this time it was moved up to 9:30 PM, which was quite strange.
"Could it be that something has changed in the Ashen World? It shouldn’t be... but it’s not completely impossible... But since I can still enter the Ashen World, it shouldn’t be a big problem." Due to the lack of clues, Zhang Yanhang decided to temporarily give up thinking about this complex issue.
Zhang Yanhang refocused his attention on the options, "Option Two still involves the ghost woman, huh? Is there a ghost woman who has taken root in the Xingfuli District? But I previously didn’t sense any ghosts nearby, so where did this ghost come from, and moreover, she’s even coveting my Xuanyin Fruits."
This Xuanyin Fruit mentioned in the options was something Zhang Yanhang had picked up the day before yesterday on a small road near the funeral parlour in Qin Island City. It could nourish Yin Qi. Specifically, it could enhance beauty if eaten by a female, which meant increasing the Charm value. For males with strong Yang Qi, especially someone like Zhang Yanhang, consuming it would decrease Charm.
Of course, it did not rule out the possibility of some males with strong Yin Qi also experiencing an increase in Charm value after eating the Xuanyin Fruit, like cross-dressers, for example.