"The closing time of the Transmission Channel actually got extended?" But rather than an extension, Zhang Yanhang felt it was more like the opening time had moved up, while the closing time remained the same, resulting in a change in the duration of the Transmission Channel.
"So, why would the Transmission Channel open earlier in the first place?" He could speculate reasons for other things, but Zhang Yanhang couldn’t figure out why this change happened.
Initially, Zhang Yanhang thought there had been some transformation in the Ashen World, but after hunting monsters there for eight hours, besides newly spawned monsters, he found no differences from the Ashen World he left last time.
"Ah, it really is baffling." Zhang Yanhang struggled to recall the details, but had no clues as to why it began half an hour earlier so abruptly.
"So the question arises, since it opened half an hour earlier this time, will the Transmission Channel open earlier next time?" If it did open earlier, Zhang Yanhang figured his return home would also be earlier, which was uncertain if it was a good thing.
Although in some ways, the earlier opening of the Transmission Channel could be good, it could also be bad since Zhang Yanhang feared that if the opening time moved too much earlier next time, he might end up entering the Ashen World in the afternoon on a weekday.
Zhang Yanhang’s usual school finishing times were at 5:30 PM, or 3:30 PM when he had fewer classes. Hence, if the Transmission Channel to the Ashen World opened during those hours, he’d inevitably have to skip classes, but that was unavoidable, as the Ashen World was undoubtedly more important than school.
Regarding skipping classes, Zhang Yanhang always felt no psychological pressure; in fact, he believed that not skipping any classes during college life would make it incomplete. After all, skipping classes just affected regular scores, and as long as one did well in the final exams, it was fine, since scoring over sixty was enough to earn the credits normally.
"I remember I was supposed to ask the fellow Awakeners in the Awakeners’ group chat about the Ashen World, but I forgot because playing games was just too enjoyable." Zhang Yanhang resolved to have a good chat with the Awakeners in the group once he got back.
"Although I’ve successfully cleared the Second Tier Stage, I’ve only just begun clearing less than half of the Third Stage. In such a situation, how can I possibly go home? I must continue to push on, so I choose Option One, to keep hunting monsters in the Ashen World."
Zhang Yanhang was now working for himself, in a performance-based income model, so trying something like a "007" mission was feasible since he felt that at twenty, he was at the right age to work hard and wasn’t likely to drop dead from overexertion.
In these eight hours, Zhang Yanhang had successfully completed both the First Tier Stage and Second Tier Stage he had redrawn; the First Tier Stage took about an hour, which was about what he had predicted because the spawn rate of zombies wasn’t high, and most were on the main streets, so the cleanup was relatively quick. Read full story at novel fire.net
The next was the Second Tier Stage, around the Slot machine area, covering about three square kilometers. Due to Zhang Yanhang’s increased clearing speed, it only took him two and a half hours to clear.
Then came the Third Stage, covering the area from the Slot machine to the Big Treasure Box, the largest area among all stages. After measurements by Zhang Yanhang, the total area was a full thirteen square kilometers; so far, he had only cleared five square kilometers of it.
Compared to the total thirteen square kilometers, these five square kilometers were just over a third but still significantly less than half – a subtle proportion. Zhang Yanhang really didn’t want to return to the Main World at this point.
Since it was the holiday season, Zhang Yanhang had nothing urgent awaiting him back home, he’d just be lying around playing games.
Playing games in the Main World involved killing monsters, just as it did in the Ashen World, so he preferred to spend his extra energy on killing real monsters, which undeniably provided more positive reinforcement than any gaming could.
During the cleanup of the Third Stage, Zhang Yanhang had made a trip to the Middle Layer, wasting about half an hour there, but the number of zombies and Lickers he killed was vast, far more than what he could have managed in an hour in the Outer Zone, so overall, it was worth it.
Then fetching the Storage Box was his second trip to the Middle Layer, taking him about ten-plus minutes to clear through from the outside.
If Zhang Yanhang hadn’t come to the Middle Layer but spent those forty-plus minutes clearing more of the Outer Zone, he might have cleared another square kilometer or so of its area, though still falling short of half the total.
For the remaining seven square kilometers of the Raccoon City Outer Zone clearing plan’s Third Stage, Zhang Yanhang estimated that he would need at least five to six hours more to potentially complete it.
"I remember I woke up at six o’clock yesterday morning; now, the time in the Main World should be about 5:30 AM, so does that mean I almost haven’t slept in a day and night?
But even though I haven’t slept for a day and night, I still need to persevere for another six hours until I completely finish the clearing plan’s Third Stage of Raccoon City."
Although he hadn’t slept for a day and night, Zhang Yanhang felt surprisingly spirited and not too fatigued.
Some might say this is a premonition of sudden death, as people usually don’t feel tired just before it happens. Still, this surely didn’t relate to Zhang Yanhang; his Constitution was at twenty-five points, while an average adult has only five points of Constitution, so experiences gleaned from a chronically unhealthy internet-addicted youth couldn’t be directly applied to him.