Chapter 2262: Not a Waste of Time
There was still a long time until eight o'clock in the morning. After handing a set of prison guard keys to the female player, Xu Huo said, "I have something to do."
The female player nodded. "Don't worry, leave the number recording to me. When I was in elementary school, I was called a prodigy with a photographic memory!"
"Elementary school?" Xu Huo questioned.
"Great talent in childhood doesn't always mean great achievement in adulthood," the female player said without any embarrassment. "But even so, I'm definitely smarter than the average person when I grow up. Just rest assured!"
"Alright." Xu Huo turned and headed toward the core area of the space prison.
With so many people today, many had gathered at the spatial core, so he encountered quite a few players along the way. Because they were wary of the power within the spatial core, these people chose to keep their distance. Xu Huo also spotted the two spatially evolved players he had seen yesterday, but they promptly changed locations upon seeing him.
Xu Huo didn't get too close. Instead, he chose a spot similar to where other players were sitting.
Here, everyone could only observe. If they wanted to take action, they had to consider the risks. He had tried it once yesterday, causing quite a panic. Today, no one should be reckless enough to attempt it again. Even if someone did, other players would stop them.
It wasn't until 7 o'clock that players began to gradually leave.
Of course, not all interactions between players were tense. In the face of such an opportunity, many were discussing things, and there was even some mutual inspiration.
Next, it was time to show his face in front of the "prison guards" and wait for a chance to find a room.
However, the players around Xu Huo tacitly avoided him.
Today, the number of "prisoners" reached five hundred. Xu Huo easily completed his daily goal. After a brief meeting with the female player, he went back near the spatial core.
Time quickly passed into the afternoon. He still hadn't made much progress. Feeling fatigued, he got up and walked around. Unexpectedly, when he returned, he happened to see a Water Cube floating into the giant cube. The spatial body inside the cube began to deconstruct and reassemble upon contact with the Water Cube. However, due to the influence of time power, one part moved extremely fast, like a churning storm, making details impossible to capture with the naked eye, while another part slowed down countless times, as if completely frozen.
Within a single space, there were both spatial and temporal powers. They were not absolutely isolated, but the degree of mutual influence seemed relatively shallow. To cross from one space to another, one had to rely on props and instruments to form a stable portal between two different spaces. This portal was essentially the barrier between the two spaces, ensuring they temporarily opened without interfering with each other. As long as spatial powers did not permeate each other, characters could pass through the portal.
Temporal powers, on the other hand, seemed to follow a different set of rules. They could easily penetrate into another space and become part of another temporal power.
So far, Xu Huo had seen players who could directly manipulate temporal powers, but he had never seen anyone who could break through space.
Did this mean that temporal power was relatively less stable compared to spatial power?
At that moment, the temporal power also deconstructed. The Water Cube was split into a dozen thin streams. They swam in all directions, but their other ends were connected, as if they had entered this already chaotic space through the same spatial channel. Coincidentally positioned within the giant cube, space and time influenced each other, and the process of temporal power passing through space also slowed down.
This was a subtle change in sensation. Previously, Xu Huo's smallest unit of perception for temporal and spatial powers was the "ray." Calling it a ray was merely a way to imagine these formless powers in a more understandable shape, making them easier to control.
But within the giant cube, as temporal and spatial powers intertwined, amidst acceleration and deceleration, the two powers seemed to take on another mode of presentation—a highly compressed form of power.
Refining these two powers was not too difficult for Xu Huo. In Carmen Field's battle recall, he had even learned to further refine the original spatial rays. However, controlling spatial power was, to put it nicely, a process of accumulation, like a massive project where each step forward could only move a little, making it hard to achieve a qualitative leap. It was like a single lever that could only pry one object, and he needed to learn to manage multiple levers simultaneously to achieve the final result of handling multiple objects.
Merging these multiple levers together might turn them into barriers, blades, or even cubes—mere combinations and arrangements. But the spatial power before him seemed to fuse multiple levers into one. On the surface, it maintained the form of a single lever, but in reality, it could pry dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of times more objects.
The basic unit of spatial power had undergone a qualitative leap, and the effect of its manipulation would also undergo earth-shattering changes.
Xu Huo attempted to connect with the spatial power within the giant cube.
Under the influence of temporal power, the change in spatial power was very slow. He could even see the effect his own induced power created within the giant cube. After trying several times in the slowed-down areas, he moved to the accelerated areas. Here, the rapidly deconstructing and reassembling spatial body could easily erase the influence he exerted. At this point, the giant cube also changed. It no longer floated lightly as before but instead anchored itself in place. The surrounding space pressed in, firmly fixing it in one position.
The space prison did not change due to Xu Huo's actions.
This was something he hadn't expected. Although he didn't think his intervention would cause the space prison to collapse, it would at least create some changes in the space within—like the turbulence from before. Now that the space could stabilize itself, it was good news for him.
Through gradual contact, he slowly perceived and adapted to that spatial power. It wasn't until four o'clock in the afternoon that Xu Huo finally got a feel for it.
With this breakthrough, it was truly not a waste of time.
He returned to his room to rest. At eight o'clock in the evening, Xu Huo met up again with Zhu Xiaojin and the female player Mi Qiaonan.
Zhu Xiaojin was not a prison guard and was destined to lose this game unless he could kill one of the other prison guards. Therefore, his main goal was to have Xu Huo and Mi Qiaonan help him kill more "prisoners."
In one day, he had already completed one-third of the required number.
Zhu Xiaojin was very pleased. "Even if I'm a bit short, it doesn't matter. Once we're out, we still have our work passes. There are so many wanted criminals in Buliucheng that we can easily make up the difference to clear the game."
"Then congratulations in advance," Mi Qiaonan said. "When I get out, I probably won't be too far off either. This trip was really worth it, even losing my memory was worth it!"
Seeing that Xu Huo didn't look happy, she couldn't help but ask, "You're not still short, are you!"
"Clearing the game outside is the same," Xu Huo said calmly. Since he knew the game could accumulate numbers, then getting certified through the city government's wanted criminal system must also be a way.
A bit stuck on writing, just one chapter today! Everyone, have a safe and healthy Dragon Boat Festival! O(∩_∩)O