Chapter 84: Chapter 1: Abandoned Town 1
The time was midnight.
All around was dead quiet, the air slightly damp, with faint lights in the distance, obscured by mist.
Su Ziyu turned his head to look around. He saw a dirty, murky river, some old, dilapidated houses. This place seemed to be a riverside town but had been abandoned for some time.
In the sky, there was a moon.
Su Ziyu couldn’t find Polaris nor any other familiar stars.
The coordinates were still uncertain.
This could be Earth or a similar terrestrial planet.
From afar came the sound of drips and drabs. Su Ziyu took a deep breath and began to organize his belongings. This teleportation was much more hurried than the last time he left the Wasteland World, but fortunately, he hadn’t left anything behind. The most crucial equipment was always with him, only food and water were slightly insufficient. However, given the current environment, finding food shouldn’t be too difficult.
The golden sand in the Hourglass of Time did seem to have decreased a bit.
Su Ziyu checked his data stream and found that with the system permissions unlocked, some very special abilities were added to the original Enhanced Skill Tree.
Next to the massive skill tree, there was now a light spot icon shaped like an hourglass.
——"Unlock Law of Space: Activate the spatial law ability of the Hourglass of Time, activate a miniature other dimensional storage space, gain special sense regarding space abilities, unlock the Space Law Enhancement route. Consumes 10 Source Power Value."
——"Unlock Law of Time: Activate the temporal law ability of the Hourglass of Time. Conditions not met, unable to unlock."
A light spot icon resembling an hourglass.
It’s composed of two golden lines, the left one being the Space Law Enhancement route, and the right one being the Time Law Enhancement route.
However, currently, only the space law route is activated.
Su Ziyu did not hesitate, filled with intense curiosity, he directly illuminated the unlock of the Law of Space, and then he felt as if the world shattered like a mirror. He saw a fragmented world, countless strange light spots, and some golden runes on the Hourglass of Time were activated. Then his consciousness connected to a very special space.
A dimensional space of about three cubic meters.
The weapon in Su Ziyu’s hand disappeared out of thin air, and the next second, the weapon reappeared in his hand.
"If only I had acquired this ability earlier," Su Ziyu said with some regret.
If he could have activated this enhancement route in the Wasteland World, he probably could have carried more weapons and equipment to increase combat power. But clearly, that was unrealistic. The unlocking of the Hourglass of Time’s permissions was greatly related to the Dream Plane and Diana’s contingencies. At the last moment of Time Freeze, Su Ziyu’s thinking was still normal, and he realized that what the former Space-Time Inspector left for him was richer than he had imagined.
As Su Ziyu unlocked the Law of Space, three bright light spots also appeared in front of him.
——"Expand Dimensional Space: Further expand the other dimensional storage space, consumes 10 Source Power Value."
——"Spatial Sense: Enhance the ability to sense space law, able to detect space cracks and Plane Gates, consumes 10 Source Power Value."
The cost of the Space Enhancement route is just one word!
Expensive!
Damn it’s expensive!
Su Ziyu just glanced and knew these were not things he could think about now, as for the Time Law Enhancement route on the other line, it was something even more unattainable for him at the moment.
The last skill activated was quite special.
Because it was connected to the enhancement route Su Ziyu had previously unlocked, an extra light dot extended from the highest branch of the Spiritual Enhancement skill tree, connecting to the spatial law of the Hourglass of Time. A new ability emerged at the contact point.
——"Mind Teleportation: Preconditions not met, unable to unlock."
This was a very advanced spiritual energy expansion ability.
Su Ziyu hadn’t even illuminated the ’Telekinesis Flight’ which was a prerequisite, so the ability of ’Mind Teleportation’ was out of the question for the time being.
He puts items into the other dimensional storage space one by one.
Su Ziyu felt an ease he hadn’t experienced in a long time. Constantly carrying heavy loads had made his current lightness feel so relieving, he even wanted to jump up to stretch his muscles and bones.
With a thought, the Anti-Material Sniper Rifle appeared in his hand.
Excellent.
Too perfect!
Probably no one would have thought that someone who seemed utterly unarmed would suddenly pull out such a large weapon.
Unfortunately, the bullets were genuinely scarce.
Back then, due to weight concerns, Su Ziyu could only carry a limited number of bullets. He had only twelve rounds left for the handgun, while there were a bit more for the Anti-Material Sniper Rifle, probably about twenty to thirty rounds. The consumption of armor-piercing rounds was extensive; however, there were still plenty of high-explosive rounds left. The BTL82M modified Anti-Material Sniper Rifle used 12.7MM bullets, each weighing about 120 grams, with armor-piercing rounds slightly heavier. Su Ziyu had brought around six to seven kilograms of bullets.
"Had I known, I would have carried less food, medicine, and gold." Su Ziyu said somewhat regretfully.
Back then, the first consideration was survival.
Even if they entered a desert terrain, more bullets wouldn’t help. He had packed a lot of food and water at that time, and hasn’t even finished the energy bars yet.
"Better conserve the bullets."
"Now without the heavy load, ordinary combat can be solved with melee and spiritual energy," Su Ziyu thought to himself.
Heavy weight melee was at a disadvantage.
In the Dream Plane, he basically relied on firearms to resolve battles.
Woo woo woo.
A strange wind blew by.
Su Ziyu alertly tightened his grip on the black short blade, then he heard a faint laugh, like a woman’s light giggle, very frivolous, drifting in the wind.
A shadow suddenly flashed!
Su Ziyu instantly sidestepped with a slash, but didn’t hit anything, the blade simply sliced through the air, and the shadow vanished instantly.
"What ghost thing is this?"
"A monster without a tangible form?" Su Ziyu’s expression grew increasingly solemn.
With his current skills, he was sure that his previous strike definitely hit the target, but no tactile feedback came through the blade, which could only mean that the shadow was something non-corporeal.
A series of bizarre whispers prolonged.
In the darkness, it seemed as if something was roaming around him.
——"Spiritual Vision!"
Su Ziyu’s eyes gradually exuded a white spiritual light, and in his sight, not far away in the sky, appeared the outline of a woman. She had tangled hair resembling seaweed, her lower half was a tattered, luxurious gown, her legs turned into void, her body surface covered with numerous rotting scars, her arms were pale and slender with incredibly sharp black nails. Though her face was seductive, it was twisted, filled with a thrilling hatred, malice, and resentment.
She screeched and charged again.
Rumble!
With a crash, thunder exploded in the plain, and from Su Ziyu’s palm shot a dazzling lightning bolt.
And then.
There was nothing more.
Su Ziyu squatted down, inspecting the black pearl left after the ghost evaporated, picking it up with intrigued curiosity.
.........