Several seconds later, in the middle of the shadow pool, a black humanoid shape started to stand up. It was around two meters tall, and its body was wreathed in that coagulating darkness, like a 3D shadow. However, it was not a play of light that was formed after an object blocked the travel of light but an actual mass that existed in 3D space.
“The pool isolated from the river.” Feng Bujue ignored Sam Montier’s less than stellar entrance and continued his earlier topic. “The analogy should be changed to a whirlpool outside the River of Time to be more fitting. Even though Einstein said that time and space are a misunderstanding of human knowledge and they are mere factor to describe the motion of mass, in this fantasy world, we can treat them as a more realistic substance. Here, time is something that is constantly in motion like water in the river, always flowing. If the water stops flowing, the river cannot be called a river anymore.
“Using that analogy as a basis, since Sam Montier cut off this particular space, he had to remove a part of the ’time’ as well, or else everything within this space would be suspended in stasis, including himself. But the ’water’ that he could siphon from the ’river’ is limited. The maximum that he could accomplish was thirty minutes. These thirty minutes only belong to this city and endlessly repeat themselves. Whenever the cycle ends, there are several seconds to act as buffer, and that is when the darkness falls. In other words, the darkness is the connection that ties each cycle together. After the buffer, a new cycle begins.”
The shadow underneath Sam Montier started to move. The shape alongside the pool of darkness that the feet were connected to moved toward the group of five.
“Brother Jue, do you have any suggestions?” Wang Tanzhi did not dare act rashly and quickly asked for guidance. The other members were also waiting for Feng Bujue to say something.
“There shouldn’t be anything special that we need to do,” Feng Bujue explained. “Based on the plot, the difficulty shouldn’t be higher than the choice of crossing through the door.
“Don’t interrupt, I’m not yet done. Based on everything we’ve witnessed so far, the descent of darkness is a phenomenon that occurs at the connecting point of the cycles and not something produced by Sam Montier.
“But that doesn’t explain why the monsters become stronger after each descent. There is only one logical explanation. The buffer period between each cycle is the only time when Sam Montier can activate his full power. He can only do something within that short period like sharing his power with the demons or swallowing the humans inside the city. Of course, he had already swallowed everything at the city before we arrived, and since we are technically guests from ’another dimension’, he cannot do the same to us.”
“You’re trying to say… Sam Montier is actually not that strong? At least weaker than the demons that we might face if we went through the Demonic Door?” Long Aomin asked.
“If I had to give an example, it’s like the few of us are trapped inside a balloon, and we’re as weak as ants, while Sam Montier is outside the balloon, but he’s also only as strong as a common man. There is space between the inside and outside the balloon that prevents the two dimensions from overlapping. He is unable to burst the balloon and can only use his fingers to grab at it. What we’re seeing now is nothing more than the trace left by his fingers as he applies pressure to the balloon.” Feng Bujue scratched his chin. “But personally… I believe that his power level is not as weak as you might think. At the very least, it is not going to be hard for him to kill us.”
“Hey, then why are you being so cavalier about this‽ It’s not the time to talk, start running!” Mr. Loneliest grabbed Ms. Saddest and was about to turn to run. Before he took a step, he heard the system audio. “World-building explored and unlocked. Player Feng Bujue obtains 240 Skill Points as a reward. The team can now access the rules of this scenario through the expand function in the quest tab.”
“If I didn’t ’say’ the words, how do you expect me to gain the Skill Points?” Feng Bujue said, “You have to vocally explain the world-building before the system can confirm that you’ve unlocked it.”
Sam Montier’s shadow was only several dozen meters away from Feng Bujue, but even so, the man did not plan to run. “Furthermore, didn’t I tell you that we don’t need to do anything? Since the Demonic Door has been closed…”
The shadow suddenly picked up speed, and the human shape in the shadow grew rapidly in size to morph into a shadowy hand that slammed at Feng Bujue, but at the last moment, the large hand froze in midair.
“From its title…” Feng Bujue lowered his head and walked out from underneath the large hand. “…the Ruler of Time is an entity that will never be late.”
Soon, Sam Montier’s shadow drastically shrunk like a giant force was pulling him back into the tear in space. “One day… you… will pay… the price. Time… is on… my side…”
“Huh… Now that doesn’t sound good. With a line like this, it means that we’ll most likely meet the boss again,” Feng Bujue uttered with a smile. The shadow struggled like a beast that fell into quicksand. But it was to no avail. The shadow on the ground dwindled in size before disappearing completely.
“Travelers from another world, thank you for what you’ve done. After this place has been cleansed, I shall allow it to flow back into the River of Time.” A voice that was different from Sam Montier’s appeared in the group’s mind. The voice sounded like the typical wise elder in a video game.
“You have obtained the reward given by The Ruler of Time. Please inspect it during your rating review,” the system audio said.
“Current quest complete. All main quests completed. You have completed the scenario. Auto-teleportation in 180 seconds.”
The time limit for Team Mode’s teleportation was longer. This was probably considering that there might be communication between players. Wang Tanzhi collapsed to the ground. After his taut nerves were given a chance to relax, his Terror Points instantly sunk to the bottom.
Ms. Saddest and Mr. Loneliest also sighed in relief. It felt so nice to survive until the end and clear the mission.
Long Aomin acted rather calmly. He put away his weapon and shield. In the last sixty seconds, he asked Feng Bujue, “Brother Feng, I still have one question that I do not understand.”
“What is it?” Feng Bujue replied.
“It is something about time,” Long Aomin explained. “Like you said, when we entered the scenario, we have not seen anything like a clock or a machine to record the time. Then how did you manage to calculate the time between each darkness interval? I remember you said it was ’about thirty minutes’ when we arrived at the Demonic Door.”
“Because I’ve been keeping track of time,” Feng Bujue answered. “Once entering the scenario, I noticed an anomaly. How come there weren’t any electronic clocks at the subway station? After we reached the surface, I still did not see anything clock-like. Therefore, after the first darkness descend, I started to keep track of time. The second darkness fell when we were around the police station, and according to my calculations, it was about thirty minutes.”
“Yes, that’s what I’m asking. How did you keep track of time without a watch or clock?”
“By counting it, of course,” Feng Bujue answered. “I’ve been counting in my mind, every three hundred equals to five minutes. Whenever we’re not doing any active activities, I replace it with the counting of my pulse. My heart pulses seventy-seven times every minute.”
He was familiar with his heart rate because he had spent a long period of time at the hospital and had been through many check-ups, so he was familiar with his physical condition.
“Counting the pulse is actually more precise than counting numbers, and it is something that you can do without giving it much attention. I suppose you can call it a lazy way of doing it. When I need to train my focus, I stop counting pulse but start to count numbers instead; the difference between the two is not that big. If you don’t believe me, you can take half an hour or an hour to try it at home. There is no need to stop your schedule to do this. After all, it is nothing more than an exercise of patience.”
“There’s no need. I understand, thank you for the lesson.” Not only Long Aomin, even the couple overheard this and looked at Feng Bujue like he was some kind of monster. Wang Tanzhi had long gotten used to this. After knowing Feng Bujue for so many years, he had been through many such situations before. If someone told Xiao Tan that the earth had been infiltrated by aliens, he would be eighty percent suspicious, but if the person told him that Feng Bujue was actually an alien, he might actually believe it.
“Anyway, it’s time for us to part. The countdown is about to finish. Goodbye and thanks for the game,” Feng Bujue said.
Ms. Saddest and Mr. Loneliest gave words of appreciation and bade farewell to the other three before leaving in a halo of white light.
Long Aomin did not leave immediately. After the two disappeared, he asked, “Brother Feng, Brother Wang, do you mind if we become friends?”
He did not make this suggestion to hope to hug Feng Bujue’s leg; it was still too early for that. Today was the first day of closed beta. Be it professional players, normal players, or casual players, there was not much difference in level. Even though Feng Bujue had plenty of potential, it was hard to tell if he would have a constant online presence.
Long Aomin wanted to gain this friend mainly because Feng Bujue had handed him a piece of excellent-quality equipment without hesitation. Even though the weapon itself was not that valuable, finding a trustworthy teammate was hard, and based on that alone, this was a man that he could call a friend.
Wang Tanzhi was obviously in the same team as Feng Bujue, so of course, Long Aomin could not just add Feng Bujue. Furthermore, from the fight with the zombie, even though the man was cowardly, he was good at fighting. He was not a pro player, but he was certainly not dead weight.
“Sure, we’ll discuss this further in the log-in lobby. Let’s go check out the rating review first,” Feng Bujue answered. The three then left the scenario.
After all the players left, the Demonic Door suddenly shuddered like an unknown creature was ramming against the sealed door on the other side.
The man was enveloped by white light, and the next second, Feng Bujue found himself in the log-in lobby. The system audio said, “You’ve successfully reached level eleven, and your Stamina Points have increased to 1,100/1,100.
“Title system unlocked. You’ve gained the title—Cold-blooded Skull Cracker.”
Then, he moved his gaze to the screen on the wall, and the screen was showing his rating review after clearing the scenario.