Volume 3: Deep Blue Sea
In the control room of StarPlay Entertainment, several people who were also watching Shu Xun’s live broadcast looked at each other after seeing Shu Xun’s condition. One of the women hesitated and spoke, “Can we confirm that we are on a different timeline? There seems to be a deviation in the time flow. We don’t know Shu Xun’s growth speed, making it difficult to determine the specific time difference.”
The refined man flipped through a book with a rustling sound, then, after a while, pointed to the mini wooden house behind Shu Xun. “This little house is made from a kind of Huorong1fire-fluff tree. It can effectively prevent insects and moisture. Its strength is decent. Judging from the wood on the house, it should have been cut down for about a year.”
The group of people looked at each other again upon hearing this. Another person spoke, “If the Boss takes thirty or so days to find Shu Xun…”
The refined man closed the book. “We can first see Boss’s outcome before deciding our next move.”
“Good idea.” The others immediately nodded in agreement, continuing to watch the live broadcast with indifferent expressions.
Meanwhile, a certain Boss struggling to survive in the game world suddenly sneezed and continued searching for Shu Xun’s traces.
At this moment, Shu Xun had already finished washing his small clothes. He wrung them dry and then walked to the other side of the small wooden house. There, a simple clothes rack made of small branches stood. Shu Xun skillfully hung the clothes, and the expanded small garments gently swayed in the breeze.
It was still early. The morning sun was rising in the east, casting a peaceful and tranquil atmosphere on the small wooden house. The audience in the live broadcast room only now noticed that Shu Xun’s location was very suitable, resembling a miniature courtyard.
The entire courtyard was built on a smooth, flat, bluestone backed by a mountain rock. The bluestone gently sloped towards the east, preventing water accumulation. Surrounding the miniature wooden house was a low fence made of wood. Atop the fence, some delicate vines and small purple flowers were climbing and growing. Inside the fence, apart from the small wooden house built against the mountain rocks facing east, there were four plots of cultivated land, hosting low plants whose specific identity had yet to be recognized.
In front of the small wooden house, a low shrubbery grew from the crevices of the rocks. The flourishing shrubbery served as a colossal shade tree for the tiny courtyard. Beneath the shrubbery, there was a set of not-so-finely crafted tables and chairs. On them, a few leaves and flowers acted as makeshift tea cups, with small assorted fruits placed on the leaves.
After washing the clothes, Shu Xun returned to the room and changed into a clean ancient costume. Unfortunately, this time, as the original body participated in the game, the system did not uniformly provide clothing. Players had to wear their own clothes. Shu Xun’s increased height of five centimeters made it clear that he couldn’t fit into his previous attire. Fortunately, Shu Xun’s parents had prepared a set of modern and ancient costumes for him, both with adjustable sizes. They made sure that Shu Xun would have anything to wear.
Having changed into his clothes, Shu Xun gracefully sat on the wooden chair under the shrubbery, leisurely eating fruits. The morning sunlight filtered through the branches and leaves of the shrubbery, casting dappled shadows on the dark bluestone, like the silent traces left by the passage of time.
In the live broadcast room:
“I feel like I’m watching a fake survival game. While others are fleeing from monsters, Little Dumpling is doing laundry and eating fruits?”
“Please explain; I can’t understand anymore. Especially, why does Little Dumpling look like he’s been surviving here for a long time? Can any expert speculate on Little Dumpling’s survival time?”
“I just want to know why Shu Xun grew overnight?”
“What kind of clothes is Shu Xun wearing? It feels so unique, with an indescribable special scent.”
“Same as the person above. I don’t know if it’s an illusion, but Little Dumpling seems more suitable in this outfit, giving the illusion that he can fly in the next second.”
In the live broadcast room, there was confusion, doubt, and curiosity. Shu Xun was more puzzled than anyone else because the promised survival game had completely changed its appearance. Apart from filling his stomach, there was almost no threat to life safety. Moreover, the world’s concentration of spiritual energy was astonishingly high, perfect for his cultivation. Shu Xun spent a year here, improving his life while practicing.
In the first month, Shu Xun traveled to the surrounding islands and discovered that this world was both normal and abnormal. Many rare treasures grew in this world, which Shu Xun had only seen in inherited memories. The conditions for nurturing these spirit plants and minerals were extremely harsh, even with the abundant spiritual energy in this world. Yet, Shu Xun did find these spirit plants and minerals. He tried consuming them and found their effects matched exactly with what was recorded in the inherited memories.
Therefore, this year, apart from finding a suitable piece of land as a base, Shu Xun joyfully explored the treasures of this world. However, besides this, Shu Xun found no traces of indigenous inhabitants.
It wasn’t until three months of solitary survival that Shu Xun finally realized something was amiss. Apart from Big Bliss, he couldn’t sense the positions of Little Bliss and Lie Yang’s Blue Butterfly. In these three months, Shu Xun hadn’t encountered any game players or indigenous people, nor had he found any traces of advanced life forms. This planet seemed like a newly born world, untouched by anyone.
As this suspicion arose, Shu Xun began to realize that he was definitely not in a normal survival game mode. The simple survival difficulty and the abundant game rewards did not match the dangerous world they initially speculated. Thus, Shu Xun began attempting to verify the deviations that had occurred and understand the environment he was currently in.
For a year, Shu Xun traveled through countless islands. He explored a vast continent, witnessed various magical flora and fauna, and, of course, unearthed various spiritual plants and minerals. Nourished by the dense spiritual energy, Shu Xun successfully advanced to the mid-stage of infancy. Despite the many places Shu Xun had visited, the world seemed even broader, seemingly boundless without borders. Shu Xun couldn’t find any information about this world. He had a peculiar feeling that this world was like a dreamland prepared specifically for him—a realm of endless treasures, an infinite world, and an abundance of spiritual energy, yet eerily empty, devoid of human presence.
Shu Xun had once attempted to log out of the game, but as he had predicted, the logout function was restricted. The game system couldn’t capture his logout signal. After a brief moment of confusion, Shu Xun quickly adjusted his mindset. He continued searching for clues, simultaneously utilizing the current environment for cultivation, collecting resources, and enriching his small wooden house. He even took out the jade slips left by his parents from the spiritual space, delving into the knowledge of elixirs, spiritual tools, and talismans. Gradually, Shu Xun entered a marvelous rhythm of life. Each day seemed leisurely yet fulfilling, apparently monotonous but never dull. Day by day, Shu Xun gradually settled his inner self. Besides the initial wisdom, his dark eyes now reflected a tranquility and indifference that accumulated over time.
As a result, the audience in the live broadcast room cheerfully watched a day of ordinary life. Even without survival challenges or logical reasoning, simply watching Shu Xun eat fruits, tend to fields, cook, and handle unidentified herbs brought a peculiar sense of satisfaction. It wasn’t until the sky darkened that everyone realized an entire day had passed so peacefully. For most of the combat-oriented evolved races, this was a novel experience.
“I feel like I’m addicted. I’ve just been watching all day and find it quite enjoyable.”
“Amazing! Same as the person above, happily watching all day and still not enough. The Little Dumpling farming is so cute. It seems like Little Dumpling is living carefreely. I completely forgot I came here to watch a survival game.”
“It’s getting dark, and Shu Xun’s live stream is about to end. Strangely anxious. What if tomorrow morning, Shu Xun grows to twenty centimeters!”
“What have I encountered? Is it due to the awakening of bloodlines, or did I come across a system glitch? StarPlay Entertainment still hasn’t responded, so is it due to racial reasons? What race is Shu Xun exactly?”
“What is Little Dumpling doing? He has been sitting still for almost an hour. Little Dumpling seems to be full of secrets.”
In his meditative cultivation state, Shu Xun was unaware that he was still in a live broadcast. Having crossed through time and realizing he might have lost his livestream signal, Shu Xun assumed the broadcast had been cut off. After a year of solitary survival, Shu Xun had almost forgotten about the live broadcast function for communicating with the outside world.
As the sky grew darker, the world fell into the embrace of night. Despite the reluctance of the audience, the live stream eventually entered offline darkness. Even so, many players did not leave, and Shu Xun’s unusual state left many concerned. Of course, more viewers flooded into the live stream before the night. The information about Shu Xun growing to ten centimeters high flooded the screen, even though it was known that the audience wouldn’t see the barrage of messages at night. Still, they tirelessly continued.
Meanwhile, in the game, Ye Qian, who was completely unaware of what was happening, remained dedicated to various small fish and miniature-sized food. As long as he discovered something tasty, he would store it in his pocket. He even started preparing miniature-sized weapons and collecting usable materials.
In the livestream room, watching Ye Qian diligently at work, the audience felt a bit melancholic. They just hoped that when Ye Qian saw Shu Xun again, he wouldn’t be too startled, at least maintaining his poker face.
