Exploration I

Darkness.

Bottomless.

It felt as though a very, very long time had passed, yet also as though it had only been an instant.

His sense of time had completely fallen into chaos at this moment.

Wei He touched his eyes. They were indeed open.

But the instant he entered the Black Gate, it was as if he had lost his sight.

The moment his body passed through the Black Gate, it seemed to have undergone some sort of change.

He did not know how long had passed.

Slowly, a faint glimmer appeared before his eyes.

In the heart of the darkness, far away, a hazy point of light suddenly appeared.

It was white, blinking on and off like some electronic device. Its rhythm was fixed, neither hurried nor slow.

Through the transparent visor of his protective suit, Wei He carefully peered ahead, trying to make out what it was.

He released his perception. His hearing, touch, smell, and sight all instantly rose to the highest True World level he could attain.

Unfortunately, even so, his perception of the outside world remained entirely unchanged.

It was no help at all.

Wei He felt as though he were groping his way forward through boundless darkness, one step at a time.

He lifted his foot and slowly shuffled forward.

He vaguely seemed to hear something, though it also seemed to be nothing but wind—the howl of the Suffocation Wind.

Wei He did not grow impatient. He simply continued inching forward.

Before long, he gradually adapted somewhat to the conditions inside the protective suit. He quickly checked its readings: oxygen levels normal, physical condition monitoring normal.

Inside the protective suit, at the lower right of his field of vision, a line of bright red electronic numbers read: 11:21.

That meant eleven hours had already