Exploration

Bai Yang's home was in S City by Taihu Lake, not too far from Magic City. "Above there is heaven, below there are Suzhou and Hangzhou"—that was talking about this place. His Dad's furniture factory was out in the suburbs, over half an hour away by car.

As for Dad's furniture factory, Bai Yang's memories were still stuck at the stage of having gone there to play a few times as a child. He had hardly visited since starting middle school. Though his memories were vague, finding the place would not be hard. With navigation, there was no pressure.

"Dad makes furniture. There are so many trees in the forest over there—if I brought some over, wouldn't that drive the costs at our furniture factory down to rock bottom? I hear some precious solid-wood furniture can be worth tens of millions. I wonder if there's any precious timber like that over there..."

While waiting at a red light, Bai Yang idly turned the idea over in his mind. It seemed highly promising; the only trouble was how to slip the timber past Dad.

In the end, Bai Yang did not go to his family's furniture factory. Passing a hardware store, he spotted Baldy Qiang Brand Saws for sale. After asking the price, he found that the cheaper ones were eight hundred yuan and even came with a drum of oil. He still had some of the funds Dad had given him, so he bought one, settled it, and went home...

That was just the kind of person Bai Yang was. If he could save time and effort, he would never make trouble for himself.

Once home, he carried the saw, its case, and the diesel fuel into his room and began preparing to explore the other side.

Opening the gear he had bought from the military supply store, Bai Yang was instantly dumbfounded. Only then did he understand what professionalism meant. Though the equipment in the case had cost him a hefty sum and had seemed like a rip-off, it was a dazzling array with everything one could need.

A compass, a small knife, a fire starter, a flashlight, rope, a multifunction entrenching shovel, a first-aid kit, a filter water bottle, a set of multifunction folding tools, even tiny bells, a small solar charging panel—and there was actually a gas mask? A complete outdoor outfit from head to toe...

"Say, I bought this whole outdoor gear set for eight thousand five hundred. Did I make a profit or take a loss?"

Bai Yang had no way to calculate something like that. Perhaps these things were worthless in that shop owner's eyes, but to him, such a comprehensive set of outdoor equipment for eight thousand five hundred was simply an incredible bargain!

But then came the problem: with so much stuff, what should he carry on him?

"I'll put the clothes on first and leave the rest in the room. I can come back and get whatever I need when the time comes!"

Silently giving himself a thumbs-up for his cleverness, he got to work. Once again, he marveled at that guy's professionalism. He put on a highly breathable skintight suit; with the hood on, he looked like Spider-Man. Though he had no idea what use this thing had, it was part of a complete set, and he put it on rather than gamble with his life.

Over the skintight suit went a set of camouflage clothing that looked to be of excellent quality. He fastened on the multifunction belt, clipped the electric-baton flashlight to his waist, and put on a pair of tall boots. They were heavy; Bai Yang suspected steel plates had been added to the soles. That way, he would not have to fear stepping on thorns again.

"What else do I need? Forget it. I'll go over and take a look. If I'm missing something, I can just come back and get it." Having the convenience of retrieving things whenever he wanted was just that great.

He picked up the multifunction entrenching shovel, gripped the flashlight at his waist in his left hand, and off he went...

Bai Yang vanished from his bedroom and arrived in that forest once more. After a full day, the tiger corpse whose leg he had chopped off had already disappeared. All that remained where it had lain were white bones with scraps of meat still clinging to them, while chaotic claw prints covered the ground around them.

"A tiger that huge vanished overnight. What ate it?"

Looking at the claw marks around him, Bai Yang shuddered.

Still uneasy, he went home to fetch his phone, returned to take a picture of the claw prints, then searched for them online. They were wolf prints. Bai Yang bared his teeth at that. The tigers over there were nearly twice the size of those on Earth. Judging from the wolf prints, the wolves were probably no smaller either—at the very least, far bigger than Earth's wolves!

That made him realize that if he could not return at any time and had remained in that forest, he definitely would not survive even an hour!

Returning to the jungle once more, he surveyed his surroundings and wondered where he should begin.

After thinking for a while, he slapped his forehead. He had nearly forgotten the most important point: the time difference between the two sides. What if one day here meant a year over there? Then he would be finished.

He went back and forth, returning to his bedroom to set a timer on his phone. He took a multifunction watch from the case, returned to the jungle, and pressed the stopwatch. After anxiously waiting one minute, he returned to his bedroom and checked the time against his phone. One minute had passed there as well. The facts proved that time flowed at the same rate on both sides.

"That makes no sense. If that place isn't Earth, its magnetic field must differ from Earth's. Why would time flow at the same rate?"

Bai Yang was destined to find no answer to such a question. It involved astronomy and geography too specialized for him. He only needed to know that time passed at the same rate on both sides.

Although time flowed at the same rate, Bai Yang still discovered a difference. After all, they were two different planes, so a time difference still existed. For instance, it was nearly two in the afternoon on Earth, while over here it seemed to be around seven or eight in the morning, judging by the angle of the sun.

In other words, the length of a day on Earth and the length of a day here should be different. A day on Earth was twenty-four hours; he did not know how long one was here. Perhaps longer, perhaps shorter.

He had no way to find out how long a day here was at the moment. He could not possibly stay here for an entire "day" before going back, or Dad and Mom would call the police. But there would be plenty of chances later. No rush.

"When I get the chance, I definitely need to buy some high-tech equipment and bring it over. I need to analyze the air, soil, and everything else here, get a full understanding of this world. But for now, I should first find the people of this world."

From the arrow that had shot the tiger, Bai Yang had determined that there were humans here, rather than this being a savage, primordial world. That arrow was in his hand now. It had some weight to it, roughly half a jin. He did not know what kind of wood the shaft was made from, but it was extremely sturdy. The arrowhead was metal, grayish white. Bai Yang guessed it was iron, though he would need professional instruments to analyze its composition and know for sure.

In short, an entirely new world lay before him. Everything was unfamiliar to him—the air, the soil, the plants, the sunlight, and so on all needed systematic analysis and study. But none of that was urgent. From what he had seen so far, the world was quite suitable for human survival. He had come here many times without suffering any abnormalities, which fully showed that the environment here was similar to Earth's and probably would not harm him.

"So next, I need to find a way out of here and locate the humans of this world. Only by coming into contact with human civilization can I truly understand this world. Thank goodness for omnipotent science—with a compass, I won't have to fear getting lost."

This unfamiliar world had a magnetic field as well, and the compass quickly pointed him in a direction. Under normal circumstances, humans would not choose to live on high ground, because low ground meant water sources, and survival could not do without water. Bai Yang felt that no matter what world it was, such laws of survival would remain the same.

Bai Yang's mosquito repellent had been a wasted purchase. Wearing this outdoor outfit, he did not need to worry about the huge mosquitoes in the jungle at all. Nor was he stupid enough to use the diesel-powered saw to clear a path. It was far too loud, and he had no desire to court death. Holding the entrenching shovel, which could chop and hack, he opened a path while checking the compass from time to time and headed toward lower ground.

"I nearly forgot a detail. Since that tiger was shot dead, someone should have come through this place before!"

Slapping his forehead, Bai Yang started back the way he had come. Fortunately, he had only gone a little over ten meters, so he quickly returned.

Carefully examining the disturbed ground, he did indeed find several footprints. The decaying leaves and dirt in the forest were soft, and since it had not rained, the footprints remained clear.

"Then if I follow the footprints, I should be able to find this world's human civilization easily enough, right?"

He followed the direction of the tracks, and the facts proved his earlier assumption correct. These footprints led toward lower ground. As for why whoever had walked through the jungle had not erased their own tracks, that was beyond Bai Yang's understanding.

Though Bai Yang had already been very careful in the face of this unknown jungle, he still got caught. His waist suddenly tightened, making it difficult to breathe. From somewhere, a python as thick as a thigh had silently slithered out and coiled around him.

"Damn it, go back...!" In the instant of crisis, he vanished from the jungle and returned to his bedroom. He lay on the floor, trembling all over as the fear lingered in his heart.

He had not seen what the python looked like. Even though it had coiled around him for less than a second, he felt as if every bone in his body was about to be crushed.

"Too dangerous!"

Only after a full hour, when he guessed the python had already gone, did he cross over again, prepared to flee back at any moment.

The python had indeed vanished by then. A winding track as thick as the mouth of a bowl remained in the soft ground, disappearing into the jungle.

"If I didn't have the ability to return whenever I wanted, someone like me wouldn't last half an hour in this jungle. And that's because I'm too weak. If I couldn't travel freely between the two worlds, I should have used the stun baton immediately back then...!"

After summing things up in his heart, he inspected the surroundings again and continued feeling his way along the footprints—only now, he was even more cautious...