Feng Jun had always hoped from the bottom of his heart that he could grow a little taller. Previously, he had thought this goal would be impossible to achieve in this lifetime. At best, he could only be like some Xiao Ming and buy a pair of height-increasing shoes.
But now, he could actually undergo a second growth spurt. He had to admit, that was quite tempting.
Still, no matter how tempted he was, what interested him most right now was his ability to turn things into cash.
So he returned to the dormitory, dug out two sets of thermal underwear, then found a thick jacket and heavy trousers. He also found a rechargeable flashlight and stuffed everything into his rolling suitcase.
What made him sigh the most was a pair of infrared binoculars. He had bought them back in college. As a student, aside from studying and working out, he had also been a half-baked hiking enthusiast. Though he had never traveled very far, he had bought quite a bit of related gear.
He really missed those school days, when he could let his dreams run wild and flaunt his youth without restraint...
He had also bought a kukri along with the infrared binoculars, but when he graduated, he sold the knife to an underclassman. Carrying that thing around everywhere was liable to bring him trouble.
After stuffing all the necessities into the suitcase, Feng Jun picked up his phone and was about to operate it when the door opened and Qin Tao walked in.
Feng Jun waited a moment, only to find that the guy had sat on his bed and started playing games on his phone. He could only purse his lips in annoyance and drag the suitcase outside.
Qin Tao spoke without even looking up. "You're leaving?"
Feng Jun glanced at him and saw that all his attention was on his phone, so he answered casually, "Just going out for a walk."
Qin Tao said nothing more. For someone as homebound as him, asking that one question was already unprecedented.
Feng Jun dragged his suitcase downstairs. Passing a convenience store, he paused to think, then went in and bought two 1.25-liter bottles of mineral water and several boxes of chocolate.
When he dragged his suitcase through the doors of Hongjie Club, Little Li at the front desk happened to be yawning toward the entrance. Seeing him come in, she froze. "Where are you... going?"
Feng Jun lied without batting an eye. "The suitcase is a little dirty. I brought it over to wipe it down."
"Mm." Little Li nodded. She was the type who did not like using her brain, so she readily believed him. Then she remembered something. "I'm not using my phone right now. Is half an hour enough for you?"
Feng Jun hesitated. "Well, how about... forget it?"
"Forget it?" Little Li's delicate brows shot up, and she snapped angrily, "I deleted my online banking and Alipay, and I transferred all the money in ChatChat to someone else. Now you're telling me... forget it?"
"Fine." Feng Jun's scalp tingled as he listened. He could only nod gloomily. "I thought it might not be convenient for you. I'll use it now. Ten minutes will be enough."
"Ten minutes?" Little Li eyed him suspiciously and handed over the phone. "Where are you... planning to use it?"
Without thinking, Feng Jun answered, "The restroom."
"The restroom?" Little Li was stunned for a moment, then raised her hand and snatched the phone back with astonishing speed.
She unlocked the screen and swiftly opened the photo album. Her fair fingers danced across the screen so nimbly that they were almost a blur.
Without hesitation, she tapped seventy or eighty times in a row, then hit the delete button before handing the phone back again. With a half-smile, she said, "Why don't you find yourself a proper girlfriend? Why resort to such crooked nonsense?"
Damn it! Feng Jun slapped his forehead in frustration. "You don't think I was going to use your photos to... do that, do you?"
"I won't give you that chance," Little Li replied proudly. "All that's left are photos of food and scenery."
Feng Jun stared at her speechlessly. After a long while, he finally said, "You... really are overthinking this."
Was he really that desperate?
Feng Jun carried the suitcase into a stall, turned on Little Li's phone camera, and propped the phone on top of the toilet tank. Her phone actually had a small stand, making it easy to adjust the angle.
He hooked the suitcase handle over his right elbow, unlocked the screen of his old phone with his left hand, and tapped an empty spot. "Off we go~"
The next moment, he arrived on that Gobi wasteland again. Sure enough, the rolling suitcase hanging from his elbow had come along with him.
The sun had still not set. In this space, once he left, time seemed to stop as well.
A blast of cold wind swept over him, making him shiver involuntarily. He hurriedly opened the suitcase and began putting on clothes.
He did not need the thermal underwear yet. The thick jacket and heavy trousers were already quite warm. Then he looked around and glanced at the mark on his left wrist.
Sure enough, the mark was now extremely faint, seemingly even fainter than after he had first held the grass. In other words, if he did not recharge it, he would not be able to enter the space again next time—neither this place nor the space of Liaoliao Farm.
It seemed bringing supplies in this time had consumed quite a bit of energy.
Then he needed to establish a quantitative measure for the energy required to bring supplies in!
The next moment, Feng Jun shook his head. He had no time to think about that for now. What he needed to do most was patiently scout the surrounding area and not waste this hard-won trip.
He spent more than two hours circling the village and found no living creatures at all.
He chose a spot sheltered from the wind and changed clothes, putting on the thermal top and pants beneath his thick jacket and heavy trousers.
He waited until the sun went down before trying to enter the village. Then he spent another four or five hours walking through the entire village.
There really were no living creatures in the village. He did find some scattered bones, though, and they appeared to be human.
He even found a skull in a shallow pit, marked with bite wounds.
Feng Jun was not particularly timid, and he had come here to uncover a fortuitous encounter. But even so, encountering a skull in the middle of nowhere late at night was enough to make his entire body tremble. He remained rattled for quite some time.
Originally, he had brought along a thin towel blanket in case something happened and he had to spend the night here. But now, it seemed the wilderness was far colder than he had imagined. A towel blanket would be hard-pressed to ward off this chill.
Not to mention there were several sets of human bones around him. If he could sleep under such circumstances, how strong would his nerves have to be?
Even if Feng Jun's nerves were a little stronger than average, they were still within the range of a normal person's.
He did not know how long he endured. It felt as though an entire century had passed before the sun finally rose. When he saw a streak of red glow appear on the horizon, tears nearly welled up in Feng Jun's eyes.
Damn it, you finally showed up. If you hadn't, I really wouldn't have been able to hold on any longer!
He had eaten all the chocolate he brought. He had not drunk much water, not even finishing one 1.25-liter bottle. It could not be helped—the water was simply too cold. It made his teeth ache when he drank it, and sent shivers through his body once it reached his stomach.
Next time he came in, he had to prepare a large amount of supplies!
Once the sun rose, the temperature quickly climbed as well. Feng Jun moved his body around a little and began one final search of the village.
After searching everywhere, he found nothing meaningful. There were some fragments of clay jars and rough porcelain bowls, but those things... probably would not sell for much.
Even some silver... or copper coins would have been nice. Then at least I wouldn't have come all this way for nothing.
Still, it was not as though he had gained nothing. On a ruined wall, he found two drawings: one was a portrait of a person, while the other depicted an animal resembling a rabbit.
The drawings were crude, made with charcoal. In Feng Jun's eyes, having studied sketching, they were not much better than a child's scribbles.
But from the figure in the drawing, he could still determine that the clothing and attire of the people here were roughly at the level of the Xia Dynasty. Their upper and lower garments had already been separated into two pieces, and their lapels overlapped to the right.
"Could I have traveled through time?" Feng Jun rubbed his chin and pondered with a frown.
Then he found a broken stone slab with faint writing on it. It somewhat resembled traditional Chinese characters, yet was not quite the same.
Even if he really had traveled through time, it was nothing to fear. Feng Jun sat on a stone stump and thought it over. He could go back anyway; this was a two-way door.
He just did not know what dynasty this was.
Feng Jun swept his gaze around. He planned to return now, and he did not know when he would come again, so he needed to observe everything more carefully in case he had missed anything.
The next moment, he vaguely sensed that something was wrong. Raising his left hand, he saw that the mark on his wrist had faded until it was nearly indistinguishable.
But why... did he feel like the mark was heating up?
Feng Jun raised his right hand and touched his left wrist. Sure enough, the spot where the mark was located was indeed a little warm.
Very quickly, he found the source of the heat—it was coming from the stone stool beneath him.
When his left hand touched the stone stool, the heat from the mark intensified.
There was something wrong with this stone stool!
The stone stool was not large, about a foot square and a foot and a half tall. Around half a foot of it had sunk into the ground.
Feng Jun spent nearly half an hour digging the stone stool out. He tried to lift it, but could not. It weighed at least three or four hundred pounds.
He believed that such a heavy object could not be brought back to the real world. Forget whether he could lift it—he did not have enough energy to bring it out.
Besides, he had to consider what others would think. He had only gone to the restroom, yet he came out carrying a stone?
He raised his leg and kicked the stone stool over. "This is really pissing me off... Huh?"
Before you continue