An Upgrade, a Huge Surprise

The Copper Anchor had upgraded.

Gao Jing had expected it. He had already sensed it with certainty during the day.

But the surprise it brought still caught him completely off guard!

This miraculous creation seemed to have undergone a rebirth, completing a transformation of life just like Gao Jing. It had shed its dim outer shell and blossomed with entirely new radiance.

Gao Jing truly saw light.

When he focused his mind entirely on the Copper Anchor, his consciousness naturally sank into it.

He immediately discovered the changes brought by the Copper Anchor's upgrade.

There was now a space inside it.

An empty, chaotic space. Though he could not see its boundaries, he could sense that they existed!

At the same time he sensed the space's existence, the Copper Anchor silently conveyed certain information to Gao Jing.

It was indescribable, mysterious beyond all mystery!

Gao Jing's heart stirred, and he reached out to grab the phone resting beside his pillow.

The next second, the old secondhand phone vanished from his hand without a trace.

It appeared inside the Copper Anchor Space!

With another thought, the phone returned to his hand!!

Gao Jing could not help drawing in a deep breath.

He put the phone into the Copper Anchor Space again and repeated the process.

Confirming that he was not hallucinating.

His emotions instantly exploded!

A storage space!!!

If Gao Jing's nerves had not already become resilient enough, and his psychological endurance greatly strengthened, he might have shouted out loud on the spot.

This was such a fucking huge surprise!

Forcing down the excitement in his heart, Gao Jing was like a grown boy who had just received a novel new toy, repeatedly testing the Copper Anchor's storage function.

His phone, desk lamp, computer, desk, even the single bed he slept on all became objects for Gao Jing's experiments.

This was way too fun.

Besides gaining an internal storage space after the upgrade, the Copper Anchor itself gave Gao Jing the feeling that it had changed from a small pond into a vast deep pool.

A shallow layer of water covered the bottom of that deep pool.

Raindrops fell from time to time. To fill this deep pool, it clearly needed much more power of faith.

At least ten times as much!

Further upgrades were undoubtedly unrealistic for now, so Gao Jing turned his attention to exploring the Copper Anchor's new ability.

After repeated tests, he discovered that the Copper Anchor's storage space was around one hundred cubic meters.

Its shape was not fixed and could change according to Gao Jing's thoughts. He could stretch it longer, wider, or rounder without any problem.

But no matter what shape it took, its volume remained constant, and it did not restrict the material stored within.

However, the storage space could not hold living creatures.

Gao Jing had just tried putting in the White-Fronted Huntsman Spider that had lived with him for several years, hidden in the corner of his wardrobe.

The attempt had failed.

But that did not affect Gao Jing's jubilant mood in the slightest.

Only when he discovered that storing and retrieving items from the Copper Anchor Space consumed power of faith did he reluctantly end his testing.

Additionally, the upgraded Copper Anchor still had only seven Silver Scales.

There had been neither an increase nor a decrease.

That meant the number of times Gao Jing could travel back and forth to the Great World had not changed.

In fact, during this period, Gao Jing had tried to "charge" the Copper Anchor.

He had left it baking beneath the sun and roasted it in a fire, but neither had produced any effect.

Gao Jing had even wanted to try charging the Copper Anchor with electricity.

But the Copper Anchor did not come with a plug. How was he supposed to charge it?

Considering the dangers of fooling around, he temporarily gave up researching a way to charge the Copper Anchor.

Over the next few days, Gao Jing devoted himself wholeheartedly to preparing for another journey into the Great World.

Relying on the hefty prize money he had won in the marathon, he not only paid off Huabei and Jiebei, but also upgraded his equipment.

Through Uncle Fang, Gao Jing bought two more hunting crossbows.

His original Sagittarius C-Type Hunting Crossbow had been left behind in the Great World.

Gao Jing directly cocked these two newly purchased crossbows, loaded them with bolts, and stored them in the Copper Anchor Space.

Whenever he needed them, he could retrieve one in an instant with a thought and fire.

It was countless times more convenient than hanging them from his backpack, greatly improving his ability to react and fight back.

Gao Jing also bought a new stab-resistant vest, an entrenching shovel, high-powered binoculars...

By searching specialist forums, he bought two cracked Mavic 2 drones.

His original mountaineering watch had been damaged, so he replaced it with a better model.

Finally, Gao Jing stuffed the Copper Anchor Space with a large quantity of supplies.

This would allow him to persist longer while exploring the Great World.

The prize money he had just received flowed away like water, but Gao Jing armed himself to the teeth!

On the morning of the sixth day after the Cloud City Summer International Marathon ended, he set off for the Great World again.

"Here we go!"

Just as before, Gao Jing was instantly transported away by the Copper Anchor.

But this time, his nerves were stretched to the limit. He held a cocked hunting crossbow in his hands, ready to fire.

And ready to return at any time.

When Gao Jing returned to the Great World, he found himself lying in the grass.

That Sagittarius C-Type Hunting Crossbow lay beside him.

Bang!

Accompanied by a dull crash, the terrifying crimson giant snake fell from the air and slammed heavily onto the ground.

The tip of its tail was only half a meter from Gao Jing!

Without a second thought, Gao Jing sprang to his feet and rapidly retreated several steps, opening up the distance.

He aimed at the giant snake on the ground and pulled the trigger.

Strike while it was wounded and take its life!

Thwack!

The sharp bolt shot out and accurately struck the crimson giant snake.

To Gao Jing's surprise, the bolt not only failed to pierce through the snake, it was instead deflected by its scales.

It did not even leave a white mark!

What was going on?

Gao Jing froze for a moment.

He immediately put away the crossbow in his hands and retrieved the second one from the storage space.

This time, Gao Jing aimed at the crimson giant snake's head and fired.

After all the constant practice he had done recently, he had become quite skilled with a crossbow. Coupled with the laser sighting assistance, he struck the target accurately again.

This time, the alloy bolt was not deflected.

Its arrowhead snapped off!

Gao Jing was utterly speechless.

One bolt had clearly severely wounded the giant snake last time. Why was it ineffective now?

Still unwilling to give up, he picked up the Sagittarius C-Type Hunting Crossbow from the ground, cocked it again, and loaded another bolt.

However, Gao Jing did not fire a third bolt.

Because he quickly discovered that after the giant snake in front of him struggled and convulsed on the ground a few times, it fell still.

Dark crimson snake blood gushed from the wound pierced by the bolt, silently flowing across the ground.

A fishy-sweet scent spread through the air.

Gao Jing sniffed.

His eyes remained fixed on the snake's corpse as he unconsciously licked his lips.

An indescribable craving welled up from within Gao Jing.

Every cell in his body was crying out. As though possessed, he involuntarily stepped forward.

Ignoring the possibility that the giant snake might be playing dead, Gao Jing squatted in front of its corpse.

At this moment, he discovered that the bolt that had severely wounded the crimson giant snake and delivered the fatal strike had hit about half a meter below its head.

Right on a patch of dark golden snake markings!

That patch of markings was only the size of a ping-pong ball, with no scales covering it at all.

This discovery immediately made Gao Jing understand.

The only reason he had been able to kill this giant snake was pure luck.

Last time, in his desperation, he had fired the hunting crossbow, and the bolt had struck the crimson giant snake's vital point without deviation!

Thinking back on the situation then, it was like spending two yuan and winning ten million in the lottery.

What incredible luck!

But that feeling of relief was quickly replaced by craving.

After crouching there for a moment, Gao Jing finally could not suppress the urge in his heart. He reached out and forcefully pulled the bolt from the snake's body.

He bent down and pressed his mouth tightly against the torn wound.

Then he gulped down the scalding snake blood in great mouthfuls!

Great streams of fishy-sweet snake blood poured into his stomach, instantly absorbed and digested, making every cell in his body cheer.

This was wonderful, this was incredible!

He could not stop!!

Like an infant that had been starving for ages, Gao Jing lay on the ground and drank for over ten minutes.

Until he could no longer draw out even a single drop of snake blood.

"Urp~"

He let out a full belch.

A current of heat coursed through Gao Jing's body, spreading through his organs, limbs, and every bone.

It was warm and comfortable beyond compare.

He stood up, and every bone in his body immediately crackled in rapid succession. His muscles trembled violently, while threads of scorching heat seeped from every pore.

At this moment, Gao Jing felt stronger than ever before!

The hunger that had plagued him at every moment over the past half month, the hunger that came from both body and soul, had vanished completely.

Gao Jing had not transformed again.

But he knew that only now had his ascension of life truly been completed!

Here comes the first update. There are no recommendations this week, so if I want to make a run at the new book rankings, I can only ask everyone for support. Any kind of support is welcome. Thank you!