Level 2 Tomie, Rumors Appear

Shen Hui's Time Flow Rate Card could accelerate the passage of time by up to five years.

Five years passed in the blink of an eye.

The thousands of people who had fled to the Land of New Life

had put down roots in that land, and new lives had been born.

They had made it through the early days with the food and tools they had brought with them.

Some had brought crops that could be planted, allowing them to begin surviving long-term.

During this time,

infighting had broken out among them. Many had died in struggles for power or because of disagreements.

At the same time, they had begun exploring the Death World outside, hoping to live there and return to their original cities.

However, after a long period of exploration, they had confirmed that no living thing could survive outside.

So they felt even more trepidation and fear toward the things they had seen outside: Sadako, the Pig-headed Butcher, Tomie, Siren Head, and the rest.

Still, some people believed there was only one Eldritch Being outside-or that there were none at all.

After all, quite a few people had seen only one of the strange creatures at the time.

And most of them had seen only a blurry silhouette.

As for Sadako, who had invaded the city on a large scale, people had assumed she was a kind of high-tech technology.

But later, one after another, people who had risked their lives to leave the Land of New Life and explore outside returned and said they had seen things.

They had seen a pig-headed man in a slaughterhouse.

In the fog outside, they had seen a telephone pole turn into a giant.

In a Deadwood Forest, they had seen the woman in white who had appeared on all kinds of screens in the city.

On a plain, they had seen a girl of breathtaking beauty.

But after returning, these people had either been on the verge of death or gone mad.

There was no way to get any more information out of them.

So many people were skeptical.

And no one dared to go exploring outside again.

As time went on, they busied themselves with making a living in this region of the Land of New Life.

Matters concerning Eldritch Beings gradually became something uncertain.

Later, when people had children and taught them, they told them these things as rumors and horror stories.

The creator, Shen Hui, saw all of it.

Five years was no more than the blink of an eye to him.

And Shen Hui was very satisfied with how things had developed.

Sadako and the others had already begun to turn into rumors, into stories.

Of course, this was only the beginning.

Shen Hui couldn't be sure what would happen later-whether all these people would die, or whether they would completely forget Sadako and the others.

Still, it was a good start.

From here on, it would take Shen Hui's maintenance and the natural development of these people.

Once five years had passed, time in the Death World returned to its normal flow.

There wasn't much reason to keep an eye on these people anymore.

Shen Hui turned his attention to Tomie.

After this Level 2 World challenge, Tomie's level had successfully risen to Level 2 as well.

[Tomie's level has increased to Level 2]

[The time required for Tomie's Mad Love and Hate ability to fully take effect has been shortened, and its power to enchant targets through indirect means such as photographs and videos has increased.]

Tomie's level-up had improved the effects of her abilities.

Now, Tomie could make a target go completely crazy over her in less time.

And anyone who saw photos or videos of Tomie would be enchanted by her as well.

However, this enchantment had not yet reached the point of making people go mad with love and throw caution to the wind.

At most, it made them develop an extraordinarily strong fondness for Tomie.

But as Tomie's level increased, Shen Hui believed she would eventually be able to completely enchant targets through photos and the like.

After checking all the changes in his world,

Shen Hui exited it.

His consciousness withdrew from the place where he had challenged the Unclaimed World.

Shen Hui felt a little dizzy, and his mental strength had been depleted.

This was a side effect of challenging and merging with another world.

It hadn't been very noticeable when he challenged Level 1 Worlds, but things were different now.

So he couldn't challenge Unclaimed Worlds recklessly, one after another without stopping.

Such rapid expansion was too much for both his world and himself.

Qingxue and Ye Long were still challenging worlds.

But before long, Ye Long emerged, having successfully completed his challenge.

Seeing that Shen Hui was already awake, Ye Long hurriedly asked,

"Brother Shen, what kind of world did you challenge? You were so fast-you came out before I did."

Shen Hui didn't hide it. There were channels through which this information could be checked anyway.

"A Level 2 technological world. It was pretty good. I got some nice things."

Ye Long seemed to have already guessed. He nodded and grinned.

"Just as I expected. You definitely challenged a Level 2 World, Brother Shen."

"You did too, right?"

Shen Hui smiled as well.

The two exchanged a glance, then smiled again.

The other Awakeners were only attempting their first Unclaimed World challenges today.

But Shen Hui and Ye Long had already started challenging Level 2 Worlds.

Only the two of them knew just how big the gap was.

Not long afterward, Qingxue finished her challenge too.

But she had challenged a Level 1 World, one considerably stronger than the world she had challenged the first time.

"Damn, you two both challenged Level 2 Worlds? Why didn't you tell me ahead of time? I would've tried it too!"

Qingxue clenched her fists and spoke with a huff.

She seemed very unhappy that Shen Hui and Ye Long hadn't invited her to challenge a Level 2 World with them.

But the main reason was that Qingxue was competitive too.

She didn't want to fall behind in strength.

After all, she was the Awakener with the largest initial world among this year's batch.

But now, she felt like she had fallen far behind.

Shen Hui reassured her. "What's the big deal? The Level 1 World you challenged was a late-stage one, not far off from a Level 2 World. The gap really isn't that big."

Ye Long hurriedly nodded too. "That's right. Brother Shen and I didn't discuss it beforehand. We each made our own decision based on our circumstances. We couldn't be rash, after all. It would've been a huge loss if we'd damaged our worlds."

Qingxue thought about it and felt better.

But then she said, "Next time, I'm definitely challenging a Level 2 World too. But when you two challenge even higher-level worlds after that, you have to tell me!"

Shen Hui and Ye Long hurriedly promised her they would.

Never mind that. They'd make her feel better first; whether they told her later was another matter.

"Among the things in the world I merged this time, a lot of them are useless. I'm planning to have them extracted and sell them at the World Association."

Shen Hui said this to indicate where he planned to go next.

After hearing him, Ye Long asked, "Brother Shen, Qingxue, did either of you get anything Rare?"

"If you did, you can sell it to me. I can offer you a high price on behalf of the Ye Family Chamber of Commerce."

The various forces outside all had their own trading channels.

Of course, the prices differed. Some were high, some low, and some fluctuated.

The World Association's purchase prices, however, were comparatively low in the long run.

But selling to the World Association earned points that could be used to increase one's World Association rank.

So there were pros and cons.

Shen Hui thought about it. He didn't need a particularly high World Association rank right now.

The most important thing was making money.

He could sell ordinary things like buildings to the World Association.

But he planned to ask Ye Long about their purchase price for that Low-Level Technological Civilization Card.