Welcome the Glorious Evolution, Two Branches

He waited a good while, but nothing seemed to change.

"Forget it. The effects probably won't show up that quickly. I'll go to sleep first."

Too much had happened that day, and exploring the game had also taken a great deal of energy. Shen Xing was already so sleepy he could barely keep his eyes open.

He used his arms to lift himself from his wheelchair onto the bed, pulled the covers over himself, and fell into a deep sleep.

He slept peacefully until the sun was high in the sky the next day, when his alarm woke him.

He blearily opened his phone and saw that it was already past nine in the morning.

In the discussion group, Qin Lang had forwarded a news report announcing Lu Xiang's death.

Just as Zhou Zheng had said earlier, it was being treated as an accidental death.

The three people in the discussion group all sighed at the report.

But there was nothing they could do. After all, they had been drawn into the game themselves and had no control over their situation.

Besides, Lu Xiang had been a gambling addict for years and owed who knew how much in online loans. His life had already been pretty much hopeless.

His parents had secretly started a new account a few years ago. Lu Xiang had been so angry about it that he had run away from home and hadn't returned for years.

After lamenting for a while, the three collected themselves.

Shen Xing didn't enter the game right away. According to the forum, if his territory encountered danger, the Flower of Mist mark on his wrist would grow hot.

Since he hadn't felt anything, everything must be normal.

"Grrr..."

His stomach rumbled, and a powerful hunger came over him.

"The last time I ate was the last time I ate. Time to eat."

Shen Xing deftly braced himself with his arms, preparing to move from the bed to his wheelchair.

But the moment he put strength into his hands, he suddenly froze.

"Huh? Why does it feel like I've gotten a little stronger?"

Shen Xing continued holding himself up, paying close attention to what he felt in his arms. "No, it's not that I've gotten stronger. My bones have gotten sturdier."

The feeling was hard to describe, but there had indeed been a huge change.

Most noticeably, his arms no longer shook when he held himself up. They were as steady as a rock.

His lower back and neck, which had ached from sitting for so long, also felt more comfortable than ever. Even his arms had gotten thicker.

"Is this the effect of the Bone Fruit?"

Shen Xing performed a few difficult front-support exercises on the bed and even did more than a dozen push-ups in a row before stopping.

After all that exertion, he was even hungrier.

He nimbly climbed into his wheelchair and pushed himself to the bathroom.

In the mirror was a face with delicate features and clean lines.

Many years ago, when he was still in school, Shen Xing had been one of the well-known handsome guys in his department, almost as handsome as you esteemed readers.

Plenty of girls had pursued him back then, but after his legs were paralyzed, he had shut himself up in his rental without going out and lost touch with his old classmates.

Still, precisely because he hadn't seen the sun in years, his skin had grown even fairer.

After a quick wash, Shen Xing pushed his wheelchair out the door.

He entered the hallway and was just about to take the elevator down to the first floor.

But when the elevator doors opened, a graceful figure was already standing inside.

A long floral qipao hugged her voluptuous curves, and her whole body exuded the charm of a mature woman.

"Oh? It's Little Xing."

The woman's eyes lit up. Staring at his face, she asked, "Heading out?"

"Yes, Aunt Mei."

Shen Xing nodded politely. Her name was Tang Mengmei, and she was the landlady of this building and several others nearby.

"Hehe, want me to give you a hand?"

As she spoke, Tang Mengmei bent down, steadying the wheelchair with one hand and placing the other on his shoulder, then slowly sliding it downward.

Goosebumps immediately rose on Shen Xing's skin. He hurriedly pushed her hand away. "No need, Aunt Mei. I can get down there myself."

Tang Mengmei wasn't annoyed. She withdrew her hand and covered her mouth as she chuckled. "You really do like to act tough. Living alone must be so inconvenient."

"If you had someone to take care of you, things would be different."

Her words carried an implication as she gazed at Shen Xing, her eyes gentle.

"I'm fine on my own. There's nothing inconvenient about it." Shen Xing cleared his throat, trying to go around her.

Just then, Tang Mengmei stepped in front of him and placed a shapely foot clad in a flesh-colored stocking on the wheelchair's footrest.

"Little Xing, let me be honest with you. I just love how fair and clean-cut you look."

She bent down, her breath fragrant. "Although I'm already in my forties, I've taken pretty good care of myself."

"As long as you get together with me, you'll never have to worry about food or clothes again, and you won't have to live in a rental anymore."

"Well? Why don't you think it over?"

"Uh... I'd better pass." Sweat appeared on Shen Xing's forehead. "I can't even move my legs."

"That's all right. I can move on my own." Tang Mengmei winked.

Cold sweat streamed down Shen Xing's face. After making excuses for a while, he finally broke free of the enthusiastic landlady and slipped into the elevator.

Aunt Mei leaned against the elevator doorframe, watching him with a smile.

The elevator doors closed completely, and Shen Xing let out a long breath.

"Phew..."

To be honest, he was sometimes quite afraid of seeing her.

Still, she meant no harm and had taken good care of him over the years, reducing or waiving a good deal of his rent.

Besides, Aunt Mei was indeed beautiful and had a great figure. He had heard that quite a few bosses of publicly listed companies were pursuing her.

But... Shen Xing looked down at his skinny arms and legs.

If he really gave in to her, he was afraid he'd be drained dry in three days.

He couldn't handle it. He absolutely couldn't handle it.

Chapter 14: Welcome the Glorious Evolution, Two Branches

"Beep!"

The elevator doors opened, and Shen Xing pushed his wheelchair along the familiar path to the breakfast stall at the entrance.

The aroma of steamed buns and fried dough sticks wafted toward him. Quite a few customers were already sitting at the tables in front of the stall.

Shen Xing found himself a table and ordered a bowl of hot dry noodles.

As he ate breakfast, he opened his phone and entered the Huaguo Pioneers Forum.

To his surprise, however, the forum had received an update the night before.

Besides the familiar five sections, there was now a [Regional section] next to them.

He clicked on it, and a huge number of posts flashed before his eyes.

"Brothers in Jiangcheng, anyone got spare soul stones? I'll buy them for 500 yuan apiece, unlimited quantity!"

"I'm done for... This forum really exists. I thought that officer was lying to me. Now I'm completely screwed!"

"The Jiangcheng Pioneers Trading Association was established today. Anyone interested can come to Building B of the Times Building..."

"Big news! A massive fog has appeared in Mingyue Bay Park. A powerful pioneer is suspected to have suddenly died there. Whatever you do, don't go near it!"

"Newbie looking for someone to carry me! I'm a freshman at East Lake College, and I randomly got a one-star troop type, mummies. My photo is attached. Ciallo~(∠?ω<)⌒★"

After scanning the posts, Shen Xing more or less understood.

This section was like the local feature on a short-video app. Jiangcheng's pioneers would all automatically enter it to chat and trade.

That was quite convenient.

In the public forum, by contrast, everyone came from all over the place, and the information was too jumbled.

Now he only had to enter the regional section to learn about some of the unusual events happening in Jiangcheng.

At the same time, if people had things others needed, they could also trade locally.

After studying it for a while and reading some beginner guides, Shen Xing closed the forum.

He paid seven yuan for the hot dry noodles and pushed his wheelchair back to his rental.

He went to the bedroom area, placed a glass of water by the table, and put his glasses back on.

In an instant, the view before him shifted.

When he opened his eyes again, he was beside the campfire in his territory.

The flames blazed, sending out waves of warmth.

He looked around and saw that the whole village had changed quite a bit.

The little fire, originally less than a meter in diameter, had now expanded to a meter and a half.

The area illuminated by the firelight had also expanded severalfold, growing from twenty meters in diameter to at least fifty.

More of the black ground was visible. All of it lay within his territory, and he could build more structures in this area.

On the path at the village entrance ahead stood two imposing diamond-shaped arrow towers, each about four meters tall and ancient in design.

The arrow slits at their tops glowed faintly, and they looked quite deadly.

"Not bad. The territory is growing stronger and stronger."

Shen Xing looked at everything before him with satisfaction, unable to stop a trace of accomplishment from welling up in his heart.

It was like building a city with his own hands and watching it slowly rise from a small village.

"Boss, you're back!"

Hellscream came over with a group of orc infantrymen, looking energetic.

"Mm. Did anything happen in the territory last night?" Shen Xing asked.

"Two waves of monsters launched raids in the middle of the night, trying to destroy our campfire, but they all fell beneath the orcs' axes!" Hellscream said proudly.

"That's right! Orcs are strong. We chopped them all to death!" Gorehowl chimed in.

Then they handed over all of last night's spoils, along with the bone arrows they had finished grinding.