CHAPTER 40: CHAPTER 17: REACHING A CONSENSUS

Gu Mo stood up and casually swung the katana in his hand a few times. He wondered if it was just an illusion, as the weight of the sword seemed to have lightened somewhat.

He wasn’t entirely sure if this was due to his physical stamina instantly recovering, even more abundant than before, causing an illusion, or if attributes like strength, agility, and physique had a certain synergy, slightly enhancing the others when any one was strengthened?

Speaking of which, how is professional level supposed to be improved? Does it also give a distributable point whenever a level is gained or something?

But there should be some differences, right? Otherwise, there’s no need to have two separate leveling systems...

These thoughts floated in his mind, but Gu Mo didn’t ponder them too deeply at this time. Instead, he turned around to look at Hidechika behind him, and with great spirit, he waved his hand: "Alright, I’ve rested well. Let’s head up the mountain now!"

"..."

"..."

The black-haired girl looked at him with a strange gaze. This person was really odd. She could understand when he said he needed to rest, considering he had chopped his way from the village head to the village end, contracting the one-on-one slaying service for all the small Hungry Ghosts, visibly growing along the way.

But in any case, for a normal person’s physical strength to last this long was already quite impressive. The girl also felt he indeed needed to sit down and catch his breath, otherwise, he might not even have the energy to climb the mountain later.

Fighting truly consumes a lot of physical strength. Not to mention battles requiring deadly blows, even ordinary fights tire people out after a while, much like boxing, which is a high-intensity exercise, consuming significant physical strength.

But then again...

He was really exhausted just now; the fatigue on his face was apparent. Yet, after washing his hands, he immediately became energetic. What kind of operation was this?

Hidechika tilted her head, as if question marks were slowly emerging above her head. She subconsciously shifted her gaze to the waterside. Could it be that this strange person has some special secret technique or method... Hmm, to recover his state quickly by washing his hands?

Gu Mo was unaware that due to his odd behavior, the girl suspected him of being the "washing hands War God". He just took the lead and walked toward the stone staircase mountain path at the back mountain.

In response, the black-haired girl had no choice but to hold the torch and quickly follow.

Upon reaching the stone steps, looking at the mountain path above, winding and disappearing into the dense forest, Gu Mo looked up at the sky. The light of stars and the moon had dimmed, and the eastern sky was already showing a hint of dawn...

It was almost daybreak.

Speaking of which, when he was preparing to return to his apartment and accidentally entered this instance, it was about one o’clock in the morning. And the time spent in this instance, even counting meticulously, added up to just over an hour, certainly not reaching two hours—

This was because he was cautious in exploring the map, attracting only one small Hungry Ghost at a time, and also because the powerhouse he teamed up with was very patient...

So no matter how one looks at it, it shouldn’t be almost daybreak. The only explanation is that there’s a time distortion between the instance and the real world... This was expected, with different worldviews, but maybe due to coincidence or some other reason, every time he entered the instance, the time just happened to also be night there.

This inadvertently caused such an illusion for Gu Mo, also making it hard for him initially to distinguish the boundary between reality and fantasy.

"It’s almost daybreak..." Gu Mo sighed, and slightly quickened his pace.

According to the storyline he knew, Fujikichiro would also arrive at daybreak, although it’s unclear why his promised vigil under the Night Cherry Blossoms resulted in nothing but solitude, and what he was actually up to in the meantime. However, having tricked Ah Xiu not long ago, Gu Mo instinctively wanted to avoid meeting Fujikichiro.

Being exposed on the spot would be too awkward...

So it’s better to clear the instance quickly, then "bucket and run"; by then, even if he gets exposed, he likely won’t be in this world, so there’s nothing to fear.

The black-haired girl behind him also glanced at the sky. Indeed, it was almost dawn, as she had fallen asleep deep into the night, woken by a passerby being attacked by a Hungry Ghost, slayed the small demon to save the passerby, and only then discovered a letter had been delivered to her house, inviting her to this area’s Thirteen Sakura Village.

Since the distance was somewhat far, it took her a while to get here, arriving naturally quite late. Add to that the time delayed just now, it’s no wonder it’s almost daybreak; what’s so surprising about that?

Moreover, he was acting as if time was abundant just a moment ago, why the sudden urgency now?

The girl was somewhat puzzled, but she couldn’t ask about it.

"Ugh, it’s Evernight again..."

Walking in front, Gu Mo suddenly felt his vision dim and shift to a near black-and-white tone, as if unconsciously stepping past the boundary separating the present world, falling into something akin to a Demon Realm. With the background and light both becoming murky, his body also felt much heavier, and his once abundant energy began to drain away.