“How beautiful!” An Bai felt his soul being healed.
In the distance, white clouds drifted along with the gentle breeze. Waterfowl occasionally flew across the sky, while a little lower in his field of vision, herds of horses lowered their heads to graze on fresh, delicious grass.
Stretching between An Bai and the herd was a blue-and-white river about ten meters wide. He did not know where it came from, nor where it flowed.
“Ah!!!!!!!”
Standing on the mountain slope and looking at the scene before him, he could not help letting out a loud roar.
The train had stopped at a grassland once before, but the grass there had grown too lush, blocking people's vision and creating an unsettling sense of insecurity.
Here, however, the grass was only ankle-high, leaving his view completely unobstructed.
The fatigue the platform had brought him vanished completely here. An Bai stretched lazily and decided to get to work.
An Bai held an iron axe in one hand and an iron pickaxe in the other. He decided to first circle around this fogless zone.
The advantage of having a broad view was a tremendous increase in search efficiency, saving him from a great deal of pointless effort.
After searching this side of the river for about half an hour without finding anything, An Bai decided to check the opposite bank.
Perhaps the reward issued by the platform was hidden there.
He hurled the iron axe and iron pickaxe across first, then stripped off all his clothes and shoes, tied them tightly to a stone, and threw the bundle to the other side of the river as well.
An Bai took a deep breath and jumped into the slightly chilly river.
Ten meters was neither particularly close nor particularly far. Fortunately, the terrain here was flat, and the current was not very swift.
It took An Bai about five or six minutes to swim to the opposite bank.
After putting his clothes back on, An Bai stood on a small hill and observed the surroundings.
The herd of fine horses ran into the white fog because of the unwelcome visitor's arrival, while the waterfowl scattered and flew away.
The area became considerably quieter because of An Bai's arrival.
As he observed the area, a flash of violet light suddenly swept across a meadow not far away.
An Bai immediately sprinted over. Upon taking a closer look, he saw that it was a transparent glass sphere.
The glass sphere was about the size of a volleyball. Its material was white, while violet mist swirled around its surface. When sunlight shone on it, it emitted violet light.
【Beep beep beep, congratulations, Survivor Andersen, you have found the reward issued by the platform】
【Item: positioning ball】
Description: “A lighthouse in the darkness. The required energy is solar power.”
“What a positioning ball.” An Bai was delighted as he picked up the positioning ball with both hands.
The positioning ball weighed about five jin, so it was not particularly heavy.
He tapped it with his hand, and a pleasant “dong dong” sound rang out.
“Not bad! It’s quite sturdy, too.” An Bai now knew how to use the positioning ball.
To verify his guess, An Bai carried the positioning ball to the edge of the Thin-Mist Zone.
After placing the positioning ball on the ground, An Bai gripped his weapon tightly with both hands.
He looked at the faint white fog before him with a determined gaze and walked in without hesitation.
An Bai’s eyes widened. This was his first time entering the Thin-Mist Zone.
His vision was noticeably obstructed, with visibility reduced to only ten meters. In some places, it was even limited to five meters.
After walking a few steps forward, An Bai turned to look at the glass sphere.
Sure enough, just as he had expected, the glass sphere gave off an extremely distinct violet light when viewed from within the mist.
It was as dazzling as a lighthouse in the darkness, guiding lost ships toward safety.
An Bai left the Thin-Mist Zone again, gathered several stones into a pile, and placed the glass sphere on top of it.
“This makes it more noticeable.” After securing the glass sphere, An Bai turned and walked toward the Thin-Mist Zone.
The terrain in the Thin-Mist Zone was still grassland. The only difference was that there were considerably more pits in the ground, making it easy to trip if one was not careful.
Patiently searching with his head lowered, An Bai felt that there ought to be more good things here than in the fogless zone.
He did not dare venture deep into the Thin-Mist Zone, so he searched somewhere not far from the positioning ball.
After only a few steps, he came upon a pile of rubble, where the green grass on the ground had also grown sparse.
An Bai stopped, stood up, and cautiously surveyed the surroundings.
After finding nothing unusual, An Bai immediately crouched down and carefully examined the pile of rubble on the ground.
Judging from the distribution of the rubble on the ground, it resembled a Christmas hat, with its pointed end facing in front of An Bai.
In any case, the arrangement of the rubble did not look naturally formed.
Based on An Bai’s twenty years of breathing experience, there should be something good here.
He slowly walked forward along the edge of the rubble pile. Before long, the rubble disappeared completely.
In its place were several iron objects thrust straight into the ground. Most of them were covered in rust, with time having left indelible traces upon them.
There were many kinds of iron objects An Bai had never seen before, but there were also quite a few familiar ones.
For example: an iron pot, an iron shovel, an iron hammer, an iron knife, and so on.
“This looks like tribal ruins!”
An Bai tried to pull out one of the iron objects, but despite using all his strength, he could not budge it. The objects seemed to have taken root in the ground.
Continuing forward, An Bai discovered quite a few fragmented animal bones as well. The bones had piled together into a small hill three meters high.
A rubble path distinct from the grassland had also appeared on the ground, though it had long since become overgrown with weeds.
An Bai became extremely vigilant. After turning to confirm that he could still see the positioning ball from here, he continued forward along the rubble path.
After walking about twenty meters, several stone pillars appeared ahead. These pillars were already in a state of severe disrepair.
Because of the climate, they were covered in moss.
By this point, An Bai felt that something was wrong, though he could not say exactly what.
Horse hooves could still occasionally be heard in the distance, yet An Bai constantly felt that something had gone awry.
It was not the same strange feeling as when the giant python had watched him.
He picked up a stone from the ground and threw it toward the area of stone pillars ahead. Everything remained normal.
He picked up another, larger stone and hurled it forward with all his might. Apart from scattering some of the thin mist, there was nothing particularly strange.
“I’m just scaring myself.”
After waiting another minute and finding no problems, he decisively moved forward. His desire to explore had been thoroughly stirred up.
Yet the moment he passed the stone pillars, An Bai felt one foot sink into empty space, as though he had fallen into an abyss of immeasurable depth.
The seemingly solid grassland shattered at the slightest touch, like a tranquil lake’s surface.
After a dizzying whirl, An Bai opened his eyes again. The surroundings were no longer a grassland.
Magnificent ancient Chinese buildings, resplendent in gold and jade, rose in layered tiers. Trees arranged in a pleasingly irregular pattern accompanied them, creating an unreal sensation.
“What is this place?”
An Bai took a few steps forward when a sensation of the earth movement shaking the mountains and ground came from beneath him, forcing him to stop and steady his center of gravity.
【Survivor Andersen, you have successfully entered the Middle-earth Secret Realm. Three treasures awarded】
As he spoke, a crack split open in the ground before An Bai, and three objects glittering with golden light flew out.
【Good grade Enchantment mirror. It can currently be used only three times per week and is upgradeable equipment】
Description: “Look at me. Do you know who I am?”
【Train upgrade subsidy box, a substitute for train upgrade materials, a single-use item】
Description: “Supplies the remaining materials needed by the Survivor to complete the train upgrade. A conceptual item.”
【One bottle of common grade catalyst, which shortens crop growth cycles】
Description: “Rice sheds tears when it sees this, wheat immediately dozes off, and who will ask about the bitterness of the working people?”
“They’re all top-tier treasures!”
An Bai felt as though he were about to fly into the sky. Everything he had obtained today was absolutely perfect!
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