Five Frozen Centuries

Wei Huo set foot on the road paved with limestone where brick walls were built on the sides. Some of the houses had two stories with most of the rooms being equipped with air-conditioning systems and drain outlets. There might even be an underground sewerage system.

Lu Qiqi introduced the place as they walked, “No problems were detected in the construction test. The electrical facilities are operating normally. In the past 30 years, there were a total of 37 short-circuits and three fire incidents.”

At that moment, Wei Huo suddenly understood the reason Lu Qiqi’s skills were all at level five. In other words, she was an all-rounder artificial being. From Farming, Construction, Hunting, Cooking to Medicines, nothing could inconvenience her. Wei Huo suddenly realized that he had found a treasure!

“Do you know how to manufacture an atomic bomb?” Wei Huo asked carefully.

Lu Qiqi glanced at him and said, “First, please collect materials to build a scanner according to the blueprint. Next, search for well-preserved atomic bombs. Then, use the scanner to scan the atomic bombs and obtain the atomic bomb blueprint. Lastly, collect sufficient materials to manufacture the atomic bomb.”

Wei Huo was confused. Was it so easy to manufacture an atomic bomb? That was unscientific!

However, it was a game. It was normal to be unscientific.

“Take me to the warehouse. I’m eager to see the 5,000 Magical Stones.”

Lu Qiqi continued leading the way. They walked past the kitchen and Wei Huo saw a few four-doored refrigerators. He also saw other electric cookware such as an induction cooker, electric frying pan, electric rice cooker, and so on.

Lu Qiqi said, “The cooking appliances are operating normally and their functions are consistent with human’s usual practice. There are various cooking methods adoptable by humans. No problems were detected.”

It suddenly dawned on Wei Huo that the purpose of the first test was to find out whether humans could survive under such harsh environments.

All of a sudden, Wei Huo wanted to know how many artificial beings survived amongst the 10,000 of them so he asked, “How many of your kind survived after the first test?”

Lu Qiqi answered, “The total number of testers was 10,000. A total of 4,569 survived the first test. A total of 2,357 were killed by beasts, 384 were killed by the fire, and 863 were killed by an infectious disease…”

Wei Huo was surprised to hear that the death rate had exceeded 50%. Most of the artificial beings were killed by beasts. However, it was no surprise because the evolution and mutation of creatures had accelerated. Humans were too fragile to compete with those creatures.

Not everybody had the title ‘The Loner Neglected by God’ like him, or was 100 years ahead of everyone else like him, or fearless of death like artificial beings.

Now that only 100 years have passed, will humans be able to survive when the time halt ends? Will they become extinct because they cannot endure the harsh environments?

Lu Qiqi took Wei Huo to the warehouses. Wei Huo realized that the warehouses were divided into different types. For example, the air-conditioned warehouses only stored food, while the one next to it stored sundries. The other warehouses were filled with stone blocks, minerals, and so on. Numerous pitch-black Magical Stones were also piled up in that warehouse. It looked ordinary but the system had already posted a notification.

“Unclaimed Magical Stones detected, would you like to accept it?”

“Of course I’ll accept it! I came here for this!”

As soon as he finished his sentence, the pile of Magical Stones disappeared into thin air. Soon after, the number of Magical Stones in Wei Huo’s Item Mall became 5,231.

Wei Huo was elated to see the unexpected surge in the number of Magical Stones he had. He did not purchase the goods in his Item Mall immediately as he did not know what to buy since there were too many goods to choose from. He also wanted to use those Magical Stones at critical times. He could purchase 10 days worth of food with only one Magical Stone and that could have saved one’s life during critical times!

Wei Huo turned his head and asked Lu Qiqi, “I heard you saying Magical Stones can be obtained through mining and hunting magical beasts ranked rare or above?”

Lu Qiqi answered, “There are three ways to obtain Magical Stones. First, you can obtain it through mining. Second, you can obtain it through hunting magical beasts ranked rare and above. Third, you can obtain it through completing specific quests.”

At this moment, Lu Qiqi turned into a novice guide. She could answer almost all questions about the game.

Wei Huo asked again, “Do you know any rare ranked magical beasts around here?”

Lu Qiqi said, “The Player should explore the relevant game content by yourselves.”

Wei Huo was left speechless. “…”

‘If you don’t know, just say it.’

Wei Huo and Lu Qiqi stayed in the camp temporarily. Wei Huo found some clothing made out of super woven fabric in the warehouse. The super woven fabrics were extracted from a plant farmed by artificial beings. Clothes made out of those fabrics were very durable. The thermal insulation and sweat-wicking effects were also pretty good. Moreover, it looked quite stylish too.

Wei Huo could finally take a comfortable bath after more than a century. He could cut his hair and put on some modern clothes. Wei Huo could not help but be overcome with emotions when he saw himself in the mirror.

However, what Wei Huo did not expect was that when he met Lu Qiqi with his new look. Lu Qiqi was surprised and she asked, “May I know who you are?”

Wei Huo was speechless. “…”

It was indeed an artificial being made by God. She also knew how to crack a joke!

Lu Qiqi only realized after a few moments. She looked Wei Huo up and down and said, “You did not lie to me. You are indeed a human, not a caveman who evolved from monkeys throughout these hundred years.”

Wei Huo was speechless. “…”

‘So you thought I was a caveman?’

However, Wei Huo had to admit that his before and after appearance did look like two different people.

A few moments ago, Wei Huo checked the warehouses and noticed that food in the warehouses were all frozen. The electrical appliances were still operating automatically. Even if they broke down, Lu Qiqi knew how to repair them so Wei Huo could live in the camp without any worries.

However, survival was not a problem for Wei Huo. His main concern was to survive forever. His total lifespan was now 688 years as his level six Qi-Training Skill had further granted him an additional 600 years of lifespan. It may appear to be a very long time, but one-sixth of it was already gone.

Fortunately, Wei Huo could use his Magical Stones to purchase natural treasures in the Item Mall that could speed up his Qi Cultivation progress. He could also look for precious cultivation resource spots for his Qi Cultivation.

What Wei Huo needed the most now are Magical Stones. He had to get a huge amount of Magical Stones to ensure his Cultivation progress.

Currently, there were only two stable ways to get Magical Stones. One was through mining and another one through hunting rare magical beasts.

However, due to various reasons, rare magical beasts were still scarce and not commonly seen. God probably thought that it was unnecessary to release a large number of magical beasts ranked rare and above as the human time was still halted.

The game world was still in the making and had not been completed yet. In the process of game-making, one should first build a large framework, create the game, and then consider optimization and other details.

Wei Huo understood this, so he started searching for rare magical beasts. Occasionally, he would also kill normal beasts who attempted to attack him.

On Wei Huo’s fifth day in the camp, the system suddenly sent a warning.

“Hunting quota reached. Incident ‘Animal Frenzy’ triggered!”