The second ecosphere
Qu Chen is a great little helper. Even though he can't speak yet, he can already give hints on the key points to pass the level. If you can read his mind, passing the level will be even easier.
Jian Tanxi had just thought of crossing out some of Miss Jenny's criteria for choosing a partner because Qu Chen had been holding that pen the whole time.
Qin Man and Sun Lianhu also showed happy expressions, it seemed that they had both obtained useful superpowers.
Although Jian Tanxi felt it was unfair that Sun Lianhu could also possess superpowers, this game was being led by aliens, and it wasn't up to Jian Tanxi to decide.
Qu Chen paused, seemingly confused. He probably didn't understand why a voice was suddenly speaking in his head, nor could he comprehend the supernatural ability.
Qin Man asked the king, "Your Majesty, my son cannot speak and does not understand his own superpower. Could you please tell me about his superpower directly?"
The king said, "No, that's the rule."
Qin Man was somewhat disappointed, but there was nothing she could do.
Jian Tanxi comforted her, "Sister Man, one day we'll find out about Xiao Chen's special ability."
Qin Man nodded: "Okay. By the way, thank you for giving me and Xiao Chen your healing pills before, otherwise we would definitely be dead. I don't know when we'll see each other again. I don't have anything valuable on me, so I'll give you one of our pills. You never know when we might need them."
My pills are height-increasing pills, and Xiaochen's are gray pills. I don't know what they do, but you can keep them for now.
As she spoke, Qin Man gave Jian Tanxi two pills.
One white pill is a height-increasing pill. After taking it, you can grow 1 meter taller, and the effect lasts for 20 minutes.
One of them is gray, and its efficacy is unknown.
Jian Tanxi didn't want to accept it, but Qin Man insisted, so Jian Tanxi had no choice but to accept it.
Jian Tanxi sincerely said to Qin Man, "Sister Man, we will always be teammates and friends."
Qin Man nodded: "Yes, definitely."
However, Qin Man's eyes also held a hint of confusion. She didn't know when she would see Jian Tanxi again—maybe in a few months, maybe in a few years, maybe they would perish in some dungeon...
She could only try her best not to think about these things.
Qin Man said to the king, "Your Majesty, may I give up my special ability and exchange it for a different reward?"
The king asked, "What do you wish to exchange?"
"Is it possible to treat my son's autism? I really hope he can recover."
"We will not treat it."
Qin Man was astonished, and her heart sank to the bottom: "How could this be...aren't you supposed to be very powerful?"
The king said, "It really can't be cured. You should still use your special ability."
Qin Man was heartbroken, but all she could say was, "Okay, thank you..."
Next, the king took out an ecosphere and said, "There are 200,000 Earthlings inside this ecosphere. Do you want to preserve it? Jian Tanxi has made the greatest contribution, so he can be chosen first."
Jian Tanxi quickly said, "I want this. But I don't know if my personal storage space can hold it?"
"Yes. The personal space can store 1,000 ecospheres."
With that, the king gave the ecosphere to Jian Tanxi.
Jian Tanxi enlarged the ecosphere and indeed saw that there were even more people inside. She opened her personal space and put the ecosphere inside.
Including the previous 100,000, she now protects 300,000 Earthlings.
However, compared to the number of people on Earth, 300,000 is a small number.
I don't know where the other ecospheres are, or if I can get a few more.
Jian Tanxi asked the king, "Your Majesty, is it only by winning the game that one can obtain the Eco-Ball?"
"That's right, winning the game is necessary, but not every game will have an ecosphere."
Sun Lianhu, who was standing to the side, sneered: "What do you need this thing for? You might as well ask for more rewards."
Jian Tanxi glanced at Sun Lianhu with disdain, too lazy to explain.
Sun Lianhu is the kind of person Jian Tanxi will never be on the same wavelength. Hopefully, she'll never run into him again.
At this moment, the king said, "I almost forgot about the extra reward. Jian Tanxi, this is for you."
The king handed Jian Tanxi a gauze robe and explained, "This is a fire-resistant gauze robe. Wearing it will prevent you from being burned by fire and will not make you feel hot in a fire."
This sheer dress is very light and has a faint blue sheen. I don't know what material it's made of, but it has a kind of understated luxury.
Jian Tanxi took the gauze dress and felt that it was icy cold.
The king said, "This gauze dress can be stored in your personal space."
Jian Tanxi tried to open her personal space and put the gauze dress inside.
She was very excited and said to the king, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Sun Lianhu was somewhat indignant: "Why does Jian Tanxi get an extra reward, but we don't?"
The king said, "Jian Tanxi contributed the most to clearing the level, and she also shared her healing pills with her teammates."
Sun Lianhu said, "Why didn't you say so earlier? If you had, I could have shared the healing pills with my teammates! I have several healing pills myself."
"These are hidden rules; they won't be explicitly stated."
"This is not fair!"
Sun Lianhu wanted to protest, but the king ignored him and said to the crowd, "'Find the Groom' game is complete. All players, open the teleportation channel."
Jian Tanxi traveled at high speed in the darkness for several minutes. When the light returned, she found herself on a mountain.
She looked around, but there was no one there.
Sun Lianhu was not there, nor were Qin Man and her son.
Although she was happy to get rid of Sun Lianhu, Jian Tanxi was also very sad to be separated from Qin Man and her son.
She had mixed feelings, but unlike last time, she didn't shout for help.
Firstly, Qin Man and her child were most likely not nearby, so her shouting would be useless; secondly, there might be wild animals or bad people in the deep mountains, and shouting would expose her.
Therefore, she tried to make no noise, stayed where she was to rest briefly, and observed the surroundings.
She was now on a mountain path, which was built of flat, large stones and wound its way uphill.
It seems this isn't a barren mountain, because the mountain path was built by people. Normally, many people would come here to climb.
Thinking of this, Jian Tanxi was no longer afraid.
A mountain that is accessible to pedestrians should not have any wild animals. Moreover, there might be some convenience stores along the mountain path.
It's hot now, and a lot of food has already gone bad.
However, convenience stores don't have much fresh food; most items are instant noodles, biscuits, and the like. If you find a convenience store, you can grab some food for emergencies.
She's not hungry now, but the time when she can enter the game again is unknown, so she has to eat something every few days to avoid getting hungry during the game.
After walking for a while, she felt a little lonely.
She plans to take out the two ecospheres and examine them once she finds a place to settle down.
Now that her physical strength has improved, she doesn't feel tired at all when climbing mountains.
Soon, she arrived at a small platform halfway up the mountain.
On this small platform stands an ancient tree that takes three people to encircle, adorned with many red ribbons for good fortune, making it a beautiful sight from afar.
Jian Tanxi approached and observed that various wishes were written on the red ribbons. Some hoped for a long and happy marriage with their partners, some hoped for their children's academic success, and some hoped to make a lot of money in business.
Now, these red ribbons are still fluttering in the wind, but their owner is nowhere to be found.
Just a few dozen days ago, people had all sorts of wishes.
But now, everyone probably only has one wish: to survive.
Jian Tanxi stroked the red ribbons on the tree and murmured to herself, "I will definitely bring you back."
Jian Tanxi sat under the tree for a while, treating the ancient tree as a temporary friend.
She confided her worries, confusion, and anxiety to the ancient tree.
Although the ancient tree does not respond, it gives people a sense of peace.
About ten minutes later, Jian Tanxi stood up, waved to the ancient tree, and said, "I'm leaving. Wish me luck in moving forward."
Jian Tanxi regained her courage and continued to climb.
When she reached the top of the mountain, she indeed saw a convenience store.
Seeing potato chips, cookies, gummies, and bottled water on the shelf made her very happy, as if she had met an old friend.
She went over, wanting to get something to eat.
Then she noticed an old man dozing in the convenience store and was startled.
Could it be that the convenience store owner didn't disappear, nor was he caught up in the genius game?
Are there any more such spies who slipped through the net?
Probably not.
Suddenly, Jian Tanxi felt that the old man looked familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had seen him before.
Since the shop owner was there, Jian Tanxi couldn't just take the items directly.
She woke the old man and asked, "Excuse me, are you the owner? Can I buy some food and bottled water on credit? The Earth has changed drastically, most people have disappeared, and there's no cell phone signal, so I can't pay..."
The old man stared at Jian Tanxi, and asked with some surprise, "Are you Jian Tanxi?"
Jian Tanxi asked in surprise, "You know me?"
"Yes, we played games together."
"What? We played games together? But I don't remember..."
“About 20 days ago, we participated in a ‘no starvation’ game together. Seven people had to survive for 10 days on just one cup of water and one steamed bun…”
Jian Tanxi suddenly remembered who he was: "You are... Professor Pan Xian from the Chinese Academy of Sciences?"
The old man nodded happily: "It's me. I was unconscious the whole time I participated in the game, and we didn't speak to each other. No wonder you don't remember."
"Professor Pan, this is wonderful! I never expected to meet you here... But you were unconscious while participating in the game, how would you recognize me?"
"This all started more than twenty days ago. At that time, I suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized for treatment. I then fell into a coma and didn't wake up for several days."
However, when I woke up, I found myself not in the hospital, but in a convenience store on this mountain. Moreover, my body suddenly became very healthy; not only was my heart fine, but some of the chronic illnesses that had plagued me for decades were also cured.
I feel that my physical fitness has also greatly improved, and is several times better than when I was young.
I didn't know what was going on; I thought I was dreaming.
But then, a mechanical voice suddenly appeared in my mind. It told me that most of Earth's population had disappeared, and only a small number of geniuses remained to participate in the games devised by the Hoggers. Completing the games would earn rewards.
It said that it had already participated in the game while in a coma, and the reward was enhanced physical fitness and the ability to survive more easily by eating only one meal every 10 days.
I was puzzled and asked what game it was. It then showed me the entire screen of the 'Don't Starve' game, and that's when I realized what was going on.
Because I saw the footage, I remembered my teammates from that time. I've always thought that if I could reunite with you all, we should catch up properly.
I never expected to meet you so soon. I asked other questions, like why they wanted to get rid of other Earthlings, what their purpose was, why they made us participate in the game, and what direction we would ultimately take, but the voice didn't answer me.
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