Abnormal time flow

“As for which guild will be responsible for which direction, that will be decided by the respective Guild Leaders.”

Wooden Head said this, then seemed to suddenly remember something.

“Oh right, just a quick mention: none of you new or old players have left the city much since the game update, have you?”

“Is there a problem?” Father Can Rival a Nation looked slightly confused.

Since the game update, they had been busy enough dealing with the various new functions and newly added members.

Moreover, only a dozen or so hours had passed since the update concluded.

“Nothing,” Wooden Head replied, “it’s just that I discovered something interesting while investigating the surrounding environment.”

“During the time the game was updating, the flow of time in the Game World seems to have become abnormal.”

“What do you mean?” Sorrowful Sword Elegy looked towards Wooden Head.

“As everyone knows, time is something that cannot be touched or grasped, but the passage of time will inevitably leave traces on certain things.”

“It could be a rock, a piece of rotten wood, or perhaps a certain biological population, or even the soil beneath their feet...”

Speaking of this, Wooden Head paused.

“Everyone, do you still remember the Steel-Toothed Rock-Crushing Rat we brought back?”

“Of course, we remember,” My Cat Can Do Backflips said, “We worked together to destroy the Steel-Toothed Rock-Crushing Rat’s lair and killed the Rat King. The remaining low-level young rats were successfully tamed by us.”

The Steel-Toothed Rock-Crushing Rat is inherently a species highly obedient to a 'King'. As long as the birth of a new 'King' is continuously prevented, they will serve the players stably and long-term, much like a domesticated dog.

“I was originally worried that these Steel-Toothed Rock-Crushing Rats might get lost during the construction of the player city, especially since the game doesn’t have a pet capture or follow function.”

“I was relieved to find that the game was quite considerate, designating a Spiritual Beast Garden within Dawn City. This doesn’t seem particularly unusual, does it?”

My Cat Can Do Backflips asked.

“Yes, that’s the most interesting part. Those Steel-Toothed Rock-Crushing Rats seem to have been protected by a specific force, completely unaffected by the abnormal time flow rate.”

Wooden Head looked thoughtful.

“However, the Spider Poppy Queen, which originally coexisted with the Steel-Toothed Rock-Crushing Rats, has gone extinct.”

“!!?”

“The Steel-Toothed Rock-Crushing Rats’ former lair has been completely buried by sand and soil, becoming a habitat for a group of Viper-Horn Rock Snakes.”

“Not only that, but a race resembling primitive humans has appeared southeast of our Dawn City.”

“They not only build houses and practice farming and animal husbandry, but they even seem to have their own faith...”

Southeast direction!?

“Could it be...”

“Yes, that race has four arms and is named the ‘Four-Armed Apes’.”

A race evolved from the Four-Armed Orangutan?

So, how many years passed in the Game World during the short twenty-four hours they were gone?

A thousand years, ten thousand years, or... a hundred million years!?

A human lifespan is far too brief compared to the long development of a world.

So much so that they couldn't possibly imagine how much time—how much erosion, sculpting, and natural accumulation—is required for the evolution of a new race and the birth of a new civilization.

Using the evolutionary stage of a race as a time reference was too vague, making it impossible for them to determine how many years the world had quietly fast-forwarded while they were absent.

So, what will happen in the next update?

Plate shifts, volcanic eruptions, mass extinction?

Or perhaps countless intelligent races far stronger than humanity, and powerful technology that vastly surpasses human standards?

This was terrifying.

They felt like duckweed suddenly summoned to an alien world, liable to be overturned at any moment by a giant wave suddenly rising from the seemingly calm river of time.

“Perhaps Cat Master’s previous speculation was correct: the Beginning World truly is a past Transcendent World, connected to our current reality by some divine, miraculous power.”

“It is precisely because the time flow rates of the two spaces are not running parallel that the Beginning World is experiencing abnormal time flow.”

Sorrowful Sword Elegy took a deep breath.

“While this is just a guess, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Perhaps we can not only learn why the Transcendent World collapsed and merged with our Main World through the Beginning World, but also fight for a sliver of hope for humanity’s future.”

Wooden Head snapped his fingers:

“So, get ready, players. You must ensure that the speed of your strength growth is faster than the speed at which this world’s collapse arrives.”

Phoenix closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, no emotion could be seen in her gaze. “So, how should we allocate the directions for setting up the teleportation arrays?”

This not only concerned the difficulty of setting up the teleportation arrays but also involved the distribution of resources in the corresponding locations.

“Clap!”

Fox Selling Newspapers spread open her fan, covering half her face, and said impolitely, squinting, “Since we provided the environmental map covering a forty-kilometer radius centered on Dawn City, it’s not too much to ask for priority selection, is it?”

“It’s acceptable.” Father Can Rival a Nation spoke first.

“Agreed.” Sorrowful Sword Elegy’s words drew a large number of surprised glances.

They all thought that the current number one player in the game would fight for priority selection.

“Three votes to one, it’s happily decided then.”

Fox Selling Newspapers revealed a smug, petty smile, forcefully choking back the words Phoenix was about to utter.

Phoenix felt extremely aggrieved. The Alliance had always held an absolute position in the Main World.

Yet, as the representative of the Alliance, she found herself unable to speak up among these people.

“I choose... the South.”

Fox Selling Newspapers’ choice surprised everyone.

Most of the Four-Armed Apes’ territory was in the East. When Wooden Head specifically mentioned the Four-Armed Apes, they had assumed the Merchant Association would choose the East, where they could better interact with the Four-Armed Apes.

After all, that was an indigenous intelligent race of the alien world!

They might be able to obtain more intelligence and resources from the Beginning World.

“Is the Four-Armed Apes race friendly?”

My Cat Can Do Backflips asked a critical question.

“Uncertain,” Wooden Head answered truthfully, “Their race seems to be protected by some special power, and my abilities cannot penetrate it.”

“Relax,” Fox Selling Newspapers noticed their concerns, “We aren’t avoiding the East because we think the Four-Armed Apes race is a trap; we have a more ambitious goal.”

“A more ambitious goal?”

“The ocean!” Wooden Head stated the answer he had pursued relentlessly since entering the game. “Based on my efforts during this time, I’ve found that this world is vastly different from our Blue Star.”

“This world is not round.”

Not round!?

“Heaven is round and Earth is square?” My Cat Can Do Backflips recalled an ancient speculation.

Perhaps this was not just conjecture, but another world they had never encountered.

For example... now.

“So, does this world have an end?” Rose with Leg Hair looked toward Wooden Head.

“I don’t know,” Wooden Head shrugged, “I only know that this world’s landmass is not completely surrounded by ocean, and the fastest direction for us to reach the ocean is due South of Dawn City.”

The same belief held true: he was convinced that the ocean held treasures far superior to those on land.

“Then let the remaining allocation be decided by strength,” Sorrowful Sword Elegy proposed.

“Absolutely not!”