Chapter 147 – Wheel of Time
She first read through the memories, hoping he might know where the inner core was located. Memories surged in, and Tu Ran carefully searched.
Finally, she saw the inner core in a fleeting image.
As she had suspected, the man did not know of the existence of this superpower.
A few days earlier, he had been chased by two wild beasts, losing his backpack along with all his food and equipment.
The beasts had stayed under the tree while he had spent two days up in it.
During that time, he was so hungry that he dug into the tree, extracting and gnawing on the tree core fibers to supplement his sugar intake.
The tree trunk also harbored a nest of fat, plump worms.
These were all protein, so the man caught and ate the worms as well.
Coincidentally, the inner core of the [Wheel of Time] was inside one of the worms.
In the man’s memory, he had bitten into a small hard object while eating one of the worms. But given his aversion to eating worms, he didn’t dare think too much about it. He simply closed his eyes and swallowed it.
Later, he was unaware of where the inner core had ended up in his body.
What should be done now? Tu Ran squatted there, hesitating.
She hoped that the inner core was in the man’s stomach.
If it was, it could be vomited or cut out.
He could still survive.
If it was in the back of his neck, his body had already fused with the inner core. No matter how skilled the method to retrieve it, the chance of him surviving without it would be slim.
But subconsciously, Tu Ran knew that the inner core was most likely in the back of his neck.
With the situation as it was, just giving up? Tu Ran was unwilling.
She needed this superpower.
She had already imagined how the revelation of this superpower would attract countless people.
She envisioned how many would fight fiercely over the inner core.
Her only advantage now was that she knew about this before others did; she had to seize the opportunity given to her by fate.
The man had already been subdued by her.
At this point, she decided to go all the way.
Tu Ran aimed the dagger at the back of the man’s neck.
With her many years of medical experience, Tu Ran made a precise cut, causing a steady flow of blood from his neck.
She gritted her teeth and searched, finally locating the inner core near the cervical vertebrae.
Tu Ran extracted the bead, wrapped the wound on his neck with gauze, and then quickly administered two doses of the recovery agent she had prepared earlier.
Although losing the inner core might mean he wouldn’t survive much longer, Tu Ran felt uneasy and injected him with the recovery agents.
She thought to herself: If you manage to survive, I will compensate you. If you don’t survive, you will be a ghost, and you will haunt me.
Everything was taken care of, and fifty minutes had passed. The man was still unconscious, but the effects of the hallucinogenic mushrooms would only last an hour; he would wake up soon.
Tu Ran placed the fruit she had picked next to him as a form of payment and then left with Pangpang.
She had initially planned to leave some weapons and food for him, but considering that these items might reveal her identity, she decided against it.
After leaving, Tu Ran and Pangpang arrived at a small, narrow stream where she washed the inner core.
She swallowed it.
As the inner core transformed into a flowing energy throughout her limbs, a vision appeared in her mind.
[Wheel of Time]
Below were two descriptions, identical to what she had seen before.
Tu Ran attempted to activate this ability.
She first aimed it at the bracelet on her wrist.
The [Wheel of Time] could adjust the time gears of an object, reverting it to a past state or advancing it to a future state.
As Tu Ran pondered how to use this superpower, a time dial appeared in her mind.
It was composed of three parts: years, months, and days.
Tu Ran tried turning the dial to set the time a thousand years into the future.
The most noticeable change in the bracelet was its increased oldness; its luster had faded.
Determined, she cranked the dial to the maximum value that the [Wheel of Time] could reach.
The maximum value was one hundred million years.
A hundred million years later, the bracelet visibly aged, its surface showing reddish-brown mottling.
Tu Ran squeezed the bracelet, and it instantly shattered into tiny pieces.
The fragments scattered like dust, blown away by the wind.
“Wow! It’s shattered!” Pangpang exclaimed excitedly.
Tu Ran was also thrilled; she had finally defused this time bomb.
But before she could celebrate for long, her legs gave way, and it felt like all her strength had been drained. She collapsed to the ground.
“Boss, boss, what’s wrong?” Pangpang quickly supported her, asking anxiously.
Tu Ran was too weak to even speak.
The energy consumed by the [Wheel of Time] was enormous.
And she had directly advanced the time to one hundred million years.
As a result, the [Diamond Body] was unable to repair her body immediately.
She held onto Pangpang’s wing weakly and said, “Find a… safe cave. I need… rest.”
Her vision darkened, and she lost consciousness.
In the last moment before she fainted, Tu Ran thought to herself how foolish she had been, wondering why she hadn’t heeded the warning on the screen and had recklessly set it to the maximum value.
If she didn’t faint, who would?
Watching Tu Ran faint like that shocked Pangpang.
“Cheep, cheep, cheep!” It flapped its wings helplessly, chirping loudly in an attempt to wake Tu Ran.
It couldn’t understand how she had gone from being full of energy to unconscious so suddenly.
“Cheep, cheep!”
Tu Ran didn’t respond.
Panicked, Pangpang began darting around in confusion.
What to do? What to do?
Then it remembered Tu Ran’s final instructions.
Find a safe cave.
Pangpang slapped its head. Yes, a safe cave! It was best at finding caves!
It turned and started walking.
After covering a dozen meters, it suddenly felt like something was missing. Missing what?
It anxiously paced in place.
Oh no! It had left the boss behind!
Pangpang hurried back.
Tu Ran was still lying there.
Feeling very guilty, Pangpang quickly lifted her with its wings and carried her on its shoulder.
It assessed the surroundings, figured out their location, and started heading west.
Tu Ran was having many dreams, all set in the first world.
She played with the other children in the orphanage.
Unable to compete with the other kids, she often missed out on the afternoon fruits. Thin and small, she would get special treatment from the director.
In junior high, she fought with classmates, lost, and got beaten up badly. The director had bought her some treats after she received a large amount of money from the classmates.
During high school, she worked part-time in the afternoons, often arriving late, and was punished by standing. Despite scolding her for not studying properly, the teacher applied for various scholarships for her once they understood her situation.
In college, when the director passed away, she relied on part-time work to pay her tuition. With the school’s aid, she managed to make ends meet and lived a relatively smooth life.
